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

by Taylor, Alan

  22 George Cockburn to Robert Barrie, June 3 and June 8, 1814 (“prove to be my Friend”), in Robert Barrie Papers, box 1, WLCL-UM. Historian John Weiss assumes that Johnson was hung in late June. Although that fate is possible, there is no evidence for his execution in the surviving records from Westmoreland County or the state of Virginia. See Weiss, Merikens, 7.

  23 Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:269; George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 17, 1814 (“the best skirmishers”) in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:154; Cockburn to Cochrane, Aug. 15, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Rowley, “Captain Robert Rowley,” 245.

  24 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, June 23, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Cockburn to Capt. Watts, July 22, 1814, SGCP, reel 7, LC; Cochrane to John Wilson Croker, Sep. 2, 1814, SACP, file 2348, reel 8, LC; Admiralty to Cochrane, Sep. 30, 1814, MG 12, Admiralty 2, vol. 933:233, reel B-3435, LAC; Cochrane to Croker, Sep. 28, 1814 (“steadiness”), SACP, file 2348, reel 8, LC; Cochrane to Earl Bathurst, July 14, 1814 (“their hatred”), quoted in Cassel, “Slaves of the Chesapeake,” 151–52.

  25 “Norfolk, June 3,” National Intelligencer, June 6, 1814; Charles Bagwell to James Barbour, June 9, 1814, and John P. Hungerford to the adjutant general, Aug. 5, 1814 (“Our negroes”), in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:337, 368.

  26 Morriss, Cockburn, 99–102; Charles Napier quoted in W. N. Bruce, Life of General Sir Charles Napier, 61 (“Numbers”).

  27 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 17, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:136; Bartlett and Smith, “‘Species of Milito-Nautico-Guerilla Warfare,’” 174–75; Shomette, Flotilla, 102–38, 166–67.

  28 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, May 9 and June 25, 1814 (“horrible State”), Cochrane to Lord Melville, July 17, 1814, Cockburn to Cochrane, July 17, 1814, Cockburn to Robert Barrie, July 16, 1814 (“I shall”), and Cockburn to Cochrane, July 31, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:62, 116, 134, 136, 153, 168; Morriss, Cockburn, 100–102; Shomette, Flotilla, 174–78.

  29 “From the Enemy in Our Waters,” National Intelligencer, Apr. 30, 1814; “Most Glorious and Blessed War,” “Progress of the Enemy,” and “Movements of the Enemy,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, June 22, July 27, and July 28, 1814; Joshua Barney to William Jones, June 13, 1814, George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 19, July 31, and Aug. 15, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:99, 163, 168, 190; Edward Codrington to the captains of the squadron, Aug. 22 and Aug. 24, 1814 (“to do fair justice”), MG 24, F 131, reel A-2075, LAC; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:220, 247–48; Shomette, Flotilla, 168. For the punishment of looters, especially camp women, see Edward Codrington, general order, Aug. 25, 1814, Cochrane, general order, Aug. 25, 1814, and Codrington, general order, Sep. 3, 1814 (“None of”), in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:230–31.

  30 Robert Rowley to Owsley Rowley, ca. July 23, 1814, in Rowley, “Captain Robert Rowley,” 245; Sir Pulteney Malcolm to Miss Malcolm, Sep. 1, 1814, SPMP, box 1, WLCL-UM; George Cockburn to Robert Barrie, July 11, 1814 (“The other day” and “induce”), and Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 24, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:151, 166; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:223–26, 241; Shomette, Flotilla, 105–7, 170–1.

