The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was not a system of tunnels and secret codes. It was a fragile human network of free Black watermen, Quaker households, antislavery societies, and enslaved families, and Harriet Tubman’s missions depended on it at every stop.

The Network That Carried Her

Tubman’s success depended on people waiting at every stop.

Larson argues that this collaborative structure explains how Tubman rescued so many people without being caught once. Her own escape shows how it worked:

  1. A slip of paper: During the first leg of her journey, a white woman gave her a paper with two names and directions. Because Tubman was illiterate, it served as proof to the next people who took her in that she was a fugitive.
  2. The next links: She was then aided by the Levertons, who were abolitionists, and then by members of the Society of Friends.
  3. Wilmington: Clinton suggests she may have passed through Wilmington, Delaware, where stationmaster Thomas Garrett was a central figure on the main line from Maryland.

The Network Worked on Both Ends

Information moved through free Black communities as fast as through white abolitionist ones.

In the South: When Tubman set out to rescue her niece Keziah and Keziah’s two children, who were about to be sold, Keziah’s husband, a free Black man, sent word to Tubman. John Bowley smuggled the family into a boat and delivered them to Tubman, who hid them in Baltimore until they could be transported to freedom.

In the North:

  • Tubman built connections in New York City and became well known to agents from the Mason-Dixon Line to the Canadian border.
  • She attended antislavery, women’s rights, and Black rights meetings that provided both funding and contacts.
  • Her parents, Benjamin and Rit Ross, escaped in June 1857 to Rochester, New York. They stayed with Maria G. Porter of the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society, which collected clothing and food to send on to Canada.

Myth vs Reality: Tunnels and Secret Codes

Some may automatically think of tunnels, secret rooms, and codes when thinking about the Underground Railroad. It was not this simple. Clinton points out that informal networks were already well established and that the “Railroad” metaphor appeared in the 1840s and Still’s letters show people making plans as they went. The Underground Railroad, in its earlier years, was a fragile human network. While codes did exist, such as Gay’s telegraph messages and the “packages” mentioned in J. Bigelow’s letter, they supported the relationships between people rather than replacing them.

The Network in Real Time: William Still's Letters

Still’s letters show people making plans as they went.

  • Confirming arrivals: Thomas Garrett’s letters from March 1856 show him confirming safe arrivals and coordinating onward travel.
  • Improvising under risk: In October 1855, G. A. Lewis wrote about eleven freedom seekers who traveled through Wilmington in daylight and through Pennsylvania Quaker households before reaching him. He split the group up for safety while waiting for Still’s advice. Someone had to decide who traveled with whom and how exposed each route was.
  • Medical care: E. L. Stevens describes seeking care for a sick child traveling with Susan Bell.
  • Telegraph code: Sydney Howard Gay, a New York abolitionist and journalist, used the code “One M. (Or one F)” to forward freedom seekers without detection.
  • Help after escape: John H. Hill, himself a fugitive, appealed for help in freeing John Willis, showing that people stayed involved through family networks even after their own escape.

Was Harriet Tubman just one conductor among many?

Some may argue that highlighting the Underground Railroad's vast collaborative network diminishes Harriet Tubman's individual role—reducing her to merely one conductor among countless others, or casting her legendary moniker of Moses as an exaggerated myth. However, historical evidence firmly refutes this. While others operated within the exact same clandestine systems and faced failure, Tubman's record remains extraordinary: she repeatedly ventured back into perilous Maryland slave territory more than once a year for nearly a decade, undertook the journey's most hazardous legs, and never lost a single passenger. As historian Catherine Clinton emphasizes, while the network explains how her missions were physically possible, only her profound faith and resolute courage explain why she risked her life time and time again.