The Town That Started the Civil War

Before the War Between the States, there was the war between the U.S. government and Oberlin, Ohio. . . .

"A fascinating, gripping narrative."-James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom

On a crisp autumn day in Ohio, 1858, two Kentucky slave hunters were closing in on a runaway slave named John Price. Federal law said they had the right to bring the man back across state lines. But to the people of Oberlin, Ohio, the law was wrong-and they were willing to prove it with their sweat and blood.

In this fascinating, spirited telling of one of the most extraordinary confrontations in U.S. history, Nat Brandt gives a blow-by-blow account of how a small but passionate army of students, farmers, former slaves, a bookstore owner, a professor, a preacher, and a cobbler risked their lives to rescue a man they didn't know-and ignited a furious conflict with a wavering U.S. government. From its first blows to the controversial trials that followed, the Oberlin Rescue was an act of uncommon heroism and courage-and a true battle for the conscience of a land.