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Harriet Tubman
![]() You probably have heard
of Harriet Tubman for leading 300 slaves on the underground railroad
and not letting one of them get caught, but I bet you haven't heard
this side of her story. Harriet Tubman did more than you think, she was
a spy, nurse, and scout for the union.
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Borchester, MD. Her name was Araminta when she was born, but she changed her name to Harriet later. From the name Araminta, people started calling her Minty. She married John Tubman, a free black man, in around 1845. When her master died everyone thought that she was going to be sold, so she told her husband about her idea to escape to the north. Not only was he opposed to the idea, but he said that as soon as she ran away, he would tell on her. Later on she divorced him for this decision and married Nelson Davis. She disregarded her husband's words and she tried to escape to the north in secret with her three brothers, but they became scared and had to return. Later she went by herself , two days later she was a free woman in Philadelphia. She was not safe in Philadelphia though, because of the new Fugitive Slave Act. She wasn't frightened because of this, it inspired her to go back to Maryland and help more slaves escape. This was the time when she lead 300 slaves to freedom. Here's the part of the story that you might not know, in 1862 the governor of Massachusetts requested her to be a nurse in the Civil War and a teacher to slaves who have recently escaped from the south. This turned her into a scout, spy, and nurse. Since she was a nurse she was often out on the battlefield, so she used to be sent past rebel lines to find information about the confederacy's plans. She lived a long life, died at age 92 a remarkable, remembered women.
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