From:
A History of Napoleon, Indiana
Underground Railroad in Napoleon
Residents of Napoleon, Indiana played an important role in the Underground Railroad system that developed during the years before the Civil War.
Underground Railroad in Indiana
The Underground Railroad was a vast network of people in the North and South who aided fugitive slaves in their flight from slavery. In Indiana the route stretched from communities on the Ohio River to the Michigan border. From Michigan the fugitives fled to Canada and freedom. Forefront in this movement was groups like the American Colonization Society and the Quakers. Many of these groups used agents to go south of the Ohio River to aid slaves wishing to flee.
The Underground Railroad in Ripley County
Many communities in Ripley County served as conduits for the complex Underground Railroad system that developed from about 1820 through the end of the Civil War in 1865. Escaping slaves had several routes from which to choose, depending upon the region they originated. The largest percentage of refugee slaves passing through Southeastern Indiana would have escaped bondage in Tennessee or Kentucky. Others filtered up from the Deep South states of Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana. The route escaping slaves took when fleeing bondage was never a static route; it changed constantly due to many factors.
The Michigan Road
The Michigan Road, completed in 1837, passed through Napoleon and provided a route from Madison on the Ohio River and Michigan City, in the extreme northern part of the state. Slave bounty hunters traveled the road, searching for runaway slaves. This necessitated a great deal of ingenuity on the part of the Underground Railroad system participants to hide the fugitives on their flight north to Canada and freedom.
Napoleon's Role
Historical lore indicates that several houses and businesses were involved in the Underground Railroad system and were equipped with a variety of trap doors and hideaways that hid fugitive slaves as they fled. The Railroad Inn and the Elias Conwell structures played a role in the system. Many times slaves in hiding could hear conversations between bounty hunters and residents as the hunters searched for signs of runaways.
Underground Railroad Map
The Ripley County Tourism Bureau publishes a map that details five loops that identify important sites that were part of the Underground Railroad system in Indiana. Trail 5, the Napoleon Route, shows seven spots in and near Napoleon that were part of the movement.
Trail 5 - The Napoleon Route
This tour includes Underground Railroad activity in the village of Napoleon. The route travels north from Versailles on US Route 421 to Napoleon, with side spurs on the Michigan Road and Millhousen Road. It returns to Versailles via US 421.
Trail Stop 1 - Old Michigan Road
Trail Stop 2 - Red Ware Potters Isaac Morris
Trail Stop 3 - Rail Road House
Trail Stop 4 - Barbara Fox
Trail Stop 5 - Mill Pond Thicket
Trail Stop 6 - Elias Cornwall Home
Trail Stop 7 - Barrackman Inn
For more information of the Ripley County Tourism map, visit this link.
https://ripleycountytourism.com/business-directory/4369/underground-railroad-driving-trails/
