The Underground Rail Road. A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters &c., Narrating the Hardships Hair-breadth Escapes and Death Struggles of the Slaves in their efforts for Freedom, as related by themselves and others, or witnessed by the author William and Ellen Craft

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.

The story of William Craft (c.1824-1900) and his wife, Ellen Craft (1826-c.1897) was celebrated for their ingenious escape form slavery in Georgia. While Ellen posed as an ailing white man in need of medical attention, William posed as her enslaved servant and traveling companion. They made their way to Philadelphia and then on to Boston in 1848. Pursued because of their notoriety, watchful Boston abolitionists including Lewis and Harriet Hayden helped the Crafts to escape from Massachusetts to England. Hayden famously held off enslavers with a lighted flare and explosives, daring the bounty hunters to attempt their recapture.