Harriet Tubman: Civil War Spy – Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Harriet Tubman is usually introduced to students as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and the story often stops there. Her work during the Civil War is just as remarkable and far less familiar: she scouted for the Union Army, built a network of informants, and helped plan a river raid that freed more than seven hundred people. This Harriet Tubman reading comprehension worksheet gives 6th Grade students an original nonfiction passage about that chapter of her life and asks them to read it the way a historian would, tracing how one skill led to the next.

The worksheet is built in the standard Have Fun Teaching reading comprehension format. Pages 1 and 2 hold the illustrated scene and the full two-page story; page 3 holds the six questions; the final page is a complete answer key. The Harriet Tubman Civil War spy passage runs about 250 words, which is short enough for a single class period but dense enough to reward a second read. Students answer three fill-in-the-bubble questions covering main idea, text evidence, and vocabulary in context, then two short-response items, then one constructed-response question that asks them to explain an author’s choice using evidence. Use it as a close-reading lesson, a sub plan, a social studies tie-in, or a quick assessment.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• An original 250-word nonfiction passage, 3 multiple-choice questions, 2 short-response questions, and 1 constructed-response question

This resource helps students in three ways. First, it pairs reading skills with real content, so children practice finding the main idea inside history worth knowing rather than inside a throwaway paragraph. Second, the question set climbs a ladder on purpose: recall, then inference, then written justification, which is exactly the progression middle school readers are expected to manage. Third, the constructed-response item requires evidence, so students learn that an opinion about a text has to be anchored in the text. Working through this Harriet Tubman reading comprehension worksheet also builds background knowledge that pays off later in any American history unit.

Teachers and parents can extend the lesson easily. Have students map the route of the Combahee River raid and mark what Tubman needed to know before the boats moved. Ask them to write a short newspaper report of the raid using only details from the passage. Compare this passage with a biography of another Civil War figure and list what the two people had in common. Invite students to research what Tubman did in Auburn, New York, after the war and present one finding to the class. Finally, ask each student to write one question the passage left unanswered, then look for the answer together.

Related Resources

• Civil War Worksheet
• Martin Luther King Jr Day Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• American Revolution Worksheet
• Context Clues Song (Have Fun Teaching)