Harriet Tubman was born 1821 in Dorchester county. She was one of eleven children, and her parents were slaves. At the age of seven she was hired to do housework and to take care of white children on nearby farms. In 1944 she married John Tubman, a free black. In 1949 she escaped to the north to freedom by following the north star. Before the outbreak of the American civil war

in 1861 she made 19 journeys back to lead other slaves and her parents to freedom along the clandestine route known as the Underground Railroad to Canada. Harriet was helped by other abolitionist, and Quakers. During the Civil War Harriet served the union army. She nursed and cooked for white soldiers. She acted as both a scout and a spy leading raiding parties into confederate territory.