: ''For entries on other people named John Wesley, see John Wesley (disambiguation).'' John Wesley Posey (1801–1884) was a significant figure in the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

, America. Posey was one of the organizers of the

Anti-Slavery League of Indiana 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 ...

. A significant source of information on the Underground Railroad in Indiana is

William Cockrum William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...

's 1915 work, ''History of the Underground Railroad, as It Was Conducted by the Anti-Slavery League''. According to Cockrum, Posey owned a

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

that served as a way station for as many as 1000 escaped slaves. (This is one of the rare instances in which the underground railroad was actually subterranean.) Posey also helped to organize the activities of the Anti-Slavery League. According to Cockrum, the League operated a spy network in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

. Agents of the League masquerading as traveling peddlers would make contact with slaves and help the slaves escape. Posey was a medical

doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles * ...

. He volunteered as a surgeon for the

Union army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

, and served at the Battle of Shiloh. He was also politically active, and was elected as a Whig to be

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

Pike County, Indiana Pike County is a county in the southwest portion of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 12,845. The county seat is Petersburg. It contains the geographic point representing median center of US popu ...

, serving from 1844 to 1848. Posey married Sarah Blackburn in 1838. He was the father of

Francis B. Posey Francis Blackburn Posey (April 28, 1848 – October 31, 1915) was an American lawyer who served for five weeks as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana in 1889. Biography Francis B. Posey was born in Petersburg, Ind ...

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20060117021813/http://www.freedomcenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=31259840-D0B7-88DE-94919F3C9B675DD4 1801 births 1884 deaths American abolitionists Union Army surgeons People of Indiana in the American Civil War Underground Railroad in Indiana Indiana Whigs 19th-century American politicians People from Pike County, Indiana {{AmericanCivilWar-bio-stub