Celebrated abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman’s secret history as a spy

Considering she will soon adorn America’s $20 bill, Harriet Tubman hardly lacks in national significance.

But even the nation’s most celebrated historic figures can remain elusive and unknown.

A new biography of the iconic abolitionist and activist hopes to add nuance and complexity to Tubman and her legacy of freedom and service.

Written by Harvard University Prof. Tiya Miles, Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People explores Tubman’s lesser-known relationship with spirituality and natural environment — and the roles both played in her long-documented quest to bring African-American slaves to liberty.

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Miles’ main objective is to imbue Tubman with a necessary dose of humanity — to make real the myth of a woman who, Miles says, “had become a stock figure in my imagination.”

One way she succeeds — both masterfully and intriguingly — is by delving into Tubman’s little-known history as a Civil War spy. And the results are fascinating.

Encouraged by Massachusetts Gov. John A. Andrews, Tubman left the comforts of her home — and safety of the North — to lend her formidable skills to the Union’s war effort.

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In early 1862, Miles explains, Tubman made her way to South Carolina.

There, her extensive knowledge of ecology gleaned during her many trips along the Underground Railroad were repurposed via the art of subterfuge.

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“By mapping the area in her mind … and folding into the social landscape … she contributed valuable intelligence,” Miles writes. Tubman commanded a mobile unit of nine black men who became “an official scouting service for the Dept. of the South.”

Having spent decades both eluding capture and helping others find their way to freedom, Tubman was ideally positioned to lead numerous reconnaissance missions that helped Union forces execute crucial raids and operations.

The most notable: the Combahee River Raid in June 1863 during which some 700 slaves were rescued.

The daring mission left these water-logged rice fields scenes of death and destruction that spooked Confederate forces while further solidifying Tubman’s hero-status.

One newspaper even described her as a black “she Moses.”

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