Tilly's Escape

Tilly's Escape. . , On October 21, 1856, two young women wove through the crowded pier to your right, heading for a steamboat. Harriet Tubman was on a mission to help an enslaved person named Tilly escape. Their dangerous journey began and became known as one of Tubman's most bold and clever rescues., Follow Tilly's Journey , A call for help , Harriet Tubman came searching for Tilly after receiving her fiancé's plea for help. He made it to freedom in Canada seven years earlier. But Tilly was stuck in Baltimore.A clever strategy , Tubman decided to take the steamboat Kent down the bay to Delaware. She hoped nobody would suspect that Black women traveling south were trying to escape. Cunningly, she convinced the boat's captain Tilly was free, and he gave them the papers they needed to travel safely., A near miss , The women got off the boat in Seaford, Delaware and spent a sleepless night in a hotel. In the morning, a slave trader lurking nearby tried to arrest them. Two things kept them safe: the certificate Tubman secured from the Kent's captain and the hotel owner's help., Free at last , The pair completed their escape by train with some help from Underground Railroad agent Thomas Garrett. A letter he wrote contains all that's known about Tilly's journey. Her true name and fate after reaching the free city of Philadelphia remain a mystery., [Captions:] , This image is an artist's interpretation of this spot on the day of Tilly's escape. Here, freedom seekers could blend in with other enslaved and free Black people living and working on the bustling wharves. , Melissa Fernandez, 2023., Charles Manokey, a free Black who lived on this pier, secretly helped freedom seekers in the 1850s., Harriet Tubman and Tilly boarded the Kent at Dugan's Wharf, now called Pier 4. At least nine other escapes began here., Slave catchers patrolled the area, and ship captains were warned they'd be arrested for helping people flee., Free Black market women secretly passed forged papers to freedom seekers so they could travel out of state.