Quilts and the Underground Railroad

By

Barbara Brackman

          Quilt pattern names tell us many tales. Few seem more eloquent than Underground Railroad, a name first recorded by quilt historian Ruth Finley in her 1929 book Old Patchwork Quilts and The Women Who Made Them. Born a generation after the Civil War, Finley was raised in northeastern Ohio, a place where stories of the Underground Railroad were still told in the 1890s. She may have heard first-hand accounts by neighbors who hid runaway slaves and by people who had taken the escape route to Canada themselves. She may have seen old quilts in this design with its diagonal trails and been told the pattern name was Underground Railroad.

          As a quiltmaker I’ve always loved the pattern and the secrets hidden in the name. But as historian I’ve come to realize that there are no known quilts in this pattern dating back to the days of the Civil War or to the decades before the War when the Underground Railroad flourished. The pattern is common, but the quilts made in the design date from the 1890s or later.

          What are we to make of Ruth Finley’s story? It seems likely that she became familiar with the design growing up in the 1890s. During that decade Americans learned to look back at the War with some perspective. The Underground Railroad was an event that caught the interest of people trying to write their histories, both personal and national. The pattern was probable named to commemorate heroes of the pre-Civil War days when there were far too many villains.

          Students in my classes often ask if quilts with symbolic names were hung as signals to alert runaways to a safe house or “station” on the Underground Railroad. In all my reading of first-person accounts by slave and free people, I have never found any reference to quilts used as anything other than blankets to warm and comfort escapees. Most of the quilt patterns imagined to be signals are, like the Underground Railroad design, too new to be in anyone’s stock of pre-Civil War bedding. Log Cabins, Double Wedding Rings and Drunkard’s Path quilts all date to the post-War era.

Feed the Hungry Quilt

          The men had gone to war. No one remained to  plant and harvest the crops or manage the few animals that were left after the army had taken the horses and mules. Food and household goods were in short supply. Confederate money was almost worthless. Mothers cut up their own dresses to make clothing for their daughters, and their sons wore jeans made from handwoven linsey. Children went barefoot most of the time because there were no shoes. Then, word would come that the husband had been killed at Wilson’s Creek or in some other battle. A few neighbors would share some of their own scant supplies to help the family through the worst times. The prevailing mood was one of utter despair, and the future appeared dismal, with little prospect of happiness.

          Such was the fate of many Southern households during and after the Civil War. Those who were not adversely affected by the conflict knew others who were, and the plight of those unfortunate individuals elicited sympathy and efforts to provide relief. Thus, the women of the Methodist-Episcopal Church, South in Lexington, Missouri, decided to make a quilt to auction at a church bazaar as a fundraiser for destitute Confederate families.

          The minister’s wife donated a black silk dress embroidered with butterflies, and other women contributed silk dresses and dressmaking scraps to use for the quilt. Each of the Log Cabin blocks was centered with one of the colorful butterflies. Someone supplied enough black-and-white-checked silk to make the back of the quilt. Someone else furnished silk ribbon to use for the binding.

          The quiltmakers talked about the sadness that had come to so many families. They gave thanks when their own relatives had been spared, and they comforted their companions who had experienced loss. In their earnestness, the women wanted to leave no doubt as to the purpose of their project. They applied brass sequins diagonally across the center of the quilt to form the words “FEED THE HUNGRY.” The project was a success and raised $206 for the church’s relief fund.