EDINBURG, Texas – A little known chapter of Civil War history makes for a dramatic story told in “Just a Ferry Ride to Freedom,” a documentary produced by the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. The film is based on the choice made by runaway slaves prior to the Civil War, to head south instead of north, to Mexico using another Underground Railroad. The route to freedom would be longer over treacherous terrain between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. Instead, she relied on oral histories with the descendants of those who helped or decided to stay in South Texas, many of whom are now buried in the Rio Grande Valley. They helped other people.”Both he and Bacha-Garza said the people of the Rio Grande Valley should be proud of its history.