Conductors and slaves seeking freedom
realized full well that their lives were on the
line. Capture would mean beatings or death.
Slave-owners employed guns, dogs and
mercenaries known as patrollers or slave
catchers to help recapture runaways. Once
slaves reached free states, they realized they
were still subject to recapture by slavecatchers and returned to bondage. Even
free blacks were sometimes caught up in the
fanatical determination of slave-owners to get
as many blacks returned as possible.
Door to Underground
Railroad Courtesy of
Slippery Noodle Inn
Today, available statistics show that the
Underground Railroad networks were numerous.
Most started in Maryland and Kentucky, and to
some extent, Virginia. These extended
northward through mountains and rural areas
into cities like Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and
Indianapolis. Once in the North, they extended
onward to cities like Detroit, Syracuse and
Chicago. Many runaways who made it as far as
Detroit or Syracuse continued to Canada. Since
Great Britain and its colonies had abolished
slavery by the 1830s, they could function
legally. Even with some restrictions on what
they could achieve, runaway slaves enjoyed
definite advantages north of the U.S. border.
There seems to be some evidence of runaway
slaves making their way north from Tennessee
or North Carolina. Unfortunately, tragically,
there is apparently no evidence of Underground
86