“We have to get out of here,” stated one of the slaves that Sally worked with. Sally McNeal was a slave, and she wanted to escape the plantation she worked at. Sally is an older girl, about 19 years old, that worked in Maryland, which was considered a ‘slave’ state.(3) Many states had banned slavery in 1776 already, but Maryland hadn’t banned slavery yet.(1) When the Civil war started in 1861, the North wanted to ban slavery, while the south wanted to keep slavery completely legal. She works on a farm in the south where she and many others planted cotton and other plants as well.(4) She did not like the way her owners treated her unfairly along with the rest of her fellow slaves. The house servants were given better food and clothing than the farm workers were given.(2) She had to be out in the field as soon …show more content…
They needed to wait until it was certainly safe for them to leave. While she worked in the field, looking at the windows of the house, the lights turned off inside. As soon as she saw the lights turn off in the house, she knew it was time to leave. Supposedly, there were signs with codewords on them to lead them to their destination. Since she was a slave, she was not allowed to read or write.(2) So she would have to figure out the words along the way. They snuck up the path, out the gate to the farm, and they followed the North Star up the road. They traveled for another 2 hours before they came across their first destination. A conductor, the people that led the escaping slaves, ushered the 6 of them into the passageway and they were off to the North.(4) Sally soon learned that the conductors name was Harriet Tubman, a famous conductor that was wanted by many slave owners. Sally knew that if she were to be caught she could be chased by dogs until she was caught or even worse, shot and killed.(4) If their owner were to find the 6 of them, he was allowed to torture or kill