Students of the Underground Railroad can now obtain a remarkable number of sources online. Here is a list of 75+ primary sources that are currently available in free, full-text searchable format on the Internet.
1770s - 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s - 1930s
Schweninger, Loren. "Race & Slavery Petitions Project." University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 2000-2003.
Source Type: Laws & Legal Documents
1793 Fugitive Slave Act (February 12, 1793)
Source Type: Laws & Legal Documents
Editor's Rating: Essential
St. Louis Circuit Court Historical Records Project. "Freedom Suits Case Files, 1814-1860." St. Louis Circuit Court. Missouri State Archives -St. Louis. 2000-2006.
Source Type: Laws & Legal Documents
New York Committee of Vigilance. The First annual report of the New York Committee of Vigilance for the year 1837 : together with important facts relative to their proceedings. New York: Piercy and Reed, 1837.
Source Type: Diaries & Journals
Editor's Rating: Essential
The New York Vigilance Committee was the forerunner for other vigilance operations in northern cities. This annual report demonstrates how such committees could organize publicly to protect free black residents from kidnapping without hindering their covert efforts to aid fugitives.
Borome, Joseph A. "The Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia." Pennsylvania Magazine of
History and Biography 92 (January 1968): 320-351.
Source Type: Diaries & Journals
Editor's Rating: Essential
In 1968, Joseph Borome edited records from the Philadelphia "Vigilant" Committee (or Association) for the Pennsylvania Magazine of History & Biography that included detailed records of assistance provided to fugitive slaves passing through Philadelphia between 1839 and the early 1840s. Journal entries include physical descriptions of fugitives, summaries of their routes of escape and notations about expenses.
Peters, Richard. Report of the case of Edward Prigg against the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, argued and adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, at January term, 1842 : in which it was decided that all the laws of the several states relative to fugitive slaves are unconstitutional and void, and that Congress have the exclusive power of legislation on the subject of fugitive slaves escaping into other states / by Richard Peters, reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. Philadelphia : Stereotyped by L. Johnson, 1842.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Editor's Rating: Essential
The Supreme Court's decision in the Prigg case in 1842 ushered in a new era of tension between northern and southern states over the recapture of fugitive slaves.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Written by Himself. Boston: American Anti-slavery Society, 1845.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Editor's Rating: Essential
In each successive autobiography (he wrote three altogether), Frederick Douglass offered new details about his origins, experiences and escape from slavery. In 1838, Douglass fled from Baltimore through Philadelphia before arriving safely in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was careful to leave out operational details from his pre-war narratives (published in 1845 and 1855) because, as he warned in his first Narrative, too much talk about methods of escape might have turned the Underground Railroad "most emphatically into "the upperground railroad."
Webster, Delia A. Kentucky Jurisprudence : a history of the trial of Miss Delia A. Webster at Lexington, Kentucky, Dec'r 17-21, 1844 before the Hon. Richard Buckner on a charge of aiding slaves to escape from that commonwealth, with miscellaneous remarks, including her views on American slavery / written by herself. Vergennes : E.W. Blaisdell, printer, 1845.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Anonymous. The state of Ohio vs. Forbes and Armitage, arrested upon the requisition of the government of Ohio, on charge of kidnapping Jerry Phinney, and tried before the Franklin Circuit Court of Kentucky, April 10, 1846. [n.p., 1846]
Chase, Salmon P. Reclamation of fugitives from service : an argument for the defendant, submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States, at the December term, 1846, in the case of Wharton Jones vs. John Vanzandt. Cincinnati, OH: R.P. Donogh & Co., 1847.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Seward, William H. In the Supreme Court of the United States : John Van Zandt, ad sectum Wharton Jones : argument for the defendant. Albany : Weed and Parsons, 1847.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Bibb, Henry. Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave,
Written by Himself. New York: The Author, 1849.
Source Type: Recollection
Editor's Rating: Essential
Born in Kentucky, Henry Bibb became one of the antebellum era's best known fugitive slaves. He lectured across the North and helped settle ex-slave communities in Canada. Bibb was editor of Canada's first black newspaper, The Voice of the Fugitive.
