When the American Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army. She worked first as a cook and nurse. Later she was an armed scout and spy. She was the first woman to lead an armed group in the war. She guided the Combehee River Raid, which freed more than 700 slaves in South Carolina. After the war, she moved to her family home in Auburn, New York. There she cared for her aging parents. She became active in the women's suffrage movement in New York until she became ill. Near the end of her life, she lived in a home for elderly African Americans. Years earlier, she had helped create that home. Harriet was a leader and still is. 