Harriet Tubman, one of the Eastern Shore’s most pivotal historical figures, is honored with a new title—111 years after her death.
On Veteran’s Day in Cambridge, near where Tubman was born enslaved, the Maryland National Guard posthumously commissioned her as a Brigadier General.
Tubman is best known for her role in helping hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad. But she served in the Civil War, too. While Tubman never had official status within the military, she was “a spy, scout, nurse and cook”, making her unofficially the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. military in combat.
In a ceremony at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park on Monday, Governor Wes Moore, Maryland National Guard Maj. Gen. Janeen L. Birckhead and Tubman’s family celebrated her extraordinary service with the title of one-star general.
Moore’s office notes that Tubman was dubbed “General Tubman” by abolitionist John Brown in 1858, before she actually had a role in the Civil War.
Ernestine “Tina” Martin Wyatt, the great-great-great-grandniece of Harriet Tubman, represented Tubman’s family and received the commissioning proclamation on her behalf. Several other descendants took part in the ceremony.
The Maryland Army National Guard’s 229th Army Band performed and the Maryland Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Squadron provided a flyover.
“Harriet Tubman lived the values and virtues that I was taught when I served in the United States Army, and many of the people here today learned too: Live mission first, people always. Lead with honor, integrity, duty, and courage. Leave no one behind,” said Moore.
The honor for Tubman comes less than two weeks after another recognition in the state of Maryland: the ribbon cutting on the former Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, which was permanently renamed the Banneker Douglass Tubman Museum earlier this year. Gov. Moore signed a bill officially renaming the museum to recognize Tubman’s significant impact. The Banneker Douglass Tubman Museum is Maryland’s official museum of African American heritage.
