While many if not most antebellum slaves ran away, very few made it to the "promised land" of the North. The barriers to freedom were formidable. By far the majority of those who succeeded were men from the upper South, who traveled alone in the hope of avoiding detection. Willing to abandon family and friends, they had no idea what they would find even if they reached free soil.

Frederick Douglass, America's most famous runaway, described his anxiety, mixed with the joy of freedom, after reaching...