Brown, Henry Box. Narrative of Henry Box Brown, Who escaped from Slavery Enclosed in a Box 3 Feet Long and 2 Wide. Written from a Statement of Facts Made by Himself. With, Remarks Upon the Remedy for Slavery. Ed. Charles Stearns. Boston: Brown and Stearns. 1849. Click Here
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Editor's Rating: Essential
Henry "Box" Brown made perhaps the most famous escape from slavery in his era when he arranged for Samuel A. Smith, a white Underground Railroad agent, to ship him from Richmond to Philadelphia on March 23, 1849. He survived the 24-hour journey, greeted in Philadelphia by William Still, J. Miller McKim and other representatives from the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee. The scene of his unpacking, or "resurrection" became an iconic image. Brown relocated to England for more than two decades before returning to the US as a performer in the 1870s. Samuel Smith spent several years in a Virginia jail for his role in the escape.
Brown, William Wells. Narrative of William W. Brown, An American Slave. Written by Himself. London: C. Gilpin, 1849.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Henson, Josiah. The Life of Josiah Henderson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, As Narrated by Himself. Ed. Samuel A. Eliot. Boston: A. D. Phelps, 1849.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Pennington, James W. C. The Fugitive Blacksmith; or, Events in the Life of James W.C. Pennington, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, New York, Formerly a Slave in the State of Maryland, United States. London: Charles Gilpin, 1849. Click Here
Source Type: Slave Narrative
1850 Fugitive Slave Act (September 18, 1850).
Source Type: Laws & Legal Documents
Editor's Rating: Essential
American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The Fugitive slave bill: its history and unconstitutionality : with an account of the seizure and enslavement of James Hamlet, and his subsequent restoration to liberty. New York: W. Harned, 1850.
Source Type: Articles & Pamphlets
Boston Vigilance Committee. "Account Book of Francis Jackson." 1850-1855. Vigilance Committee of Boston Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA. Data compiled by Alison Woitunski for Primary Research (W. Dean Eastman, Project Director).
Source Type: Diaries & Journals
Editor's Rating: Essential
Francis Jackson was the treasurer of the Boston Vigilance Committee. A team of Boston-area high school teachers and students have posted digital transcriptions of his account books (maintained by the Massachusetts Historical Society) which record fugitive aid transactions and member expenses from 1850 to 1855.
Whittier, John Greenleaf. "The Branded Hand" in Poems. Boston, MA: Benjamin B. Mussey & Co., 1850.
Source Type: Literature
Browne, Peter A. A review of the trial, conviction, and sentence, of George F. Alberti, for kidnapping. [Philadelphia [?], 1851].
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Robbins, James J. Report of the trial of Castner Hanway for treason, in the resistance of the execution of the Fugitive slave law of September 1850. Before Judges Grier and Kane, in the Circuit Court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. Held at Philadelphia in November and December, 1851. Philadelphia, King & Baird, 1852.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Editor's Rating: Essential
The Christiana "Riot" of September 11, 1851 and the subsequent treason trial in November-December 1851 was one of the most pivotal episodes in the antebellum fugitive crisis. A Maryland slave owner named Edward Gorsuch died while unsuccessfully attempting to recapture four of his runaway slaves in southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The treason charges brought against Castner Hanway and 37 other men, both white and black, who resisted Gorsuch and his party, remains the largest single treason trial in American history. Hanway was acuitted by the jury after almost immediately after the trial concluded. Prosecutors then released the other accused figures and southerners raged against northern indifference to the new fugitive slave law.
