The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832

by Taylor, Alan

  48 Gideon Granger to James Jackson, Mar. 23, 1802, quoted in Blackburn, Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 280; John, Spreading the News, 140–41.

  49 Blackburn, Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 286; Drescher, Abolition, 137; Ericson, “Slave Smugglers,” 185; M. Mason, “Necessary but Not Sufficient,” 18; Fehrenbacher and McAfee, Slaveholding Republic, 136–47; Deyle, Carry Me Back, 24.

  50 Boyd and Hemphill, Murder of George Wythe, 17, 37, 44, 53.

  51 Kirtland, “George Wythe,” 92–94; Boyd and Hemphill, Murder of George Wythe, 4–8,93 (John Randolph quote); Ely, Israel on the Appomattox, 22–24, 478n28.

  52 McColley, Slavery and Jeffersonian Virginia, 136; Kirtland, “George Wythe,” 92–94; Morgan, “Interracial Sex,” 58–59. Some historians have accepted the canard that Wythe fathered Brown, but Morgan makes a persuasive case against that misunderstanding.

  53 Boyd and Hemphill, Murder of George Wythe, 9–27, 37–44, 50, 53.

  54 Boyd and Hemphill, Murder of George Wythe, 29, 31n10, 58–59; McColley, Slavery and Jeffersonian Virginia, 136.

  55 Catterall, Judicial Cases concerning Slavery, vol. 1:112 (“freedom”); Morgan, “Interracial Sex,” 56; Wolf, Race and Liberty, 147–48; McColley, Slavery and Jeffersonian Virginia, 136; J. D. Rothman, Notorious in the Neighborhood, 221–22. For the public uproar against Wythe’s ruling, see St. George Tucker’s comment, in Hening and Munford, Reports of Cases, 137.

  56 St. George Tucker to Robert Pleasants, June 29, 1797 (“my name”) in “St. George Tucker Notes,” 38, TCP, box 63, SCSL-CWM; Tucker quoted in P. Hamilton, “Revolutionary Principles,” 543–44 (“Utopian idea”).

  57 Henry Lee to St. George Tucker, Jan. 18, 1796, in Coleman, Virginia Silhouettes, 5; Tucker, Williamsburg appraisal, Apr. 1, 1815, TCP, box 34, SCSL-CWM; P. Hamilton, “Revolutionary Principles,” 531–36, 545–46; P. Hamilton, Making and Unmaking, 83. For the premium placed on providing genteel sons with a substantial inheritance, see also Shalhope, John Taylor, 113–14.

  58 St. George Tucker to Jeremy Belknap, June 29, 1795, in Belknap, “Queries,” 409; P. Hamilton, “Revolutionary Principles,” 549; Nathaniel Beverley Tucker quoted in P. Hamilton, Making and Unmaking, 151–52.

  59 Berlin, Many Thousands Gone, 281; Cullen, St. George Tucker, 67; Doyle, “Judge St. George Tucker,” 428–31; Sidbury, Ploughshares into Swords, 35.

  60 St. George Tucker ruling in Hudgins v. Wrights, in Hening and Munford, Reports of Cases, 141; Wolf, Race and Liberty, 149.

  61 St. George Tucker ruling in Hudgins v. Wrights, in Hening and Munford, Reports of Cases, 138; Catterall, Judicial Cases concerning Slavery, vol. 1:112–13; P. Hamilton, “Revolutionary Principles,” 543–44; J.D. Rothman, Notorious in the Neighborhood, 222–23; Hening and Munford, Reports of Cases, 135. For Tucker’s deference to statutory law, see McGarvie, “Transforming Society,” 1423.

  62 St. George Tucker and Spencer Roane rulings in Hudgins v. Wrights, in Hening and Munford, Reports of Cases, 139–41.

  63 St. G. Tucker, Dissertation on Slavery, 48. For an example of the persistent myth of Tucker as a life-long foe of slavery, see Nicholls, Whispers of Rebellion, 148.

  64 [G. Tucker], Letters from Virginia, 73.

  CHAPTER FOUR: WARSHIPS

  1 Thomas M. Bayly to James Barbour, June 5, 1812, JBEP, reel 5502, LV.

  2 John Floyd and Henry Edmondson to James Barbour, Apr. 2, 1812, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:120–22.

  3 John Floyd and Henry Edmondson to James Barbour, Apr. 2, 1812, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:120–21.

