In 1872, William Still published this unprecedented account of the individuals he encountered during his fourteen years of work on the Underground Railroad. Its pages reveal the diversity of escape experiences; men, women, children, and families arrived in Philadelphia from all over the South traveling sometimes by ingenious and risky means and always with dogged determination, resilience, and courage. The book’s publication drew postbellum readers into the drama of the Underground Railroad, portrayed the personal impact of slavery on men, women, and families, and provided a model of interracial cooperation among the abolitionist network introduced in the book.