This is a photo of Harriet Tubman at her home in Auburn in 1911, two years before her death.

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While I had learned about Tubman and the Underground Railroad in history class, I only found out recently that she suffered from seizures, which was due to a piece of metal that was embedded in her head.

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When she was a teenager, a slaveowner struck her head with a 2-pound lead weight that was intended for another slave attempting to flee. Tubman said the attack “broke my skull” and, from that day on, experienced extremely painful headaches and seizures, which would knock her unconscious for short periods of time.

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However, this did not stop her from working on the Underground Railroad and serving in the Civil War. Her reputation was so prolific that runaway slaves knew that if she passed out, they just had to wait for her to wake up. And she always did.

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Tubman also carried a pistol with her which she would use on runaways that got cold feet and wanted to give up. She would point the pistol at them and tell them that they had two choices: continue running away with her or immediate death. She never lost anyone on the Underground Railroad.

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After the war, she had made enough money to reinvest in the community and help out veterans and freed slaves. In the 1890s, she underwent brain surgery to have the piece of metal removed from her skull. She was offered anesthesia but chose to bite the bullet instead like she had seen so many Union soldiers do when their limbs were being amputated. In her own words, she said the doctor, “sawed open my skull, and raised it up, and now it feels more comfortable.”

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She died in 1913, surrounded by friends and family members. Her last words to those in the room were, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

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Source: Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom (2005) by Catherine Clinton