independently; most often they were young males, as they could move more freely than women with children. Free blacks and white supporters of abolition of slavery gradually organized a number of safe places and guides, creating the Underground Railroad to help slaves gain safety in Northern states. The many Indian trails and waterways of Maryland, and in particular the countless inlets of the Chesapeake Bay, afforded numerous ways to escape north by boat or land, with many people going to Pennsylvania as the nearest free state. Supporters would shelter refugees, and sometimes give them food and clothing. As the numbers of slaves seeking freedom in the North grew, so did the reward for their capture. In 1806, the reward offered for the recaptured slaves was $6, but by 1833 it had risen to $30. In 1844, recaptured freedom seekers fetched $15 if recaptured within of the owner and $50 if captured more than away. Status of slavery in 1860 By the 1850s few Marylanders still believed that colonization was the solution to the perceived problems of slavery and free blacks in society. Although one in every six Maryland families still held slaves, most slaveholders held only a few per household. Support for the institution of slavery was localized, varying according to its importance to the local economy and it continued to be integral to Southern Maryland's plantations. By 1860 Maryland's free black population comprised 49.1% of the total number of African Americans in the state. The small state of Maryland was home to nearly 84,000 free blacks in 1860, by far the most of any state; the state had ranked as having the highest number of free blacks since 1810. In addition, by this time, the vast majority of blacks in Baltimore were free, and this free black population was more than in any other US city. Many planters in Maryland had freed their slaves in the years following the Revolutionary War. In addition, families of free people of color had been formed during colonial times from unions between free white women and men of African descent and various social classes, and their descendants were among the free. As children took their status from their mothers, these mixed-race children were born free. Marylanders might agree in principle that slavery could and should be abolished, but they were slow to achieve it statewide. Although the need for slaves had declined with