The "Members Of The Underground Railroad: The 'Reverse Underground Railroad' " Story

Preface:  This is the final story in my Underground Railroad series, written primarily since my hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad.  One of Lancaster's most prominent residents of that era, Thadeus Stevens, was allegedly a conductor on the Underground Railroad.  But, my story today is a bit different and tells the story of the "reverse" Underground Railroad.  Read on...

Sign warning of kidnapping and slave catchers.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading "The Scribbler" in the November 6th edition of my LNP newspaper.  It was the headline that first caught my eye.  It read "The Gap Gang's exploits on the 'reverse Underground Railroad'" and I was hooked immediately.  So what was this all about.  Seems that the "reverse Underground Railroad" is the name given to the pre-American Civil War practice of kidnapping in free states (states that didn't allow slavery) fugitive slaves that had escaped their slave owners as well as free blacks.  Those that used that term were more than likely pro-slavery and angered that an Underground Railroad was helping slaves to escape.  Lancaster County had a gang of men who were part of the reverse Underground Railroad. They got their name since most lived in the Gap hills, an area to the east of the city of Lancaster.  They frequented the Gap Tavern where they would plot their activities to catch escaped slaves as well as steal free African Americans with the intent of taking them south to sell or auction them to Southern slaveholders.  

Kidnapping of free black citizens to be sold into salvery

They were a bunch of truly bad guys.  The gang's numbers changed from time to time depending on how many might be arrested and jailed or how many new recruits they could get.  This gang was primarily active in the months before the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which required anyone who caught a fugitive slave to return them to their rightful owner.  The key word here is required since they weren't going to get paid for their labors of snatching a runaway slave.  The bad deeds of the Gap Gang were frequently published in Lancaster's newspaper for all to read.  

Drawing showing a free black woman being kidnapped and
her papers showing she was a free black being kidnapped.

At one time the city of Philadel- phia was a particularly vulnerable area for free blacks to live since the gang known as the "black-birders'" regularly captured men, women and children, sometimes with the support and help of policemen and city officials, and sold into slavery in southern states.  Black newspapers in Philadelphia ran missing children notices due to the gangs stealing them and taking them south for sale.  One child who was stolen was the 14-year-old daughter of the newspaper's editor.  In one two-year period, about 100 black children were abducted.  

A slave market in Virgina.

From 1811 to 1829, Martha "Patty" Cannon lead a gang that kidnapped runaway and free blacks from the nearby Delmarva Peninsula of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay area and transported them south where they sold them to plantation owners located further south.  "Patty" was caught and placed in prison where she died by suicide.  Free black sailors who may have been on a ship that sailed south, were at times kidnapped and sold into slavery.  South Carolina passed the Negro Seamen Act in 1822 which required black sailors to be detained on ship at ports of call, since they were afraid the sailors would inspire slave revolts or perhaps be captured by gangs and sold into slavery.  Many kidnapped were marched to the South on foot, chained together to prevent them from escaping.  When the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and the Fourteenth Amendment gave them full citizenship rights, kidnapping and sale of blacks into slavery began to end.  But, has it totally ended?  I'm not so sure!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "Members Of The Underground Railroad: John W. Jones" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The Underground Railroad in the United States was a system that existed in the Northern states before the Civil War by which escaped slaves from Southern states were secretly helped by sympathetic Northerners, in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Acts, to reach places of safety in the North or in Canada.  Lancaster County was known as a stop of that railroad as I have written about the past few days.  One of my favorite early Lancasterians, Thadeus Stevens, was not only a member of Congress, but a member of the Underground Railroad.  Another such person was John W. Jones.  But, what makes Mr. Jones so special was the fact that he was once a slave.  The story of his escape to freedom began one evening in late June of 1844 when this 26-year-old slave told his mother that he was leaving to attend a party.  

