White Abolitionists

It can be difficult to gather information on the Underground Railroad. Larger urban centers, like New York City and Philadelphia, had Vigilance Committees,[1] there was no central organizing body to the broader movement. There was some communication between directors, like the printed quarterly reports from Cleveland in Frederick Douglass’ Paper and The Anti-Slavery Bugle in the mid-1850s,[2] but many accounts of Underground Railroad activity were written decades after the Civil War ended and contain heroic exaggerations that romanticize the past.

The largest source of Underground Railroad accounts in Athens Ohio were from Wilbur Henry Siebert, a historian at Ohio State University who collected accounts from Ohioans in the 1890s. While Siebert’s accounts contain some grains of truth, his materials were collected decades after the war, when abolitionist activity was exaggerated and romanticized. Siebert’s collections also focused on white conductors, neglecting the role played by free Black Ohioans.[3] Because of this, Underground Railroad sources must be read with care, but they can provide a useful starting point. Siebert's accounts detail white activity in Athens County.

Underground Railroad activity in Athens County began in the early nineteenth century. Eliakim Moore places the earliest group as being active in the 1820s and 1830s. Eli Brown, who was born in 1814, recalled that his father John Brown (not the famous abolitionist) “was interested in the escape of negro slaves longer ago than I can remember.”[4] It remained active through the antebellum period, with most accounts mentioning Amesville and Albany as stopping points in Athens County. Freedom seekers traveled from Meigs, Gallia and Jackson Counties into Athens County, especially Albany and Amesville.

Wilbur H. Siebert photograph, c. 1915-1925. Ohio History Connection.

From Amesville, they moved to Bishopville and Chesterfield in Morgan County. Others went to Muskingum County, McConnelsville, Zanesville, while others went to Oberlin. There was no set route, but “they were taken from station to station by conductors who would select such route as would most likely evade pursuit.”[5] Athens County stations were an important stop to move freedom seekers from Meigs and Gallia, where slaveholders may have followed them across the river, to northern counties, where they could be moved to safety in Canada.

While the routes varied, some communities in the region were more active than others. While the Burrell family claimed involvement in the early Amesville effort, no freedom seekers were housed with them in Nelsonville, Hocking County, or Vinton County, where they lived through the 1850s.[6] Fewer sites were named in the city of Athens, although Joseph Harold’s mill, now known as White’s Mill, was a stopping point.[7] While Athens was not a hub like Cincinnati or Oberlin, Athens County’s rural setting, its closeness to the river, and its few abolitionist communities led to it functioning as a valuable point between the Ohio River Valley communities and the abolitionist communities to the north. Hiding places for freedom seekers varied. North of Amesville, John McDougal’s property had a cave where travelers hid until they could travel in darkness. Eli Brown was sent as a child to leave meals near the cave, instructed by his father not to tell anyone where he was going or where he had been. Conductors sometimes offered their homes,

White's Mill. Courtesy of Southeast Ohio History Center.

which could shelter freedom seekers in cellars or rooms protected by hidden panels. The mill in Athens also made use of its attic space to house those passing through.[8]

Folktales and early histories of the Underground Railroad portrayed it as an extremely organized network of thousands of mostly white abolitionists working together, although later scholarship shows this is a misconception.[9] While some communities were well-organized, Southeast Ohio did not have the largescale coordinated movement that Oberlin had. Rochester Burrell recounted abolitionist meetings in Amesville, but according to his accounts, those meetings had mixed responses in the community. “On one occasion, several persons concluded to break up the meeting and came prepared with eggs, chicken-bones, etc., which they threw with precision and energy.”[10]

When it came to aiding freedom seekers, though, Athens County activists were cautious to speak about their activities. Some of the participants were familiar with one another and shared the effort of throwing slaveholders off the routes being used. Sometimes this required a last-minute change of plans. Athens resident Mr. Walker came to Eli Brown in Amesville one night when a group was being closely pursued, and quick coordination between the men let the freedom seekers push through the night on horseback, giving them a greater chance of reaching safety. Still, Rochester Burrell’s father was “guardly” when speaking, and Mrs. C. Grant claimed there were times when she did not know freedom seekers had been in her home’s cellar until several days later due to her parents’ secrecy.[11] While cooperation was important to moving freedom seekers away from slaveholders, conductors were careful to keep the information among themselves.

Early Underground Railroad historians, such as Wilbur Siebert, misunderstood routes as an organized network. Ohio History Connection.

