River Crossing
by Harriet Tubman, mid or late 1850s
While in Canada, in 1860, we met several whom this woman had brought from the land of bondage, and they all believed that she had supernatural power. Of one man we inquired, "Were you not afraid of getting caught?"
"Oh, no," said he, "Moses has got the charm."
"What do you mean?" we asked.
He replied, "The whites can't catch Moses, cause she's born with the charm. The Lord has given Moses the power."
W.W. Brown, The Rising Son, or, the Antecedents and Advancements of the Colored Race, 1874, p. 538
She mostly had her regular stopping places on her route; but in one instance, when she had two stout men with her, some 10 miles below here, she said that God told her to stop, which she did; and then asked him what she must do. He told her to leave the road, and turn to the left; she obeyed, and soon came to a small stream of tide water; there was no boat, no bridge; she again inquired of her Guide what she was to do. She was told to go through.
It was cold, in the month of March; but having confidence in her Guide, she went in; the water came up to her armpits; the men refused to follow till they saw her safe on the opposite shore. They then followed, and if I mistake not, she had soon to wade a second stream; soon after which she came to a cabin of colored people, who took them all in, put them to bed, and dried their clothes, ready to proceed next night on the journey. Harriet had run out of money, and gave them some of her underclothing to pay for their kindness.
When she called on me two days after, she was so hoarse she could hardly speak, and was also suffering with violent toothache.
The strange part of the story we found to be that the master of these two men had put up the previous day, at the railroad station near where she left, an advertisement for them, offering a large reward for their apprehension; but they made a safe exit.
Testimonial letter from Thomas Garrett to Sarah Hopkins Bradford, in
SOURCE: Harriet Tubman: the Life and the Life Stories by Jean Humez, pp.233-4, 259
Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman, Sarah Bradford (1869, pp.48-53).
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