The Woman Who Used The Underground Railroad? (TOP 5 Tips)

Known as the “Moses of her people,” Harriet Tubman was enslaved, escaped, and helped others gain their freedom as a “conductor” of the Underground Railroad. Tubman also served as a scout, spy, guerrilla soldier, and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War.

What woman was a famous conductor of the Underground Railroad?

Harriet Tubman escaped slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in 1849. She then returned there multiple times over the next decade, risking her life to bring others to freedom as a renowned conductor of the Underground Railroad.

Who helped free slaves besides Harriet Tubman?

These eight abolitionists helped enslaved people escape to freedom.

• Isaac Hopper. Abolitionist Isaac Hopper.
• John Brown. Abolitionist John Brown, c.
• Harriet Tubman.
• Thomas Garrett.
• William Still.
• Levi Coffin.
• Elijah Anderson.
• Thaddeus Stevens.

Is Gertie Davis died?

This period is chronicled in Harriet. Tubman ultimately rescued all but one. She didn’t save her sister Rachel Ross. She died shortly before her older sister arrived to bring her to freedom.

Who used the Underground Railroad?

The Underground Railroad was the network used by enslaved black Americans to obtain their freedom in the 30 years before the Civil War (1860-1865).

Who is the leader of the Underground Railroad?

Harriet Tubman (1822-1913), a renowned leader in the Underground Railroad movement, established the Home for the Aged in 1908. Born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman gained her freedom in 1849 when she escaped to Philadelphia.

Who financed the Underground Railroad?

5: Buying Freedom Meanwhile, so-called “stockholders” raised money for the Underground Railroad, funding anti-slavery societies that provided ex-slaves with food, clothing, money, lodging and job-placement services. At times, abolitionists would simply buy an enslaved person’s freedom, as they did with Sojourner Truth.

Did Gertie Davis marry?

Tubman and Davis married on March 18, 1869 at the Presbyterian Church in Auburn. In 1874 they adopted a girl who they named Gertie. Davis suffered from Tuberculosis and could not hold a steady job, leaving Harriet responsible for the household. Their marriage lasted 20 years.

Is Gertie Tubman still alive?

Lured by high prices, Brodess sold some of his enslaved people to southern slave traders, including Tubman’s sisters, Linah, Soph and Mariah Ritty, between 1825 and 1844 permanently tearing her family apart.

What happened to the family that owned Harriet Tubman?

Her owner, Brodess, died leaving the plantation in a dire financial situation. Three of her sisters, Linah, Soph and Mariah Ritty, were sold. September 17 – Harriet and her brothers, Ben and Henry, escaped from the Poplar Neck Plantation. Ben and Henry had second thoughts and returned to the plantation.

What states did Harriet Tubman live in?

Harriet Tubman was born around 1820 on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her parents, Harriet (“Rit”) Green and Benjamin Ross, named her Araminta Ross and called her “Minty.”

StoryMap: Women and the Underground Railroad (U.S. National Park Service)

Harriet Tubman is a historical figure. Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Maryland has a statue dedicated to her. Photo by Jon Eizyk, licensed under CC0.

What are StoryMaps?

StoryMaps are digital exploration tools that let you discover new things. They communicate a tale by focusing on specific locations. A StoryMap allows you to virtually travel from one end of the country to another (digitally, of course), all while viewing images and reading tales along the way. StoryMaps are a fantastic way to travel without ever having to leave your home!

Women and the Underground Railroad

On this StoryMap, you’ll see the locations of women who were involved in the Underground Railroad movement. While this map does not purport to represent a thorough investigation of all places linked with the Underground Railroad, it does demonstrate that networks of people seeking freedom stretched throughout the entire country. Using the StoryMap, you may learn about some of the stories of the Underground Railroad. Visitors to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Maryland, as well as the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in New York, who are interested in learning more about the Underground Railroad should go to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Maryland, or the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in New York.

Harriet Tubman

As an escaped enslaved woman, Harriet Tubman worked as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, guiding enslaved individuals to freedom before the Civil War, all while a bounty was placed on her head. But she was also a nurse, a spy for the Union, and a proponent of women’s rights. Tubman is one of the most well-known figures in American history, and her legacy has inspired countless individuals of all races and ethnicities around the world.

