- Joined
- Aug 6, 2016
On the Monday night of June 1, 1863 a small flotilla of Union ships made their way out of a coastal inlet in South Carolina known as St. Helena Sound. The lead ship John Adams pointed its bow toward the Combahee River while the Union gunships the Sentinel and Harriet A. Weed followed. Union Colonel and abolitionist James Montgomery was given the authority in January of 1863 to raise a regiment consisting of free blacks and former slaves. On May 22, 1863 the Second South Carolina Volunteers were mustered into service. Tonight over 200 black soldiers are accompanying Colonel Montgomery but all eyes are on another. This person has been infiltrating the area and knows the waterways and guides the Union gunboats around the dangers. Their mission is to rescue some 800 slaves and then destroy the plantations from the Confederate land owners. They are in enemy territory, they are on a dangerous mission and their leader wears a skirt and her name is Harriet Tubman.
Born a slave in or around 1820 Harriet broke free from the yoke of slavery and carries the scars from the whippings she received as a young girl and she suffers life-long pain from the treatment she received while enslaved. On September 17, 1849 Harriet made her run for freedom. Her brothers joined her but for some reason they turned around and went back; but Harriet kept running. {2} Through the help of the Underground Railroad she traveled 90 miles and arrived safely in Philadelphia. She soon returned South to help family members cross to safety and even tried to convince her husband to run for freedom but he had remarried and remained behind. With the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act it became more dangerous for Harriet but she persevered in her desire to free the slaves. She became known to many as “Moses” and on the night of June 1 she is leading a raid to “Let Her People Go”.
As the flotilla makes its way up the Combahee River they are not going unnoticed. Tubman has eight scouts in place who had helped her map out the route they needed to take as well as alert the slaves that help was coming. In the early hours of June 2nd at 2:30 a.m., she directs the boats to the strategic locations where slaves were hiding and watching for the arrival of the Union ships. Accompanying the South Carolina troops were approximately fifty troops from a Rhode Island Regiment with orders to disembark at Field’s Point and destroy the plantations especially targeting those belonging to the Heyward, Middleton, and the Lowndes families all three well known South Carolina secessionists. The Union troops torched the plantations burning mansions, warehouses and fields destroying everything that was standing.
When the ship sounded their whistle it was the cue for the slaves to find their way to the water, rowboats and safety on the Union ships. At first their was fear among the slaves to move and then conditions moved to chaotic as slaves began running into rowboats to be ferried to the rescue ships. Harriet feared there would not be enough rowboats dispatched to accommodate the fleeing mass. Many slaves were hanging on for dear life in their dash for freedom. as Miss Tubman reported:
“I never saw such a sight. Sometimes the women would come with twins hanging around their necks; it appears I never saw so many twins in my life; bags on their shoulders, baskets on their heads, and young ones tagging along behind, all loaded; pigs squealing, chickens screaming, young ones squealing.” {5}
As the Union ships headed out to open water, Harriet Tubman is confronted with anywhere between 750-800 frightened slaves on deck. Tubman managed to calm down the fearful passengers by singing a popular abolitionist anthem:
“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.” {5}
or in the west
The glorious Yankee nation is the
greatest and the best
Come along! Come along!
don’t be alarmed.” {5}
As the former slaves got into the rowboats and were unloaded they heard this song and soon began to shout “Glory!" in response to Harriet’s calming words. Harriet watched and sang as the rowboats went back and forth. Later she said:
“I kept on singing until all were brought on board.” {5}
The rescue mission was a success. Northern newspaper reported:
“Colonel Montgomery and his gallant band of 300 black soldiers under the guidance of a black woman, dashed into the enemy's country, struck a bold and effective blow, destroying millions of dollars worth of commissary stores, cotton and lordly dwellings, and striking terror into the heart of rebeldom, brought off nearly 800 slaves and thousands of dollars worth of property, without losing a man or receiving a scratch.” {5}
Harriet Tubman (1820 or 1822 - 1913) - Colonel James Montgomery (1814 – 1871)
Harriet Tubman was born a slave and died a free woman and
in-between she had a dream and with strength and patience
she passionately reached for the stars and changed the world.
* * *
Sources
1. https://www.history.com/news/harriet-tubman-combahee-ferry-raid-civil-war
2. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman
3. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/combahee-river-raid-june-2-1863/
4. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smit...s-heroic-military-career-now-easier-envision-
180975038/
5. The Commonwealth, Boston, Massachusetts, July 10, 1863, Harriet Tubman Website
(Top Photo - LOC/no known copyright restrictions)