Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Tubman Command
Elizabeth Cobbs
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Tubman Command
Elizabeth Cobbs
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Tubman Command, by Elizabeth Cobbs, is the story of Harriet Tubman’s life in 1863. She is a spy for the Union side during the Civil War. She had tried to save her sisters’ lives when they were younger and stood before the auctioneer. But Harriet was not strong enough. Later, her husband, John, left her for a free woman, and Harriet decided she had no use for another man.
Years later, she is known as “Moses,” and the Union General expects her in his office at army headquarters. Colonel Higginson welcomes her to the meeting. He was the first to lead former slaves into battle. Major General David Hunter is also there, and Colonel James Montgomery. It was time to turn the war around. Harriet agreed silently. But colored regiments lacked sufficient volunteers. Hunter turned slaves into soldiers, but Congress refused to pay them.
Harriet tells the General the cannon are gone. She saw that herself. Author Cobb describes the tension in the room and the fear Harriet has that she might be mistaken about her plan to invade Charleston by ship from the Combahee River. She wants to help General Hunter recruit enough men, and must find someone to reveal the location of the torpedoes. She buys sugar and flour at the army store. She can’t read or write, but she knows what she should be charged. This takes place on the Sea Islands off South Carolina’s coast. The homes are big and handsome. Author Cobbs describes them for the reader. As she goes to the cook house she rents in a mansion, a man named Samuel, rushes to help her. She trips and they both fall, laughing. Is this the beginning of a close relationship?
Samuel’s brother, Jacob, is ill at the plantation run by Pipkin, a vicious overseer there. Harriet had helped her four brothers and parents to escape to Canada in past years. She is a brave woman and determined. She had been hit on the head when younger, and passes out when she doesn’t eat regularly. Samuel watches her closely. They travel up the Combahee River and Harriet watches for snakes and alligators. When they reach land, Harriet goes to Jacob’s cabin, finds him ill with fever. She wrings two chickens’ necks and puts them in a pot of water for him. She gives him herbs from her satchel and watches as he falls asleep. She hopes Jacob will help her identify the torpedoes’ locations. He shows her on her map where they are. But she must leave the cabin before Pipkin finds her.
She thinks about her daughter, Margaret, who was given to a free woman who will care for and return her one day when they are all free. On her way back to the dugout canoe, three patrolmen stop her and ask why she is on the road. She pretends to be an old woman going to the market with her chickens. .She is clever. When they land, Harriet goes to the General’s office, and tells him what she has learned. But getting the General to agree is a different matter.
When Harriet attends a “shout," after a funeral for a slave, Samuel grabs her for a dance. Upon hearing he has a wife, she runs home. Later, Harriet convinces Hunter it is his mission to do this. He believes in treating men like men, no matter their color. They all want to fight and die for something important. They plan their raid to liberate hundreds of slaves as well as their families, and to flood the rice fields. Will Harriet succeed in this daring deed? Will she and Samuel become a couple? They plan to warn the slaves that they are coming and to meet at the landing. Find out what happens in this powerful historical novel at your Mendocino Community Library.
Years later, she is known as “Moses,” and the Union General expects her in his office at army headquarters. Colonel Higginson welcomes her to the meeting. He was the first to lead former slaves into battle. Major General David Hunter is also there, and Colonel James Montgomery. It was time to turn the war around. Harriet agreed silently. But colored regiments lacked sufficient volunteers. Hunter turned slaves into soldiers, but Congress refused to pay them.
Harriet tells the General the cannon are gone. She saw that herself. Author Cobb describes the tension in the room and the fear Harriet has that she might be mistaken about her plan to invade Charleston by ship from the Combahee River. She wants to help General Hunter recruit enough men, and must find someone to reveal the location of the torpedoes. She buys sugar and flour at the army store. She can’t read or write, but she knows what she should be charged. This takes place on the Sea Islands off South Carolina’s coast. The homes are big and handsome. Author Cobbs describes them for the reader. As she goes to the cook house she rents in a mansion, a man named Samuel, rushes to help her. She trips and they both fall, laughing. Is this the beginning of a close relationship?
Samuel’s brother, Jacob, is ill at the plantation run by Pipkin, a vicious overseer there. Harriet had helped her four brothers and parents to escape to Canada in past years. She is a brave woman and determined. She had been hit on the head when younger, and passes out when she doesn’t eat regularly. Samuel watches her closely. They travel up the Combahee River and Harriet watches for snakes and alligators. When they reach land, Harriet goes to Jacob’s cabin, finds him ill with fever. She wrings two chickens’ necks and puts them in a pot of water for him. She gives him herbs from her satchel and watches as he falls asleep. She hopes Jacob will help her identify the torpedoes’ locations. He shows her on her map where they are. But she must leave the cabin before Pipkin finds her.
She thinks about her daughter, Margaret, who was given to a free woman who will care for and return her one day when they are all free. On her way back to the dugout canoe, three patrolmen stop her and ask why she is on the road. She pretends to be an old woman going to the market with her chickens. .She is clever. When they land, Harriet goes to the General’s office, and tells him what she has learned. But getting the General to agree is a different matter.
When Harriet attends a “shout," after a funeral for a slave, Samuel grabs her for a dance. Upon hearing he has a wife, she runs home. Later, Harriet convinces Hunter it is his mission to do this. He believes in treating men like men, no matter their color. They all want to fight and die for something important. They plan their raid to liberate hundreds of slaves as well as their families, and to flood the rice fields. Will Harriet succeed in this daring deed? Will she and Samuel become a couple? They plan to warn the slaves that they are coming and to meet at the landing. Find out what happens in this powerful historical novel at your Mendocino Community Library.