When Was Harriet Tubman Born?

Harriet Tubman was born in 1820 on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland, and became well-known as a pioneer. Her parents, Harriet (“Rit”) Green and Benjamin Ross, gave her the name Araminta Ross and referred to her as “Minty” as a nickname. Rit worked as a chef in the plantation’s “large house,” while Benjamin was a wood worker on the plantation’s “little house.” As a tribute to her mother, Araminta changed her given name to Harriet later in life. However, the reality of slavery pulled many of Harriet’s siblings and sisters apart, despite Rit’s attempts to keep the family united.

Harriet was hired as a muskrat trap setter by a planter when she was seven years old, and she was later hired as a field laborer by the same planter. In a later interview, she stated that she preferred outside plantation labor over interior home tasks.

A Good Deed Gone Bad

Harriet’s yearning for justice first manifested itself when she was 12 years old and witnessed an overseer prepare to hurl a heavy weight at a runaway. Harriet took a step between the enslaved person and the overseer, and the weight of the person smacked her in the head. Afterwards, she described the occurrence as follows: “The weight cracked my head. They had to carry me to the home because I was bleeding and fainting. Because I was without a bed or any place to lie down at all, they threw me on the loom’s seat, where I stayed for the rest of the day and the following day.” As a result of her good act, Harriet has suffered from migraines and narcolepsy for the remainder of her life, forcing her to go into a deep slumber at any time of day.

She was undesirable to potential slave purchasers and renters because of her physical disability.

Escape from Slavery

Harriet’s father was freed in 1840, and Harriet later discovered that Rit’s owner’s final will and testament had freed Rit and her children, including Harriet, from slavery. Despite this, Rit’s new owner refused to accept the will and instead held Rit, Harriett, and the rest of her children in bondage for the remainder of their lives. Harriet married John Tubman, a free Black man, in 1844, and changed her last name from Ross to Tubman in honor of her new husband. Harriet’s marriage was in shambles, and the idea that two of her brothers—Ben and Henry—were going to be sold prompted her to devise a plan to flee.

Harriet Tubman: Underground Railroad

On September 17, 1849, Harriet, Ben, and Henry managed to flee their Maryland farm and reach the United States. The brothers, on the other hand, changed their minds and returned. Harriet persisted, and with the assistance of the Underground Railroad, she was able to journey 90 miles north to Pennsylvania and freedom. Tubman got employment as a housekeeper in Philadelphia, but she wasn’t content with simply being free on her own; she desired freedom for her family and friends, as well as for herself.

She attempted to relocate her husband John to the north at one time, but he had remarried and preferred to remain in Maryland with his new wife.

Fugitive Slave Act

The Runaway Slave Act of 1850 authorized the apprehension and enslavement of fugitive and released laborers in the northern United States. Consequently, Harriet’s task as an Underground Railroad guide became much more difficult, and she was obliged to take enslaved people even farther north into Canada by leading them through the night, generally during the spring or fall when the days were shorter. She carried a revolver for her personal security as well as to “encourage” any of her charges who might be having second thoughts about following her orders.

Within 10 years, Harriet became acquainted with other abolitionists like as Frederick Douglass, Thomas Garrett, and Martha Coffin Wright, and she built her own Underground Railroad network of her own.

Despite this, it is thought that Harriet personally guided at least 70 enslaved persons to freedom, including her elderly parents, and that she educated scores of others on how to escape on their own in the years following the Civil War.

“I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger,” she insisted. The Little-Known Underground Railroad That Ran South to Mexico.

Harriet Tubman’s Civil War Service

In 1861, as the American Civil War broke out, Harriet discovered new methods of combating slavery. She was lured to Fort Monroe to provide assistance to runaway enslaved persons, where she served as a nurse, chef, and laundress. In order to assist sick troops and runaway enslaved people, Harriet employed her expertise of herbal medicines. She rose to the position of director of an intelligence and reconnaissance network for the Union Army in 1863. In addition to providing Union commanders with critical data regarding Confederate Army supply routes and personnel, she assisted in the liberation of enslaved persons who went on to join Black Union battalions.

