cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10288396
Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist who is famous for guiding escaped slaves to the North in the Underground Railroad and helping plan the attack on Harper's Ferry.
This percussion cap pistol and 3 ft ivory handled sword belonged to her.
The Tallahassee family of Alex Brickler owns the pieces and considers them a family heirloom since he’s a 5th generation decedent of Tubman. He said Harriet found the sword and kept it with her, just in case.
“You know it’s a very threatening kind of a weapon, she was a spy so she may not have had direct recourse in order to use the saber, but you know if you’re walking around the south in the woods with a big saber like that people are gonna take notice and they’ll be out to not necessarily threaten you as much,” Brickler says.
As far as the pistol, Brickler family members aren’t sure if she ever fired it, but say she did take it with her on a slave raid.
It is said that Tubman would threaten slaves who were feeling squeamish, to make sure they really made it all the way.
Some slaves would think the journey might end poorly and ask to go back. And that's when Tubman would allegedly pull out this pistol of legend. As a spy, she knew that any slave who returned would threaten all of the safe spots and the entire integrity of the Underground Railroad itself.
If you started the journey, Tubman would make sure you ended the journey, one way or the other. You weren't heading back if you started on the railroad. Or so she threatened anyway, I don't think anyone ever proved if she ever actually fired the gun. But I can see the badass sword + gun combo as an important threatening tool even if never used in violence.