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KATHARINE E. COMAN

THE

COLORED PATRIOTS

OF THE

AMERICAN REVOLUTION,

WITH SKETCHES OF SEVERAL

DISTINGUISHED COLORED PERSONS : .

TO WHICH IS ADDED A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE

By WM. 0. NELL.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

BOSTON:

PUBLISHED BY ROBERT F. WALLCUT.

1 8 5 5. .

Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year eighteen hundred and fift3T-fivc,
By WILLIAM C. NELL,
In the Clerk's office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

boston:
j. b. yerrinton and son,
printers.

CONTENTS.

PAGES.

Introduction, by Harriet Beecher Stowe 3

Introduction to pamphlet edition, by Wendell Phillips. . 5
Preface, by the Author 7

CHAPTER, I. Massachusetts. Crispus Attucks — Col-
ored Americans on Bunker Hill — Seymour Burr — Jere-
my Jonah — A Brave Colored Artillerist — Governor
Hancock's Flag — Big Dick — Primus Hall — James and
Hosea Easton — Job Lewis* — Jack Grove — Bosson Wright
— Colonial Reminiscences — Mum Bett — Phillis Wheat-
ley — Paul Cuffe — Marshpee Indians — Action of the
Constitutional Convention in regard to Colored Citizens —

Facts indicating improvement 13-118

CHAPTER II. New Hampshire. Jude Hall — Legisla-
tive Postponement of Emancipation — Last Slave in New
Hampshire — Senator Morrill's Tribute to a Colored Citi-
zen 119-121

CHAPTER III. Vermont. Seven hundred British sol-

diers escorted by a Colored Patriot — Lemuel Haynes —
Judge Harrington's Anti-Fugitive- Slave-Law Decision. . 122-125

CHAPTER IV. Rhode Island. Admission of Hon. Tris-
tam Burges — Defence of Red Bank — Arrest of Major
General Prescott. by Prince — Colored Regiment of Rhode
Island — Speech of Dr. Harris — Loyalty during the Dorr
Rebellion 126-131

CHAPTER V. Connecticut. Hon. Calvin Goddard's
Testimony — Captain Humphrey's Colored Company —
Fac Simile of General Washington's Certificate — Ha-
met, General Washington's Servant — Poor Jack —
Ebenezer Hills — Latham and Freeman — Franchise of
Colored Citizens — David Ruggles — Progress ..132-144

CHAPTER VI. New York. Negro Plot — Debate in
the State Convention of 1821 on the Franchise of Colored
Citizens — New York Colored Soldiery — Military Con-
vention in Syracuse, 1854 — Extract from a Speech of H.
H. Garnet — Cyrus Clarke's victory at the ballot-box —

J. M. Whitfield — Statistical and other facts 14<5-L59

CHAPTER VII. New Jersey. Oliver Cromwell, Sam-
uel Charlton — Hagar — Consistent Fourth of July Cele-
bration 160-165

CONTENTS.

PAGES.

CHAPTER VIII. Pennsylvania. James Forten— John
B. Vashon — Major Jeffrey — John Johnson and John
Davis — Wm, Burleigh — Conduct of Colored Philadel-
phians during the Pestilence — Charles Black — James
Derham — The Jury-Bench and Ballot-Box — Gleanings. . 166-197

CHAPTER IX. Delaware. Prince Whipple— The Col-
ored Soldier at the crossing of the Delaware — Proscrip-
tive Law 198-200

CHAPTER X. Maryland. Thomas Savoy— Thomas Hol-
len — John Moore — Benjamin Banneker — Prances Ellen
Watkins 201-213

CHAPTER XI. Virginia. The last of Bradclock's Men
— Patriotic Slave Girl — Benjamin Morris — Consistency
of a Revolutionary Hero — Simon Lee — Major Mitchell's
Slave — Gen. Washington's desire to emancipate slaves —
Hon. A. P. Upshur's Tribute to David Rich — Tribute to
Washington by the Emancipated — Aged Slave of Wash-
ington— Insurrection at Southampton — Virginia Maroons
in the Dismal Swamp 214-230

CHAPTER XII. North Carolina. David Walker —
Jonathan Overton — Delph Williamson — George M.
Horton 231-235

CHAPTER XIII. South Carolina. Hon. Chas. Pinck-
ney's Testimony — Capt. Williamson — Sale of a Revolu-
tionary Soldier — Slaves freed by the Legislature — Veteran
of Fort Moultrie — Jehu Jones — Complexional Barriers —
Revolt of 1738 — The Black Saxons — Denmark Veazie's
Insurrection in 1822— William G. Nell 236-2-55

CHAPTER XIV. Georgia. Massacre at Blount's Fort-
Monsieur De Bordeaux — Slave freed by the Legislature. .256-264

CHAPTER XV. Kentucky. Henry Boyd— Lewis Hay-
den — The heroic and generous Kentucky slave .255-276

CHAPTER XVI. Ohio. Cleveland Meeting— Dr. Pen-
nington— Extracts from Oration of William H. Day —
Bird's-eye view of Buckeye progress 277-285

CHAPTER XVII. Louisiana. Proclamation of General
Jackson — Colored Veterans — Battle of New Orleans —
Jordan B. Noble, the Drummer — John Julius — Testimony
of Hon. R. C. Winthrop— Cotton-Bale Barricade 286-306

CHAPTER XVIII. Florida. Toney Proctor 307-30!)

Condition and Prospects of Colored Americans 311-361

Appendix 383-396

INTRODUCTION.

The colored race have been generally considered by their enemies,
and sometimes even by their friends, as deficient in energy and cour-
age. Their virtues have been supposed to be principally negative
ones. This little collection of interesting incidents, made by a col-
ored man, will redeem the character of the race from this miscon-
ception, and show how much injustice there may often be in a gen-
erally admitted idea.

In considering the services of the Colored Patriots of the Revo-
lution, we aro to reflect upon them as far more magnanimous, be-
cause rendered to a nation which did not acknowledge them as
citizens and equals, and in whose interests and prosperity they had
less at stake. It was not for their own land they fought, not even
for a land which had adopted them, but for a land which had
enslaved them, and whose laws, even in freedom, oftener oppressed
than protected. Bravery, under such circumstances, has a peculiar
beauty and merit.

ij|

INTRODUCTION.

It is to be hoped that the reading of these sketches will give new
self-respect and confidence to the race here represented. Let them
emulate the noble deeds and sentiments of their ancestors, and feel
that the dark skin can never be a badge of disgrace, while it has
been ennobled by such examples.

And their white brothers in reading may remember, that gene-
rosity, disinterested courage and bravery, are of no particular race
and complexion, and that the image of the Heavenly Father may
be reflected alike by all. Each record of worth in this oppressed
and despised people should be pondered, for if is by many such
that the cruel and unjust public sentiment, which has so long pro-
scribed them, may be reversed, and full opportunities given them to
take rank among the nations of the earth.

H. B. STOWE.

Andover, October, 18oo.

INTRODUCTION TO PAMPHLET EDITION.

The following pages are an effort to stem the tide of prejudice
against the colored race. The white man despises the colored
man, and has come to think him fit only for the menial drudgery to
which the majority of the race has been so long doomed. " This
prejudice was never reasoned up and will never be reasoned down."
It must be lived down. In a land where wealth is the basis of repu-
tation, the colored man must prove his sagacity and enterprise by
successful trade or speculation. To show his capacity for mental
culture, he must be, not merely claim the right to be, a scholar.
Professional eminence is peculiarly the result of practice and long
experience. The colored people, therefore, owe it to each other
and to their race to extend liberal encouragement to colored law-
yers, physicians, and teachers — as well as to mechanics and arti-
sans of all kinds. Let no individual despair. Not to name the liv-
ing, let me hold up the example of one whose career deserves to be
often spoken of, as complete proof that a colored man can rise to
social respect and the highest employment and usefulness, in spite
not only of the prejudice that crushes his race, but of the heaviest
personal burthens. Dr. David Ruggles, poor, blind, and an inva-
lid, founded a well-known Water- Cure Establishment in the town
where I write, erected expensive buildings, won honorable distinc-
tion as a most successful and skillful practitioner, secured the warm
regard and esteem of this community, and left a name embalmed in
the hearts of many who feel that they owe life to his eminent skill
and careful practice. Black though he was, his aid was sought
sometimes by those numbered among the Pro- Slavery class. To be
sure, his is but a single instance, and I know it required preemi-
nent ability to make a way up to light through the overwhelming
mass of prejudice and contempt. But it is these rare cases of strong
will and eminent endowment, — always sure to make the world

INTRODUCTION TO PAMPHLET EDITION.

feel tliem whether it will or no, — that will finally wring from a
contemptuous community the reluctant confession of the colored
man's equality.

