James Andrew Jackson left his slave owner the year after the Fugitive Slave Law was enacted in Wisconsin. He fled to Outagamie County, and quickly became friends with those around him. The citizens urged him to name the town, and they all wanted to call it Jackson. He refused the honor--he requested that they "Call it freedom, because it was there that [he] received [his] freedom."

John Rooney was a merchant and abolitionist who housed many runaway slaves throughout his life in Milwaukee. One of the most known escapees went by the name of Joe. When rumor came around that slave hunters were coming to town, Rooney would hide his escapees in barrels in front of his store. His children would place toys on top of them, and play around them to make them seem less conspicuous.

In Calumet County, the Stockbridge and Brothertown tribes would adopt freed slaves. Because they were adopted, they were allowed to purchase land on these reservations. One of the freed slaves who purchased land from the reservations was Moses Stanton. The land he purchased turned into the city now known as Chilton, Wisconsin.

"The Man with the Branded Hand," AKA Captain Jonathan Walker, organized colonies in Haiti and Mexico where Floridian slaves could find refuge. Although Walker isn't from Wisconsin himself, he ended up living in Fond du Lac at the end of his life--this is where he's buried. On his hand was branded "SS" which stood for slave stealer, but transformed to mean slave savior as he continued to help others.

The Milton House, constructed in 1844, was found to have a tunnel running underneath it--speculated to have been used as a part of the Underground Railroad. Joseph Goodrich, the man who lived in the house, was known as a very spirited abolitionist.

Qaurlls was a first. She was the first escaped slave on the first (known) portion of the Underground Railroad in Milwaukee. Her father was a white man, and her own aunt was her master. The extent to which she was abused and mistreated is unknown. She was an incredibly intelligent girl who realized the kind of bondage she was forced into at a young age, and was escaped by the age of 16.

Samuel Brown was the owner of a farmer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that was one of the most important stops on the Underground Railroad in 1842. Despite the possibility of prosecution, Samuel Brown thought it was most important that a "young freedom seeker" be safe and emancipated. Brown would not only house these escapees, but he would help them get to their next stop on the Underground Railroad.

Captain Rufus R. Dawes of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry offered a group of Virginian slaves freedom on February 12, 1863. The mistress of the plantation was not happy to watch this unfold before her, but she realized there was nothing she could do to stop it. All the slaves that were offered freedom took it despite the cries of their former mistress.