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

by Taylor, Alan

  37 George Cockburn to Sebastián Kindelán, Feb. 13, 1815, and Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Feb. 28, 1815 (“every Idea”), SGCP, reel 7, LC; Morriss, Cockburn, 119.

  38 Sebastián Kindelán to George Cockburn, Jan. 31, 1815, Cockburn to John Forbes, Feb. 26, 1815, and Cockburn to William Philip Yonge, Mar. 2, 1815, MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 509:12, 25, 29, reel B-1453, LAC; Cockburn to Kindelán, Feb. 13, 1815, and Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Feb. 28, 1815 (“have the slightest claim”), SGCP, reel 7, LC; Kindelán to Cockburn, Feb. 18, 1815 (“Where is the Slave”), RG 76, entry 190, box 8, case 763 (Louis Dolives), USNA-CP; Cochrane to John Wilson Croker, Mar. 13, 1815 (“they should not”), SACP, file 2348, reel 8, LC. For the Forbes case, see John Forbes to Cockburn, Feb. 26, 1815, MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 509:23, reel B-1453, LAC; Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 26:52 (Mar. 27, 1824: “the plaintiff”); Bullard, Black Liberation, 93.

  39 St. George Tucker to John Hartwell Cocke, Mar. 21, 1815, JHCFP, box 19, SSCL-UVA; George Cockburn to Capt. Palmer, Feb. 8, 1815, and Cockburn to Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, Feb. 10, 1815, SGCP, reel 7, LC; Cockburn to Evans, Feb. 11, 1815 (“an ugly account”), Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 8:102 (Apr. 8, 1815); Jenkins, Henry Goulburn, 86–88; Lambert, Challenge, 390–93, 397–99; Bickham, Weight of Vengeance, 251–61.

  40 George Cockburn to Capt. Palmer, Feb. 8, 1815, to Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, Feb. 10, 1815 (“This Peace”), and to Lt. Gov. Cameron, Mar. 3, 1815 (“pay dearer”), SGCP, reel 7, LC; Sir Thomas Cochrane to Sir Thomas Troubridge, Feb. 12, 1815, in Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 8:102 (Apr. 8, 1815); Edward Codrington to his wife, Feb. 13 and 14, 1815, MG 24, F 13, reel A-2076, LAC; Robert Barrie to Mrs. George Clayton, Mar. 2, 1815 (“This Peace” and “a disunion”), Robert Barrie Papers, box 1, WLCP-UM; Lovell, Personal Narrative, 178.

  41 Stephen Chase Jr. to Stephen Chase, Feb. 13, 1815 (“We have just received”), Diedrich Collection, box 1, WLCL-UM; William H. Cabell to Joseph C. Cabell, Feb. 22, 1815, JCC&CFP (38-111), box 11, SSCL-UVA; Jennings, Colored Man’s Reminiscences, 15–16.

  42 St. George Tucker to John Coalter, Dec. 26, 1814 (“horrid prospects” and “A happy new year”), and Feb. 17, 1815 (“It set us,” “the blessed news,” “Heaven be prais’d,” and “not only put an end”), Grinnan Family Papers (Mss 1 G8855), VHS; Tucker to John Hartwell Cocke, Mar. 21, 1815 (“could hardly persuade”), JHCFP, box 19, SSCL-UVA.

  43 St. George Tucker to John Coalter, Feb. 16, 1815, BFP, box 3, SSCL-UVA.

  44 Murphy, “Pleasant Murphy’s ‘Journal,’” 236 (January 2, 1815).

  45 Anthony St. John Baker to John Clavell, Feb. 19, 1815, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 106:11, reel B-2004, LAC; Bickham, Weight of Vengeance, 267–69.

  46 Sir Alexander Cochrane to John Wilson Croker, Mar. 13, 1815, CO 37 (Bermuda), vol. 73:117, NAUK; John Taylor to James Monroe, May 26, 1815, JMP, ser. 1, reel 6, LC; Charles Fenton Mercer to Wilson Cary Nicholas, Apr. 14, 1815, quoted in Egerton, Charles Fenton Mercer, 99; Hugh Mercer to James P. Preston, May 25, 1815, Preston Family Papers (Mss 1 P9267 d 144-64), sec. 4, folder 5, VHS.