  4 John Floyd and Henry Edmondson to Gov. James Barbour, Apr. 2, 1812, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:120–23. For Tom’s fate and price, see Auditor of Public Accounts, entry 756 (Condemned Slaves); Henry County Court, Apr. 14, 1812, trial of Tom, reel 2551, LV.

  5 The governor and Council of State applauded Floyd and Edmonson: “your Country is indebted to you for the vigilance with which you have discharged your official duties.” See Barbour to Floyd and Edmondson, Apr. 20, 1812, Executive Letter Book, p. 250, RG 3, reel 3009, LV.

  6 Drescher, Abolition, 223–28, 233–35; D. B. Davis, Problem of Slavery, 366–68; Blackburn, Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 310–15 (Lord Grenville quote on 313); Richardson, Moral Imperium, 154–64; Drescher, “Emperors of the World,” 133–35; Morgan, “Ending the Slave Trade,” 101–5; Hilton, “1807 and All That,” 73–74.

  7 C. L. Brown, Moral Capital, 341–89; Hilton, “1807 and All That,” 69–70.

  8 Richardson, Moral Imperium, 141–43, 150–51; Drescher, Abolition, 212–22; D.B. Davis, Problem of Slavery, 102–3, 343–85; Morgan, “Ending the Slave Trade,” 116–17; Jenkins, Henry Goulburn, 41–42.

  9 Blackburn, Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 300–305 (Henry Brougham quote on 301); Richardson, Moral Imperium, 143–47, 152–54; Stephen, Crisis of the Sugar Colonies, 151–57; Morgan, “Ending the Slave Trade,” 119; Jenkins, Henry Goulburn, 43–44.

  10 Drescher, Abolition, 117–18; D. B. Davis, Problem of Slavery, 117–19, 381–82; Buckley, Slaves in Red Coats, 41; Richardson, Moral Imperium, 97–98, 164–66; Blackburn, Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, 307–8. For the population figures, see Duffy, Soldiers, Sugar, and Seapower, 18. For the black regiments, see Buckley, Slaves in Red Coats, 2–24, 65, 78–84.

  11 Fergus, “‘Dread of Insurrection,’” 766; Buckley, Slaves in Red Coats, vii, 16, 22, 33 (George Pinckard quote: “Compared to slavery”), 38, 67–79, 96, 124–25, 130–33.

  12 Buckley, Slaves in Red Coats, 79–109.

  13 Fergus, “‘Dread of Insurrection,’” 767–75; Drescher, Abolition, 224–25; Brereton, History of Modern Trinidad, 38–40, 52–54; Epstein, “Politics of Colonial Sensation,” 716; Stephen, Crisis of the Sugar Colonies, 157.

  14 Morgan, “Ending the Slave Trade,” 108–9; Jenkins, Henry Goulburn, 67, 72–73.

  15 Brereton, History of Modern Trinidad, 63–64; George Canning quoted in Richardson, Moral Imperium, 179; Stephen, Crisis of the Sugar Colonies, 187–88.

  16 D. B. Davis, Problem of Slavery, 159–60; Epstein, “Politics of Colonial Sensation,” 739; Stephen, Crisis of the Sugar Colonies, 189 (“the fatal error”), 202 (“free, strong”); Jenkins, Henry Goulburn, 72–74.

  17 Richardson, Moral Imperium, 99–100, 103–26.

  18 Epstein, “Politics of Colonial Sensation,” 712–41 (William Garrow quotations on 719–20).

  19 John Lewis to Stapleton Crutchfield, May 23, 1813, MG 24, F 132, reel A-2076, LAC.

  20 Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 1–17, 70–76; Lambert, Challenge, 7–9.

  21 George Berkeley to William Marsden, July 4, 1807, MG 12 (Admiralty 1), vol.497:213, reel B-1445, LAC; Kettner, Development of American Citizenship, 50, 55; M. Lewis, Social History of the Navy, 435; Zimmerman, Impressment, 21.

  22 Colley, Captives, 4–12; Zimmerman, Impressment, 23–24.

  23 Bickham, Weight of Vengeance, 58–60; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 33, 47; Perkins, Prologue to War, 28–29, 86, 90n41, 93–95; Gwynn, Frigates and Foremasts, 130–31; Lambert, Challenge, 18–19; M. Lewis, Social History of the Navy, 436–37; Zimmerman, Impressment, 18.

  24 Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 62; Lavery, Nelson’s Navy, 125–26.

  25 Hinderaker, Elusive Empires, 260–61; Kettner, Development of American Citizenship, 173.

  26 M. Lewis, Social History of the Navy, 434–35; Zimmerman, Impressment, 19–20; Horsman, Causes of the War, 30; Perkins, Prologue to War, 192.

