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Nora Dietz-Kilen

April 6, 2018

History in Philanthropy

Search for Hoosier Heroism in the Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad is iconic in the narrative of the anti-slavery movement. Tales

of the ‘conductors’, who led the escaped slaves or ‘passengers,’ are spread across the

Underground Railroad history. While there exists an almost infinite amount of accounts on the

matter, a sampling across resources shows much credit to white, Quaker abolitionists. In

searching for the key conductors on the Underground Railroad, the majority of accounts shout

about white abolitionists who showed progressive altruism, about the Society of Friends who

acted within the Quaker Faith, and the Northerners who held true to their reputation of

representing the “Free North.” What complicates this narrative, however, is a heroism rather

unheralded.

Looking through the Indiana narrative, for being in its uniquely cross-sectional

perspective, shows an omission of more credit where it is due, to the people who had the most to

lose in helping escaping enslaved blacks on the Underground railroad. Amidst the numerous

accounts of progressive heroism on the Underground Railroad, an account pales in comparison,

though deserving of equal, if not more credit than those like white Quaker abolitionists - this is

the account of freed blacks abolitionists. There do exist a number of accounts recognizing black

heroism, which brought to attention the potential and lack of all other accounts of black

abolitionists in a time of incredible need. However, there are not nearly as many or as glorified
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as those of their white adversaries - a huge flaw in the history of Indiana, nevertheless the United

States.

The landscape of abolition in Indiana lied heavily on the states geographical location to

begin with. Though the definitive route of the Underground Railroad was intentionally kept

enigmatic, Indiana is known to have held significant segments of the route in which escaped

slaves made their journey toward freedom. Not obviously in one half of the country or the other,

Indiana was a moderate state of the free North, but still well within reach and influence of the

slavery-supported South. In fact, it’s this very position in which Indiana sat calls a peculiar

interest into the behavior of those living or escaping to Hoosier lines.

Indiana was indeed a free state, but how free was debatable, with a tendency to change

across time. Further, is a state every really free when it is so accessible by those who hold on to

traditions of inequality and disparity between humans? In Indiana, the conflicting expectations of

Hoosiers from either side poses a unique intersection. While much of the narrative of the North

holds a rather overly esteemed view of being the “Free North,” and much of the South narrative

turns a blind eye toward the cruel realities of its history, states like Indiana provide a distinctive

intersection in interpretation on what happened in the transitional era of slavery. Because

Indiana’s location serves as a physical middle ground, or rather, “up for grabs” territory, the

state’s geographical location complicates a purely “Northern” or “Southern” history for the time

period.

An example of such hemming and hawing on behalf of the state is shown in the

correspondence between the governor of Kentucky and the governor of Indiana, demanding the

return of slaves.
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“​I LAZARUS W. POWELL, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, by virtue of the

authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States,

do, by these present demand the said Delia A. Webster as a fugitive from

the justice of the laws of the State, and make known to your Excellency

that I have appointed John B. Floyd and John C_____ or either of which

my agent to receive said fugitive, and bring her to this State, having

jurisdiction of the said offense that she may abide her trial for the crime

with which she stands charged.”

(Crenshaw, Ch.6, 2)

The Kentucky governor’s language is possessive, identifying the slave as fugitive

property to be returned - typical rhetoric of the South. Documents such as this not only call for

the return of slaves, but for the state of Indiana to continuously reaffirm and question its position.

Even the President himself, Jefferson Davis at the time, saw both sides of the issue. His

approach was more obligational and transactional, over moral. His opinions were documented as

“grave. While he could not see how our officers were obliged to leave their legitimate military

business to pursue and return fugitive slaves, under a civil law in which their disloyal slave

masters did not recognize, at the same time he could not understand that our armies are obliged

to receive, feed and clothe them” (Indiana State Guard). Considering the role of the various

resources available for retrieving slaves and supplementing work, President Davis failed to stake

a strong claim on the issue, another example of the incredible weight and pressure transferred
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from those in power to soon-to-be local heroes, stepping up where the government chose not to

(Indiana State Guard).

The legislative element provides a crucial part for this as well. In 1850, the notorious

Fugitive Slave Act was passed, returning the ‘rights’ of slave owners back to them in order to go

into the once Free North to retrieve their slaves (Falley, 293). Abolitionist Hoosiers were

outraged and stunned, having just suffered a previous blow only a few years earlier from the

introduction of Article 13, ​which decreed in part that "No negro or mulatto shall come into or

settle in the State, after the adoption of this Constitution,” essentially banning black migration

into the state of (Article 13). ​The relatively fast change between free and obtainable in the North

states, including Indiana, was huge. This shift illuminated the wavering position the state held.

