{"id":20674,"date":"2025-02-02T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idavox.com\/?p=20674"},"modified":"2025-02-02T11:45:35","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T16:45:35","slug":"harriet-tubman-the-combahee-river-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idavox.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/02\/harriet-tubman-the-combahee-river-raid\/","title":{"rendered":"Harriet Tubman & the Combahee River Raid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is scant reference to this history of Harriet Tubman in pop culture. The raid was depicted briefly in the epilogue of the 2019 movie Harriet. It was a major plot point in the television show Timeless, in 2018. The raid was covered in a segment on Drunk History in 2015<\/a>. And the movie Glory, in a great misstep, depicts Tubman’s commanding officer Col. James Montgomery- who fought alongside John Brown- as a racist villain<\/a>. The movie introduces him by congratulating him for the raid but does not even mention Tubman. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A note: The Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth currently cracks on the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance, The Tuskegee Airmen and other cultural or historical annual events that pay tribute to those who contribute more than he ever has. We felt the need to fill in the gaps of the approved history of Hegseth and Trump. This Black History Month we will be spotlighting military heroes, and encourage everyone to learn more about these heroes we write about!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BlackPast<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On June 2, 1863, Harriet Tubman<\/a> led 150 black Union soldiers, who were part of the U.S. 2nd South Carolina Volunteers, in the Combahee River Raid and liberated more than 700 enslaved people. Tubman, often referred to as \u201cthe Moses of her people,\u201d was a former slave who had fled to freedom in 1849. Throughout the 1850s, she returned to her native Maryland to bring other enslaved people north into freedom, first to Pennsylvania and then eventually to Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tubman had worked mainly through the Underground Railroad <\/a>in the 1850s. By 1862, however, she left her home in Auburn, New York to work in the Union-occupied Hilton Head area of South Carolina as a nurse and spy during the Civil War.  In 1863, Colonel James Montgomery asked her to lead a secret military mission against Confederates in South Carolina.  With the support of Union gunboats, she and members of the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers traveled into Confederate territory to free enslaved people and destroy wealthy rice plantations. Some of the formerly enslaved men were recruited into the army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the night of June 1, 1863, three federal gunboats set sail from Beaufort, South Carolina traveling up the Combahee River. Tubman had gained vital information about the location of rebel torpedoes planted along the river from slaves who were willing to trade information for freedom. Because of this information, Tubman was able to steer the Union ships away from any danger. She led the ships to specific spots along the shore where fugitive slaves were hiding and waiting to be rescued. At first, many of the slaves were frightened by the Union soldiers\u2019 presence, but Tubman was able to convince them to come aboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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