I ask, therefore, the reader's patronage of the following sheets on
several grounds; first, as an encouragement to the author, Mr.
Nell, to pursue a subject which well deserves illustration on other
points beside those on which he has labored ; secondly, to scatter
broadly as possible the facts here collected, as instances of the col-
ored man's success — a record of the genius he has shown, and the
services he has rendered society in the higher departments of exer-
tion ; thirdly, to encourage such men as Ruggles to perseverance,
by showing a generous appreciation of their labors, and a cordial
sympathy in their trials.

Some things set down here go to prove colored men patriotic —
though denied a country : — and all show a wish, on their part, to
prove themselves men, in a land whose laws refuse to recognise
their manhood. If the reader shall, sometimes, blush to find that,
in the days of our country's weakness, we remembered their power
to help or harm us, and availed ourselves gladly of their generous
services, while we have, since, used our strength only to crush them
the more completely, let him resolve henceforth to do them justice
himself and claim it for them of others. If any shall be convinced
by these facts, that they need only a free path to show the same ca-
pacity and reap the same rewards as other races, let such labor to
open every door to their efforts, and hasten the day when to be
black shall not, almost necessarily, doom a man to poverty and
the most menial drudgery. There is touching eloquence, as well as
something of Sjmrtan brevity, in the appeal of a well-known colored
man, Rev. Peter Williams, of New York : — " We are natives of
this country : we ask only to be treated as well as foreigners.
Not a few of our fathers suffered and bled to purchase its indepen-
dence ; we ask only to be treated as well as those who fought against
it. We have toiled to cultivate it, and to raise it to its present pros-
perous condition ; we ask only to share equal privileges with those
who come from distant lands to enjoy the fruits of our labor."

WENDELL PHILLIPS.

Northampton, Oct. 25, 1852.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

In the month of July, 1847, the eloquent Bard of Freedom, John
(i. WniTTiER, contributed to the National Era a statement of facts
relative to the Military Sendees of Colored Americans in the Rev-
olution of 1776, and the War of 1812. Being a member of the
Society of Friends, he disclaimed any eulogy upon the shedding of
blood, even in the cause of acknowledged justice, but, says he,
" when we see a whole nation doing honor to the memories of one
class of its defenders, to the total neglect of another class, who had
the misfortune to be of darker complexion, we cannot forego the
satisfaction of inviting notice to certain historical facts, which, for
the last half century, have been quietly elbowed aside, as no more
deserving of a place in patriotic recollection, than the descendants
of the men, to whom the facts in question relate, have to a place in
a Fourth of July procession, [in the nation's estimation.] Of the
services and sufferings of the Colored Soldiers of the Revolution, no
attempt has, to our knowledge, been made to preserve a record.
They have had no historian. With here and there an exception,
they have all passed away, and only some faint traditions linger
among then* descendants. Yet enough is known to show that the
free colored men of the United States bore their full proportion of
the sacrifices and trials of the Revolutionary War."

In my attempt, then, to rescue from oblivion the name and fame
of those who, though " tinged with the hated stain," yet had warm
hearts and active hands in the "times that tried men's souls," I will
first gratefully tender him my thanks for the service his compilation
has afforded me, and my acknowledgments also to other individuals
who have kindly contributed facts for this work. Imperfect as these
pages may prove, to prepare even these, journeys have been made
to confer with the living, and even pilgrimages to grave-yards, to
save all that may still be gleaned from their fast disappearing
records.

There is now an institution -of learning in the State of Xew York,
(Central College,) where the chair of Professorship in Belles Lettres

author's preface.

lias been filled by three colored young men, Charles L. Reason,
William Gr. Allen, and George B. Yashon, each, of whom has
worn the Professor's mantle gracefully, giving proof of good schol-
arship and manly character.

These men, as teachers, especially in Colleges open to all, irre-
spective of accidental differences, are doing a mighty work in up-
rooting prejudice. The influences thus generated are already felt.
Many a young white man or woman who, in early life, has imbibed
wrong notions of the colore^ man's inferiority, is taught a new les-
son by the colored Professors at McGrawville ; and they leave its
honored walls with thanksgiving in their hearts for their conversion
from pro-slavery heathenism to the Gospel of Christian Freedom,
and are thus prepared to go forth as pioneers in the cause of Human
Brotherhood.

But the Orator's voice and Author's pen have both been eloquent
in detailing the merits of Colored Americans in these various rami-
ais of society, while a combination of circumstances has
veiled from the public eye a narration of those militaiy services
which are generally conceded as passports to the honorable and last-
ing notice of Americans.*

I was born on Beacon Hill, and from early childhood, have loved
to visit the Eastern wing of the State House, and read the four
stones taken from the monument that once towered from its summit.
One contains the following inscription : —

"Americans, while from this eminence scenes of luxuriant fertility, of flourishing
commerce, and the abodes of social happiness, meet your view, forget not those
who by their exertions have secured to you these blessings."

These words became indelibly impressed upon my mind, and have
contributed their share in the production of this book, which, like
the labors of " Old Mortality," rendered immortal by the genius of
Scott, I humbly trust will deepen in the heart and conscience of
this nation the sense of justice, that will ere long manifest itself in
deeds worthy a people who, " free themselves," should be " foremost
to make free."

WILLIAM C. NELL.

Boston, October, 1855.

• In 1S52, Dr. M. R. Delany published a work with special reference to the
condition of the colored people in the United States.

OMISSION AND ERltATA.

1 1

OMISSION.

The following brief account of the organization of a colored mil-
itary company in Boston, accidentally omitted from the body of this
work, is inserted here, (though somewhat out of place,) as a matter
too important to be overlooked in a book of this character : —

The " Massasoit Guards," a military company originating among
some of the colored citizens of Boston, having been refused a loan
of State arms, have equipped themselves in preparation for volun-
teer service. They do not wish to be considered a caste company,
and hence invite to their ranks any citizens of good moral character
who may wish to enrol their names.

Many query, " Why call themselves * Massasoit Guards i ' why
not * Attucks' Guards,' after one of their own race, and the first mar-
tyr of American Independence, on the 5th of March, 1770 ?

Perhaps, as the name of Attucks has been already appropriated
by colored military companies in New York and Cincinnati, they
accepted Massasoit as their patron saint. He was one of those In-
dian chiefs, who, in early colonial times, proved himself signally
friendly to the interests of the Old Bay State. Their pride of loyalty
may have prompted the choice, though we believe a better selection
could have been made. Still, if they are satisfied, the preferences
of others are superfluous.

We earnestly hope they will revive the efforts for erasing the
word white from the military clause in the statute-book, for, until
that is accomplished, their manhood and citizenship are under pro-
scription.

ERRATA.

Page 19, in the sentence from Mr. Parker, read Crispus for
Christopher,
Page 21, for Salem, read Peter Salem,
Page 112, third line from bottom, read J. S. Hock, M. D.
Page 157, five lines from top, read fractional for practical.
Page 181, third line from bottom, read John Boyer Vashon.

COLORED PATRIOTS

OF THE

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

CHAPTER I.

MASSACHUSETTS.

crispus attucks — colored americans on bunker hill — sey-
mour burr — jeremy jonah — a brave colored artillerist

governor Hancock's flag — big dick — primus hall — james
and hosea easton — job lewis — quack matrick — jack grove
— bosson wright — petitions of colored men in old colony
times — legislative action on slavery — mum bett — gov.
hancock against kidnapping — paul cuffe — etc. etc.

On the 5th of March, 1851, the following petition was
presented to the Massachusetts Legislature, asking an ap-
propriation of $1,500, for the erection of a monument to
2

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

the memory of Crispus Attucks, the first martyr in the
Boston Massacre of March 5th, 1770 : —

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the
State of Massachusetts ; in General Court assembled :
The undersigned, citizens of Boston, respectfully ask that an
appropriation of fifteen hundred dollars may be made by your Hon-
orable Body, for a monument to be erected to the memory of Ckis-
pus Attucks, the first martyr of the American Revolution.

