The Underground Railroad

The famed Underground Railroad, a secret federation that harbored runaway slaves and guided them to freedom, ran on both land and water. With thousands of sail and steam vessels plying the Bay, countless slaves sought freedom through the aid of benevolent sea captains who might be willing to take a risk, and maybe a bribe, to smuggle slaves northward. Harriet Tubman of Maryland, one of the most accomplished conductors of the Underground Railroad, sometimes traveled by water. The Underground Railroad was a loose system, in which runaways may have been aided in some way by "conductors," "trainmen," or a caring person willing to offer aid. In the 1850s, perhaps 2,000 slaves a year escaped in this manner. In some areas, the Railroad was very well organized; elsewhere, it could be makeshift, relying mostly on the slave's own resources.

"About Christmas, 1837, we made an arrangement to run away. Zip was calculating to take the vessel that the white people had left during their absence…. We intended to carry off seventy, but we were disappointed because we could not carry out our arrangements. It was a very cold Christmas Eve, so much so that the river was badly frozen, not making it favorable for us to capture her: hence we gave up that project until the spring of 1838."

James L. Smith, former Virginia slave