WASHINGTON — Harriet Tubman etched her place in history while traversing long distances and guiding runaway slaves to freedom.
But historians also credit the Maryland native as being the first female to lead a combat regiment when she spearheaded a Union Army raid during the Civil War.
To honor Tubman’s contributions to the U.S. military and her lifetime achievements, the Army Surgeon General and Army Chaplain Corps hosted a ceremony in Washington Wednesday to pay tribute to the woman who freed at least 70 slaves while making about 13 trips back to Maryland 170 years ago.
“When Harriet Tubman was making her mark on our world, people likely didn’t really see her,” said Maj. Gen. Deb Kotulich, Army Recruiting and Retention Task Force director. “She was able to slip in and out spaces often unseen because those around her didn’t expect her to have to ability to do anything out of the ordinary.”
“But she was … helping our military, saving lives and ultimately impacting the course of the U.S. Army’s fight against the Confederacy.”
On June 2, 1863, Tubman led 150 African American Union Soldiers in the Combahee Ferry Raid, an operation that rescued more than 700 slaves according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Wednesday’s ceremony celebrated the operation’s 160th anniversary this past summer, and next month will mark 174 years since Tubman made her escape to freedom.
Tubman served as a nurse and Union spy, using her navigation skills that she developed during her time travelling on the Underground Railroad. Tubman, already familiar with the terrain and clandestine activities in the region, helped the Union with raid planning and went on reconnaissance missions.
Tubman’s abilities helped educate future generations of Soldiers on the importance of battlefield sustainment. The Military Intelligence Corps inducted Tubman into its Hall of Fame in June 2021.
“She knew the field, she knew the environment, and she knew what was happening in the world where she conducted her operations,” said Maj. Gen. Heidi Hoyle, acting deputy chief of staff, logistics.
In 1865, the Army’s 12th Surgeon General, Joseph Barnes, appointed Tubman as nurse matron at Fort Monroe’s Colored Hospital in Hampton, Virginia. Tubman also travelled to Florida to treat and cure Union Soldiers with cases of dysentery, an infection of the intestines. Tubman used natural herbs to cure the Soldiers of the ailment, which became one of the leading causes of death during the Civil War.
A skilled cook, Tubman voluntarily baked goods to give Union troops energy while also preparing meals for the injured and the hospital staff. According to the Fort Sam Houston Museum, a young Tubman learned to bring food into the field while helping her father, an enslaved forester.
“I have no doubt that she heard all her life with a small stature and being a woman and an African American, what she could not do,” Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Scott Dingle said. “But Harriet did not let that stop her … because she knew based on the rooting and the word of God, that she had a mission in this world.”
Tubman earned a distinction for her field prowess before the Civil War began. After a June 1858 meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario, abolitionist John Brown nicknamed her “General” Tubman, impressed by her bravery.
Tubman herself was born into bondage in Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Although she eventually escaped slavery on an arduous, 90-mile trek to Philadelphia, she returned to her home state again and again to liberate family members.
Although she stood only 5-foot-2 and suffered from headaches and narcolepsy, Tubman navigated her way through forests and rugged terrain to guide slaves to Northern states and Canada. While enslaved, an overseer threw a metal weight that landed on her head, causing her to suffer from hallucinations for the rest of her life.
During her night rescues of slaves, Tubman eluded men on horseback while traversing the countryside on foot.
“She was illiterate, so she couldn’t read the signs or which way to go,” Dingle said during a ceremony attended by Tubman’s great-great-great grandniece, Ernestine Wyatt. “But she had an invictus spirit.”
A devout Christian, Tubman turned to her faith to preserve through the most difficult times. Tubman managed to evade capture while leading slaves out of captivity said Col. Karen Meeker, MEDCOM command chaplain.
“Her faith was everything,” Meeker said. “It gave her the strength to overcome all the things that she faced in her life. It gave her a mission, a very high calling.”
Dingle said Tubman learned to overcome her small stature while cutting wood during her years in bondage.
“The physical labors prepared her to be the ‘Moses’ of the underground railroad – to lead in the harshest winter at times,” Dingle said.
In addition to her time at Fort Monroe, Tubman also served as a nurse in Washington D.C. and Beaufort, South Carolina. The Army lauded her Wednesday for her contributions to Army medicine, her missions as a Soldier and being a freedom fighter.
RELATED LINKS:
Social Sharing