Many Hoosiers who once felt safe, fled further North to Canada (Crenshaw, Ch. 6, 10).

Though no source was able to specifically identify when the Underground Railroad began

due to its secrecy, many agree that the Railroad peaked traffic in direct correlation with the

passing of the Fugitive Slave Act. Much of Indiana sprang into action in response, birthing

abolitionist heroes left and right. In an 1844 speaking tour, New York journalist, Sydney Howard

Gay, described Hoosier assistance to fugitive slaves as an “efficient anti-slave instrumentality,”

that should be modeled after out Easter (Foner 98).

To now focus even further from looking at Indiana’s position as a whole, the more

debatable issue is which Hoosier groups were the true heroes. The quickest answer is to name

some of the more well-known abolitionists of the time, many of whom had three similar traits in

common - white, Quaker and of course, abolitionist. Levi Coffin is a name plastered across much

of Indiana, especially Indianapolis, today, recognizing his contribution in aiding escaping slaves
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to the promised land of Canada (Coffin). In addition to historical markers in the metropolitan

area of Indianapolis, his house is preserved as a physical testament to his role, revealing hidden

rooms where slaves were hidden. Another name is Thomas Garrett, who was put on trial for

helping slaves, eventually found guilty for harboring fugitive slaves in his home (Garrett). Elijah

Pennypacker is another historical figure who fits the traits: white, Quaker abolitionist who helped

absconding slaves (Pennypacker). The heroic stories of white, Quaker abolitionists go on, and

the list of names included even longer. The easiest answer to who the true heroes were is that

each group were heroes in their own way. ​Some scholars even go as far to name the Quakers in

Indiana as enlightened to be so progressive in a state of such racism (Hamm). ​However, history

has not given enough credit to those who arguably had the greatest to lose. T​he bravest and most

enlightened Hoosiers were not the Quakers - they were those who abandoned the “every man for

himself” idea, and risked everything to help those similar to them.

Many Americans can now name famous white groups or names who served as

conductors on the Underground Railroad. Tales of their coded quilts, political speeches and

lantern codes coat the narrative of the conductors across the country. However, focusing on black

conductors, most fall short of accounts after the famous Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who

turned around and helped other absconding slaves find their way to freedom. Fortunately, in a

country that heavily and federally favored the slaveholder, Indiana still bred stories of

camaraderie and protection for slaves in their borders.

One heartening story shared two girls, Susan an​d Margaret, who escaped their

slaveholders grasp in Tennessee, fleeing north to Indiana. Seeking refuge in their grandparents’

home in Randolph County, Indiana, the two were immediately noticed as missing from their
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slave owner’s property, and subsequently tracked and hunted down. Their grandparents’ house

became surrounded by bounty men, the home left unprotected by abolitionists who were on their

way from a distance. However, the family was immediately aided by freed Hoosier blacks,

pouring into their home, armed with whatever they could find (Crenshaw, Ch. 6, 3). After a

hostile standoff, the bounty hunters were eventually allowed into the home to search that night,

but came up empty handed. The freed blacks had hidden the girls in plain sight, disguising them

as boys (Crenshaw, Ch. 6, 3).

Sometimes, the abolitions did not have to make grand gestures to be taking a risk in

abeding slave owners’ “property.” Following a hot pursuit chase from Kentucky watchdog and

slave owner, Dan Lane, escaped slave Henry Bibb sought huge risk in returning for his wife and

child. He found help, not in a crowd of freed blacks to stand between him, but in simple and

necessary sustenance from a single man on his way.

“​Before I left the city, I chanced to find by the way, an old man of color.

Supposing him to be a friend, I ventured to make known my situation, and asked

him if he would get me a bite to eat. The old man most cheerfully complied with

my request. I was then about forty miles from the residence of Wm. Gatewood,

where my wife, whom I sought to rescue from slavery, was living” (Bibb, 77).

Though a meal may not seem as brave, the “old man of color” still had much to lose,

simply by being himself and for further helping another colored man save his fugitive family.

These stories are not nearly as widespread as those of the white abolitionists, but are just as if not

more important, especially as first-hand accounts. ​John Little, an escaped fugitive, argued that no

one could tell the story of slavery better than a slave. "Tisn't he who has stood and looked on,"
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Little asserted, "that can tell you what slavery is--'tis he who has endured.' (Crenshaw, Ch. 8, 2).