  31 George Cockburn to Robert Barrie, June 8, 1814, SGCP, reel 7, LC; John Mason to Cockburn, June 15, 1815, SGCP, reel 9, LC; Cockburn to Mason, June 24, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Sir Alexander Cochrane to Thomas Barclay, July 21, 1814, RG 94, entry 127, box 17, folder 1, USNA-DC; Cochrane, standing order, July 27, 1814, MG 24, F 131, reel A-2075, LAC; Cochrane to Barclay, July 31, 1814, SACP, file 2349, reel 8, LC; Edward Codrington to his wife, July 31, 1814, MG 24, F 13, reel A-2076, LAC; John Mitchell to John Mason, Oct. 8, 1814, RG 94, entry 127, box 7, folder 3, USNA-DC. For the elderly Virginian (Elijah Williams), see John P. Hungerford to Cockburn, Aug. 8, 1814, SGCP, reel 9, LC; Cockburn to Hungerford, Aug. 11, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC.

  32 Philip Stuart to James Madison, Aug. 1, 1814 (“a thinly scattered”), WHWP, box 2, MdHS; “The Enemy in the Potomac,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, May 7, 1814; “From Below,” Richmond Enquirer, July 23, 1814; Joshua Barney to William Jones, June 16, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:102; Marine, British Invasion of Maryland, 65; St. Mary’s County petition to Congress, Dec. 14, 1813, War of 1812 Collection, box 1, MdHS; Philip Stuart to Levin Winder, June 23, 1814, LWP, box 1, MdHS; Stuart to Winder, Aug. 29, 1814, MSP, ser. A, box S1004-131, doc. 145, MdSA; Shomette, Flotilla, 113–18, 141–42, 165, 172–73. In the 1813 state elections, the St. Mary’s citizens voted 300 to 0 for the Federalist candidate, while Calvert County voted Federalist by a 405 to 375 margin. The adjoining two counties of Prince George (874 Federalist versus 640 Republican) and Charles (550 Federalist versus 0 Republican) were also heavily Federalist. For the election returns by Maryland county, see Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 5:111 (Oct. 16, 1813).

  33 Shomette, Flotilla, 132–33, 180–88.

  34 “Private Correspondence” and “Movements of the Enemy,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, July 28, 1814; Philip Key to James Monroe, July 25, 1814, RG 59, M179, reel 30, USNA-CP; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:229; Robert Barrie to George Cockburn, June 19, 1814, Joshua Barney to William Jones, July 21, 1814 (“The people”), Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 17, 1814, and Joseph Nourse to Cockburn, July 23, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:111–13, 147, 154, 159; Shomette, Flotilla, 132–33, 165 (Barney quote: “here and there”); Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 88, 102; Edward Codrington to his wife, Aug. 21, 1814, MG 24, F 13, reel A-2076, LAC; John Rousby Plater to Levin Winder, Aug. 15, 1815 (“amused themselves”), MSP, ser. A, box S1004-130, doc. 3, MdSA.

  35 Joshua Barney to William Jones, June 13, June 21, July 8, July 21 (“for he would be betrayed”), July 24, and Aug. 1, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:99–101, 108, 145, 147, 148, 182; Philip Stuart to Levin Winder, June 23, 1814, LWP, box 1, MdHS; Shomette, Flotilla, 117–18, 135, 163. See also National Intelligencer, July 20, 1814.

  36 Thomas B. King to unknown, July 14, 1814, quoted in Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 177; Shomette, Flotilla, 165, 194.

  37 Robert Rowley to Owsley Rowley, ca. August 1814 (“The men”), in Rowley, “Captain Robert Rowley,” 245–46; Philip Key to James Madison, Aug. 1, 1814, JMP, ser. 1, reel 5, LC; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 100–101; Shomette, Flotilla, 206–7.

  38 Shomette, Flotilla, 110–11, 133, 186, 437n6; William Wood, deposition, Aug. 1, 1822, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 514 (Michael Taney), USNA-CP; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 201.

  39 [R. J. Barrett], “Naval Recollections,” 455–57; [C. Napier], “Narrative of the Naval Operations,” 475 (“He had two daughters”); E. H. D. E. Napier, Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir Charles Napier, vol. 1:78; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:185–86, Michael Taney, deposition, Aug. 11, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 6, case 514 (Michael Taney, USNA-CP.

