On June 2, 1863, Harriet Tubman, along with Black soldiers, took part in a daring Union raid of Combahee Ferry near Beaufort, South Carolina.
She became the first American woman to lead a major military operation when she and at least 150 Black soldiers helped to rescue more than 700 Black Americans who had been enslaved on nearby plantations. Many of the men became soldiers for the Union Army.
The Wisconsin State Journal described her as “She-Moses,” whose raid struck “terror to the heart of the rebeldom … without losing a man or receiving a scratch.” She worked on similar missions with the famed Massachusetts 54th Infantry, portrayed in the award-winning movie, “Glory.”
In all, she made 19 trips back to the South to ensure that hundreds of others that were enslaved made their way to freedom and was quoted as telling them, “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
She was never caught, despite a $40,000 reward ($1.5 million in today’s dollars) for her capture. The movie, “Harriet,” depicts the Combahee Ferry raid. Statues of Tubman can now be seen across the nation, honoring this heroic woman.
“The success of the raid, which had also included the brave service of African-American soldiers, increased Tubman’s fame, and she went on to work on similar missions with the famed Massachusetts 54th Infantry before spending the final years of the war tending to injured soldiers. One hundred years after Tubman’s successes in South Carolina, a recently formed black feminist group took the name Combahee River Collective in her honor, also paying honor to Tubman’s work later in her life as a powerful advocate for women’s suffrage.”
— from History.com
Learn more:
Picturing Freedom: Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid
–mississippitoday.org