  47 James Monroe to Winfield Scott, Feb. 21, 1815, RG 107, M 7, reel 1, USNA-DC; Monroe to the United States Senate, Feb. 22, 1815, in S. M. Hamilton, Writings of Monroe, vol. 5:321–22; “Peace!” and “The Elections,” Richmond Enquirer, Feb. 18 (“We have waged a War” and “as much public spirit”) and Mar. 11, 1815; Bickham, Weight of Vengeance, 269–70. For the nation’s military failure, see Stagg, Mr. Madison’s War, 502–3; Hickey, War of 1812, 299.

  48 Hickey, War of 1812, 211–13; Quimby, U.S. Army, vol. 2:897–919.

  49 George Cockburn to Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, Feb. 10, 1815, Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Feb. 11, 1815, Cockburn to Lt. Col. Scott, Feb. 19, 1815, and Cockburn to Thomas Pinckney, Mar. 2, 1815, SGCP, reel 7, LC; Cockburn, order, Mar. 1, 1815, SGCP, reel 10, LC. In waiting for official notification, Cockburn acted within the letter of the treaty. See Henry Goulburn to Earl Bathurst, Dec. 30, 1814, MG 24, A8 (Bathurst Papers), reel H-2961, LAC.

  50 Thomas M. Newell and Thomas Spalding to George Cockburn, Mar. 12, 1815, MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 509:99, reel B-1453, LAC; Newell and Spalding to John Floyd, Mar. n.d., 1815, in ASP-FR, vol. 4:109–11; Sir Alexander Cochrane to John Wilson Croker, Mar. 13 and Apr. 6, 1815, SACP, file 2348, reel 8, LC; Morriss, Cockburn, 119–20; Bullard, Robert Stafford, 47–48.

  51 George Cockburn to D. C. Barholomew, Mar. 6, 1815, and Cockburn to Thomas Cochrane, Mar. 6, 1815, SGCP, reel 10, LC; Thomas M. Newell and Thomas Spalding to John Floyd, Mar. n.d., 1815, in ASP-FR, vol. 4:109–11, 113; Spalding to Cockburn, Mar. 14, 1815, MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 509:101, reel B-1453, LAC; Newell, deposition, July n.d., 1827 (“permitted the Slaves” and “insolent”), RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 8, USNA-CP; Margaret Storie, deposition, Sep. 7, 1817, RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 145 (Archibald Clarke), USNA-CP; Cockburn to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Mar. 13, 1815, SGCP, reel 7, LC; Spalding, deposition, Apr. 2, 1825, RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 142 (Thomas Armstrong), USNA-CP; Bullard, Robert Stafford, 47–48; Bell, Major Butler’s Legacy, 179; Bullard, Black Liberation, 58, 83–84, 91, 99.

  52 Thomas Swann to James Monroe, Mar. 6 and 27, 1815, RG 59, M 179, reel 31, USNA-CP; Robert Clarke to Monroe, Mar. 9, 1815, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 12, USNA-CP; George Loker to John Quincy Adams, Mar. 29, 1818, and the depositions of Caleb Barnhouse, Feb. 25, 1818, and George Loker, Mar. 20, 1818 (“wife” and “that he would take all”), and Apr. 24, 1821, RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 121 (George Loker), USNA-CP; William Hamilton to George Cockburn, Feb. 27, 1815, SACP, file 2334, reel 3, LC.

  53 George Loker to John Quincy Adams, Mar. 29, 1818, and Loker’s depositions of Mar. 20, 1818 (“they were as free”), and Apr. 24, 1821, Caleb Barnhouse, Feb. 25, 1818, and James Richardson, Mar. 20, 1818, RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 121 (George Loker), USNA-CP; William Hamilton to George Cockburn, Feb. 27, 1815 (“that having once” and “received on board”), SACP, file 2334, reel 3, LC.

