Reminiscences of Levi Coffin

by Levi Coffin, Ben Richmond (Editor)

Levi Coffin, noted as "The President of the Underground Railroad," writes about his adventures and exploits during that daring time prior to and during the Civil War. This edition has been abridged and edited for modern readers.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Memoir, Civil War

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1876

About the author

From Wikipedia: Levi Coffin (October 28, 1798 – September 16, 1877) was an American Quaker, Republican, abolitionist, farmer, businessman and humanitarian. An active leader of the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio, some unofficially called Coffin the "President of the Underground Railroad," estimating that three thousand fugitive slaves passed through his care. The Coffin home in Fountain City, Wayne County, Indiana, is a museum, sometimes called the Underground Railroad's "Grand Central Station".

Reviews

[Anne]

This name caught my eye because my grandmother is a Coffin. I had never heard of Levi and it turns out that he was a first cousin to my direct-line ancestor. Fascinating to read these stories in his own words.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and challenging. This offers great insight into the time period and Coffin is an example to follow in any era. As you read, watch for his mischievious sense of humor as well, I enjoyed his personality alongside his convictions.

[Orion · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is said that historians consider Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, published in 1876, to be one of the best firsthand accounts of the Underground Railroad. Coffin was born in what is now Greensboro, NC in 1798, so he was raised in the antebellum South and observed the evils of slaveholding first hand. As an adult he first moved to Indiana and then later to Ohio. In each location, while he did not try to help slaves escape, when he encountered escaped slaves who needed assistance, shelter, food, and clothing, he saw it as his Christian duty to provide the help his fellow humans needed. He did this quite openly and gained quite a reputation with the result that his home became such a major refuge that people started calling him the President of the famous Undergroud Railroad that helped escaping slaves reach safety. In the book Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe used Levi and Catherine Coffin as models for the Ohio couple Simeon and Rachael Halliday who help the escaping slave Eliza after she crossed the Ohio River. It is estimated that over 3,000 escaping slaves received assistance from Levi and his wife Catherine.

Coffin was a warehouse manager and for 10 years he worked at developing a business of selling free goods, goods from the South that had not been produced with slave labor. In doing this he was not contributing to the establishment of slavery, he promoted the Southerners who produced their products with their own labor, and he provided a source for goods free of the taint of slavery. However, he could not find the quantities and quality of goods to make the business profitable and had to give it up. In this section of the book, Coffin tells of his trips to the South to establish relations with free goods producers and his discussions with slave owners he meets in his travels.

Much of the book is taken up with the stories of individuals and groups of slaves who came to him for help in the years before the Civil War. On his trips to visit black communities in the North and Canada he met with many of the people he helped to freedom and reports on how they established themselves and their families.

During the Civil War his focus shifts to providing supplies and assistance to the camps of freed slaves behind the Union Army lines. In a single year he raised more than $100,000 for the Western Freedman's Aid Society which went to provide food, clothing, and other aid to the newly freed slave population in the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Today almost everyone knows of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, but very few know of Levi Coffin, who helped around 3,000 slaves to freedom. He is a man who deserves much greater recognition thatn he has received.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Known by his own brethren in his own time as a philanthropist, Levi Coffin (1798-1877) pursued a life-long determination "to labor for the cruelly oppressed slaves." A devout member of the Society of Friends, he was unapologetic in following Christ's injunction to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked and to minister to those who had fallen among thieves and were wounded". He helped over 3000 escaped slaves on their way to freedom, was the unofficial President of the Underground Railroad, formed and fund raised for Freedmen's Aid Societies, and organized the distribution and sale of "free-labor" goods. 'Reminiscences' is full of first hand testimony about the lives of escaped slaves and the perils of being an abolitionist in Levi's times. Some of the writing is repetitious and not written for 21st century sensibilities, but I learned a lot and have a better understanding of how slavery affected people and policy-- and that was fascinating.

[Teresa Kemp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed with the book, I thought this was going to be the same as the hard back original. I have a museum and the original I had seen was to fragile to handle consistently. Being able to read the words and hear the inner thoughts of one of the greatest abolitionist and know more his family was great. I have used parts of this book in my research for the 1st book I authored Keeper of the Fire: An Igbo Metalsmith From Awka.

I visited the Levi Coffin House with his descendant Laurie Seron and wanted to know the more about their live and needed facts and not romantics tales that were not the truth. I do historic programs and used this book and parts of the original to complete programs and exhibits, "The Abolitionist & Methods of Escape.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 out of 5 stars.

