Fighting Along Side Men
During the war, women were usually cooked and nursed but Harriet Tubman worked side-by-side with men. Tubman decided to help the Army because she wanted freedom for all the people who were forced into slavery. She convinced many other brave African Americans to join her as spies, even at the risk of being hanged. On the morning of June 1, 1863, three gunboats carrying several hundred male soldiers along with Harriet Tubman set out on their mission. Tubman gathered key information from her scouts about the Confederate positions. She knew where they were hiding along the shore. She also found out where they had placed torpedoes, or barrels filled with gunpowder, in the water. Early one morning, the Union set fire to buildings and destroyed bridges, so the Confederate Army couldn’t use them. They also freed about 750 slaves who were men, women, children, and babies and did not lose one soldier in the attack.
Helping Soldiers as a Nurse
Harriet Tubman also did time as a nurse. Before she was a spy and a scout, she served as a nurse in Port Royal, preparing remedies from local plants and aiding soldiers suffering from dysentery. She rendered assistance to men with smallpox; that she did not contract herself started, which started more rumors that God blessed her. At first, she received government rations for her work, but some blacks thought she was getting special treatment. To ease the tension, she gave up her right to these supplies and made money selling pies and root beer, which she made in the evenings.
The Emancipation Proclamation
When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, Tubman considered it an important step toward the goal of liberating all black citizens from slavery. She renewed her support for the defeat of the Confederacy, and before long she was leading a band of scouts through the land around Port Royal. The marshes and rivers in South Carolina were similar to those of the Eastern Shore of Maryland; thus her knowledge of travel and subterfuge among potential enemies were put to good use. Her group, working under the orders of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, mapped the unfamiliar terrain and reconnoitered its inhabitants. She later worked alongside Colonel James Montgomery, and provided him with intelligence that aided the capture of Jacksonville, Florida.