Susquehanna Freedom Trail, New York

Freedom Trails exist throughout the eastern seaboard, with organizations frequently teaming up with governmental bodies, colleges,  and universities to tell the local stories. The stories include the advocacies, actions, sites, and personalities which led to the ending of slavery, which included publications, anti-slavery societies, abolitionist activities, underground railroad stations, and the heroic actions of the United States Colored Troops. Important Freedom Trails have been documented recently as a consequence of the support resulting from federal and state legislation.

http://www.nysed.gov/freedom.htm
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad/randl.html

The documenting of other Freedom Trails, however, has resulted from the work of independent researchers and community advocates. This site explores the route of the Susquehanna River extending from Havre de Grace, Harford County, Maryland to Cooperstown, Otsego County, New York.

Click the map for more detail

Important Sites Along the Susquehanna River

The History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, by J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope (1881) indicated that "little antagonism, however, was manifested towards this [slavery] by its opponents until some cases of kidnapping occurred in Columbia, PA., in 1804, which incited the people of that town, who were  chiefly Friends or their descendants, to throw around the colored people the arm of protection, and even to assist those who were escaping from slavery to a section of the country where they might be free. This gave origin to what was afterwards known as the Underground Railroad.

National Convention of Colored Inhabitants, Albany, NY, 1840 - 
 Delegates - Stephen Smith and William Whipper, Columbia, PA

The authors elaborated further that " being contiguous to the boundary line of the slave states, a rapid transit of passengers had to be made, which was frequently attended with exciting incidents of close pursuits and of narrow escapes. Many who came on this route crossed the Susquehanna at points in the vicinity of Havre de Grace, and were forwarded by Joseph Smith, Oliver Furness, and others, in Lancaster County, PA.”

Select Soldiers of  USCT Regiment Organized in New York:

Name	Birth Place	Regiment	Residence
Charles Allen Sgt. Taylor Boyd Jesse Harley Samuel Kiag Samuel King	Lancaster, PA Lancaster, PA Lancaster, PA	26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT	Montrose, PA Lancaster, PA Lancaster, PA Lancaster, PA

Havre de Grace, MD - The Southern point of the Susquehanna River is located at Harford County, 80 miles from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and rests on the border line of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Havre de Grace is 20 miles from Baltimore and 40 miles from Wilmington, Delaware. Thus, it was positioned as a major site from which escaped Africans sought freedom. The Baltimore African-American Resource & Tourist Guide provides a comprehensive record of Underground Railroad agents and activities in Maryland, as well as identify many associated physical structures. Several researchers and authors of this area are members of the USCT Institute.

[http://www/essierun.org/havre.htm]

National Convention of Colored Men, Syracuse, NY, 1864 - 
Delegates  - A.W. Wayman and P.J. Howster, Baltimore, MD

Select Soldiers of  USCT Regiment Organized in New York:

Name	Birth Place	Regiment	Residence
Henry Anderson John Booze William Brown William L. Brown James Dennis Dennis Devoll Simon Douglass John Evans Joseph Griffin Sgt. Benjamin Johnson Henry Johnson Stephen Johnson Abram Jones William Kane Horace Langford Thomas Moore Peter Reed William Robinson Henry Selby Henry Shears Henry Smith John Smith  John Smith John Sorrell Joseph S Speaks William Street Alexander Thompson Henry Thompson Zachariah Tyler John Wallace Lewis Wallace/Wallis Charles Williams Charles Williams Daniel Williams Ed. D. Williams Henry Williams Alexander Wilson	Baltimore, MD Maryland Pr. Deposit, MD Baltimore, MD Prince George, MD East Shore,MD Maryland Worcester,MD Baltimore,MD Maryland Baltimore, MD Maryland Baltimore, MD Somerset, MD Maryland Washington, MD Frederick, MD Maryland Baltimore, MD Maryland Harford Co.,MD Emmitsburg,MD Emmitsburg, MD Arundel Co., MD Baltimore, MD Maryland Howard Co.,MD Baltimore, MD Maryland Mt. Etna, MD Frederick,MD Maryland	26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 20th USCT 20th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT	Tracey's Landing, MD Millport, Chen, Co. NY Towanda, PA Baltimore, MD Baltimore,MD Wilmington, DE Wilmington, DE Snowhill, MD Dundee, NY Prince Ann, MD Hudson,NY Washington, DC Binghamton, NY Stakey, NY Ithaca,NY Binghamton, NY Princess Ann, MD Frederick,MD Sidney, NY Ithaca,NY Baltimore, MD Smithfield, PA Ellicott's Mills, MD Washington, DC Bath, NY Havana, NY

Harrisburg, PA - An escaped African from Maryland was protected by local citizens during April, 1825, according to the Harrisburg Patriot News. Less than ten years later, black and white citizens in the city organized the Harrisburg Anti-slavery Society, with many members serving as agents of the Underground Railroad. The City of Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission are preserving the historic role of this locale through restoration projects, conferences and a new Civil War Museum. Several researchers and educators of this area are members of the USCT Institute.

