To reduce the risk of infiltration, many
people associated with the Underground Railroad knew only their part of the
operation and not of the whole scheme. "Conductors" led or
transported the fugitives from station to station. A conductor sometimes
pretended to be a slave in order to enter a plantation.
Once a part of a plantation, the conductor would direct the runways to the
North. Slaves traveled at night, about 10–20 miles (15–30 km) to each
station. They rested, and then a message was sent to the next station to let
the station master know the runaways were on their way. They would stop at the
so-called "stations" or "depots" during the day and rest.
The stations were often located in barns, under church floors, or in hiding
places in caves and hollowed-out riverbanks.
The
resting spots where the runaways could sleep and eat were given the code names
"stations" and "depots," which were held by "station
masters". "Stockholders" gave money or supplies for assistance.
Using biblical references, fugitives referred to Canada as the "Promised
Land" and the Ohio River as
the "River Jordan", which marked the
boundary between slave states
and free states.
Although the fugitives sometimes traveled on
boat or train, they usually
traveled on foot or by wagon in groups of 1–3 slaves. Some groups were
considerably larger. Abolitionist Charles Turner Torrey and his colleagues rented horses and
wagons and often transported as many as 15 or 20 slaves at a time.
Routes
were often purposely indirect to confuse pursuers. Most escapes were by individuals
or small groups; occasionally, there were mass escapes, such as with the Pearl incident. The journey was often considered particularly
difficult and dangerous for women or children. Children were sometimes hard to
keep quiet or were unable to keep up with a group. In addition, female slaves
were rarely allowed to leave the plantation, making it harder for them to
escape in the same ways that men could. Although
escaping was harder for women, some women did find success in escaping. One of
the most famous and successful abductors (people who secretly traveled into
slave states to rescue those seeking freedom) was Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave woman.
Due
to the risk of discovery, information about routes and safe havens was passed
along by word of mouth. Southern newspapers of the day were often filled with
pages of notices soliciting information about escaped slaves and offering
sizable rewards for their capture and return.Federal
marshals and
professional bounty hunters known
as slave catchers pursued
fugitives as far as the Canada–US
border.
Fugitives
were not the only black people at risk from slavecatchers. With demand for
slaves high in the Deep South as cotton was developed, strong, healthy blacks
in their prime working and reproductive years were seen and treated as highly
valuable commodities. Both former slaves and free blacks were sometimes
kidnapped and sold into slavery, as was Solomon Northup of
Saratoga Springs, New York. "Certificates of freedom," signed, notarized statements
attesting to the free status of individual blacks also known as free papers,
could easily be destroyed or stolen, so provided little protection to bearers.
Some
buildings, such as the Crenshaw
House in far
southeastern Illinois, are known sites where free blacks were sold into
slavery, known as the "Reverse
Underground Railroad". Under the terms of the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1850, when suspected fugitives were seized and brought
to a special magistrate known
as a commissioner, they had no right to a jury trial and could not testify in
their own behalf. Technically, they were guilty of no crime. The marshal or
private slave-catcher needed only to swear an oath to acquire a writ of replevinfor
the return of property.
Congress
was dominated by southern Congressmen, as apportionment was based on three-fifths of the number of slaves being counted
in population totals. They passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 because of
frustration at having fugitive slaves helped by the public and even official
institutions outside the South. In some parts of the North, slave-catchers
needed police protection to exercise their federal authority. Opposition to
slavery did not mean that all states welcomed free blacks. For instance, Indiana,
whose area along the Ohio River was settled by Southerners, passed a
constitutional amendment that barred free blacks from settling in that state.
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