Most of the popular slave narratives that were enjoyed by thousands of nineteenth-century readers recounted the ingenious ruses and equally clever disguises utilized by runaways in their treks to liberty. Henry "Box" Brown arranged to be shipped to freedom in a crate; Ellen and William Craft disguised themselves respectively as an elderly white male invalid and his faithful manservant; Moses Roper drew on his part–Native American lineage to represent himself in the Deep South as an Indian rather than an escaped black slave. Indeed, the propensity of owners to use their female slaves as sexual chattel often resulted in offspring whose mixed heritage could preclude immediate racial categorization and thus facilitate escape.

Yet most successful runaways were justifiably wary of the public roads and forms of transportations that necessitated disguising one's physical appearance. More widespread was the use of secret codes, often in such...