National Underground Railroad

On April 22, 2024, the National Park Service announced that they have added new listings to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and Smith Chapel Cemetery located in Foristell, in St. Charles County Missouri is one of the four new listings found in Missouri.

Smith Chapel Cemetery, an African American cemetery in Missouri, was established in 1871 and is the resting place of freedom seekers who fled from their enslavers and served in the U.S. Colored Troops.  In 1864, Smith Ball (1833-1912) escaped to St. Charles on February 28^th and enlisted in the 68^th U.S. Colored Troops. Benjamin Oglesby (1825-1901) fled his enslaver and enlisted on November 14, 1864, in the U.S. 56^th U.S. Colored Troops. On October 31, 1864, Martin Boyd (1826-1912) took steps towards freedom and joined the Union troops guarding Fort Peruque, enlisting in the 49^th U.S. Colored Troops. After the Civil War, upon returning home to their families, these veterans along with Oglesby’s son-in-law Jackson Luckett, Nathaniel Abington, Austin “Oss” Pringle, David Bird, Thomas McClean, Mark Robinson, and Claiborne Richards, were the first Trustees of the Smith Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church at Snow Hill. This one-acre of land included a one-room black schoolhouse named Douglass and a small Church building for worship. Though the schoolhouse has been relocated to Oglesby Park, and the church building no longer stands, Smith Chapel Cemetery remains an important landmark for many of the descendants of the freedom seekers and their families today.

Beginning in the 17th century and continuing through the mid-19th century in the United States, enslaved African Americans resisted bondage to gain their freedom through acts of self-emancipation. The individuals who sought this freedom from enslavement, known as freedom seekers, and those who assisted along the way, united together to become what is known as the Underground Railroad. The National Park Service and members of the Network to Freedom tell these stories of escape to demonstrate the significance of the Underground Railroad in the eradication of slavery as a cornerstone of the national civil rights movement.

[see https://www.nps.gov/subjects/undergroundrailroad/national-park-service-announces-19-additions-to-the-underground-railroad-network-to-freedom-in-10-states.htm]