Born a slave in Maryland c. 1821, Harriet Tubman survived a brutal childhood. She was struck in the head by a rock at the age of 13, an injury that caused problems for the rest of her life. By day she worked as a field hand; by night she plotted her escape from slavery. She was successful in 1846, but found she could not abandon those she left behind. Tubman returned to the South to help slaves escape with her. They used the Underground Railroad. Often traveling alone, she cleverly outsmarted slave trackers and their tracking dogs. During the Civil War she served the Union as a nurse and then a spy. When she died in 1913, she received full military honors.