Click2History - Underground Railroad - Slaves Escape - Chapter 7

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>UNDERGROUND RAILROAD</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 7 - SLAVES ESCAPE</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Underground Railroad routes were located within free states. As though traveling through that territory werent treacherous enough, consider that escaping slaves first had to make their way through lands where slavery was legal. In other words, they <a href="http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2002/fyi/news/04/12/historic.church/" target="_blank"><b>initially</b></a> had to travel <a href="http://mdslavery.net/index.html" target="_blank"><b><i>underneath</i></b></a> the underground railroad.</p><ul> <li>An escaped slave named "Peter," whose back bears <a target="_blank" href="images/evidence.jpg"><b>evidence</b></a> of terrible beatings, told the person who took his picture (in Baton Rouge, April 2, 1863): "Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping. My master come after I was whipped; he discharged the overseer."</li><br><br> <li>Several months later, Gordon - a runaway from Mississippi - made it safely to Union lines in Louisiana. His back bore the <a target="_blank" href="images/scars.jpg"><b>scars</b></a> of his masters whip. After he recovered, Gordon became a Union soldier.</li><br><br> <li>Thomas Nast, one of the 19th centurys best illustrators, captured the degradations of slavery in a composite drawing which, among other events, shows <a target="_blank" href="images/runaways_mauled.jpg"><b>runaways mauled</b></a> by pack dogs.</li><br><br> <li>A <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c00000/3c05000/3c05500/3c05557v.jpg" target="_blank"><b>large group</b></a> of African-Americans - like most who were leaving behind a life of slavery - carried all their belongings as they traveled at night.</li><br><br> <li>On 8 November 1863, a group of <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3a10000/3a17000/3a17900/3a17903r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>African-American escapees</b></a> reached Union lines near Culpeper Court House, Virginia.</li><br><br> <li><a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/cwp/4a39000/4a39500/4a39514r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Fugitive African-Americans</b></a> had to ford the river in order to safely cross the Rappahannock (in Virginia).</li><br><br> <li>Most escaping slaves, <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3b20000/3b26000/3b26300/3b26312r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>in search of freedom</b></a>, did not have the luxury of horse-drawn carriages. </li><br><br> <li>Slaves risked their lives as they sailed <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0211/0211504r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>in a small skiff</b></a> to the New Jersey shore.</li><br><br> <li>Owners looked upon their slaves as <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/gc/gcmisc/lst/lst0049/0000/00010000.gif" target="_blank"><b>chattel</b></a> and offered huge rewards for their <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0211/0211503.gif" target="_blank"><b>merchandise</b></a>. One male slave, for example, was <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/cph/3a30000/3a39000/3a39700/3a39725r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>worth</b></a> $100 if captured outside the state of Missouri and $50 if captured within. (<a href="http://www.westegg.com/inflation/" target="_blank"><b>Adjusting</b></a> for inflation, those values would be $1,956 and $978 in 2003.)</li><br><br> <li>People escaping north followed the <a target="_blank" href="images/drinking_gourd.gif"><b>drinking gourd</b></a> (the Big Dipper), which points to the North Star.</li><br><br> <li>Sometimes the mistress of the house took pity on her slaves, as in the case of Wesley Harris:</li></ul> <blockquote><blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>Wesleys mistress was kind enough to apprise him of the intention of his owner and overseer, and told him that if he could help himself he had better do so.</i></b></font></blockquote></blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">Heeding her <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0211/0211049.gif" target="_blank"><b>warning</b></a>, Wesley and a friend escape from Virginia to Terrytown, Maryland. A man pretending to be a Quaker (members of that religious group often helped runaway slaves) allowed Wesley and his friend to stay in his barn. It was a setup, however, as Wesley had feared. A <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0211/0211051v.jpg" target="_blank"><b>serious confrontation</b></a> in the barn soon followed, and the slaves (after being badly beaten) were <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0211/0211050.gif" target="_blank"><b>recaptured</b></a>.</p> <p>Slaves could not flee the south without help. Some of the most famous conductors on the Underground Railroad were former slaves.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="underground_railroad_ch6.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="underground_railroad_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="underground_railroad_ch8.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>