In the early 1800s, the plantation known as Green Bottom—located along the Ohio River in Cabell County, West Virginia—was home to dozens of enslaved African Americans. Then part of Virginia, Green Bottom stood at the border of slavery and freedom, with the Ohio River marking a vital crossing point into the free state of Ohio. From this plantation, three documented freedom seekers—Moses, Joshua, and Joe—resisted their enslavement and made a bold attempt to secure their liberty.
The three men were enslaved at Green Bottom during the ownership of Governor Wilson Cary Nicholas, a former U.S. senator and governor of Virginia. Nicholas was an absentee plantation owner, leaving the on-site management to hired overseers, who became known for their cruelty. A deed dated 1817 lists Moses and Joe among the enslaved persons residing at the plantation. Joshua, while not named in that document, is confirmed through other records as part of the same enslaved community.
In 1819, Moses, Joshua, and Joe escaped together. Using forged passes, they crossed the Ohio River and arrived at what is now Miller, Ohio, a riverside landing just below Green Bottom in Lawrence County. Their coordinated flight and use of forged documents suggest both careful planning and the power of literacy among the enslaved. While Moses’s fate remains unknown after their arrival in Ohio, both Joshua and Joe were later captured and forcibly returned to the plantation.
Their escape was likely aided by the recent development of an interracial Underground Railroad network just across the river. In Lawrence and Gallia Counties, Ohio, free Black settlers had already begun establishing communities that would later serve as key stations on the Underground Railroad. Rural settlements like Macedonia Hill and Poke Patch, and urban Black communities in Burlington and Gallipolis, were emerging as centers of resistance, where free African Americans and sympathetic White abolitionists worked together to assist freedom seekers arriving from across the river.
Two of the most significant institutions in this regional network were Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church and Union Baptist Church. Macedonia, established in the early 1800s by formerly enslaved African Americans on the hill behind the village of Burlington, quickly became a spiritual and organizational hub for freedom seekers. Union Baptist Church, founded in 1819 by Black settlers at Poke Patch—also known as the Stewart Settlement—carried forward this mission deeper into the interior of southern Ohio.
Together, these churches helped organize the Providence Antislavery Missionary Baptist Association in 1834, the first independent Black Baptist association in American history. The Association provided not only mutual support and ordination for ministers but also formalized their opposition to slavery as a matter of religious principle. Their congregations played an active role in the Underground Railroad, offering safe haven and spiritual care to freedom seekers making their way through the Appalachian foothills.
In 1825, Green Bottom was sold to Captain William Jenkins, a veteran of the War of 1812. But the story of resistance did not end. In 1827, another enslaved individual—whose name has been lost to history—attempted escape from the plantation, though he was captured and returned. This recurring pattern of resistance and flight underscores both the determination of the enslaved and the ongoing risks taken by those pursuing freedom.
The Ohio River was both a boundary and a lifeline. For Moses, Joshua, and Joe, the short distance across the river represented not just physical freedom, but the beginning of a larger journey toward self-determination and personal security. Their stories reflect how enslaved individuals in the Appalachian region often relied on local knowledge, covert tactics, and supportive communities—like those connected to Macedonia and Union Baptist Churches—to navigate one of the most dangerous journeys imaginable.
The National Park Service’s Network to Freedom recognizes Green Bottom as a verified Underground Railroad site based on the documented escape of these three men. Their escape in 1819 is the earliest documented case of resistance at Green Bottom. And, undoubtedly many others, before and after, also resisted their enslavement and fled to Ohio, but their stories have been lost to history. Thus, the escape of Moses, Joshua, and Joe places Green Bottom firmly within the larger story of resistance that led to the creation of the Underground Railroad in the tri-state region of West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky.
Today, Green Bottom Plantation is one of more than two dozen locations featured on the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tour, a public history initiative supported by an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) POWER Grant. Led by the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation and the Center for Public History at Shawnee State University, the tour brings to light verified Underground Railroad sites in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia—preserving and interpreting stories of courage, community, and the fight for freedom across the region.
