Harriet Tubman is known as an abolitionist that helped Black slaves escape to freedom — but now, she’s getting recognition for her military service.
Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland National Guard on Monday posthumously honored Tubman as a one-star Brigadier general for her service during the Civil War. The ceremony took place at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Dorchester County, Maryland — the same county the civil rights hero was born into slavery during 1822.
“Today, we honor that legacy with an honor that puts on paper what we’ve always known in our hearts — that our leader in acts deserved a star on her shoulder the whole time,” said Moore, who made history as Maryland’s first Black governor last year.
Tubman’s life centered around fighting injustice and helping Black people gain their independence. After escaping from slavery herself in 1849, Tubman returned to Maryland’s Eastern Shore 13 times from 1850 to 1860 helping her enslaved friends and family escape via the Underground Railroad. Then in 1862, Tubman went to Port Royal, South Carolina, to help generals in the Union Army recruit Black troops for the war. She also served as a spy and a nurse who treated wounded soldiers.
Yet, one of Tubman’s most unforgettable military efforts took place on June 1, 1863, after she planned and led a military raid near the Combahee River, which resulted in the burning of several plantations and the freeing of more than 750 slaves. After the war, Tubman’s work didn’t stop there. She continued to fight for Black people and women, later becoming a confounding member of the National Association of Colored Women, a group formed in 1896 that promoted equality — including voting rights — for those two groups. She died from pneumonia on March 10, 1913, at the age of 91.
Several efforts have been taken by government officials to help keep the memory of Tubman’s legacy alive, including a 25-foot tall monument of Tubman replacing one depicting Christopher Columbus in Newark, New Jersey, last March. And in 2022, Agassiz Elementary School in Chicago was renamed Harriet Tubman Elementary School.
As gatherers reflected on Tubman’s monumental work at this week’s ceremony, her great-great-great-grandniece Ernestine “Tina” Martin Wyatt accepted the award on her behalf, saying she was experiencing intense feelings that were “overwhelming.”
“I’m tearing up because, I mean, she [Tubman] did so many great things,” she told reporters at the event.