  54 Robert Clarke to James Monroe, Mar. 9, 1815 (“No Negros”), RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 12, USNA-CP; George Loker to John Quincy Adams, Mar. 29, 1818, and the depositions of Loker, Mar. 20, 1818, and Apr. 24, 1821, Caleb Barnhouse, Feb. 25, 1818, and James Richardson, Mar. 20, 1818, RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 121 (George Loker), USNA-CP; William Hamilton to George Cockburn, Feb. 27, 1815, SACP, file 2334, reel 3, LC. For the American position on British deserters, see James Monroe to Anthony St. John Baker, Apr. 6, 1815, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 106:167, reel B-2005, LAC.

  55 John Clavell to George Cockburn, Feb. 23, 1815, and Cockburn to Clavell, Mar. 10, 1815 (“On no account”), in Dudley, Naval War of 1812, vol. 3:349, 350; Thomas M. Bayly, George Graham, and John S. Skinner to Clavell, Feb. 23, 1815, and Clavell to Bayly, Graham, and Skinner, Feb. 23 (“now serving on board”), and Feb. 24, 1815, in ASP-FR, vol. 4:108–9; Bayly to James Monroe, Mar. 6, 1815 (“never believe”), RG 76, entry 190, box 10, Tangier Island folder, USNA-CP.

  56 Thomas M. Bayly to James Monroe, Mar. 22, 1815, and Bayly to John Clavell, Apr. 13, 1815, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 8, USNA-CP; Bayly, deposition, Mar. 25, 1828, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 15, USNA-CP. For the visitors to Tangier, see depositions of John Crocket, Nov. 10, 1827, and Miskell Saunders, Dec. 20, 1827, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 4, USNA-CP; John D. Ficklin, depositions, Dec. 10, 1821, and Aug. 12, 1822, APA-GMR, entry 247, box 778, Northumberland County, folder, LV; Abraham B. Hooe, June 8, 1821, APA-GMR, entry 258, box 779, Westmoreland County folder, LV; John G. Joynes, deposition, Dec. 2, 1827, RG 76, entry 190, box 5, case 345 (Tully Wise), USNA-CP. For the captured British-owned slaves retained by the Americans, see Anthony St. John Baker to Viscount Castlereagh, Aug. 23, 1815, John Mason to Baker, July 18, 1815, and George Barton to the commissioners of the Transport Service, Aug. 15, 1815, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 107:197, 199, reel B-2005, and vol. 111:293, reel B-2006, LAC.

  57 William Hamilton to George Cockburn, Feb. 27, 1815, SACP, file 2334, reel 3, LC; Weiss, Merikens, 10.


  58 [Anonymous], “Recollections of the Expedition,” 28 (“The ‘niggers’”); G. R. Gleig, diary, Sep. 21–22, 1814 (“an old negro couple”), in C. R. B. Barrett, 85th King’s Light Infantry, 182.

  59 Robert Barrie to John Wilson Croker, Oct. 1, 1815, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 111:298, reel B-2006, LAC; John Fraser, deposition, n.d., RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 16, USNA-CP; George Cockburn to Earl Bathurst, Feb. 10, 1816, quoted in Horne, Negro Comrades, 71. For criticism by other naval officers of Cockburn’s returning any slaves, see J.B. Moore, History and Digest, vol. 1:352nl.

  60 Sir Alexander Cochrane to Edward Nicolls, July n.d., 1814, MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 506:485, reel B-1451, LAC; Cochrane to Nicolls, Dec. 3, 1814, SACP, file 2346, reel 7, LC; Owsley, Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands, 103–7, 120–21, 182; Field, Britain’s Sea-Soldiers, vol. 1:303–4; Weiss, Merikens, 11.

  61 Nicolls, orders for the First Battalion of Royal Colonial Marines, n.d., 1814, quoted in Millett, “Britain’s 1814 Occupation of Pensacola,” 237–40.