  27 Lambert, Challenge, 13, 34–35; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 208; David M. Erskine to George Canning, Oct. 5, 1807, and Phineas Bond to Canning, Dec. 1, 1807, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 52:297, and vol. 53:151, reel B-1872, LAC.

  28 Perkins, Prologue to War, 7–10, 74–75,107; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 52, 65, 72; Horsman, Causes of the War, 84–87.

  29 Gwynn, Frigates and Foremasts, 132; Francis Jackson (“I came to treat”) quoted in Bartlett, “Gentlemen versus Democrats,” 145.

  30 Tucker and Reuter, Injured Hon
or, 65, 72; David M. Erskine to George Canning, Oct. 5, 1807 (“highly grating”), MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 52:297, reel B-1872, LAC; Perkins, Prologue to War, 75.

  31 Richard Blow to Buchanan and Pollack, June 24, 1807 (“a General Panack”), Richard Blow Letterbook (Mss 5:2, B6235:2), VHS; John E. Douglass to George Berkeley, June 27, 1807, MG 12 (Admiralty 1), vol. 497:221, reel B-1445, LAC; John Hamilton to George Canning, June 27, 1807 (“an Atonement”), MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 53:262, reel B-1872, LAC.

  32 Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 101–5.

  33 Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 105–6; Thomas Mathews to Gov. Cabell, June 29, 1807, J. E. Douglas to Mayor Richard E. Lee, July 3, 1807, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 9:521, 525–26.

  34 Mayor Richard E. Lee to Gov. William Cabell, July 4, 1807 (“The militia”), Lee to J. E. Douglas, July 4, 1807 (“The day”), Thomas Mathews to Cabell, July 8, 1807, Lee to Mathews, July 15, 1807 (“to cast sarcasms”), and Mathews to Cabell, July 29, 1807, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 9:525, 526, 533–34, 542, 560–61; William Tatham to Thomas Jefferson, July 15, July 18 (“I wish”), and July 26, 1807, in Peterson, Defence of Norfolk, 39, 53.

  35 Thomas Mathews to Cabell, July 17, 1807, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol.9:541–42; Sir George Cranfield Berkeley to David M. Erskine, July 28, 1807, Thomas M. Hardy to Mathews, July 27, 1807, and Mathews to Hardy, Aug. 1, 1807, MG 12 (Admiralty 1), vol. 497:235, 300, 301, reel B-1445, LAC; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 109–16.

  36 William Tatham to Thomas Jefferson, July 14 and July 20, 1807, in Peterson, Defence of Norfolk, 38, 59; Thomas Mathews to Gov. William Cabell, July 30, 1807, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 9:545–46.

  37 Thomas M. Hardy to John Hamilton, July 15, 1807 (“Now, Sir”), Hardy to Sir George Cranfield Berkeley, Aug. 11, 1807 (“Black Pilot”), MG 12 (Admiralty 1), vol. 497:292, 295, reel B-1445, LAC.

  38 John Hamilton to Thomas M. Hardy, July 30, 1807, MG 12 (Admiralty 1), vol. 497:297, reel B-1445, LAC.

  39 Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, July 24, 1807, in Peterson, Defence of Norfolk, 50n55; Thomas M. Hardy to Littleton W. Tazewell, Aug. 2, 1807, Tazewell Family Papers, box 3, LV; Thomas Mathews to William H. Cabell, Aug. 3, 1807, Tazewell to Mathews, Aug. 3, 1807, Mathews to Cabell, Aug. 7, 1807, and Thomas Newton Jr. to Cabell, Aug. 31, 1807, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol.9:570–72, 575, 576–77, 594; Hardy to Mathews, Aug. 3, 1807, and Mathews to Hardy, Aug. 5, 1807, MG 12 (Admiralty 1), vol. 497:301, 302, reel B-1445, LAC; John Hamilton to George Canning, Aug. 2, 1807, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 53:281, reel B-1872, LAC; Robert B. Taylor quoted in James Barbour to the Council of State, May 12, 1812, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:137.

  40 David M. Erskine to George Canning, July 2, 1807, and Phineas Bond to Canning, July 14, 1807(“Indecent Tunes”), MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 52:232, and vol. 53:99, reel B-1872, LAC; R. B. Davis, Jeffersonian America, 293; Perkins, Prologue to War, 39–41, 50–51, 142–43.

