The song Follow The Drinking Gourd is a unique song, attributed to one "Peg Leg Joe", a peg-legged sailor who lost part of of his leg in an accident at sea. He (most likely working with other activists of the "underground railroad") devised a way to help slaves escape from Southern plantations and find their freedom farther north, often as far away as Canada. While working as an itinerant carpenter and handyman at many different plantations, this undercover freedom fighter Peg Leg Joe would teach slaves this folk song whose lyrics identified landmarks along the northbound trail to freedom. To avoid their pursuers, the slaves traveled at night and used inland waterways and the stars to guide themselves. The Drinking Gourd is a code term for a familiar constellation -- The Big Dipper. Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about the real identity of Peg Leg Joe, but this song and the tales about him and this coded map for the esape route to freedom survive.
The song and its translation are as follows:
When the sun comes back and the first quail calls, Follow the drinking gourd. For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom, If you follow the drinking gourd.
"When the sun comes back" means winter and spring when the altitude of the sun at noon is higher each day. Quail are migratory bird wintering in the South. The Drinking Gourd is the Big Dipper. The old man is Peg Leg Joe. The verse tells slaves to leave in the winter and walk towards the Drinking Gourd. Eventually they will meet a guide who will escort them for the remainder of the trip. Most escapees had to cross the Ohio River which is too wide and too swift to swim. The Railroad struggled with the problem of how to get escapees across, and with experience, came to believe the best crossing time was winter. Then the river was frozen, and escapees could walk across on the ice. Since it took most escapees a year to travel from the South to the Ohio, the Railroad urged slaves to start their trip in winter in order to be at the Ohio the next winter.
The riverbank makes a very good road, The dead trees show you the way, Left foot, peg foot, traveling on Follow the drinking gourd.
This verse taught slaves to follow the bank of the Tombigbee River north looking for dead trees that were marked with drawings of a left foot and a peg foot. The markings distinguished the Tombigbee from other north-south rivers that flow into it.
The river ends between two hills, Follow the drinking gourd. There's another river on the other side, Follow the drinking gourd.
These words told the slaves that when they reached the headwaters of the Tombigbee, they were to continue north over the hills until they met another river. Then they were to travel north along the new river which is the Tennessee River. A number of the southern escape routes converged on the Tennessee.
Where the great big river meets the little river, Follow the Drinking Gourd. For the old man is a-waiting to carry you to freedom If you follow the Drinking Gourd.
This verse told the slaves the Tennessee joined another river. They were to cross that river (which is the Ohio River), and on the north bank, meet a guide from the Underground Railroad.
Follow the Drinking Gourd
Follow the drinking gourd! Follow the drinking gourd. For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd.
When the sun comes back and the first quail calls, Follow the drinking gourd, For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd.
The riverbank makes a very good road, The dead trees will show you the way, Left foot, peg foot traveling on, Following the drinking gourd.
The river ends between two hills, Follow the drinking gourd, There's another river on the other side, Follow the drinking gourd.
Where the great big river meets the little river, Follow the drinking gourd, The old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd