23 nov 1856 - 1st documentation of Underground Railroad activity (1856)

Description:

"The first documented activity in what became the Underground Railroad begins in Pennsylvania.

The Wrights, a Quaker family that operated a ferry service between Pennsylvania and Maryland, transported fugitive slaves across the Susquehanna River. After a bridge was built across the river, William Whipper, an African American entrepreneur with a successful lumber business, recalled his role as a conductor on the Underground Railroad: 'My house was at the end of the bridge, and as I kept the station, I was frequently called up in the night to take charge of the passengers. On their arrival they were generally hungry and penniless. I have received hundreds in this condition; fed and sheltered from one to seventeen at a time in a single night. At this point the road forked; some I sent west by boat to Pittsburgh, and others... in our [rail] cars to Philadelphia."

Source:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/interactive/slavery-united-states/