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In the late 1700s, the network know as the underground RailRoad was formed
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The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century, and used by African-American slaves to escape into free states
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The Underground Railroad went north to freedom. Sometimes passengers stopped when they reached a free state such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Ohio. After 1850, most escaping slaves traveled all the way to Canada. They had to go to Canada to make sure they would be safe.
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The journey would take 800 miles and six weeks, on a route winding through Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, tracing the byways that fugitive slaves took to Canada and freedom.
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Underground Railroad conductors were free individuals who helped fugitive slaves traveling along the Underground Railroad. Conductors helped runaway slaves by providing them with safe passage to and from stations. They did this under the cover of darkness with slave catchers right behind them.
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One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the "Railroad".
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The fugitive Salve Act was a law that made it legal for slaveholders to use a legal weapon to capture slaves who had escaped to the free states.
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Harriet began her rescue missions immediately. She helped her niece, and her niece's two children, escape slavery.
