In the eighteen thirties about 250 of the county's 650 African Americans lived in Utica, most in the mixed-race neighborhood of Post Street near the Erie Canal and the city center. Many worked in hotels, liveries, and restaurants and were often the first to learn of approaching slave-catchers. They sheltered freedom-seekers and guided them to the next station on the Underground Railroad. In 1836, Post Street residents took part in the Utica Rescue of two imprisoned freedom-seekers and sent them onward to freedom. J.D. Green of Kentucky later described in his biography how he was recaptured on Post Street in 1846 and returned to slavery. African Americans from Post Street and across Oneida County played an important role in the broader struggle against slavery. Rev. James Fountain, Benjamin Anderson, and Tucker Woodson of Post Street, along with Francis Lippin, Rufus Wills, and other black residents of Oneida County, were active in the Negro Convention Movement. At conventions in Rome, Syracuse, and Buffalo, participants demanded an end to slavery, rejected colonization, and insisted on equal voting rights. Many also fought in the Civil War, including William Henry and C.W. Lloyd, who are buried in Utica's Forest Hill Cemetery. William Henry, a Post Street resident, served on three U.S. Navy ships during the Civil War: the Lady Sterling, the Hornet, and the Princeton. African American citizens of Oneida County exerted significant influence on the abolition movement and the success of the Underground Railroad.