Routes of the North Star J / PA / NY

Written by: Lawrence E. Walker Foundation, 2005

Fleeing slaves flocked to the Underground Railroad between 1820 and the start of the Civil War.  Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them crossed into New Jersey on the road, following the North Star to a promised land.  Main lines ran northward from border states, through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, with as many as a dozen route crossing New Jersey.  Most New Jersey branches converged on Jersey City, just a rivers width away from New York.

That river made a great difference, for every escaping slave had reason both to love and to fear New Jersey.  New Jersey meant dedicated help, particularly in the southern part, where Quakers took seriously the American philosophy that all me are crated equal.  They risked their lives, donated their savings and gave their time for people whom they did not know Quakers operated on the spurs through Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, Camden, Burlington and Mercer Counties, then passed their bundles on to equal dedicated northerners who carried the frightened charges on the freedom.

A powerful element within New Jersey openly encouraged the slave chasers who searched for fugitives.  New Jersey industrialists with big southern market openly favored the slaveholders.  State Right Philosophies pervaded the thinking of many state politicians.  Few slaves cared to linger in this atmosphere.  Most operations of the Underground Railroad within New Jersey called for daring, for deep feelings of brotherhood and for an ability to change direction on a minutes notice.  With such support, frightened slave entered New Jersey night after night.  No one can ever know for certain how many used the railroad in this state, perhaps hundred, perhaps thousands.