The Tubman Command

It's 1863; Harriet "Moses" Tubman is fighting for everyone to know a "sweet land of liberty." A big blow for freedom can be struck if plantations on the Combahee River in South Carolina are taken. But Harriet has problems: locating underwater torpedoes; warning enslaved people; dodging overseers (and alligators); leading spies; praying for her daughter; timing tides; convincing a skeptical Union command to trust her; and making enough gingerbread to sell, since her vital scout work is unpaid. Plus, she needs to recruit and integrate formerly enslaved soldiers. Then there's Samuel Heyward, her assistant, whom she loves. Her husband left her for a free wife, and Samuel's wife was "assigned" to him in bondage. This work is vividly woven and studded with pitch-perfect historical details, from Gullah dialect to hospital gear. Cobbs (The Hamilton Affair) succeeds in her stated aim to allow history to teach us through our imaginations. Primary sources are cited concerning the raid, but according to an author's note, the Harriet-Samuel relationship is invented.