National Convention of Colored Inhabitants, Albany, NY, 1840 -
 Delegate - Junior C. Morrell, Harrisburg, PA

 National Convention of Colored Men, Syracuse, NY, 1864
 Delegates - O.C. Hughes and Joseph A. Nelson, Harrisburg, PA

Select Soldiers of  USCT Regiments Organized in New York:

Name	Birth Place	Regiment	Residence
Jacob Inas Caleb Ines Joseph Jones William Lyle William W. Miller Sgt. Jerome Morris John D. Price John A Thompson	Harrisburg,PA Harrisburg,PA Harrisburg,PA Harrisburg,PA Harrisburg,PA Harrisburg,PA Harrisburg,PA	26th USCT 26th USCT 20th USCT 20th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT	Harrisburg,PA

Montrose, PA - The Presbytery of Montrose, Pennsylvania made clear through the publishing of resolutions in the Colored American, during  May 1837, that its members were against the system of slavery. It was in that locale that an escaped African, William Smith, helped others to escape by hiding them in the AME Zion Church next to his home, according to Debra Adleman, author of Waiting for the Lord. Today, the Center for Anti-Slavery Studies is restoring Smith’s home and the AME Zion Church. The Center is a member of the USCT Institute.

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/webundergroco.html

National Convention of Colored Men, Syracuse, NY, 1864
 Delegate - J.J. Wright, Montrose, PA

Select Soldiers of  USCT Regiment Organized in New York:

Name	Birth Place	Regiment	Residence
Charles Allen Robert Bodey Jacob Brown Henry Gilmore Benjamin Singer David A. Wray Donald Williams	Lancaster, PA Pennsylvania Eastern Shore, MD Wilkes-Barre, PA	26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT	Montrose, PA Montrose, PA Wilkes-Barre,PA Montrose, PA Montrose, PA Montrose, PA

October 15, 1864
ENCOURAGING WORDS
from the The Anglo-African

Susquehanna Depot, PA. Oct. 10, 1864

Dear ANGLO:
Business called me to Delhi, NY a couple of weeks ago, and as I am ever on the alert to advance the interests of our  much persecuted race, and at present see no better mode of freeing ourselves from the political and other disabilities we labor under, than by increasing the circulation of your valuable paper, - I secured you a subscriber (Wm. G. Wood, Delhi, NY). and have the promise of more from that place. I herewith remit you $2.50, the amount of one year's subscription .  Byron wrote "That he who would be free, himself must strike the blow."

The ANGLO gives the colored people of this country an organ in which their views are ably presented.  And the time may come, yea will come, for a political blow that will secure to us as a people our rights, which belong to us inherently , and have so long been unjustly withheld.
S.T. Johnston

Binghamton, NY - The black population organized the A.M.E. Bethel Church in 1838, with yet another church organized that year as the First Colored A.M.E. Zion Chapel. The two churches served as stations of the Underground Railroad, with the names of pastors and congregational members known. Today, the Forging the Freedom Trail Project is a coordinated twelve regions to tell the history of Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad, tourism and/or facts on the history of Blacks in New York State and Canada. The Central Leatherstocking Region includes Binghamton, and is headquartered in the village of Bainbridge. It is headed by a member of the USCT Institute.

http://www.freedomtrail.org/goals.htm

National Convention of Colored Men, Syracuse, NY, 1864
 Delegate - James Schemerhorn, Binghamton, NY

Select Soldiers of  USCT Regiment Organized in New York:

Name	Birth Place	Regiment	Residence
Richard Armstrong Oscar Barton James Barton Edward Bayard Joshua Bolson William E. Bell George Cruier Isaac Fisher John Henderson Amos Hardee/Hardie Samuel Hardee Clark House Benjamin A. Kelly York Kebourne Charles H. Lewis Jacob Mercer Samuel Moore William C. Newark James Nichols William Robinson Thomas W. Sampson Christopher Smith John Smith John Smith Sgt. Moses Wright	Binghamton, NY Union, NY Union, NY Binghamton, NY Binghamton, NY Binghamton, NY Binghamton,NY Binghamton, NY Alexandria, VA Binghamton, NY Union, NY Vestal, NY Binghamton, NY Kent Co., MD Binghamton, NY Baltimore, MD Binghamton, NY Union, NY Frederick, MD Union, NY Caroline, NY	26th USCT 26th USCT 26thUSCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT	Vestal, NY Vestal, NY Binghamton, NY Union, NY Binghamton, NY N. Bainbridge, NY N. Bainbridge, NY Binghamton, NY Binghamton, NY Binghamton, NY Binghamton, NY Vestal, NY Binghamton, NY Binghamton, NY Binghamton, NY

