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

by Taylor, Alan

  6 For the Hampton mail boat, see the depositions of Charles M. Collier, May 26, 1814, and John Bully, Aug. 23, 1827, and Feb. 20, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 129 (John Skinner), USNA-CP; “Norfolk, July 9,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, July 13, 1813. For the navy boat, see John Chandler, deposition, May 13, 1824, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 349 (Thomas Chandler), USNA-CP; Chandler to James Madison, Sep. 13, 1813, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 409 (John Chandler), USNA-CP. For Parrott’s boat, see John Parrott, deposition, Feb. 19, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, case 584 (Susanna Mayo), USNA-CP. For the Potomac boat, see Ephraim Brown, deposition, Apr. 25, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 206 (Ann Thompson), USNA-CP.

  7 For Golden’s story, see depositions of Dr. Isaac Rawlings, May 4, 1821, and Ellen Clark and John Ireland, Apr. 3, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 562, USNA-CP. For the similar retrievals by Joshua Cormick and Jacob Silence in June 1813, see Malcomson, “Freedom by Reaching the Wooden World,” 2.

  8 For the Roots case, see the depositions of William Sebastian, Jan. 25 and Apr. 3, 1828 (“did watch”), RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 645 (Jesse McKenny), USNA-CP; ASP-FR, vol. 5:814. Between 25 and 30 years old, Roots had belonged to Jesse McKenny.

  9 Zachariah Southoron, deposition, Apr. 5, 1815 (“if he was not preparing” and “No that he had been promised”), RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 606 (John Dare), USNA-CP; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:118–19.

  10 John Stoddert to Alexander Greer, Apr. 20, 1823, and depositions of Greer, May 5, 1823, and Walter Mitchell, Feb. 12, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 632 (Alexander Greer), USNA-CP; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:118; John Mercer to Levin Winder, Aug. 30, 1814, LWP, box 1, MdHS; George Cockburn to Robert Barrie, Mar. 26, 1814, Robert Barrie Papers, box 1, WLCL-UM; Cockburn to Capt. Watts, Apr. 27, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC; John Crawford, statement, in Richmond Enquirer, May 11, 1814; David Hardgrave, deposition, May 30, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:333; Littleton W. Tazewell to James Monroe, Oct. 12, 1814, JMP, ser. 1, reel 7, LC; Ball, Fifty Years in Chains, 470–71. For eyewitness accounts closer in time to the escape described by Ball, see the depositions of Samuel Cranford, June 6, 1823, and James Hollingshead, June 12, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 786 (Martha Wilson), USNA-CP; ASP-FR, vol. 5:806.

  11 Depositions of William Boush, Feb. 12, 1824, and James Collins, Nov. 3, 1827 (“had emptied”), RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 282 (William Boush), USNA-CP. For Bibles, see the depositions of Thomas Oldham, Sep. 10, 1827, and Henry H. Travers, Sep. 10, 1827, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 426 (B. M. Leland), USNA-CP.

  12 Mordecai A. Jones, depositions, Aug. 25, 1821, and June 26, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 639 (Mordecai Jones), and box 5, case 347 (Robert Dunkinson), USNA-CP; John Price, deposition, June 12, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 628 (William Dixon), USNA-CP; [R. J. Barrett], “Naval Recollections,” 467 (“the mournful picture”); Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:119.

  13 Levin J. Thomas, deposition, Feb. 21, 1825 (“so soon”), RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 315 (Thomas Badger), USNA-CP; William S. Williams, Jan. 14, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 523 (William Nottingham Jr.), USNA-CP. For the Hampton capture, see “Propositions!” Richmond Enquirer, July 30, 1813.

  14 James and George Denton, deposition, Jan. 22, 1828 (“a short time”), RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 556 (James D. Denton), USNA-CP; ASP-FR, vol. 5:803.

  15 “Private Correspondence,” National Intelligencer, Aug. 30, 1813; Caleb Jones, deposition, Apr. 5, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 638 (Caleb Jones), USNA-CP. The raid yielded six more slaves: Job (24 years old), Lucy (24), Peter (20), Suckey (19), Abraham (8), and James (7). For Point Lookout, see Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 173–75.