Harriet Tubman’s Later Years

Following the Civil War, Harriet moved to Auburn, New York, where she lived with her family and friends on land she owned. After her husband John died in 1867, she married Nelson Davis, a former enslaved man and Civil War soldier, in 1869. A few years later, they adopted a tiny girl named Gertie, who became their daughter. Harriet maintained an open-door policy for anyone who was in need of assistance. In order to sustain her philanthropic endeavors, she sold her homegrown fruit, raised pigs, accepted gifts, and borrowed money from family and friends.

1. Anthony.
2. A head injury she had as a child continued to bother her throughout her life, and she eventually underwent brain surgery to alleviate her problems.
3. Harriet Tubman died on March 10, 1913, as a result of pneumonia, yet her legacy continues to this day.
4. Continue reading “After the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman Led a Brutal Civil War Raid”

Harriet Tubman: 20 Dollar Bill

Harriet moved to Auburn, New York, with her family and friends after the Civil War. She bought land there. Several years after her marriage to John Davis, she married former enslaved man and Civil War soldier Nelson Davis. They adopted a young daughter called Gertie from the same orphanage. Those in need were welcome to come to Harriet’s house whenever they needed to. In order to sustain her philanthropic endeavors, she sold her homegrown fruit, raised pigs, accepted gifts, and took out loans from her circle of acquaintances.

She also collaborated with famed suffrage activist Susan B.

Upon purchasing land next to her home, Harriet established the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People, which she operated until her death in 1896.

She was compelled to relocate into the rest home that bears her name in 1911 because her health continued to deteriorate.

A number of schools and museums have been named in her honor, and her tale has been told in novels, films, and documentaries across the world. Continue reading “After the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman Led a Bold Civil War Raid”

Sources

Early years of one’s life. The Harriet Tubman Historical Society was founded in 1908. General Tubman was a female abolitionist who also served as a secret military weapon during the Civil War. Military Times is a publication that publishes news on the military. Harriet Tubman is a historical figure. Biography. Biography. Harriet Tubman is a historical figure. Thompson AME Zion Church, Thompson Home for the Aged, and Thompson Residence are all located in Thompson. The National Park Service is a federal agency.

1. Myths against facts.
2. Kate Clifford Larson, Ph.D.
3. Harriet Tubman is a historical figure.
4. National Women’s History Museum exhibit about Harriet Tubman.
5. The Harriet Tubman Historical Society was founded in 1908.
6. The Underground Railroad (Urban Railroad).

From the Siebert Collection: Women of the Underground Railroad

Via the Siebert Collection, “Levi Coffin and his wife “Aunt Katy”” is a painting by Charles Webber. When it comes to women involved in the Underground Railroad, theSiebert Collection (which will be open for free to the public through the endof February in honor of Black History Month) stands out for its representation of these women, who have all too often been relegated to the sidelines of history for the important work they did in the anti-slavery movement. Photograph of Ellen Craft dressed in the disguise she wore to flee slavery, courtesy of the Siebert Collection.

• Some of these names are well-known, while others are less so.
• Ellen Craft, seen at left, is a slave who, with her husband, William, staged a daring and successful escape from slavery.
• Craft was born in Georgia in 1826, and she was fathered by her mother’s white owner, who was also her paternal grandfather.
• It was their 1848 escape that created headlines among those who were opposed to slavery, and the pair went far to tell their tale to the general public.
• Laura Haviland engraving from the Siebert Collection, courtesy of the artist.
• Haviland, who worked throughout Ohio and nearby states to secure the liberation of runaway slaves fleeing to freedom.
• Haviland, following in the footsteps of some of the other women we’ve met.

She was an outspoken opponent of slavery, and she wrote the following in a letter to Siebert in 1893: The cracked Liberty bell, I said to the onlookers, “It was little wonder it refused to proclaim that God defyinglie any longer, while millions of men women and children were bought and sold like pigs and sheep as personal property!

