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[gentle music]

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- Jenny Pederson:
Hello, everyone.

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Welcome to today's
"History Sandwiched In" program

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at the Wisconsin
Historical Society's

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History Maker Space
here on the Capitol Square.

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We're excited to have you all
with us

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as we start the afternoon.

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For those of you
joining us for the first time,

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this program runs
throughout the year

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from March through November,

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highlighting a range of topics
relevant to the history

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of the people, places, spaces,

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and events of Wisconsin
and the broader Midwest.

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For individuals who
have attended a previous session

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of "History Sandwiched In,"
welcome back.

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My name is Jenny Pederson

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and I am the
public programs manager

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for the Wisconsin
Historical Society.

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It's a joy to have you all
with us today.

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A quick note
that opinions expressed today

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during the presentation
are those of the speaker

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and not those of
the Wisconsin Historical Society

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or the society's employees.

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It is a pleasure
to welcome Kevin Scannell,

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public programs
and outreach coordinator

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of the Milton House Museum and
the Milton Historical Society.

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In joining us today,

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Kevin will be presenting on the
founding of the town of Milton

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and the construction
of the Milton House.

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During his presentation,

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as you see here
and referenced here,

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he will also be talking about
the role of the Milton House

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as part of
the Underground Railroad's

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Network to Freedom,

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as well as the social and
political climate of Wisconsin

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in the United States
in the 1850s and 1860s.

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Please join me
in welcoming Kevin,

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and enjoy the presentation,
everyone.

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[audience applauds]

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- Kevin Scannell: Thank you all
very much.

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Yes, I'm Kevin.

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I'll be talking
about the Milton House today.

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I usually start off asking
a question,

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and I noticed that
PBS had,

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about 20 years prior, had a talk
here by my predecessor,

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and she asked
the exact same question,

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so it's good to know
we're still doing this.

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But I wanted, just
a quick show of hands,

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how many of you have heard of or
been to the Milton House before?

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All right, a decent number
of hands, yes.

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So, the Milton House,

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we are the only
nationally certified

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Underground Railroad site
in Wisconsin that you can tour.

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And that photograph right there

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shows the modern-day
Milton House.

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So, before I get into this
presentation,

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I just wanna point out
a few of the details from it.

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So, if you notice the large
hexagon part there at the front

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that says "Milton House" on it.

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The Milton House,
it is known as a stagecoach inn,

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or at least that's what it was
during the time period.

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So, it was built in 1844
by Joseph Goodrich,

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and he's the founder
of the town of Milton

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and the one
who built the Milton House.

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And he builds that hexagon
material as a stagecoach inn.

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So, on the very first floor,

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that is essentially
the waiting room

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and the dining room area
of this Milton House.

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And so, the Milton House
had around 26 or so

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stagecoaches travel by
every single day.

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And just off the picture,

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there's also
train tracks running by,

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and there would be
about half a dozen trains

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that came through the town
of Milton.

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So, it's a very busy section,

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and this is where everyone
is waiting for their trains

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or their stagecoaches.

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On the second floor
and the third floor,

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which wasn't built
for several years later,

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but the second and third floor,

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that is the inn part
of the Milton House Inn,

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and that is on each floor
six hotel rooms,

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one for each side
of the hexagon.

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Now, the sort of addition,

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the rectangular addition,
we call that the Block.

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And that is the oldest sort of
strip mall in the United States.

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And on the very first floor
of that,

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there would be different shops

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and different residents
of Milton

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would rent out these
different shops along the block,

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and the second floor would be
rented out for housing as well.

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Frequently that would be
the housing

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of the shopkeepers themselves.

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Now, the material also--

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and I'm really talking
about the hexagon

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and the first section
of the Block--

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you'll notice a bit of a divider

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right there between half
of the Block and the hexagon.

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The original material
is known as grout,

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and that is not the stuff
you find

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in between your tiles
back at home.

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That is, instead, a sort of
primitive concrete.

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And the Milton House itself
is the oldest still standing

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poured concrete structure
in the United States.

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And this grout material,

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it is made out of sand,
water, and limestone,

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and it comes together and it
forms this form of concrete.

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The section to the right
ended up collapsing,

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and I'll talk a little bit
about that

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in just a couple of minutes.

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But if you do see
that divider right there,

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that is the section
that collapsed.

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And to the left of the divider
on the Milton House,

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that is
the still-standing portion,

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and that is made out of the
original grout mixture

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from 1844.

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And if you look at
the very bottom-left part

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of that photograph,

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you'll see a little
wood log cabin.

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And I'll talk about that
a little bit later.

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I just want you
to remember what

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that little log cabin
looks like,

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because that is a big part
of the history

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of the Underground Railroad.

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So, moving on
to our next slide.

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And before I really get
into this presentation,

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we are part of the
National Park Service

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Network to Freedom.

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And part of that
means we like to use some

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of the terminology
that they use.

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So, I'm gonna use a few of
these words on this slide show

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throughout this
presentation itself,

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and I just wanna talk about
what a few of these words mean

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just so we're all
on the same page.

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So, first point is
the Underground Railroad.

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That is defined as,
"The resistance to slavery

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through escape and flight."

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It is not an actual
underground railroad,

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contrary to the belief
of many schoolchildren

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who tour the Milton House.

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But, no, it is part
of the resistance to slavery.

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Freedom seeker is another word
that we like to use,

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and that describes "an enslaved
person who is escaping

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and traveling
along the Underground Railroad."

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You've probably heard the term
fugitive slave or runaway slave.

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This is the word
we use in place of those terms.

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Enslaved person is someone
who is,

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you can imagine, enslaved
under the system of slavery.

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An enslaver is someone
enforcing that system.

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An abolitionist is
someone opposed

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to the practice of slavery.

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And then, the final three terms
are all sort of thematic terms

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that fit the naming
of the Underground Railroad,

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and that is a conductor,

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who is escorting individuals
or freedom seekers

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between stops
along the Underground Railroad.

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A station master
usually controls

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or owns one of these stops.

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And the station themselves

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is a stop along the
Underground Railroad.

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So, those are just a few
of the terms.

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Now, we're gonna start talking
about the important dates

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of the Milton House itself.

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So, in 1839,
the Goodrich family--

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and Joseph Goodrich,
again,

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he's the one
who built the Milton House

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and settled the town of Milton.

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He and his family
and nine others arrive at a town

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that they call Prairie du Lac.

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Now, the Goodriches are
all coming from a place

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known as Alfred, New York,

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and they are
Seventh Day Baptists.

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They are sort of escaping
from the area of New York

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and founding what becomes
a Seventh Day Baptist community.

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And they originally call it
Prairie du Lac,

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but they have to end up changing
the name of Prairie du Lac,

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and they end up choosing
the name of Milton.

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And our theory as to,
"Why Milton?" is,

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if you've heard of the poet
and author John Milton,

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he wrote <i>Paradise Lost</i>
and he wrote <i>Paradise Found.</i>

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And they like to say
that Milton is paradise found.

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So, Joseph Goodrich comes here
with his family

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in 1839
to settle the town of Milton.

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In 1844, Joseph Goodrich builds
the Milton House Inn

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out of that grout structure.

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It is, again,
the oldest still standing

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poured-concrete structure
in the United States.

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Earlier in 1844,

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he builds the Milton Academy
out of a similar grout material,

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but very quickly he realizes
that mixture is flawed.

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It starts showing cracks,

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and he realizes he doesn't
want to use that exact formula.

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So, he ends up testing
a new formula

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on a small blacksmith shop just
outside modern-day Milton House,

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and he's satisfied with that,

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and then he builds
the much larger Milton House Inn

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out of that material.

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Several years later, the
Milton Academy does collapse.

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In 1861,
the freedom seeker--

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and if you remember
the term freedom seeker

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from the previous slide--

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the freedom seeker
named Andrew Pratt

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arrives at the Milton House Inn.

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And Andrew Pratt is
the one freedom seeker

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that we know by name,

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who we can confirm came
to the Milton House.

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We estimate at minimum three,
most likely several dozen,

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and then high estimates
of around a hundred or so

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freedom seekers
came to the Milton House.

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It's very difficult
to actually count

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because there aren't
many written records or details

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provided from back then.

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We'll talk a little bit
about that later.

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And then in 1948,

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about a hundred years after
the Milton House was built,

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sections of it collapsed.

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And I'll actually skip ahead
onto the next slide

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and show this photograph here,
documenting that.

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As we can see, the Milton House
hexagon is there on the left.

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And then, the part of the Block,

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every two windows is
a different section

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or a different unit of it.

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So, if you look
every two windows,

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we can see block one, block two,

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and then blocks three and four
have collapsed.

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And at the very end,
still standing is block five.

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So, this is 104 years

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after the Milton House
was originally built

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by the Goodriches.

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Descendants of Joseph Goodrich,
several other Goodriches,

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still owned the Milton House
at this time.

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And just before the collapse,

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it is falling into disrepair
and they are looking to sell.

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Many of them
have left the town of Milton,

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and they're actually also
considering

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just demolishing the building
itself.

