Underground Railroad During the Civil War

Underground Railroad was the single most important nonviolent political protest movement in nineteenth century America. Slave rebellions did help to rally the cause for self-empowerment and abolition, but the Underground Railroad led to meaningful, tangible results. The descendants of former slaves who made it to Canada have shaped the fabric of that nation, while the descendants of the former slaves to achieved liberty in their lifetime and lived to tell their stories have left an indelible mark on American history.

In many ways, the Underground Railroad signified the stirrings of Civil War. Dissent among slaves created problems for slave owners, who clung ever tighter to their traditions. In 1850, Congress enacted the Fugitive Slave Act, which criminalized aiding and abetting escaped slaves on the grounds that escaped slaves were recognized as stolen property. Tightening the noose on slavery with the Fugitive Slave Act, the federal government lost a considerable amount of legitimacy in the years prior to the Civil War.

Harriet Tubman would write a letter to President Lincoln in 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, urging the President to reconsider his weak stance on slavery. Tubman, a self-liberated slave, understood that waiting for the white government to take the initiative for emancipation was futile. It was more important to forge a more meaningful pathway to freedom: a pathway that led to Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, and anywhere else slavery had ceased to be an issue.

The United States remained tied to white supremacist policies that enabled southern landowners to govern their properties with impunity. Without help from the federal government, slaves took any chance possible to escape. A vast network of individuals who pooled human and financial resources became the American Underground Railroad. Historical events like the Dred Scott decision and the Fugitive Slave Act provided the initial impetus for the upsurge in Underground Railroad activity in the decade prior to the Civil War.

The Underground Railroad had already been operating, but there was a newfound political power behind it due to the overarching power of the federal government to prosecute anyone aiding and abetting a fugitive slave. Many abolitionists viewed the Fugitive Slave Act as an incursion on their rights, and participated in the Underground Railroad with verve and passion. Abolitionists and slaves together created a grand, multi-state, and multi-national network to facilitate the trafficking of escapees. Because the Underground Railroad was politically and socially subversive, participants risked their lives and livelihoods.

None risked as much as the slaves, because being caught entailed brutal punishment. Because of the underground nature of the Underground Railroad project, contemporary primary sources are scarce. Many primary sources were composed after the fact, written retrospectively. This in no way means that the first hand accounts like those of William Still cannot be taken seriously; only that there are few details as to exactly how the Underground Railroad functioned, who was involved, and how many people were transported.

Still was an escaped slave who kept meticulous records of passages on the Underground Railroad, and published his report later in an autobiographical document. The activities of the Underground Railroad and the participants in the network also safeguarded their secrets while they were engineers and conductors, because written records would have been incriminating evidence used to implicate any person involved. However, some contemporary and retrospective documentary evidence does exist. Much of the documentary evidence is contained in the autobiographies of slaves.

Some of the most renowned slave narratives like that of Frederick Douglass include overt and covert references to the Underground Railroad. Douglass describes how Underground Railroad meetings were held "often by night, and on every Sunday," (109). In his autobiography, Douglass describes some of the core methods used by slaves to organize, disseminate information, and encourage slaves to escape to freedom. Douglass states that their meetings were politically subversive, "the meetings of the revolutionary conspirators in their primary condition," (110). Slaves had mixed feelings about their passage on the Underground Railroad.

They were at times "confident, bold, and determined," but at other times, "doubting, timid, and wavering" at the fear of getting caught (Douglass 110). The penalties for escaping were grim, but Douglass claims that their doubts had more to do with a sense of resignation that often slipped into the consciousness of the slave who had lost all hope.

"At times we were almost tempted to abandon the enterprise, and to try to get back to that comparative peace of mind which ever a man under the gallows might feel when all hope of escape had vanished," (Douglass 110). Douglass's narratives reveal many of the motives for risking escape, and also the motives of those who helped fugitive slaves discover and use the Underground Railroad.

If slaves were recognized as stolen property under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, then Congress underscored the normative belief that slaves did not think and act for themselves. It was implied that slaves played a passive role in the Underground Railroad, and that it was the white abolitionists who were the primary actors. The prevailing narrative espoused by the dominant culture stresses white supremacy, albeit inadvertently. Therefore, it is critical to reframe the Underground Railroad experience from a more historically, socially, and culturally accurate perspective.

While white abolitionists did indeed form the backbone of the "conduction" of the Underground Railroad, it was slaves who were the primary engineers and overall managers of the project. Slaves masterminded their own escapes, personally overcoming the attempts at intimidation by slave owners. As Douglass puts it, "slaveholders sought to impress their slaves with a belief in the boundlessness of slave territory, and of their own limitless power," (110). Yet even without maps and clear knowledge of the great distances they would be traveling, slaves overcame all matter of fear.

