| CHAPTER I |
| Sources of the History of the Underground Railroad |
| PAGE |
| The Underground Road as a subject for research | 1 |
| Obscurity of the subject | 2 |
| Books dealing with the subject | 2 |
| Magazine articles on the Underground Railroad | 5 |
| Newspaper articles on the subject | 6 |
| Scarcity of contemporaneous documents | 7 |
| Reminiscences the chief source | 11 |
| The value of reminiscences illustrated | 12 |
| CHAPTER II |
| Origin and Growth of the Underground Road |
| Conditions under which the Underground Road originated | 17 |
| The disappearance of slavery from the Northern states | 17 |
| Early provisions for the return of fugitive slaves | 19 |
| The fugitive slave clause in the Ordinance of 1787 | 20 |
| The fugitive slave clause in the United States Constitution | 20 |
| The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 | 21 |
| The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 | 22 |
| Desire for freedom among the slaves | 25 |
| Knowledge of Canada among the slaves | 27 |
| Some local factors in the origin of the underground movement | 30 |
| The development of the movement in eastern Pennsylvania, in New Jersey, and in New York | 33 |
| The development of the movement in the New England states | 36 |
| The development of the movement in the West | 37 |
| The naming of the Road | 44 |
| CHAPTER III |
| The Methods of the Underground Railroad |
| Penalties for aiding fugitive slaves | 47 |
| Social contempt suffered by abolitionists | 48 |
| Espionage practised upon abolitionists | 50 |
| Rewards for the capture of fugitives and the kidnapping of abolitionists | 52 |
| Devices to secure secrecy | 54 |
| Service at night | 54 |
| Methods of communication | 56 |
| Methods of conveyance | 59 |
| Zigzag and variable routes | 61 |
| Places of concealment | 62 |
| Disguises | 64 |
| Informality of management | 67 |
| Colored and white agents | 69 |
| City vigilance committees | 70 |
| Supplies for fugitives | 76 |
| Transportation of fugitives by rail | 78 |
| Transportation of fugitives by water | 81 |
| Rescue of fugitives under arrest | 83 |
331 | | The rescue of Addison White, Mechanicsburg, Ohio, 1857 | 334 |
| The Oberlin-Wellington rescue, 1858 | 335 |
| Obstruction of the Fugitive Slave Law by means of the personal liberty acts | 337 |
| John Brown's attempt Lo free the slaves | 338 |
| CHAPTER XI |
| Effect of the Underground Railroad |
| The Underground Road the means of relieving the South of many despairing slaves | 340 |
| Loss sustained by slave-owners through underground channels | 340 |
| The United States census reports on fugitive slaves | 342 |
| Estimate of the number of slaves escaping into Ohio, 1830-1860 | 346 |
| Similar estimate for Philadelphia, 1830-1860 | 346 |
| Drain on the resources of the depot at Lawrence, Kansas, described in a letter of Col. J. Bowles, April 4, 1859 | 347 |
| Work of the Underground Railroad as compared with that of the American Colonization Society | 350 |
| The violation of the Fugitive Slave Law a chief complaint of Southern states at the beginning of the Civil War | 351 |
| Refusal of the Canadian government to yield up the fugitive Anderson, 1860 | 352 |
| Secession of the Southern states begun | 353 |
| Conclusion of the fugitive slave controversy | 355 |
| General effect and significance of the controversy | 356 |