John W. Jones

He was living near Leesburg, Virginia and was part of a family of slaves.  Jones slipped outside, grabbed a pistol and met with four other enslaved men who crept through the Virginia woods, toward the north.  The men dodged slave catchers in Maryland and finally crossed into Pennsylvania.  They followed one of the major routes along the Underground Railroad and passed through Harrisburg and Williamsport, finally resting in a barn near the New York border.  The others slept while he kept guard with a shotgun.  He understood the situation and took it upon himself to protect the others.  Finally, when the barn's owner, Nathaniel Smith, found them, he invited them into his home.  His wife Sarah served the group hot biscuits and butter and cared for them until they had gained their strength back.  On July 5, 1844, Jones crossed a toll bridge into Elmira, New York with less than $2 in his pocket.  He decided to stay in Elmira where he eventually became a conductor on the Underground Railroad.  Living in the North wasn't always easy for him.  He could not vote and was denied an education at local schools.  A local judge took a liking to him and helped him study at an all-woman's seminary, exchanging janitorial work for reading and writing lessons.  He joined a church with abolitionist leanings and became its sexton, maintaining its cemetery.  In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was created giving financial incentives to report runaway slaves.  Jones became vocal about his part of the Underground Railroad and published a message in the newspaper about colored citizens protecting themselves against slave catchers.  The Elmira Underground Railroad was the only stop between Philadelphia and Ontario.  During the next nine years he aided in the escape of about 800 runaway slaves.  These same railroad tracks brought Confederate soldiers to Elmira's new prisoner of war camp.   Prisoners in Elmira were considered part of the camp known as "Hellmira."  

The Elmira, New York Prisoner Of War Camp

The camp had no hospital or medical staff and about 25% of the prisoners died from disease.  Supposedly 2,973 Confed- erate prisoners left Elmira in a coffin.  And, the job of burying them belonged to the town's sexton, John W. Jones.  Each person who died was buried in an individual grave, not enmasse as in other prison cemeteries.  His record keeping was also meticulous which led to Woodlawn Cemetery becoming a "National Cemetery" in 1877.  He had a crew of 12 who dug each grave and buried each body, treating it as if that person had been a member of his own church.  He also kept detailed records of each soldier and created improvised dog tags that he placed on the dead soldiers.  This was a man who had escaped slavery and took great effort to bury those who might have killed him had they had the chance.  One big plus for John was that he got $2.50 for each soldier he buried and after burying 3000 Confederate dead, he had become one of the 10 richest African-Americans in the state of New York.  So, he bought himself a 12 acre farm where he built a house using wooden scraps from the old Elmira prison camp.  That home is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  For the rest of his life he continued to work as a sexton and usher at his church.  When he died he was buried in the same cemetery he had worked in for years.  For nearly two decades after his death, fresh flowers appeared on his grave from time to time.  Finally the flowers stopped arriving and it was at that point that it was determined that the flowers were put there by a woman named Sarah Smith.  The same Sarah Smith who, 56 years earlier, had invited John W. Jones and his friend into her home for butter, biscuits and a good night's rest.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "Members Of The Underground Railroad: Ezekiel & Eliza Baptiste!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about a husband and wife who were part of the Underground Railroad in the mid-19th century.  Ezekiel and Eliza Baptiste lived on a farm in Newberry Township which is located in northern York County, Pennsylvania; about 25 miles from my home in Lancaster.  They had a two-story sandstone farmhouse with an addition in the back.  

The Baptiste farm in York County, Pennsylvania

Their outbuildings were kept in good condition as was their large barn.  The farm at one time had been overworked and played-out.  It was infertile, dilapidated and just about worthless.  It soon became a showplace of farming acumen.  And, what made it very different was that the family that lived in it was black.  Few black families owned farmland at that time in history.  The Baptiste's welcomed visitors, entertained them and showed off the lush results of their toil and that of their equally hard-working children.  They even had a white farmhand who lived in a small cabin on the property.  Ezekiel's grandfather had been a slave in Maryland, but saved enough money to buy his freedom and then saved enough to buy the freedom of the woman that he married.  Ezekiel hated the injustice around him so he began assisting runaway slaves in their quest for freedom.

