This excerpt from “The Underground Railroad” documents the escape of Susan Brooks by being smuggled on a steamship. The details are fairly scanty in this account. However, there is a very interesting description of the typical method of smuggling female fugitives by steamship. Of course, part of this was having an inside man on the … Read more
This excerpt from “The Underground Railroad” documents the escape of Hezekiah Hill from the back of a shop as a slave trader was walking in the front to take him. Hezekiah was forced to hide for thirteen months before he could travel by steamship to Philadelphia. “The Underground Railroad” was published in 1872. The book … Read more
This excerpt from “The Underground Railroad” documents the escape of John Henry Hill from a slave auction in Richmond, Virginia. “The Underground Railroad” was published in 1872. The book gives the testimonies of hundreds of slaves who escaped to freedom using the network of agents and safe houses. The author, William Still, was a black … Read more
These excerpts from William Still’s The Underground Rail Road document some of twenty-eight fugitives who escaped to freedom by river. Their escape was successful despite the boat being boarded and searched by the Major and police force of Norfolk. You can read the account in our separate excerpt of an escape by ship via the … Read more
This is an excerpt from William Still’s book, The Underground Railroad. Most of our excepts focus on the stories of black fugitives making their escape from the South to freedom. The account here concerns a white conductor on the route. Captain Fountain used his ship to smuggle large numbers of fugitives from the South to … Read more
This excerpt from William Still’s The Underground Rail Road documents the capture of a fugitive group and the ensuing gunfight in a barn. The account continues with the daring escape of one of the captured fugitives who was in a very weakened state. The book refers both to “Robert Jackson alias Wesley Harris” and the … Read more
This excerpt from William Still’s The Underground Rail Road documents a daring jailbreak after eight fugitives were betrayed by someone purporting to help them on their way. Six men and two women fought their way out of a prison cell, jumped twelve feet from a window, and scaled a high wall to freedom. Although there … Read more
This excerpt from “The Underground Railroad” documents the escape of Jeremiah and Julia Smith, a married couple who had separate owners in Richmond, Virginia. Jeremiah was seriously asthmatic which was an additional hurdle to gaining freedom. The narrative starts with a description of slavery in Richmond, Virginia. There is plenty of acerbic sarcasm and wit … Read more
This excerpt from “The Underground Railroad” documents the escape of Robert Brown who swam a horse across the Potomac River on the night of Christmas. He made this desperate escape five days after his wife and children had been sold to another owner. It’s a harrowing tale that brought Brown from Martinsburg, Virginia to the … Read more
This is an excerpt from The Underground Railroad by William Still. It concerns the escape of Henry Brown who mailed himself to freedom in a box. Henry Brown was born circa 1815 and lived in slavery in Virginia. In 1849, he arranged with the help of friends to be transported by wagon, steamboat, and train … Read more