From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge tells the story of the flight and history of fugitives from south of the border and how Canadians dealt with them over the course of many decades. Before the conflict, an estimated 40,000 runaway slaves and free Blacks settled in what became Ontario. When the war broke out, some American whites, motivated by money, crossed the border to enlist young Canadians to take up arms in Union blue. In all, about 20,000 men from British North America joined the Union and Confederate armies, some as a result of trickery, but others for their own reasons. Buying agents from both the North and South came north to buy supplies to feed their armies and a large number of horses to move them. There were also American spies and operatives who worked from bases in Toronto and Montreal. Some were funded by large amounts of Confederate money to distract the North with daring missions launched from its back door. They too were tolerated by Canadians, if not welcomed.

The border proved porous and many who chose to cross it died in each other's country. From their vantage point above the fray that played out below them, Canadians developed sympathies and prejudices in response to events in which they became entangled. An intriguing four-way relationship existed for a time between Canada, the United States, Britain, and the Confederacy, in which Canada (and Britain) developed sympathy for the South and Southerners coupled with distrust, dislike, and fear of the Union. The Civil War helped push Britain's North American colonies toward Confederation for fear that victorious Union guns might be directed north to finish a conquest the aggressive young republic failed to accomplish in the War of 1812. Here, then, is the story of the northward flight of Blacks, draft dodgers, the Confederate president and his prominent officials and generals, some leaders of the Ku Klux terror organization, and of wealthy citizens unable or unwilling to accept changes in the lives they had known. All found refuge in a friendly and much calmer place mere steps away from a republic in turmoil. For them, the attic beckoned. And while some refugees remained in Canada only briefly, others adapted to their new surroundings well and chose to live out their days in a land which extended them the welcome mat.