Harriet Tubman
Born into slavery in Dorchester, Maryland at around 1820, Harriet Tubman successfully ran away in 1849 yet returned to slave country numerous times to rescue both family members and non-relatives from the plantation system. She became the most famous of the Underground Railroad's "conductors," taking part in abolitionist gatherings and working with Union forces during the Civil War.
Tubman made use of the network known as the Underground Railroad to travel nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. She crossed into the free state of Pennsylvania with a feeling of relief and awe, and recalled later: “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”
Tubman's resistance to slavery did not end with the outbreak of the Civil War. Her services as nurse, scout, and spy were solicited by the Union government. For more than three years she nursed the sick and wounded in Florida and the Carolinas, tending whites and blacks, soldiers and contrabands. Tubman was a short woman without distinctive features. With a bandanna on her head and several front teeth missing, she moved unnoticed through rebel territory. This made her invaluable as a scout and spy under the command of Col. James Montgomery of the Second Carolina Volunteers. As leader of a corps of local blacks, she made several forays into rebel territory, collecting information.
Tubman made use of the network known as the Underground Railroad to travel nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. She crossed into the free state of Pennsylvania with a feeling of relief and awe, and recalled later: “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”
Tubman's resistance to slavery did not end with the outbreak of the Civil War. Her services as nurse, scout, and spy were solicited by the Union government. For more than three years she nursed the sick and wounded in Florida and the Carolinas, tending whites and blacks, soldiers and contrabands. Tubman was a short woman without distinctive features. With a bandanna on her head and several front teeth missing, she moved unnoticed through rebel territory. This made her invaluable as a scout and spy under the command of Col. James Montgomery of the Second Carolina Volunteers. As leader of a corps of local blacks, she made several forays into rebel territory, collecting information.
"Sister Harriet Tubman set off when she brought so many of our people back into the Promise Land.
She's a remarkable woman who nursed, cared and had a great faith who didn't give up in bringing African people back into safety. Sister Harriet was doing her secret missions while the enemy wasn't looking. She's a great hero of American history." |
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Famous Kids Spy Stories in the Making
Armed with technical acumen and a criminal mind, the spies collected here used their skills to sell out their fellow citizens.
A group of U.S. Marines hunker down beside a building, enemy fire coming at them from somewhere up ahead. One soldier reaches into his pack and pulls out a few robots that look like large bugs. The bots fly down the street, sending back images that show where the enemy troops are hiding, how many there are and what weapons they're using.
That's not all. In the same data stream, the robots also send back an audio recording of what the snipers are saying, along with infra-red pictures. Armed with the real-time surveillance information, the Marines can maneuver out from under the attack and get to safety.
The White Rabbit
His action-packed life was the stuff of boyhood fantasy.
As the famous spy codenamed 'The White Rabbit', Forest Frederic Edward Yeo-Thomas spent the Second World War behind enemy lines and was captured and tortured by the Nazis. And in the First World War the RAF fighter command officer was captured by the Russians and only managed to escape by strangling his guard.
Today, more than 60 years after he received the George Cross, Yeo-Thomas's life was celebrated with a blue plaque outside his home. On a secret mission in France during the Second World War he evaded capture by the Nazis by hiding in a hearse.
In 1944 he was captured by the Gestapo and tortured before being held at the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp. The spy is recognised by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as 'among the most outstanding workers behind enemy lines whom Britain produced'.
He is the first secret agent to be commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque which was unveiled at Queen Court, Guildford Street, in Camden, London, where he lived with his wife Barbara.
Brenda Priddy
She is a modern day spy engaging in corp. espionage. She specializes in the world-wide auto industry and she's kinda one of the 'good guys' - as her pictures and information fill the pages on all the car magazines, newspapers, newscasts and more.
Read more.
A group of U.S. Marines hunker down beside a building, enemy fire coming at them from somewhere up ahead. One soldier reaches into his pack and pulls out a few robots that look like large bugs. The bots fly down the street, sending back images that show where the enemy troops are hiding, how many there are and what weapons they're using.
That's not all. In the same data stream, the robots also send back an audio recording of what the snipers are saying, along with infra-red pictures. Armed with the real-time surveillance information, the Marines can maneuver out from under the attack and get to safety.
The White Rabbit
His action-packed life was the stuff of boyhood fantasy.
