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

by Taylor, Alan

  56 Armistead Smith to William Patterson Smith, Feb. 5 (the quotations) and Feb. 12, 1814, WPSP, box 1, SC-DUL. For Humphrey as the name of “Brooks’s fellow,” see the postwar compensation claim of John Brooks in ASP-FR, vol. 5:809.

  57 Benjamin Mason quoted in the depositions of Benjamin W. Hushaw, Jan. 18, 1828 (“had been treated”), and John G. Mackell, Jan. 19, 1828 (“that the negroes”), RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 15, USNA-CP.

  58 Charles M. Collier, deposition, Dec. 29, 1822 (“almost the entire”), APA-GMR, entry 258, box 779, LV; Martha Dilson, deposition, Mar. 20, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 753 (Mary Blake, widow of Thomas Blake), USNA-CP; depositions of Benjamin Hewitt, Mar. 6, 1824, and James Hughes, Mar. 4, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 842 (Elizabeth Barnhouse), USNA-CP; Houlder Hudgins, petition to the state legislature, Dec. 5, 1815, Virginia General Assembly Legislative Petitions, box 159, folder 15 (Mathews County) reel 122, LV; Milia Palmer to unknown, n.d., RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 435 (William Palmer), USNA-CP; ASP-FR, vol. 5:815; Ann Massey, deposition, June 11, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 563 (Lee Massey), USNA-CP; John C. Cabell to John Hartwell Cocke, Nov. 16, 1813, JCCFP (38-111-c), box 10, SSCL-UVA; James Barbour, speech to the House of Delegates, Dec. 22, 1813, Executive Letter Book, p. 14, RG 3 (Office of the Governor), reel 3011, LV.

  59 Armistead Smith to William Patterson Smith, Feb. 12, 1814, WPSP, box 1, SC-DUL; Himmelheber, “Sotterley Plantation,” 92; Walter Jones to John Tayloe, Aug. 12, 1814, WHWP, box 2, MdHS; Mrs. T. B. Glasscock to Sarah Barryman, Nov. 11, 1814, Mss 2 G4616 b, VHS; St. George Tucker to John Coalter, Dec. 26, 1814, Mss 1 G8855 e 28-52, VHS; Philip Barraud to Tucker, Aug. 16 and 30, 1814, TCP, box 33, SCSL-CWM; Nicholas Faulcon to John Hartwell Cocke, July 25, 1814 (“I am at a loss”), and Sep. 13, 1814, JHCFP, boxes 16 and 17, SSCL-UVA; Landon Carter to Robert Wormely Carter, July 30, 1814, Carter and Wellford Family of Sabine Hall Papers, box 3, SSCL-UVA.

  60 Lancaster County Court papers, court orders, vol. 24:91 (June 16, 1812), 157 (July 21, 1813), 159 (July 19, 1813), reel 39, LV; Council of State Record Book, p. 116 (Mar. 20, 1813), RG 75, reel 2990, LV. For a similar wartime increase in the number of slave patrols in Accomack County, see Hadden, Slave Patrols, 163, 300n160.

  61 “Runaway Negroes,” Richmond Enquirer, Oct. 8, 1813 (with quotations). For a reminiscence of the “Sand Hills” raid that includes the story of the forced guide, see William Whitehurst, deposition, Oct. 20, 1827, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 239 (Edward Seymour), USNA-CP. For similar orders in Maryland, see Cassell, “Slaves of the Chesapeake,” 147.

  62 National Intelligencer, Sep. 7, 1813; “Norfolk, Sep. 3,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, Sep. 7, 1813; Henry Keeling, deposition, Apr. 9, 1823 (“White men in disguise”), APA-GMR, entry 258, LV. For rumors of a later attempt to use whites in black face as decoys, see Joseph Nourse to George Cockburn, Aug. 12, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:161.

