27
Harriet Tubman: Abolitionist, Scout, Nurse and Spy
Harriet Tubman led hundreds of slaves to freedom. She set up and operated the Underground Railroad between the North and the South.
Harriet Ross Tubman was born a slave in eastern Maryland in 1821. Her grandparents on both sides were brought over from Africa as slaves. Her parents named her Araminta, but she was displeased with her name and adopted the name Harriet from her mother. In 1844, at the age of 23, she married a free Negro named John Tubman. Some accounts say that she was forced into the marriage as a slave and that John Tubman was also a slave. This point is unclear but moot since it is known that she was still a slave and did not want to be married to John.
In 1849 she made a break for freedom and escaped to Philadelphia, fleeing from slavery and from her husband. John Tubman later married someone else. Harriet was 28 years old, a runaway slave, uneducated, and alone in Philadelphia. She was determined to overcome these obstacles and work to help other slaves escape.
Between 1849 and 1861 when the Civil War began, Harriet had set up and was operating the Underground Railroad, which consisted of safe houses where runaway slaves could hide during the day and a safe route they could travel at night. Her network extended from the Deep South to Canada. Harriet was quite clever and had a knack for organization. She often took elaborate measures to confuse and elude pursuers along the way. With Harriet at the helm, the Underground Railroad never lost a passenger and she was never caught.
Harriet was a religious person with a strong belief in God. She was nicknamed “Moses” for leading her people to freedom. She made 19 trips from the South to Maryland and Delaware to personally lead slaves to freedom. She also was one of the first women to speak out on women’s rights.
Harriet Tubman. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Harriet’s leadership and deeds were becoming well known and admired by the abolitionist movement. She was consulted by John Brown, who admired her greatly. She advised him in planning the raid at Harper’s Ferry.
Her notoriety and dedication to her cause prompted Harriet to always carry a loaded pistol with her on her missions. The reasons for the weapon were to ensure her personal safety and to help rouse the timid slaves. They often became fearful and discouraged and wanted to turn back. When this happened she would point the gun at them and say, “Dead Niggers tell no tales, you go or you die.” Her stern statement would change their minds and give them assurance that they were in capable hands. She further explained to them that if anyone were allowed to turn back, he could be captured and made to tell all he knew about the route and the safe houses, and thus put the entire enterprise in jeopardy. Slaveholders distressed by Harriet’s activities placed a reward of $40,000 for her capture. The reward was never collected, as she was never caught.
When the Civil War began in 1861 Harriet had already had been operating her Underground Railroad for several years. The Union army, realizing that she had extensive knowledge about the geography and many routes in and out of Confederate territory, recruited her to help in their efforts in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. Her involvement included serving as a scout, a nurse, and sometimes as a spy, over a period of three years.
Under the command of Colonel James Montgomery of the 2nd Carolina Volunteers, Harriet led a corps of Negro troops on several missions into Confederate territory to gather information needed by the Union and to bring runaway slaves North to freedom. Harriet and her Negro troops could communicate with the slaves better than the white soldiers and therefore were more successful in gaining their confidence.
Early in the war, Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew asked Harriet to help as a nurse in some of the camp hospitals since she had an extensive knowledge of the healing properties of herbs and roots. She agreed and traveled from camp to camp, as her time allowed, using her knowledge to help the sick and wounded. While in the camps, she would bake goods and sell them to the soldiers. The extra money she earned she gave to the freed slaves who often sought refuge in the camps.
In March 1862, Major General David Hunter approached Harriet Tubman and asked her to become a Federal agent. General Hunter was the director of the Union’s Department of the South, which included South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. She accepted the task and served as a spy and scout until the spring of 1863. Harriet also recruited a group of former slaves to hunt for Confederate camps and report their position, their strength, and any troop movements to the Union commanders.
Harriet’s most famous raid behind Confederate lines was on June 1, 1863. Major General Hunter asked her to go with several gunboats up the Combahee River to take up the torpedoes placed in the river by Confederate troops to destroy railroads and bridges and cut off supplies to the Confederate soldiers in the area.
She agreed to go on the mission on the condition that Colonel James Montgomery was appointed commander of the mission. Colonel Montgomery was one of John Brown’s men and was well known to Harriet. The General agreed and Harriet set sail with Colonel Montgomery and 150 black Union soldiers aboard one of the gunboats.
Her scouts surveyed the area ahead of the raiding party; they asked slaves where the explosives were placed in the river. With this information the Union gunboats safely navigated the river, picking off smaller boats of Confederate soldiers as they proceeded up the river. The Confederates were caught by surprise as Union soldiers followed the gunboats on both sides of the river. Realizing they were outnumbered, the Confederate troops fled.
Most plantation owners also fled, and their slaves rushed to the riverbanks hoping to get on the gunboat which had come to set them free. Many slave owners, seeing their slaves run to the river, tried to drive them back to their homes with whips but to no avail. There were over 800 slaves crowding the banks of the river.