The number of heroic women represented in the Siebert Collection is much too many to list here; instead, we welcome you to visit the collection and see for yourself. Some of the most interesting materials are as follows:

• Lucy Gilmore Cowles’ biography, written while she worked as a station agent outside of Zanesville, Ohio
• An encouragement letter from Elizabeth B. Chace, encouraging Siebert to track down an elderly woman named Harriet Tubman, who “used to be known as Moses because she led so many people out of slavery”
• The biography of Betsy Mix Cowles, another notable Ohio abolitionist
• And a letter from Elizabeth B. Chace, encouraging Siebert to track down an elderly woman named Harriet

If you are interested in learning more about these vital actors in the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery campaigns, we hope you will visit the Siebert Collection. Thank you to Lily Birkhimer, Digital Projects Coordinator at the Ohio History Connection, for her contribution to this week’s blog article!

Beyond Harriet

In order to learn more about these key players in the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery campaigns, we hope you will visit the Siebert Collection in person! This week’s piece is brought to you by Lily Birkhimer, Digital Projects Coordinator at the Ohio History Connection.

This Michigan woman was a conductor on the Underground Railroad

Published on July 14, 2014 at 11:14 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Laura Smith Haviland is a name that may not immediately come to mind when thinking of the Underground Railroad. She was from Michigan, and she was instrumental in the emancipation of many slaves from the South. Michigan was a critical station on the Underground Railroad’s journey west to freedom. In the years leading up to and during the Civil War, many Michiganders assisted slaves attempting to flee to freedom in Canada by crossing the border in Port Huron or Detroit.

• The 1840s and 1850s saw Haviland traveling between Michigan, Ohio and Canada to aid slaves in their escape attempts, instruct African American pupils, and deliver anti-slavery lectures in public forums.
• In addition to serving as head of the Department of African-American Studies at the University of Michigan, Tiya Miles will be a keynote speaker at the National Underground Railroad Conference, which will be held next week in Detroit.
• “Laura Haviland was a great lady, and she is someone who faced terrible challenges that you and I – I don’t think we could ever comprehend,” Miles added.
• Her fellow abolitionists were quite critical of her, and she received a great deal of backlash.
• From July 16 to July 20, the National Park Service will hold its annual conference on the Underground Railroad in Detroit, which will feature presentations by experts in the field.
• * Listen to the entire interview in the player above.
• Think about making a donation to Michigan Radio right now.

Women of the Underground Railroad featured in Kentucky exhibit

At 11:14 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on July 14, 2014 Laura Smith Haviland is a name that may not come to mind while thinking of the Underground Railroad. The fact that she was from Michigan allowed her to assist numerous slaves in their escape from the slave states to freedom. In the history of the Underground Railroad, Michigan was a critical stopping point. Many Michiganders assisted slaves escaping to freedom in Canada before and during the Civil War by crossing the border at Port Huron or Detroit.

1. The 1840s and 1850s saw Haviland traveling between Michigan, Ohio and Canada to aid slaves in their escape attempts, instruct African American pupils, and deliver anti-slavery lectures in public places.
2. A keynote address will be delivered by Tiya Miles, professor and chair of African-American studies at the University of Michigan, at the National Underground Railroad Conference, which will be held in Detroit later this week.
3. “Laura Haviland was a remarkable lady, and she is someone who faced terrible challenges that you and I – I don’t think any of us could ever comprehend.” According to Miles, women were not supposed to be autonomous and interested in political matters during the time of his interview with me.
4. They perceived her to be a woman who was outspoken in her opposition to traditional gender norms.

“Women and the Underground Railroad” is the focus of this year’s conference and exhibition. * Listen to the entire interview in the player above. Interested in helping to fund investigative journalism of this caliber? Give to Michigan Radio now by making a donation to the station.

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad: how one woman saved hundreds from hell

She had managed to get away from hell. Slavery in the United States was a hellish experience characterised by bondage, racist treatment, terrorism, degrading conditions, backbreaking labor, beatings, and whippings. Harriet Tubman escaped from her Maryland farm and walked over 90 miles by herself to reach the free state of Pennsylvania, where she died in 1865. In order to make the perilous voyage, she had to go at night through woods and through streams, with little food, and dreading anybody who would gladly give her back to her masters in order to receive a reward.

Her 1849 escape from slavery was described as follows: “When I realized I had crossed the border, I glanced at my hands to check if I was the same person.” “There was such a radiance in everything.” I had the feeling that I was in heaven as the sun filtered through the trees and over the meadows.” Tubman was transferred to a region where she could live somewhat free of bondage thanks to the Underground Railroad; but, while others endured cruelty and misery, she would risk her life as the network’s most renowned conductor.

