Week 18 of 32 • Page 4
Week 18 of 32 • Page 1
Across
5. sea creatures that have outer skeletons such
as crab, lobster and shrimp
8. traveled to
10. _____ Creek; boyhood Indiana home of
Abraham Lincoln
Down
1. man from Newport (Fountain City) who
operated an important station on the
Underground Railroad
2. first to bring slaves to Europe
3. a fire started at the hands of humans
4. _____ Address; famous Lincoln speech at a
cemetery during the Civil War
6. members of the Society of Friends; assisted
slaves to freedom
7. trees that lose their leaves in the winter
9. well-known free black writer from California
Resources of the Union and Confederacy
The graph below shows what percentage of each resource the Union and the Confederacy had. Study the graph
and then answer the questions at the bottom.
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Population
Manufactured
goods
Exports
Merchant
Ships
Miles of
railroad track
Union
Grain
production
Number of
farms
Iron
production
Banking
capital
Confederacy
1. Which side would most likely win the Civil War,
according to the graph?
________________________________________
________________________________________
3. How did the low iron production hurt the South?
2. How did having a greater population and
industrialization give the North a greater advantage?
________________________________________
________________________________________
Major Bell
PAGE 3
kidnapped in broad daylight!
As they dragged the man toward a Kentucky-bound
ferry on the Ohio River, they encountered a group of local
citizens. The men demanded that Major Bell be released,
but the Kentuckians drew their guns and dragged their
captive aboard the waiting ferry.
A few days later, a group of Hoosiers hurried down to
Kentucky to demand that Bell be set free. The Kentuckians
finally relented, and Bell was asked only to pay a fine. The
determined Hoosiers gladly paid his fine, and Bell was set
free to return to his home in the West to continue his
writing career.
CONTINUED FROM
________________________________________
Vol. 9 Issue 2
Second Quarter
Week 18
Abe Lincoln Grows up in Indiana
THIS WEEK
Slavery
• Underground
Railroad
• Sojourner Truth
• Hooded Merganser
A
braham Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, in a
Kentucky log cabin. When Abe was 7 years old, his
family moved by wagon from Knob Creek to Pigeon Creek
in the Indiana Territory. The new Lincoln home stood in
the unbroken wilderness.
Tom Lincoln, Abe’s father, chopped down the big trees.
Young Abe split thin pieces of wood for the cabin, then put
them between the logs wherever there was an empty space.
His sister, Sarah, wet clay and filled in the spaces Abe left.
Tom Lincoln couldn’t read, but he knew how to tell a story.
When Tom told about Daniel Boone and adventures with
American Indians, young Abe and Sarah would listen intently.
Nancy Hanks Lincoln, Abe’s mother, could read. She often
read Bible stories to the family. Abe and Sarah had gone to
school for a while in Kentucky, and they both could read and
write their letters. Abe had a speller that included Aesop’s
Fables in the back. Abe read the stories over and over.
When Abe was 9, his mother became ill with the “milk
sickness,” and she died. Abe and Sarah grew closer together
in their sorrow. Poor Sarah, 11 at the time, had to do all her
mother’s chores. A pioneer family could not go on without
a woman to run the house. So after a year, Tom decided to
remarry. He married Sarah Bush Johnston, a woman he had
known back in Kentucky. She brought to the family some
furniture, three children of her own and a heart full of love.
Lincoln and his family stayed in Indiana until 1830,
when they moved to Illinois. It was in Indiana where young
Abe grew to manhood. Here he learned to be a farmer, a
master woodsman, a carpenter and a storekeeper. Lincoln
eventually became a lawyer, then the 16th president of the
United States.
The Levi Coffin House
The Levi Coffin House is a great place to
go to learn more about Indiana’s role in the
Underground Railroad. The Underground
Railroad was a system of secret routes used
by escaping slaves that led from the South
to the northern United States or Canada. The
Levi Coffin House is a State Historic Site
located about eight miles north of Richmond.
Sometimes called the “Grand Central
Station” of the Underground Railroad, the
Levi Coffin House was actually a private
home owned by Levi and Catharine Coffin.
Their house became a stop for runaway
slaves to hide as they made the journey
from slavery to freedom. Levi and Catharine
opened their home to more than 2,000
runaway slaves over a period of 20 years.
Levi became known as the President of
the Underground Railroad and none of the
slaves who stayed in his home were ever
captured.
When you visit the eight-room home
today, you won’t find any secret tunnels
or passageways. Instead, the Coffins hid
runaway slaves in their attic. They also had a
hidden storage area in one of the bedrooms.