  63 For the British insistence on summary executions, see Joseph C. Cabell to St. George Tucker, Nov. 24, 1813, TCP, box 33, SCSL-CWM. For the Lancaster case, see Lancaster County Court papers, vol. 24:198, reel 39, LV. For Brent’s activity and payment as a slave patroller, see vol. 24:196. For McNamara’s compensation, see ASP-FR, vol. 5:814.

  64 John Taylor Lomax (on behalf of John P. Hungerford) to the adjutant general, July 31, 1814 (“What should”), JBEP, reel 5522, LV; Council of State Record Book, p. 287 (Aug. 2, 1814), RG 75, reel 2990, LV. For the paucity of wartime convictions for conspiracy or revolts, see Schwarz, Twice Condemned, 236–37.

  65 St. G. Tucker, Dissertation on Slavery, 32. For slaves liberated from jails in Calvert County (Maryland) and Northumberland County (Virginia), see Joseph Nourse to George Cockburn, July 23, 1814 (“for endeavouring”), in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:157; Joseph Rogers, deposition, June 12, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 440 (Warren Hudnall), USNA-CP. For the Mathews County nine, see John Patterson to Levin Winder, Feb. 25, 1815, MSP, ser. A, box S1004-134, document 212, MdSA. For the jail break by George, see William W. Wilson, deposition, May 9, 1814 (“many others”) in the Northampton County folder.

  66 George Cockburn to Capt. Watts, Apr. 6, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC; Cockburn to Sir John Borlase Warren, Apr. 13, 1814 and Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, May 10, 1814 (“they managed”), in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:47, 65; Armistead Smith to William Patterson Smith, Apr. 19, 1814, WPSP, box 1, SC-DUL; John Crawford, statement, in Richmond Enquirer, May 11, 1814; Burwell Bassett to the adjutant general, May 4, 1814, Virginia Argus, May 11, 1814: “About six weeks ago two negroes were sent on shore near Gwynn’s Island, with twenty dollars each, to entice the negroes off.” Gwynn Island lies in Mathews County.

  67 James Monroe to Anthony St. John Baker, Apr. 1, 1815, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 106:173, reel B-2005, LAC; “List of Depositions Related to Slaves and Other Property Plundered by the Enemy during the Late War, 1812,” 1822, Auditor of Public Accounts (RG 48): B 1054672, LV. A partial accounting, this register identifies 394 owners of 1,186 runaways—none of whom came from a Piedmont county. This register requires many judgment calls as most names appear at least twice, for the second half repeats much of the first half of the volume but with variations to spellings of names. The fuller federal list compiled after the war to compensate masters who lost runaways concluded that 762 Maryland and Virginia masters lost 2,435 runaways, an average of 3.2 slaves per owner. See ASP-FR, vol. 5: 801–18.

  68 For the Virginia peacetime runaways of the late eighteenth century, see Morgan, Slave Counterpoint,525–30. For the proportions of male and female runaways from Virginia to the British during the War of 1812, see the names listed by the postwar claims commission in ASP-FR, vol. 5:808–18. I sorted the names by apparent gender. For example, I counted every Bob and Toby as male and placed Milley, Sukey, and Maria on the female side of the count. This method yielded 1,091 probable males (66 percent) and 565 (34 percent) probable females. The calculations exclude 65 slaves either unnamed or of uncertain gender, for the overall total of 1,721 wartime runaways from Virginia. My sorting probably undercounts females, whose names were less well known to many of the masters seeking compensation. Among the Virginia owners, 34 of 540 claimed to have lost 10 or more slaves; their claims named 633 slaves, 334 (53 percent) males and 299 (47 percent) females. The former record rarely categorizes the children among the runaways. A bit better but still erratic is the accounting of 1,198 Virginia runaways claimed by 400 owners in the “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. For most entries, the clerk merely characterized a runaway as “male” or “female” but occasionally identified one as a “boy,” “girl,” or “child.” Such specification was most complete in the record for Northumberland County, which lost more slaves (288) than any other county. In Northumberland, at least 43 (15 percent) of the 288 were children, meaning people under the age of 12. For owners who lost 10 or more slaves, the percentage of female runaways rose to nearly 47 percent, indicating that they especially benefited from group escapes. See also “Mr. Crawford’s Statement,” National Intelligencer, May 16, 1814.