  16 John Rousby Plater to John Quincy Adams, June 30, 1821, and the depositions of Plater, June 23, 1821 (“a most valuable” and “a black smith”), and Joseph Brewer, June 23, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 310 (John Rousby Plater), USNA-CP; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 201; Joseph Nourse to George Cockburn, July 23, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:159. I have categorized those 16 and older as women or men and those younger as children. For the newspaper account of Plater’s discussion with the British captain, see “Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman of St. Mary’s to the Editor,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, June 24, 1814.

  17 For the story of Benjamin and Cecelia, see Bennet Sollers, deposition, Aug. 26, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 797 (Walter Helen), USNA-CP. For Joe Lane’s family, see the depositions of William Ball, June 13, 1815, and John Grinstead, Apr. 18, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 801 (Mottram Ball), USNA-CP. For the story of Sall and her children, see Mary G. Wilkins, deposition, Jan 26, 1828, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 7, USNA-CP. For other cases of divided slave couples reunited by escape, see Charles Brown, deposition, Dec. 29, 1827, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 503 (Trueman Taylor), USNA-CP; depositions of William Boush, Aug. 30, 1827, and D. C. Barraud, Nov. 2, 1827, RG 76,, entry 190, box 3, case 194 (Elisabeth J. Nimmo), USNA-CP.

  18 Edward Lee, William Hawkins, and James Burke, deposition, Sep. 24, 1827 (“At the same time”), RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 198 (Robert Dunn), USNA-CP. For Lucy and Paul, see Edward Richman, deposition, Dec. 7, 1827, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 14, USNA-CP. Northampton County produced 34 surviving depositions about runaway slaves during 1813. In 6 of them, the witnesses merely report visiting warships where they saw runaways. In the rest of the depositions (28) the witnesses say something about the conditions of escape. In 21 of the 28, the witnesses report slaves escaping in a cluster from multiple farms on the same night. For the depositions, see Northampton County folder, RG 3 (Office of the Governor), depositions, 1814–1821 (accession no. 1151894), LV. See especially the deposition of Levin Winder, Feb. 13, 1814.

  19 Samuel Jackson, deposition, Apr. 7, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 224 (John Jones), USNA-CP; Thomas Peterkin, deposition, Nov. 8, 1824 (Thomas Primrose), RG 76, entry 190, box 10, case 1020 (Thomas Primrose), USNA-CP; Thomas Griffin, deposition, Nov. 19, 1822, RG 76, entry 190, case 734 (Thomas Griffin), USNA-CP. For Jim Bruce, see Henry A. Callis, deposition, Nov. 15, 1824, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 701 (Anthony Addison), USNA-CP. For the role of family ties as either inhibiting or enabling flight, see Schermerhorn, Money over Mastery, 50–51.

  20 Mrs. Alletha Smith, deposition, Mar. 1, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 569 (Susanna Rawlings), USNA-CP; ASP-FR, vol. 5:802, 805.

  21 For the Carter estate slaves, see the depositions of Richard Clarke, Apr. 9, 1828, Old Tom, Apr. 9, 1828, and Simon Willis, Apr. 17, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 811 (Charles B. Carter estate), USNA-CP. For the Turberville estate slaves, see the depositions of Vincent T. Branson, Apr. 29, 1823 (“that every Negroe” and “that all the women”), and John Murphy, May 2, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 720 (John Turberville Sr.), USNA-CP. For their gender as indicated by their names (and in a few cases their age), see ASP-FR, vol. 5:817. A Virginia state accounting for 1,198 runaways claimed by 400 owners finds that 105 of the latter were widows or estates, and they lost a total of 363 slaves, or 3.5 per owner (compared to 2.8 per owner for the rest). See “List of Depositions Related to Slaves and Other Property Plundered by the Enemy during the Late War, 1812,” B 1054672, Auditor of Public Accounts (RG 48), LV.