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But the people of the town
of Milton,

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they end up forming
the Milton Historical Society

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to purchase the Milton House

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because they recognize
it has some historic value,

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both to the town of Milton

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and the history
of the Underground Railroad.

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While the two sides
are negotiating

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over how much they should sell
the Milton House for,

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it ends up collapsing.

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And there's actually
two people sleeping

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inside the Milton House
at the time.

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One person is
on the second floor

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of the part that collapsed,
and he ends up falling through,

250
00:10:52,186 --> 00:10:54,354
and he's badly injured,
but he does survive.

251
00:10:54,421 --> 00:10:56,657
So, after the collapse,

252
00:10:57,457 --> 00:10:59,693
this obviously,
as you can imagine,

253
00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:03,897
changes how much the Goodriches
are going to ask for

254
00:11:03,964 --> 00:11:07,167
in return for selling
the Milton House.

255
00:11:07,234 --> 00:11:10,971
And I want you to quickly come
up with a guess in your head.

256
00:11:11,038 --> 00:11:12,239
You're probably
a little bit high.

257
00:11:12,306 --> 00:11:15,909
They end up selling
the Milton House for exactly $1.

258
00:11:15,976 --> 00:11:18,946
That is a little more
than $1 in today's money,

259
00:11:19,012 --> 00:11:22,249
but still just $1 back then,
so not a whole lot.

260
00:11:22,316 --> 00:11:24,918
And the Milton
Historical Society takes over

261
00:11:24,985 --> 00:11:26,653
the Milton House.

262
00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:28,989
Six years later, in 1954,

263
00:11:29,056 --> 00:11:32,426
the Milton House
officially opens as a museum.

264
00:11:32,492 --> 00:11:35,095
And I'll skip back
to this slide, actually.

265
00:11:35,162 --> 00:11:36,797
They end up taking down

266
00:11:36,864 --> 00:11:39,466
and clearing out the rubble
from blocks three and four.

267
00:11:39,533 --> 00:11:41,001
That's the collapsed section.

268
00:11:41,068 --> 00:11:42,669
Block five is unattached,

269
00:11:42,736 --> 00:11:45,472
and they end up taking down that
section as well.

270
00:11:45,539 --> 00:11:47,374
And then about a year
after it collapses,

271
00:11:47,441 --> 00:11:51,778
block two ends up falling away
from the Milton House.

272
00:11:51,845 --> 00:11:53,447
And it just falls off.

273
00:11:53,514 --> 00:11:56,483
So, in order to ensure that
doesn't happen for block one,

274
00:11:56,550 --> 00:12:00,387
they put some beams connecting
it to the hexagon part

275
00:12:00,454 --> 00:12:01,555
of the Milton House.

276
00:12:01,622 --> 00:12:04,358
So, when we looked at the
original photograph

277
00:12:04,424 --> 00:12:05,526
on the first slide,

278
00:12:05,592 --> 00:12:07,895
we could see the hexagon
and only block one

279
00:12:07,961 --> 00:12:10,163
were out of that
original material.

280
00:12:10,230 --> 00:12:14,001
And that is why,
is because of that collapse.

281
00:12:14,067 --> 00:12:17,471
In 1998, the Milton House Museum
is granted

282
00:12:17,538 --> 00:12:20,240
a National Historic Landmark
designation.

283
00:12:20,307 --> 00:12:23,877
And then, in 2006,
the addition is put on,

284
00:12:23,944 --> 00:12:27,447
and that is in the footprint--
in the modern-day footprint,

285
00:12:27,514 --> 00:12:30,484
I should say--
of the original Milton House.

286
00:12:30,551 --> 00:12:35,389
So, it still looks
the exact same from the outside

287
00:12:35,455 --> 00:12:36,790
in terms of its shape,

288
00:12:36,857 --> 00:12:39,459
although it is made
out of modern-day materials

289
00:12:39,526 --> 00:12:43,063
and not 1844 grout mixtures,
which, again,

290
00:12:43,130 --> 00:12:46,066
as we look at this slide
is maybe a good thing

291
00:12:46,133 --> 00:12:47,835
for structural integrity.

292
00:12:47,901 --> 00:12:51,772
So, there's another photograph
on the left

293
00:12:51,839 --> 00:12:55,542
of the historic Milton House
prior to its collapse.

294
00:12:55,609 --> 00:12:59,012
And then, on the right we can
see still the original section.

295
00:12:59,079 --> 00:13:00,681
And that is another photograph

296
00:13:00,747 --> 00:13:03,083
that if you look at the
very right end of that picture,

297
00:13:03,150 --> 00:13:04,918
you'll see
the little divider there

298
00:13:04,985 --> 00:13:07,955
separating blocks one
of the original section

299
00:13:08,021 --> 00:13:11,592
and block two
of the historic section.

300
00:13:13,961 --> 00:13:16,763
Here is a photograph
of the Goodrich family.

301
00:13:16,830 --> 00:13:20,167
And these two are
Joseph and Nancy Goodrich.

302
00:13:20,234 --> 00:13:22,636
They are the founders
of the town of Milton,

303
00:13:22,703 --> 00:13:27,374
and they are the two builders
of the Milton House Museum.

304
00:13:27,441 --> 00:13:29,710
Joseph Goodrich,
as I hope you can guess,

305
00:13:29,776 --> 00:13:32,613
is the one pictured on the left.

306
00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:36,049
When-- and I skipped one
of our more favorite stories

307
00:13:36,116 --> 00:13:39,520
we like to talk about,
so I'll briefly go back to that.

308
00:13:39,586 --> 00:13:42,923
The reason Joseph Goodrich
made it out of a grout mixture

309
00:13:42,990 --> 00:13:47,094
as opposed to any other material
that exists out there,

310
00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,464
is, when initially planning
the Milton House,

311
00:13:50,531 --> 00:13:53,500
he is evaluating
how much it will cost.

312
00:13:53,567 --> 00:13:57,104
And he first considers
building it out of brick,

313
00:13:57,171 --> 00:14:01,375
which is, he estimates,
around $6,000 in money,

314
00:14:01,441 --> 00:14:03,477
which is a lot more back then.

315
00:14:03,544 --> 00:14:06,880
He then looks at wood,
which is about $4,000.

316
00:14:06,947 --> 00:14:09,016
And he doesn't
actually consider straw,

317
00:14:09,082 --> 00:14:13,187
contrary to the common story
about the wolves and the pigs,

318
00:14:13,253 --> 00:14:16,223
but instead he looks at the
grout mixture,

319
00:14:16,290 --> 00:14:18,458
and that is only around $1,000.

320
00:14:18,525 --> 00:14:19,893
So, it's significantly cheaper

321
00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,830
for him to build it
out of this grout structure.

322
00:14:23,897 --> 00:14:26,333
So, as I already mentioned,
they came from New York

323
00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:27,901
and they traveled to Wisconsin.

324
00:14:27,968 --> 00:14:29,436
They found the town of Milton.

325
00:14:29,503 --> 00:14:31,271
They are Seventh Day Baptists,

326
00:14:31,338 --> 00:14:36,210
which is a religious sect
that they are a part of.

327
00:14:36,276 --> 00:14:37,611
And I'll talk a little bit more

328
00:14:37,678 --> 00:14:39,179
about the Seventh Day Baptists
later on,

329
00:14:39,246 --> 00:14:43,016
but it is an important part of
both the Goodrichs' lives

330
00:14:43,083 --> 00:14:45,652
and the history
of the town of Milton.

331
00:14:45,719 --> 00:14:49,089
And they also are the founders
of the still standing

332
00:14:49,156 --> 00:14:50,858
modern-day Milton College.

333
00:14:50,924 --> 00:14:54,261
And that was built in
around 1854 or so.

334
00:14:54,328 --> 00:14:56,230
And it opened as a college,

335
00:14:56,296 --> 00:14:59,199
and it served as a college
for about a hundred years or so,

336
00:14:59,266 --> 00:15:03,604
and it finally closed
in the 1960s or '70s or so.

337
00:15:05,105 --> 00:15:06,673
But it's also still standing,

338
00:15:06,740 --> 00:15:08,742
and he decided
to make that one out of brick

339
00:15:08,809 --> 00:15:11,478
and not any other materials.

340
00:15:12,179 --> 00:15:14,648
So, what was
the Underground Railroad?

341
00:15:14,715 --> 00:15:18,018
Well, I'm gonna steal
another definition

342
00:15:18,085 --> 00:15:20,921
from the National Park Service
Network to Freedom.

343
00:15:20,988 --> 00:15:22,856
And they talk about
the Underground Railroad

344
00:15:22,923 --> 00:15:25,492
as "a loose network
of peoples and places

345
00:15:25,559 --> 00:15:27,494
that aided freedom seekers."

346
00:15:27,561 --> 00:15:33,333
And the Underground Railroad
also operated from 1619 to 1865.

347
00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,403
And we get
those two dates from--

348
00:15:36,937 --> 00:15:41,441
1619 is sort of considered
the beginning or origin

349
00:15:41,508 --> 00:15:47,748
of the transatlantic slave trade
in the modern-day United States.

