The

As evidence for the use of codes in the URR, Tobin cites the “Ross code” used by Canadian abolitionist and underground railroad agent, Alexander Ross. In this, Tobin does not cite Ross directly, but a description of the “code” described by children and young adult author Virginia Hamilton and writer Henrietta Buckmaster. These sources are given in full below.

Alexander Milton Ross, 1875:

One of these friends (a resident of the interior of New York State) had been my principal supporter, and active and unflinching friend from the commencement of my career as an abolitionist. The other, was a resident of Brooklyn, a prominent philanthropist, long identified with the abolitionists of the North. All my correspondence, while in the Slave States, was to be sent to them. Whenever a slave succeeded in making his or her escape I was to send them the information, and they in turn notified our friends north of the Ohio to be on the lookout for "packages of hardware" (men) or "dry goods" (females), and these Ohio friends concealed the fugitives for a time, if necessary, until they could be sent safely to Canada.

- Alexander Milton Ross,

Recollections and Experiences of an Abolitionist from 1855 to 1865. (1875)

Reprint, 1972. Northbrook, Illinois: Metro Books.

Comment: The system here described by Ross makes no mention of numerical or name codes for cities. Far from being proof of an elaborate system of communication used among enslaved people in the south, Ross maintained that southern slaves were ignorant of the means and methods of escape until he himself supplied them with information.

Alexander Milton Ross, 1893:

Before leaving Philadelphia, it was mutually arranged between my friends and myself, in respect to confidential correspondence, that the terms “hardware” was to signify males and “dry goods” females. I was to notify my friend in Philadelphia (if possible) whenever a package of “hardware” or of “dry goods” was started for freedom, and he in turn warned the friends in Ohio and Pennsylvania to be on the lookout for runaways.”

- Alexander Milton Ross, Memoirs of a Reformer.

Toronto: Hunter, Rose and Company, 1893, 42.

Comment: The code remains the same, though in his earlier account Ross talks of informing friends in New York State, where here he speaks of “a friend” in Philadelphia.

Henrietta Buckmaster, 1958:

He [Ross] had developed a code which fugitives committed to memory. It led them safely from station to station. For example, Meadville, Ohio, was known by the number 10; Seville, Ohio, by 20; Media, Ohio, by 27. Cleveland was called "hope"; Sandusky, "sunrise: Detroit, "midnight"; and the ports of entry into Canada were all bursts of praise. Windsor was "Glory to God,"' Port Stanley, "God be Praised." So "Helpers work at midnight" was merely a poetry phrase except to the slave who held the key.

- Henrietta Buckmaster, Flight into Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad

(NY: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1958), 138.

[Henrietta Buckmaster was the pseudonym for Henrietta Henklel]

Comment: Neither the numeric codes nor the fanciful names for cites is included in the Recollections (1875) or Memoirs (1893) of Alexander M. Ross. Unless Buckmaster has another source (not apparent from her citations), this seems to be an invention. In Ross, the code is a means of communication between him and northern associates. In Buckmaster, the code is taught to fugitives.

Virginia Hamilton, 1993:

In Ross's code, the number XX was the town of Seville, Ohio. Media, Ohio, was number 27. Hope was Cleveland and sunrise was Sandusky. Midnight was Detroit, Michigan. One can imagine one of Ross's messages: We hope to rise at sunrise; they we will rest by midnight." The message marked the path of travel and the main towns where the slaves would be helped on the Railroad. "Going to Canada, a fugitive might enter the country from Glory to God, Ross's code for Windsor, Ontario, or God be praised, Port Stanley."

- Virginia Hamilton, Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom

(NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), 117.

Comment: Hamilton’s description evidently derives from Buckmaster’s 1953 book.

Tobin and Dobard, 1999:

The Ross code used numbers, pious phrases, and the times of the day to instruct slaves in running away. He identified the number and the gender of the fugitives by referring to them as "hardware" for males or "dry goods" for females. These were the packages in the Ross system. The Ross code, like the Underground Railroad Quilt Code, was predicated upon memory, only the initiates would be able to discern the message hidden in what would appear to be a simple note or letter. Ross utilized numbers and poetic descriptions in formulating his code. We are told that Pennsylvania was recognized as number 20: Media, Ohio, was number 27; Cleveland, Ohio, was called "Hope"; Sandusky, Ohio, was known as "Sunrise," and Detroit, Michigan, was dubbed "midnight." The entryways into Canada were described by words of praise and thanksgiving to the Almighty: "Glory to God" meant Windsor, Ontario, and "God be praised," stood for Port Stanley (Buckmaster, p. 249). As such, one proposed message reads: " We hope to rise at sunrise; they we rest by midnight," (Hamilton, Many Thousand Gone, p. 117). Translated, the message states: Cleveland to Sandusky to Detroit. The final destination was Ontario ("Glory to God and God be praised"). Buckmaster and others missed a probable reference to the Buxton-Chatham area in Canada where several early Black settlements existed...

- Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard,

Hidden in Plain View: The Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad

(NY: Doubleday. 1999), 73.

Comment: The description of fugitives as “hardware” or “dry goods” comes ultimately from Ross, though the authors here cite only Buckmaster and Hamilton.