  A British list of 1,611 “American Refugee Negroes,” who reached Halifax, Nova Scotia, between April 27, 1815, and October 24, 1818, reveals similar proportions of women and adult men. Among the refugees to Halifax, females comprised 37 percent of all the adults (those 16 years and older) and accounted for a bit more, 39 percent, of those in the prime of life (16 to 45); the proportion of males was greatest for those over 45. Children (those under 16 years old) accounted for 23 percent of the refugees.

  HALIFAX REFUGEES, BY AGE AND GENDER, 1815–1818

  Source: “Halifax List: Return of American Refugee Negroes Who Have Been Received into the Province of Nova Scotia from the United States of America,” Apr. 27, 1815, to Oct. 24, 1818, http://www.gov.ca/nsarm/virtual/Africanns/1812.

  Note: The Halifax list is often
imprecise about the gender of children, so that has not been calculated in the table.

  69 The data come from the advertisements for 1813 and 1814 as reprinted in Meaders, Advertisements, 189–227.

  70 Meaders, Advertisements, 189–227. The advertisements specify an anticipated destination for 92 runaways, and in 85 percent of such cases the master suspected that the fugitive remained within the Chesapeake region. In only 15 percent of the cases did the master suspect that the runaway meant to flee from the region, either by heading north to a free state (8 of 92 cases, 9 percent) or by seeking out a British warship (6 of 92 cases, 6 percent). The six runaways assumed to be warship-bound appeared in the three advertisements posted by Thomas Wilson of Henrico County, William Robinson Howard of Fairfax County, and Elizabeth Mims of Goochland County. For their lack of postwar compensation, see ASP-FR, vol. 5:808–18.

  CHAPTER NINE: FIGHT

  1 John P. Hungerford to the adjutant general, Aug. 5, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:368.

  2 John G. Joynes to Thomas M. Bayly, Apr. 13, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:319; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:131–36.

  3 Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:131–36 (quotations); Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 224–25.

  4 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Apr. 2, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:43–45; Joseph Nourse to George Cockburn, Aug. 12, 1814, SGCP, reel 9, LC; Shomette, Flotilla, 167–68.

  5 Sir Alexander Cochrane to George Cockburn, Apr. 28, 1814, and Cockburn to Cochrane, May 10 and June 25, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:51, 64–65, 116; Bartlett, “Gentlemen versus Democrats,” 147–49.

  6 Lord Eglinton to Sir Thomas Brisbane, May 1, 1814, Brisbane Papers, folder 1, WLCL-UM; Sir John Beresford to Viscount Melville, Dec. [n.d.], 1813, Viscount Melville Papers, HL; Robert Barrie to Dolly Gardner Clayton, Feb. 4, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:17; Sir David Milne to George Home, May 30, 1814, in Hume, “Letters Written during the War of 1812,” 293; Edward Codrington, journal, July 31, 1814, MG 24, F 131 (Codrington letters), reel A-2076, LAC; Shomette, Flotilla, 229; Capt. Robert Rowley to Owsley Rowley, Apr. 8, 1814, June 24 and Aug. n.d., 1814, in Rowley, “Captain Robert Rowley,” 241, 243, 244. See also the letters of George Hanger, originally in the London Morning Post of Nov. 14, 1814 and reprinted in National Intelligencer, May 20, 1815.

