Indiana County Underground Railroad Conductors

As early as 1839, citizens of Indiana County had formed two anti-slavery societies. These society members were considered extremists and their anti-slavery views were not widely popular in Indiana County. By 1845 when the issue was brought to the forefront by the kidnapping of a freedom seeker in Indiana, the county seat, public sentiment turned.

To date, the Blairsville Area Underground Railroad has identified over 90 underground railroad conductors in Indiana County. In a 1858 letter to famous abolitionist Theodore Parker, geologist Peter Lesley writes that “Three thousand good and true men could be concentrated in thirty-six hours at any point in Indiana County.”

Preview our NEW EXHIBIT, “Our Conductors’ Stories: A Journal of Resistance.”