Tubman made it out of hell just to turn around and walk right back into it.

When and where was Harriet Tubman born?

She’d managed to get away from horror on earth. In the United States, a slave’s existence was a living nightmare characterised by bondage, racism, dread, humiliation, backbreaking labor, beatings, and whippings. Harriet Tubman escaped from her Maryland farm and walked over 90 miles by herself to reach the free state of Pennsylvania, where she was crowned Queen of the United States. The perilous voyage involved traveling through woods and over streams at night, with little food, and dreading anybody who would gladly give her back to her masters to earn a payment for her troubles.

The woman who escaped from slavery in 1849 remembered her experience: “When I realized what had happened, I glanced at my hands to check if I was the same person.” “There was such a radiance about everything.

But while others were subjected to abuse and despair, Tubman would put her life in danger as the Underground Railroad’s most renowned conductor while others were carried to a location where she might live relatively free of bondage.

• She’d managed to get away from hell. Slavery in the United States was a hellish experience typified by bondage, racist treatment, terrorism, degrading conditions, backbreaking labor, and beatings and whippings. Harriet Tubman escaped from her Maryland farm and walked over 90 miles by herself to reach the free state of Pennsylvania, where she died. The perilous route involved traveling at night through woods and over streams with little food and dreading anybody who would gladly take her back to her masters to receive a reward. Tubman would not have made it to Philadelphia if it weren’t for a covert network of routes and safe homes set up to facilitate ‘fugitive slaves’ on their way north. Her 1849 escape from slavery was described as follows: “When I realized I had over the boundary, I glanced at my hands to check whether I was the same person.” “There was such a radiance in everything. I felt like I was in heaven as the sun streamed through the trees and across the meadows.” Tubman was transferred to a region where she could live relatively free of bondage thanks to the Underground Railroad, but as others endured cruelty and misery, she would risk her life as the network’s most renowned conductor. Tubman managed to escape hell just to turn around and walk right back into it.

Minty’s harsh upbringing resulted in a fervent Christian faith, which she developed as a result of hearing Bible tales read to her by her mother, as well as extraordinary strength, courage, and a desire to put herself in danger in order to save others. These characteristics helped her so effectively in the Underground Railroad, yet they almost resulted in her death when she was a little girl.

Once, as Minty was on her way to get supplies from a dry goods store, she found herself stuck between an overseer who was looking for a slave who had fled his property without permission and the slave’s pursuing master.

What was the Underground Railroad?

The term does not allude to genuine trains that went up and down the length of America in tunnels (at least not in the early nineteenth century), but rather to a system of clandestine routes that were designed to assist runaway slaves in reaching the free states of the North or Canada. In order to escape discovery, guides guided them down the circuitous routes, which frequently required trudging into the woods, crossing rivers, and climbing mountains to reach their destination. Although it was not always the case, a route may have involved conveyance, such as boats or carts.

• It was all done in secret, thus the term “underground,” and it made use of jargon from the booming railway industry.
• It was common for those participating – which included everyone from runaway slaves to rich white abolitionists and church officials – to congregate in small groups.
• ‘vigilance committees’ formed established in the bigger cities of the North, such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, to support the railroad.
• It struck Minty in the head, knocking her out cold and leaving her in a pool of blood.
• These remained constant throughout her life (although she claimed them to be premonitions from God).
• There was no reprieve from the horrendous conditions as the years passed, yet all of Minty’s hours of hard labor had given her a surprising amount of strength for her small five-foot body.

Despite the fact that she became Harriet Tubman in approximately 1844 – after marrying a free black man called John Tubman and choosing to use her mother’s first name – it would be another five years before she made her first steps toward freedom.

How did Harriet Tubman escape from slavery?

What makes Tubman’s escape from slavery even more remarkable is that she had to accomplish it twice before she was successful. When Mary left the plantation with two of her brothers on September 17, 1849, Harry and Ben had second thoughts and returned to the plantation with her mother and father. Instead of continuing without them, Tubman made sure they returned before attempting a second time to save her life. The 90-mile trek could have taken her anywhere from one to three weeks if she had done it on foot.