  41 Horsman, Causes of the War, 103–8; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 101–8, 114; Albert Gallatin to Thomas Jefferson, July 25, 1807 (“none”), in Adams, Writings of Albert Gallatin, vol. 1: 345–48.

  42 Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 126–27; Lambert, Challenge, 10–13; James Monroe to James Madison, Oct. 10, 1807, in S. M. Hamilton, Writings of James Monroe, 10.

  43 James Monroe to James Madison, Oct. 10, 1807, in S. M. Hamilton, Writings of James Monroe, 14; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 114–15, 129–37; Horsman, Causes of the War, 99, 109–10, 117–22; Perkins, Prologue to War, 24, 148–56, 184–204; Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 20–22; Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire of Liberty, 19, 204–11; Lambert, Challenge, 24–27.

  44 Perkins, Prologue to War, 26–30, 157–59, 166–70, 204–5; Horsman, Causes of the War, 125–38; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 119–22; Lambert, Challenge, 28–29.

  45 Nevins, Diary of John Quincy Adams, 56; Malone, Jefferson, the President, 563–65, 571–74, 594–97; Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 22–28.

  46 Malone, Jefferson the President, 613–15; Tucker and Hendrickson, Empire of Liberty, 179, 212; Schoen, “Calculating the Price,” 191–92.

  47 James Madison, Message to Congress, Nov. 5, 1811 (“trampling”), in Stagg, PJM-PS, vol. 4:1–5; Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 71–79, 84, 110–11; Horsman, Causes of the War, 179–82; Perkins, Prologue to War, 46–49, 223, 241, 249–59, 266–67, 343–47, 350–51, 367, 435; Roger H. Brown, Republic in Peril, 88; Hickey, War of 1812, 26–30; Watts, Republic Reborn, 263–74.

  48 Hickey, Don’t Give Up the Ship, 42; Perkins, Prologue to War, 403–15; Roger H. Brown, Republic in Peril, 44–47, 131, 143–45; Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 110–14; Horsman, Causes of the War, 224.

  49 Roger H. Brown, Republic in Peril, 76–82; Hickey, War of 1812, 27, 47; James Monroe to John Taylor, June 13, 1812, in S. M. Hamilton, Writings of Monroe, vol. 1:205–6.

  50 John Randolph to the Freeholders, May 30, 1812, in Richmond Enquirer, June 12, 1812; Kirk, John Randolph, 132–34, 140–51, 167–68 (Randolph speech in Congress, Dec. 9, 1811: all quotations); John Randolph to James M. Garnett, Jan. 12, 1812, John Randolph Papers, box 3, SSCL-UVA; Risjord, Old Republicans, 134–35.

  51 William Sharp to Thomas Mathews, Nov. 14, 1808 (“the negro houses” and “Unfortunately”), Mathews to Gov. William H. Cabell, Nov. 18, 1808, Gov. William H. Cabell Executive Papers, ser. 1: Chronological Files, LV; L. K. Ford, Deliver Us from Evil, 26; Alexander Dick, travel journal, 182 (May 21, 1808: “always produces”), reel 2370, SSCL-UVA,

  52 Peggy Nicholas to Wilson Cary Nicholas, Dec. 21, 1808, Papers of the Randolph Family of Edgehill and Wilson Cary Nicholas (no. 5533), box 2, SSCL-UVA.

  53 William Dame to Gov. John Tyler, June 19, 1809 (“satisfactory evidence”), and J. B. to Gen. T. R., n.d., in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:62–63, 97. For skepticism of black conspiracy letters, see Wyatt-Brown, Southern Honor, 425. For a more accepting view of such letters, see Sidbury, “Saint Domingue in Virginia,” 540.

  54 Richard W. Byrd to James Monroe, May 30, 1810 (all quotations), and William Sharp to Monroe, June 6, 1810, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:82, 83; for the conviction and transportation, see Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, 247.

  55 Elizabeth Kennon to Lady Skipwith, June 9, 1810, Mss. 1, SK 366a, 12–15, VHS.

  56 John Campbell to David Campbell, Dec. 27, 1811, CFP, box 1, SC-DUL; John Coalter to St. George Tucker, Dec. 29, 1811 (“the wretched”), and Philip Barraud to St. George Tucker, Dec. 31, 1811, TCP, box 31, SSCL-CWM; Robert Gamble to James Breckenridge, Dec. 27, 1811, and Jan. 5, 1812, Breckinridge Family Papers, sec. 2 (Mss 1 B 7427 a 2-213), VHS; Lowery, James Barbour, 61.

