Harriet Tubman Timeline

Harriet serves as a nurse, scout, and spy for the Union during the Civil War.

1820/1821

Harriet Tubman was born in Bucktown, Maryland. There is no certain date of her birth, there were no records (salves couldn't read or write and masters didn't care to keep records on deaths or births).

1913

Harriet Tubman Timeline

Harriet (Moses) Tubman dies in Auburn, New York.

About 1826/1827

Harriet was born property of Edward Brodess. Brodess hired out slaves for financial support. When Harriet was about 6 years old, she was hired out to a couple, the Cook.

1888

Nelson Davis dies.

1869

At the Cook's home..

Marries Nelson Davis.

At the Cook's home, life was harsh. Her meals were table scraps, she slept on the kitchen floor, and they gave her no appropriate clothing. Harriet hated it there. Due to lack of care, she got the measles and was sent back home.

December 1860

1844

1861-1865

1850

1857-1858

Fall 1835

1849

Early 1850's

October 17/18, 1859

Summer 1831

After the Master's death

After meeting and falling in love with John Tubman, in 1844 (when Harriet was 23) they got married. John was free. Harriet then started her effort to become free herself.

After the Cooks (unknown date)

By now Harriet had herself a planned routine. In winter, she rented a house in St. Catharines with other former slaves. In spring and summer, she would go to Philadelphia or New Jersey (Cape May). She would take along fugitives.

Master Thompson planned to sell slaves. Harriet and 3 of her brothers fled. They turned back. Soon the brothers were sold. Harriet left alone to Bucktown. There was a safe house there. She was now aboard The Underground Railroad.

Congress passed laws known as fugitive slave laws. This made her rescue efforts more dangerous and difficult. Although the dangers, she wen to find John. When she made it to Bucktown, he had been remarried. She later left with other slaves that wanted to escape.

Brown and 22 men (16 white men included) seized the U.S. storehouse. 10 of Brown's men died and he was captured. He was tried and found guilty in court. December 1859 he was hung.

Harriet and her parents, Ben and Rit. Moses lived in St. Catharines. During this time, she met a man asking for help. John Brown. He had a plan to free a huge amount of slaves. She agreed to help him.

In the summer of 1831, when Harriet was about 11, her master Brodess heard startling news. A slave, Nat Turner, revolted. Turner and 30 followers killed 60 whites, including Turner's master. Although all the revolting slaves were hung after the fact, Nat Turner died a hero.

After Edward Brodess died, Harriet's new master became Dr. Anthony Thompson. Master Thompson hired Harriet out to be a maid for John Stewart. Sometime after she met John Tubman and fell in love.

After she went home from living with the Cooks, she was brought back to health. Then, she was hired to Miss Susan. There she was a baby nurse/nanny and a housekeeper. Each time the baby woke Miss Susan crying, Harriet would be whipped.

Harriet made her final rescue mission. The mission ended safely alhough at some point slave owners were offering a $40,000 reward for Harriet.

By autumn of 1835, Harriet worked in cornfields. While she worked, a black man tried to run. At first he was caught and almost beaten, but the man broke free. He ran. The overseer attempted to throw a lead weight at the slave. The weight hit her in the forehead. She went into a coma and even after recovery, got blackouts for the rest of her life.