Image of Harriet Tubman

He worked with two Quakers as well as a black businessman and Underground conductor who lived in downtown York, Pennsylvania.  At one point he and Eliza met Harriet Tubman who had escaped from Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore.  They became friends as he helped her with freeing other slaves.  Then in 1875 the couple sold the farm for $4,500, a very respectable sum for that time in history.  They moved to the Mechanicsburg area of Pennsylvania.  Eliza died in 1878 and is buried in a free black graveyard known as Lincoln Cemetery. Ezekiel died five years later in 1893.  Another great couple who despised slavery and worked as Underground Railroad conductors.  South-eastern Pennsylvania is rich in farming heritage and many of those farms were stops on the Underground Railroad for those escaping the awful and dreaded background of slavery.  It is hard to imagine what it must have been like to be a slave.  Movies, newspaper articles and even novels written about slavery can tell the story of slavery, but experiencing slavery first-hand is something that most of us have never had to endure.  Only after reading and visiting locations associated with the Underground Railroad, as it was called, has it made me appreciate those who were conductors on that railroad and risked their lives to provide an exit from slavery to those whose lives were consumed with the evil of slavery.  These conductors were heroes and the epitome of sainthood.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Members Of The Underground Railroad: Harriet Tubman!" Story

Harriet Tubman

It was an ordinary day.  Reading another article telling about an Underground Railroad conductor and hero who has stated more than once that "Running is as brave as fighting."  Her story began in 1822 when she was born Araminta Ross along the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  She lived through and witnessed the violence of slavery thru the selling of her sisters, the brutal beatings of enslaved people and the death and destruction that clung to slavery's cloak.  She married a free man, John Tubman, but that marriage was threatened in 1849 when she learned she would be sold.  She tried to run away with her brothers, but was unsuccessful.   Eventually, she escaped across the border to Pennsylvania.  

Harriet Tubman image.

She found her way to the home of Ezekiel and Eliza Baptiste who were known sympathizers who had a farmhouse in northern York County which is about 25 miles from my hometown of Lancaster.  The couple was one of a very few black families who owned their own farmland.  During the next ten years she traveled back and forth across the border trying to rescue her friends and family.  Her first trip back to Maryland was to save her niece from a slave auction.  Her success during that adventure began a string of successes in leading the enslaved out of bondage.  She used her trusty pistol to help in her rescues.  

US Postage Stamp in her honor.

She often claimed that she had the right to liberty or death; if she couldn't have one she would have the other.  She became known as "the Moses of her people."  Then in 1850 the federal government passed the Fugitive Slave Act which gave slave owners the right to travel to any state in search of their human property.  Harriet knew that the only way to save her friends and family was to make them disappear.  She knew it would take a war to destroy the system of slavery, but until that day she helped to steal away those entrenched in slavery.  She made 12 or 13 trips to Maryland and was said to have rescued about 70 slaves.  

Her image as it will appear on the $20 bill.

She began giving speeches where she  condemned the law of the land and took aim at the system of slavery and the lawmakers who continued to condone it.  She knew that in the absence of justice,  running away is sometimes the only way to save a life.  It has been written that "People other than white men built this country."  Harriet Tubman's image has been chosen to replace President Andrew Jackson on the U.S. $20 bill.  But, recently it was reported that the former slave, abolitionist, "conductor" on the Underground Railroad will not become the face of the $20 bill until President Trump leaves office.  He is not a big fan of previous President Obama's choice to replace Jackson.  Some day "Moses" will get her due!  They can't keep her from it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Lancaster Unearthed: Attempting To Visualize The Underground Railroad" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just got back from the Marriott Hotel in downtown Lancaster.  A few years ago Lancaster's Watt & Shand Department Store, that was designed by C. Emlen Urban and built in 1898, closed in 1995 and was eventually demolished except for the historic facade.  In 1999 plans for a new hotel and convention center were unveiled.  In 2006 the site was cleared and construction began on a new Marriott Hotel.  It reopened as the Marriott Hotel in 2009.  To the rear of the hotel was constructed the Lancaster Convention Center and during the construction of the center, a special part of Lancaster's history was exposed.  

To the the right of the Convention Center stood this
double house, 45-47 South Queen Street,  which
was owned by Lancastrian Thadeus Stevens.
Click on images to enlarge them.

Sitting to the south of the convention center in the first block of South Queen Street were a few historic houses with one belonging to Thadeus Stevens.  He moved to Lancaster and acquired a home at 45-47 South Queen Street.  Mr. Stevens was a member of the United States House of Representatives and one of the leaders of the Republican Party doing the 1860's. He was a fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans and sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in opposition to U.S. President Andrew Johnson.  

