Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad

These final chapters provide more historical insight into the tense years before and during the American civil war. Petry reveals the common perceptions of northerners and southerners in the late 1850s, especially regarding slavery, and how this tension made abolitionists’ work even more challenging. Petry claims that most pro-slavery southerners were convinced that people in the northern states wanted Brown’s plans for violent insurrection to be successful and were terrified that “a tremendous uprising of the slaves might still occur” (213). They were also furious that northerners’ sympathy for enslaved people had turned the Fugitive Slave Act into an ineffective “joke” (214). Petry explains that this tension and paranoia made Tubman’s trips south even more dangerous than before, which her friend Garrett made clear in one letter to Still. Garrett explains that with so many enslaved people escaping from his region, there is “much more risk on the road […] as we find that some poor, worthless wretches are constantly on the lookout on two roads” (219). While Still did record Tubman’s last journey to Maryland, he now hid his papers and record book since he was more fearful of them being stolen by a “pro-slavery mob” (220).

Petry’s historical explanations also help the reader understand why the southern states attempted to secede and why Tubman felt strongly enough about the war to volunteer for military service. Petry’s description of life at the Union forces’ camp helps the reader envision the different people who would have stayed there together, from colonels and generals and soldiers to “contraband” runaway slaves and nurses such as Tubman. The author’s account of Tubman’s role in the war effort shows the reader that by accepting the position of scout, spy, and nurse, she could further her purpose of helping fleeing slaves on a much larger scale than before. Always orienting Tubman’s personal experiences into the larger historical picture, Petry explains that she served under Colonel James Montgomery and saw her friend Higginson lead the Union’s first regiment of Black soldiers. Petry notes Tubman was “overcome by emotion” when she witnessed “one thousand ex-slaves marching in unison” (223) for the first time.

Petry also quotes primary sources to capture Tubman’s own description of her experiences in the forces. Tubman gave a particularly colorful description of the frenzied chaos she encountered as she rescued hundreds of slaves on the Combahee River, saying,

Here you’d see a woman with a pail on her head, rice a-smoking in it just as she’d taken it from the fire, young one hanging on behind, one hand on her forehead to hang on, other hand digging into the ricepot, eating with all its might, hold of her dress two or three more; down her back a bag with a pig in it (225).

The author relies on more primary sources from the 1860s to add some insight into Tubman’s later years. She quotes letters by authority figures in the military to demonstrate how much they valued Tubman’s contributions to the war effort. Petry quotes a letter by Colonel Montgomery describing Tubman as a “remarkable woman and invaluable as a scout” (229). Similarly, a man named General David Hunter also described Tubman as a “valuable woman,” and a letter by surgeon Henry K. Durrant echoed this, saying, “I take much pleasure in testifying to the esteem in which she is generally held” (230). Petry also explains that much of Tubman’s life experiences are only well understood because of the work of her friend, Sarah Hopkins Bradford, who recorded her stories in two biographies. These were popular at the time and later served as useful primary sources for historians. Petry’s inclusion of these historical facts helps support her portrayal of Tubman as a respected abolitionist and activist and adds to the reader’s understanding of this tumultuous time in her life and American history.