350
00:15:48,749 --> 00:15:53,654
That is the arrival of a
Dutch slave ship from Africa.

351
00:15:54,221 --> 00:15:57,925
And so, if you've heard of the
1619 Project, that is,

352
00:15:57,991 --> 00:16:00,561
as you might note,
the same exact date here.

353
00:16:00,627 --> 00:16:03,864
And 1865 is
the end of the Civil War.

354
00:16:04,298 --> 00:16:07,935
That is what we consider sort of
the abolishment of slavery

355
00:16:08,001 --> 00:16:10,037
and the end of, I should say,

356
00:16:10,103 --> 00:16:13,907
legalized slavery
in the United States.

357
00:16:15,042 --> 00:16:16,810
Another question
I happen to get a lot

358
00:16:16,877 --> 00:16:18,212
working at the Milton House is,

359
00:16:18,278 --> 00:16:20,948
"Why is it that we have
an Underground Railroad site

360
00:16:21,014 --> 00:16:23,550
"all the way in the North
in Wisconsin, right?

361
00:16:23,617 --> 00:16:25,686
Isn't Wisconsin a free state?"

362
00:16:25,752 --> 00:16:27,855
And yes,
Wisconsin was a free state,

363
00:16:27,921 --> 00:16:31,925
but the Underground Railroad ran
in both the North and the South.

364
00:16:31,992 --> 00:16:34,194
So, we really think about
the Underground Railroad

365
00:16:34,261 --> 00:16:37,397
as just
a Southern sort of practice,

366
00:16:37,464 --> 00:16:39,633
but in reality,
freedom seekers

367
00:16:39,700 --> 00:16:42,636
very much were not safe
once they reached a free state.

368
00:16:42,703 --> 00:16:47,140
Bounty hunters certainly had
the rights to travel north

369
00:16:47,207 --> 00:16:49,643
and bring freedom seekers
back down to the South.

370
00:16:49,710 --> 00:16:51,144
And even non-bounty hunters,

371
00:16:51,211 --> 00:16:55,716
even residents in these
Northern cities and states

372
00:16:55,782 --> 00:16:58,752
wouldn't always be
abolitionists.

373
00:16:58,819 --> 00:17:00,554
They wouldn't always
be opposed to slavery.

374
00:17:00,621 --> 00:17:03,457
So, very much not safe
even staying

375
00:17:03,524 --> 00:17:06,426
in a free state like Wisconsin.

376
00:17:07,127 --> 00:17:10,464
And that is especially true
following 1850

377
00:17:10,531 --> 00:17:14,101
and the Fugitive Slave Act
or Fugitive Slave Law.

378
00:17:14,168 --> 00:17:17,671
And I'll talk about that
a little bit later as well.

379
00:17:17,738 --> 00:17:21,575
I'll point out the very large
photograph there on the right,

380
00:17:21,642 --> 00:17:24,978
and that is the underground
tunnel of the Milton House.

381
00:17:25,045 --> 00:17:27,814
So, if you remember all
the way back on the first slide,

382
00:17:27,881 --> 00:17:30,250
when I mentioned
that very small wood log cabin

383
00:17:30,317 --> 00:17:31,518
and I said,

384
00:17:31,585 --> 00:17:34,354
"Don't forget the wood log cabin
in that photograph."

385
00:17:34,421 --> 00:17:37,824
This tunnel runs
from the hexagon,

386
00:17:37,891 --> 00:17:39,893
just below the hexagon,

387
00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:42,896
in the root cellar
of the Milton House,

388
00:17:42,963 --> 00:17:46,433
all the way down
beneath the log cabin

389
00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:49,036
and up into the log cabin
itself.

390
00:17:49,102 --> 00:17:51,104
So, the tunnel connects
these two places,

391
00:17:51,171 --> 00:17:53,473
and freedom seekers staying
at the Milton House

392
00:17:53,540 --> 00:17:58,645
would use that tunnel to travel
between the log cabin there

393
00:17:58,712 --> 00:18:01,114
and the root cellar
of the Milton House.

394
00:18:01,181 --> 00:18:02,950
Because, as we were talking
about earlier,

395
00:18:03,016 --> 00:18:05,919
the Milton House, it's very much
the hub of the town of Milton.

396
00:18:05,986 --> 00:18:07,688
It has really
the first strip mall

397
00:18:07,754 --> 00:18:10,924
or shopping mall
of the United States.

398
00:18:10,991 --> 00:18:13,927
There's 26 stagecoaches
coming through every day,

399
00:18:13,994 --> 00:18:16,296
there's six trains,
and it's a hotel as well.

400
00:18:16,363 --> 00:18:20,067
So, everyone's staying here
in the area of the Milton House.

401
00:18:20,133 --> 00:18:22,769
So, if you're a freedom seeker,
you can't exactly walk in

402
00:18:22,836 --> 00:18:24,805
through the front door
of the Milton House.

403
00:18:24,872 --> 00:18:29,109
That's sort of what
the tunnel is being used for.

404
00:18:29,176 --> 00:18:30,777
Now, this is a map,

405
00:18:30,844 --> 00:18:35,315
and I have this from the website
of the National Park Service.

406
00:18:35,382 --> 00:18:39,019
And you can see the lines
there on the map.

407
00:18:39,086 --> 00:18:40,187
They're a little bit blurry,

408
00:18:40,254 --> 00:18:44,658
but they do show
the most commonly used routes

409
00:18:44,725 --> 00:18:48,061
from freedom seekers traveling
along the Underground Railroad.

410
00:18:48,128 --> 00:18:51,365
So, as you see, they're
originating from the South

411
00:18:51,431 --> 00:18:53,667
and heading up into the North.

412
00:18:53,734 --> 00:18:55,402
Many of them
are headed towards Canada.

413
00:18:55,469 --> 00:18:58,772
Canada had abolished slavery
in the 1830s,

414
00:18:58,839 --> 00:19:00,440
as it was a British territory.

415
00:19:00,507 --> 00:19:03,410
You also see some of them
heading south into Mexico.

416
00:19:03,477 --> 00:19:06,413
And Mexico also had
abolished slavery in the 1830s

417
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:09,616
as part of its
founding constitution.

418
00:19:09,683 --> 00:19:13,053
You'll see some heading
into Florida,

419
00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:15,923
and actually some of them are
gonna stay there in Florida.

420
00:19:15,989 --> 00:19:18,225
And these are known
as maroon colonies,

421
00:19:18,292 --> 00:19:21,628
and these are colonies
that consist of primarily

422
00:19:21,695 --> 00:19:24,364
formerly enslaved
freedom seekers

423
00:19:24,431 --> 00:19:27,634
or emancipated
formerly enslaved people

424
00:19:27,701 --> 00:19:30,838
building their own towns
and communities in Florida.

425
00:19:30,904 --> 00:19:35,042
And they sort of serve
as a safe haven or a community

426
00:19:35,108 --> 00:19:38,212
where freedom seekers
can live safely

427
00:19:38,278 --> 00:19:40,280
as free individuals.

428
00:19:43,217 --> 00:19:45,886
And I'm gonna run through a few
of the common misconceptions

429
00:19:45,953 --> 00:19:47,788
about the Underground Railroad,

430
00:19:47,855 --> 00:19:50,624
and I'm gonna work
right to left here, actually.

431
00:19:50,691 --> 00:19:51,925
So, starting with the right.

432
00:19:51,992 --> 00:19:54,995
Canada: Canada is
the number-one destination,

433
00:19:55,062 --> 00:19:56,663
but as we saw
in the previous map,

434
00:19:56,730 --> 00:20:01,201
it wasn't the only destination
that freedom seekers are taking,

435
00:20:01,268 --> 00:20:04,505
although it is still the most
common and the most desirable.

436
00:20:04,571 --> 00:20:07,107
But in many cases, it's also
the furthest destination

437
00:20:07,174 --> 00:20:09,843
and the hardest one to get to.

438
00:20:10,344 --> 00:20:12,446
It is also
not actually underground.

439
00:20:12,513 --> 00:20:14,381
The Underground Railroad is
not physically underground,

440
00:20:14,448 --> 00:20:16,183
despite the fact
that the Milton House

441
00:20:16,250 --> 00:20:20,754
has an underground tunnel,
and it is not an actual train

442
00:20:20,821 --> 00:20:23,790
despite the fact
that a train runs about 20 feet

443
00:20:23,857 --> 00:20:25,025
from our front door.

444
00:20:25,092 --> 00:20:26,827
So, that can cause
a little bit of confusion

445
00:20:26,894 --> 00:20:28,562
with some of our tour groups.

446
00:20:28,629 --> 00:20:31,098
And the most common myth
that we do hear about

447
00:20:31,164 --> 00:20:32,966
is to do with quilts.