Emmons Stonehouse, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY

Eliakim R. Ford house, Oneonta, NY. Site of Wilber Bank

Oneonta, NY -  Local folklore revealed that the Emmons Stonehouse bordering Oneonta served as a station of the Underground Railroad. Further, author Edwin R. Moore wrote in 1970 that Emmon’s son-in-law, Eliakim R. Ford, used his home in Oneonta, built in 1838, as a hiding place for escaped Africans. Newspaper accounts as earlier as 1827 detailed anti-slavery activity and abolitionist actions in Otsego County. They included the organizing of the Otsego County Anti-slavery Society during 1836; and the organizing of the Franckean Synod by John Lawyer, a trustee of Hartwick Lutheran Seminary, during 1837. Along the Susquehanna River, near Oneonta, rest small communities, some of which the author, William G. Queal, identified as sites of Underground Railroad activities. His book, The Overthrow of American Slavery, 1885,  included such locales as  Chemung, Unadilla, Otego, Schenevus, and Otsego, with the Susquehanna ending in Cooperstown. Today, Hartwick College is the site of the United States Colored Troops Institute which is quickly gaining national prominence as a resource center for the study of the local communities and families of the colored soldiers and their white officers who comprised the United States Colored Troops.

National Convention of Colored Men, Syracuse, NY, 1864
 Delegates - Aden Williams, Thomas Street, Thomas Randall, Chenango Co., NY
A. Clark, Thomas Husband, Isaac Anderson, Otsego Co., NY

Select Soldiers of  USCT Regiments Organized in New York:

Name	Birth Place	Regiment	Residence	Death of William Street,  Sidney, New York
Newman Bennett George E. Bronk/Brunk Michael Brown Cornelius DeWitt Oliver Holmes James Jackson Theodore Lewis Lt.Col. Andrew Mather William C. Newark Oscar Smith Anthony Stewart William Street William Titus	Delhi,  NY Delhi, NY Chenango Co., NY Schoharie Co., NY Walkerstown, VA Chenango Co., NY Delaware Co., NY Burlington, NY Otego, NY Gilbertsville, NY Harford Co., MD Morrisville, NY	20th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 20th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT 26th USCT	Delhi, NY Delhi, NY Delhi, NY Delhi, NY Delhi, NY Burlington, NY Oneonta, NY Sanford, NY Gilbertsville, NY Sidney, NY Pittsfield, NY

The timeline below may be helpful to you during your visit to the USCT Institute and region:

* 1799 - Scipio, an aged slave, a native of Africa, was buried in the courtyard adjoining Christ Episcopal Church in Cooperstown. The lengthy inscription on his tombstone tells the story of his life. Church records detail numerous births, marriages, and deaths of African Americans before and after the Civil War, some of whom were also buried in the integrated courtyard.

* 1827 - Hayden Waters of Middlefield chaired the July 5th Celebration held at the Presbyterian Meeting House, on Church Street, in Cooperstown to recognize the ending of slavery in New York State. He was assisted by other African American abolitionists named, Richard Case, Thomas Mann, Charles Thomas, and Henry Thomas. Freemen's Journal, July 9, 1827

* 1827 - Henry Thomas’ home in Cooperstown was the site for a meeting of colored persons in Otsego County for the purpose of forming themselves into a society. * 1830 - Hayden Waters delivered an address to the ladies and gentlemen of Otsego County at the courthouse at Cooperstown on the merits and demerits of the African Colonization Society. * 1836 - The Otsego County Anti-Slavery Society was organized with members primarily from the villages of Butternuts and South New Berlin.

*1840 - Henry Granger of Cooperstown was appointed the chair of the Otsego County Committee at the New York State Convention of Colored Inhabitants held at Albany to address issues of discrimination facing the darker brethren in the state and important anti-slavery sentiments.

* 1861 - Sergeant Reuben Dyer and his brother-in-law, Private Nathaniel Law, of Delhi, served with the 89th New York Volunteer Regiment almost two years before President Abraham Lincoln authorized the enlistment of northern black soldiers. Sergeant Dyer is buried in the Delhi community cemetery. Law is interred on his family's property in Delhi. 

* 1864 - Private William C. Newark wrote a letter to his hometown newspaper, the Oneonta Herald, describing activities at the training camp at Rikers Island, New York City. He was one of more than 40 black soldiers and white officers of the USCT from Otsego and Delaware Counties.

1864 - Lt. Col. Andrew E. Mather, 20th USCT, is interred at his hometown of Burlington, Otsego County, New York.