Mandatory reading for American history.

Gentle soul and sass master Friend Levi Coffin kept me busy throughout the book with research tasks and side projects.

I wound up profiling two Union soldiers who aided a young Kentucky slave woman who'd rescued herself from slavery and restored their family connections among their memorials on Find a Grave. I don't think she's ever been identified, though she appears in a daguerreotype with the two men, so I'm having a go at that through some pretty tedious census slogging ...

Read this book. It's public domain and free on the internet. Your time will be well spent.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book by the "President of the Underground Railroad." Interesting, captivating, and suspenseful: it is amazing how God raised up and protected men and women who "obeyed God rather than man." Well worth the read and it is not repetitive. I bought the book at the historic Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Indiana.

[Cynthia Renshaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is compiled from Coffin's actual diary entries. It is not a literary masterpiece, but a good detailed story of the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir would make an excellent Netflix series. So much action and more horror and devastation than any zombie story. Things we don't learn in history class in American schools about the abuses of human rights, often with support of church leadership, are spelled out here time and time again, including well known names like Eliza Harris and Uncle Tom. Levi Coffin supported fugitive slaves for decades from his home in Newport, Indiana, and then as a free trade wholesaler in Cincinnati who let his moral principles guide his business principles - that it was wrong to sell and buy goods made with slave labor - so he set up a network and cooperative of farms with paid labor to provide raw materials to conscientious purchasers.

Notable quotes -
When the Society of Friends was splitting over anti-slavery issues in 1843: "We asked only liberty of conscience - freedom to act according to one's conscientious convictions. We did not wish to interfere with the conscience or liberty of others but strictly to live up to that part of our Discipline which bore testimony against slavery. We had no new doctrine to preach." (230)

In pages 428-446 read about John Fairfield, the well-armed southern abolitionist who led thousands out of slavery.

534 - the story of slave girl Lavinia who was coached by her mother to run when her master took her along on a trip to Ohio. Ohio law declared slaves were free if brought into the state by their masters. Imagine a 9 or 10 year old girl surviving on her wits and the kindness of strangers to start a new life in a strange land.

596 + The southern rebellion, 1861, lots of prayer meetings that did NOT reference slavery. "The exciting subject of slavery must not be touched....The subject of slavery must not be alluded to...it might hurt the feelings of some good brother in the meeting....The real cause of the war is not alluded to..the sin of slavery is not mentioned. The same pro-slavery spirit that has ruled the church so long still exists."

600 Read about General Kirby Smith's threat to invade Ohio and the 100,000 strong "Squirrel Hunters" who came to defend Cincinnati.

626+ The "contraband camps" of southern slaves behind Union picket lines (refugee camps).

666 "I believe that the terrible conflict now raging in our country was permitted by the almighty to come upon us as a judgement for the great sin of slavery, and that the North is guilty as well as the South, and must also suffer. The people of the North have connived at and sustained the system of bondage..." (1864)

This is book is available to read online through Google as well as the Library of Congress.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this memoir! What a treasure. I grew up near what was in Coffin's day Newport, Indiana and thought I knew about him from living nearby. Far from it! This memoir has everything - adventure, tragedy, romance, thrills, mystery and comedy. He writes in a style that makes those escaping slavery the heroes of the stories. Coffin was a humble man who did not seek accolades, but wanted to record his experiences alongside those escaping slavery so that future generations would not forget their courage and the evils of slavery. He pioneered the 'free trade' movement by seeking to source free-labor items to sell in his store, at great expense to his business. He sought to do the right thing because it was the right thing, not because it was popular or profitable. So many lessons to be learned from this man and others like him.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This personal memoir of abolitionist Levi Coffin is filled with numerous personal accounts of runaway slaves and how they made their way to Coffin's "depot" on the Underground Railroad. What comes through is Coffin's personal respect for these enslaved persons and his own humble efforts to help them to freedom. Over the course of his life Coffin estimated he had helped 3000 slaves to freedom. While long and rambling the individual stories are a great account of what slaves of the 1830-1850's suffered due to America's horrific "peculiar institution."

[Anna Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly excellent first-source research material. Gives you an excellent idea of the 1800s frontier, Quaker religion, abolitionists vs slave holder objectives, and the lives of the black slave population at that time. It's long and it's educational. I found this copy free in internet archives. It has images of some of the d pages from 1876.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic!

[Jucinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent for students study Slavery, Underground Railroad, Civil War.