Kentucky raid in Cass County (1847)
Kentucky raid in Cass County (1847) was conducted by slaveholders and slave catchers who raided Underground Railroad stations in Cass County, Michigan to capture black people and return them to slavery. After unsuccessful attempts, and a lost court case, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was enacted. Michigan's Personal Liberty Act of 1855 was passed in the state legislature to prevent the capture of formerly enslaved people that would return them to slavery. Background Cass County—particularly Calvin, Penn, and Porter townships—was settled by Quakers from Ohio and Indiana and free blacks beginning in 1829. They became a network of people who provided freedom seekers with food, shelter, and transportation along the Underground Railroad to sites in Canada, where slavery was illegal. Two Underground Railroad lines operated in Michigan. One was the Quaker line, which brought freedom seekers north from the Ohio River. Another was the northeasterly route, the Illinois line, from St. Louis. Cass County was the starting point for the Central Michigan Route that had stops every 15 miles between Cass County and Detroit, Michigan. Stations were at Climax, Battle Creek, Marshall, Albion, Grass Lake, Ann Arbor, Plymouth, and Detroit, where they crossed into Canada (Sandwich First Baptist Church).