The Unsung Lincoln
of the South
Freeing 50.000 slaves gives Levi Coffin.
North Carolina's president of the “under¬
ground railway,'’ a claim to fame, hut
history has neglected him.
HIGH in the hills of Western
North Carolina, as days lie-
fore the Civil War ebbed, was
played a saga seldom paralleled in
the annals of man's fight for free¬
dom.
It was through here, on shadowy
trails tracing the tops of the moon-lit
Blue Ridge mountains, that came the
great burst of humanity swelling from
slave plantations of the deep South
and slipping northward out of the
bonds of servitude over the famous
“Underground Railroad." Kvcn those
least versed in history remember this
celebrated passage of liberty over
which Negroes, loosening their chains
of slavery, traveled in torturous
nighttime waves to n haven of free¬
dom in Canada. But few residents of
this state realize that the road thread¬
ed the mountains of western Tar-
Heelia. and was directed by an in¬
genious native of this state.
Pathway Signs Still Visible
The “road” looped near Franklin
and bore Canada-ward "station by
station.” Old eaves among the hills
.'till mark tho pathway. They were
the abodes of the escapees by day. Its
“president" was a North Carolina
Quaker, Levi Coffin, a religious, as¬
tute, and veracious man of right, born
near New Garden in Guilford County.
However, early in his life. Coffin saw
that he would lie in a more advanta¬
geous position further north where
this and other routes might converge
on his home, and from which point,
through his link of white supporters,
he could direct his dark title over the
Canadian border. Once there, they
were a free people and need never fear
extradition.
So Coffin moved north. He set up
his headquarters in Newport, In¬
diana. Later, he went to Cincinnati.
Coffin wus convinced that it was his
religious duty to free the slaves and
few and far between are the pages of
history that write his precursor in in¬
trepidity and truthfulness and gener¬
osity. He helped to free -10.000, gave
them $*>0,000, established orphanages.
Bfi EARLE BRINKI.LV
the freedman’s bureau, even traveled
in Europe in their behalf, at his own
expense.
II.- stood in constant danger of
long-term imprisonment, by his acts
contravening prevalent slavery laws
of the time; even risking his own life
on several occasions in aiding his black
friends to freedom. His home was an
ever open harbor of refuge to the runa¬
ways — he housed, fed. and clothed
them. And yet so shrewd was this man
of God that, despite the difficult sit¬
uations in which he inevitably found
himself involved, he never was proven
u liar.
On one day alone he was said to
have provided quarters for 17 of tin-
escapees bound for Canada. lie was
arrested and arraigned for it and
placed on the stand under oath. Asked
if he was not aware that he was com¬
mitting a criminal act by harboring
fugitives from the law. Coffin replied
that he was following the precepts of
the Bible by giving shelter to tin-
destitute. Upon further questioning,
lie admitted that the slaves revealed
to him that, they were runaways, but
he only had their word for it. And,
according to laws of that time, a
slave’s testimony was invalid in a
courtroom. He was released.
Used Ingenuous Methods
Coffin’s ingenuity knew no bound-.
On one occasion he conducted 2#
slaves from Cincinnati to Cummins-
ville in a long and solemn funeral
procession.
One party that IlittiMl among tin-
sky-high timbers of Carolina’s Blue
Ridge in the somber night hours had
an even more harrowing lime later
on. It was this incident that provided
Harriet Beecher Stowe with the his¬
torically accurate, famous "Eliza
Harris." In this epochal adventure,
the Negro woman crossed the Ohio
River on a floating piece of ice with
a baby in her arm-, after tin- over¬
loaded boats bad sunk. She and the
near-frozen little baby were nursed
back to life- by Coffin and bis wife.
It is rather a paradox to think of
an “Underground Railroad" outlined
against the skv in Western North
Carolina’s mountains, traversing the
same ground that the lofty Blue Ridge
I'arkway will soon span. But it un¬
just a figurative route. The term orig¬
inated from the secrecy in which it-
leaders were forced to operate. Collin
was known as "president"; the route
was called the "line”; stopping places
— the mountainous eaves, homes,
barns, corn cribs, churebe- -were "sta¬
tions"; those aiding the slave- to es¬
cape were termed “conductor-," and
their charges traveled as “freight."
Hardships and Suffering
The runaways realized if they wen-
caught it mean death or torture, that
the road to liberty was bar lied with
hardships and suffering, but to obtain
freedom they fought with Gargantuan
courage — ns people are doing today.
The dreaded rice swamps of the deep
South, to which they would some¬
times Is- sent in payment of tlu-ir
master's debts after his death, held
more horrors than the treacherous
road north.
This epic struggle bore martyrs
other than Collin. One colorful char¬
acter, Negro Harriet Tubman, the
"Moses of her people" a- she was
called, used the Blue Ridge route
through here in 10 trips in which she
led 300 slaves to freedom. Stories are
told how she drugged babies and put
them in basket- to be carried out
quietly. She came to know the moun¬
tain trails us intimately as one born
there. Not once was she caught.
But history neglects a North Caro¬
linian who devoted his whole life to
a cause the world i- fighting for now
freedom. It wa- his moving spirit
that coursed the way to life abundant
for thousands. Vet Levi Coffin live-
on the unsung Lincoln of tin- South.
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