Underground Railroad   While many people have heard of the Underground Railroad, many people don’t know that it wasn’t underground nor was it even a railroad. The term “Underground Railroad” actually comes from a runaway slave, who, while being chased, swam across a creek and out of the owner’s sight.The owner said, “...must have gone off on an underground railroad.” That slave was Tice Davids, a Kentucky slave who decided to escape to freedom in 1831. The primary importance of the Underground Railroad was to aide the ongoing fight to abolish slavery, and it was one of our nation’s first major anti-slavery movements. Included in this paper are famous conductors, famous families in our area, hiding places, and everything else that one would want to know about the Underground Railroad. The debate in Congress in 1819 and 1820 over whether Missouri should enter the Union as a slave or free state made it clear that the slavery issue was not going to simply evaporate. Free Blacks formed the national American Colonization Society, which brought abolitionists together rather then have them act individually. This Colonization Society wanted federal government funds to pay the costs of settling free blacks in an African colony they founded called Liberia. The era of abolitionism is generally acknowledged to have begun on January 1,1831, when William Lloyd Garrison first published his abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. The abolitionists were divided into groups based on their capabilities. Many of them were part of the organized Underground Railroad that flourished between 1830 and 1861. Others went on to give speeches about anti-slavery. The Underground Railroad was a loose network of abolitionists that illegally helped fugitive slaves reach safety in the free states or Canada. The Underground Railroad was also known as the Liberty Line. The Underground Railroad began in the 1780’s under the Quakers. It is believed that more than 60,000 slaves gained their freedom in this way. There are many important abolitionists. One of the all time greatest black abolitionists is Harriet Tubman. Tubman knew all of the stations along the Underground Railroad. She helped over three hundred slaves escape from slave states to free states using the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman many times blacked out during the long journeys because of an earlier incident, where she was hit in the head. Tubman always carried a pistol and would use it to threaten any slaves if they wanted to stop. She was called the “Moses of Blacks.” She always had her home open for slaves to stay there. On many accounts, Harriet Tubman had to risk her life to free the slaves. She is said to be the most heroic black woman of all time. Another famous abolitionist is Thomas Garrett. Initially, Garrett was a slaveholder himself. Then, one of his slaves was kidnapped. Garrett ran after the kidnappers to get his slave back. When he finally got her back he became convinced that slavery was wrong, so he began to help slaves escape. He helped many slaves escape from all over. He stood up against slavery. Mr. Garrett was said to be one of the strongest abolitionist speakers. One time he was caught freeing slaves and had to go to court. Thomas had to go through four trials lasting three days. On the last day he was found guilty and had all of his property taken away from him. He didn’t care that everything was taken away from him, because he still had his heart. Thomas Garrett went on freeing slaves for almost his entire life. The most active "conductors" in the Unionville Area was the Pierce family. They were known as the "big station" on the Underground Railroad. Their house was located on Baltimore Pike (Route 1) just north of where the Dairy Queen currently is was later sold to their cousins, the Coxes. Their home was on a direct route to Philadelphia, so all of the slaves stopped at their house. This particular house like many others had passwords to let the Coxes know who was there. Their password was “friend.” They always clothed and fed the slaves. Sometimes they would even keep them overnight. Their home was designed with many hiding places for the slaves, including the attic. In the basement of this house, there was a tunnel that led to Baltimore Pike, which led to an easy get away. The Coxes helped Thomas Garret when he lost all of his property. The Coxes were kicked out of their church, The Old Meeting House, because they helped slaves escape. They then went on and build their own church and welcomed everyone in it. Hiding places and escape routes were very important in the stations on the Underground Railroad. Most of the stations had hiding places in them. Holes in the wall were very common as well as behind cupboards. These were used for slaves to crawl in, then a chest would be pushed in front of the hole, or the cupboard would be shut. In closets floor boards might be taken out so that the slaves could hide beneath them. Sometimes the spots beneath the closet floors would lead downstairs or even outside. Many precautions were taken when having slaves hiding in one’s house. In kitchens, floor boards might move to hide slaves underneath the ground. Some houses were built with trap doors which might be covered by a rug, this would help conceal them beneath. If slaves needed to get out of the house they often hid outside in the trees. They also hid in pricker bushes. Another common area in which slaves hid is the area now known as Longwood Gardens where there were many trees and bushes. Conductors and slaves would normally share where the houses were that helped slaves, many times they would communicate using word of mouth. There were also many signals that let the slaves know which houses were safe. A very common one was that slaves that had been there before might draw a symbol on the fence to let other slaves know that they could stay there. In some cases big quilts would be hung out which let the slaves know that the house was safe. Another sign was a black jockey that held a lantern outside of the house. There were also many other ways of letting a slave know which houses were safe. There were many punishments for both the slaves and the helpers if they were caught. If slaves were ever caught they might be beaten or get their fingers or hands cut off. If their owners were mean they might skin and burn the escaped slave. The people caught helping the slaves might be put on trial. Some of them would go to jail or lose their property. If they got off easy, they might just have had to pay a fine. As the fight for abolition grew more successful, the need for the railroad slowly began to decrease. It was no longer necessary for the railroad to exist, since almost all of the slaves who were going to run already had. The final motion that brought the railroad to its final stop was the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln, ending all slavery in our now free country, forever. A grave that slaves hid in The Pierce family house on Rt 1 Hiding place in attic Another hiding place in the basement