WASHINGTON –
On April 18, the Treasury
Department announced that Harriet Tubman will be honored with the placement of
her picture on the new $20 bill. A
slave, cook, maid, field hand, and nurse, Tubman was also a leader of the
Underground Railroad for nearly a decade and – over the course of her life –
helped hundreds of slaves make their way to freedom, earning the title “the
Moses of her people.” Beyond these endeavors, DIA would like to recognize
Harriet Tubman’s excellence in defense of the nation through her efforts as a
spy, recruiter, handler, scout, operational planner, and combat leader during
the American Civil War. Tubman, who died in 1913, at the age of 92, received full
military honors and was acknowledged by the Smithsonian Institution in 1982 as “the
only American woman to plan and lead a military raid.”
Harriet
Tubman began her clandestine work in 1849 after fleeing Maryland in the
abolitionist led Underground Railroad to avoid being sold. Rather than seeking
a normal life in the North, Tubman instead advanced to the position of
conductor in the Underground Railroad, returning to Maryland more than a dozen
times to rescue family and other slaves. Using disguises, codes, and secret
routes, she escorted nearly 100 slaves to their freedom. A activist in the
Boston-based Freedman’s Aid Society recalled of Tubman, “[S]he has needed
disguises so often that she seems to have command over her face, and can banish
all expression from her features, and look so stupid that nobody would suspect
her of knowing enough to be dangerous; but her eyes flash with intelligence and
power when she is roused.” Her exploits eventually resulted in rewards in the
South for her capture amounting to $40,000. During this time working with the
Underground Railroad, she developed the skills that would benefit her greatly
as an operative during the war. She also developed relationships with key abolitionist
benefactors.
Several months after the Civil War
began in 1861, Governor Andrew of Massachusetts – a passionate abolitionist –
recruited Tubman to join with Union forces occupying Beaufort, SC,
to provide support as a spy and scout. Upon her arrival, she was provided a military
pass, access to Secret Service funds, established relationships with local
slaves for the collection of information, and rapidly recruited a team of
scouts who knew the region intimately. She was tasked in 1862 - 1863 with
mapping the region and identifying Confederate outposts and vulnerabilities,
which bore fruit when a black unit of Union soldiers – using intelligence
provided by Tubman – conducted successful raids throughout the region.
Tubman’s most renowned clandestine
activity came in mid-1863 with her direct support to the Combahee Raid. Union
General Dave Hunter asked if Tubman was willing to travel with several gunboats
up the Combahee River to disrupt Confederate logistics and identify the
locations of mines placed in the river. She gave an ultimatum that she would
only participate if Colonel Montgomery – a confidant and associate of Tubman’s
– would lead the expedition, which Hunter approved. Tubman and Montgomery would
effectively act as co-commanders, and Tubman had authority to act independently
to collect intelligence. Using honed clandestine tradecraft, she identified
slaves who placed the mines, and offered them freedom if they would identify where
the mines were located; this complete, the gunboats steamed up the river on
June 2 1863. Undetected, the Union forces destroyed a Confederate depot, burned
the homes and holdings of Confederate sympathizers, seized crops, and liberated
nearly 800 slaves from local plantations. Many of the freed slaves, recruited
by Tubman, joined Union 2nd South Carolina Colored Infantry. A
Confederate report after the raid highlighted “[T]he enemy seems to have been
well posted as to the character and capacity of our troops and their small
chance of encountering opposition, and to have been well guided by persons
thoroughly acquainted with the river and country.” Colonel Montgomery, in a
letter to General Quincy Gilmore on July 6 noted, “I wish to commend your
attention Mrs. Harriet Tubman, a most remarkable women, and invaluable as a
scout.” Tubman actively supported military efforts for another year until
becoming ill while on leave to visit her family.
Following
the war, Tubman was not provided back pay for her support of the military; in
1890 Congress finally allotted her a small pension, but as the widow of a
soldier, her second husband. Nevertheless, Tubman never stopped fighting for
her beliefs. A staunch advocate for women’s suffrage, she worked with Susan B.
Anthony and spoke frequently at suffrage events. She saved money for years to
purchase land to support the construction of a home for the indigent – the
Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged, opened in 1908. At the end of her life she
was penniless and committed to the home she helped found.
Today, DIA
commends Harriet Tubman for her work supporting the United States. She
routinely risked her life for the cause of freedom. As a successful
intelligence operative during the Civil War, she will be remembered for her
outstanding service to this country.
“Of all the whole
creation in the east or in the west, the glorious Yankee nation is the greatest
and the best.” - Harriet Tubman
Sources:
A Civil War Treasury
of Tales, Legends, and Folklore.
Edited by B. A. Botkin. New York,
NY: Promontory Press. 1960. Pgs. 149-151
Garrison, Webb. Curiosities of the Civil War: Strange
Stories, Infamous Characters, and Bizarre Events. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 2011. Pg. 504
Markle, Donald E. Spies
and Spymasters of the Civil War. New
York: Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2004. Pgs.
58-59
Winkler, Donald H.
Stealing Secrets: How a Few Daring
Women Deceived Generals, Impacted Battles, and Altered the Course of the Civil
War. Naperville, IL: Cumberland
House. 2010. Pgs. 143-158