orig. Arminta Ross
born 0441; 1820, Dorchester county, Md., U.S.
died March 10, 1913, Auburn, N.Y.
U.S. abolitionist.
Born into slavery, she escaped to the North by the Underground Railroad in 1849. She made frequent trips into the South to lead over 300 slaves to freedom, despite large rewards offered for her arrest. Known as the "Moses of her people," she was admired by abolitionists such as John Brown , who called her General Tubman. In the American Civil War, she served as a nurse, laundress, and spy for Union forces in South Carolina. She later settled in Auburn, N.Y., and was eventually granted a federal pension for her war work.