By BlackmansStreetToday

In a ceremony at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in the abolitionist’s home of Dorchester, Md., Gov. Wes Moore made Tubman a one-star brigadier general in the state’s National Guard. 

“Today, we celebrate a soldier and a person who earned the title of veteran,” Moore said during Monday’s ceremony.

Tubman is best known for freeing and saving the lives of more than 300 enslaved people during 19 trips she took along the Underground Railroad between 1850 and 1860. 

She led friends, family, and strangers, moving like a phantom through woods and rivers on the perilous route north. 

Known as “Moses” for her efforts, Tubman continued fighting for freedom and justice even after escaping slavery herself.

Tubman was born into slavery in 1822 and later escaped from Dorchester County, Maryland, to Philadelphia where she lived as a freewoman for the remainder of her life.

Once free, Tubman dedicated her life to the abolition of slavery as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. 

Tubman remained a philanthropist well into her later years, founding the Home for Aged & Indigent Negroes and supporting women’s rights.