When the boats were lowered and taken to shore to transport the slaves to the gunboats, all the slaves tried to get into the boats at once. When the boats were loaded the slaves clung on to them so the boats could not leave. The sailors struggled to get them to let go but they held tight. To solve the problem, Colonel Montgomery shouted to Harriet over the noise of the crowd, “Moses, you will have to give them a song!” Harriet agreed and began singing as loud as she could:
Of all the whole creation in the East or in the West,
the glorious Yankee nation is the greatest and the best.
Come along! Come Along! Don’t be alarmed
Uncle Sam is rich enough to give you all a farm.
At the end of each verse the crowd of slaves threw their hands up and sang “Glory!” The sailors took this opportunity to push off. Eventually all 800 slaves were taken aboard the gunboats.
As the Confederate soldiers and plantation owners fled, the Union soldiers burned their houses, barns, and railroad bridges. The railroad tracks were also torn up and the torpedoes in the river were all destroyed. The mission was a great success.
After the war Harriet Tubman made her home in Auburn, New York, where she spent the rest of her life. She continued her efforts to help freed slaves begin new lives and she continued her work for women’s rights. She also lectured on her life as a slave and her experiences running the Underground Railroad, which she had operated for eight years.
She died in 1913 at the age of 92. She was given a military funeral with honors.
28
Pauline Cushman: Union Scout and Spy
It was said that few had suffered more or rendered more service to the Union effort than Pauline Cushman, who served as a scout, courier, and spy during the Civil War. President Lincoln called her “the little major.”
Pauline Cushman was born Harriet Wood in 1833 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she spent most of her young years. When Harriet was a young teenager, her family moved to rural Michigan where she was able to acquire many outdoor skills, which would help her in her future service to the Union. She became well rounded in the outdoor activities normally pursued by boys of her age, s
uch as riding, hunting, shooting, and foraging.
Her adventurous spirit prompted her to begin an acting career in her late teens. She adapted well to acting and was considered a clever actress. During this time she used the stage name of Pauline Cushman. At the age of 20 she fell in love with a man from New Orleans. His name was Charles Dickson. Their wedding was held in 1853 in a New Orleans hotel.
Over the next few years she bore two children, both of whom died in infancy. Devastated by her losses she returned to her acting career. Pauline and her husband were living in Cleveland, Ohio, when the Civil War began. Charles joined the Union army, and in December 1862, he died from an illness while serving with his regiment.
Pauline had again been struck with tragedy. After the death of her husband she started thinking about working with the Union army and doing her part to help shorten the war. Her chance to serve came while she was touring with a theatrical company and performing at Wood’s Theater in Louisville, Kentucky. A group of Confederate sympathizers offered her $300 to propose a toast to Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy during one of her performances.
Pauline Cushman. Courtesy New York Historical Society.
Pauline contacted the local provost marshal with the news. She recognized the dare as an opportunity to work with the Union army to uncover the Confederate operation in the Louisville area. The provost marshal agreed after she explained that she would be perfect—not only was she born in the south, but she had a brother with the Confederate army in Mississippi.
Before Pauline began she was asked to take a loyalty oath to the Union. She gladly complied and the following night during her performance she proposed a toast to Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy. A riot broke out in the theater because Louisville, though under Union control, was a mixture of Union and Confederate sympathizers.
Pauline was immediately fired by the theater company and thus began her espionage career. She carried messages and other items between Louisville and Nashville for the Union while pretending to be a true Southerner. She was successful in uncovering many Confederate spies around Louisville and Nashville when they confided in her as an ally. Pauline gained their confidence when she explained that she was searching for her brother who was a Rebel soldier.
Her manner and acting ability made it easy for her to make the acquaintance of Confederate officers, thus giving her access to vital military information which she promptly forwarded to the Union authorities.
She worked for General William Rosencrans and spent many months with the Army of the Cumberland. She crossed rebel lines many times and soon became quite knowledgeable about all the country roads in Tennessee, northern Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
In May 1863, General Rosencrans was preparing a campaign to drive Confederate General Braxton Bragg across the Tennessee River. Pauline was sent into the Confederate lines to find out the strength and the location of the Army of Tennessee.
During the mission, Confederate Captain Blackman invited her to become his personal aide-de-camp. She very politely refused his offer. He then presented her with a Confederate uniform, which was tailor-made for her. She accepted the gift and went on her way.
On June 23, 1863, the Tullahoma Campaign began. Pauline was leaving Shelbyville, Tennessee, with the information she had gathered. Two Confederate soldiers captured her on the Hardin Pike just 11 miles from Nashville. She was placed on a horse between two mounted guards to be taken to Spring Hill, the headquarters of General Forrest. While on the way to Spring Hill she pretended to be sick and complained that she could not travel any further without falling off her horse. The guards stopped at a deserted roadside house where they found a wounded Confederate soldier hiding. He told them that a Union scouting party had passed by about one hour before and that the house should be safe for them.