During the Civil War he played a leading role, focusing his attention on defeating the Confederacy, financing the war with new taxes and borrowing, crushing the power of slave owners, ending slavery and securing equal rights for the Freedmen.  

The property as it looks today in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

On March 28, 1864 he introduced in the House the 13th Admend- ment to the Consti- tution which would abolish slavery.  Stevens employed a young woman by the name of Lydia Hamilton Smith to care for his residence in downtown Lancaster. Her mother was an African American and her father an Irishman.  She moved into the residence at 45-47 South Queen Street with her two young sons.

Information about the double home.

It was thought that Thadeus and Lydia were part of the Underground Railroad which supplied a safe place for escaping slaves to stay after crossing into Pennsylvania from the South.  When the convention center was being built, they found an underground area that would have been connected to the basement of the house at 45-47 South Queen Street; or the home of Thadeus Stevens. The Convention Center is trying their best to preserve this special part of our country's history and at present has begun to excavate parts of it.  I was able to take a few photographs, but nothing that was very good due to not being able to access the site.  

Photograph taken from the lower level of the Convention
Center.  The old building is allegedly the underground
cistern of 45-47 S. Queen. Part of the Underground Railroad.

For safety reasons I was not allowed to get any closer than anyone else.  But, standing above this historical site was amazing.  Just thinking of what must have happened in that enclosure in the mid-1800s was mind-boggling.  To stand this close to history and hear voices in my head and see visions in my brain of slaves encamped in this underground place to escape capture and perhaps death was thrilling.  This cistern, as it is called, will hopefully be preserved for a lifetime and beyond for it is part on local history as well as the history of our United States.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A shelf hold glass remnants that came from the excavation.  Were they used by runaway slaves?

Another view of the excavation.

Another view of the 45-47 South Queen property.  This
view is looking North from the corner with the Convention
Center in the background.

The door at 47 South Queen.  Not only did Thadeus Stevens and  Lydia
Hamilton Smith use this door, but perhaps many slaves heading north to
escape slavery in Southern States.

The "Susquehanna National Heritage Area Officially Designated!" Story

Will this logo be part of the National Heritage area?

It was an ordinary day.  Just opened an email titled "BREAKING: America's Newest National Heritage Area!  As soon as I began to read the email I knew exactly what the article was about.  It was six months ago that I posted a story I titled: "Waiting For History To Catch Up With Reality."  At the time I was hoping that President Donald Trump would sign a bill designating the Susquehanna River area between Lancaster and York Counties a National Heritage Area.  The email read, in part:  Today, March 12, 2019, President Donald Trump signed S.47, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, a major national conservation bill that includes designation of Lancaster and York Counties as a Susquehanna National Heritage Area.  The bill's passage is great news for our 10+ year effort to bring this national honor to our region and the Susquehanna.  We thank U.S. Senator Bob Casey for supporting this legislation since 2008 and securing an amendment to S.47 to designate the Susquehanna National Heritage Area.  We also thank Congressman Lloyd Smucker for championing the bill in the House of Representatives since 2017.  We very much appreciate the bi-patisan collaboration of Mr. Casey and Mr. Smucker in designating the Susquehanna National Heritage Area - America's 55th National Heritage Area! 

Columbia, PA is the home to Columbia Crossings which
is a museum and adventure area.

So, what will this new title do for Lancaster and York Counties?  It is expected to draw more tourists to the area's historical sites.  Ten million visitors come to this region each year now and bring with them their money.  This new designation will hopefully bring an additional $100 million spent in both counties. The Susquehanna River's role as a corridor of culture and commerce will be one of the big focuses.  I have featured the Susquehanna River and the Susquehanna River valley in quite a few of my stories.  

The view from Chickies Park in Columbia of the
Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge.  

Everything from being part of the American frontier to helping in the develop- ment of canals and transpor- tation to it's role in the Under- ground Railroad and being part of the American Revolution.  Not long ago I took you with me as my son and I, along with his Scouting friends and their dads, traveled down the Susquehanna on a raft we built.  The history of the Susquehanna River Valley is both interesting and entertaining.  Fishing, camping, hiking, boating and biking are a big draw to the river, and now, with national promotion of the area, it will draw more visitors.  