  7 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cockburn, Apr. 2 (“surrounded”) and April 13, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:43, 47; Cockburn to Cochrane, May 9, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Shomette, Flotilla, 73–74; Thomas M. Bayly to James Barbour, Apr. 14, 1814, JBEP, reel 5520, LV; John G. Joynes to Bayly, Apr. 13, 1814, Thomas R. Joynes to Bayly, June 10, 1814, and Bayly to Barbour, June 23, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:319, 342; Barbour to Bayly, Apr. 25, 1814, Executive Letter Book, p. 57 RG 3 (Office of the Governor), reel 3011, LV; Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 6:344 (July 16, 1814); Edward Herbert, deposition, May 25, 1814, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 5, USNA-CP.

  8 Wallace, Parson of the Islands, 40–44, 128–31, 138–39 (“his acquaintance”); Leaven Gayle to James Barbour, Mar. 13, 1813 (“very little”), JBEP, reel 5510, LV; George Cockburn to Sir John Borlase Warren, June 17, 1813 (“very poor”), SGCP, reel 6, LC; Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Apr. 2, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:43; Cockburn, orders, Apr. 16, and June 30, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC; Thomas M. Bayly to Barbour, Apr. 14, 1814, JBEP, reel 5520, LV; Bayly to Barbour, June 16 and June 23, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:343, 346; Bayly to Barbour, June 29, 1814, JBEP, reel 5521, LV.

  9 Thomas M. Bayly to James Barbour, Apr. 14, 1814, in Richmond Enquirer, Apr. 30, 1814; George Cockburn to unknown, June 2, 1814, SGCP, reel 7, LC; George Cockburn, orders, June 30, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC; Cockburn to Capt. Watts, July 27, 1814 (“inform”), SGCP, reel 7, LC.

  10 Sir Alexander Cochrane to Sir George Prevost, Mar. 11, 1814, and George Cockburn to Sir John Borlase Warren, Apr. 13, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:40, 47; Cochrane to Thomas Brown, July 20, 1814, and Cochrane to Cockburn, July 21, 1814, SACP, file 2349, reel 8, LC; Cockburn to Cochrane, Aug. 15, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Cockburn to William Hammond, May 19, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC; Weiss, Merikens, 7; Weiss, “Corps of Colonial Marines,” 83.

  11 Paul Bable, deposition, Feb. 5, 1828, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 14, USNA-CP; depositions of John G. Joynes, Feb. 16, 1828, and Zachariah Crocket and Job Parker, Feb. 23, 1828, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 16, USNA-CP; George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Apr. 29, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; R. E. Parker to James Barbour, June 11, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:338; Cockburn to Cochrane, May 9, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:62; Cockburn to Capt. Watts, July 27, 1814, and Cockburn to Edward Griffiths, Aug. 10, 1814, SGCP, reel 7, LC; Cockburn to Watts, June 30, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC; Lovell, Personal Narrative, 153. For runaways who became sailors, see Arthur Smith, deposition, Aug. 5, 1822, APA-GMR, entry 258, box 779, Isle of Wight County folder, LV; Lewis Neth Jr., deposition, July 21, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 764 (Lewis Neth), USNA-CP; Malcomson, “Freedom by Reaching the Wooden World,” 5. For the personal servants of British officers, see Jacob G. Parker, deposition, Nov. 10, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 258 (Jacob G. Parker), USNA-CP; Robert Murphy, deposition, May 28, 1821, APA-GMA, entry 258, box 779, Westmoreland County folder, LV. For supernumeraries see George Cockburn to Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, Oct. 2, 1813, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Sir Alexander Cochrane to Cockburn, Apr. 28, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:51–52. For the rations provided to supernumeraries, see Cockburn to Cochrane, Apr. 29 and June 26, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Cochrane to Cockburn, May 26, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:67. For the slops, see Cockburn, order, Apr. 17, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC. For women as cooks and laundresses, see Isaac Smith, deposition, Jan. 31, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 607 (William C. Dawkins), USNA-CP; William Miles, deposition, June 7, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 898 (William Williams), USNA-CP; Mr. Rennolds, deposition, Apr. 15, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 775 (William Sudler), USNA-CP. For women as recruiters, see Augustine Neal, memorandum, Mar. 31, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 417 (Kenner W. Cralle), USNA-CP.