WILLIAM C. NELL,
CHARLES LENOX REMOND,
HENRY WEEDEN,
LEWIS HAYDEN,
FREDERICK G. BARBADOES,
JOSHUA B. SMITH,
LEMUEL BURR.

Boston, Feb. 22d, 1851.

This petition was referred to the Committee on Military
Affairs, who granted a hearing to the petitioners, in whose
behalf appeared Wendell Phillips, Esq., and William C.
Nell, but finally submitted an adverse report, on the ground
that a boy, Christopher Snyder, was previously killed. Ad-
mitting this fact, (which was the result of a very different
scene from that in which Attucks fell,) it does not offset the
claims of Attucks, and those who made the 5th of March
famous in our annals — the day which history selects as the
dawn of the American Revolution.

Botta's History, and Hewes's Reminiscences (the tea party
survivor), establish the fact that the colored man, Attucks,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION,

was of and with the people, and was never regarded other-
wise.

Botta, in speaking of the scenes of the 5th of March,
says : — t; The people were greatly exasperated. The mul-
titude ran towards King street, crying, c Let us drive out
these ribalds ; they have no business here ! * The rioters
rushed furiously towards the Custom House ; they ap-
proached the sentinel, crying, 1 Kill him, kill him!'* They
assaulted him with snowballs, pieces of ice, and whatever
they could lay their hands upon. The guard were then
called, and, in marching to the Custom House, they
encountered," continues Botta, " a band of the populace,
led by a mulatto named Attucks, who brandished their
clubs, and pelted them with snowballs. The maledictions,
the imprecations, the execrations of the multitude, were
horrible. In the midst of a torrent of invective from every
quarter, the military were challenged to fire. The populace
advanced to the points of their bayonets. The soldiers ap-
peared like statues; the cries, the howlings, the menaces,
the violent din of bells still sounding the alarm, increased
the confusion and the horrors of these moments ; at length,
the mulatto and twelve of his companions, pressing forward,
environed the soldiers, and striking their muskets with their
clubs, cried to the multitude : c Be not afraid ; they dare
not fire : why do you hesitate, why do you not kill them,
why not crush them at once ? ' The mulatto lifted his arm
against Capt. Preston, and having turned one of the muskets,
he seized the bayonet with his left hand, as if he intended

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

to execute his threat. At this moment, confused cries were
heard : c The tvretches dare not fire ! 1 Firing succeeds.
Attucks is slain. The other discharges follow. Three
were killed, five severely wounded, and several others
slightly."

Attucks had formed the patriots in Dock Square, from
whence they marched up King street, passing through the
street up to the main guard, in order to make the attack.

Attucks was killed by Montgomery, one of Capt. Pres-
ton's soldiers. He had been foremost in resisting, and was
first slain. As proof of a front engagement, he received
two balls, one in each breast.

John Adams, counsel for the soldiers, admitted that At-
tucks appeared to have undertaken to be the hero of the
night, and to lead the people. He and Caldwell, not being
residents of Boston, were both buried from Faneuil Hall.
The citizens generally participated in the solemnities.

The Boston Transcript of March 7, 1851, published an
anonymous communication, disparaging the whole affair ;
denouncing Crispus Attucks as a very firebrand of disorder
and sedition, the most conspicuous, inflammatory, and up-
roarious of the misguided populace, and who, if he had not
fallen a martyr, would richly have deserved hanging as an
incendiary.* If the leader, Attucks, deserved thcepithets
above applied, is it not a legitimate inference, that the citi-
zens who followed on are included, and hence should swing
in his company on the gallows ? If the leader and his pa-

* The Transcript of March 5th, 1855, honorably alludes to Crispus Attucks.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 17

triot band were misguided, the distinguished orators who, in
after days, commemorated the 5th of March, must, indeed,
have been misguided, and with them, the masses who were
inspired by their eloquence ; for John Hancock, in 1774,
invokes the injured shades of Maverick, Gray, Caldwell,
Attucks, Carr ; and Judge Dawes, in 1775, thus alludes to
the band of " misguided incendiaries" : — " The provocation
of that night must be numbered among the master-springs
which gave the first motion to a vast machinery, — a noble
and comprehensive system of national independence. "

Ramsay's History of the American Revolution, Vol. L,
p. 22, says — " The anniversary of the 5th of March was
observed with great solemnity ; eloquent orators were suc-
cessively employed to preserve the remembrance of it fresh
in the mind. On these occasions, the blessings of liberty,
the horrors of slavery, and the danger of a standing
army, were presented to the public view. These annual
orations administered fuel to the fire of liberty, and kept it
burning with an irresistible flame."

The 5th of March continued to be celebrated for the
above reasons, until the Anniversary of the Declaration of
American Independence was substituted in its place ; and
its orators were expected to honor the feelings and princi-
ples of the former as having given birth to the latter.

On the 5th of March, 1776, Washington repaired to the
intrenchments. " Remember,'1 said he, " it is the 5th of
March, and avenge the death of your brethren ! "

In judging, then, of the merits of those who launched
2*

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

the American Revolution, we should not take counsel from
the Tories of that or the present day, but rather heed the
approving eulogy of Lovell, Hancock, and Warren.

Welcome, then, be every taunt that such correspondents
may fling at Attucks and his company, as the best evi-
dence of their merits and their strong claim upon our grati-
tude ! Envy and the foe do not labor to traduce any but
prominent champions of a cause.

The rejection of the petition was to be expected, if we
accept the axiom that a colored man never gets justice done
him in the United States, except by mistake. The peti-
tioners only asked for justice, and that the name of Crispus
Attucks might be honored as a grateful country honors
other gallant Americans.

And yet, let it be recorded, the same session of the Legis-
lature which had refused the Attucks monument, granted
one to Isaac Davis, of Concord. Both were promoters of
the American Revolution, but one was white, the other
was black ; and this is the only solution to the problem why
justice was not fairly meted out.

In April, 1851, Thomas Sims, a fugitive- slave from
Georgia, was returned to bondage from the city of Boston,
and on Friday, June 2d, 1854, Anthony Burns, a fugitive
from Virginia, was dragged back to slavery, — both march-
ing over the very ground that Attucks trod. Among the
allusions to the man, and the associations clustering around
King street of the past and State street of the present, the
following are selected. The first is from a speech of the

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Hon. Anson Burlingame, in Faneuil Hall, Oct. 13, 1852,
on the rendition of Thomas Sims : — »

"The conquering of our New England prejudices in favor of
liberty * does not pay.' It < does not pay/ I submit, to put our fel-
low-citizens under practical martial law ; to beat the drum in our
streets ; to clothe our temples of justice in chains, and to creep
along, by the light of the morning star, over the ground wet with
the blood of Crispus Attucks, the noble colored man, who fell in
King street before the muskets of tyranny, away in the dawn
of our Revolution ; creep by Faneuil Hall, silent and dark ; by
the Green Dragon, where that noble mechanic, Paul Revere,
once mustered the sons of liberty ; within sight of Bunker Hill,
where was first unfurled the glorious banner of our country ; creep
along, with funeral pace, bearing a brother, a man made in the
image of God, not to the grave, — O, that were merciful, for in the
grave there is no work and no device, and the voice of a master
never comes, — but back to the degradation of a slavery which kills
out of a living body an immortal soul. O, where is the man now,
who took part in that mournful transaction, who would wish, look-
ing back upon it, to avow it ! "

"Thousands of agitated people came out to see the preacher
[Burns] led off to slavery, over the spot where Hancock stood and
Attucks fell." *

M And at high 'change, over the spot where, on the 5th of March,
1770, fell the first victim in the Boston Massacre, — where the negro
blood of Cuius to pher Attucks stained the ground, — over that
spot, Boston authorities carried a citizen of Massachusetts to Alex-
andria as a slave." f

* Worcester Spy.

t Theodore Parker, June 4th.

