Just plain fact that abolitionists violated federal law helping fugitive slaves. There were many in NE IA along the MI River.
Looking at a map, it leads me to believe that any slaves escaping through Iowa likely came through Missouri, which was a Union slave state during the war. I recall you saying Iowa Militia wanted to take up arms against the other slave states, but did it not occur to them to attack the closest slave state?
What's up with that? Why go so far to fight slavery when they could have fought it so much closer?
Also when they were helping slaves escaping from Missouri, was this not hurting their fellow ally Missouri?
Lots of mixed up stuff in this conflict.
The escaping slaves traveled up the Mississippi River, rarely going onshore until they got to Iowa.
The Mississippi River is several miles wide and has many sand bars and islands to hide on from about the Minnesota line on south.
My understanding is that many of the slaves came from the deep south and and had little understanding of geography. They generally knew to go north and the Mississippi River went straight north and going upstream was all the slaves needed to know to reach safety.
Going onshore anywhere along the river meant slave catchers. However, the MI River narrows and the current is imposing from about Clayton, IA on north. So the escape network largely became overland from there o the north.
Missouri favored the Union providing 110,000 troops to the Union versus 40,000 to the Confederacy. So fighting in MO was largely internal and a stalemate. Once St. Louis was captured, Vicksburg was the big prize to the Union and that is where the Iowa and Wisconsin regiments went.
Certainly nothing like that was posted on this thread.
Can you point to where that was claimed?