one religious society under the name of the "Presbyterian Church of Galesburg." Opposition to slavery was one of the conditions of membership in this organization from the beginning. This intense anti-slavery feeling caused the church to withdraw from the presbytery in 1855.[285] From the starting of the colony until the time of the War fugitives from Missouri were conducted thither with the certainty of obtaining protection. Thus Galesburg became, probably, the principal underground station in Illinois.[286] Joseph S. White, of New Castle, in western Pennsylvania, notes the circumstance that all the men with whom he acted in underground enterprises were Presbyterians.[287] [281] Wm. B. Sprague, D.D., _Annals of the American Pulpit_, Vol. IV, 1858, p. 137; Robert E. Thompson, D.D., _History of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States_, 1895, p. 122. [282] Robert E. Thompson, D.D., _History of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States_, 1895, pp. 136, 137. [283] Address by J. C. Leggett, in a pamphlet entitled _Rev. John Rankin_, 1892, p. 9. [284] Letter of Mrs. A. M. Buchanan, Savannah, O., 1893; conversation with Thomas L. Smith, Fredericksburg, Wayne Co., O., Aug. 15, 1895. [285] Professor George Churchill, in _The Republican Register_, Galesburg, Ill., March 5, 1887. [286] Charles C. Chapman & Co., _History of Knox County, Illinois_, p. 210. [287] Joseph S. White, Note-book containing "Some Reminiscences of Slavery Times," New Castle, Pa., March 23, 1891.