A view of part of Chickies Park in Columbia, PA

Businesses will grow and begin anew and more jobs will open to the local residents.  The Heritage Area will receive $150,000 to get the national heritage area up and running and the amount will grow after a management plan is approved.  The money does require a matching amount from the area, but with more visitors to the area, that shouldn't be a problem.  I read that one organization plans to run a pilot boat tour on the river this coming summer.  The only bad thing about the new designation is the new traffic and perhaps crime it will bring to the area.  I guess the area will have to wait and see how it will benefit from the new labeling before we make any decisions as to whether it was worth the battle to gain the National Heritage Area title.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Evil Genius Of The Republican Party" Story

Monument/headstone of Thaddeus Stevens

It was an ordinary day.  Making another visit to a little cemetery at the corner of North Mulberry and West Chestnut Streets in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  The cemetery is rather non-descript, but there is someone very special buried in the south-east corner of the half-block cemetery.  

State sign in honor of Thaddeus Stevens

That person is U.S. Congress- man Thaddeus Stevens who was a radical aboli- tionist, Under- ground Railroad activist, industrialist and newspaper publisher.  He was the "father" of the primary civil rights amendments to the United Stated Constitution.  The "Old Commoner" chose to be buried at this site because rules established by Martin Shreiner, for whom the cemetery is named, were not restrictive based on race.  Seems most other cemeteries in this historical city, one of the first inland cities in the U.S., wouldn't allow minorities to be buried in them.  That fact went against everything that Mr. Stevens stood and fought for in his life.  His headstone, or should I say monument, is inscribed on the south side with this inscription:

 I REPOSE IN THIS QUIET AND SECLUDED SPOT
NOT FROM ANY NATURAL PREFERENCE FOR SOLITUDE,

BUT FINDING OTHER CEMETERIES LIMITED AS TO RACE,

BY CHARTER RULES.
I HAVE CHOSEN THIS THAT I MIGHT ILLUSTRATE
IN MY DEATH

THE PRINCIPLES WHICH I ADVOCATED
THROUGH A LONG LIFE:

EQUALITY OF MAN BEFORE HIS CREATOR.

Thaddeus Stevens was at one time the most powerful man in Congress.  

Engraved with the verse written above.  Click to enlarge.

His nickname of "The Old Commoner" was well-earned.  During his time in our nation's capital, he was loved by many, but also loathed by many more.  For many of you reading this, you may have never heard of him.  Why is this?  Well, Thaddeus was a nasty man who used his uncommon wit as a weapon.  

The other side of the headstone.

One time, during one of his House speeches, an opponent interrupted him, as he spoke.  Stevens broke in with, "I yield to the gentleman for a few feeble remarks."  He also had a remark for a proslavery congressman when he broke in with, "There are some reptiles so flat that the common foot of man cannot crush them."  It is well known that Stevens fought harder to win freedom and equality for black Americans than any other politician in our history.  

Thaddeus Stevens

Many of his hard fought civil rights battles came after Lincoln was assassinated.  Stevens may have felt the way he did since he was born in Vermont with one leg crippled by a clubfoot which caused him abuse as a child.  The fact that his father was a drunk and deserted his family also played into his character.  But, his mother managed to send her son to Dartmouth where he began to exhibit a lifelong scorn for those lucky souls born healthy and wealthy.  After college he moved to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and opened a law office where he frequently appeared before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  His roll as an abolitionist began when he was hired by a Maryland slaveowner to get his runaway slave and her two children back, which he did, but realized later that he had caused three human being to lose their freedom and was so upset with himself that he became a dedicated abolitionist.  

His home at 45 South Queen Street in
downtown Lancaster, PA.

He was elected to the PA state legislature in 1833 and helped pass the state's first law to fund free public schools for all.  The affluent people in PA were upset and another congressman  introduced a bill to repeal the education law.  Stevens was so upset that he rose in congress and told how his education had lifted him from poverty and begged other legislators to give future generations the same chance he had.  His final words when he spoke were, "Build not your monuments of brass and marble, make them of everlasting mind!"  As he limped back to his seat the legislature applauded him and voted to keep school free to all.  He called that his greatest triumph.  It was in 1842 that he moved to my town of Lancaster where he was an attorney and owner of an iron furnace.  It was at this time that he hired Lydia Smith, a 33-year-old mulatto widow as his housekeeper while living on South Queen Street in downtown Lancaster.  He was accused of living in open adultery with a mulatto woman.  

