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What Was She Like? Appearance--She was short of stature, with a modest frame that hid her incredible physical strength. She had cut and hauled timbers as a youth and worked side-by-side with the men. Her physical and mental strength were such that her friend John Brown, who led the raid on Harper's Ferry, called her "General Tubman." Her eyes were piercing and direct, set beneath dark brows on a rounded face. In photographs of Harriet …

…and blacks were dying at an alarming rate, she made a medicine from roots that she gathered locally. There were soldiers with smallpox and other deadly diseases, but she cared for them regardless, and she never got any of the diseases herself. After the war, until her death in early 1913, Harriet worked for the poor, the disadvantaged and the aged among African-Americans. Many came to her door, and always she helped as she was able.