Abolitionist Harriett Tubman Named General In MD National Guard

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Civil War spy and Underground Railroad leader Harriett Tubman was posthumously named a brigadier general in the Maryland National Guard on Veterans Day 2024, Nov. 11.

Gov. Wes Moore on Monday visited the Eastern Shore to commemorate Veterans Day and to participate in ceremonies honoring veterans for their service, including the historic commission of Tubman as brigadier general of the Maryland National Guard.

“Harriet Tubman lived the values and virtues that I was taught when I served in the United States Army, and many of the people here today learned too: Live mission first, people always. Lead with honor, integrity, duty, and courage. Leave no one behind,” said Gov. Moore, according to a news release from his office. “And with each act of courage, Harriet Tubman helped bring us together as a nation and a people. She fought for a kind of unity that can only be earned through danger, risk, and sacrifice. And it is a unity we still benefit from to this day.”

Ernestine “Tina” Martin Wyatt, the great-great-great-grandniece of Harriet Tubman, represented Tubman’s family and received the commissioning proclamation on her behalf. A number of Harriet Tubman’s descendants took part in the commissioning ceremony, attended by military, community, and local leaders.

Tubman was born a slave, Araminta Ross, in March 1822 on the Thompson Farm near Cambridge in Dorchester County, Maryland; she died on March 10, 1913, in New York. She used the Underground Railroad to escape to freedom in the North in 1849, then used it to help others gain their freedom. She also actively spied against the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Tubman overcame abuse, war, chronic illness and extreme injustice to make her mark on American history as a suffragette, an abolitionist and a Civil War veteran.

The 125-mile Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway commemorates everyone — Tubman and other escaped enslaved people, the Black and white people who assisted them in their freedom flight and the secret network of roads, waterways, trails and hiding places where they sheltered.

The route travels through Dorchester County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore before heading into Delaware and finally ending in Philadelphia, where Tubman found freedom.

Related:

• Artifacts Found At Harriet Tubman Site Link To Africa, Enslaved People
• Finding Harriet Tubman's Early Home Part Of MD Underground Series

Tubman On U.S. Currency?

The move to replace President Andrew Jackson — a slaveholder who forced native Cherokees onto the deadly Trail of Tears — on the front of $20 bills with Tubman was announced by the Obama administration, but that was put on hold once Donald Trump took office in 2016. Tubman served as a Union scout during the Civil War and championed women's voting rights.

The Biden administration renewed plans to put Tubman's image on the $20 notes by 2030. But with Trump soon to take office again as the 47th president, that may be in jeopardy.

The U.S. Mint will feature Tubman on three commemorative coins this year, the Baltimore Banner reported in January 2024. The coins recognize the bicentennial of Tubman’s birth and her life work as an abolitionist.

The Mint’s commemorative $5 gold coin, $1 silver coin and half dollar clad coin each depict a different era of Tubman’s life. They can be ordered online.

Tubman Historic Sites In Maryland

The state on Nov. 1 renamed the Banneker Douglass Tubman Museum in Annapolis, honoring the life and legacy of Tubman on the 160th anniversary of Maryland’s Emancipation Day. Officials acknowledged the museum's critical role in preserving Maryland’s history and the impact of Harriet Tubman and her roots on the Eastern Shore.

Operated by the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, The Banneker Douglass Tubman Museum is Maryland’s official African American history and culture museum.

The Harriet Tubman Museum and Education Center in downtown Cambridge, a small museum with a large mural that details Tubman’s life and contributions.

The Stanley Institute, an early example of a post-Civil War one-room schoolhouse built and run independently by the local Black community, was moved to Cambridge in 1867 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Named in honor of the Rev. Ezekiel Stanley, the former Rock School was used between 1867 and 1962.

In 1850, Tubman’s niece, Kessiah, and her two children escaped from the auction block at the front of the Dorchester County Courthouse, when her husband, John Bowley, a free Black man, outbid everyone else. A ship carpenter, he whisked his family away to Baltimore, where they were met by Tubman, who led them to Philadelphia.

The original courthouse burned in 1852 and was replaced with the Italianate structure in 1854. Many of the historical records from the era of slavery survived the fire and are now part of the research collections at the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis.

The Bucktown Village Store, the site of Tubman’s first act of defiance. Hired out to a nearby farmer, Tubman and the farm’s cook went to the store to purchase some items for the house. Here, she refused to help an overseer capture an enslaved person who had run away. He managed to escape, but the overseer hurled a two-pound weight that hit Tubman in the head, nearly killing her.

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Church Creek has exhibits, a research library and a museum store, plus guests can watch a spellbinding documentary on Tubman’s life.