1888.
Harriet Tubman received a letter from her old friend, Frederick Douglass, dated August 28, 1868. In this letter he acknowledges the lifelong nature of her sacrifice and work:
The difference between us is very marked. Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the way. You, on the other hand, have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day — you the night. I have had the applause of the crowd and the satisfaction of being approved by the multitude, while the most that you have done has been witnessed by a few trembling, scared, and foot-sore bondmen and women, whom you have led out of the house of bondage, and whose heartfelt “God bless you” has been your only reward. The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witness of your devotion to freedom.
Harriet was able to purchase another property, 26 acres in 1896, adjacent to her Auburn home from the donations received from Auburn residents and from some of the proceeds of the Bradford book. It had two buildings already erected on it, was valued at $6,000, and had a mortgage of $1,700. Initially, Harriet had wanted to clear the property of debt and to open a home for girls, but as time passed, she hoped to be able to leave the property as a home for the aged. Harriet later deeded the property to the AME Zion Church of Auburn for this purpose. The Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People was incorporated in 1903 and formally opened in 1908. Harriet herself lived there for the last two years of her life. Currently, the AME Zion Church is still hoping to keep Harriet’s dream of a home for the aged and a meeting place for the young alive through public support.
In 1888, Congress passed an act giving the widows of Civil War veterans a pension of $8 a month. Harriet, now a widow, resubmitted her petition with the support of Secretary of State William Seward, Colonel T. W. Higginson, and General Rufus for payment for her three years of service as a nurse, cook, and scout commander, and received $20 per month, but she was still denied a full military pension of her own. Even to this day she remains the only woman and the only black woman to have planned and carried out an armed military action against enemy forces. Mr. F.B. Sanborn, secretary of the Massachusetts Board of State Charities and supporter of John Brown said, “… she has accomplished her purposes with a coolness, foresight, patience and wisdom, which in a white man would have raised him to the highest pitch of reputation.”
Her good reputation was once taken advantage of by men who wanted to profit at her expense. Harriet’s brother told her about a money-making plan he had heard about and hoped that with the influential contacts that Harriet had, a profitable venture could be undertaken. Harriet’s interest in doing as much as she could for the well-being of others was well known. Two black men claimed that they had been digging around a plantation and that they had found gold that had been hidden to keep it from being confiscated during the Civil War. It was a well known fact that valuables did have to be buried to keep them safe during the war. They wished to convert the gold into money and promised Harriet that she would receive a sizable portion for her aid. Harriet’s credibility was high, and she was quickly able to convince her supporters of the plan’s worth. She received $2,000 from Anthony Shimer and other Auburn contributors. At the appointed time, she set out with two others to exchange the money for the gold that was “understandably” too awkward to convert in the south where it had been found. Harriet was attacked, becoming separated from the others, and was forcibly bound and gagged. After all of this, neither gold nor money remained. Her dream of opening a home for black people seemed to be lost and her desperation to have adequate and surplus funds made her a victim for this unfortunate scheme.
Perhaps this incident reminded her of her own poverty and mortality, as Harriet Tubman had her last will and testament drawn up, and also met with the local authorities to again try to have her finances improved through her status as a widow. In her statement to C.G. Adams, clerk of the County Court of Cayuga County, New York, she said that she was now the widow of Nelson Davis. She indicated that they were married by Reverend Henry Fowler on March 18, 1869. She also said, “I never had any children nor child by the soldier nor by John Tubman.” She went on to indicate that “He [Nelson Davis] never had any other wife but me.” The affidavit, sworn by Harriet Tubman on November 10, 1894, was created at a time in Tubman’s life when she had been a widow for six years and was likely growing weary of trying to pull funds together all the time.
Harriet still remained active in the community. At over seventy-eight years of age, she was supporting the growth of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, though attending the white Central Church. She attended the National Association of Colored Women’s Conference and was invited to celebrate Queen Victoria’s 1897 birthday party in England. Harriet received a medal and a silk shawl from the Queen, which she treasured. A benefit party was given for her by the suffragettes of Boston, and Harriet used the money raised there, plus the proceeds from the sale of the second edition of her book and money from the citizens of Auburn, to purchase the lot of land next to her house. This became the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes in 1908.
11
The End of the Line
Harriet Tubman shortly before her death in 1913.
Courtesy Cayuga County Historian’s Office, Auburn, NewYork.
The once strong and active Harriet became confined to a wheelchair because of the severity of her rheumatism and the frequency of her sleeping spells. She contracted pneumonia and died on March 10, 1913. She was buried at Fort Hill Cemetery with her medal from Queen Victoria. A marble headstone was contributed by the National Association of Colored Women, and Civil War veterans fired a volley over her grave as a tribute to her military service. One year later a posthumous honour was given to her by the city of Auburn in the form of a plaque at the Cayuga County Courthouse.
Listed on her death certificate were her living heirs and relatives, including many Stewarts in Auburn, a Robinson in Buffalo, and these Canadian relatives:
Mary Stewart: a niece who resided in St. Catharines.
Gertrude Thompson: a niece who resided in St. Catharines.
Amanda Gales: a niece who resided in St. Catharines.
Carrie Barnes: a niece who resided in Cayuga, Ontario.
Mary Young: a niece who resided in St. Catharines.
As an additional act of respect, the citizens of Auburn unveiled a plaque on the Cayuga Courthouse dedicated to Harriet Tubman on July 12, 1914, while a tribute was delivered by Booker T. Washington. The Auburn plaque said:
IN MEMORY OF
HARRIET TUBMAN
BORN A SLAVE IN MARYLAND ABOUT 1821
DIED IN AUBUN, N.Y. MARCH 10th, 1913
CALLED THE 'MOSES' OF HER PEOPLE DURING THE CIVIL WAR, WITH RARE COURAGE SHE LED OVER THREE HUNDRED NEGROES UP FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM, AND RENDERED INVALUABLE SERVICE AS A NURSE AND SPY.
WITH IMPLICIT TRUST IN GOD SHE BRAVED EVERY DANGER AND OVERCAME EVERY OBSTACLE, WITHAL SHE POSSESSED EXTRAORDINARY FORESIGHT AND JUDGEMENT SO THAT SHE TRUTHFULLY SAID—
“ON MY UNDERGROUND RAILROAD I NEBBER RUN MY TRAIN OFF DE TRACK AND I NEBBER LOS' A PASSENGER.”
~
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF AUBURN
1914
In Bucktown, Dorchester County, Maryland, a historical sign marks the spot where Harriet received her head injury long ago — the site of the Bucktown store. In 1944, a Second World War Liberty ship was christened the SS Harriet Tubman by Eleanor Roosevelt as a further honour to the descendants and supporters of Harriet Tubman. In 1978, the U.S. Postal Service issued its first stamp in the Black Heritage USA Series commemorating Harriet Tubman.
The Province of Ontario