Harriet Tubman

My hero has done something that only some people may be able to do. She has helped free more than 300 slaves from the Underground Railroad and from the North. She has made a difference in the American life. My hero is Harriet Tubman. Without her we might still have some slavery.

Harriet Ross was born to slavery around 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland. Both Harriet’s parents were slaves. After Edward Brodess took Harriet and her family ten miles away from their plantation Harriet worked as a field hand. When Harriet was a young teen as a field hand she was nearly killed by a blow to her head by an iron weight. The severe injury left Harriet suffering from headaches, seizures, and she had to take sleeping pills.

Around 1844 Harriet married John Tubman a free African-American. In Fall of 1849 Tubman made her escape from slavery. She used the North Star and white and black people to help her find her way to Philadelphia and the Underground Railroad. In Philadelphia Tubman was trying to earn money to help free the rest of her family from slavery. During 1850-1860 Harriet conducted 11-13 escape missions from the Underground Railroad.

She freed about 70 individuals from the underground railroad. On some of her escape missions in about 1870 she had a long rifle in her hand and she told her escapees if any of them considered surrendering or returning to the underground railroad the consequence would be death. Besides freeing slaves Harriet Tubman has been a Civil War nurse, cook, laundress, scout, and spy behind confederate lines. After Harriet moved to Beaufort, South Carolina Harriet undertook more scouting and spying missions to identify potential targets for the Army. For example: cotton stores and ammunition storage areas. From the commendable work that Harriet did she got a nickname: “Moses”. In her last years Harriet helped poor people.

On March 10th, 1913 Harriet died at the age of 93. She will always be remembered because of the bravery in freeing slaves from the Underground Railroad. She will also be remembered by the Civil War Veterans for being a nurse, cook, laundress, scout, and spy.