Historic discovery
Professor uncovers evidence linking Wheaton College to Underground Railroad
Wheaton College's abolitionist origins are a matter of historical record. No one doubts that the school's founders were adamant in their opposition to slavery; the written record of the time bears it out.
But establishing the institution as a stop on the Underground Railroad was another matter, a scholarly leap of faith most were unable to take.
Until now.
Maas was researching a book when he uncovered the "History of the 39th Volunteer Veteran Infantry Regiment of Illinois." The book, edited by one Charles Clark, relates the Wheaton regiment's experiences during the Civil War.
Some years after the war ended, veterans, many facing their own mortality and realizing that they had been witness to history, began taking responsibility for preserving the history of their units. Clark's book was typical of this effort, relating the wartime experiences of Wheaton veterans. Also typical of the genre was the allocation of space for veterans to make their own written contributions.
One of those veterans was Ezra Cook.
Cook was attending Wheaton with his two sisters when the Civil War broke out. He interrupted his studies to serve in the infantry, later returning to Wheaton College to complete his degree. He also married the daughter of Wheaton College's founder, Jonathon Blanchard, a staunch abolitionist and former president of Knox College in Galesburg.
A specific passage from Cook's entry seems to confirm what many long suspected.
"Runaway slaves were perfectly safe in the College Building (now Blanchard Hall), even when no attempt was made to conceal their presence," reads Cook's account.
Cook also writes that hundreds of others were witness to the runaways being on campus and attended church services with them.
Maas said he was "tremendously excited to find something like this" but cautioned that even his own discovery falls just short of rock-solid proof, saying, "I have been trained to be cautious of people's memories and testimonies."
Maas noted that Cook's written account was made many years after the war ended and that while he didn't have any doubt as to Cook's sincerity, he might have been inadvertently confused Wheaton College with Oberlin College, another abolitionist stronghold that has been certified to be a stop on the Underground Road.
Maas also points out that when an 80-year old Jonathon Blanchard wrote his life story, he made no mention of Wheaton College being a stop on the secret trail.
Moreover, there exists the written evidence of only one person: Ezra Cook. Maas would like to see just "one other person's testimony" to be more thoroughly convinced.
But as the record stands, he admits to being about 95 percent certain and points out that other noted scholars, among them Glennette Tilley Turner, are convinced that Wheaton College was indeed a stop on the way to freedom for many escaped slaves.
Wheaton College Head Archivist David Malone said that Maas's discovery lends serious credibility to the argument in favor of Wheaton College being part of the secret trail.
He noted the difficulty of securing written historical evidence of what was, at the time, an extremely secretive endeavor.
"Others, like Glennette Tilley Turner, have been willing to say it (that the college was a stop on the Underground Railroad), he said. "Now Wheaton College can speak with assurance about its own history."
