William Cockrum House in Gibson County, Indiana (Weintraut & Associates, Inc.)

William Cockrum’s memories were likely obscured by the passage of time and the telling and retelling of the past, but his now well-known account of the Underground Railroad related a story of the Cockrum family’s involvement in the Underground Railroad. Cockrum told his story in his book but the involvement of others, both black and white, has gone largely unrecorded because in many cases, the presence of the runaway slaves was temporary and in all cases, it was illegal.

Thousands of fugitive slaves were ‘recruited’ by Underground Railroad ‘agents’ who explained to them how and where to cross the Ohio River. That agent then passed them along to another

‘agent.’ In this manner, the runaway slaves traveled by night and hid by day. Hiding places were often corn fields or thickets, cellars with hidden doors, barns, or caves.[1]

In 1855, the Evansville Daily Journal reported the capture of escaped slaves at the home of John Carithers [or Carothers] near Princeton, Indiana. According to the article, Carithers was “at first not disposed to surrender them” but in the end he acquiesced.[2] Carithers was lucky; there were no charges brought against him. Not so lucky was Calvin Fairbank, who was imprisoned twice in Kentucky for helping fugitive slaves escape through Indiana and Ohio.[3]

Members of the Anti-Slavery League risked personal liberties to aid the fugitive slaves in their trek to freedom. Less well-known and thus less celebrated, free blacks in Indiana also participated in the movement of slaves north. According to some records, the home of William Hawkins, a free black living in the City of Washington in Daviess County, was a stop on the Underground Railroad.[4]

Thomas Cole, an African-American living at the free black Lyles Settlement, also hid runaways as did John Bundy from Kentucky and “Aunty Myrears” in Bloomington.[5] These free blacks risked even more than their white counterparts with their participation in the Underground Railroad.[6]

Cockrum’s account of Petersburg, Indiana, told of the activities of his father, James Cockrum, and other members of the Anti-Slavery League in Pike, Gibson, Warrick, and Posey counties. After crossing into the state, fugitives took a route that brought them into Gibson County, where they hid at James Cockrum’s barn in Oakland City.[7] That barn no longer stands; William Cockrum’s house is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is stop 11 on the Gibson County Audio Tour at 1-812-774-9304. The town of Oakland City may be accessed from the Oakland City exit.

From Cockrum’s place, fugitives sometimes crossed the Patoka River near Dongola on the “old state road” near the Wabash & Erie Canal. Reports say they hid on occasion under the Dongola Covered Bridge (the site of which is now crossed by a metal truss bridge that can be seen to the east along the long bridge that crosses Patoka River, just north of Mile Marker 46). They then

were conducted northward to Dr. John W. Posey’s coal mine along the banks of the White River in Pike County.[8] From Posey’s coal mine, many crossed the White River into Daviess County before eventually reaching freedom in Canada.

It is clear that the Underground Railroad was active in Indiana in the years prior to the Civil War. Positively identified extant properties associated with the Underground Railroad are few and written records of this movement are so scarce that some historic properties may remain unidentified. Despite these challenges, local historians have identified former barn sites, coal mines, and homes associated with the Underground Railroad. In doing so, these historians ensure that southwestern Indiana’s role in a movement that relied on anonymity will not be forgotten. [9]