A Flight to Freedom: A True Story of the Underground Railroad in Illinois

A Flight to Freedom: A True Story of tbe Underground Railroad in Illinois CAROI. PIRTLE I n 1787 the Northwest Ordinance decreed that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude could exist in the territories it created. However, the French,who originally settled Randolph County in southern Illinois,held slaves long before the Ordinance went into effect. At first, they held Indian slaves,but later brought African Americans into the area. Authorities differ on exactly how many black slaves they introduced into the Illinois Country. One speculation is that in 1719 Philippe Francois Renault " brought 500 negro slaves to Illinois, landing them atthe site of the ' ancient village of St. Philip."'' Others claim that while Reiiault brought the first black slaves into southern Illinois,he owned only twentytwo : Regardless of how many slaves the French settlers held in southern Illinojs, Randolph County attracted many settlers from the Deep South because of its lenient attitude towards slavery. Southerners could immigrate into Illinois and still keep their " property"because officials ignored the Northwest Ordinance and called the slaves " indentured servants." Such proslavery champions sought to legalize slavery throughout Illinois between 182224 when they proposed a Constitutional Convention that would, in effect, legalize and expand slavery in the state. The " convention crisis" during these years brought arguments from both sides of the slavery question, and while slave owners were in the minority statewide, the state's residents elected governmental leaders who were, for the most part, slave owners or who held sympathetic views to the cause of slavery.1 Randolph County,which had supplied the state's first governor,lieutenant governor,and secretary of state all slave owners was particularly sympathetic to proConvention sentiments. Not all Randolph County settlers, though,were proslavery even though they lived in a county where many viewed slavery through sympathetic eyes. Many originally from northern states were abolitionists who began forming antislavery societies in the 18305. Their work eventually shifted from trying to introduce legislation abolishing slavery to taking an active part in winning freedom for African Americans. Abolitionists such as these made up a majority of those who served as " conductors"on the Underground Railroad. The web of secrecy and intrigue known as the Underground Railroad crissSPRING 2003 3 A FLIGHT TO FREEDOM crossed the country prior to the Civil Wan Many names associated with this railroad" ( neither a railroad nor underground) are well known to students of antebellum America. Students and scholars alike study about Harriet Tubman, Levi Coffin, and Owen Lovejoy all of whom were abolitionists who put their beliefs into action by becoming conductors on the Underground Railroad. Historians,however,have generally focused on the most famous and infamous and have commonly ignored the many unknown heroes who tirelessly worked to free slaves in bondage. Among these was William Hayes, a conductor who worked in Randolph County, located in southwestern Illinois. Hayes was a smalltime dairy farmer and sometime land speculator who had moved w to the Illinois Country from upstate New York in 1832, settling first in Peoria before moving in 1833 to Randolph County,near Sparta. Approximately two huntf . 1948), 72. 13. 1) avid M. Clarsori, " The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America: A History," in Peter Lippincott. ed.. Psalm Singing of tbe Covenanters University City,Mo.: Prairie Schooner Records, 1977). 24. 14. Carson, " The Reformed Presbyterian Church and Slavery," Clovenanter Witness February 1994), 56 . 15. Theodore Calvin Pease, 7779 Frontier State 18181848 Urbaita: University of Illinois Press, 1918). 375. 16. Sarah,alias Sarah Borders, a woman of color v.Andrew Borders, in J. Young Scammon. ed., Rt'ports of Cases Argued and Determined in tbe Supreme Court of tbe State of illbiois CChicago: Callaghan & Co., 986), v.4, hereinafter cited as Sarah i. Borders); Het:nan R. Muelde'F Fighters for Freed{, in:A History of AntiSlaverr Activiti© c) f Men and Woilie,1 Associated witb Kitox College (Ni* York: Coluinbia University Press, 1959), 105. , 17. Muelder,Figliters for Freedom, 206. 18. Born in Ireland,Chambers was thirtyseven year/ ld in 1850. He and his wife,Nancy,lived in Randolh County isee hidex to the 1850 Census.Randolph County,Illinois Yakima, Wash.: Yakinia Genealogical Society, 1976), 1. Another Matthew Chambers lived in Kno\ County...