Thaddeus Stevens lying in the state Capitol Rotunda.
The Honor Guard are all African Americans.

She was at his bedside when he died.  Stevens left her $5,000 in his will which she used to buy the house that they had shared in Lancaster.  16 years ago, when preserva- tionists were working on his house on S. Queen St. they found evidence that Stevens and Smith used the house as a station on the Underground Railroad by concealing runaway slaves in a hidden cistern connected to the house by a secret tunnel.  In 1848 Stevens was elected to the U.S. House and became a leader of congressional abolitionists and fought agains the Fugitive Slave Law and the spread of slavery to western territories.  It was during one heated debate on slavery that a Mississippi congressman pulled our a Bowie knife and lunged at Stevens, but was subdued before he could cause any damage.  Stevens was known in congress as the abolitionist who was bold and couldn't be frightened.  In 1861 Lincoln insisted the Civil War was a war to restore the Union and not a war to end slavery.  Stevens strongly disagreed and told Lincoln to "Free every slave, slay every traitor, burn every rebel mansion if these things be necessary to preserve this temple of freedom."  November of 1861 saw Stevens introduce a bill to outlaw slavery in America.  It didn't pass, but he kept chipping away with a bill to free slaves in the District of Columbia, a bill to free slaves owned by Confederate soldiers, a bill to enlist 150,000 black soldiers in the Union Army.  Only the first bill passed, but Lincoln, along with senators Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson kept pressuring Lincoln on the issue.  Lincoln hated slavery also, but wasn't quite sure how to end it.  That moment came after the Union's victory at Antietam in 1862.  Stevens promised the President his full support and since he was the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Lincoln needed huge sums to finance the war, Stevens provided it.  By the end of the war in 1864, the President turned his attention to slavery and with the help of Stevens got Congress to pass the 13th Amendment which outlawed slavery forever.  That wasn't the end of it thought, since after Lincoln was assassinated, new president Andrew Johnson took over and happened to be a Southern slave owner.  Stevens eventually tried to get Johnson impeached.  He was frail and sick when aides carried him in an armchair to the door of the Senate where he shuffled in, leaning on his cane and asked that they impeach Johnson.  The battle went on and on until April 27 of 1868 when Stevens, barely able to stand, rose and delivered his speech demanding that Johnson be tortured on the gibbet of everlasting obloquy.  He couldn't finish.  On May 16, 1868 the Senate voted.  Stevens lost!  He was carried from the chamber in his chair and told the crowd outside that, "The country is going to the Devil!"  He declared that his life had been a failure!  He died on August 11, but before he died he made sure he would be buried in a cemetery that wasn't just for whites.  It was at this point that he wrote the decree that is found on his headstone/monument that I had just taken a photograph of in the little cemetery in the center of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Stop some time to see it if you want to pay respect to this abolitionist who fought for the rights of all.  He most certainly was the "Old Commoner".  My wife and I thought enough of him that we gave our third child the middle name of Thadeus, in honor of Thaddeus Stevens!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "The Underground Railroad And Lancaster County: Part III" Story

Entrance to the Janice Stork Park

It was an ordinary day.  Walking along the Janice Stork Northwest Corridor Linear Park in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  The park runs about one-third of a mile diagonally from West Lemon Street, near North Arch Street, to Harrisburg Avenue.  The park was opened in 1994, but just recently a new addition of four markers known as the Signposts of Freedom were added along the trail.  These signs tell the story of what at one time was a narrow stretch of land from here to Harrisburg Avenue that carried the state's first chartered railroad.  This railroad provided a link for Lancaster to share their wealth and goods with other parts of our country.  

The trail winds through the neighborhood as well as under
the road above, much like the trains did years ago.

The 80 mile Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad brought regular passenger and freight service to Lancaster for the first time on April 16, 1834.  Six years later the city of York, Pennsylvania was also connected to the line.  The line extended 394 miles across the state of Pennsylvania and was designed to encourage cross-state expansion of private enterprise as well as provide citizens with a safe and convenient means of transportation.  