  62 Sir Alexander Cochrane to General Lambert, Feb. 3, 1815, and Cochrane to Sir Pulteney Malcolm, Feb. 17, 1815, MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 508:562, 566, reel B-1453, LAC; Thomas Spalding, memorandum, May 21, 1815 (“having espoused the cause”), RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 8, USNA-CP; Spalding to Thomas Pinckney, Aug. 5, 1815 (“become a nucleus”), RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 22, USNA-CP; Edmund Gaines to Alexander Dallas, May 22, 1815, and James Monroe to Anthony St. John Baker, July 10, 1815, MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 107:69, 93, reel B-2005, LAC; Earl Bathurst to Baker, Sep. 7, 1815 (“ill-judged zeal”), MG 16 (FO 5), vol. 105:29, reel B-2004, LAC; Owsley, Struggle for the Gulf Borderlands, 183–85; Owsley and Smith, Filibusterers and Expansionists, 106–11; Porter, “Negroes and the Seminole War,” 260–62. For the Florida refugees to Trinidad, see Weiss, Merikens, 57–58.

  63 Owsley and Smith, Filibusterers and Expansionists, 111–13 (Duncan Clinch quote on 112); Porter, “Negroes and the Seminole War,” 261–65, 278; Howard, Black Seminoles, 30–32.

  64 Andrew Fitzherbert Evans to George Cockburn, Nov. 27 (“incumberances”), Nov. 28 (“young” and “Their Sloth”), and Nov. 30, 1814, SGCP, reel 9, LC.

  65 George Cockburn to Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, Dec. 12, 1814, SGCP, reel 6, LC.

  66 Sir Alexander Cochrane to Lord Melville, Apr. 2, 1815 (“fine, brave”), MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 509, reel B-1453, LAC; Cochrane to John Wilson Croker, Apr. 6, 1815 (“a corps,” and “They were infinitely”), SACP, file 2348, reel 8, LC. For other Britons who praised the Colonial Marines at Bermuda, see Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 8:71 (Apr. 1, 1815); Gwynn, Frigates and Foremasts, 183n79.

  67 Sir Henry Torrent to Henry Goulburn, May 19 and June 13, 1815, CO 37 (Bermuda), vol. 73:149, 153, NAUK. James Cockburn to Sir Henry Torrent, Aug. 23, 1815 (“strong & determined prejudices” and “high ideas”), Andrew Fitzherbert Evans to Cockburn, Aug. 8, 1815, and Andrew Kinsman to Cockburn, Aug. 10, 1815, CO 37 (Bermuda), vol. 73:52, 56, 58, NAUK.

  68 James Cockburn to Sir Henry Torrent, Aug. 23, 1815, CO 37, vol. 73:52, NAUK; Weiss, Merikens, 12.

  69 John Patterson, deposition, Nov. 13, 1822, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 11, USNA-CP; Patterson, deposition, May 13, 1823, RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 182 (John L. Hudgins), USNA-CP; Patterson, deposition, Dec. 6, 1823, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 6, USNA-CP; depositions of Henry Griffin, May 10, 1823, and William Dixon, June 5, 1823 (“Red Coats”), RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 214 (John Patterson), USNA-CP.

  70 Mathews County Trial of Harrys et al., Mar. 18, 1813, JBEP, reel 5511, LV; Thomas R. Yeatman, deposition, Mar. 16, 1814, APA-GRM, entry 258, box 779, Mathews County folder, LV.

  71 John Patterson, deposition, May 13, 1823 (“raised”), RG 76, entry 190, box 3, case 192 (John L. Hudgins), USNA-CP; William Dixon, deposition, June 5, 1823 (“Red Coats”), RG 76, entry 190, box 4, case 214 (John Patterson), USNA-CP.

