After Tubman escaped she found work in Philadelphia cleaning houses and managed to save some money. Harriet heard that her niece Kessiah and her children, James and Araminta, were about to be sold. She rushed south, crossing the Mason Dixon Line to Baltimore where she hid in the house of John Bowley, Kessiah’s husband who was a free African American. Bowley placed the winning bed on Kessiah and their children who immediately fled and found shelter in a safe house belonging to a free African American family. The following night they sailed to Baltimore where they met Tubman. She guided them to Philadelphia.

Tubman took his nephew James Bowley as a protégé. She paid for his school in St Catharines and became a school teacher. After the Civil War he returned to South Carolina where he taught freed men. He was later elected to the Legislature of Reconstruction in South Carolina.

Next to be rescued was her brother Moses. By this time the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was in effect making her work more difficult and riskier. However she thought that returning over and over again was a risk worth taking. Because of the Fugitive Slave Act, slaves had to migrate further north to Canada. Frederick Douglass who lived in Rochester, NY hosted slaves on their way to St Catharines, Ontario. At one time he had 11 fugitives under his roof.

Secret code language was used to communicate among Underground Railway supporters. Letters would usually contain code language just in case the letter got intercepted. Since most slaves were illiterate instructions were given by signal songs which had hidden messages only slaves could understand. Slaves sang spiritual songs praising God every day and were part of their own culture and tradition, masters usually encouraged it. Coded songs contained words giving directions on how to escape or where to meet. They used Biblical references and analogies of Biblical people, places and stories, comparing them to their own history of slavery. For example, “being bound for the land of Canaan” for a white person could mean ready to die and go to heaven; but to a slave it meant ready to go to Canada.  Many coded songs became popular among slaves such as Steal Away, Geo on Board, Little Children, Wade in the Water, Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Follow the Drinking Gourd.