FEBRUARY 18, 2013
HISTORY OF THE 99%, CHAPTER 21:
General Harriet Tubman (Part 2)
Harriet Tubman believed that abolitionist John Brown was
the nation’s greatest white opponent of slavery. He was
executed in 1859 after trying unsuccessfully to launch a
guerilla war to liberate slaves. Harriet had planned to join
his campaign, but it was over before she had time to
arrive. It was Brown who named her “General Tubman,”
believing that she could lead an army with as much skill
as any military man in history.
Harriet Tubman is renowned for liberating
hundreds of slaves via the Underground
Railroad, but she struck other powerful
blows against slavery with her civil
resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act and
her daring Civil War military raids.
When the Civil War broke out, Harriet volunteered her services to the Union Army. In 1862 they
sent her to Port Royal, South Carolina, where they had established a beachhead and were
engaging in guerilla-style warfare. She did nursing and other support work and recruited local
blacks into an intelligence service that she organized for the General Staff.
Harriet masterminded a raid along the Combahee River, inland from Port Royal, which had
been mined with torpedoes by Southern forces. She requested the assistance of Colonel James
Montgomery, who was versed in guerilla operations. On June 2, 1863, with 300 black troops on
three gunboats, they moved up the river, disabling mines along the way. The result of their raid
was described in the Boston Commonwealth newspaper under the headline “Harriet Tubman”:
“Col. Montgomery and his gallant band of 300 black soldiers, under the guidance of a black
woman, dashed into the enemy’s country, struck a bold and effective blow, destroying millions
of dollars worth of commissary stores, cotton and lordly dwellings, and striking terror to the heart
of rebeldom, brought off near 800 slaves and thousands of dollars worth of property, without
losing a man or receiving a scratch. It was a glorious consummation.”
After this showing of her prowess, Harriet was treated with great
deference by white army officers, who habitually doffed their caps
whenever she passed.
At war’s end (1865) Harriet boarded a train for home on a pass
issued by the Army. A conductor who refused to believe that a
black woman was entitled to a soldier’s pass ordered her off the
train. She refused and was only ejected after the conductor called
three men to help him. Harriet had to ride in the baggage
compartment. This incident is symbolic of the barriers that still
hindered black people, despite the end of slavery.
Harriet spent the remainder of her life helping former slaves. She
was due a government pension on account of her war service, but
did not receive it until she was 80 years old. She spoke for women’s
voting rights on platforms alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony. She died in 1913 at age 93, but lives on in the
hearts of Americans who battle against unjust laws that limit
democracy and unduly benefit the 1%. ■
Harriet Tubman is responsible
for the only military campaign
in U.S. history that was
proposed, organized, and
commanded by a woman.