GDG- Underground Railroad Locations

Tue Jun 5 07:03:26 CDT 2007

Thanks all for the lively debate on this topic.  So if I understand this, it sounds like there was not really a set of houses that you could say:  this was always a safe house, but rather, if the person was able to help the slave, they did, but there was no guarantee they would.  If the slave catchers were close, they woudlnt' risk their house, their freedom, their possessions to help the slave, but if they could, they would do what they could?  

But there were places, natural areas in the Gettysburg area that were known hiding places that hid runaway slaves?  

But were there known houses that at times did help runaway slaves, other than those already metioned?  

Thanks
Andy

----- Original Message -----
From: jack <jlawrence at kc.rr.com>
To: GDG <gettysburg at arthes.com>
Sent: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 21:53:52 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: GDG- Underground Railroad Locations

Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:

My take on it is the same. I get the impression was not the  the sustaining 
force came frm former slaves and/or free blacks living in the arera. Yellow 
Hill, Jack Hopkins and, Quaker Valley, were probaly people and places that 
knew where the escapedv laves came from, what the natural routes were and 
they kept an eye out for them. I one was spotted, these were place and 
people who would be told, and they would surreptitiosly gather them up.

There were no schedules, and there were no regular stops. these people were, 
in my opibion, enablers, but at the end of the day, the person who freed the 
slave him or herself.

Regards,

Jack

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marc Ferguson" <marcferguson at charter.net>
To: "GDG" <gettysburg at arthes.com>
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 8:43 PM
Subject: Re: GDG- Underground Railroad Locations

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
> "My take on this is that the underground RR was not a railroad with
> stops. It was a network of people who, occasionally or often, helped
> move slaves from the south to safe havens in the North."
>
> I agree with this statement. Considering the novelty and significance of 
> the railroads during the antebellum period, it is not surprising that this 
> metaphor caught on. But it was, after all, only a metaphor. The actual 
> "UGRR" was really a constantly changing network of relationships. After 
> the war the idea of the Underground Railroad was much romanticized. Many 
> people made claims for their participation, or especially for their 
> parents' involvement in this activity. Many of these claims must be taken 
> with at least a grain of salt. Most slaves who fled did so on their own, 
> and what aid they received was generally given by other blacks. While 
> there are undoubtedly cases of "secret rooms," this is a wildly 
> exaggerated element of the "railroad." Once fugitive slaves were able to 
> cross the border from a slave state into a free state, their protection 
> was primarily due to the solidarity of the communities, mostly black, that 
> harbored them, as well as the refusal of the larger white community to aid 
> slave-hunters. There was a fugitive slave named Basil Dorsey who settled 
> in a community, Florence, Massachusetts, close to where I live who 
> apparently passed through Gettysburg on his flight from slavery in 
> Frederick County, Maryland. An account of Dorsey's life in the Hampshire 
> Gazette from April 2, 1867 reports: "On the 14th of May 1836, before 
> anti-slavery became very popular, even in Massachusetts, Dorsey, in 
> company with two other slaves, turned his back upon his master and set out 
> for the land of freedom. They traveled in the night and reached Gettysburg 
> to safety. From thence they went to Harrisburg and then to Reading." 
> Unfortunately this account doesn't give any details as to whether anyone 
> in Gettysburg aided them. My guess is that there were free blacks in the 
> area who sheltered them, which was often the pattern. Dorsey was later 
> assisted by the famous abolitionist Robert Purvis, went on to New York 
> where he was apparently assisted by David Ruggles, and then on to Western 
> Massachusetts. Notably, Dorsey affixed his name as one of ten "fugitives 
> from Southern Slavery" to a public notice in the _Northampton Courier_ of 
> 10/22/1850, calling for a public meeting to "express their opinions and 
> adopt such measures as they deem proper to prevent Massachusetts from 
> being made slave hunting ground."
>
> Marc Ferguson
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <jlawrence at kc.rr.com>
> To: "GDG" <gettysburg at arthes.com>
> Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 2:51 PM
> Subject: Re: GDG- Underground Railroad Locations
>
>
>> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>>
>>
>> There is a place up on Culp's hill that has been referred to as a "man
>> made cave".
>>
>> You can see it from the tower up there when the undergrowth is gone.
>>
>> There was a group at the college that was called the "black ducks"
>> that was supposed to be active in moving slaves.
>>
>> The janitor at the college was supposed to be active in the movement.
>> Jack something (there is a marker outside his house).
>>
>> Finally, I have seen the Dobbin's house listed on at least one list as
>> being a stoip for escaped slaves.
>>
>> The Dobbins family did own slaves, but no longer owned Dobbins when
>> the railroad was at its Zenith. Send me a private E-Mail and I'll get
>> you some references.
>>
>> My take on this is that the underground RR was not a railroad with
>> stops. It was a network of people who, occaisionally or often, helped
>> move slaves from the south to safe havens in the North.
>>
>> Gettysburg was more of a place they were routed through and any so
>> called "stops" were more like temporary respites. I imagine, using
>> that definition, there were many such places in the area.
>>
>> If you are looking for places of refuge, Yellow Hill and Quaker valley
>> would be a good guess, I believe.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Jack
>
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