  22 Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:119–20. For a husband separated from his wife during an escape, see W. Settle, deposition, Mar. 4, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 696 (William B. Tomlin), USNA-CP.

  23 The data come from many depositions, primarily taken by Bartholomew McCarty as county clerk, in which the deponent often (but not always) provides information about skin color and occupation and age. No other county clerk recorded skin color as frequently as McCarty did. It is possible that McCarty and the deponents tended to record skin color more often for the lighter-skinned, but there are depositions in which only a few of the slaves receive a skin designation and that
designation is “black.” Does that suggest that the others listed on that deposition without a recorded skin color were not “black”? If so, McCarty’s data underestimates the proportion of the light-skinned. In 66 of the 106 cases, he also reports a primary occupation for the runaway. As expected, mixed-race people prevailed among the county’s escaped house servants: 8 (80 percent) of 10. But they were surprisingly numerous among the runaway artisans—6 (43 percent) of 14—and even the field hands: 17 (40 percent) of 42. In 40 of the 106 cases, where McCarty noted color, he either neglected to record occupation (n = 9) or listed the children as “houseboy” or “housegirl” (n = 31), which means they did light chores and were not proper “house servants,” who were adults. In the case of the children, 11 (35 percent) of 31 were light-skinned. See APA-GMR, entry 258 (List of Furloughs and Discharges), box 779, Richmond County folder, LV.

  24 Depositions of William S. Teackle and Thomas H. Floyd, Oct. 20, 1827 (all quotations), and Southey Goffigan, Nov. 5, 1824, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 257 (John K. Floyd), USNA-CP.

  25 Depositions of Levin G. Winder, Feb. 13, 1815, and Peggy Collins, Dec. 27, 1827 (includes Arthur Jacob quote), RG 76, case 542 (John H. Winder), USNA-CP. Ownership of the 16 was divided between John H. Winder and his father, John. See ASP-FR, vol. 5:817.

  26 Richard Ross, deposition, Sep. 24, 1821 (Thomas Perks), RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 789 (Richard Ross), USNA-CP; William Sudler, deposition, Apr. 28, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 776 (Thomas K. Carroll), USNA-CP; Richard Frisby to John Quincy Adams, May 26, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 862 (Richard Frisby), USNA-CP.

  27 Depositions of Thomas Archer, June 21, 1814, and Samuel S. Griffin, Aug. 15, 1814 (“the highest value”), APA-GMR, entry 258, box 779, York County folder, LV.

  28 Greenberg, “Name, Face, Body,” 4.

  29 For works that emphasize African survivals late into the eighteenth century, see Rucker, River Flows On; Sidbury, “Saint Domingue in Virginia,” 531–52; Sobel, World They Made Together.

  30 Joseph C. Cabell, “Narrative of the Arrest of Michael Gleason,” Aug. 6, 1821 (“calling me”), and Cabell to William Wirt, Feb. 18, 1828, JCC&CFP (38-111), box 14, SSCL-UVA.

  31 John Cowper to Joseph C. Cabell, Oct. 5, 1827, JCC&CFP (38-111), box 19, SSCL-UVA; Greenberg, “Name, Face, Body,” 4–5; [Wirt], Argument in Support of the Chesapeake Claims, 25–26, in RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 6, USNA-CP.

  32 D. C. Barraud, deposition, Nov. 2, 1827 (“it is most common”), RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 194 (Elizabeth J. Nimmo), USNA-CP; W. Williams Jr. and Thomas James, deposition, Nov. 17, 1827, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 784 (Samuel Beauchamp), USNA-CP; Gideon White, deposition, Mar. 15, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 737 (Arthur T. Jones), USNA-CP.

  33 Swenson Whitehead, statement, n.d. (“Slaves in Virginia”), RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 193 (John Johnston), USNA-CP; Augustine Neale, statement, n.d. (“These negroes”), RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 440 (Warren Hudnall), USNA-CP; Neale, memorandum, Mar. 14, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 475 (Pemberton Claughton), USNA-CP.