• As a result, in 1850, she returned to Maryland to pick up her niece Kessiah and her husband, as well as their two kids, and bring them back to Pennsylvania.
• (some accounts say she went as many as 19 times).
• It is estimated that she personally freed roughly 300 slaves – including some of her brothers and their families, as well as her own parents – and gave instructions to dozens of others in the process.
• An advertising for the ‘Liberty Line’ in 1844, which was a thinly veiled allusion to the Underground Railroad, and which promised “seats free, regardless of race,” is seen below.
• It only grew more perilous after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, which made it possible for runaway slaves to be apprehended in the North and returned to their original owners.
• As a result, Tubman had to find a way to get to Canada, which was under British control.

When Tubman was a conductor, her colleague William Still remarked, “Great anxieties were expressed for her safety, yet she appeared to be completely devoid of personal dread.” With her success in exploiting and growing the network to transport escaped slaves to safety, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison dubbed Tubman the ‘Moses of her people’ for her efforts.

She would frequently travel during the winter, when the nights were longer, and would leave with her ‘passengers’ on a Saturday evening – since runaway notices would not appear in newspapers until the following Monday – in order to avoid being discovered.

“Either you’ll be free or you’ll die,” she declared emphatically.

‘General Tubman’ was contacted before to his failed 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry in the hopes of igniting a slave insurrection, and it is said that he wanted her to take part in the attack as a member of the armed forces.

Seward was so impressed with Tubman’s work that she purchased a small plot of land near Auburn, New York – where she lived with her elderly parents, whom she had rescued during one of her final journeys – from her friend and admirer.

On the Underground Railroad, did coded songs aid people in their attempts to elude enslavement and find freedom? In connection with the Underground Railroad, there is a widespread idea that songs had hidden messages in the lyrics that either assisted slaves in finding their path to freedom or served as a warning. To summarize: The expression “follow the Drinkin’ Gourd” actually refers to the North Star, “Wade in the Water” is an instruction to hide, and the phrase “I am bound for Canaan” could be used by a slave to announce his or her intention to flee and seek refuge in Canada, which would serve as their Canaan in the new world.

Tubman would subsequently vary the speed of the song in order to shift the meaning of the message.

According to a related notion, specific patterns in quilts were created in order to symbolize secret instructions, however this theory has also been called into doubt.

In spite of this, songs formed an important part of the culture of those in bondage, whether employed as prayers (known as’spirituals’), to provide a rhythm to their work, or as oral history in a society where many people were illiterate.

Harriet Tubman and the American Civil War

Although the Underground Railroad came to a close with the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, it did not mark the end of Tubman’s heroic efforts on the Underground Railroad. She worked in the Union Army as a cook, laundress, and nurse, caring for wounded troops and escaped slaves, who were referred to as ‘contrabands,’ without regard for her own well-being. Tubman led a troop of scouts into Confederate territory after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, laying the groundwork for the abolition of slavery.

Because of the intelligence she acquired, Colonel James Montgomery was able to launch a deadly attack on enemy fortifications, making her the first woman to command an armed assault in the United States history.

More than 750 slaves were liberated during the uprising.

What were Harriet Tubman’s actions during the American Civil War?

Sophie Beale, a journalist, investigates. The first bullets of the American Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861, in the state of Virginia. Tubman had a large number of abolitionist admirers by this time, and Massachusetts governor John Andrew funded her to travel to Port Royal, South Carolina, which had recently been liberated from the Confederates by Union forces. Her first assignment after the onset of war was as a volunteer with Union troops stationed near Fort Munroe in Virginia. Harriet worked wherever she was needed: nursing those suffering from disease, which was common in the hot climate; coordinating the distribution of charitable aid to the thousands of ex-slaves who lived behind union lines; and supervising the construction of a laundry house, where she taught women how to earn money by washing clothes for others.

Hunter delegated power to Tubman to assemble a group of scouts who would enter and survey the interior of the country.

This persuaded Union leaders of the value of guerrilla operations, which led to the infamous Combahee River Raid, in which Tubman served as scout and adviser to Colonel Montgomery, commander of the second South Carolina volunteers, one of the new black infantry regiments, during the American Civil War.