1864 - Stephen A. Swails of Cooperstown was the first black enlisted soldier to be commissioned an officer, 2nd Lieutenant, of the Massachusetts 54th Colored Regiment. Source: History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers Infantry, 1863-1865 by Luis F. Emilio, 1891(Courtesy: The New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown)

Saturday, May 7, 1864 Cooperstown, NY... Mrs. Lt. Swails, the wife of the first black man promoted to lieutenancy in the United States Army, has moved from her residence in Cooperstown, New York, to her mother's home in Elmira.  She relocated based upon the recommendation of dear friends who feared that her financial situation would lead to her placement in the pauper's pen. USCT Civil War Digest, Vol.1, No.2, October 1999

1864 - General Delevan Bates of Worcester and Captain Andrew Davidson of Cooperstown, each won the Medal of Honor for heroics leading the 30th USCT at the Battle of the Mine [Battle of the Crater], Virginia. Davidson reached the rank of colonel before leaving the army. He is buried at Lakewood Cemetery in Cooperstown. Credit:  Francis Lynch

* 1872 - John C. Bellamy of Morris, Otsego County, was one of 12 African Americans to organize the Emancipation Ball at the Empire House in Butternuts. The other organizers hailed from Cooperstown, Hamilton, Gilbertsville, Richfield Springs, Unadilla, Norwich, Bainbridge, Otego, Pittsfield and Butternuts.

* 1997 - The United States Colored Troops Memorial Symposium of Delaware and Otsego Counties, New York, was coordinated by the city of Oneonta’s Commission on Community Relations and Human Rights.

* 1997 - Governor George E. Pataki issued a proclamation declaring the 1997-98 academic year as the "Year of the United States Colored Troops in the Empire State," with the proclamation presented at a public event in Oneonta by State Senator James Seward to Harry Bradshaw Matthews. During the 1997-1998 academic year the City of Oneonta issued proclamations  Mayor David Brenner and later by Mayor Kim  Muller.

* 1998 - The United States Colored Troops Institute for Local History and Family Research was officially established with Hartwick College as its host site.

* 1999 - The United States Colored Troops Institute approved guidelines for the establishment of affiliates for members located in California, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

* 2000 - The USCT Civil War Memorial Luncheon was officially inaugurated with The Wall of Honor, NY shown for the first time.

"I have sent this (Voices from the Front Line), as well as the copies of the USCT Civil War Digest that you included, to the USMA Librarian to be included in the collections of the Military Academy."

"I am confident that our cadets will find your work to be exceedingly valuable as they pursue studying the Civil War  in their History course work. Your work proves an important dimension that will valuable for years to come. Thank for thinking of the Military Academy for your kind donation." 

Daniel W. Christman, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Superintendent, West Point
January 18, 2001

* 2002 – Stars and Stripes newspaper features USCT Institute in its Black History Month Magazine.

* 2003 – Congressional Black Caucus Veterans’ Braintrust Award presented to Harry Bradshaw Matthews

* 2004 – Maryland Senate passed Resolution No. 423 and the Maryland House of Delegates passed House Resolution No. 258 honoring the USCT Institute for historical and genealogy research and preservation.

*2004 - African American Patriots of Maryland presented Harry Bradshaw Matthews with its AAPC Jeffries Carey National Achievement Medal..

*2004 – Tuskegee Airmen and other men and nurses of World War II were honored by the USCT Institute.

*2004 – Stanton F. Biddle elected president and David A. Anderson elected vice-president of the USCT Institute.

* 2005 – Sir. Howard Cooke, Governor-General of Jamaica, was presented with the Certificate of Heritage Appreciation by the USCTI at Hartwick College. Dr. Basil K. Bryan, Consulate General of Jamaica, was similarly honored, and presented with the names of several Jamaicans who were soldiers of the 26^th USCT during the American Civil War.

* 2005 - Author Patricia Glinton-Meicholas of Nassau, Bahamas, was presented with the USCTI Preservation Award for her efforts in the research, preservation, and remembrance of the Bahamian history and folklore connection to the African American Freedom Journey, including its role as a site of the Underground Railroad, particularly highlighted by the rescue of 135 enslaved Africans who in 1841 took control of the American ship, the Brig. Creole, and sailed to Nassau.

* 2006 – New York State Governor George E. Pataki issued proclamation honoring Isaac Newton Arnold as a recovered historical figure of the Freedom Journey through the research of the USCT Institute.

* 2006 – Dr. Charles L. Blockson of Temple University was awarded the USCTI Preservation Award for his outstanding efforts in preserving the history of people of African descent, particularly through the Blockson Collection.

* 2006 – Harry Bradshaw Matthews elected president; Darlene Colón elected vice president; and Pamela L. Matthews elected secretary of the USCT Institute.

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