448
00:20:33,033 --> 00:20:36,670
And I'm sure many of you have
heard of the story of quilts

449
00:20:36,737 --> 00:20:39,106
playing some role
along the Underground Railroad,

450
00:20:39,173 --> 00:20:42,976
where quilts would be hung
outside buildings or in windows,

451
00:20:43,043 --> 00:20:45,746
and they would
signify information

452
00:20:45,812 --> 00:20:48,682
to freedom seekers traveling
along the Underground Railroad

453
00:20:48,749 --> 00:20:50,317
about, you know,
where to continue

454
00:20:50,384 --> 00:20:52,686
or information
about the next safe house

455
00:20:52,753 --> 00:20:54,821
or this current safe house.

456
00:20:54,888 --> 00:20:56,690
As far as we know,
there's no real evidence

457
00:20:56,757 --> 00:20:59,893
to suggest that's actually true.

458
00:21:00,494 --> 00:21:02,629
Despite the fact that there
have been many books written

459
00:21:02,696 --> 00:21:05,365
about quilts along the
Underground Railroad,

460
00:21:05,432 --> 00:21:07,935
we can't really say
with any confidence

461
00:21:08,001 --> 00:21:10,804
that quilts played
any significant role

462
00:21:10,871 --> 00:21:13,307
along the Underground Railroad.

463
00:21:13,373 --> 00:21:15,742
So, I have a very long slide
here

464
00:21:15,809 --> 00:21:18,145
where I have a lot of history
to talk about.

465
00:21:18,212 --> 00:21:23,217
So, I'm going to begin with
the Texas War of Independence.

466
00:21:23,283 --> 00:21:26,019
And that sounds very unrelated
and very far away,

467
00:21:26,086 --> 00:21:29,223
but I promise, by the end of the
slideshow, it'll all make sense.

468
00:21:29,289 --> 00:21:33,627
So, in 1835 to 1836,
Texas secedes from Mexico,

469
00:21:35,262 --> 00:21:38,665
and they do so out of a desire
for independence

470
00:21:38,732 --> 00:21:40,701
and their own territory.

471
00:21:40,767 --> 00:21:44,671
Immediately after seceding
and granting their independence,

472
00:21:44,738 --> 00:21:47,941
they have a lot of territorial
disputes with Mexico,

473
00:21:48,008 --> 00:21:50,677
as you can probably imagine.

474
00:21:51,311 --> 00:21:55,249
About 10 years after they become
their own independent republic,

475
00:21:55,315 --> 00:22:01,255
the United States decides to
annex the now new state of Texas

476
00:22:01,321 --> 00:22:03,390
into the United States as well.

477
00:22:03,457 --> 00:22:07,628
And the U.S. inherits
this territorial border dispute

478
00:22:07,694 --> 00:22:09,530
that Texas and Mexico had.

479
00:22:09,596 --> 00:22:13,066
Now, America and Mexico
has this territorial dispute.

480
00:22:13,133 --> 00:22:16,537
And this very quickly culminates
in the Mexican-American War.

481
00:22:16,603 --> 00:22:19,139
It takes one year
for the U.S. and Mexico

482
00:22:19,206 --> 00:22:21,575
to go to war
over this territory.

483
00:22:21,642 --> 00:22:26,446
And from 1846 to 1848,
there is the U.S.-Mexico War.

484
00:22:29,616 --> 00:22:33,754
This war ends with the
Treaty of Guadalupe in 1848.

485
00:22:33,820 --> 00:22:35,656
And out of the treaty,

486
00:22:35,722 --> 00:22:39,226
the United States gets
quite a bit of new territory.

487
00:22:39,293 --> 00:22:42,996
So, really everything that we
consider western United States,

488
00:22:43,063 --> 00:22:46,133
a lot of that
is just coming out of this war.

489
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,203
So, Congress has several things

490
00:22:49,903 --> 00:22:52,239
that they want to figure out
during this time period,

491
00:22:52,306 --> 00:22:54,541
and it takes them two full years
to do so,

492
00:22:54,608 --> 00:22:57,077
and this culminates
in the Compromise of 1850.

493
00:22:57,144 --> 00:23:00,581
And a lot of this debate is what
to do with this new territory.

494
00:23:00,647 --> 00:23:03,951
So, the Compromise of 1850
has five main components

495
00:23:04,017 --> 00:23:06,587
that I'll be talking about
very quickly.

496
00:23:06,653 --> 00:23:10,023
The first is it creates
the New Mexico Territory,

497
00:23:10,090 --> 00:23:12,025
and that is modern-day
New Mexico

498
00:23:12,092 --> 00:23:13,694
and modern-day Arizona.

499
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,296
It creates the Utah Territory,

500
00:23:16,363 --> 00:23:19,333
which is modern-day Utah,
modern-day Nevada,

501
00:23:19,399 --> 00:23:23,837
modern-day Colorado, has a
little bit of Wyoming as well.

502
00:23:23,904 --> 00:23:26,840
And it creates those
two territories and says

503
00:23:26,907 --> 00:23:29,209
that they have the right
to decide

504
00:23:29,276 --> 00:23:31,111
whether or not they want to be

505
00:23:31,178 --> 00:23:36,650
free or slave territories
by, essentially, popular vote.

506
00:23:38,018 --> 00:23:41,121
It also creates
the state of California.

507
00:23:41,188 --> 00:23:43,857
California gets fast-tracked
to being a state.

508
00:23:43,924 --> 00:23:47,127
Because if you've
ever heard of the forty-niners,

509
00:23:47,194 --> 00:23:50,964
this is sort of what spurs the
Compromise of 1850 into action

510
00:23:51,031 --> 00:23:54,201
and getting California
entered in as a state.

511
00:23:54,268 --> 00:23:56,570
They-- the U.S. wants
all of this gold

512
00:23:56,637 --> 00:23:58,138
that is being found
in California.

513
00:23:58,205 --> 00:23:59,806
So, California is entered
as a state,

514
00:23:59,873 --> 00:24:03,744
and it's entered actually
as a free state as well,

515
00:24:03,810 --> 00:24:08,015
although the two senators
who come from California,

516
00:24:08,081 --> 00:24:09,683
even though it's a free state,

517
00:24:09,750 --> 00:24:14,855
they say that one of them
must be a supporter of slavery

518
00:24:14,922 --> 00:24:18,825
and one must be opposed
to the practice of slavery

519
00:24:18,892 --> 00:24:22,329
to keep the Senate balanced
at this time.

520
00:24:23,664 --> 00:24:26,066
The other two sections are,

521
00:24:26,133 --> 00:24:30,604
the slave trade is banned
in Washington, D.C.

522
00:24:30,671 --> 00:24:32,739
That is not to say
that the practice of slavery

523
00:24:32,806 --> 00:24:34,208
is banned in Washington, D.C.,

524
00:24:34,274 --> 00:24:37,845
but simply the practice
of purchasing

525
00:24:38,912 --> 00:24:41,148
and selling is prohibited.

526
00:24:41,215 --> 00:24:44,151
And then, the one that
is considered least at the time

527
00:24:44,218 --> 00:24:46,153
but is far and away
the most influential

528
00:24:46,220 --> 00:24:48,188
for at least what
we're gonna be talking about

529
00:24:48,255 --> 00:24:49,590
as this leads to the Civil War,

530
00:24:49,656 --> 00:24:52,226
is the Fugitive Slave Law
of 1850.

531
00:24:52,292 --> 00:24:55,429
So, what does the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 do?

532
00:24:55,495 --> 00:25:00,067
Well, it makes it
much more illegal, I should say,

533
00:25:01,101 --> 00:25:04,505
for people to assist
freedom seekers

534
00:25:04,571 --> 00:25:08,208
as they're escaping from slavery
and traveling north.

535
00:25:08,275 --> 00:25:11,478
If you are caught
assisting someone

536
00:25:11,545 --> 00:25:13,714
who is traveling
along the Underground Railroad,

537
00:25:13,780 --> 00:25:16,717
you can be given a $1,000 fine

538
00:25:16,783 --> 00:25:21,355
and around six months of
jail time as well for doing so.

539
00:25:21,421 --> 00:25:24,525
It grants more powers to
bounty hunters,

540
00:25:24,591 --> 00:25:27,227
or "paddy rollers," as they're
sometimes referred to,

541
00:25:27,294 --> 00:25:29,530
who are traveling from the South
to the North

542
00:25:29,596 --> 00:25:32,833
and trying to return
these freedom seekers back

543
00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:36,370
into the practice
of slavery itself.

544
00:25:37,237 --> 00:25:39,239
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

545
00:25:39,306 --> 00:25:42,142
also becomes really the height
of the Underground Railroad,

546
00:25:42,209 --> 00:25:45,012
because this is
when slavery is arguably

547
00:25:45,078 --> 00:25:48,048
at its most protected
by federal law,

548
00:25:48,115 --> 00:25:51,318
and therefore
it is more important

549
00:25:51,385 --> 00:25:54,121
for the Underground Railroad
to remain secret,

550
00:25:54,188 --> 00:25:56,823
as the penalties
for being caught are higher now

551
00:25:56,890 --> 00:25:59,159
than they ever have been before.

552
00:25:59,226 --> 00:26:01,662
And the person
we like to talk about most

553
00:26:01,728 --> 00:26:05,432
for this story
is the Joshua Glover incident.