  40 Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:227, 269; Joshua Barney to William Jones, July 24 and Aug. 4, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:148, 184; Clement Dorsey to Philip Stuart, June 17, 1814, Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, June 21, 1814; Philip Key to James Monroe, July 25, 1814 (“Their Men”), RG 59, M 179, reel 30, USNA-CP; Shomette, Flotilla, 110, 212. For the decline in desertion, see George Cockburn to Cochrane, Aug. 15, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC.

  41 George Cockburn to Robert Barrie, July 16, 1814 (“In short”), and Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 17 and Aug. 13, 1814 (“learnt”), in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:153, 154, 173; Cockburn to Cochrane, Aug. 15, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC; Clement Dorsey to Levin Winder, Aug. 15, 1814, MSP, Scharf ser., box S1005-51, doc. 89, MdSA; Shomette, Flotilla, 113, 188–89. For the massive flight, see “The Enemy Below,” National Intelligencer, Aug. 4, 1814; “Extract of a Letter from Charles County,” and “Distresses of War,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Adve
rtiser, Aug. 6, 1814 (“conquered”); Baltimore Federal Republican, Aug. 26, 1814.

  42 Walter Jones to James Madison, Nov. 8, 1813, James Madison Papers, American Memory Series, LC; William Brent Jr. et al. to James Barbour, Aug. 1, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:366; “To the Editor of the Enquirer,” Richmond Enquirer, Dec. 24, 1814 (“false principle”); Wilson Cary Nicholas to James Monroe, Dec. 29, 1814, Executive Letter Book, p. 154, RG 3 (Office of the Governor), reel 3011, LV.

  43 Richard Brent to James Barbour, Feb. 11, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:300; Augustine Neale et al., memorial, Mar. 10, 1828, in ASP-FR, vol. 6:856; James Barbour to the Northumberland County militia officers, Apr. 25, 1814, Executive Letter Book, 59, RG 3 (Office of the Governor), reel 3011, LV; “Letter from a Correspondent in Northumberland County,” National Intelligencer, May 6, 1814; Richard E. Parker to Barbour, June 11, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:338; John Taylor Lomax to Barbour, July 31, 1814, JBEP, reel 5522, LV; Walter Jones to John Tayloe, Aug. 12, 1814, WHWP, box 2, MdHS. For the militia strength in Westmoreland County, see John P. Hungerford to the adjutant general, Aug. 5, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:368.

  44 Richard E. Parker to James Barbour, July 24, 1814 (“that they intended”), in Richmond Enquirer, July 30, 1814; “To the Editor of the Enquirer,” Richmond Enquirer, Dec. 24, 1814.

  45 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 21, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:163–66; Richard E. Parker to the adjutant general, July 23, 1814, in Richmond Enquirer, July 27, 1814; John P. Hungerford to James Barbour, July 21, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:362; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:246–47; Field, Britain’s Sea-Soldiers, vol. 1:298–99; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 247–48; Shomette, Flotilla, 197–200.

  46 Walter Jones to John Tayloe, Aug. 12, 1814 (“were joined”), WHWP, box 2, MdHS; George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Aug. 4, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:169; Field, Britain’s Sea-Soldiers, vol. 1:299; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:254; Peter Rowley to Owsley Rowley, Aug. n.d., 1814 (“The boats”), in Rowley, “Captain Robert Rowley,” 244; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 268–69; Shomette, Flotilla, 208–9.

  47 Walter Jones to John Tayloe, Aug. 12, 1814, WHWP, box 2, MdHS; “The Enemy in the Potomac,” Richmond Enquirer, Aug. 10, 1814; John P. Hungerford to the adjutant general, Aug. 5, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:367; unnamed militia officer to unknown, Aug. 5, 1814 (“The Buccaneers”), in Norris, Westmoreland County, 359; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 268–69; Shomette, Flotilla, 210.

