Posted Nov. 13, 2024
On Veterans Day, Harriet Tubman was posthumously commissioned as a brigadier general by the Maryland National Guard. Tubman was the first woman in the U.S. to lead an armed military operation during a war. The Recognition and Commissioning Ceremony took place at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park & Visitor Center in Church Creek, MD (Stop #14 on the Tubman Byway). Gathered for the private ceremony were Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Maryland National Guard Maj. Gen. Janeen L. Birckhead, Tubman’s descendants, military members, community members, and local leaders. (Photo above shows Gov. Moore, Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece Tina Wyatt, and Maryland National Guard Maj. Gen. Janeen L. Birckhead; photo courtesy Executive Office of the Governor.)
During the Civil War, Tubman was a spy, scout, nurse and cook. But she never had official status within the military, and she battled for decades to receive a military pension. Now, more than a century after her death, she was named a one-star general. Interestingly, abolitionist John Brown called Harriet Tubman “General Tubman” after meeting her in 1858 – three years before her Civil War work began.
During the ceremony, Maj. Gen. Birckhead said, “Harriet Tubman should be revered always for risking her life and her own freedom and the cause of justice for the enslaved. Now we make the grassroots honor, in a formal way, to proclaim that Harriet Tubman was courageous, she sacrificed, she’s a skillful leader and she advanced the survival of a nation.”
The commissioning ceremony made headlines around the country. Read more in this story by USA Today.
See more photos of the ceremony from the Executive Office of the Governor.