  57 Joynes, “Burning of the Richmond Theatre,” 297–300 (witness Thomas R. Joynes’s words on 298).

  58 Peggy Nicholas to Wilson Cary Nicholas, Dec. 21, 1808, Papers of the Randolph Family of Edgehill and Wilson Cary Nicholas (no. 5533), box 2, SSCL-UVA.

  59 Jonathan Russell to James Monroe, Sep. 17, 1812, in Madison, Message from the President, 11–12.

  60 Bickham, Weight of Vengeance, 18.

  61 “Report on Relations with Great Britain,” Nov. 29, 1811, in Meriwether, Papers of Calhoun, vol. 1:67; orator Cornelius P. Van Ness quoted in M. Mason, “Battle of the Slaveholding Liberators,” 669; Waterhouse, Journal, 78 (“muster the crew”), 93; “Honor Calls for War” and “Impressed Seamen,” Philadelphia Aurora, June 19, 1812, and Mar. 26, 1813; Chamier, Life of a Sailor, 201 (“Why, I declare”). For the black proportion of American sailors, see Bolster, Black Jacks, 6.

  62 M. Mason, “Battle of the Slaveholding Liberators,” 668–69; “The Goal” and “Honor Calls for War,” Philadelphia Aurora, Apr. 28 and June 19, 1812; Waterhouse, Journal, 188 (“were stripped”); Richard M. Johnson, speech, Dec. 11, 1811, AC, 12th Congress, 1st session, 465; Richmond Enquirer, Nov. 24, 1812.

  63 Charlotte County citizens to President Madison, July 15, 1812, in Stagg, PJM-PS, vol. 5:34; John Campbell to David Campbell, Aug. 10, 1812, CFP, box 2, SC-DUL; Norfolk & Portsmouth Herald, June 19, 1812; Philip Barraud to St. George Tucker
, Apr. 2, 1813, TCP, box 32, SCSL-CWM; John Connell to James Barbour, July 1, 1812, and Gideon Spencer to Barbour, Dec. 19, 1812, JBEP, reels 5503 and 5507, LV.

  64 Philadelphia Aurora, May 17, 1813; [Baptist Irvine], “Extract of a Letter,” Baltimore Whig, June 10, 1813; Richmond Enquirer, June 25, 1814.

  65 Baker, “‘Slave’ Writes Thomas Jefferson,” 140 (“tyrants,” “Britain has got,” and “almost naked”); Reverend Lemuel Haynes quoted in Eustace, 1812, 190–91. Baker makes a persuasive case that the author of this anonymous letter had been a slave.

  66 George Chalmers to Viscount Melville, Aug. 3, 1812, Viscount Melville Papers, HL; Bartlett, “Gentlemen versus Democrats,” 148; M. Mason, “Battle of Slaveholding Liberators,” 678–81.

  67 Perkins, Prologue to War, 2–5, 73; Horsman, Causes of the War, 30–39; Tucker and Reuter, Injured Honor, 49; Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 18–19; John Borlase Warren, “Proclamation,” Oct. 5, 1812 (“the Noblest Cause”), MG 12 (Admiralty 1), vol. 502:321, reel B-1448, LAC; Thomas Barclay to Richard Barclay, Mar. 10, 1807, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 53:186, reel B-1872, LAC; Lovell, Personal Narrative, 10 (“declaring war”).

  68 M. Mason, “Battle of the Slaveholding Liberators,” 66–69; Sir Pulteney Malcolm to Miss Malcolm, Sep. 1, 1814, SPMP, box 1, WLCL; Lovell, Personal Narrative, 153; Bullard, Black Liberation, 97; [R.J. Barrett], “Naval Recollections,” 466 (“forth”).

  69 Sir David Milne to George Home, Feb. 5, 1812, and Apr. 26, 1814, in Hume, “Letters Written during the War of 1812,” 285, 293; Edward Codrington, journal, Oct. 27 and Nov. 6, 1814, MG 24, F 131 (Codrington correspondence), reel A-2076, LAC; Bartlett and Smith, “‘Species of Milito–Nautico–Guerilla Warfare,’” 187.

  70 Gould, “Making of an Atlantic State System,” 253–54; R. B. Davis, Jeffersonian America, 57, 149 (“the black race”).

  71 McColley, Slavery and Jeffersonian Virginia, 116–17: Wyllie, “Observations,” 398; M. Mason, “Battle of the Slaveholding Liberators,” 682–84; Fehrenbacher and McAfee, Slaveholding Republic, 25, 93.