Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad

In 1857, Harriet has nightmares about her parents being sold to slave traders. She has always longed to bring her parents north. However, she has never traveled with elderly people before and is concerned that they could not complete the journey. While she isn’t sure how she will manage to help Ben and Old Rit escape, Harriet has faith that God will help her, and she travels south to Maryland. Harriet takes the train directly to Bucktown on this journey, hoping that no one will be suspicious since she is “going in the wrong direction for a runaway slave” (184). When she arrives, Harriet pretends to be an elderly woman and hides her face with a low bonnet to avoid being recognized by locals.

Harriet stops at a cabin that belongs to a free Black family. She purchases two live chickens from them, which she hopes will make her look like a local traveling to the market. She travels down the same road where she had been assaulted by the overseer years before, and she remembers the incident and the injury it caused. Harriet is frightened when she hears a horse coming up the road but decides not to run into the woods since she does not want to tear her clothes, which would make her appear to be a runaway. The man on the horse is Dr. Thompson, the plantation owner Harriet ran away from years ago. Harriet purposely loses her chickens to distract Thompson, who laughs at her while she chases them and does not recognize her.

At night, Harriet arrives at her parents’ cabin. Her mother is happy to see her and tells Harriet that Ben is being questioned at the Big House since the plantation owners suspect he has been helping runaway slaves. Ben returns to the cabin, excited to see Harriet. He shares that he tried to help a slave named Peter escape, but Peter lost his nerve and returned to his plantation, where his wife informed the owner Barrett that Ben had helped him. Dr. Thompson refutes Barrett’s accusations that Ben is helping runaway slaves since Thompson feels Ben has a reputation for honesty. Harriet knows that her parents are not fit enough to reach Garrett’s home in Wilmington on foot and that they will have to be transported some other way. She takes a horse from Thompson’s pasture, finds a wagon, and reins in the stable. An enslaved man surprises her there, but Harriet puts a finger to her lips and hopes he does not tell anyone what she is doing. Harriet’s parents pack their food and best possessions—a broadax and a feather blanket—and board the wagon.

For the next three days, Harriet drives the wagon through the night, and the family hides in the woods during the day. They arrive at Garrett’s home in Wilmington, where he provides Harriet with enough money to get to Canada. While their trip is successful, Harriet’s elderly parents struggle with the cold conditions. Even though the Fugitive Slave Act is still in effect, Harriet decides to relocate her parents to Auburn, New York, where she feels they will be happier. In 1857, Harriet uses her savings to make a down payment on a small home for her parents in Auburn. She returns to Maryland that year to help more slaves escape but gives them directions rather than traveling with them.

Harriet begins having recurring nightmares that confuse her. In these dreams, three men look at her but cannot speak to her and are then bludgeoned to death by a crowd. One day, as she is gathering firewood at her home in St. Catharine’s, Harriet is shocked to see a man watching her whom she recognizes from her dream. The man, John Brown, approaches Harriet and asks her for information about the Underground Railroad, saying that he wants to know the route because he plans to live in Virginia, where he will free slaves and then arm them to revolt. Brown also asks for Harriet’s help in recruiting men in Canada who would want to join Brown in this effort. Harriet is ambivalent about supporting Brown’s plan since she believes in “a God of infinite mercy, of gentleness” (198) rather than violence and revenge. However, Harriet later complies, and Brown writes to his son to express his excitement at meeting Harriet and receiving her help. Harriet suggests that the Fourth of July would be an ideal date for Brown’s plans; however, she does not hear from him again.

In the historical note, Petry writes that in the 1850s, the Supreme Court decision about the Dred Scott Case confirmed that Scott, an enslaved Black man, was property rather than a person or citizen. This decision also clarified that the Federal government could not limit slavery to certain states. Meanwhile, an anti-slavery publication happily reported that the Underground Railroad network in Maryland was “extensive” (199). Harriet had become famous within anti-slavery society. She remained a wanted woman, and the reward for her capture was $60,000 by 1860.