Trending
Enslaved fugitives referred to the Ohio River as the River Jordan. It was a metaphor for freedom like the Israelites' flight from slavery in Egypt through the parted waters of the Red Sea. Except the River Ohio waters did not part for the slaves. They had to cross. Underground Railroad helpers were often ready to assist.
A black woman called "Aunt Jenny" worked on a Parkersburg boat dock tracking boat arrivals and summoning slaves to service the boats. With her network of contacts, she could monitor law enforcement activities. Jenny signaled station master John Stone in Belpre when it was clear for fugitive slaves to cross the river. One source says Jenny later moved to Ohio and lived a quiet life at Little Hocking under the assumed name of "Edna Sutton."
The Constitution home of Ephraim Cutler was a station for harboring slaves. Cutler's grandson, General Rufus Dawes, recalled visiting his grandparents at age 8. He "was wakened in the night, a wagon came down to the river. He heard a hoot owl call, ... answered by similar one from the other side; then a boat...brought over the crowd. My mother...prayed for them and had me kneel with her."
Many fugitive slaves navigated on their own. "Jim" and two other slaves had been given a pass to visit relatives at another plantation at Christmas. Jim decided they would visit Canada instead. They headed east toward Parkersburg, gathering provisions along the way from slaves at other plantations, and easily walked over the frozen Ohio River. The men struggled north, dodging pursuers until reaching northern Ohio where they found help.
Vigilance and creativity were needed to evade slave catchers and pro-slavery Ohio bounty hunters. John Stone of Belpre was typical of stationmasters; he possessed "fine intelligence …of slave catchers' identities, plans and intentions." They knew which neighbors could be trusted, best times to travel, and backroads. They used clever hiding places; examples: Layton's cave near Jewett Palmer's station, John Stone's cornfields, David Putnam Jr.'s closets (where his six year-old daughter Hannah came face to face with a slave one day while playing house), Mr. Pratt's pasture which sheltered slaves in hollowed-out hay ricks, a hidden chamber in the Zanesville bridge abutment. Rev. Porter and his wife in Wisconsin hid slaves in the church belfry.
Some fugitives were hidden in plain sight, riding in transport wagons, such as the wagon which hauled Mr. Holt's reeds in Meigs County. Mr. Allen of Clinton County, Ohio used a large wagon to haul 8-10 slaves, concealed only by a curtain. Levi Coffin of Cincinnati received a group of 28 slaves that had to be moved at once. No problem. He hired several carriages and headed north imitating a somber funeral procession. Other slaves moved in public with disguises. Cutler's escapees often moved up the hill disguised as millstone delivery men. Rev. Fairbank of Virginia used elaborate disguises. He dressed some slave girls in ladies' finery. He costumed one male slave in fancy gentlemen's clothing with wig, beard, and mustache to he could pass as the servant of a wealthy plantation owner. The slave's master whom they encountered failed to recognize him.
Underground Railroaders were expert at deceiving slave pursuers . Conductor Rial Cheadle of Stockport was an actor who artfully tricked locals in two ways. He convinced them of the fiction that the Stockport Mill owner was a pro-slavery "copperhead." In reality, the mill was a fugitive safehouse. He also posed as a "dimwit" who could barely care for himself. According to historian W. H. Siebert, "Cheadle was shrewd but acted as a witless man all the while (transporting) slaves from beyond the Ohio…" Henry Burke: "He was the idea man behind...strategies used to baffle slave hunters in his territory."
To be continued...