Smallwood, Thomas B. A Narrative of Thomas Smallwood, (colored man) : giving an account of his birth--the period he was held in slavery--his release--and removal to Canada, etc. : together with an account of the underground railroad. Toronto: James Stephens, 1851.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Stone, James W. Trial of Thomas Sims, on an issue of personal liberty, on the claim of James Potter, of Georgia, against him, as an alleged fugitive from service : arguments of Robert Rantoul, Jr., and Charles G. Loring, with the decision of George T. Curtis, Boston, April 7-11, 1851 / phonographic report by Dr. James W. Stone. Boston : Wm. S. Damrell & co., 1851.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Anonymous. Trial of Henry W. Allen, U.S. deputy marshall, for kidnapping, with arguments of counsel & charge of Justice Marvin, on the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Law, in the Supreme Court of New York. Syracuse, Daily Journal office, 1852.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Brent, Robert J. Report of Attorney General Brent, to His Excellency, Gov. Lowe, in relation to the Christiana treason trials, in the Circuit Court of the United States, held at Philadelphia. Annapolis: T. E. Martin, 1852.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Member of the Philadelphia Bar. A history of the trial of Castner Hanway and others, for treason, at Philadelphia in November, 1851. Philadelphia, U. Hunt & sons, 1852.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Still, William. "Journal C of Station No. 2, William Still, 1852-1857, Vigilance Committee of Philadelphia," PAS Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Source Type: Diaries & Journals
Editor's Rating: Essential
William Still not only headed the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee during the 1850s, but also somehow managed to keep records of their efforts. "Journal C of Station 2" stands as the most comprehensive contemporary manuscript source on the Underground Railroad anywhere in the country. While the full collection remains preserved at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, extensive excerpts from the journal now appear online at an HSP exhibit that includes a wide variety of resources for teachers.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. 2 vols. Boston, MA: John P. Jewett, 1852.
Source Type: Literature
Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave. Narrative of Solomon Northup, A Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River, in Louisiana. Ed. David Wilson. Auburn, NY: Derby and Miller, 1853.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Anonymous. Boston slave riot, and trial of Anthony Burns : containing the report of the Faneuil Hall meeting, the murder of Batchelder, Theodore Parker's lesson for the day, speeches of counsel on both sides, corrected by themselves, verbatim report of Judge Loring's decision, and, a detailed account of the embarkation. Boston: Fetridge and Company, 1854.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Editor's Rating: Essential
The forced rendition of fugitive slave Anthony Burns from Boston, Massachusetts to Norfolk, Virginia on June 2, 1854 proved to be one of the most searing events of the antebellum fugitive crisis. Thousands of onlookers jeered and cried as federal troops guarded his return to slavery. The pamphlet focuses on this infamous "embarkation" and also on the unruly mass meeting at Fanueil Hall on May 26, 1854 that followed Burns's arrest and led to violence which resulted in the death of James Batchelder, one of the hired slave patrollers who had tracked the slave to Boston. The pamphlet was published, however, before Pastor Leonard A. Grimes successfully organized congregants in a black baptist church in Boston to help purchase Burns's freedom for $1,300 on February 22, 1855.
Douglass, Frederick. My Bondage and My Freedom. New York: Miller, Orton and Mulligan, 1855.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Drayton, Daniel. Personal memoir of Daniel Drayton, for four years and four months a prisoner (for charity's sake) in Washington jail. Boston, B. Marsh; New York, American and foreign anti-slavery society, 1855.
Source Type: Recollection
Grimes, William. Life of William Grimes, the Runaway Slave, Brought down to the Present Time. Written by Himself. New Haven: The Author, 1855.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. Narrative of facts in the case of Passmore Williamson. Philadelphia : Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, 1855.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Ward, Samuel Ringgold. Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro: His Anti-slavery Labours in the United States, Canada and England. London: John Snow, 1855.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Cannon, Arthur. Case of Passmore Williamson : report of the proceedings on the writ of habeas corpus, issued by the Hon. John K. Kane, judge of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in the case of the United States of America ex rel. John H. Wheeler vs. Passmore Williamson, including the several opinions delivered, and the arguments of counsel / reported by Arthur Cannon. Philadelphia : Uriah Hunt & Son, 1856.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Editor's Rating: Essential
The Passmore Williamson case, involving the imprisonment of a white Vigilance Committee member in Philadelphia in 1855 for assisting in the escape of Jane Johnson and her daughters from Col. John H. Wheeler, a southern slaveholder and US diplomat who was traveling through Philadelphia, proved to be one of the more important episodes of the antebellum fugitive crisis. The story is also featured prominently in William Still's Underground Railroad (1872). And the struggles of Jane Johnson and her family provide the major plotline for Lorene Cary's modern novel, The Price of A Child (1995).
Drew, Benjamin. A North-Side View of Slavery. The Refugee: or, The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Related by Themselves. With an Account of the History and Condition of the Colored Population of Upper Canada. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1856.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Editor's Rating: Essential
Benjamin Drew was a Boston abolitionist who interviewed ex-slaves in Canada for John P. Jewett (the publisher of Uncle Tom's Cabin) and provided a rare compilation of contemporary ex-slave interviews. Harriet Tubman was one of his subjects. Drew changed some names and fictionalized some accounts to protect fugitives.