The distance was not the issue, notes Douglass. The issue was that "hired kidnappers" working for bounty under the Fugitive Slave Law would be lurking at the borders (110). Methods of escape and transport varied widely, depending on the geographical, climatic, and social conditions. Most methods were conveyed via word-of-mouth methods, as well as through slave stories, folktales, and songs.

Songs that would become part of the American vernacular musical culture like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Brother Moses Gone to de Promised Land, Wade In The Water and Follow the Drinkin' Gourd served as directions for fugitives to follow (Lancaster County). In addition to embedding messages and meaning into the lyrics, slaves would also look to the nighttime skies for physical guidance during their treks northward. Slaves used extensive knowledge of the local landscape to their advantage, by hiding in swamps, forests, and convenient places ("Underground Railroad: American Civil War").

This meant also that slaves were exposed constantly to the elements, and grappled with basic survival issues as well as the risk of being caught. In his autobiography The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass wrote extensively about his experiences on the Underground Railroad. He writes, "Prudent as we were, I can see we that did many silly things well calculated to awaken suspicion," (109).

Singing, while it was a respite from emotional pain and a source of comfort and social bonding, also increased the risk of being heard and captured. Douglass also describes the Underground Railroad as being essentially a South to North movement of people. When singing about the proverbial Canaan in "O Canaan, sweet Canaan, / I am bound for the land of Canaan," the runaways referred specifically to Canada. It may be no coincidence that Canaan and Canada have similar sounding names.

Douglass states, "the only real Canaan of the American bondman" was Canada (110). The free states did not offer sufficient safety from bounty hunters, as bounty hunters were protected under federal law. Douglas continues, "We meant to reach the North, and the North was our Canaan," (109). The north was Canada, though, not the northern states. Although the Underground Railroad usually referred to a northerly journey, there were other destinations including the Caribbean and Europe ("Underground Railroad: a Path to Freedom").

The Underground Railroad became a serious threat to the political, social, and economic order of the South. For one, the Underground Railroad empowered slaves. Its very existence was a symbol of the potential for freedom and emancipation, which shifted slave collective consciousness from submission to hope and determination. "The Underground Railroad was more than a means of escaping slavery. With the aid of a diligent community of white northerners, it was an overall resistance movement of African-Americans against an oppressive society," (Teter and Johnson).

As a resistance movement, the Underground Railroad can be viewed historically in context as one of the first exhibitions of nonviolent civil disobedience programs in the United States. A century before the Civil Rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, heroes of the Underground Railroad like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman promoted a non-violent form of protest against the institution of slavery. The slaves simply walked away from their situation, rather than taking up arms.

This is true in spite of the fact that great anger and resentment brewed beneath the surface. Moreover, the Underground Railroad enraged the slaveowners as it undermined their authority and the prevailing social order. The Underground Railroad stripped the slaveowner not only of perceived private property; the Underground Railroad also stripped the slaveowner of personal pride. The Underground Railroad was a direct insult to the Southern way of life.

Power was wrested from the hands of the slaveowner, who could no longer control the actions, behaviors, and destiny of the slaves. The slaves took back their power. The Underground Railroad had operated for decades prior to the Civil War, its methods enhanced especially in the years leading up to the war. Passengers on the Underground Railroad increased in the years leading up to the Civil War. Harriet Tubman wrote to President Lincoln in 1862, advising him to issue an emancipation proclamation immediately.

Tubman's argument is based on a metaphor of a snake, which will continue to bite until it is killed. "God won't let Master Lincoln beat the South until he does the right thing," Tubman stated. However, the need for an Underground Railroad only highlighted the American government's complicity in slavery and oppression. The Dred Scott decision in 1857 was one of many indications that the United States was not sympathetic to the needs of slaves.

The slaves had to take their lives in their own hands, if freedom and justice were to become realities. During the Civil War, the Underground Railroad continued to function because slaves remained captives in the South. A 1864 Harpers Weekly publication illustrates the way African-American Union troops liberated slaves from Southern plantations as they fought the way ("Colored Troops, Under General Wild, Liberating Slaves in South Carolina").

Teter and Johnson also emphasize the fact that the Union Army was often a waypoint on the Underground Railroad, and troops often served as conductors. More than one slave is reported to have taken up arms with African-American Union soldiers to fight for the common cause, rather than to immediately flee north (Teter and Johnson). As increasing numbers of slaves had the opportunity to flee during wartime conditions, the Railroad itself grew in scope. The Underground Railroad became the ultimate symbol of self-empowerment and self-emancipation.

No President needed to issue a decree or an Emancipation Proclamation for the slaves to recognize their power to chart the course of their own lives by first escaping to Canada. The Underground Railroad functioned during the Civil War, because it was not until the Emancipation Proclamation that anywhere in the United States was safe for African-Americans. African-Americans took advantage of the wartime conditions to facilitate their own escapes and passages.