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

"A short distance from that sacred edifice, [Faneuil Hall,] and
between it and the Court House, where the disgusting rites of sac-
rificing a human being to slavery were lately performed, was the
spot which was first moistened with American blood in resisting
slavery, and among the first victims was a colored person/' *

" Nearly all those who had watched the trial of poor Burns, who
heard his doom, saw the slave-guard march from the Court House,
that had been closed so long, through State street, swept as if by a
pestilence, down to the vessel that, under our flag, bore him out of
the Bay the Pilgrims entered, into captivity, would rather have
looked on a funeral procession, rather have heard the rattling of

British guns again Sad, shocking, was the sight of the

harmless, innocent victim of all that mighty machinery, as he
passed down Queen's street and King's street, all hung in mourn-
ing. Better to have seen the halter and the coffin for a criminal
again paraded through our streets, than the cutlasses and the can-
non for him. As he went down to the dock into which the tea was
thrown, the spirits that lingered about the spots he passed vanished
and fled, whilst dire and frightful images arose in their place." f

Henry Hill, a colored man, and a Revolutionary sol-
dier, died in Chilicothe, on the 12th of August, 1833, aged
eighty years. He was buried with the honors of war, — a
singular tribute of respect to the memory of a colored man,
but no doubt richly merited in this case. Henry, I should
infer from an obituary notice in the Chilicothe Advertiser,
was at the battle of Lexington, Brandywine, Monmouth,
Princeton, and Yorktown.

* Hon. Charles Sumner's Speech in Congress, June 28, 1854.

t Speech of Charles M. Ellis, (one of Burns' counsel,) July, 1854.

Brave Colored Artillerist. Page 23.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 21

Swett, in his " Sketches of Bunker Hill Battle," alludes
to the presence of a colored man in that fight. He says : —
u Major Pitcairn caused the first effusion of blood at Lex-
ington. In that battle, his horse was shot under him, while
he was separated from his troops. With presence of mind,
he feigned himself slain ; his pistols were taken from his
holsters, and he was left for dead, when he seized the
opportunity, and escaped. He appeared at Bunker Hill,
and, says the historian, i Among those who mounted the
works was the gallant Major Pitcairn, who exultingly cried
out, " The day is ours!" when a black soldier named
Salem shot him through, and he fell. His agonized son
received him in his arms, and tenderly bore him to the
boats.' A contribution was made in the army for the
colored soldier, and he was presented to Washington as
having performed this feat." *

Besides Salem, there were quite a number of colored
soldiers at Bunker Hill. Among them, Titus Coburn,
Alexander Ames, and Barzilai Lew, all of Andover ;
and also Cato Howe, of Plymouth, — each of whom re-
ceived a pension. Lew was a fifer. His daughter, Mrs.
Dalton, now lives within a few rods of the battle field.

Seymour Burr was a slave in Connecticut, to a brother
of Col. Aaron Burr, from whom he derived his name.
Though treated with much favor by his master, his heart

* In some engravings of the battle, this colored soldier occupies a prominent posi-
tion ; but in more recent editions, his figure is non est inventus. A significant, but
inglorious omission. On some bills, however, of the Monumental Bank, Charles-
town, and Freeman's Bank, Boston, his presence is manifest.

COLOKED PATKIOTS OF THE

yearned for liberty, and he seized an occasion to induce
several of his fellow slaves to escape in a boat, intending to
join the British, that they might become freemen ; but being
pursued by their owners, armed with the implements of
death, they were compelled to surrender.

Burr's master, contrary to his expectation, did not inflict
corporeal punishment, but reminded him of the kindness
with which he had been treated, and asked what inducement
he could have for leaving him. Burr replied, that he wanted
his liberty. His owner finally proposed, that if he would
give him the bounty money, he might join the American
army, and at the end of the war be his own man. Burr,
willing to make any sacrifice for his liberty, consented, and
served faithfully during the campaign, attached to the Sev-
enth Regiment, commanded by Colonel, afterwards Gov-
ernor Brooks, of Medford. He was present at the siege of
Fort Catskill, and endured much suffering from starvation
and cold. After some skirmishing, the army was relieved
by the arrival of Gen. Washington, who, as witnessed by
him, shed tears of joy on finding them unexpectedly safe.

Burr married one of the Punkapog tribe of Indians, and
settled in Canton, Mass. He received a pension from Gov-
ernment. His widow died in 1852, aged over one hundred
years.

Jeremy Jonah served in the same Regiment, (Col.
Brooks's,) at the same time with Seymour Burr. The two
veterans used to make merry together in recounting their
military adventures, especially the drill on one occasion,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

when Jonah stumbled over a stone heap ; for which he was
severely caned by the Colonel. He drew a pension.

Lemuel Burr, (grandson of Seymour,) a resident of
Boston, often speaks of their reminiscences of Deborah
Gannett. In confirmation of this part of their history, I
give the following extract from the Resolves of the General
Court of Massachusetts during the session of 1791 : —

XXIII. — Resolve on the petition of Deborah Gannett, granting
her £34 for services in the Continental Army. January 20, 1792.
On the petition of Deborah Gannett, praying for compensa-
tion for services performed in the late army of the United States :

Whereas, it appears to this Court that the said Deborah Gannett
enlisted, under the name of Robert ShurtlifF, in Capt. Webb's com-
pany, in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, on May 20th, 1782, and
did actually perform the duty of a soldier, in the late army of the
United States, to the 23d day of October, 1783, for which she has
received no compensation ; and, whereas, it further appears that the
said Deborah exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism,
by discharging the duties of a faithful, gallant soldier, and at the
same time preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex unsuspected
and unblemished, and was discharged from the service with a fair
and honorable character ; therefore,

Resolved, That the Treasurer of this Commonwealth be, and he
hereby is, directed to issue his note to the said Deborah for the sum
of thirty four pounds, bearing interest from Oct. 23, 1783.

Joshua B. Smith has stated to me that he was present at
a company of distinguished Massachusetts men, when the
conversation turned upon the exploits of Revolutionary
times ; and that the late Judge Story related an incident of

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

a colored Artillerist who, while having charge of a cannon
with a white fellow soldier, was wounded in one arm. He
immediately turned to his comrade, and proposed changing
his position, exclaiming that he had yet one arm left with
which he could render some service to his country. The
change proved fatal to the heroic soldier, for another shot
from the enemy killed him upon the spot. Judge Story
furnished other incidents of the bravery of colored soldiers,
adding, that he had often thought them and their descend-
ants too much neglected, considering the part they had
sustained in the wars ; and he regretted that he did not, in
early life, gather the facts into a shape for general informa-
tion.

The late Governor Eustis, of Massachusetts, the pride and
boast of the Democracy of the East, himself an active par-
ticipant in the war, and therefore a most competent witness,
states that the free colored soldiers entered the ranks with
the whites. The time of those who were slaves was pur-
chased of their masters, and they were induced to enter the
service in consequence of a law of Congress, by which, on
condition of their serving in the ranks during the war, they
were made freemen. This hope of liberty inspired them
with fresh courage to oppose their breasts to the Hessian
bayonet at Red Bank, and enabled them to endure with
fortitude the cold and famine of Valley Forge.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, John Hancock
presented the colored company, called " the Bucks of
America," with an appropriate banner, bearing his initials,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

as a tribute to their courage and devotion throughout the
struggle. The " Bucks," under the command of Colonel
Middleton, were invited to a collation in a neighboring
town, and, en route, were requested to halt in front of the
Hancock Mansion, in Beacon street, where the Governor
and his son united in the above presentation.

Lydia Maria Child gives the following sketch of Col.
Middleton, commander of the " Bucks " : —

" Col. Middleton was not a very good specimen of the
colored man. He was an old horse-breaker, who owned a
house that he inhabited at the head of Belknap street. He
was greatly respected by his own people, and his house was
thronged with company. His morals were questioned, —
he was passionate, intemperate, and profane. We lived
opposite to him for five years ; during all this time, my
; father treated this old negro with uniform kindness. He
had a natural compassion for the ignorant and the op-
pressed, and I never knew him fail to lift his hat to this old
• neighbor, and audibly say, with much suavity, c How do you
do, Col. Middleton ? ' or c Good morning, colonel.' My
father would listen to the dissonant sounds that came from
an old violin that the colonel played on every summer's
evening, and was greatly amused at his power in subduing
mettlesome colts. He would walk over and compliment
the colonel on his skill in his hazardous employment, and
the colonel would, when thus praised, urge the untamed
animal to some fearful caper, to show off his own bold
3