As the famous spy codenamed 'The White Rabbit', Forest Frederic Edward Yeo-Thomas spent the Second World War behind enemy lines and was captured and tortured by the Nazis. And in the First World War the RAF fighter command officer was captured by the Russians and only managed to escape by strangling his guard.
Today, more than 60 years after he received the George Cross, Yeo-Thomas's life was celebrated with a blue plaque outside his home. On a secret mission in France during the Second World War he evaded capture by the Nazis by hiding in a hearse.
In 1944 he was captured by the Gestapo and tortured before being held at the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp. The spy is recognised by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as 'among the most outstanding workers behind enemy lines whom Britain produced'.
He is the first secret agent to be commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque which was unveiled at Queen Court, Guildford Street, in Camden, London, where he lived with his wife Barbara.
Brenda Priddy
She is a modern day spy engaging in corp. espionage. She specializes in the world-wide auto industry and she's kinda one of the 'good guys' - as her pictures and information fill the pages on all the car magazines, newspapers, newscasts and more.
Read more.
More Famous Spy Characters for Kids
Bletchley Park
The encryption machine that was known as “Enigma” was the basis of the German secret communications during World War II.
Five weeks before the war began Poland’s Biuro Szyfrów (Cipher Bureau) revealed its achievements in decrypting German Enigma ciphers to French and British intelligence. The British used this data as the foundation for their own early efforts to decrypt Enigma. The Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) set up base in Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, England.
The info they gathered was code-named “Ultra” and helped the allied troops in defeating the U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic, and to the British naval victories in the Battle of Cape Matapan and the Battle of North Cape.
Sir George Scovell
Sir George Scovell was part of the British Army in Iberia during the Peninsular War and was a gifted linguist. He therefore played a crucial role in breaking the codes of the French forces during that war. Because of his multilingual talents Scovell was placed in charge of a crew of various nationalities, who had been especially recruited for their local knowledge and language skills; they were known as the Army Guides.
They developed a system for intercepting and deciphering French communiqués. He is best remembered for his interception of a letter that was sent from Joseph Bonaparte to Napoleon. Scovell was able to decipher the French plans, which proved vital in Wellington’s victory over the French at Vittoria on June 21, 1813.
The Cambridge Five
A famous ring of spies who operated in Cambridge, UK and passed information onto the Soviet Union during World War II, quite possibly up to 1950.
Although five were in the gang, only four have been identified: Kim Philby (cryptonym: Stanley), Donald Duart Maclean (cryptonym: Homer), Guy Burgess (cryptonym: Hicks) and Anthony Blunt (cryptonym: Johnson); together they were known as the Cambridge Four.
Several people have been suspected of being the “fifth spy “, but the true identity of this person was never revealed.
The encryption machine that was known as “Enigma” was the basis of the German secret communications during World War II.
Five weeks before the war began Poland’s Biuro Szyfrów (Cipher Bureau) revealed its achievements in decrypting German Enigma ciphers to French and British intelligence. The British used this data as the foundation for their own early efforts to decrypt Enigma. The Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) set up base in Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, England.
The info they gathered was code-named “Ultra” and helped the allied troops in defeating the U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic, and to the British naval victories in the Battle of Cape Matapan and the Battle of North Cape.
Sir George Scovell
Sir George Scovell was part of the British Army in Iberia during the Peninsular War and was a gifted linguist. He therefore played a crucial role in breaking the codes of the French forces during that war. Because of his multilingual talents Scovell was placed in charge of a crew of various nationalities, who had been especially recruited for their local knowledge and language skills; they were known as the Army Guides.
They developed a system for intercepting and deciphering French communiqués. He is best remembered for his interception of a letter that was sent from Joseph Bonaparte to Napoleon. Scovell was able to decipher the French plans, which proved vital in Wellington’s victory over the French at Vittoria on June 21, 1813.
The Cambridge Five
A famous ring of spies who operated in Cambridge, UK and passed information onto the Soviet Union during World War II, quite possibly up to 1950.
Although five were in the gang, only four have been identified: Kim Philby (cryptonym: Stanley), Donald Duart Maclean (cryptonym: Homer), Guy Burgess (cryptonym: Hicks) and Anthony Blunt (cryptonym: Johnson); together they were known as the Cambridge Four.
Several people have been suspected of being the “fifth spy “, but the true identity of this person was never revealed.