Harrisburg's Role in the Underground Railroad

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania connected southern states and western cities to larger hubs along the Underground Route railroad, making it the heart of the central route. Anti-slavery committees, abolitionists, and advocacy groups created pathways, safehouses, and resources for freedom seekers to travel northward towards independence.

Harrisburg played a crucial role in the Underground Railroad. The city lay on the Central Route of the Northern Underground Railroad system due to its large Black population and long history as the capital city of a free state. Escape routes led to and from the city, creating four major exit routes for freedom seekers to travel.

A Pennsylvania state marker, located on Walnut Street near the Commonwealth Monument in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex, describes Harrisburg’s participation in the Underground Railroad. It identifies the roles of Wesley Union African Methodist Episcopal Church, Joseph Bustill, and William M. Jones in hiding and assisting freedom seekers. In the 1850s, the area connecting these individuals and institutions was known as Tanner’s Alley and numbered among the city’s most important Black neighborhoods. It is now recognized as a prominent location in Harrisburg’s Underground Railroad.

Wesley Union Church, the first Black church in Harrisburg, was founded in 1829. In 1836, the Harrisburg Fugitive Slavery Society, an informal society that sent freedom seekers to Philadelphia, began using the church and its influence among the Black community to promote abolition. Historical sources provide the names of a number of Harrisburg residents involved in the Underground Railroad.

One of these was Joseph Cassey Bustill, an African American schoolteacher who had been born in Philadelphia to a distinguished family. Joseph joined the Underground Railroad at age seventeen and was perhaps the youngest member of the movement. According to Bustill’s daughter, Bustill made use of homes, churches, halls, and lodging rooms to help the fugitives. Furthermore, he assisted in the formation of the Harrisburg Fugitive Slave Society, and often contacted William Still regarding the arrival of freedom seekers in Philadelphia, referring to them as “packages” nearing “delivery.”

Another was William “Pap” Jones, an African American doctor whose home served as the site of his medical practice and a refuge for freedom seekers. The Jones residence was one of the primary stations on the Underground Railroad in Harrisburg, where Dr. Jones and his wife, Mary, provided a safe space to rest and ample provisions for the journey ahead. Dr. Jones transported freedom seekers to their next station on the Underground Railroad via a covered wagon operating under the guise of a “rag merchant.” Through his extensive knowledge of the routes leading North and collaboration with fellow guides, Dr. Jones took many freedom seekers closer to safety.

Harriet McClintock Marshall, born in Harrisburg in 1840, was also a conductor on the Harrisburg Underground Railroad, most likely working through the Wesley Union AME Church founded by her mother. Harriet and her husband Elisha Marshall, a former freedom seeker, opened their home as a safe house and offered refuge, food, and clothing to those seeking freedom.

Harrisburg also connected freedom seekers to the Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia. The Vigilant Committee was formed by Robert Purvis in 1837 to “create a fund to aid [Black Americans] in distress.” It was responsible for helping many freedom seekers and their families. The committee appointed officers, raised money, and made resources available to assist freedom seekers attempting to live in or pass through Philadelphia on their way further north. Although the original committee was disbanded in 1852, another quickly took its place with Purvis as the head of the general committee.

The travels of the Taylor family, a notable family aided by these committee resources, exemplify how the network functioned. In 1856, Owen and Mary Ann Taylor and their family fled Clear Spring, Maryland, in a desperate attempt to claim freedom. Owen Taylor and his brothers had been enslaved by a farmer Henry Fiery, his son. The Taylor brothers harnessed horses belonging to Fiery, placed their families in the carriage, and headed north. The eight freedom seekers traveled eighty-seven miles from Clear Spring to Harrisburg, crossing the Pennsylvania-Maryland border, and traveling through Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. From there, the group made their way to Philadelphia, where the Vigilant Committee met them.

Henry Fiery quickly realized the Taylors were missing and contacted Joseph C. Bustill, who assured Fiery he would work to return the group. However, correspondence between Bustill and other Underground Railroad conductors reveals just the opposite. Bustill, despite being in contact with enslavers, actively worked against them and aided freedom seekers, directing them to safe spaces farther north. The remarkable story of Owen Taylor and his family for many such narratives in Harrisburg’s rich history of the Underground Railroad.

Despite Harrisburg’s historic presence of Black freedmen, the anti-slavery fight faced adversity during the 1850s. The Fugitive Slave Act (1850) required the return of people to their enslavers even if they were in a free state. The same year, a Slave Commission Office opened in Harrisburg. Richard McAllister, a local attorney and commissioner, was infamous for seizing Blacks, fugitives or free, and sending them to the slave market. McAllister had a notorious reputation. As the historian, R. J. M. Blackett noted, McAllister boasted that “more fugitives have been remanded by me than any other U.S. Com.” He asserted the Fugitive Slave Law should be kept to protect the “peace and interest of the country.” The next year, the congregation of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Harrisburg gave McAllister an ultimatum: he could resign as commissioner or forfeit his position as Vestryman. McAllister chose the former and resigned as slave commissioner in 1852. By 1853, the Slave Commission Office ceased operations. After McAllister resigned, Harrisburg more freely aided countless freedom seekers on their journey north.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania played a critical role for those seeking freedom for themselves and their families. There are many more stories of Harrisburg area residents who helped aid freedom seekers, including Henry Watson, Daniel Kaufmen, Jacob Shockley, Hiram E. Werz, James McCallister, Dr. William W. Rutherford of Front Street, and Reverend James Graham. Indeed, Harrisburg and its residents helped innumerable freedom seekers to safety. Their lives and the history of the city are forever intertwined in the fight against slavery, a time that represents a pivotal period in American history.

A full list of the resources used in this story can be found here.

Related Stories
Men of God
It's a Family Business
Douglass in Harrisburg
Harrisburg's Lincoln Cemetery

Location

Metadata