Stevens, Charles Emery. Anthony Burns: A History. Boston, MA: John P. Jewett, 1856.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Brown, David W. Passmore Williamson vs. John K. Kane. : action for false imprisonment, before the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County / argument of Joseph J. Lewis, Esq. of Westchester, on the part of the plaintiff, delivered at Media, December 17th and 18th, 1856 ; phonographically reported by David W. Brown. Philadelphia: : Merrihew & Thompson, Printers, 1857.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Brown, Thomas. Brown's three years in the Kentucky prisons, from May 30, 1854, to May 18, 1857. Indianapolis, Courier Company Print, 1857.
Source Type: Recollection
Brown, William Wells. The Escape; or, A leap for freedom : a drama, in five acts. Boston, MA: J.B. Yerrinton and Son, 1858.
Source Type: Literature
Editor's Rating: Essential
Generally regarded as the first black American playwright, William Wells Brown frequently read this drama about a fugitive escape to anti-slavery meetings. Brown had been born into slavery in Kentucky in 1814. After his own escape in 1834, he served for several years as an Underground Railroad agent while working on steamboats in Lake Erie. Brown's own slave narrative, published in 1849, was very influential and he was widely regarded as one of the most prominent African Americans of the middle of the nineteenth century.
Anonymous. The trial of Emanuel Myers, of Maryland, for kidnapping certain fugitive slaves, had at Carlisle, Pennsylvania November, 1859. [Carlisle? 1859]
Source Type: Fugitive Case
DeWitt, Robert M. The Life, trial, and execution of Captain John Brown, known as "Old Brown of Ossawatomie," with a full account of the attempted insurrection at Harper's Ferry. Compiled from official and authentic sources. Including Cooke's confession, and all the incidents of the execution. New York, R. M. DeWitt [c1859].
Source Type: Articles & Pamphlets
Loguen, Jermain Wesley. The Rev. J.W. Loguen, as a Slave and as a Freeman: A Narrative of Real Life. Syracuse, NY: J.G.K Truair and Co., 1859. Click Here
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. The Arrest, trial, and release of Daniel Webster, a fugitive slave. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, 1859.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Shipherd, Jacob R. History of the Oberlin-Wellington rescue / compiled by Jacob R. Shipherd ; with an introduction by Henry E. Peck and Ralph Plumb. Boston: J.P. Jewett and Co., 1859.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
American Anti-Slavery Society. Testimonies of Capt. John Brown at Harper's Ferry with his Address to the Court. New York: American Anti-Slavery Society, 1860.
Source Type: Articles & Pamphlets
Craft, William. Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; or, the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery. London: William Tweedie, 1860.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
May, Samuel J. The Fugitive Slave Law And Its Victims. New York: American Anti-Slavery Society, 1860.
Source Type: Articles & Pamphlets
Mitchell, C.W. The Underground Railroad. London: William Tweedie, 1860.
Source Type: Recollection
Anderson, Osborne P. A Voice from Harper's Ferry : a narrative of events at Harper's Ferry, with incidents prior and subsequent to its capture by Captain Brown and his men. Boston, 1861.
Source Type: Recollection
Jacobs, Harriet Ann. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. Ed. Lydia Maria Child. Boston: The Author, 1861.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Anonymous. In the matter of George Gordon's petition for pardon: John Jolliffe, counsel for petitioner. Cincinnati, OH: Gazette Company Steam Printing House, 1862.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Howe, Samuel G. The Refugees from slavery in Canada West : Report to the Freedmen's Inquiry Commission. Boston, MA: Wright & Potter, 1864.
Source Type: Articles & Pamphlets
Parker, William. "The Freedman's Story" In Two Parts. Atlantic Feb. 1866: 152-66; Mar. 1866: 276-95.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Bradford, Sarah H. Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Auburn, NY: WJ Moses, 1869.
Source Type: Recollection
May, Samuel J. Some Recollections of Our Antislavery Conflict. Boston, MA: Fields, Osgood & Co., 1869.