1. In order to avoid rebel underwater explosives, Tubman escorted them to certain locations along the beach.
2. Others seized thousands of dollars’ worth of crops and animals, destroying whatever that was left behind as they did so.
3. As soon as everyone had boarded the steamers, they began their journey back up the river, transporting the 756 freshly freed slaves to Port Royal.
4. Using the exact people the Confederates wished to keep subdued and enslaved, this well-coordinated invasion had dealt a devastating blow to the Confederates’ cause.
5. She received such low salary that she was forced to sustain herself by selling handmade pies, ginger bread, and root beer, and she received no remuneration at all for more than three decades.
6. A renowned icon of the anti-slavery movement today, she was the subject of two biographies (written in 1869 and 1866) with the revenues going entirely to assist her pay her debts to the institution of slavery.
7. As a result of her lectures in favour of women’s suffrage, she was invited to be the keynote speaker at the first conference of the National Association of Colored Women, which took place in 1896.
8. (When she was a conductor, she had returned to save John Tubman, but he had remarried by the time she returned.) Tubman and Davis became the parents of a newborn girl named Gertie, whom they adopted as a couple.

She died of pneumonia on March 10, 1913, in the presence of her family and close friends. Her dying words, spoken as a fervent Christian till the end, were, “I am going to prepare a place for you.”

• When it comes to slavery, Lincoln said, “If I could save the union without liberating a single slave, I would.”

If her deeds and accomplishments aren’t enough of a testament, these final remarks eloquently depict a lady who has dedicated her life to others while seeking no recognition or glory for herself. A lady who rose to prominence in the United States while remaining anonymous. A lady who was able to escape the misery of being a slave and went on to assist others in doing the same has been honored. “Most of what I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been done and suffered in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the way,” Frederick Douglass, Tubman’s friend and revered abolitionist, wrote to Tubman about her time as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

“I have worked throughout the day; you have worked during the night.”

Jonny Wilkes is a freelance writer specialising in history

This article was first published in History Revealed in January 2017 and has since been updated.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most well-known of all the Underground Railroad’s “conductors.” During a ten-year span she made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her journeys she “never lost a single passenger.” Tubman was born a slave in Maryland’s Dorchester County around 1820. At age five or six, she began to work as a house servant. Seven years later she was sent to work in the fields.

• Always ready to stand up for someone else, Tubman blocked a doorway to protect another field hand from an angry overseer.
• It fell short, striking Tubman on the head.
• (She was born Araminta Ross; she later changed her first name to Harriet, after her mother.) In 1849, in fear that she, along with the other slaves on the plantation, was to be sold, Tubman resolved to run away.
• With some assistance from a friendly white woman, Tubman was on her way.
• The following year she returned to Maryland and escorted her sister and her sister’s two children to freedom.
• On her third return, she went after her husband, only to find he had taken another wife.

She devised clever techniques that helped make her “forays” successful, including using the master’s horse and buggy for the first leg of the journey; leaving on a Saturday night, since runaway notices couldn’t be placed in newspapers until Monday morning; turning about and heading south if she encountered possible slave hunters; and carrying a drug to use on a baby if its crying might put the fugitives in danger.

Tubman even carried a gun which she used to threaten the fugitives if they became too tired or decided to turn back, telling them, “You’ll be free or die.”By 1856, Tubman’s capture would have brought a $40,000 reward from the South.

She promptly pulled out a book and feigned reading it.

Of the famed heroine, who became known as “Moses,” Frederick Douglass said, “Excepting John Brown – of sacred memory – I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than.” And John Brown, who conferred with “General Tubman” about his plans to raid Harpers Ferry, once said that she was “one of the bravest persons on this continent.”Becoming friends with the leading abolitionists of the day, Tubman took part in antislavery meetings.

On the way to such a meeting in Boston in 1860, in an incident in Troy, New York, she helped a fugitive slave who had been captured.During the Civil War Harriet Tubman worked for the Union as a cook, a nurse, and even a spy.

After the war she settled in Auburn, New York, where she would spend the rest of her long life. She died in 1913.Image Credit: Moorland-Spingarn Research Center