According to John R. Smith, in letters written in the 1930s, his father Rev. John L. Smith, a Methodist minister in Vermont, had worked with Northup and former slave Tabbs Gross in the early 1860s, during the Civil War, aiding fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad."John R. Smith letter" (1930s), Wilbur Henry Siebert collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University Northup was said to have visited Rev. Smith after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which was made in January 1863.
According to John R. ,Smith, in letters written in the 1930s, his father Rev. John L. Smith a Methodist minister in Vermont, had worked with Northup and former slave Tabbs Gross in the early 1860s, during the Civil War, aiding fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad."John R. Smith letter" (1930s), Wilbur Henry Siebert collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University Northup was said to have visited Rev. Smith after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which was made in January 1863.