18. Jacob Green and the Allegheny Portage Railroad
During the years of its operation, the Allegheny Portage Railroad and the Main Line served as important links with the Underground Railroad supported by abolitionists. One case, in particular, was that of Jacob Green, a slave from Virginia. After repeated attempts, Green escaped with several other slaves, and succeeded in reaching Hollidaysburg. Green was accosted by the son of his owner while on the Allegheny Portage Railroad. The slaveowner’s son was arrested by authorities in Hollidaysburg, in violation of the federal Fugitive Slave Act, and Green subsequently made good his escape, never again being seen in the canal town.
The charges against the slaveowner’s son were eventually dropped and he returned to Virginia, where his story caused public outrage. Virginia’s attorney general protested formally to the government of Pennsylvania. Newspapers prominently reported the story, with differing perspectives, in North and South. The New York Herald ran an article regarding the story under the headline, “Threatened Civil War Between Virginia and Pennsylvania” on January 31, 1856. The incident, just one of many, demonstrated the use of Northern infrastructure to assist slaves escaping from their Southern masters, despite the Fugitive Slave Act being the law of the land in the decade before the Civil War erupted in 1861.