The Underground Railroad in Connecticut

8. West Connecticut Trunk Lines

C H A P T E R 8 WEST CONNECTICUT TRUNK LINES WHILE some fugitives entered Connecticut from the sea, at New Haven or another port, the majority came by overland routes. Pennsylvania, whose southern border was the Mason-Dixon line, received thousands of runaways from the contiguous states of Virginia, Maryland , and Delaware; and Philadelphia, with its large Quaker population and its long-established Underground apparatus, became a most important haven and forwarding station for refugees from slavery. Between 1830 and 1860, more than 9000 slaves are said to have been helped on their way to freedom in that city.1 A great proportion of these were sent on, by rail or steamer or road, to New York City, wherethe Vigilance Committee, in existence by 1835 and operated mainly by Negroes, gave them protection and help. The Reverend Amos Beman, who addressed this group at one of its anniversary meetings,summarized its role in the work of the Underground Railroad:2 Those who come with fear and trembling and apply for aid, are flying from the cruel prison house—the dark land of their unpaid toil—the ground stained with their blood and wet with their bitter tears—they have journeyed with scant food, guided by the pale light of the 120 The Underground Railroad in Connecticut North Star—the sombre night has been their day—the cold damp earth their cheerless bed—the dreary day has been full of danger and alarm—every stirring leaf spoke to them of the slavehunter—every sound told them of the bloodhound. . . . At this point, this Committee find them tormentedby overwhelming anxiety. . . . To stay here would be to be in a state of continual jeopardy— for this is the slavecatcher's huntingground; and it is for such persons, thus situated, that this committee asks your efficient aid in shielding the flying slave. The flow of fugitives through New York was constant, and constantly increasing. The Reverend Charles B. Ray, one of the Vigilance Committee's outstanding Negro workers, reported that "more than four hundred persons, escaped from slavery" came into the city during the year 1849; and after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, the place "became more active than ever in receiving and forwarding" the runaways.3 From Manhattan, fugitives journeyed farther by any one of several means, going in any one of several directions . Some voyaged by boat to New England ports—New Haven, Hartford, and others. Some went across the East River to Long Island, where there were points of refuge. Many followed the Hudson River northward, by a route whose branches might take them straight to Montreal, or westward through Central New York and across Lake Ontario to the region of Kingston, or eastward via a number of laterals into Connecticut, Massachusetts, or Vermont . Still others traveled the path of William Grimes, northeast along the Sound shore and so across the state line at Greenwich.4 Those who canie by this route found protection at the Underground station operated by Benjamin Daskam in Stamford. He had several different hiding places at his WEST CONNECTICUT TRUNK LINES 121 disposal, to be used as discretion indicated; he once concealed a runaway in a neighbor's barn, while another was secreted in the belfry of the Presbyterian church. He acted as a conductor also, taking his charges in a hay wagon to a man named Weed in Darien.8 East of Darien, there was a station in Norwalk, but who operated it remains unknown. It may have been the house of David Lambert, which had a secret stairway from beneath the gambrel roof to a dark cellar, from which in turn a tunnel—literally underground—led to a nearby salt-box house. This building is believed to have been used as a hideaway for freedom-bound fugitives.6 It is logical to suppose that, from this point, some runaways followed the Sound to New Haven, but the locations of stations along this route, and the names of their proprietors, have not come to light. A known route took the refugee north from Norwalk to Wilton, where William Wakeman was an earnest abolitionist and active Undergrounder for many years. In the late 1830's he invited the Reverend Nathaniel Colver, the touring antislavery lecturer, to speak at his house before "immense crowds." He was still at his work for the enslaved , with redoubled effort, after the Fugitive...