JOHN PRICE WAS ONE OF THE FEW KENTUCKIANS who welcomed the exceptionally cold winter of 1855–56. As a slave, he was pleased that the frigid weather would slow local work to a standstill, requiring masters and servants alike to remain indoors as much as possible. But even more than that, John realized that the enforced idleness and isolation in the area – with the country roads deserted and even village shops empty of customers – would afford him the long-awaited chance to bolt for freedom. And so he did, eventually reaching the abolitionist stronghold of Oberlin, Ohio. In Oberlin, Price fatefully crossed paths with John Anthony Copeland. Together, they set in motion a series of events that would culminate at John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia. It is likely that John Price never learned of his unintended impact on Brown's plans. He only knew that he wanted to be free. As it turned out, that would be enough to shake the nation.

The winters in northern Kentucky tend to be mild, but temperatures fell below freezing in mid-December 1855 and remained locked in place – even on sunny days – for weeks without letup. The landscape soon came to resemble New England more than the border South, as snow covered the fields and streams and ponds iced over. Even the Ohio River froze solid, blocking the riparian commerce that was usually the region's main activity in the winter months. With farming at an end until spring, and trade at a near standstill, humble families simply huddled for warmth around their fireplaces and stoves as they waited out the unaccustomed cold. More prosperous families traveled by sleigh to visit relatives, where they, too, huddled for warmth around their more substantial hearths.

There was one group of Kentuckians, however, for whom the uncommon weather promised much more than days of dull seclusion. Kentucky was slave country, as it always had been since Daniel Boone led the first colonial settlers from Virginia through the Cumberland Gap.