Moccasin Bend, Jacob Cummings and the Underground Railroad
by Alex Durham, National Park Partners History Intern, UTC Department of History, Summer 2021
Jacob Cummings began his courageous escape from enslavement on Moccasin Bend at the age of 23, two decades before the Civil War began. Known then as Jacob Smith, or "Jake" to his friends, he had lived a hard life. He was born a slave of James Smith, a cruel master with a quick temper. Smith was a farmer, owning two separate plantations on Moccasin Bend and Walden's Ridge. Although Jacob was one of fourteen children by his mother, Smith sold off all but three of his siblings before Jacob met them. The overseer, Welsh, was as ruthless as Smith; Jacob and the others were forced to work from before dawn until eleven or twelve o'clock at night.
Jacob Cummings: Image courtesy of the National Park Service. Source: Ohio History Connection/Wilbur H. Siebert Collection/MSS 116 AV;Box 78, Folder 5
One night, a few months before Jacob's escape, one of Smith's workers had witnessed Jacob sneak away to spend time in a nearby town. When Jacob went to eat his breakfast the following morning, Smith commanded one of his men to tie Jacob to the stocks and whip him between 150 and 200 times. They then covered his back in salt and left him tied up in Smith's room. When Smith was absent, Jacob's mother would slip quietly into the room with water for her son to drink. While she tried to be strong for him, she couldn't turn away fast enough for him to miss her tears fall. Jacob was kept bound for two more days before being brought before a blacksmith to be fitted with iron chains. Smith was prone to anger, and similar episodes of physical assault played out daily for Jacob and the other slaves. Jacob recalled many years later that Smith's wife, Betsy, was a "Christian woman if ever there was one." She would lie for Jacob and the others to save them from her husband's wrath.
Often, when Smith's work took him to Chattanooga, Jacob would go with him. During one visit, he was quietly approached by a white grocer, Mr. Leonard. Mr. Leonard was an abolitionist and knew of the Underground Railroad. He had heard of Smith’s cruelty and told Jacob he could find his freedom by escaping to the North. Pulling out a map, he showed Jacob the nearest places of refuge, Ohio and Indiana. After arriving home, Jacob talked to Smith’s 16-year-old grandson, Jim, and asked where the pigeons fly in the fall. Jim responded that the pigeons fly to the Great Lakes and showed Jacob on a map. Jacob secretly marked the map as the boy spoke, stealing it from him afterward. The next time Jacob went to Chattanooga, he again sought out Mr. Leonard. He showed him the north star and told him to follow it on a clear night, and how to navigate by moss on the trees when it was cloudy.
Meanwhile, Smith's mistreatment of his slaves continued. Smith gave Jacob's mother 200 lashes after a stray cat ate a piece of fish Smith had caught as she was preparing his meal. Days later, Smith raged that a melon was missing from his garden and threatened to beat each slave until he was certain the perpetrator had been punished.
Suffering daily injustices, Jacob decided he could no longer bear a life of bondage. Knowing that a better life awaited him if he could make it to the North, he took Mr. Leonard's advice to escape to freedom. Just before noon on the 29th of July 1839, he began his difficult journey. Slipping away from his overseer, Jacob used what he described as "an injun canoe" to reach a small island in the Tennessee River. He stayed there two days before being alerted of the approach of slavecatchers by two poor white farmers. Bundling his clothing onto his head, he narrowly escaped his pursuers by swimming a half-mile upriver before diverting onto Walden's Ridge. The ridge was the home of Smith's upper farm, where he knew his mother had been taken.
Jacob arrived at the upper farm in time to see his mother, but lingered nearby, hesitant to leave her. Disaster hit one night as he fumbled in the dark when a rattlesnake struck him. Jacob, an intelligent and thoughtful young man, had the presence of mind to bind his wound in cloth, packing it with a bit of tobacco. His injury weakened him to the point of being almost completely incapacitated. Knowing further action must be taken if he was to survive, he opened his wound with a penknife to release the fluid. He then bound salt to his hand, explaining later that it was the "injun rule." Thanks to his quick wits, he was able to regain his strength.
Smith, frustrated by the failed efforts of slavecatchers, sent his son Elie to catch Jacob. Elie, though, was sympathetic to Jacob’s plight, and sat down on a fence so Jacob could escape. That evening, Jacob, while hiding, heard Smith curse Elie for not catching him. Elie responded that his father "ought to be in hell" for his treatment of his slaves. Knowing he could no longer stay, that night Jacob found his mother to bid her one final farewell. The next day, Jacob obtained forged "free papers" from a man named Mr. Gouge for $5. He caught wind of more slavecatchers in the area and vanished into the valley.