No slave hunter ever actually entered the
Coffin house, as Levi would insist that he be
shown a search warrant before he would let
anyone in. No one ever brought a warrant to
show Levi, so no one was ever allowed to
search the house.
Today, the Levi Coffin House is open for
visitors and school tours from June 1 through
October 31, but it is closed during the winter
months. Visitors can take a tour of the house,
see the places where slaves were hidden, and
look at some items belonging to the original
Coffin family. If you visit, you will learn all
about the Underground Railroad and how one
Indiana family helped thousands of slaves
escape to freedom.
Week 18 of 32 • Page 3
Week 18 of 32 • Page 2
Slavery and the
Underground Railroad
Integrity
I
ntegrity is doing what you say you are going to do, no
matter what. Even if your friends make fun of you
because you are being a “good person,” you should always do
what you know is right and keep your word.
During the early 1800s, people called the Society of
Friends began to help slaves who were trying to escape
slavery by using the Underground Railroad. These were not
the only people, however, who helped the slaves escape.
Many other people chose to not follow the “normal” thing
to do and instead helped slaves become free. You could say
that these people had integrity. They believed slavery was
wrong, and no matter what society or other people thought
of them, they stuck with their beliefs.
Integrity is something that is very important. It can
show what kind of a person you are and mold the way people
see you for life. If you are a person who has integrity, it will
be easier for people to believe in you, follow you and trust in
you. There will be times when your friendship is put to the
test because of your integrity. But always remember that if
they are really your friends, you will not lose them because
of something you believe.
Indiana was always a free state, even though some Hoosiers believed in slavery. This week, let’s examine the situation in
Indiana during the 1860s.
How Slavery Came to
America
Slavery of Africans began in 1441 when
the Portuguese were exploring the African
coast. Prince Henry of Portugal wanted
gold, so he sent ships to Africa in search
of it. The Portuguese did not find gold,
but they did return with about 12 African
people in bondage. This was the beginning
of slavery in Europe. When other European
countries learned how much money could
be made in slave trading, they set up slave
trading posts in Africa, too. The first slaves
were brought to America in 1619—to
Jamestown on a Dutch ship. In the 300
years between the 16th and 19th centuries,
more than 20 million men and women
were forced to leave Africa as slaves.
Originally, the slave traders purchased
only African prisoners of war—people
who had been captured during tribal wars.
As the European nations became greedy
for slaves, however, the Europeans began
kidnapping African men and women from
their villages.
The Society of Friends
A religious group called Quakers, or
the Society of Friends, helped with the
Underground Railroad. Not long after the
Indiana Territory was formed in 1800,
many from the Society of Friends came
from the slave state of North Carolina to
the Indiana Territory. One of their reasons
for coming was that they did not believe
in slavery, and the Indiana Territory had
abolished slavery. The Quakers were
plainly dressed folks who believed in
peaceful living and a strong sense of
community. They settled in the upper
parts of the Whitewater Valley in Wayne
County. Quakers who came to Indiana
often brought African American paid
servants with them. When they settled in
Indiana, the Society of Friends helped the
servants buy their own land. They then
cleared the land and built homes on it.
there was nothing for the slaves to do.
The northern owners felt that it cost too
much to care for slaves when they were
not working. When cotton became an
important crop in the South, slaves became
necessary to plantation owners. The price
of slaves went up. A strong field worker in
the 1850s might cost as much as $1,500,
which was a tremendous amount of money
back then. Some slaves worked in the
fields, while others worked as servants in
the plantation houses. In the English and
Dutch colonies, slaves had no rights. They
could not go to school or get married.
Parents and children could be sold to
different people. Slaves could be severely
punished for even the smallest of mistakes.
The Underground Railroad
So many black slaves were mistreated
prior to the Civil War that they often
escaped to the North. Many of them
dropped out of sight in slave-free Indiana.
A southern slave owner once remarked,
“There mus’ be an underground railroad
outa here.” Thus a name was given to
the dangerous practice of helping slaves
escape to freedom. Many Hoosiers worked
Slavery in the Colonies
hard, risking their lives to help the slaves.
In the American colonies, there was a
Some people hid the escaped slaves in
great deal of work to be done on farms and houses along the way to safety. Several
plantations. It was difficult to get workers such stations were located throughout
because most people wanted their own
Indiana. Madison, Indianapolis, Richmond
farms. Even though both northern and
and Evansville contained some of the
southern colonists bought slaves, slavery
main stations. Levi Coffin was among
was not as profitable in the North. During those who worked hardest to help slaves.
the long winter months in the North,
He was a Quaker merchant who lived in
Newport (present-day Fountain City). He opened his home to
runaway slaves and helped them move on to other stations farther
north. Coffin ran the Underground Railroad from Indiana for
20 years, from 1827 to 1847. It is believed that, in that time, he
helped more than 2,000 slaves escape. Chapman Harris was an
African American preacher and famous for his involvement with
the Underground Railroad. His cabin was at the mouth of Eagle
Hollow, a creek three miles east of Madison. Elijah Anderson
helped Harris. Both men made many dangerous trips to Kentucky,
helping hundreds of runaway slaves to freedom. Anderson was
eventually caught and put in prison, where he died.
