As the former slave, Josiah Henson, recalled, he faced a tricky dilemma when in 1825 he arrived with a boatload of fellow slaves in Cincinnati. He had been directed by his Maryland master to take the slaves to a plantation in western Kentucky. When their boat docked in Cincinnati, the “colored people” suggested that the group “remain with them,” using, Henson recalled, “all the arguments now so familiar to induce slaves to quit their masters.” But Henson felt honor bound to complete the task he was assigned. Years later, when he did decide to escape from slavery in Daviess County, Kentucky, Henson headed to the black community in Cincinnati, which protected him and guided him to the shores of Lake Erie from which he sailed to Canada. Blacks in the city were not the only ones who tried to persuade Henson and the group of slaves to leave. Wherever they stopped along the northern banks of the Ohio River they were met with similar receptions.

Situated as they were – almost directly opposite towns and villages on the other side of the river – Henson's possible ports of call became geographically significant in the evolving political dispute over fugitive slaves. They provided places of protection and rest for slaves on the run from the northern counties of Kentucky. Those fleeing Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties through Covington usually headed first for Cincinnati, although in some instances slaves leaving Boone County opted to cross the river into Indiana at Lawrenceburg or Aurora. From Bracken, Mason, and Lewis counties they traveled through Maysville before heading for the safety of Ripley, Ohio. Ironton, along the river, east of Ripley, provided similar support for those from Greenup County, Kentucky, and Cabell County, Virginia. These river towns were also the departure points for those who went south to help slaves escape. Equally significant were the black rural settlements close to the river in southern Ohio, which, as one historian has argued, became meccas attracting fugitives from eastern Kentucky. Poke Patch, north of Ironton, and twenty miles from the river, was a vital link in the system of escape routes leading through Lawrence and Gallia counties.