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20th Century History

John Harder, Underground Railroad Conductor

Guiding Freedom Seekers from Carlisle to Harrisburg

We know that freedom seekers traveling between Carlisle and Harrisburg utilized the established turnpike road that approximates the modern Carlisle Pike, a distance of more than twenty miles. Less known is how they traversed this long stretch and who aided them, if anyone. In the early part of the twentieth century, York County historian Dr. Israel H. Betz lectured throughout the region on the Underground Railroad in York and neighboring counties. He later had a regular history column in The Gazette of York. His column of May 10, 1913 includes a sketch of one such guide, John Harder, an actual railroad freight conductor who, using his reputation and contacts along the route, secretly and safely led freedom seekers received at Carlisle to stationmasters waiting on the other side of the Cumberland Valley Railroad bridge at Harrisburg. The excerpt from Dr. Betz' column is below.

Old Abolition and Underground Railroad, Fourth Series
No. 7 -- Houses in Southern Pennsylvania (excerpt)

Dr. Israel H. Betz

One of the best known conductors in the valley was John Harder, of Carlisle, who combined great shrewdness with execution. He had earlier in life learned the tailoring trade in Carlisle. Subsequently he became a huckster, then a mail carrier between Carlisle and Shippensburg. Afterwards he became a conductor of individual freight cars on the Cumberland Valley Railroad, for Jacob Rheem, Handy J. Rhoads and Henderson & Reed, all of whom were warehouse men in Carlisle. He was active, efficient and trustworthy.

When he became a conductor of the underground railroad his route when taking fugitives led down the turnpike and across the Cumberland Valley railroad bridge. The keeper of the bridge was a sympathizer in the work. Harder took a prominent part in aiding the escape of the fugitives at the time of the McClintock riot at Carlisle in 1847.

There were three rescued slaves, two males and one female. They mysteriously disappeared and though every house in Carlisle was searched for them that night they were not found as Harder had taken them to Harrisburg that night. How many fugitives he assisted to freedom is unknown, since he was not given to talking about the matter. He died several years ago at the advanced age of eighty years. He has left a number of descendants. One of his sons furnished a picture of his father to the writer, which shows him to have been a man of decision and self-reliance.

Notes

John Harder lived from 1816 to 1897. He is buried next to his wife, Margaret Bender Harder, in the Old Graveyard, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Betz' article notes that Harder led freedom seekers "down the turnpike" toward Harrisburg. This would be the old Harrisburg Turnpike, which was part of the original Great Wagon Road running through Carlisle between Pittsburgh and Virginia. The original route that Harder used roughly follows modern day Route 11, then down the Carlisle Pike, eventually leading east along Market Street in Camp Hill and Lemoyne directly to the railroad bridge on the Susquehanna at Harrisburg. The photo below depicts a toll house along this road in the 1920s.

A toll gate represented potential trouble to freedom seekers needing to pass through unnoticed. Harder's reputation as a "trustworthy" freight conductor probably served his purpose in getting his charges through such danger points and on to the railroad bridge, where a sympathetic bridge keeper worked.

Sources

• The Gazette (York, Pennsylvania), 10 May 1913, page 16.
• "John Harder," Find-A-Grave memorial page, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175449482/john_harder, accessed 17 September 2024.
• "Early Turnpikes of the Susquehanna Valley," Richard E. Myers, in Pennsylvania History, Vol. 21, No. 3 (July 1954) p. 249 (photo).

The Year of Jubilee

Vol. 1: Men of God and Vol. 2: Men of Muscle

by George F. Nagle

Both volumes of the Afrolumens book are now available on this website. Click the link to read.

The Year of Jubilee is the story of Harrisburg'g free African American community, from the era of colonialism and slavery to hard-won freedom.

Volume One, Men of God, covers the turbulent beginnings of this community, from Hercules and the first slaves, the growth of slavery in central Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg area slave plantations, early runaway slaves, to the birth of a free black community. Men of God is a detailed history of Harrisburg's first black entrepreneurs, the early black churches, the first black neighborhoods, and the maturing of the social institutions that supported this vibrant community.

It includes an extensive examination of state and federal laws governing slave ownership and the recovery of runaway slaves, the growth of the colonization movement, anti-colonization efforts, anti-slavery, abolitionism and radical abolitionism. It concludes with the complex relationship between Harrisburg's black and white abolitionists, and details the efforts and activities of each group as they worked separately at first, then learned to cooperate in fighting against slavery. Read it here.

Non-fiction, history. 607 pages, softcover.

Volume Two, Men of Muscle takes the story from 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, through the explosive 1850s to the coming of Civil War to central Pennsylvania. In this volume, Harrisburg's African American community weathers kidnappings, raids, riots, plots, murders, intimidation, and the coming of war. Caught between hostile Union soldiers and deadly Confederate soldiers, they ultimately had to choose between fleeing or fighting. This is the story of that choice.

Non-fiction, history. 630 pages, softcover.