Along the corridor are many red roses
blooming.  The red rose is the flower
of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

As of now I haven't given you any idea as to where my story is going as far as the "Underground Railroad" is concerned.  Well, along the one-third mile corridor is one historical marker that has been placed here to inform the public of the importance of this corridor as it relates to history and the "Underground Railroad."  The four markers, or plaques, have been placed along the corridor by the African-American Historical Society of South Central Pennsylvania and are meant to tell those that walk the corridor the history of the railroad that traveled this corridor years ago.  One sign is titled "Working The Line" and tells of the 80-mile Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad being the first state-financed and constructed rail line in the U.S.  

One of the signs or plaques found along the corridor.

Cost of this project was $34,500 per mile.  Lancaster's leaders raised money so as to have the line go through the city rather than skirt the city as had been originally planned.  Two prominent Lancastrians responsible for this rail line along the Northwest Corridor were Amos Ellmaker and Henry Willis.  Mr. Ellmaker was a founding member on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad as well as a candidate for Vice President of the United States in 1832.  

Part of one of the plaques showing a railcar fitted with a secret compartment.

He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and a State Legislator and Attorney General in 1816.  Mr. Willis was a builder of the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad as well as the Allegheny Portage Railroad.  He was also a Lancaster County farmer and "Underground Railroad" activist.  Ah, Ha!  Finally, mention of the "Underground Railroad."  Another of the plaques is titled "Underground Railroad": Deep roots in Philadelphia & Columbia line.  The pictures I posted yesterday of Stephen Smith and William Whipper are also found on this plaque.  

Another photograph showing the corridor.

The story under their photos tells that this former right of way of the railroad was a critical link in the national anti-slavery movement that was a secret passage to freedom.  The passenger and freight cars that moved through the city of Lancaster were privately-owned, not state or national government owned.  That fact allowed Smith and Whipper to modify their box cars with false walls inside one end of them.  Freedom seekers were concealed behind partitions and would reach their destination in Philadelphia about eight hours after boarding in Columbia, Lancaster or York.  One other man who lived in York, Pennsylvania, businessman William C. Goodridge, used this same ingenious secret transport system in his rail cars.  Smith and Whipper were among the wealthiest African Americans in pre-Civil War America who shared their wealth in support of the cause to advance civil rights and social equality.   So, as you can see, The county of Lancaster, Pennsylvania played a huge part in the "Underground Railroad" and the passage to freedom for many Southern slaves who found their way to this northern city.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "The Underground Railroad And Lancaster County: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Beginning another story on the "Underground Railroad" and how Lancaster County played a big part in it.  If you failed to read yesterday's story, I should tell you that the "Underground Railroad" was network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early-to-mid 19th century, and used by African-American slaves to escape into free states and Canada wit the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause.  It has nothing to do with trains, but was meant to find save passage for escaped slaves to find refuge in Northern states or Canada.  I wrote about how the city of Lancaster played a big part in the "Underground Railroad" and today I will give you an idea as to how the nearby town of Columbia, Pennsylvania helped in the escape lines for fugitive slaves.  The two main abolitionists in Columbia were two black men, Stephen Smith and William Whipper.  

Mr. William Wipper

Mr. Smith began life in Columbia as an indentured servant who was eventually sold to Columbia's Thomas Boude.  Smith's mother, who was owned by another person in nearby Dauphin County, escaped to be with her son.  The owner of Mrs. Smith came to Columbia to reclaim his property, but neighbors rushed to her aid.  The actions of the owner from Dauphin County so enraged the residents that they intensified their antislavery efforts.  When Stephen turned 21 he bought his freedom for fifty dollars.  At the time he was the manager of Mr. Boude's lumber yard.  Upon obtaining his freedom he opened his own lumber yard and real estate business and was a leading businessman in Columbia.  He was also working as a conductor on the "Underground Railroad," helping escaping slaves find freedom to the North.  In 1838 Smith was ordained as an African Methodist Episcopalian minister in Columbia.  As for Mr. Whipper, he too was a black man and cousin of Mr. Smith.  In 1828 he was residing in Philadelphia and was known for his role as an intellectual within the free black community.  He was editor of the National Reformer, the first African-American magazine.  He was also one of the founders of the Philadelphia Library for Colored Persons.  In 1835 he attended the convention of the Improvement of Free People of Color.  He urged delegates to adopt a resolution which was to end the usage of the word "colored."  

