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Quest for Freedom: Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia
Learn about slavery's fundamental role in the Civil War
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The Meade Room at the Civil War Museum
Photo by Jordan Rockford/CWURMP
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Underground Railroad Connection
Amid swirling theories of a conspiracy surrounding Lincoln’s assassination, three Union Army officers met to form a group dedicated to thwarting future threats to the national government. Recruiting post-war officers and veterans from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, the organization compiled their relics, papers and awards to form the museum in 1888.
Understanding that the issue of slavery played a fundamental role in the Civil War, the men also saved receipts noting the purchase of slaves, copies of abolitionists’ memoirs, autobiographies and issues of William Lloyd Garrison’s anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator.
The museum’s holdings also feature a first edition of the History of the Underground Railroad by William Still, known as the father of the Underground Railroad. The museum is actively seeking donations of artifacts from the era of slavery and the abolitionist movement.
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