554
00:26:05,499 --> 00:26:09,770
So, Joshua Glover, he is
an enslaved person in Missouri.

555
00:26:09,837 --> 00:26:12,372
Not too much is known about him
before this time.

556
00:26:12,439 --> 00:26:14,241
But in 1850, he is--

557
00:26:16,109 --> 00:26:19,112
There's documentation
that he is purchased

558
00:26:19,179 --> 00:26:20,781
and enslaved in Missouri.

559
00:26:20,848 --> 00:26:25,419
Two years later, in 1852, he
ends up escaping from Missouri,

560
00:26:25,485 --> 00:26:28,488
and he makes his way all
the way north towards Racine,

561
00:26:28,555 --> 00:26:31,091
so just south of Milwaukee.

562
00:26:31,158 --> 00:26:36,296
And he works there as a free man
for two years until 1854,

563
00:26:36,864 --> 00:26:39,433
when he ends up
being turned in by someone

564
00:26:39,499 --> 00:26:40,634
he believed was a friend,

565
00:26:40,701 --> 00:26:42,769
and this friend turns him in
to the authorities.

566
00:26:42,836 --> 00:26:44,838
Joshua Glover is arrested,

567
00:26:44,905 --> 00:26:47,875
and he is taken
to the Milwaukee County Jail.

568
00:26:47,941 --> 00:26:51,011
They are planning on putting
Joshua Glover on a train

569
00:26:51,078 --> 00:26:52,880
and sending him back down
to Missouri,

570
00:26:52,946 --> 00:26:58,151
where he will be returned
into enslavement, but around--

571
00:26:58,218 --> 00:27:00,954
And the numbers vary
between 100 and 1,000,

572
00:27:01,021 --> 00:27:05,359
but I've most commonly heard
500 abolitionists from Racine

573
00:27:05,425 --> 00:27:08,395
march on
the Milwaukee County Jail,

574
00:27:08,462 --> 00:27:12,032
essentially bust him out of jail
and escort him north to Canada,

575
00:27:12,099 --> 00:27:14,868
where he can live out his life
as a free man.

576
00:27:14,935 --> 00:27:16,870
Now, why do we like
to talk about the story

577
00:27:16,937 --> 00:27:18,038
of Joshua Glover?

578
00:27:18,105 --> 00:27:19,540
Well, it shows several things,

579
00:27:19,606 --> 00:27:23,410
the first of which
is that Joshua Glover,

580
00:27:24,278 --> 00:27:25,879
he escapes, right?

581
00:27:25,946 --> 00:27:28,582
And he does so as part
of his own agency,

582
00:27:28,649 --> 00:27:30,184
traveling along the
Underground Railroad.

583
00:27:30,250 --> 00:27:35,656
But even when he makes it
to a free state like Wisconsin,

584
00:27:35,722 --> 00:27:37,891
he's still very much not safe,

585
00:27:37,958 --> 00:27:41,061
as seen by the fact that
he is quite literally arrested

586
00:27:41,128 --> 00:27:42,796
and taken to jail.

587
00:27:43,130 --> 00:27:45,299
Out of this exact incident,

588
00:27:45,365 --> 00:27:48,502
out of the Joshua Glover
incident, I should say,

589
00:27:48,569 --> 00:27:52,039
the state of Wisconsin
decides to find

590
00:27:52,105 --> 00:27:55,209
the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
unconstitutional.

591
00:27:55,275 --> 00:27:58,412
And the state of Wisconsin
is the only state to do so

592
00:27:58,478 --> 00:28:01,048
and say that
they are not going to adhere

593
00:28:01,114 --> 00:28:03,050
to the Fugitive Slave Law
of 1850,

594
00:28:03,116 --> 00:28:04,852
because if they're a free state

595
00:28:04,918 --> 00:28:08,689
and many of the residents
of Wisconsin are abolitionists,

596
00:28:08,755 --> 00:28:11,892
why should they have to assist
in the capture

597
00:28:11,959 --> 00:28:16,363
of freedom seekers traveling
along the Underground Railroad?

598
00:28:16,430 --> 00:28:19,766
The federal government,
unsurprisingly, disagrees

599
00:28:19,833 --> 00:28:22,503
and stands in favor
of the federal law

600
00:28:22,569 --> 00:28:25,138
and says
that Wisconsin does continue

601
00:28:25,205 --> 00:28:28,842
to have to enforce
the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850,

602
00:28:28,909 --> 00:28:30,978
but they continue to not do so.

603
00:28:31,044 --> 00:28:36,049
Several other states also
end up having their own ways

604
00:28:36,116 --> 00:28:39,786
to combat the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850,

605
00:28:39,853 --> 00:28:42,623
but none of them
declare it unconstitutional

606
00:28:42,689 --> 00:28:45,359
like the state of Wisconsin.

607
00:28:45,425 --> 00:28:48,228
If any of you have ever heard
of the Republican Party before,

608
00:28:48,295 --> 00:28:50,163
the Republican Party
also gets founded

609
00:28:50,230 --> 00:28:53,033
about ten days after the
Joshua Glover incident.

610
00:28:53,100 --> 00:28:56,937
It is not exclusively because
of the Joshua Glover incident,

611
00:28:57,004 --> 00:29:01,675
but it is out of the
same sort of anti-federal power

612
00:29:02,242 --> 00:29:07,614
of general opposition to the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

613
00:29:07,681 --> 00:29:11,451
and saying there should be
sort of states' rights

614
00:29:11,518 --> 00:29:14,254
to decide whether or not
they want to enforce

615
00:29:14,321 --> 00:29:15,989
the practice of slavery.

616
00:29:16,056 --> 00:29:19,026
So, the Republican Party
really gets founded

617
00:29:19,092 --> 00:29:22,329
out of this
anti-federal outreach

618
00:29:25,098 --> 00:29:29,837
against the Fugitive Slave Law
of 1850 in Wisconsin.

619
00:29:29,903 --> 00:29:31,471
So, that's a lot of information.

620
00:29:31,538 --> 00:29:33,774
Now, I want to talk about

621
00:29:34,942 --> 00:29:37,911
how this applies
to the town of Milton itself.

622
00:29:37,978 --> 00:29:41,281
So, I already mentioned several
times that the Goodriches

623
00:29:41,348 --> 00:29:44,985
and several of the founding
members of the town of Milton,

624
00:29:45,052 --> 00:29:47,721
they are all
Seventh Day Baptists.

625
00:29:47,788 --> 00:29:49,523
So, the Seventh Day Baptists

626
00:29:49,590 --> 00:29:53,126
have several main components
to their religion.

627
00:29:53,193 --> 00:29:55,729
The first is
that they are temperate,

628
00:29:55,796 --> 00:29:58,265
so no smoking and no drinking.

629
00:29:58,332 --> 00:30:01,468
And the arguably
more important one

630
00:30:01,535 --> 00:30:04,171
for a talk about
the Underground Railroad

631
00:30:04,238 --> 00:30:06,540
is that they had to not only
be abolitionists,

632
00:30:06,607 --> 00:30:09,576
they not only had to be opposed
to the practice of slavery,

633
00:30:09,643 --> 00:30:12,079
but they actively had to
be making strides

634
00:30:12,145 --> 00:30:14,748
to abolish the practice
of slavery.

635
00:30:14,815 --> 00:30:18,018
And we think that is
why the town of Milton itself

636
00:30:18,085 --> 00:30:20,053
was a stop along the
Underground Railroad,

637
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:24,458
because so many of the residents
here were, and still are,

638
00:30:24,525 --> 00:30:26,226
Seventh Day Baptists.

639
00:30:26,293 --> 00:30:27,961
Despite the fact
that Milton today

640
00:30:28,028 --> 00:30:30,163
is only around 5,000 people,

641
00:30:30,230 --> 00:30:32,833
I have been informed
by Seventh Day Baptists

642
00:30:32,900 --> 00:30:37,037
it remains to be the capital,
or I should say the headquarters

643
00:30:37,104 --> 00:30:39,740
of the North American
Seventh Day Baptist community,

644
00:30:39,806 --> 00:30:44,611
which is somewhat impressive
for such a small town.

645
00:30:45,412 --> 00:30:47,281
I also mentioned
how Joseph Goodrich built

646
00:30:47,347 --> 00:30:49,683
the Milton Academy
and Milton College.

647
00:30:49,750 --> 00:30:51,118
Also at the Milton College,

648
00:30:51,185 --> 00:30:54,021
there are a large number
of Wide Awakes,

649
00:30:54,087 --> 00:30:57,491
and the Wide Awakes are
a sort of political

650
00:30:57,558 --> 00:31:02,396
or paramilitary group that
consist of a lot of young men,

651
00:31:02,462 --> 00:31:04,665
many of whom
are attending college,

652
00:31:04,731 --> 00:31:06,400
and their name comes from
the fact

653
00:31:06,466 --> 00:31:10,337
that they are wide awake
to the evils of slavery,

654
00:31:10,404 --> 00:31:14,975
and their main sort of push
is to abolish slavery.

