Civil Bend, Iowa was a village established in 1850 located in the western part of Benton Township in Fremont County, near the present-day town of Percival on the Missouri River in the U.S. State of Iowa. It was a noted station on the Underground Railroad, and a stop along the Lane Trail.

History

The village of Civil Bend was established by

Abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

from Ohio determined to establish a safe haven for

freedom seekers In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th century to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called freed ...

from the neighboring slave-friendly states of

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

, and

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, and the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Formerly enslaved people settled in Civil Bend, too. Sitting in the Missouri River bottoms, the village's proximity to the river became an issue because of repeated flooding. In the mid-1850s white settlers established a new town on the tablelands to the east of Civil Bend called

Tabor Tabor may refer to: Places Czech Republic * Tábor, a town in the South Bohemian Region ** Tábor District, the surrounding district * Tábor, a village and part of Velké Heraltice in the Moravian-Silesian Region Israel * Mount Tabor, Galilee ...

. It was an Abolitionist haven and a noted location along the Underground Railroad through the end of the United States Civil War in 1865. The African Americans who lived in the town stayed there though, along with a few white people.

Notable residents

* Elmer Ellsworth Beach (1861—1950), American football player and lawyer * Elvira Gaston Platt, teacher and abolitionist * Ira Blanchard, Underground Railroad conductor

Present

Today, the site of Civil Bend is owned by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

and is open to the public for outdoor activities."Civil Bend, IA."
US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District Website. Retrieved February 3, 2023.

References

{{coord missing, Iowa Ghost towns in Iowa Fremont County, Iowa Underground Railroad in Iowa 1850 establishments in Iowa Populated places established in 1850 John Brown sites