Mr. Stephen Smith

The American Moral Reform Society was born at this convention.  In 1847 he bought a home on Front Street in Columbia and accumulated several businesses in Columbia.  In the early 1860s Whipper purchased a steamboat which shipped lumber as well as escaping slaves from Sandusky, Ohio to Ontario.  William became a leading abolitionist in the area and became a "stationmaster" along the pathway to freedom for slaves.  When the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted in 1850, Smith persuaded Whipper, along with about fifteen thousand other African Americans, to move to Canada.  The two of them had 29 railcars fitted with false walls and bottoms and hid runaway slaves in them.  Eventually they made their way to Canada.  Smith eventually found his way back, after the Civil War, to live in Philadelphia.  Today there is an exhibit in Columbia, Pa. telling of the heroics of these two black abolitionists.  Tomorrow I will end my stories on the "Underground Railroad" and it's ties to Lancaster County.  It was another extrarodinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Underground Railroad And Lancaster County: Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the magnitude of information I have collected during the past few years that deal with the Underground Railroad in the United States.  For those who do not live in the United States or may not know what I am talking about, the Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad.  

Reading material I have accumulated on the Underground Railroad.

It got its name since its activities before the Civil War had to be carried out in secret, using darkness or disguise, and due to the fact that railroad terms were used by those involved.  The Underground Railroad was the method Southern slaves used to escape slavery.  Escape routes were known as lines with locations along the lines being called stations.  Those that aided slaves who were trying to escape slavery were known as conductors and their charges were known as packages or freight.  The routes, or lines, traveled through 14 different Northern states with "the promised land" being Canada where they were free of their slave-hunters.  To the south of Lancaster County was what is known as the Mason-Dixon Line which was the alleged imaginary line between the North and South; Slavery and Freedom.  One of the lines was known as The Pilgrim's Pathway which was one of the earliest escape corridors into Lancaster County by those escaping north along the Susquehanna River.  Fugitive slaves followed St. Peters Creek inland from the river, across farm fields and roads, traveling at night since they would be highly visible during the day.  A second stream guided them to safe houses in Eastern Lancaster County and eventual freedom.  

Thaddeus Stevens who was a Representative
in the U.S. House from Lancaster, PA.

One of these early roads still retains the name "Pilgrim's Pathway."  Many ended up in a small town known as Christiana where the Christiana Riot took place on September 11, 1851.  I wrote about this event a few months ago, but to give you a quick summary, Edward Gorsuch, a wealthy land owner from Baltimore, Maryland, found his way with a group of men to Christiana where he was told his four slaves were hiding.  They went to the house were the slaves were supposed to be and a riot broke out.  Gorsuch was killed and his son seriously injured.  Federal troops were dispatched and eventually 37 members of the Underground Railroad were arrested and charged with treason.  Heading the defense for these men  was Lancaster lawyer and abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens.  He managed to achieve a "not guilty" verdict in fifteen minutes.  

Lydia Hamilton Smith, housekeeper to
Mr. Stevens as well as an abolitionist.

That verdict signaled the South that the Fugitive Slave Law that had been enacted the previous year and allowed slave owners to take their "property" back wasn't going to be enforced.  This was one of the factors that led to the Civil War.  As far as Lancaster's role in the Underground Railroad goes, Lancaster had a large free black population as well as quite a few white residents who supported the abolitionist cause.  The city had slave self-protection groups and refugee societies that protected fugitive slaves from their masters.  Lydia Hamilton Smith, long-time black housekeeper for Thaddeus Stevens as well as prominent businesswoman, along with Thaddeus Stevens, were both conductors on the Undergorund Railroad.  The Bethel A.M.E (African Methodist Episcopal) Church in  the city of Lancaster was also active in the aid of slaves on the Underground Railroad.  Their main effort was to help slaves escape along the Underground Railroad to larger American cities such as Philadelphia or even further to Canada.  So you see, the city of Lancaster was one of the major stops along the Underground Railroad before the Civil War.  Tomorrow I will take you to another nearby town and tell you the happenings that occurred in that town.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.