Dear Kate,

I am so happy for your post! Art's wife and I grew up in Washington County, Ohio which had a 65 mile long border with Virginia (now West Virginia). I readily admit that my research of the Underground Railroad is focused in southeastern Ohio and to some extent West Virginia. Art is very aware of the extensive history of how the free blacks who populated southeastern Ohio during that period, contributed to the Underground Railroad and later in the Civil War.

Prof. Wilbur Siebert's book, MYSTERIES OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, is like a bible about the Underground Railroad in Ohio. That is probably the reason that Ohio gets so much attention. I have however found that he had limitations and missed a lot of details. I attribute most of this to the general state of technology of his time.

At an early age, I realized that there must be Underground Railroad history in many other localities. I also noticed that geographical locations, topography, political borders and other factors played a huge role in determining how the Underground Railroad operated in these various localities.

Art Thomas pointed out that wealthy white Underground Railroad workers most often got press coverage while involvement and commitment of black Underground Railroad were often not reported in the press. This is not surprising since black Underground Railroad participants suffered the effects of discrimination and had to be extra secretive about their activity.

From the history of when and how Ohio was formed, and the anti-slavery attitudes of the very first group of settlers in Ohio, it is apparent to me that Washington County, Ohio played a significant role in influencing the development of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad in Washington County and the rest of southeastern Ohio did not have huge numbers of fugitive slaves as compared to other localities in Ohio and the rest of the United States.

At present I am interested to see if we cannot find more evidence about how enslaved people helped their "fugitive" brethren fleeing on Underground Railroad. At present I only have a few scanty accounts to support this, but what evidence I do have leads me to believe that enslaved African Americans, particularly in the "Deep South" operated the Underground Railroad almost entirely by themselves. I am extremely interested in discussing this more!