655
00:31:16,410 --> 00:31:19,980
And their claim to fame
throughout their long career

656
00:31:20,047 --> 00:31:22,316
is to help get
Abraham Lincoln elected,

657
00:31:22,382 --> 00:31:26,253
which they do succeed
in doing in 1860.

658
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:30,557
Now, I have another photograph
there of the underground tunnel.

659
00:31:30,624 --> 00:31:33,727
It is not very well illuminated
in this photograph.

660
00:31:33,794 --> 00:31:36,263
That is because
the original tunnel itself

661
00:31:36,330 --> 00:31:39,466
was about half the size
as it is in that photograph.

662
00:31:39,533 --> 00:31:41,401
In that photograph,
it's six feet tall.

663
00:31:41,468 --> 00:31:44,438
So, if you take a tour
of the Milton House today,

664
00:31:44,505 --> 00:31:47,207
you'll walk through
a six-foot-tall stone

665
00:31:47,274 --> 00:31:49,176
and very well illuminated
tunnel.

666
00:31:49,243 --> 00:31:50,677
But the original tunnel
back then

667
00:31:50,744 --> 00:31:52,946
was about two and a half
to three feet tall.

668
00:31:53,013 --> 00:31:55,015
It was made entirely
out of dirt,

669
00:31:55,082 --> 00:31:57,217
and it had absolutely no lights.

670
00:31:57,284 --> 00:31:59,353
And there wasn't
even a staircase.

671
00:31:59,419 --> 00:32:02,656
We have a nice staircase
for our guests today,

672
00:32:02,723 --> 00:32:07,794
but, no, back then you'd have to
really crawl down a small hole,

673
00:32:07,861 --> 00:32:11,431
using a ladder to get
in and out of the tunnel.

674
00:32:11,498 --> 00:32:14,501
So, that tunnel connects
to the pioneer log cabin

675
00:32:14,568 --> 00:32:17,738
that we saw
on the very first slide.

676
00:32:17,804 --> 00:32:19,006
And, yes,

677
00:32:19,072 --> 00:32:21,208
the tunnel would be used
to transport freedom seekers

678
00:32:21,275 --> 00:32:25,312
between the cabin
and the root cellar of the inn.

679
00:32:25,379 --> 00:32:28,515
We have
one of my favorite stories

680
00:32:28,916 --> 00:32:32,719
about freedom seekers traveling
along the Underground Railroad

681
00:32:32,786 --> 00:32:34,321
coming through Milton.

682
00:32:34,388 --> 00:32:37,858
And there's a story told
not by William Coon Davis,

683
00:32:37,925 --> 00:32:41,762
but it is a story passed
along by his daughter

684
00:32:41,828 --> 00:32:43,764
to her great-granddaughter.

685
00:32:43,830 --> 00:32:46,834
And we have that story
telling the tale

686
00:32:46,900 --> 00:32:50,671
about William Coon Davis
and the Elkhorn Tavern.

687
00:32:50,737 --> 00:32:54,708
So, in this oral history
that we have, Joseph Goodrich,

688
00:32:54,775 --> 00:32:56,844
who, again, is the founder
of the town of Milton,

689
00:32:56,910 --> 00:33:02,482
he instructs William Coon Davis
to drive a wagon filled with hay

690
00:33:02,549 --> 00:33:04,151
all the way
from the Milton House

691
00:33:04,218 --> 00:33:05,986
to the Elkhorn Tavern,

692
00:33:06,053 --> 00:33:10,257
and under no circumstances
is he to look underneath the hay

693
00:33:10,324 --> 00:33:11,658
at the back of the wagon.

694
00:33:11,725 --> 00:33:14,962
All he has to do is drive this
wagon to the Elkhorn Tavern,

695
00:33:15,028 --> 00:33:17,331
have a nice meal,
have a drink maybe--

696
00:33:17,397 --> 00:33:19,032
Well, actually,
he was a Seventh Day Baptist,

697
00:33:19,099 --> 00:33:21,368
so he was not allowed
to have a drink--

698
00:33:21,435 --> 00:33:23,770
and then he would have to come
back to the Milton House.

699
00:33:23,837 --> 00:33:25,372
And, again,
under no circumstances

700
00:33:25,439 --> 00:33:26,573
should he look under the hay,

701
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:28,609
and he did not even
have to unload the hay.

702
00:33:28,675 --> 00:33:30,577
And in this oral history,

703
00:33:30,644 --> 00:33:32,379
William Coon Davis
and his daughter,

704
00:33:32,446 --> 00:33:34,915
who was accompanying him
along for the journey,

705
00:33:34,982 --> 00:33:37,684
they hear voices
underneath the hay

706
00:33:37,751 --> 00:33:40,420
as they're driving
to the Elkhorn Tavern,

707
00:33:40,487 --> 00:33:42,789
and they do not hear voices
on the way back

708
00:33:42,856 --> 00:33:44,958
as they're returning
to the Milton House.

709
00:33:45,025 --> 00:33:48,729
So, obviously,
this story's telling us

710
00:33:48,795 --> 00:33:51,532
that the Elkhorn Tavern
was a stop

711
00:33:51,598 --> 00:33:53,100
along the Underground Railroad,

712
00:33:53,166 --> 00:33:56,603
continuing onwards
from the Milton House east.

713
00:33:56,670 --> 00:33:58,505
Many of the freedom seekers

714
00:33:58,572 --> 00:34:00,174
who traveled through
the town of Milton

715
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,144
would be heading east
towards Racine or Milwaukee.

716
00:34:04,211 --> 00:34:06,547
Racine in particular
has the,

717
00:34:06,613 --> 00:34:10,250
I believe it is the A.P. Dutton
harbor there,

718
00:34:10,317 --> 00:34:12,853
or warehouse
right next to the harbor,

719
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:17,224
and Dutton would help
get around a hundred,

720
00:34:17,291 --> 00:34:21,295
over a hundred freedom seekers
onto a boat towards Canada

721
00:34:21,361 --> 00:34:25,199
during his time being involved
with the Underground Railroad.

722
00:34:25,265 --> 00:34:28,335
So, that is the story
of William Coon Davis

723
00:34:28,402 --> 00:34:29,536
and the Elkhorn Tavern.

724
00:34:29,603 --> 00:34:31,738
We also have other stories,

725
00:34:31,805 --> 00:34:35,742
one of which is a man
who has an oral history

726
00:34:35,809 --> 00:34:37,778
claiming to have brought
freedom seekers

727
00:34:37,845 --> 00:34:40,147
under wagons
filled with potatoes

728
00:34:40,214 --> 00:34:44,384
as he was restocking the
kitchens of the Milton House.

729
00:34:44,451 --> 00:34:46,553
But that is coming
to the Milton House

730
00:34:46,620 --> 00:34:48,388
and not leaving
the Milton House.

731
00:34:48,455 --> 00:34:50,958
And this tunnel here
photographed,

732
00:34:51,024 --> 00:34:52,759
that is shown by Ezra Goodrich,

733
00:34:52,826 --> 00:34:54,228
who is the son
of Joseph Goodrich.

734
00:34:54,294 --> 00:34:57,698
And he shows that to his niece,
Mabel Davis, in the 1890s.

735
00:34:57,764 --> 00:35:00,000
And this is really
how the Milton House

736
00:35:00,067 --> 00:35:02,002
and the history
of the Milton House

737
00:35:02,069 --> 00:35:03,537
as part of the
Underground Railroad

738
00:35:03,604 --> 00:35:05,239
becomes more public knowledge,

739
00:35:05,305 --> 00:35:10,377
as it had been entirely a secret
from the 1840s and '50s

740
00:35:10,444 --> 00:35:13,780
when it, you know,
originally began

741
00:35:14,481 --> 00:35:16,149
as part
of the Underground Railroad,

742
00:35:16,216 --> 00:35:19,853
until the 1890s, as it's passed
along by Ezra Goodrich.

743
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:25,158
Joseph Goodrich has long
since passed away in the 1890s.

744
00:35:25,726 --> 00:35:28,662
Now, I'm going to talk about
Andrew Pratt.

745
00:35:28,729 --> 00:35:31,298
Andrew Pratt
I mentioned on the timeline,

746
00:35:31,365 --> 00:35:34,001
if you remember
all the way back then.

747
00:35:34,067 --> 00:35:36,136
Andrew Pratt is
the only freedom seeker

748
00:35:36,203 --> 00:35:40,174
that we know by name
who stayed at the Milton House.

749
00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:43,443
Obviously, that is not
a photograph of Andrew Pratt,

750
00:35:43,510 --> 00:35:45,512
but that is a photograph
of a reenactor

751
00:35:45,579 --> 00:35:47,080
walking through the tunnel.

752
00:35:47,147 --> 00:35:49,650
Andrew Pratt arrives
in the Milton House

753
00:35:49,716 --> 00:35:52,653
in the town of Milton in 1861.

754
00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:55,722
We know a little bit
about Andrew Pratt,

755
00:35:55,789 --> 00:35:58,759
but, again, a lot of this
information is not documented.

