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.[1] 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 from Ohio determined to establish a safe haven for freedom seekers from the neighboring slave-friendly states of Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas, and the southern United States. 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.[2]

In the mid-1850s white settlers established a new town on the tablelands to the east of Civil Bend called Tabor. It was an Abolitionist haven and a noted location along the Underground Railroad through the end of the United States Civil War in 1865.[3]

The African Americans who lived in the town stayed there though, along with a few white people.[4]

Notable residents

  • Elmer Ellsworth Beach (1861—1950), American football player and lawyer
  • Elvira Gaston Platt, teacher and abolitionist[5][6]
  • Ira Blanchard, Underground Railroad conductor[7]

Present

Today, the site of Civil Bend is owned by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and is open to the public for outdoor activities.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Civil Bend: Legend of Reality by Robert Handy in 2000.
  2. ↑ "Civil Bend" Fremont County, Iowa: Spoiling slavery on the Missouri slope," State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  3. ↑ "To Make Kansas Free: The Underground Railroad in Bleeding Kansas" by Diane Miller for the National Park Service in May 2008. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Civil Bend" Fremon County, Iowa: Spoiling slavery on the Missouri slope," State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Elvira Gaston Platt papers," (Reference identifier: IWA0181) University of Iowa.
  6. ↑ "Darwin Diary", History Nebraska. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  7. ↑ "The Underground Railroad" by Diane Miller for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia on 19 October 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.974. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Civil Bend, IA." US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District Website. Retrieved February 3, 2023.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.