  48 George Cockburn to Edward Griffiths, Aug. 10, 1814, SGCP, reel 7, LC; “Kinsale,” in Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, Aug. 13, 1814 (“We are all”); John P. Hungerford to the adjutant general, Aug. 5, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:368.

  49 Clement Dorsey to Philip Stuart, June 17, 1814, in Richmond Enquirer, June 25, 1814; Robert Barrie to George Cockburn, June 21, 1814, SGCP, reel 9, LC; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 78–79; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:210–11; Lovell, Personal Narrative, 167–68 (“we used to force”); Shomette, Flotilla, 120–22.

  50 George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 21, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:165; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:242–44; Richard E. Parker to James Barbour, July 24, 1814, in Richmond Enquirer, July 30, 1814; Field, Britain’s Sea-Soldiers, vol. 1:299; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 248; Shomette, Flotilla, 212.

  51 John P. Hungerford to James Barbour, July 27, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:363; Hungerford to George Cockburn, Aug. 5, 1814, SGCP, reel 9, LC; John Taylor Lomax to Richard E. Parker, ca. July 24, 1814, in Richmond Enquirer, July 30, 1814; Cockburn to Parker, July 24, 1814, and Cockburn to Hungerford, Aug. 11, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC.

  52 Robert Rowley to Owsley Rowley, August n.d., 1814, in Rowley, “Captain Robert Rowley,” 244–45; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:210–11; Joseph Nourse to George Cockburn, July 23, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:159. For a later accusation of poisoning during the attack on Baltimore, see Christopher Claxton to Thomas M. Hardy, Sep. 16, 1814, SACP, file 2329, reel 2, LC.

  53 Earl Bathurst to Edward Barnes, May 20, 1814 (“extended operations”), in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:73; Morriss, Cockburn, 100–103.

  54 Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:239; George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, July 17, 1814 (“without meeting”), SGCP, reel 10, LC; Morriss, Cockburn, 103–4; Shomette, Flotilla, 237–38.

  55 Morriss, Cockburn, 104–8; Edward Codrington to his wife, Aug. 26, 1814, MG 24, F 13, reel A-2076, LAC; [R. J. Barrett], “Naval Recollections,” 458 (“Never”).

  56 Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 61 (“suffered”); Edward Codrington to his wife, Aug. 31, 1814, MG 24, F 13, reel A-2076, LAC; Sir Alexander Cochrane to Earl Bathurst, Sep. 2, 1814, War Office 1, vol. 141:29, NAUK.

  57 Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 83–85; Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 67–68; [Anonymous], “Recollections of the Expedition,” 454–56.

  58 Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 83–85; Ball, Fifty Years in Chains, 468 (“the militia”); Arthur Brooke, diary, Aug. 24, 1814, in George, “Family Papers,” 303; [Anonymous], “Recollections of the Expedition,” 455 (“On ascending”); Weiss, “Corps of Colonial Marines,” 83.

  59 Walter Smith quoted in Lossing, Pictoral Field Book, 938; Tobias E. Stansbury to Richard M. Johnson, Nov. 15, 1814, in ASP-MA, vol. 1:562. Stansbury identified Smith as especially insistent that a slave revolt menaced the white women of Washington.

  60 Mordecai Booth to Thomas Tingey, Aug. 24, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:209–10; Margaret Bayard Smith to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Aug. n.d., 1814, in Hunt, First Forty Years, 100; Jennings, Colored Man’s Reminiscences, 11–12 (“A rabble”); Thomas Tingey to William Jones, Aug. 27, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:219.

  61 Arthur Brooke, diary, Aug. 24, 1814, in George, “Family Papers,” 303; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 270; John G. Sharp, ed., “Michael Shiner Diary,” available online through “The Navy Department Library.” The original is in LC.

