The Underground Railroad (UGRR) is a name for a secret communication network and routes used by enslaved Blacks and their supporters, all who took enormous risks to break the law to find a place to live free.

Oral history––which is not hard evidence––instructs that Monroe County did indeed have an active and choreographed movement to shelter and transport African Americans. The Covenanters or Presbyterians are consistently identified in this movement, offering money, food, blankets, horses, or a safe place to stay the night.

Resources
 

• Map of Monroe County (1856) PDF
   
• Map of Monroe County (Survey Utility) GIS
   
• Theophilus Wylie, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and Slavery (a 2020 article by Abe Nemon and Carey Champion for the Wylie House)
   
• The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in Monroe County, Indiana (1908 article by James Albert Woodburn for the Indiana Historical Society)
   
• The Underground Railroad in Monroe County (a 1917 article by Henry Lester Smith for the Indiana Magazine of History)
  PDF version of the article
   
• Monroe County Timeline
  A printer-friendly list of events related to the oral history of the Underground Railroad
   
• The Perilous Journey of a Fugitive Slave (a 2020 article by Randi Richardson for Monroe County History Center's Research Blog)
   
• Hannah McCaw's Tombstone (Find-a-Grave)
   
• Hannah's grandson, Willis O. Taylor (spoke of Hannah's role in the Underground Railroad)
   
• For state and regional sources, curriculum, and programs, check out the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) website 
   
• Indiana's Underground Railroad (a 2022 video by and with DNR's Jeannie R. Regan-Dinius)
  Watch on CATS
  Watch on YouTube

Hover and click on the video to start play and view controls.