756
00:35:58,825 --> 00:36:03,430
As talked about in the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850,

757
00:36:03,497 --> 00:36:06,834
it's very much illegal to be
caught assisting someone

758
00:36:06,900 --> 00:36:08,268
traveling
along the Underground Railroad.

759
00:36:08,335 --> 00:36:12,105
So, these people, these
conductors or station masters,

760
00:36:12,172 --> 00:36:16,076
they're not exactly writing down
in their diary,

761
00:36:16,143 --> 00:36:20,113
you know, how many people
or the information of people

762
00:36:20,180 --> 00:36:23,250
that they're helping escort
along the Underground Railroad.

763
00:36:23,317 --> 00:36:25,786
But in fact, Ezra Goodrich
does exactly that,

764
00:36:25,853 --> 00:36:27,921
and he does write down
in his diary

765
00:36:27,988 --> 00:36:30,824
that Andrew Pratt is taken in
in 1861.

766
00:36:30,891 --> 00:36:34,995
He's cared for in the tunnel
beneath the Milton House.

767
00:36:35,062 --> 00:36:36,496
And he mentions
that Andrew Pratt

768
00:36:36,563 --> 00:36:37,831
is formerly enslaved

769
00:36:37,898 --> 00:36:42,236
and had been actually imprisoned
in Illinois in the 1860--

770
00:36:42,302 --> 00:36:44,605
I should say in 1860 itself.

771
00:36:44,671 --> 00:36:48,275
And he ends up escaping
from Missouri into Illinois,

772
00:36:48,342 --> 00:36:50,444
where he's temporarily
imprisoned,

773
00:36:50,511 --> 00:36:53,213
and then he is sort of rescued

774
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,351
and brought north
into the town of Milton.

775
00:36:57,417 --> 00:37:00,888
And he stays in the town
of Milton until 1864,

776
00:37:00,954 --> 00:37:04,157
which is very much uncommon
and very unusual

777
00:37:04,224 --> 00:37:05,993
because most freedom seekers,
they're,

778
00:37:06,059 --> 00:37:08,195
as we have mentioned
multiple times,

779
00:37:08,262 --> 00:37:11,632
trying to get to Canada because
Canada has abolished slavery.

780
00:37:11,698 --> 00:37:13,233
But if you know your history,

781
00:37:13,300 --> 00:37:16,236
in 1861, we have
the beginning of the Civil War.

782
00:37:16,303 --> 00:37:18,805
So, it's very unlikely
that a bounty hunter

783
00:37:18,872 --> 00:37:21,241
is gonna come all the way north
into Wisconsin

784
00:37:21,308 --> 00:37:23,777
and attempt to return
Andrew Pratt

785
00:37:23,844 --> 00:37:25,212
back down to the South.

786
00:37:25,279 --> 00:37:28,682
And the town of Milton has a lot
of abolitionists in this town,

787
00:37:28,749 --> 00:37:32,352
so he's very unlikely
to find much opposition to him

788
00:37:32,419 --> 00:37:35,556
staying there
in the town itself.

789
00:37:36,156 --> 00:37:38,425
We also have a letter
from Andrew Pratt,

790
00:37:38,492 --> 00:37:42,563
and we believe he wrote this
letter himself and was educated.

791
00:37:42,629 --> 00:37:46,533
We know he writes many letters
later on in his life,

792
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:48,802
but we believe
Andrew Pratt wrote a letter

793
00:37:48,869 --> 00:37:50,204
to the governor of Wisconsin

794
00:37:50,270 --> 00:37:52,940
where he asks to serve
in the Wisconsin--

795
00:37:53,006 --> 00:37:55,108
in the Union Army,
I should say.

796
00:37:55,175 --> 00:37:56,476
And he's actually rejected

797
00:37:56,543 --> 00:38:00,180
and he is not allowed
to serve in the Wisconsin Army

798
00:38:00,247 --> 00:38:02,382
on account of his race.

799
00:38:02,749 --> 00:38:05,252
Now, Andrew Pratt,
in this letter,

800
00:38:05,319 --> 00:38:07,487
he complains about the fact

801
00:38:07,554 --> 00:38:11,024
that he is eligible to be
drafted into the Union Army,

802
00:38:11,091 --> 00:38:12,993
but he's not eligible
to enlist.

803
00:38:13,060 --> 00:38:16,330
And his main grievance here
is that, by enlisting,

804
00:38:16,396 --> 00:38:17,731
he can receive a bounty

805
00:38:17,798 --> 00:38:21,668
and he receives a sort of
monetary reward for enlisting.

806
00:38:21,735 --> 00:38:25,539
So, he points out
how it's unusual that--

807
00:38:25,606 --> 00:38:30,377
and unjust, even-- that he can
be drafted against his will,

808
00:38:30,444 --> 00:38:33,447
but he cannot voluntarily enlist
into the Union Army

809
00:38:33,514 --> 00:38:35,415
for this monetary reward.

810
00:38:35,482 --> 00:38:38,385
And the governor actually
does respond to him in a letter,

811
00:38:38,452 --> 00:38:42,289
although the response is
especially dull and boring,

812
00:38:42,356 --> 00:38:45,125
and he essentially says
that's the way things are,

813
00:38:45,192 --> 00:38:48,428
and there's not much
you can do about it.

814
00:38:48,495 --> 00:38:50,664
He continues to stay
in the town of Milton,

815
00:38:50,731 --> 00:38:55,402
and he does so really until
we have this kerfuffle,

816
00:38:57,437 --> 00:38:59,540
or "imbroglio,"
as it's described.

817
00:38:59,606 --> 00:39:01,208
An imbroglio is, I believe,

818
00:39:01,275 --> 00:39:04,845
an Italian word that means
the ultimate embarrassment

819
00:39:04,912 --> 00:39:07,147
or the ultimate humiliation.

820
00:39:07,214 --> 00:39:09,550
And this culminates in--

821
00:39:10,651 --> 00:39:14,488
Andrew Pratt, he's involved in
this fraternal organization here

822
00:39:14,555 --> 00:39:16,657
in the town of Milton.

823
00:39:16,723 --> 00:39:21,094
It is the Good Templar Lodge
of the town of Milton.

824
00:39:21,161 --> 00:39:24,064
And there's
around 80 to 100 members

825
00:39:24,131 --> 00:39:26,033
in this fraternal organization.

826
00:39:26,099 --> 00:39:29,136
And three of these men
approach Andrew Pratt,

827
00:39:29,203 --> 00:39:32,339
and they inform him secretly
that they

828
00:39:32,406 --> 00:39:35,309
and many others
in the Milton Lodge--

829
00:39:35,375 --> 00:39:38,212
in fact, over half of the people
in this organization--

830
00:39:38,278 --> 00:39:40,848
all want him removed
on account of the fact

831
00:39:40,914 --> 00:39:43,650
that they're uncomfortable
with his race.

832
00:39:43,717 --> 00:39:46,019
Andrew Pratt
agrees reluctantly

833
00:39:46,086 --> 00:39:48,021
and doesn't want to make
a big deal about it,

834
00:39:48,088 --> 00:39:51,892
so he quietly submits
a withdrawal card,

835
00:39:52,359 --> 00:39:57,130
and he's gonna withdraw from
this fraternal organization.

836
00:39:57,197 --> 00:39:59,566
Ezra Goodrich, who, again,
is the son of Joseph Goodrich,

837
00:39:59,633 --> 00:40:01,735
he's very good friends
with Andrew Pratt,

838
00:40:01,802 --> 00:40:03,070
and he finds out about this.

839
00:40:03,136 --> 00:40:05,405
And he is very much upset
because, as it turns out,

840
00:40:05,472 --> 00:40:08,008
those three men
who claim to have spoken

841
00:40:08,075 --> 00:40:11,078
to many of the other members
of the lodge,

842
00:40:11,144 --> 00:40:14,314
who all stood in support of them
and against Andrew Pratt,

843
00:40:14,381 --> 00:40:16,383
they actually didn't talk
to anyone else in the lodge,

844
00:40:16,450 --> 00:40:18,919
and it was those three
acting on their own accord.

845
00:40:18,986 --> 00:40:21,822
So, Ezra Goodrich is
very unhappy about this,

846
00:40:21,889 --> 00:40:24,458
and he gains the support of--

847
00:40:24,525 --> 00:40:27,895
He gains
around 50 or so signatures,

848
00:40:27,961 --> 00:40:29,763
and all these signatures say

849
00:40:29,830 --> 00:40:32,966
that if Andrew Pratt
is kicked out of the lodge,

850
00:40:33,033 --> 00:40:35,903
they will also quit
the lodge itself.

851
00:40:35,969 --> 00:40:38,372
And that's over half of the
members of this organization.

852
00:40:38,438 --> 00:40:40,974
That would mean the doom
and the end

853
00:40:41,041 --> 00:40:43,110
of this fraternal organization.

854
00:40:43,177 --> 00:40:45,879
So, you think
it would end there,

855
00:40:45,946 --> 00:40:48,849
but unfortunately it does not.

