During the time of the Underground Railroad, Zanesville and Putnam were two communities separated by the Muskingum River with two distinct moral views: people in Zanesville were proslavery, while those in Putnam were antislavery, and battle lines were drawn several times on the bridge that joined the two. Former slaves who settled here included Mess Johnson, the first runaway to settle here, Nelson T. Gant, who became a millionaire, Joshua Simpson, who wrote "Emancipation Car," George and Mammy Roots, who owned a tavern, a storekeeper in Putnam who was an operator, and countless others who came up the river, hid in caves and attics, and followed the stars in search of freedom. Abolitionists in Putnam and Zanesville included the Guthries, Buckinghams, Grangers, Beckwidths, Col. Nye, Rev. Beecher, Dr. Kingsbury, Rev. Jackson, Z.M. Chandler, and other families listed as operators or abolitionists. Churches whose members took a stand and played a part included Putnam Presbyterian, Moxahala Methodist, St. Paul AME, Union Baptist, and Market St. Baptist. Numerous men and women of both races left food, clothes, and money, hid freedom seekers in barns, attics, and secret corners, and guided them on to the next station, making a tale of two cities into a community united as one.