  34 C. C. Lee memorandum, May 19, 1828, RG 76, Entry 190, box 6, case 502 (Ann and Elizabeth McCarty), USNA-CP.

  35 “Norfolk, May 7,” “Advices from Point Look-Out,” and “From Below,” National Intelligencer, May 12, 1813 (“One would” and “constantly at hard labor”), Aug. 25 and Aug. 26, 1813; “Interesting,” and “Our Slaves,” Richmond Enquirer, Sep. 14 and Dec. 16, 1813 (“perfect freedom”); M. Mason, “Battle of the Slaveholding Liberators,” 673-74; G A. Smith, Slaves’ Gamble, 92, 97.

  36 James Barbour, speech to the House of Delegates, Dec. 22, 1813, Executive Letter Book, 14, RG 3 (Office of the Governor), reel 3011 LV. For alleged cases of British officers boasting of their income from selling runaways, see Joseph C. Cabell to St. George Tucker, Nov. 24, 1813, TCP, box 33, SCSL-CWM; John Hamilton Brown, deposition, Apr. 4, 1815, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 13, USNA-CP; Michael Taney, deposition, Aug. 11, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 514 (Michael Taney Sr.), USNA-CP.

  37 “To a Member of the House of Delegates,” Virginia Argus, Jan. 29, 1814.

  38 John G. Joynes to James Barbour, July 29, 1813, JBEP, reel 5515, LV; Council of State Record Book, p. 308 (July 29, 1813), RG 75, reel 2990, LV. For other examples of free blacks preferring to stay home rather than go away with the British, see Toby Richards, deposition, Nov. 4, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 10, case 986 (Morton A. Waring), USNA-CP.

  39 John Shaw reminiscence in Whitfield, Blacks on the Border, 37; Caroline Shearman’s Davy, deposition, July 4, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, case 962 (Joseph Shearman estate), USNA-CP.

  40 [Anonymous], “Recollections of the Expedition,” 28.

  41 Jesse Baker, deposition, May 31, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 641 (Joshua King), USNA-CP; Thomas M. Harris, deposition, Oct. 12, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 608 (George Wilkinson), USNA-CP.

  42 Depostions of Levin W. Ballard, Apr. 7, 1815 (“had requested” and “against her will”), and May 15, 1821, and of Mary W. Hodgkin, Dec. 7, 1827, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 718 (Elizabeth Ballard), USNA-CP.

  43 John C. Crump, deposition, Oct. 18, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 573 (John C. Crump), USNA-CP; Caleb Jones, deposition, Apr. 5, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 638 (Caleb Jones), USNA-CP; John Hamilton Brown, deposition, Apr. 4, 1815 (“kitchen”), RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 13, USNA-CP; Anthony quoted in Jesse Baker, deposition, May 31, 1821, RG 7, entry 190, box 7, case 641 (Joshua King), USNA-CP.

  44 Nathaniel Washington, deposition, Apr. 7, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 652 (Nathaniel Washington), USNA-CP; Arthur Tilghman Jones, deposition, Oct. 9, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 737 (Arthur Tilghman Jones), USNA-CP.

  45 “Movements of the Enemy,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, July 28, 1814 (“Under the direction”); depositions of William Kilgour, Sep. 7, 1815, and H. S. Boteler, May 15, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 622 (H. S. Boteler), USNA-CP.

  46 Depositions of William Kilgour, Sep. 7, 1815 and H. S. Boteler, May 15, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 622 (H. S. Boteler), USNA-CP.

  47 B. Contee to James Monroe, Oct. 7, 1814, RG 59, M 179, reel 30, USNA-CP; Ezekiel Chambers, deposition, May 21, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 737 (Arthur T. Jones), USNA-CP.

  48 Vincent Bramham, deposition, Nov. 8, 1827, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 4, USNA-CP; Dr. Benjamin Williams, deposition, Apr. 7, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 490 (Dr. Benjamin Williams), USNA-CP. For other cases of apparent force, see Mary L. Saunders, deposition, Oct. 29, 1827, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 391 (George Yerby), USNA-CP; Michael Taney, deposition, Aug. 11, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 514, USNA-CP.