Pauline determined by listening to the Confederate guards that they had important papers for General Bragg. She quickly thought of a plan to get these papers and escape her captors. She spotted an elderly Negro man walking nearby. She watched for an opportunity to talk to him. When it came she shoved $10 (Tennessee money) in his hands and told him to go up the road a short way, then, in a few minutes, come running back with news that 400 Federal troops were coming down the road.
The Negro man obeyed and soon returned telling them the story with great excitement. At first the two guards did not believe him and told him that he was lying. The old Negro man then got down on his knees and swore his story was true. The two guards became convinced and, forgetting about Pauline, quickly mounted their horses and fled into the woods. Pauline grabbed a pistol that belonged to the wounded soldier in the house, mounted her horse and raced toward Franklin, Tennessee.
When she reached the first picket line and was challenged, she mistakenly thought she had come upon a Confederate line. When asked who she was, she replied that she was a friend of Jefferson Davis. She was asked to advance and give the counter sign. She promptly presented the guard with a canteen of whiskey and was allowed to pass. Finally, one sentry refused the gift and she was turned back.
She was sad and tired and sought refuge in a farmhouse she had passed which had a light in the window. She requested shelter for the night and was given a room by the old farmer. He agreed to wake her up at the break of dawn so she could continue her journey.
At dawn a knock came at the door, but instead of the farmer, it was the two guards she had eluded the previous day. They took her to General Forrest’s headquarters. General Forrest sent her to General Bragg.
General Bragg questioned Pauline and could find nothing against her until a southern woman stole her gaiters and discovered that they were concealing important documents, including some drawings Pauline had stolen from a Confederate army engineer. This evidence and the fact that she carried a Confederate uniform in her bags proved that she was a spy. Captain Blackman, who provided her with the uniform, was also arrested as a spy.
During the trial Pauline was so ill from exposure, she could not rise from her bed. Her jailer, Captain Pedden, kept her advised as the trial proceeded. She was finally convicted and sentenced to death. The sentence was to be carried out at once.
The execution was postponed pending Pauline’s recovery. She convalesced for several weeks and when she felt strong enough she pleaded with General Bragg to have mercy. He told her that he would have mercy by waiting until she was well enough to be properly hanged.
While preparing for the execution, the Confederate camp was attacked by Union troops. The Confederate army quickly forgot about Pauline as they evacuated the camp. She was saved from the gallows as General Rosencrans launched his assault on Shelbyville, where she was being held prior to her execution. Once freed she was able to give the information she had gathered to General Rosencrans.
News of her rescue spread quickly and she was now well known to both sides. Her spying activities were over. Had she not been rescued she would have been the only female spy to be hung during the Civil War.
Although her spying activities had ended, Pauline continued to advise the Union army of the geographic terrain of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, which she knew so well. Her assistance was very useful, as maps were quite scarce at the time.
After her rescue, Secretary Stanton commissioned her a major in the U. S. Army and President Lincoln referred to her as “the little major.” She was well received throughout the north. After the war she returned to the stage as Major Pauline Cushman. She never spoke of her life as a spy while on the stage.
As her acting career faded she applied for a pension on the basis that she was the wife of a Union soldier who had died in service. She was awarded a pension of $8 a month.
In 1872 she married August Fitchner of San Francisco. Her pension from the government stopped when she remarried. Her second husband died in 1879, only seven years after their marriage.
Pauline later married Jerry Fryer. This marriage only lasted a few years, ending in separation. She then became a seamstress and housema
id. She also became addicted to morphine and died from an overdose in El Paso, Texas, in early December 1893, at the age of 60.
The Grand Army of the Republic gave her a military funeral on December 6, 1893, with flags, an honor guard, and a rifle salute—a fitting tribute for her loyal, courageous service to the Union. She was buried in the GAR plot of the local cemetery. Her headstone reads:
Pauline Cushman
Federal Spy and Scout
of the Cumberland
Pauline Cushman had a deep sense of loyalty for her country, which she displayed over and over again as she willingly laid her life on the line. Her service to the Union was invaluable. The statement that few had suffered more or given more for their country is a fitting description of her service.
29
Kady Brownell: Daughter of the Regiment and Nurse
Unlike most army wives who accompanied their husbands into the war as vivandieres, Daughters of the Regiment, cooks, and laundresses, Kady took up arms and participated in battle as well as nursing the wounded on the battlefield and carrying the regimental flag into battle. Her bravery and dedication while advancing onto one battlefield saved her regiment from being attacked by friendly forces.
Kady Brownell was born Kady Southwell in 1842. She was born in a military barracks in Africa, the daughter of a Scottish soldier and a French mother. Her mother died while Kady was a small child, and she was sent to the United States to live with family friends, the McKenzies, who lived near Providence, Rhode Island.
In March 1861, at the age of 19, she married a millwright named Robert S. Brownell from Providence. When the Civil War began one month later, her husband Robert joined the 1st Rhode Island Infantry Volunteers for three months. Robert was appointed as an orderly sergeant for his company. Because Robert’s company was the eleventh company formed and a regiment needed only ten companies, they were trained as sharpshooters for the regiment and became known as the “Mechanics Rifles.”
Women in the Civil War Page 15