Source Type: Recollection
Adams, John Quincy. Narrative of the Life of John Quincy Adams, When in Slavery, and Now as a Freeman. Harrisburg, PA: Sieg, 1872.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Still, William. The Underground Railroad. Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1872.
Source Type: Recollection
Editor's Rating: Essential
After the Civil War, William Still reviewed his journals and other papers from his days as head of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee and produced a memoir of the experience that remains the single most important source on the operations of the Underground Railroad. Still's recollection actually contains hundreds of pages of contemporary documents, includes excerpts from the vigilance committee journals, letters, newspaper clippings and numerous fugitive slave notices.
Griest, Ellwood. John and Mary; or, The Fugitive Slaves, a Tale of South-Eastern Pennsylvania. Lancaster: Inquirer Printer and Publishing Company, 1873.
Source Type: Literature
Williams, James. Life and Adventures of James Williams, A Fugitive Slave, with a Full Description of the Underground Railroad. San Francisco: Women's Union, 1873.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the reputed president of the Underground Railroad: being a brief history of the labors of a lifetime in behalf of the slave, with the stories of numerous fugitives, who gained their freedom through his instrumentality, and many other incidents. Cincinnati: Western tract society, 1876.
Source Type: Recollection
Editor's Rating: Essential
While Levi Coffin's claim to be the "President of the Underground Railroad" was overblown, his central role in assisting fugitives in the Ohio Valley is undisputed.
Crooks, George R. Life and Letters of the Reverend John McClintock. New York: Nelson & Phillips, 1876.
Source Type: Recollection
Petitt, Eber M. Sketches in History of the Underground Railroad Compromising Many Thrilling Incidents of the Escape of Fugitives from Slavery and the Perils of Those Who Aided Them. Fredonia: W. McKinstry & Son, 1879.
Source Type: Recollection
Bearse, Austin. Reminiscences of fugitive-slave law days in Boston. Boston, MA: Warren Richardson, 1880.
Source Type: Recollection
Douglass, Frederick. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass Written by Himself. His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time. Hartford, CT: Park, 1881.
Source Type: Slave Narrative
Smedley, Robert Clemens. History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania. Lancaster, PA: Office of the Journal, 1883.
Source Type: Recollection
Editor's Rating: Essential
Robert Smedley relied heavily on interviews with former Underground Railroad agents and Quaker abolitionists to produce a detailed though anecdotal survey of the fugitive aid network in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Sheffield, J.F. "Enslaved and a Fugitive. A Quadroon's Experience in Ante-Bellum Days," The New England Magazine 6 (June-July 1887): 76-82.
Source Type: Articles & Pamphlets
McDougall, Marion Gleason. Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865). Boston: Ginn & Company, 1891.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Editor's Rating: Essential
Strictly speaking, this compliation by Marion McDougall Gleason is a reference work rather than a primary source. The book contains a vast inventory of summaries of fugitive cases in American courts from 1619 to 1865.
Hinton, Richard J. John Brown and his men; with some account of the roads they traveled to reach Harper's Ferry. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1894.
Source Type: Recollection
Johnson, H.U. Dixie to Canada: Romances and Realities of the Underground Railroad. Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 1894.
Source Type: Recollection
Siebert, Wilbur Henry. The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1898. Click Here
Source Type: Recollection
Editor's Rating: Essential
Wilbur Siebert produced the first serious academic studies of the Underground Railroad. He collected an extraordinary body of recollections, particularly with white abolitionists who had supported the Underground Railroad. Siebert's work has since been thoroughly superseded as analysis, but his interviews remain invaluable.
Kittredge, Frank E. Man with the branded hand : an authentic sketch of the life and services of Capt. Jonathan Walker. Rochester, NY: H.L. Wilson Printing Company, 1899.
Source Type: Recollection
Conway, Moncure Daniel. Autobiography, Memories and Experiences of Moncure Daniel Conway. 2 vols. New York: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1904.
Source Type: Recollection
Hensel, William Uhler. The Christiana Riot and the Treason Trials of 1851: An Historical Sketch. Lancaster, PA: The New Era Printing Company, 1911.
Source Type: Fugitive Case
Library of Congress, "Born In Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-1938," American Memory Project, 2001.
Source Type: Slave Narrative