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

daring. Our negroes, for many years, were allowed peace-
ably to celebrate the abolition of the slave trade ; but it
became a frolic with the white boys to deride them on this-
day, and finally, they determined to drive them, on these
occasions, from the Common. The colored people became
greatly incensed by this mockery of their festival, and this
infringement of their liberty, and a rumor reached us, on
one of these anniversaries, that they were determined to
resist the whites, and were going armed, with this intention.
About three o'clock in the afternoon, a shout of a beginning
fray reached us. Soon, terrified children and women ran
down Belknap street, pursued by white boys, who enjoyed
their fright. The sounds of battle approached ; clubs and
brickbats were flying in all directions. At this crisis, Col.
Middleton opened his door, armed with a loaded musket,
and, in a loud voice, shrieked death to the first white who
should approach. Hundreds of human beings, white and
black, were pouring down the street, the blacks making but
a feeble resistance, the odds in numbers and spirit being
against them. Col. Middleton's voice could be heard above
every other, urging his party to turn and resist to the last.
His appearance was terrific, his musket was levelled, ready
to sacrifice the first white man that came within its range.
The colored party, shamed by his reproaches, and fired by
his example, rallied, and made a short show of resistance.
Capt. Winslow Lewis and my father determined to try and
quell this tumult. Capt. Lewis valiantly grappled with the

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

ringleaders of the whites, and my father coolly surveyed
the scene from his own door, and instantly determined what
to do. He calmly approached Col. Middleton, who called
to him to stop, or he was a dead man ! I can see my
father at this distance of time, and never can forget the
feelings his family expressed, as they saw him still ap-
proach this armed man. He put aside his musket, and,
with his countenance all serenity, said a few soothing words
to the colonel, who burst into tears, put up his musket, and,
with great emotion, exclaimed, loud enough for us to hear
across the street, c I will do it for you, for you have always
been kind to me,' and retired into his own house, and shut
his door upon the scene."

When a boy, living in West Boston, I was familiar with
the person of " Big Dick," and have heard the following
account of him (which is taken from the Boston Patriot)
confirmed. It is not wholly out of place in this collection.
" Richard Shavers," said that journal, a few days after his
decease, " was a man of mighty mould. A short time
previous to his death, he measured six feet five inches in
height, and attracted much attention when seen in the street.
He was born in Salem, or vicinity, and when about sixteen
years old, went to England, where he entered the British
navy. When the war of 1812 broke out, he would not
fight against his country, gave himself up as an American
citizen, and was made a prisoner of war.

" A surgeon on board an American privateer, who expe-
rienced the tender mercies of the British Government in

COLOEED PATKIOTS OF THE

Dartmoor prison, during the War of 1812, makes honorable
mention of " King Dick," as he was there called : —

" < There are about four hundred and fifty negroes in prison No.
4, and this assemblage of blacks affords many curious anecdotes,
and much matter for speculation* These blacks have a ruler among
them, whom they call King Dick. He is by far the largest, and, I
suspect, the strongest man in the prison. He is six feet five inches
in height, and proportionably large. This black Hercules com-
mands respect, and his subjects tremble in his presence. He goes
the rounds every day, and visits every berth to see if they are all
kept clean. When he goes the rounds, he puts on a large bearskin
cap, and carries in his hand a huge club. If any of his men are
dirty, drunken, or grossly negligent, he threatens them with a
beating ; and if they are saucy, they are sure to receive one. They
have several times conspired against him, and attempted to dethrone
him, but he has always conquered the rebels. One night, several
attacked him, while asleep in his hammock; he sprang up and
seized the smallest of them by his feet, and thumped another with
him. The poor negro who had thus been made a beetle of was
carried next day to the hospital, sadly bruised, and provokingly
laughed at. This ruler of the blacks, this King Richard IV., is a
man of good understanding, and he exercises it to a good purpose.
If any one of his color cheats, defrauds, or steals from his comrades,
he is sure to be punished for it/ "

Charles Bowles, (says his biographer, Rev. John W.
Lewis,) " was born in Boston, 1761. His father was an
African ; his mother was a daughter of the celebrated Col.
Morgan, who was distinguished as an officer in the Rifle
Corps of the American army, during the revolutionary
struggle for independence. At the early age of twelve, he

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

was placed in the family of a Tory ; but his young heart
did not fancy his new situation, for at the tender age of
fourteen, we find him serving in the colonial army, in the
capacity of waiter to an officer. He remained in this situa-
tion for two years, and then enlisted, — a mere boy, — in
the American army, to risk his life in defence of the holy
cause of liberty. He served during the entire war, after
which he went to New Hampshire, and engaged in agricul-
tural pursuits. He succeeded in drawing a pension, became
a Baptist preacher, and died March 16, 1843, aged 82."

Primus Hall, a native Bostonian, was the son of Prince
Hall, founder of the Masonic Lodge of that name in Bos-
ton. Primus Hall was long known to the citizens as a soap-
boiler. Besides his revolutionary services, he was among
those who, in the war of 1812, repaired to Castle Island, in
Boston Harbor, to assist in building fortifications.

The following anecdote of Primus is extracted from
Godey's Lady's Book for June, 1849, to which it was com-
municated by Rev. Henry F. Harrington : —

" Throughout the Revolutionary War, Primus Hall was
the body servant of Col. Pickering, of Massachusetts. He
was free and communicative, and delighted to sit down with
an interested listener and pour out those stores of absorbing
and exciting anecdotes with which his memory was stored.

" It is well known that there was no officer in the whole
American army whose memory was dearer to Washington,
and whose counsel was more esteemed by him, than that of
the honest and patriotic Col. Pickering. He was on inti-
3*

COLOEED PATRIOTS OF THE

mate terms with him, and unbosomed himself to him with
as little reserve as, perhaps, to any confidant in the army.
Whenever he was stationed within such a distance as to
admit of it, he passed many hours with the Colonel, con-
sulting him upon anticipated measures, and delighting in his
reciprocated friendship.

" Washington was, therefore, often brought into contact
with the servant of Col. Pickering, the departed Primus.
An opportunity was afforded to the negro to note him,
under circumstances very different from those in which he
is usually brought before the public, and which possess,
therefore, a striking charm. I remember two of these anec-
dotes from the mouth of Primus. One of them is very
slight, indeed, yet so peculiar as to be replete with interest.
The authenticity of both may be fully relied upon.

" Washington once came to Col. Pickering's quarters.,
and found him absent.

" c It is no matter,' said he to Primus ; 6 I am greatly in
need of exercise. You must help me to get some before
your master returns.'

" Under Washington's directions, the negro busied him-
self in some simple preparations. A stake was driven into
the ground about breast high, a rope tied to it, and then
Primus was desired to stand at some distance and hold it
horizontally extended. The boys, the country over, are
familiar with this plan of getting sport. With true boyish
zest, Washington ran forwards and backwards for some
time, jumping over the rope as he came and went, until he
expressed himself satisfied with the 1 exercise.'

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

"Repeatedly afterwards, when a favorable opportunity-
offered, he would say — ' Come, Primus, I am in need of
exercise;' whereat the negro would drive down the stake,
and Washington would jump over the rope until he had
exerted himself to his content,

" On the second occasion, the great General was engaged
in earnest consultation with Col. Pickering in his tent until
after the night had fairly set in. Head-quarters were at a
considerable distance, and Washington signified his pre-
ference to staying with the Colonel over night, provided he
had a spare blanket and straw.

" c O, yes,' said Primus, who was appealed to ; ' plenty
of straw and blankets - — plenty.'

" Upon this assurance, Washington continued his con-
ference with the Colonel until it was time to retire to rest.
Two humble beds were spread, side by side, in the tent,
and the officers laid themselves down, while Primus seemed
to be busy with duties that required his attention before he
himself could sleep. He worked, or appeared to work,
until the breathing of the prostrate gentlemen satisfied him
that they were sleeping ; and then, seating himself upon a
box or stool, he leaned his head on his hands to obtain such
repose , as so inconvenient a position would allow. In the
middle of the night, Washington awoke. He looked about,
and descried the negro as he sat. He gazed at him awhile,
and then spoke.

" c Primus ! ' said he, calling ; ' Primus ! '

" Primus started up and rubbed his eyes. c What, Gen-
eral ? ' said he.

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

" Washington rose up in his bed. 4 Primus,' said he,
; what did you mean by saying that you had blankets and
straw enough ? Here you have given up your blanket and
straw to me, that I may sleep comfortably, while you are
obliged to sit through the night.'

"'It's nothing, General,' said Primus. 'It's nothing.
I'm well enough. Don 't trouble yourself about me, Gen-
eral, but go to sleep again. No matter about me. I sleep
very good.'

