Harriet Tubman Frees Her Three Brothers on Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve 1854, Harriet Tubman returned to Dorchester County, Maryland, and led her brothers Benjamin, Henry, and William Henry Ross northward to freedom. To prevent detection, she had the men gather on Christmas Day when slaveholders were unlikely to notice absences quickly. This mission was among the most personally significant of Tubman's approximately 13 return trips that freed roughly 70 people.