Harriet Tubman
Underground Railroad Conductor & Union Scout
c. 1822–1913 · United States
Escaped slavery, repeatedly returned to guide others to freedom, and served the Union cause during the Civil War.
The Full Profile
Harriet Tubman, Underground Railroad Conductor & Union Scout, escaped slavery, repeatedly returned to guide others to freedom, and served the Union cause during the Civil War. Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in Maryland and then made repeated journeys back to help family and others reach freedom. During the Civil War she worked as a nurse, scout, and intelligence operative and helped guide the Combahee River Raid. After the war she remained active in humanitarian work and women's suffrage. She returned south roughly thirteen times, freeing about seventy people and never losing a passenger; in 1863 she helped lead the Combahee River Raid, which freed more than 700 enslaved people in a single night.