June 1863

Tubman served as a Union Army spy and scout in South Carolina. On June 2, 1863, she guided Colonel James Montgomery and 150 Black Union soldiers on the Combahee River Raid, liberating more than 700 enslaved people — the first military operation in U.S. history planned and led by a woman.

Harriet Tubman became the first woman in American history to lead an armed military raid when she guided Colonel James Montgomery and 150 Black Union soldiers up South Carolina's Combahee River, liberating more than 700 enslaved people in a single night. Her intelligence work as a Union spy and scout throughout the war made her one of the most effective operatives in the conflict.