" ' But it is matter — it is matter,' said Washington,
earnestly. 1 1 cannot do it, Primus. If either is to sit up,
I will. But I think there is no need of either sitting up.
The blanket is wide enough for two. Come and lie down
here with me.'

u 8 O, no, General ! ' said Primus, starting, and protest-
ing against the proposition. 1 No ; let me sit here. I'll do
very well on the stool.'

" 8 1 say, come and lie down here ! ' said Washington,
authoritatively. ' There is room for both, and I insist upon
it!'

" He threw open the blanket as he spoke, and moved to
one side of the straw. Primus professes to have been ex-
ceedingly shocked at the idea of lying under the same
covering with the commander-in-chief, but his tone was so
resolute and determined that he could not hesitate. He
prepared himself, therefore, and laid himself down by
Washington, and on the same straw, and under the same
blanket, the General and the negro servant slept until
morning."

AMEBICAH REVOLUTION

James Easton, of Bridgewater, was one who partici-
pated in the erection of the fortifications on Dorchester
Heights, under command of Washington, which the next
morning so greatly surprised the British soldiers then en-
camped in Boston.

Mr. Easton was a manufacturing blacksmith, and his
forge and nail factory, where were also made edge tools
and anchors, was extensively known, for its superiority of
workmanship. Much of the iron work for the Tremont
Theatre and Boston Marine Railway was executed under
his supervision. Mr. Easton was self-educated. When a
young man, stipulating for work, he always provided for
chances of evening study. He was welcome to the
business circles of Boston as a man of strict integrity,
and the many who resorted to him for advice in compli-
cated matters styled him " the Black Lawyer."' His sons,
Caleb, Joshua, Sylvanus, and Hosea, inherited his mechan-
ical genius and mental ability.

The family were victims, however, to the spirit of color-
phobia, then rampant in New England, and were persecuted
even to the dragging out of some of the family from the
Orthodox Church, in which, on its enlargement, a porch had
been erected, exclusively for colored people. After this
disgraceful occurrence, the Easton's left the church. They
afterwards purchased a pew in the Baptist church at
Stoughton Corner, which excited a great deal of indigna-
tion. Not succeeding in their attempt to have the bargain
cancelled, the people tarred the pew. The next Sunday,

COLOEED PATKIOTS OF THE

the family carried seats in the waggon. The pew was then
pulled down ; but the family sat in the aisle. These indig-
nities were continued until the separation of the family.

Hosea Easton published a Treatise on the Intellectual
Condition of the Colored People, in which was shown the
heart of a philanthropist and the head of a philosopher. His
work did great execution among those who proclaim the
innate inferiority of colored men. Here is a chapter from
his experience : —

" I, as an individual, have had a sufficient opportunity to know
something about prejudice and its destructive effects. At an early
period of my life, I was extensively engaged in mechanism, associ-
ated with a number of other colored men, of master spirits and
great minds. The enterprise was followed for about twenty years
perseveringly, in direct opposition to public sentiment and the tide
of popular prejudice. So intent were the parties in carrying out the
principles of intelligent, active freemen, that they sacrificed every
thought of comfort and ease to the object. The most rigid economy
was adhered to, at home and abroad. A regular school was estab-
lished for the youth connected with the factory ; the rules of
morality were supported with surprising assiduity, and ardent
spirits found no place in the establishment. After the expenditure
of this vast amount of labor and time, together with many thou-
sands of dollars, the enterprise ended in a total failure. By reason
of the repeated surges of the tide of prejudice, the establishment,
like a ship in a boisterous hurricane at sea, went beneath the
waves, — richly laden, well manned and well managed, sank to rise
no more. It fell, and with it fell the hearts of several of its pro-
jectors in despair, and their bodies into their graves."

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Quack Matrick, of Stoughton Corner, was a regular
Eevolutionary soldier, and drew a pension.

Job Lewis, of Lancaster, (formerly a slave,) enlisted for
two terms of three years each ; and a third time for the
remainder of the war. He died in November, 1797. His
son, Joel W. Lewis, when a boy, was very persevering in
study, and as he depended mainly upon himself, when away
from a brief country school term, busied himself for seven
weeks in solving one complicated lesson in arithmetic.
Mr. Lewis is now proprietor of an extensive blacksmithing
establishment in Boston, where he gives employment to
several white and colored mechanics.

Prince Richards, of East Bridgewater, was a pensioned
Revolutionary soldier. While a slave, he learned to write
with a charred stick ; thus evincing a burning desire to im-
prove, even against the command of his self-styled owner.

Philip Andrews, a colored man, was drowned in Lud-
low, on the 30th of May, 1842. He was over eighty years
of age. He was the servant of a captain of the British
army, in the Revolution, and, at the age of sixteen, deserted
to the American army, and has remained in this country
ever since.

Jack Grove, of Portland, while steward of a brig, sailing
from the West Indies to Portland, in 1812, was taken by a
French vessel, whose commander placed a guard on board.
Jack urged his commander to make an effort to retake
the vessel, but the captain saw no hope. Says Jack, " Cap-
tain McLellan, I can take her, if you will let me go ahead."

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

The captain checked him, warning him not to lisp such a
word, — there was danger in it; but Jack, disappointed
though not daunted, rallied the men on his own hook.
Captain McLellan and the rest, inspired by his example,
finally joined them, and the attempt resulted in victory.
They weighed anchor, and took the vessel into Portland.
The owners of the brig offered Jack fifty hogsheads of
molasses for his valor and patriotism, but Jack demanded
one half of the brig, which being denied him, he com-
menced a suit, engaging two Boston lawyers in his behalf.
I have not been able to learn how the case was decided, if,
indeed, a decision has yet been made.

Bosson Wright resided in Massachusetts upwards of
eighty years, and could well remember when the British
burned the town of Portland. He assisted in building two
of the Forts, and parted with two of his companions on their
way to join the American army. He was a tax-payer for
more than fifty years.

Bosson said that one Mayberry, a slave from Gorham,
saw a British sailor in the act of setting fire to the old
Parish church, (now the First Parish in Portland,) when he
(Mayberry) seized him, and carried him before the leading
men, who, being Tories, ordered the sailor's discharge.

Being one afternoon on a sailing excursion down Portland
harbor, Bosson directed attention to the Fort as not being
properly located, indicating the spot which he would have
selected. Some years after, when President Munroe visited
the Eastern States, the same observation was made by him,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

and the same spot pointed out as had been by Bosson
Wright.

One of his acquaintances, a colored soldier at the Battle
of Saratoga, walked up, quite elated, to Cornwallis, after
his surrender, saying: — "You used to be named Corn-
wallis, but it is Corn-wallis no longer ; it must now be Cob-
wallis, for General Washington has shelled otT all the
corn."

COLONIAL REMINISCENCES.

Extract from the Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachu-
setts, in reply to Senator Butler, of South Carolina, in the
Senate of the United States, June 28, 1854.

" Sir, slavery never flourished in Massachusetts ; nor did it
ever prevail there at any time, even in early colonial days,
to such a degree as to be a distinctive feature in her power-
ful civilization. Her few slaves were merely for a term of
years, or for life. If, in point of fact, their issue was some-
times held in bondage, it was never by sanction of any
statute law of Colony or Commonwealth. (Lanesloro'* vs.
Westfield, 16 Mass., 73.) In all her annals, no person was
ever born a slave on the soil of Massachusetts. This of
itself is a response to the imputation of the Senator.