Building a historical narrative about a people by telling it from the perspective and stories of

white abolitionists misses a unique perspective, and also neglects to give credit where it is due to

the current state of the country, free of slavery.

To return to the significance of other heroes, the white abolitionists had less to lose. This

is also, perhaps, why their stories are more available and public. Granted, they still held a great

social, financial and safety risks. But Quakers had less to lose. White people had less to lose. The

concept of white saviorism is not a new one - the concept shows that heroism comes easier in

being brazen and brave when a noose does not have your name on it. Even the pledge of the

Underground Railroad in Wayne County. echoes the disparity.

“I do hereby solemnly and sincerely promise that I will aid the escape of all

persons who are making and effort to escape from oppressive and making application to

me for aid so far as I can without material injury to myself or family that I will give

them aid them with food clothing & money as there necessity may require and that I

will if necessary convey them away that I will not give there pursers any information

concerning them and whether any connection contrarie with the society or so I promise

not to reveal the private affairs of the society.”

In 1850, Wayne County conductors created this pledge for those aiding in their cause. In

reading the pledge of the Underground Railroad from a white conductor and a black conductor,

the weight of the words comes out uneven. The words are the same, but what they are risking is

not. Without material injury alone reads a greater risk from someone with darker pigment than

one of lighter (Pearce).

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Today, the United States commemorates the anonymous soldiers with the Tomb of the

Unknown Soldier, guarded day and night by a watch. If only the country could pay a fraction of

that amount of credit and attention to the unnamed black abolitionists. Today’s America looks at

America’s yesterday with curious and albeit, often condescending eyes toward slavery, even

when there still remains to be a great deal to accomplish and recognize. Without even touching

the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the disparity is shown in the lack of monuments and the lack

of historical inquiry on the matter. A twenty-dollar bill with Harriet Tubman is a step in the right

direction, but not enough. True, no one party could’ve done accomplished such relative freedom

alone. But while they were not the sole source of help, freed blacks were critical in their ability

to heed the call. The Underground Railroad often paints a picture of white abolitionists, Quakers,

ministers, etc. helping slaves along, but they were not at the greatest risk. Using the brush of

white heroism only paints half of the picture of what went down in Indiana at a focal point in the

country’s history. The success is and has been hinged upon the bravery of the oppressed, the

ones with the most to lose, sticking their necks out, for people running for their lives.
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Works Cited

Article 13. (1851). “Article 13: Negroes and Mulattoes.” ​Indiana Historical Bureau.
https://www.in.gov/history/2858.htm

Bibb, H. (1850). ​Narrative of the life and adventures of Henry Bibb, and American slave.​ New
York.

Crenshaw, G. (1993). "Bury Me in a Free Land": The Abolitionist Movement in Indiana

1816-1865. ​Indiana Historical Bureau.​ Retrieved from
https://www.in.gov/history/2934.htm.

Coffin, L. (1880). ​Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the reputed president of the Underground
railroad: Being a brief history of the labors of a lifetime in behalf of the slave, with the
stories of numerous fugitives, who gained their freedom through his instrumentality, and
many other incidents​. Cincinnati: R. Clarke & Co.

Falley, L. (1848). “Routes through Indiana and Michigan in 1848.” Map.

https://archive.org/details/undergroundrailr00sieb

Foner, E. (2016). ​Gateway to freedom: The hidden history of the underground railroad.​ New
York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Garrett, T. (1848). “Trial Notes.”​ ​Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College​.

http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm/ref/collection/HC_QuakSlav/id/8053

Hamm, T. D.; Beckman, April; Florio, Marissa; Giles, Kirsti; Hopper, Marie; (2004. “A Great
and Good People: Midwestern Quakers and the Struggle Against Slavery”​ ​. ​Indiana
Magazine of History,​ Volume 100, Issue 1.

Hopper, I. T. (1838) “Hopper Papers.”​ ​Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College​.

http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm/ref/collection/HC_QuakSlav/id/7946

Indiana State Guard. (1861). “The Presidents Views on the Fugitive Slave Question.” Hoosier
State Chronicles.
https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=OLG18610608.1.1&srpos=404
&e=------186-en-20--401-byDA-txt-txIN-%22fugitive+slave%22------
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Pearce, J. “Underground Railroad Society Pledge.” Indiana Historical Society Library.

https://www.in.gov/history/3119.htm

Pennypacker, E. (1838-61). “Elijah Pennypacker Correspondence.” Indiana Historical Society

Library. http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/cdm/ref/collection/HC_QuakSlav/id/4087