Continuing ever northward, Jacob met a white lawyer who offered him food and rest. The man warned Jacob that he would be arrested if he was seen with his forged papers in McMinnville. Jacob kept moving, eventually coming across a home with several people, both black and white. A white gentleman told Jacob to go inside to get something to eat before continuing on his way. Only about a mile further, Jacob was captured by two white men. Jacob offered them money to travel back down the road to see the lawyer, to confirm that he did indeed have his free papers. They left him with a man and woman to guard him, but he pretended to be sick and escaped.
For two days and two nights, he was unable to find anything more to eat. Jacob, overcome by hunger, suddenly spotted a log cabin with people eating. However, Jacob knew he had to rely on his instincts, and his gut told him not to engage with these people. After watching in secret and silence, he crept down to the house and stole a piece of bread and meat, taking them back up the hill to live free another day. That night, he dreamt he was taken and chained hand and foot with a padlock. The next day he was captured again by two men, and they took him to their house and tied him with rope, chains, and a padlock. While they slept, Jacob managed to slip the rope off of his hands and was able to open his padlock with his trusty penknife the same way he had seen Elie take an awl to open padlocks.
Unfortunately, the snap of the padlock was loud enough to wake the household. Jacob lunged for the door, slamming it open and running out. The men, realizing he was gone, attempted to grab the chain, but Jacob was no longer fastened to it. Jacob made his way through the forest in darkness, as quickly as he could, until he came across a creek. He heard an animal chewing grass by the stream and was pleasantly surprised to discover it was a horse. Climbing onto its back, he tied on makeshift reins and took off on its back. He rode 14 miles, a trip he would later describe "as sweet a ride as I ever had in my life." He then turned the horse loose and found a group of black workers in a field. The workers hid him away, but he kept moving. Escaping further north, he finally broke into the state of Kentucky.
As he approached the Ohio River, a black man warned him not to stop in the nearby town of Yellowbank. He discovered the boats were all locked at the river, so he busted one loose and crossed into Indiana just before daylight. Leaving the skiff at the shore, Jacob had walked about a half-mile from the river when he came across two young white boys. A sudden thought entered his head, and he called out to them, "Boys don't you know a colored man by the name of Uncle John?" The boys responded that they did and showed him the way, and after about a mile and a half, Jacob met Uncle John. Uncle John, knowing Jacob was a fugitive, hid him, but no one came looking. The old man told Jacob his future, predicting by the stars that he would get through, but warning that he would have trouble.
After Jacob left Uncle John, he made it to Ohio, where he met more abolitionists. He worked for them for two weeks, but was arrested. His captors planned to take him to Louisville, but lawyers and abolitionists with the Underground Railroad lobbied to keep him in Ohio successfully. The judge, a white man with no love for escaped slaves, told Jacob regretfully, "I believe you're a slave, but I have no right to hold you." He was released, but instead of the open arms of freedom, Jacob found himself turned over to vigilantes. Mustering every bit of strength and courage, he once again escaped his captors. Unfortunately, he only managed to make it to about 30 or 40 miles from Richmond before being taken again, tied, and put onto a horse. After riding through the woods a short time, Jacob began to shimmy quietly, managing to somehow loosen his ropes before jumping off and escaping into a thicket. Tearing through the woods from his pursuers, he found his way to a road.
On the road, Jacob met an old black man who told him where to find an Underground Railroad station nearby. The station was run by two black men named Richard Robbins and Jerry Terry at Cabin Creek in Randolph County, Indiana. The station manager was a Quaker named Nathan Jones, and he helped escaped slaves read slavecatcher notices, get jobs, and find housing. Jacob stayed in Cabin Creek at the Underground Railroad station for around a year, working on a farm. In the winter months, when Jacob had more free time, he went to school. For the first time, Jacob experienced a safe home with a good education, and he began to dream of becoming a reverend.
Detail of transcribed interview with Jacob Cummings. Source: Ohio History Connection/Wilbur H. Siebert Underground Railroad Collection
After the idyllic year was over, Jacob got word that slavecatchers were in the area with his description. Jacob left in the dead of night, traveling from place to place, staying with abolitionists all along the way. He arrived at Royal Oak, where he had received directions to meet "John the Baptist." John the Baptist helped Jacob meet abolitionists in Detroit who took him down to the river, where two young boys rowed him across. On the other side, the abolitionists said they could take him to a dock where he would find a steamboat called Little Jim. The boat was an abolitionist ferry that ran between Detroit and Windsor, carrying escaped slaves as both passengers and cargo. Climbing aboard Little Jim, Jacob felt the heavy chains of slavery fall away from him. He arrived in Canada around 1843 or 1844. Fifty years later, he would still recall the joy he felt upon reaching Canada and, at last, freedom. In Canada, Jacob became a reverend and an active member of the Underground Railroad.