JOURNEY TO FREEDOM The year was 1787. The American Revolution had ended four years earlier. The soldiers and surveyors who had used Fort Steuben as their base of operations to begin laying out the newly acquired Northwest Territory had moved on. Now the Ohio country was opened to settlement under the auspices of the Northwest Ordinance. This foundational document specified that the states to be carved out of the wilderness were to truly represent the values of the Declaration of Independence: freedom and justice for all men and thus outlawed slavery. This new territory was to be settled by veterans of the Revolution and other Americans seeking a new life – including freed slaves. However, runaway slaves were still considered the property of their masters, and they could not be assured of freedom until they escaped to Canada. By 1816, Ohio would become a haven for these desperate men and women as the people of the new state protected and helped them on their way to Canada in what became known as the Underground Railroad. The stories of their struggles and courage are highlighted in an exhibit at Historic Fort Steuben. The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but a series of safe havens along certain routes across the state that led to Canada. It is said that the term originated in 1831 when a runaway slave named Tice Davids escaped into the Ohio River with his owner in hot pursuit. Tice swam for his life across the river while the other man sought for a boat to row after him. Tice landed first in Ripley, Ohio, and immediately disappeared from view. The owner continued to search for Tice, but eventually gave up without a clue to his whereabouts. In frustration, the man concluded that it was as though Tice had "gone off on an underground railroad..." Considering the limits of communication at the time, the Underground Railroad in Ohio was an efficient and well organized operation. Routes through the forests, farms and towns were established from one hiding place to the next. In all, nearly three thousand miles of routes criss-crossed the state, most in a northeasterly direction, and at least 23 points of entry were established along the Ohio River. The Underground Railroad in Ohio reached its greatest level of activity in the 1840s, and more stations existed in Ohio than in any other state. Few records were kept of the numbers and identities of persons who reached freedom along the railroad, but it is estimated that at least 40,000 passed through Ohio. Jefferson County, Ohio contained about 117 miles of routes, divided into sections. Each section was about 10 miles long and had “stations” for hiding fugitives in the daytime as well as providing for a change of horses and necessities. There were alternative routes as well in case slave catchers had learned about the regular route. Communities in Jefferson County containing branches of the Underground Railroad were Steubenville, Mount Pleasant, and Smithfield. Other nearby towns leading generally to the north was Cadiz, Hopedale, Kilgore, and Hanoverton. Many religious denominations assisted escaping slaves to freedom, but none were more active than the Quakers, especially those around Mount Pleasant where the abolitionists published papers and actively worked to end the “peculiar institution.” Across the river, Wheeling was in Virginia, a slave state. The slave auction block was located at 10th and Market Streets. Slaves were sold much the same as was customary at horse sales. They were put on the block where prospective bidders could examine their teeth, muscles, etc. Often entire families were put on the block only to be separated forever, each one having been sold to different bidders. Many were herded onto river boats to be taken south. Some of them escaped by leaping into the Ohio River once they were aboard the boats but they risked drowning or gunfire from the boat. But there were other methods for them to escape across the Ohio. Abolitionists sometimes hid them under sacks of grain or other merchandise on their way home from the market in Wheeling. In this way, they safely rode the ferry across the river at Martins Ferry. Sometimes they used the cover of darkness to canoe slaves across the river, and many times an escaping slave, alone and without help, swam across at night. In the winter it was possible to cross on the ice. History, maps and stories of the men and women who served as “conductors” and “station masters,” the use of songs and quilts as signals and facts about the Underground Railroad in Ohio will be on display at “Follow the Drinking Gourd” at Historic Fort Steuben in Steubenville, from February 10 to 28, Monday-Friday from 10-4 and Saturday, February 15 from 10-4.