The war served as a kind of distraction for some slaveholders in the South, and disruptions to plantation life enabled the escape of some slaves. For others, escaping became more difficult due to increased oversight for fear of a Union incursion. When Union troops arrived in any region of a plantation, the slaves often had the opportunity to serve with the Union Army rather than proceed on the Underground Railroad.

It was critical to reach Canada, because only in Canada could the former slaves be sure that they would not be apprehended. The Canadian government was not extraditing former slaves. Quite the opposite, Canadians were a welcome destination. Furthermore, many slaves remained in the Underground Railroad system as a way to help their brethren escape. "It was not uncommon for a slave who escaped via the Underground Railroad to remain within the system in order to help others do the same," (Teter and Johnson).

Thus, the Underground Railroad grew and expanded in scope during the Civil War. The Underground Railroad continued to symbolize the struggle of African-Americans for self-determination. The war was something fought between whites and whites; the Underground Railroad was black destiny playing itself out on the landscape of North America. To understand why the Underground Railroad reached a peak during the Civil War, it must be understood that the Civil War was not fought only on the grounds of liberating slaves for humanitarian purposes.

The Civil War was fought largely for ideological, political, and economic purposes. Southern states vied for the right to preserve slavery on the grounds that states' rights took precedence over federal government. Lincoln and the Union fought to preserve the United States of America as a society with shared laws and common objectives. It was therefore ironic that Congress would have passed the Fugitive Slave Law. Humanitarian and moral purposes were used in political rhetoric, but were not necessarily primary objectives.

The Emancipation Proclamation could have been delivered after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter. Instead, Lincoln waited for four years. Lincoln engaged the South because the United States depended on a cohesive national economy. During the tricky transition from slave-based to wage-based labor in the South, the Underground Railroad remained as important as it ever was while the war was being fought. The North nearly lost the war, too, which would have meant that slaves would require continued strengthening of the Underground Railroad.

It is entirely possible that if the South had won, the Underground Railroad would have weakened the Southern economy so much so, that the South might have collapsed economically as a result. As Teter and Johnson point out, the Civil War mainly extended the Underground Railroad; it did not end it. "The principles of freedom and equality were the inspiration behind these actions that helped destroy the institution of slavery.

In light of this definition, the Civil War played an important role as an extension of the Underground Railroad," (Teter and Johnson). African-Americans taking part in the Underground Railroad used the opportunity to help as many slaves as possible to escape from the South. Quakers played a significant role in the Underground Railroad, facilitating passage for slaves and providing protective services. The Quakers were also in a position to help, due to the strategic location of Quaker communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The Ohio River was a major thoroughfare on the Underground Railroad system. Quakers provided the means by which to ensure safe passage, by organizing resources, providing information, and offering shelter, food, and clothing. Among the key Quaker Underground Railroad leaders who left written records, Levi Coffin is perhaps the most notable for the sheer magnitude of his work. Coffin is estimated to have helped some 3000 slaves since the time he was fifteen years old ("The Underground Railroad").

He housed many of the slaves in his own home in Cincinatti as a waypoint on the Underground Railroad. Coffin wrote numerous narratives related to his experiences, which also offer explicit commentary on the nature of slavery. Coffin provides detailed descriptions of some of the Underground Railroad passages, such as the Kanawha Road. The Kanawha Road was through wilderness, was "very thinly inhabited," and thus deemed relatively safe (Coffin 1).

The Halliday family in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was loosely modeled after Levi and Catherine Coffin, who Stowe knew personally (Bordewich). Although Uncle Tom's Cabin is written from a white perspective and stereotypes African-Americans as being passive recipients of white magnanimous action, the book was nevertheless a powerful piece of political propaganda. The novel featured the Underground Railroad in a narrative with themes of underdog success.

Harriet Tubman was reportedly "unimpressed" with Stowe's novel or subsequent theater play, claiming, "I've seen the real thing, and I don't want to see it on no stage or in no theater," (cited by Bordewich 373). Tubman understood that Stowe's novel represented an attempt by whites to misappropriate black self-empowerment. The Underground Railroad was not something that benevolent whites pushed upon their naive black brethren, as if to awaken the desire for freedom where none had before existed.

Slaves had pressed for their freedom since they were first placed aboard ships in West Africa. Their participation in the Underground Railroad was because they took control of their futures, and took advantage of whatever resources happened to be available. Slaves were much more self-aware and self-determined than Stowe was willing to admit in her novel. Henry Bibb, a fugitive slave who later became a journalist said, "The eye of the civilized world is now looking down upon us," (cited by Bordewich 374).

African-Americans were being called upon to be beacons of light for the repressed, oppressed, and disenfranchised communities around the world. Indeed, the Underground Railroad would become a model for similar.