  12 Bartlett and Smith, “‘Species of Milito-Nautico-Guerilla Warfare,’” 188; George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Apr. 29 (“all, without exception”) and June 26, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Cockburn to Capt. Watts, June 30, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC; James Jaboe, deposition, Apr. 30, 1821 (“that the British”), RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 650 (Dr. Hezekiah Dent estate), USNA-CP; Cockburn, order, Apr. 17, 1814, SGCP, reel 10, LC; Cochrane to Cockburn, May 26, 1814 (“as an inducement”), in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:67; Meschack Hammons, deposition, July 9, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 555 (Eliza J. Hungerford), USNA-CP; Peter Wilson, deposition, Apr. 5, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 559 (James M. Sollers), USNA-CP. For bounties, rations, and alcohol, see also Cochrane to Cockburn, Apr. 28 and May 26, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:51–52, 67.

  13 Nathaniel Washington, deposition, Apr. 7, 1815 (all quotations), RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 652 (Nathaniel Washington), USNA-CP; Jesse Edwards, deposition, Apr. 4, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 7 case 631 (Jesse Edwards), USNA-CP.

  14 John King, deposition, Feb. 25, 1828 (“ask’d”), RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 910 (Thomas Beacham), USNA-CP; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:143; Lovell, Personal Narrative, 150; Samuel Turner, deposition, Apr. 28, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 700 (Jane Parran), USNA-CP; Dr. Horace Welford, deposition, May 5, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 293 (Eliza C. and John Darby), USNA-CP.

  15 George Cockburn to Capt. Watts, July 7, 1814, SGCP, reel 7, LC.

  16 Depositions of D. A. Hall, undated (“A slave of so useful”), and Thomas R. King, Apr. 22, 1828 (“acting as”) in RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 773 (William Harris), USNA-CP. For a similar case, see Thomas B. Hungerford to Robert P. Dunlop, Mar. 27, 1828, RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 745 (Thomas B. Hung
erford), USNA-CP. For the raid on Prince Frederick, Maryland, see Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 177.

  17 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Apr. 2, 1814 (“Blacky”), Cockburn to Sir John Borlase Warren, Apr. 13, 1814 (“They pretend”) and Cockburn to Cochrane, May 10, 1814 in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:43–44, 47, 65–66.

  18 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, May 10, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:65.

  19 Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:199–204; Capt. Charles B. H. Ross to George Cockburn, May 29, 1814, SGCP, reel 9, LC; Thomas M. Bayly to James Barbour, May 31, 1814, JBEP, reel 5521, LV. For the premature sniper, see “Skirmish at Accomack,” Richmond Enquirer, June 15, 1814.

  20 Robert Barrie to George Cockburn, June 1, 1814 (“I was highly pleased”), Cockburn to Barrie, June 3, 1814, Barrie to Cockburn, June 19,1814 (“conducted”), and Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, June 25, 1814 (“how uncommonly”), in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:79, 83, 111–14, 116; [R. J. Barrett], “Naval Recollections,” 467. For the attack on Chesconessex, see Thomas R. Joynes to Thomas M. Bayley, June 25, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:351; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake 224–25; Shomette, Flotilla, 128. The muster tables for the Colonial Marines reveal that only 3 deserted: less than 1 percent of their total by the end of December 1814. See Malcomson, “Freedom by Reaching the Wooden World,” 71, citing Muster Tables, 3rd Battalion of Royal and Colonial Marines, Apr. 4–Dec. 31, 1813, Admiralty 96:341, NAUK.

  21 Richard E. Parker to James Barbour, June 11, 1814 (all quotations), in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:338; George Cockburn to Robert Barrie, June 3 and June 8, 1814, in Robert Barrie Papers, box 1, WLCL-UM; Parker never names the black spy, but it must have been Johnson given the county and the dates, which coincide with Cockburn’s references to his mission.