  72 “Further Particulars” and “An Exposition of the Causes and Character of the Late War with G. Britain,” Richmond Enquirer, Aug. 10, 1814, and Apr. 5, 1815; “Senate of Maryland,” National Intelligencer, Feb. 4, 1815 (“vindictive enemy”). For the racialized elaboration of Anglophobia during the nineteenth century, see Haynes, Unfinished Revolution, 8–13; A. Rothman, Slave Country, 122–23; Hickey, War of 1812, 305–7; Horne, Negro Comrades, 4–5, 9–12.

  73 “African as Well as Indian Allies,” “Enemies in War, in Peace Friends,” and “Affairs of America,” National Intelligencer, Jan. 20 (“whose blood”), Apr. 8 (“to excite insurrection”), and May 20, 1815; Eustace, 1812, 212–18.

  74 Drescher, Abolition, 231–32; Rugemer, “Caribbean Slave Revolts,” 94–99. For American coverage of the Easter Revolt, see “Insurrection at Barbadoes,” and Sir James Leith, “An Address to the Slave Population of the Island of Barbadoes,” Apr. 26, 1816, American Beacon and Commercial Diary (Norfolk, Va), June 3 and June 8, 1816; “Extract of a Letter, Dated Barbadoes, April 29,” Alexandria Gazette, June 4, 1816. For the numbers of Colonial Marines at Bermuda, see Andrew Kinsman to John Wilson Croker, Aug. 22 and Dec. 1, 1815, Admiralty 1, vol. 3319:54, 85, NAUK.

  75 “The Insurrection of the Slaves at Barbadoes,” National Intelligencer, May 31, 1816, reprinted from the Richmond Enquirer.

  76 “New Orleans, May 12,” American Beacon and Commercial Diary (Norfolk, Va.), June 6, 1818; “Milledgeville, May 26,” and “Arbuthnot and Ambrister,” Richmond Enquirer, June 9 and Dec. 21, 1818; Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, Mar. 3, 1819, in P. L. Ford, Works of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 12:116; Porter, “Negroes and the Seminole War,” 265–76; Ammon, James Monroe, 421–25; Henry St. George Tucker to St. George Tucker, Dec. 22, 1818, TCP, reel M-29, SCSL-CWM; Lambert, Challenge, 420–21.

  77 Haynes, Unfinished Revolution, 1–2, 181, 216–17; Eustace, 1812, 207.

  78 Sydney Smith quoted in Foreman, World on Fire, 28; Haynes, Unfinished Revolution, 1–2, 8, 182–88; Fehrenbacher and McAfee, Slaveholding Republic, 91; McCoy, Last of the Fathers, 263–64; Lambert, Challenge, 424–25.

  79 Morriss, Cockburn, 6; [R. J. Barrett], “Naval Recollections,” 467 (“whilst”); Lord Palmerston quoted in Bartlett and Smith, “‘Species of Milito-Nautico-Guerilla Warfare.’” 198. For the postwar investment in southern coast fortifications, see “The Naval Depot, No. IV,” National Intelligencer, Sep. 14, 1816; James Madison to Wilson Cary Nicholas, May 29, 1816, WCNEP, box 4, LV; and Bartlett, “Gentlemen versus Democrats,” 141.

  80 Gullah Jack quoted in Johnson, “Reading Evidence,” 199 (“that the English”); D. Walker, David Walker’s Appeal, 56; Haynes, Unfinished Revolution, 181; Virginia slaves quoted in Scully, Religion, 101.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: AGENTS

  1 James Monroe to Thomas Pinckney, Apr. 7, 1815, RG 59, M 40, reel 14, USNA-CP.

  2 Patrick Williams, deposition, Nov. 17, 1813, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 22; depositions of Thomas Archer, June 21, 1814, and Samuel S. Griffin, Aug. 15, 1814, APA-GMR, entry 258, box 779, York County folder, LV; Joseph C. Cabell to St. George Tucker, Nov. 24, 1813, TCP, box 33, SCSL-CWM; Tucker to James Madison, Dec. 1, 1813, James Madison Papers, American Memory Series, LC; “Our Slaves,” Richmond Enquirer, Dec. 16, 1813.