"A benign and brilliant act of her Legislature, as far back
4

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

as 1646, shows her sensibility on this subject. A Boston
ship had brought home two negroes, seized on the coast of
Guinea. Thus spoke Massachusetts : —

" < The General Court, conceiving themselves bound by the first
opportunity to bear witness against the heinous and crying sin of
man- stealing, also, to prescribe such timely redress for what is past,
and such a law for the future as may sufficiently deter all those belong-
ing to us to have to do in such vile and most odious conduct, justly
abhorred of all good and just men, do order that the negro interpre-
ter, with others unlawfully taken, be, by the first opportunity, at
the charge of the country, for the present, sent to his native country
of Guinea, and a letter with him of the indignation of the Court
thereabout and justice thereof.' "

" The Colony that could issue this noble decree was incon-
sistent with itself, when it allowed its rocky face to be
pressed by the footsteps of a single slave. But a righteous
public opinion earnestly and constantly set its face against
slavery. As early as 1701, a vote was entered upon the
records of Boston to the following effect : — c The Represen-
tatives are desired to promote the encouraging the bringing
of white servants, and to pat a period to negroes being
slaves.9 Perhaps, in all history, this is the earliest testi-
mony from any official body against negro slavery, and I
thank God that it came from Boston, my native town. In
1705, a heavy duty was imposed upon every negro imported
into the province ; in 1712, the importation of Indians as
servants or slaves was strictly forbidden, but the general

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

subject of slavery attracted little attention iill the beginning
of the controversy which ended in the Revolution, when
the rights of the blacks were blended by all true patriots
with those of the whites. Sparing all unnecessary details,
suffice it to say, that, as early as 1769, one of the courts of
Massachusetts, anticipating, by several years, the renowned
judgment in Somersetfs case, established within its jurisdic-
tion the principle of emancipation ; and under its touch of
magic power, changed a slave into a freeman. Similar
decisions followed in other places."

An author, who signs himself " Old Style Freeman,"
says that " the contest commenced in 1761, in the town of
Boston, in the old court-house, in the masterly speech of
James Otis against the writs of assistance. He boldly
asserted the rights, not only of the white, but of the black
man. . . . Our colonial charters make no difference
between black and white colonists.

" Massachusetts passed resolutions, in 1764, in which the
rights of all the colonists were declared, without respect to
mark or color, and James Otis, under the sanction of the
House of Representatives, published his work on the Rights
of the British Colonies, in which it was declared that all the
colonists are, by the law of nature, 6 freeborn, as, indeed, all
men are, white or black ; nor can any logical inference
in aid of slavery,' said Otis, c be drawn from a flat nose or
a long or short face.'' "

June 23d, 1773, the following petition was presented to

40 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

the General Court, which was read, and referred to the
next session : —

PETITION OF SLAVES IN BOSTON.

Province of Massachusetts Bay.

To His Excellency, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., Governor : —
To the Honorable, His Majesty's Council, and to the Honorable
House of Representatives, in general court assembled at Boston, the
6th day of January, 1773: — The humble petition of many slaves
living in the town of Boston, and other towns in the province, is
this, namely : —

That Your Excellency and Honors, and the Honorable the Repre-
sentatives, would be pleased to take their unhappy state and con-
dition under your wise and just consideration.

We desire to bless God, who loves mankind, who sent his Son to
die for their salvation, and who is no respecter of persons, that he
hath lately put it into the hearts of multitudes, on both sides of the
water, to bear our burthens, some of whom are men of great note
and influence, who have pleaded our cause with arguments, which
we hope will have their weight with this Honorable Court.

We presume not to dictate to Your Excellency and Honors, be-
ing willing to rest our cause on your humanity and justice, yet
would beg leave to say a word or two on the subject.

Although some of the negroes are vicious, (who, doubtless, may
be punished and restrained by the same laws which are in force
against others of the King's subjects,) there are many others of a
quite different character, and who, if made free, would soon be able,
as well as willing, to bear a part in the public charges. Many of
them, of good natural parts, are discreet, sober, honest and industri-
ous ; and may it not be said of many, that they are virtuous and
religious, although their condition is in itself so unfriendly to reli-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

gion, and every moral virtue, except patience f How many of that
number have there been, and now are, in this province, who had
every day of their lives embittered with this most intolerable reflec-
tion, that, let their behavior be what it will, neither they nor their
children, to all generations, shall ever be able to do or to possess
and enjoy any thing — no, not even life itself — but in a manner as
the beasts that perish !

We have no property ! we have no wives I we have no children !
we have no city ! no country ! But we have a Father in heaven,
and we are determined, as far as his grace shall enable us, and as far
as our degraded condition and cdntemptuous life will admit, to keep
all his commandments ; especially will we be obedient to our mas-
ters, so long as God, in his sovereign providence, shall suffer us to
be holden in bondage.

It would be impudent, if not presumptuous, in us to suggest to
Your Excellency and Honors, any law or laws proper to be made in
relation to our unhappy state, which, although our greatest unhap-
piness, is not our fault ; and this gives us great encouragement to
pray and hope for such relief as is consistent with your wisdom,
justice and goodness.

We think ourselves very happy, that we may thus address the
great and general court of this province, which great and good
court is to us the best judge, under God, of what is wise, just and
good.

We humbly beg leave to add but this one thing more : we pray
for such relief only, which by no possibility can ever be productive
of the least wrong or injury to our masters, but to us will be as life
from the dead.

In January, 1774, a bill was brought in, which passed all
the forms in the two Houses, and was laid before Governor
Hutchinson for his approval, March 8th. The negroes
4*

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

had deputed a committee respectfully to solicit the Gov-
ernor's consent ; but he told them that his instructions
forbade. His successor, General Gage, gave them the
same answer, when they waited on him.

The blacks had better success in the judicial court. A
pamphlet containing the case of a negro who had accom-
panied his master from the' West Indies to England, and
had there sued for and obtained his freedom, was reprinted
here, and this encouraged several others to sue their mas-
ters for their freedom, and recompense for their services..

The first trial of this kind was in 1770. James, a servant
of Richard Lechmere, of Cambridge, brought an action
against his master for detaining him in bondage. The
negroes collected money among themselves to carry on the
suit, and the verdict was in favor of the plaintiff. Other suits
were instituted between that time and the Revolution, and
the juries invariably gave their verdicts in favor of liberty.

During the Revolutionary War, public opinion was so
strongly in favor of the abolition of slavery, that, in some of
the country towns, votes were passed in town meetings that
they would have no slaves among them ; and that they
would not exact of the masters any bonds for the mainte-
nance of liberated blacks, should they become incapable of
supporting themselves. A liberty-loving antiquarian copied
the following from the Suffolk Probate Record, and pub-
lished it in the Boston Liberator, February, 1847 : —

" Know all men by these presents, that I, Jonathan Jackson, of
Newburyport, in the county of Essex, gentleman, in consideration

AMEEIC AN REVOLUTION.

of the impropriety I feel, and have long felt, in beholding any
person in constant bondage, — more especially at a time when my
country is so warmly contending for the liberty every man ought to
enjoy , — and having sometime since promised my negro man,
Pomp, that I would give him his freedom, and in further considera-
tion of five shillings, paid me by said Pomp, I do hereby liberate, ,
manumit, and set him free ; and I do hereby remise and release
unto said Pomp, all demands of whatever nature I have against
said Pomp.

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
nineteenth June, 1776.

« JONATHAN JACKSON. [Seal.]
** Witness — Mary Coburn,

William No yes."

It only remains to say a word respecting the two parties
to the foregoing instrument.

Jonathan Jackson, of Newburyport, we well remember
to have heard spoken of, in our younger days, by honored
lips, as a most upright and thorough gentleman of the old
school, possessing talents and character of the first stand-
ing. He was the first Collector of the Port of Boston,
under Washington's administration, and was Treasurer of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for many years, and
died in 1810. A tribute to his memory and his worth, said
to be from the pen of the late John Lowell, appeared in
the Columbian Centinel, March 10, 1810. His immediate
descendants have long resided in this city, are extensively
known, and as widely and justly honored.

Pomp took the name of his late master, upon his eman-

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

cipation, and soon after enlisted in the army, as Pomp
Jackson, served through the whole war of the Revolution,
and obtained an honorable discharge at its termination. He
afterwards settled in Andover, near a pond still known as
" Pomp's Pond," where some of his descendants yet live.
In this case of emancipation, it appears, instead of " cutting
his master's throat," he only slashed the throats of his
country's enemies.

Rev. Charles Lowell, in a letter to the Boston Courier,
May 17, 1847, says : — "I well remember, myself, when I
was a boy at Andover Academy, being often told by an
intelligent old black man, who sold buns, that my father was
the friend of the blacks, and the cause of their being freed,
or something to that effect, and that I often had a bun or
two extra on that account. I may further state, that in
October, 1773, an action was brought against Richard
Greenleaf, of Newburyport, by Caesar (Hendrick), a colored
man, whom he claimed as his slave, for holding him in
bondage. He laid the damages at fifty pounds. The
counsel for the plaintiff, in whose favor the jury brought in
their verdict, and awarded him eighteen pounds, damages
and costs, was John Lowell, Esq., afterwards Judge Lowell."*

From the archives in the State House, I have gleaned
many petitions and resolves of Revolutionary times, on
questions concerning the rights of Massachusetts colored
citizens, some of which I have deemed of sufficient histor-
ical value to be recorded in this volume.

