Safe harbor: Bowlby lecture to explore how local counties helped slaves seeking freedom
Waynesburg University
African Americans fleeing slavery on the Underground Railroad came north out of Virginia (present day West Virginia) right into Greene and Washington counties – the two counties immediately north of the Mason-Dixon Line – during the years around the Civil War.
To explore the history of the Underground Railroad and the role the two counties played in this desperate dash for freedom, Bowlby Library’s Lecture Series will welcome Rea Andrew Redd, an experienced history professor and Civil War reenactor at 5:30 on April 17.
Redd is a professor, librarian and director of the Eberly Library and the Paul A. Stewart Museum at Waynesburg University. A native of Washington County, he holds bachelor’s degrees in history and English from Waynesburg and a master’s degree in American history from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He received his Pennsylvania certification in secondary education from IUP and also received a master’s degree in library science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1993. In that same year, Redd joined a reenactment group and has been portraying characters ranging from a private in the Union Army to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.
He’s also an author, including “The Gettysburg Campaign Guide: A Study Guide, Volumes I and II,” and an essay, “The Point of No Return: Turning Points Within the Presidential Election” appears within “Turning Points of the American Civil War,” which was edited by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White and published by the Southern Illinois University Press in 2017.
Redd’s latest publication, “From Altars to Amputations: Gettysburg Churches Become Battlefield Hospitals, A Walking Tour and Brief Introduction to Civil War Medicine” tells the story of children, their parents, clergy and congregation members of Gettysburg united to save lives as places of worship and schools were transformed into battlefield hospitals in July 1863.
Redd also received permission from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 2016 to create a wayside memorial marker for Major Jonathan Letterman’s boyhood home in Canonsburg. Letterman was medical service director of the Army of the Potomac during 1862 and 1863. The marker was dedicated on Nov. 11, 2017.
According to Redd, the Underground Railroad utilized the Monongahela River to ferry escaped slaves on boats from Harpers Ferry north. Escaped slaves would disembark on both the Greene County and Washington County sides and be transported to homes, farms and businesses to hide until they could continue their journey north.
Many in Washington County traveled north on the road, which eventually became Route 19, up to Pittsburgh, making stops at a number of houses along the way.
When slave hunters made their way north hoping to reclaim those slaves who had escaped, they were ushered into western Greene County, and would travel west to Washington and then head up present day Route 19 towards Pittsburgh. There were also routes from Brownsville to Pittsburgh and Waynesburg up to Pittsburgh.
Redd said he became interested in the Underground Railroad after reading the book of Washington & Jefferson College professor Tom Mainwaring, “Abandoned Tracks” published in 2018, which features detailed maps of the places they stopped in West Greene.
Redd will focus his talk on why Greene County was such an attractive place for a stop on the Underground Railroad.
“It was so rural with less people, so they felt safer,” said Redd.
In his talk, Redd will describe the history of slavery and anti-slavery within Greene and Washington counties, present evidence of escaped slaves’ journey passing through this area and the role the counties played in their quest for freedom. He is excited to share this fascinating chapter of local history.
Kathy McClure, director of the Bowlby Library is very excited to welcome Redd to the library as part of the lecture series, which offers the community interesting and intriguing talks on a variety of subjects.
“A lot of farms and homes in Greene County were used to hide these escaped slaves and provide them with a safe harbor,” said McClure.
She would like to thank John Thompson, a librarian at the Eberly Library at Waynesburg University and friend to the library, for helping them secure a speaker like Redd.
McClure said it is so important for the library to offer community lectures like this one because, while teachers educate students about history, it’s impossible to go into the depth that subjects like the Underground Railroad deserve. In addition, a program like this is able to focus on local history and its tie to a much broader subject.
The event will get underway at 5 p.m.
Registration can be done by contacting the library at 724-627-9776. However, McClure said anyone who would like to attend the lecture will be welcome even if they haven’t registered.