The New Concord Underground Railroad

The New Concord Underground Railroad. Civil War Story.

“God had made of one blood all men to dwell upon the earth” -Reformed Presbyterian 1842.

The Scotch-Irish residents of the New Concord area were predominantly Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterian, Associate Presbyterian and Associate Reformed Presbyterian. The last three denominations were resolutely anti-slavery churches., Hostile to the stringent Fugitive Slave Act (1855) as immoral, they joined like-minded people in Putnam (to the west) and Barnesville (to the east) in aiding brave fugitives fleeing north towards Roscoe. Norwich, Bloomfield and New Concord harbored a total of six “safehouses.” Fourteen residents were “conductors.”, The Alexander Brown House. A cabin built on this site by David Findley in 1809 was the home of Alexander Brown, a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. Escaping slaves, such as Mary Adaline Lewis of Charlestown, Virginia, hid in a cave at the rear of the lot., The Brick Hotel. In the 1850’s Ichabod, Hannah, Levi, and Austin Grummond operated a “safehouse’ on the National Road, in an 1828 brick hotel built opposite here by Judge David Findley. To the east, Isaac Grummond had a “safehouse’ in his cabinet shop. To the west, Dr. John Hull published the Clarion of Freedom, an abolitionist newspaper (1846- 1856). The Grummonds were Presbyterian and ignored their denomination’s equivocation on slavery. They were included in the circle of radical religious thinkers who considered the Fugitive Slave Law immoral. These included Reformed Presbyterians Robert West Speer and his brother William, whose farms straddled the National Road west of town, and Associate Presbyterians Dr. John Hull, William and John Jamisom of Norwich and Samuel Scott of Bloomfield. James Boyd and Mitchell Cunningham were also “conductors.”, “Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War”. Radical religious views on slavery propelled many local men to service in the Civil War, chiefly in Sherman’s command. Seventy percent of the male population of Union Township served as soldiers. They dominated companies of the 15th, 78th, and 97th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The 78th was organized by Muskingum College’s music teacher, Horace Munson. Robert Burns Brown, Alexander’s son, was given the Congressional Medal of Honor for actions at Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, Tennessee. His Muskingum College classmate, William Richey, received the honor at Chickamauga. George Loyd was so recognized for action at Vicksburg.