The Underground Railroad was never coextensive with the abolition
movement. There were always abolitionists who disapproved the
practice of assisting fugitives, and others who took no part in
it. Of those who were active participants, the larger proportion
confined their activities to assisting those who had escaped and
would take no part in seeking to induce slaves to leave their
masters. Efforts of that kind were limited to a few individuals
only.

Incidents drawn from the reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the
reputed president of the Underground Railroad, may serve to
illustrate the origin and growth of the system. He was seven
years old when he first saw near his home in North Carolina a
coffle of slaves being driven to the Southern market by a man on
horseback with a long whip. "The driver was some distance behind
with the wagon. My father addressed the slaves pleasantly and
then asked, 'Well, boys, why do they chain you?' One of the men
whose countenance betrayed unusual intelligence and whose
expression denoted the deepest sadness replied: 'They have taken
us from our wives and children and they chain us lest we should
make our escape and go back to them."' When Coffin was fifteen,
he rendered assistance to a man in bondage. Having an opportunity
to talk with the members of a gang in the hands of a trader bound
for the Southern market, he learned that one of the company,
named Stephen, was a freeman who had been kidnapped and sold.
Letters were written to Northern friends of Stephen who confirmed
his assertion. Money was raised in the Quaker meeting and men
were sent to recover the negro. Stephen was found in Georgia and
after six months was liberated.