856
00:40:49,383 --> 00:40:51,084
One of those three men,

857
00:40:51,151 --> 00:40:53,687
he writes
in a letter to his father,

858
00:40:53,754 --> 00:40:56,089
and his father
is a higher ranking member

859
00:40:56,156 --> 00:40:57,791
of this organization.

860
00:40:57,858 --> 00:40:59,960
And I'm not going to quote it
verbatim

861
00:41:00,027 --> 00:41:02,396
because I do not
remember it verbatim,

862
00:41:02,462 --> 00:41:04,898
but, essentially,
in this letter to his father,

863
00:41:04,965 --> 00:41:08,569
he says that he is
uncomfortable with Andrew Pratt

864
00:41:08,635 --> 00:41:09,736
because of his race.

865
00:41:09,803 --> 00:41:12,873
And while he is
in support of the Civil War

866
00:41:12,940 --> 00:41:15,108
and the abolition of--

867
00:41:15,175 --> 00:41:17,477
or I should say
the abolishment of slavery,

868
00:41:17,544 --> 00:41:19,980
he is not in favor of equality

869
00:41:20,047 --> 00:41:23,317
and, essentially, integration
as well.

870
00:41:23,383 --> 00:41:26,720
Now, obviously,
that's very powerful.

871
00:41:26,787 --> 00:41:29,656
And this father is--
stands with his son

872
00:41:29,723 --> 00:41:33,994
and is similarly, of a similar
belief, I should say.

873
00:41:34,061 --> 00:41:37,965
And they end up moving up
the date of the next meeting

874
00:41:38,031 --> 00:41:42,469
or the next-- yeah, meeting
of this fraternal organization.

875
00:41:42,536 --> 00:41:44,538
And now, most of the people

876
00:41:44,605 --> 00:41:46,173
cannot attend this meeting
to vote

877
00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:49,076
on whether or not Andrew Pratt
should stay in the lodge

878
00:41:49,142 --> 00:41:54,281
or be expelled from the lodge,
so they no longer have a quorum.

879
00:41:54,348 --> 00:41:56,517
But in order to reach
this quorum,

880
00:41:56,583 --> 00:41:59,486
they end up inducting
new members into the lodge.

881
00:41:59,553 --> 00:42:00,888
And by "they,"

882
00:42:00,954 --> 00:42:06,326
I mean this father-and-son duo
causing all of this trouble.

883
00:42:06,393 --> 00:42:08,228
And they induct
these new members

884
00:42:08,295 --> 00:42:09,630
so they have a quorum,

885
00:42:09,696 --> 00:42:12,466
and they tell these new members
to vote how they vote,

886
00:42:12,533 --> 00:42:15,903
and they vote in favor
of expelling Andrew Pratt

887
00:42:15,969 --> 00:42:17,304
from the Milton Lodge.

888
00:42:17,371 --> 00:42:20,107
But due to the support
of Ezra Goodrich

889
00:42:20,174 --> 00:42:21,475
and the 50 signers,

890
00:42:21,542 --> 00:42:24,778
they end up backtracking
this decision

891
00:42:24,845 --> 00:42:26,914
and he is invited back
into the lodge,

892
00:42:26,980 --> 00:42:28,982
but by this point,
he's had enough.

893
00:42:29,049 --> 00:42:30,751
He's planning on leaving anyway,

894
00:42:30,817 --> 00:42:33,387
and he chooses to remain
outside of the lodge.

895
00:42:33,453 --> 00:42:36,924
So, why is that an empower--
an impactful story?

896
00:42:36,990 --> 00:42:39,860
Well, it's one of the few
stories I have of Andrew Pratt

897
00:42:39,927 --> 00:42:41,528
in his time in Milton,

898
00:42:41,595 --> 00:42:43,964
so I would have talked about
that story anyway,

899
00:42:44,031 --> 00:42:46,400
but also it shows very much

900
00:42:46,466 --> 00:42:48,402
that there's
a very large difference

901
00:42:48,468 --> 00:42:52,472
between being opposed
to the practice of slavery

902
00:42:52,539 --> 00:42:54,308
and actually
supporting equality,

903
00:42:54,374 --> 00:42:56,777
which we very much see
in that story,

904
00:42:56,844 --> 00:42:59,613
and also the story of him
writing the letter

905
00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:03,050
to the governor of how he's able
to enlist in--

906
00:43:03,116 --> 00:43:05,085
or he's not able to enlist
in the Civil War.

907
00:43:05,152 --> 00:43:07,287
He's-- The state of Wisconsin

908
00:43:07,354 --> 00:43:10,457
is opposed to sort of the
integration of the armed forces

909
00:43:10,524 --> 00:43:11,725
at this time,

910
00:43:11,792 --> 00:43:14,361
even if they're attempting
to abolish the practice

911
00:43:14,428 --> 00:43:15,729
of slavery itself.

912
00:43:15,796 --> 00:43:20,634
So, Andrew Pratt, he ends up
moving to Wells, Minnesota,

913
00:43:20,701 --> 00:43:22,636
and he lives there
for the rest of his life.

914
00:43:22,703 --> 00:43:26,206
He owns, we know,
a barbershop there.

915
00:43:26,273 --> 00:43:28,909
And we know he writes a lot
of letters

916
00:43:28,976 --> 00:43:30,878
to the editor
in the local newspaper,

917
00:43:30,944 --> 00:43:33,180
so that's how we know
he's able to write

918
00:43:33,247 --> 00:43:35,148
at least later on in his life.

919
00:43:35,215 --> 00:43:37,050
And then, finally--

920
00:43:37,117 --> 00:43:39,753
Well, he ends up marrying
a Danish immigrant

921
00:43:39,820 --> 00:43:44,925
and having several children,
and then he passes away in 1893.

922
00:43:44,992 --> 00:43:48,662
And he ends up leaving
quite a bit of land

923
00:43:49,162 --> 00:43:51,732
to his children
and his daughters as well,

924
00:43:51,798 --> 00:43:55,002
which was a very uncommon
practice for the time.

925
00:43:55,068 --> 00:43:57,838
And that is the story
of Andrew Pratt

926
00:43:57,905 --> 00:43:59,907
and the Milton House itself.

927
00:43:59,973 --> 00:44:05,212
So, how can you attend and learn
more about the Milton House?

928
00:44:05,279 --> 00:44:07,214
Well, we have our tours.

929
00:44:07,281 --> 00:44:09,349
You can find
all of this information

930
00:44:09,416 --> 00:44:12,352
on our website,
miltonhouse.org.

931
00:44:12,419 --> 00:44:14,855
Year-round we are open
for tours.

932
00:44:14,922 --> 00:44:19,259
On the weekends,
we are open in the summertime.

933
00:44:19,326 --> 00:44:22,062
Usually we are
Tuesday through Friday,

934
00:44:22,129 --> 00:44:25,098
but during the summer,
and it's summer right now,

935
00:44:25,165 --> 00:44:27,201
you can tour Tuesday
through Sunday,

936
00:44:27,267 --> 00:44:31,104
10:00 to 4:00,
last tour starts at 3 o'clock.

937
00:44:31,171 --> 00:44:34,575
We also have a lot
of events going on.

938
00:44:34,641 --> 00:44:36,443
Some of the information
can be found outside

939
00:44:36,510 --> 00:44:38,779
on some of those brochures
out there,

940
00:44:38,846 --> 00:44:41,248
or I'm happy to answer
any questions about events.

941
00:44:41,315 --> 00:44:44,718
We have a Civil War reenactment
that goes on annually.

942
00:44:44,785 --> 00:44:46,920
That is
the third weekend of May.

943
00:44:46,987 --> 00:44:49,756
So, if you're interested
in Civil War history especially,

944
00:44:49,823 --> 00:44:53,126
we have several dozen
Civil War reenactors

945
00:44:53,193 --> 00:44:54,661
camp around
for the weekend,

946
00:44:54,728 --> 00:44:56,930
and you can talk to them
and learn about history

947
00:44:56,997 --> 00:44:59,967
and what life was like
during the Civil War.

948
00:45:00,033 --> 00:45:03,437
If you're a teacher, you can ask
me about what's on that slide.

949
00:45:03,504 --> 00:45:06,106
And that's pretty much it.

950
00:45:06,173 --> 00:45:08,509
You're also welcome to become
a member of the Milton House.

951
00:45:08,575 --> 00:45:12,412
You can donate, volunteer,
follow us on social media.

952
00:45:12,479 --> 00:45:15,782
And I'll quickly end
with this last quote.

953
00:45:15,849 --> 00:45:18,819
"No one needed a ticket to ride
on the Underground Railroad,

954
00:45:18,886 --> 00:45:20,988
just a deep desire for freedom."

955
00:45:21,054 --> 00:45:23,624
So, thank you all
very much for coming today.

956
00:45:23,690 --> 00:45:25,325
My name is Kevin.

957
00:45:25,392 --> 00:45:27,327
I had a great time
talking to all of you.

958
00:45:27,394 --> 00:45:29,796
If you have any questions,
I'd be happy to answer them now.

959
00:45:29,863 --> 00:45:31,465
So, thank you.

960
00:45:31,532 --> 00:45:33,500
[audience applauds]