When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Harriet focused her efforts on supporting the Union Army. Harriet and John both believed that extreme acts were necessary to end slavery in the United States. He called her “General Tubman” and consulted with her before conducting his raid on Harper’s Ferry. Militant abolitionist John Brown admired her greatly. At the height of her fame, governments in the South offered rewards totaling $40,000 for her capture. Her fame spread throughout the country, and she began to speak at abolitionist events. She is estimated to have saved about 70 to 80 people, including her elderly parents. She used a tonic to put babies into a deep sleep, so their cries would not draw attention during nighttime travels. She carried a gun and threatened to kill any person who wanted to turn back and endanger the group. Harriet was militant in her approach to guiding people on the Underground Railroad. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it impossible for escaped slaves to live safely in Northern states, Harriet changed her route and brought people all the way to Canada. This was the first of 19 trips Harriet made to guide her family, friends, and anyone else who wanted to use the Underground Railroad to take their own freedom. She traveled back to Maryland and helped Kessiah and her family escape to Philadelphia. In 1850, Harriet learned that her niece Kessiah was going to be sold. When she reached Philadelphia, in the free state of Pennsylvania, she found a job and started a new life. She was aided by abolitionists who belonged to the Underground Railroad network. Her brothers set off with her but grew frightened and returned to the plantation. John did not join her and eventually remarried. She decided to take her own freedom rather than submit. In 1849, she learned that her enslaver was planning to sell her. Around the time of her marriage, she took the name Harriet, probably in honor of her mother. The marriage did not change her legal status and she remained enslaved. Because of this attack, Araminta suffered from seizures, severe headaches, and narcolepsy for the rest of her life.Īraminta married John Tubman, a local free Black man, in 1844. When she was a teenager, an overseer in town hit her in the head with a two-pound weight. Araminta suffered violence at the hands of her enslavers and other white people in her community.
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