  3 James Monroe to the United States Plenipotentiaries, Jan. 28, 1814, in ASP-FR, vol. 3:702; John Quincy Adams to James Monroe, Sep. 5, 1814, in Manning, Diplomatic Correspondence, vol. 1:647–52; Henry Goulburn to Earl Bathurst, Dec. 30, 1814, MG 24, A 8 (Bathurst Papers), reel H-2961, LAC; Sir Alexander Cochrane to the Admiralty, Oct. 3, 1814, SACP, file 2345, reel 7, LC; Edward Codrington to his wife, Nov. 13, 1814, MG 24, F 13, reel A-2076, LAC; M. Mason, “Battle of the Slaveholding Liberators,” 674–75; Hansard, Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803, vol. 29, col. 511–13 (Nov. 24, 1814), vol. 31, cols. 567–80 (June 1, 1815); House of Commons, Papers Relating to the Slave Trade, 3.

  4 John Graham to St. George Tucker, Oct. 26, 1814, TCP, box 33, SCSL-CWM; Thomas Griffin to Joseph C. Cabell, Dec. 5, 1814, JCCFP (38-111), box 11, SSCL; Cabell to Tucker, Nov. 2
2, 1814, John Tabb Smith to Tucker, Nov. 21, 1814, Thomas Griffin to Graham, Feb. 16, 1815, and James Monroe to the United States Senate, Feb. 28, 1815, in ASP-FR, vol. 3:750–51.

  5 Edward Codrington to his wife, Mar. 2, 1815, MG 24, F13, A-2076, LAC; Sir Alexander Cochrane to James Monroe, Mar. 8, 1815, MG 12, Admiralty 1, vol. 508:497, reel B-1453, LAC; Cochrane to John Wilson Croker, Mar. 13 (“a story”) and Apr. 22, 1815, SACP, file 2348, reel 8, LC; James Madison to Monroe, Mar. 26, 1815, and Tucker to Monroe, Apr. 2, 1815, JMP, ser. 1, reel 6, LC.

  6 Anthony St. John Baker to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Mar. 25, 1815 (“The proof”), James Monroe to Cochrane, Apr. 5, 1815, and Baker to Monroe, Apr. 9, 1815 (“The officers of a Nation”), SACP, file 2337, reel 5, LC; Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 8:114 (Apr. 15, 1814); Monroe to St. George Tucker, Mar. 26, 1815, TCP, box 34, SCSL-CWM; Monroe to Baker, Apr. 5, 1815 (“a Gentleman”), MG 16, FO 5, vol. 106:191, reel B-2005, LAC. For the canard that Cochrane diverted slaves to his plantation in Trinidad, see “Tecumseh,” Richmond Enquirer, Dec. 23, 1815.

  7 James Monroe to St. George Tucker, Mar. 26, 1815, TCP, box 34, SCSL-CWM; Monroe to Thomas Pinckney, Apr. 6, 1815 (“The exposure”), RG 59, M 40, reel 14, USNA-CP.

  8 Niles’ Weekly Register, vol. 7:54 (Oct. 6, 1814); James Monroe to John Steele, Oct. 28, 1814, Steele to Monroe, Nov. 4, 1814 (“had heard”), Perrin Willis to John Graham, Feb. 17, 1815, Robert G. Scott to Monroe, Apr. 10, 1815, Joseph C. Cabell to Monroe, Apr. 19, 1815, and Edward Ironmonger, deposition, May 25, 1815, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 22, USNA-CP; Thomas L. Hall, deposition, Apr. 5, 1815, RG 76, entry 185, box 3, folder 8, USNA-CP; Walter Jones to James Monroe, May 25, 1815, RG 76, entry 185, box 4, folder 13, USNA-CP. For Jaboe’s third-hand report, see Athanasius Fenwick to Monroe, Apr. 6, 1815, RG 76, entry 190, box 9, case 860 (Athanasius Fenwick), USNA-CP.