Before the Civil War, the movements of blacks (freed or slaves) was limited in the north as well as the south. Illinois had severe restrictions on free blacks entering the state, and Indiana barred them completely. Laws in Ohio were very strict, making it almost impossible for a free black person to settle there.
Because of these laws and restrictions, there were only two main lines of the Underground Railroad in Michigan. The first entered the state in the southwest corner of state, in Cass County, and continued through Cassopolis, Schoolcraft, Climax, Battle Creek, Marshall, Albion, Parma, Jackson, Michigan Center, Dexter, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and ended in Detroit, the last stop before the safety of Canada. The other line entered Michigan near Hillsdale and ran through Albion and Tecumseh before meeting up with the other route in Ann Arbor. Of course, there were always variations and alternate routes that were followed to avoid slave catchers.
Fugitives would enter Calhoun County from the west and would be helped from there to Battle Creek by Isaac Davisk. Erastus Hussey would then help them get to Marshall. The men who were in charge of their portion of the Underground Railroad were known as “conductors”. Conductors came from many backgrounds, but were mostly free-born blacks or blacks that had escaped or been freed from slavery - but there were also Native Americans and white abolitionists, like Erastus Hussey.
Hiding them in a storefront located on East Main Street (where the the Kellogg parking garage is now), Erastus Hussey helped around 1,000 escaped slaves on their journey to freedom. In 1855 he moved to a new house on North Washington Avenue where he continued his efforts. Relatives claimed that secret rooms had been built into the basement of the new house, and when it was torn down years later the excavators reported finding tunnels.
In one famous incident in 1847, a group of Kentucky slave owners raided an Underground Railroad station in Cass County and captured many fugitives, but 45 slaves escaped and made their way to Battle Creek. Hussey housed them all and gave them potatoes and flour to eat, provided by both himself and other sympathizers, before sending them on their way. This was the largest group of slaves brought in at one time through the Underground Railroad.