Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad

As they continue on their hard journey, Harriet notices that some of the slaves become “silent, sullen, suspicious” (139) and worries some will rebel against her instructions. Harriet tells them stories of all the successful runaway journeys she has heard about, regaling them with tales about Frederick Douglass and William and Ellen Craft. However, the group is so hungry and tired that it is difficult to motivate them. One of the men asks to go back, saying he prefers slavery to this suffering. Harriet aims her gun at the man and orders him to continue walking with the group. She tells him that if he returns, the slave master will torture him and learn the names of all their helpers on their route, ruining their plans. Harriet tells her group they must “go free or die. And freedom’s not bought with dust” (141).

Harriet abruptly falls asleep at one point, but no one in the group takes her gun or turns around; instead, they wait for her to wake up because they have “come to trust her implicitly” (142). After this, they reach Garrett’s house, and, just as Harriet had promised, he gives everyone a new pair of shoes. Eventually, all 11 runaways and Harriet reach Philadelphia, where they go to the Committee, and Still writes down their names in a secret register.