  49 Walter Jones to Augustine Neale, June 8, 1815, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 13, USNA-CP.

  50 John T. Keeling, deposition, Nov. 4, 1822, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 241 (Lemuel Cornick), USNA-CP; Hezekiah Smoot, deposition, June 16, 1818, RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 185 (Thomas Smith), USNA-CP; deposition of Nicholas Cook, May 16, 1821 (“the artifices”), and James Roney, Dec. 16, 1822 (“replied”), RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 235 (Nicholas Cook), USNA-CP; John Chandler, deposition, May 13, 1824, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 349 (Thomas Chandler), USNA-CP; Joseph C. Cabell, “Explanatory Notes Touching the Claim for Slaves Carried off by the British Forces from Corrottoman on Rappahannock River in Virginia,” July 3, 1824, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 6, USNA-CP; Ball, Fifty Years in Chains, 472.

  51 George Scherer, deposition, May 26, 1820, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 709 (Mathew Beard), USNA-CP; Thomas Whittington, deposition, Oct. 18, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 818 (Thomas Whittington), USNA-CP; Ball, Fifty Years in Chains, 469; Commodore Beresford quoted in Thomas Peterkin, deposition, Nov. 8, 1824 (“was under the protection”), RG 76, entry 190, box 10, case 1020 (Thomas Primrose), USNA-CP; Kendall Addison to John Borlase Warren, May 14, 1813, and Warren to Addison, May 16, 1813, MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 503:283, 284, reel B
-1448, LAC.

  52 Thomas Holmes, deposition, Mar. 12, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 791 (Ann Gaines, widow of Ambrose Gaines), USNA-CP. For reports of politeness, see John Turberville to George Cockburn, Nov. 4, 1813, William Middleton to Turberville, Nov. 6, 1813, and Thomas R. Yeatman to Christopher Tompkins, Mar. 11, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:283, 284, 307; Ball, Fifty Years in Chains, 470–72; Lelia Tucker to Mary W. Cabell, May 16, 1814, JCCFP (38-111), box 10, SSCL-CWM.

  53 British captain quoted in Hugues Lavergne, deposition, Nov. 26, 1824, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 763 (Louis Dolives), USNA-CP; Arthur Smith, deposition, Aug. 5, 1822, APC-GMR, entry 258, box 779, Isle of Wight County folder, LV; depositions of John C. Crump, Oct. 18, 1823, and Arthur Smith, May 3, 1826, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 573 (John C. Crump), USNA-CP; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:129-30.

  54 John Goodall, deposition, Feb. 25, 1824, APA-GMR, entry 258, box 779, Elizabeth City County folder, LV; John G. Joynes, deposition, Dec. 2, 1827, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 345, USNA-CP; Ball, Fifty Years in Chains, 472; Joseph C. Cabell to John Hartwell Cocke, Nov. 16, 1813, JCCFP (38-111-C), box 10, SSCL-UVA. Joseph Nourse to George Cockburn, Aug. 12, 1814, SGCP, reel 9, LC. The one conspicuous exception came in the last month of the war, when a group of slaves captured on a mail boat near Hampton chose to return to their masters, to the amazement of the Virginia newspapers. See “Norfolk, Jan. 6,” Richmond Enquirer, Jan. 11, 1815, Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 7:319 (Jan. 14, 1815).

  55 Thomas Archer, deposition, Apr. 1, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 734 (Thomas Griffin), USNA-CP; Hezekiah Smoot, deposition, Feb. 5, 1828, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 8, USNA-CP; William A. Christian, deposition, Feb. 18, 1825, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 296 (Thomas Parramour), USNA-CP; Joseph C. Cabell to St. George Tucker, Nov. 24, 1813 (“that they”), TCP, box 33, SCSL-CWM; Cabell, “Explanatory Notes Touching the Claim for Slaves Carried Off by the British Forces from Corrottoman on Rappahannock River in Virginia,” July 3, 1824, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 6, USNA-CP.