Though they were secretive about their Underground Railroad activity, some were vocal abolitionists. Cornelius Bellows, remembered by his descendants as a conductor in Albany, wrote abolitionist poetry which was published in Ohio newspapers.[12] One of Cornelius’ poems, “Saving the Union,” criticized the Fugitive Slave Laws:

When the people knew not what to do

a Congress numbered thirty-two

Made a law as long as quakers cue

And you must catch a slave and put him through

to save this Christian Union […]

If a poor soul from bondage flee

You see him striving to be free

Or if he should ask for help from thee

Oh you must never hear his plea

But chain him for the Union.

If a poor bondman black or white

Should chance to come within your sight

If tired and hungry begs a bite

Or a bed to rest himself at night

Starve him and save the Union.[13]

For Cornelius, the laws were against what the Union stood for. Slaveholders were protected, while those who opposed slavery could be punished for helping freedom seekers instead of returning them. By writing poetry, Cornelius could tell others that the fugitive laws were morally wrong, and that he valued protecting human life over protecting the abstract idea of the union, in a legally acceptable way. While he wrote this poetry, his community was also acting, moving freedom seekers ever closer to the freedom they could not legally gain in the United States.

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An excerpt of Cornelius Bellows' poem. Southeast Ohio History Center.

Notes

1. Eric Foner, Gateway to Freedom, 20-22.

2. “Report of the Underground Railroad,” Frederick Douglass’ Paper (Rochester, NY), September 8, 1854. Readex; “Quarterly Report of the Underground Railroad,” Frederick Douglass’ Paper (Rochester, NY), January 26, 1855. Readex; “Underground Railroad,” Anti-Slavery Bugle (Salem, OH), September 16, 1854. LoC.

3. Larry Gara, “The Underground Railroad: Legend or Reality?” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 105, No. 3 (Jun. 27, 1961) 338. https://www.jstor.org/stable/985459.

4. Wilbur Siebert, Eliakim H. Moore Interview by Wilbur Siebert, Mar. 9, 1892. Manuscript. Ohio History Connection, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection. Web. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/1509; Eli F. Brown, Letter, March 18, 1892. Letter. Ohio History Connection, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection. Web. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/1264.

5. H. C. Harvey letter to Wilbur Siebert, Jan. 16, 1893. Ohio History Connection, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection. Web. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/6117.

6. Rochester Burrell. Almond Hervey Burrell Family History, March 1895. Manuscript. Ohio History Connection, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection. Web. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/774; Wilbur Siebert, Mysteries of Ohio's Underground Railroad. Ohio History Connection, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection. Web. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/1231; Mrs. C. Grant, Letter to Wilbur Siebert, Aug. 28, 1894. Ohio History Connection, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection. Web. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/5957.

7. Wilbur Siebert, Eliakim H. Moore Interview.

8. Eli F. Brown, Letter, March 18, 1892; Mrs. C. Grant, Letter, Aug. 28, 1894; Eliakim H. Moore Interview by Wilbur Siebert, Mar. 9, 1892.

9. Eric Foner, Gateway to Freedom, 12-13.

10. Wilbur Siebert, “Almond Hervey Burrell family history, March 1895.” Ohio History Connection, Wilbur H. Siebert Collection. Web. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/776/rec/1.

11. Eli F. Brown, Letter, March 18, 1892; Mrs. C. Grant, Letter, Aug. 28, 1894; Almond Hervey Burrell Family History, March 1895.

12. “Former Athens Countian to Celebrate 100th Birthday,” Athens Messenger, May 1, 1953; (William) Darrell Herron, personal papers. No. 2016-22-300, 2016-22,307. Southeast Ohio History Center.

13. C.B. Bellows, Saving the Union. 2016-22-312. Southeast Ohio History Center.

Image 1: Wilbur H. Siebert photograph, c. 1915-1925. Wilbur H. Siebert Collection, SC 4080. Ohio History Connection. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll32/id/10252/rec/1.

Image 2: White's Mill and Dam on the Hocking River. Photograph. Anastas Collection, Southeast Ohio History Center Digital Collections. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p16007coll46/id/360.

Image 3: South central Ohio Underground Railroad routes map. Wilbur H. Siebert Collection, MSS116AV BOX60 F01 001. Ohio History Connection. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/5609.

Image 4: C.B. Bellows, Saving the Union. 2016-22-312. Southeast Ohio History Center.