Free and Slave States
Many northern states in America wanted to abolish slavery.
The South, however, had been built on the work of slaves.
Southerners felt that they could not get along without slaves. In
the South, almost 4 million African Americans worked as slaves
for white owners. States in which slavery was practiced were
known as slave states. The North, where slavery was not allowed,
was made up of free states. Indiana was a free state.
The Legend of Major Bell
Horace Bell was a free African American from California.
He became a well-known writer of California history and
later a major in the Union army during the Civil War.
Prior to the war, in October 1858, Bell’s father and
brother were accused of helping slaves escape from
Kentucky through the Underground Railroad. Both men were
seized and jailed in Brandenburgh, Kentucky. Major Bell
heard what had happened, and he hurried to Kentucky to
help his family.
In a daring rescue, Bell and two friends freed his father
and brother. They all escaped to Indiana. The Kentuckians
were very angry and swore to capture Bell. They followed
his trail to New Albany, where Bell was preparing to take
a stagecoach back to California. As he reached the corner
of Main and Bank streets, five men grabbed him—he’d been
CONTINUED ON
Sojourner Truth
O
ne of the outstanding African American
women who struggled for women’s rights
and abolition of slavery was Sojourner
Truth. Born into slavery, Isabella Baumfree
became one of the most powerful voices
for abolition and women’s rights. Taking
a new name—Sojourner Truth—she
“sojourned,” or traveled, “up and down the
land,” declaring the truth unto the people.
Sojourner was a spellbinding speaker.
Once she listened to a minister
claiming that women needed to be
protected. She leaped to her feet
with this stinging reply:
Nobody ever helps me into
carriages or over mud puddles,
or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? . . . I have
ploughed and planted and gathered into barns . . . And ain’t I a
woman? . . . I have borne 13 children and seen most of ‘em sold
into slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none
but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
Bethel AME Church
The Bethel AME Church in Indianapolis has
played an important role in the city’s black
community for more than 160 years.
The congregation became involved in the
anti-slavery movement in 1848, harboring
fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. It was
known as the “Indianapolis station.”
Bethel AME Church is known as the “mother
church” of the African Methodist Episcopal
faith in Indiana. Members of the congregation
were not well received by some members of the
local community.
The original building was destroyed by fire
in 1862—many believed that it was arson (a
fire started at the hands of humans with the
purpose to destroy). There were those who
said that supporters of slavery were behind
it. The congregation got busy and rebuilt the
church in 1867—the same church that stands
today.
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PAGE 4
Hooded Merganser
What was the
Gettysburg Address
all about?
“Fourscore and seven years ago, our
fathers brought forth on this continent
. . .” You will hear those words quoted
many times throughout your lives.
President Abraham Lincoln’s 272-word
speech in the cemetery at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, took place four months
after the famous Battle of Gettysburg.
Lincoln himself said, “My speech fell
like a wet blanket.” A Harrisburg (PA)
newspaper dismissed the Gettysburg
Address as “silly remarks.” An Illinois
paper called it “a perfect gem, deep
in feeling.” Most everyone has agreed
with the latter all these years!
H
ooded mergansers are in the duck family. They’re
the smallest mergansers in North America. Males
are black, white and reddish brown. They have white,
fan-like crests on top of their black heads.
Many live around the Great Lakes in wooded areas.
Mergansers like quiet, shallow, clear-water pools that
have sandy bottoms. They prefer ponds that are near
deciduous (trees that lose their leaves in the winter)
woods. Some have been reported to live in human-made
boxes in grasslands. They usually eat crustaceans (sea
creatures that have outer skeletons, such as crab,
lobsters and shrimp). For dessert, they like fish and insects.
Hooded mergansers reproduce in November or December. Nesting sites are
chosen by the females and are usually cavities 10 feet off the ground in hollow
trees. Seven to 15 eggs are laid, and the mom incubates them for one month,
during which time the male abandons the nest. Twenty-four hours after the
ducklings hatch, she leaves the nest, and the parents never again return.
In this beautiful region of Indiana, you’ll probably spy these unusual-looking
ducks at the Majenica Marsh near Huntington. The hollow trees standing in the
marsh are their favorite nesting sites.