  62 Arthur Brooke, diary, Aug. 24, 1814 (“I think”), in George, “Family Papers,” 303; Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 70; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:304; Margaret Bayard Smith to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Aug. n.d., 1814 (“so that an instantaneous”), in Hunt, First Forty Years, 111; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 270–72.

  63 George Cockburn quoted in Margaret Bayard Smith to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Aug. n.d., 1814, in Hunt, First Forty Years, 111; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:306; [Anonymous] “Recollections of the Expedition,” 25.

  64 Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:311; Arthur Brooke, diary, Aug. 24, 1814, in George, “Family Papers,” 303; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 270–72; Morriss, Cockburn, 108.

  65 Margaret Bayard Smith to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Aug. n.d., 1814 (“He, and all his officers,” and Cockburn quoted “Were you not”), in Hunt, First Forty Years, 112; Scott, Recollections, vol. 3:307 (“the admiral”); Edward Codrington to his wife, Aug. 31, 1814, MG 24, F 13, reel A-2076, LAC; Eustace, 1812, 208–9.

  66 Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 75–78; [Anonymous], “Recollections of the Expedition,” 27; John G. Sharp, ed., “Michael Shiner Diary,” available online through “The Navy Department Library”; Arthur Brooke, diary, Aug. 25, 1814, and Robert Ross to Elizabeth Ross, Sep. 1, 1814, in George, “Family Papers,” 305, 308; George Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Aug. 27, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:222; Morriss, Cockburn, 108.

  67 For the city’s population, see Pitch, Burning of Washington, 29. For the postwar compensation claims, see ASP-FR, vol. 5:801. For fear of slave revolt in Washington, see George, “Mirage of Freedom,” 439–40; Cassel, “Slaves of the Chesapeake,” 153; Tobias E. Stansbury to Richard
M. Johnson, Nov. 15, 1814, in ASP-MA, vol. 1:562. For the passivity of the Washington slaves, see Margaret Bayard Smith to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Aug. n.d., 1814, in Hunt, First Forty Years, 113. For the slaves rebuffed, see Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 80 (“We were joined”). For some Montgomery County slaves who did leave with the British, see Thomas Bowie, deposition, Sep. 11, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 1, case 1 (Thomas Bowie), USNA-CP; John Read Magruder, deposition, Oct. 18, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 7, case 712 (John Read Magruder), USNA-CP; [Anonymous], “Recollections of the Expedition,” 27.

  68 Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 12, 207; “The Enemy,” Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser, Aug. 30, 1814; Pitch, Burning of Washington, 54, 146; Gleig, Narrative of the Campaigns, 81.

  69 John W. Green to Alexander Parker, Aug. 28, 1814, and Thomas Prosser to James Barbour, Aug. 29, 1814, in Flournoy, CVSP, vol. 10:378, 379; Charles Simms to Nancy Douglas Simms, Sep. 3, 1814, in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:246; [C. Napier], “Narrative of the Naval Operations,” 478–80; Eshelman, Sheads, and Hickey, War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, 11.

  70 Robert Rowley to Owsley Rowley, Sep. 3, 1814, in Rowley, “Captain Robert Rowley,” 250; Edward Codrington to his wife, Aug. 28, 1814, MG 24, F 13, reel A-2076, LAC.

  71 Arthur Brooke, diary, Aug. 30, 1814, in George, “Family Papers,” 305; Bartlett, “Gentlemen versus Democrats,” 155; Lords of the Admiralty to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Sep. 28, 1814, MG 12, Admiralty 2, vol. 933:230, reel B-3435, LAC; George Cockburn to Cochrane, Nov. 3, 1814, SGCP, reel 7, LC; Morriss, Cockburn, 109–10; James Cockburn to Earl Bathurst, Sep. 26, 1814 (“as wounding”), CO 37 (Bermuda), vol. 72:66, NAUK; Prince Regent quoted in Bickham, Weight of Vengeance, 169.