* Coffin's History of Newbury, p. 339.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION TO REDEEM TWO SLAVES.

I find the following Resolution on the records of the
House of Representatives, Sept. 13, 1776. The Council
concurred, Sept. 16, 1776: —

Whereas, this House is credibly informed that two negro men,
lately brought into this State as prisoners taken on the high seas,
are advertised to be sold at Salem, the 17th inst., by public auction, —

Resolved, That the selling and enslaving the human species is a
direct violation of the natural rights alike vested in all men by their
Creator, and utterly inconsistent with the avowed principles on
which this and the other United States have carried their struggles
on for liberty, even to the last appeal ; and therefore, that all persons
concerned with the said negroes be, and they hereby are, forbidden
to sell them, or in any manner to treat them otherway than is al-
ready ordered for the treatment of prisoners of war taken in the
same vessel, or others in the like employ, and if any sale of the said
negroes shall be made, it hereby is declared null and void.

AN ACT FOR PREVENTING THE PRACTICE OF HOLDING PER-
SONS AS SLAVES A. D. 1 77 7.

Whereas, the practice of holding Africans and the children born
of them, or any other persons, in slavery, is unjustifiable in a civil
government, at a time when they are asserting their natural free-
dom ; wherefore, for preventing such a practice for the future, and
establishing to every person residing within the State the invaluable
blessing of liberty, —

Be it enacted, by the Council and House of Representatives, in
General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, — That

COLOKED PATRIOTS OF THE

all persons, whether black or other complexion, above 2i years of

age, now held in slavery, shall, from and after the — day of next,

be free from any subjection to any master or mistress, who have
claimed their servitude by right of purchase, heirship, free gift or
otherwise, and they are hereby entitled to all the freedom, rights,
privileges and immunities that do, or ought to of right, belong to
any of the subjects of this State, any usage or custom to the con-
trary notwithstanding.

And be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all written
deeds, bargains, sales or conveyances, or contracts, without writing,
whatsover, for conveying or transferring any property in any person,
or to the service and labor of any person whatsoever, of more than
twenty-one years of age, to a third person, except by order of some
court of record for some crime that has been, or hereafter shall be,
made, or by their own voluntary contract for a term not exceeding
seven years, shall be and hereby are declared null and void.

And, whereas, divers persons now have in their service negroes,
mulattoes, or others who have been deemed their slaves or property,
and who are now incapable of earning their living by reason of age
or infirmities, and may be desirous of continuing in the service of
their masters or mistresses, — be it therefore enacted, by the authori-
ty aforesaid, that whatever negro or mulatto, who shall be desirous
of continuing in the service of his master or mistress, and shall vol-
untarily declare the same before two justices of the county in which
said master or mistress resides, shall have a right to continue in the
service, and to a maintenance from their master or mistress, and if
they are incapable of earning their living, shall be supported by the
said master or mistress, or their heirs, during the lives of said ser-
vants, any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding.

Provided, nevertheless, that nothing in this act shall be under-
stood to prevent any master of a vessel or other person from bringing
into this State any persons, not Africans, from any other part of the

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

world, except the United States of America, and selling their service
for a term of time not exceeding five years, if 21 years of age, or,
if under 21, not exceeding the time when he or she so brought into
the State shall be 26 years of age, to pay for and in consideration of
the transportation and other charges said master of vessel or other
person may have been at, agreeable to contracts made with the per-
sons so transported, or their parents or guardians in their behalf,
before they are brought from their own country.

Ordered to lie until second session of the General Court.*

SECOND PETITION OF MASSACHUSETTS SLAVES.

The petition of a great number of negroes, who are detained in a
state of slavery in the very bowels of a free and Christian country,
humbly showing, —
That your petitioners apprehend that they have, in common with
all other men, a natural and inalienable right to that freedom, which
the great Parent of the universe hath bestowed equally on all man-
kind, and which they have never forfeited by any compact or agree-
ment whatever* But they were unjustly dragged by the cruel hand
of power from their dearest friends, and some of them even torn
from the embraces of their tender parents, — from a populous,
pleasant and plentiful country, and in violation of the laws of na-
ture and of nations, and in defiance of all the tender feelings of hu-
manity, brought hither to be sold like beasts of burthen, and, like
them, condemned to slavery for life — among a people possessing
the mild religion of Jesus — a people not insensible of the sweets of
national freedom, nor without a spirit to resent the unjust endeavors
of others to reduce them to a state of bondage and subjection.
Your Honors need not to be informed that a life of slavery like

• Vol. VIJ. Revolutionary Resolves.

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

that of your petitioners, deprived of every social privilege, of every
thing requisite to render life even tolerable, is far worse than non-
existence.

In imitation of the laudable example of the good people of these
States, your petitioners have long and patiently waited the event of
petition after petition, by them presented to the legislative body of
this State, and cannot but with grief reflect that their success has
been but too similar.

They cannot but express their astonishment that it has never
been considered, that every principle from which America has acted,
in the course of her unhappy difficulties with Great Britain, bears
stronger than a thousand arguments in favor of your humble peti-
tioners. They therefore humbly beseech Your Honors to give their
petition its due weight and consideration, and cause an act of the
legislature to be passed, whereby they may be restored to the en-
joyment of that freedom, which is the natural right of all men, and
their children (who were born in this land of liberty) may not be
held as slaves after they arrive at the age of twenty- one years. So
may the inhabitants of this State (no longer chargeable with the
inconsistency of acting themselves the part which they condemn
and oppose in others) be prospered in their glorious struggles for
liberty, and have those blessings secured to them by Heaven, of
which benevolent minds cannot wish to deprive their fellow-men.

And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray : —

LANCASTER HILL,
PETER BESS,
BRISTER SLENFEN,
PRINCE HALL,

JACK PIERPONT, [his X mark.]
NERO FUNELO, [his X mark.]
NEWPORT SUMNER, [his X mark.]

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 49

In 1778, Lieut. Thomas Kench presented a petition to
the Legislature, asking for the appointment of a colored
regiment. The Legislature responded thus : —

State of Massachusetts Bay :

The Committee of both Houses upon the letter of Thomas
Kench, with other papers accompanying it, have attended to that
service, and report —

That there be one regiment of volunteers raised, as soon as possi-
ble, to serve during the war, to consist of the same number of
officers and privates as those of a continental regiment ; — That one
sergeant in each company, and every higher officer in said regiment,
shall be white men, and that all the other sergeants* inferior officers
and privates shall be negroes, mulattoes> or Indians. * * *

At a later date, Lieut. Kench addressed the following
letter to the Council : —

To the Honorable Council :

The letter I wrote before I heard of the disturbance with Col.
Seaver, Mr. Spear, and a number of other gentlemen, concerning
the freedom of negroes, in Congress street. It is a pity that riots
should be committed on the occasion, as it is justified that negroes
should have their freedom, and none among us be held as slaves,
as freedom and liberty is the grand controversy that we are contend-
ing for, and I trust, under the smiles of Divine Providence, we: shall
obtain it, if all our minds can be united ; and putting the negroes
into the service will prevent much uneasiness, and give more satis-
faction to those that are offended at the thoughts of their servants
being free.

I will not enlarge, for fear I should give offence, but subscribe
myself, Your faithful servant,

Castle Island^ April 7, 1778. THOMAS KENCH.

COLOKED PATRIOTS OF THE

FORMATION OF A COLORED REGIMENT IN RHODE ISLAND.

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in Gen-
eral Assembly. February Session, 1778.

Whereas, for the preservation of the rights and liberties of the
United States/it is necessary that the whole power of Government
should be exerted in recruiting the Continental battalions ; and,
whereas, His Excellency, General Washington, hath inclosed to
this State a proposal made to him by Brigadier General Varnum, to
enlist into the two battalions raising by this State such slaves as
should be willing to enter into the service ; and, whereas, history
affords us frequent precedents of the wisest, the freest and bravest
nations having liberated their slaves and enlisted them as soldiers
to fight in defence of their country; and also, whereas, the enemy
have, with great force, taken possession of the capital and of a great
part of this State, and this State is obliged to raise a very consider-
able number of troops for its own immediate defence, whereby it is
in a manner rendered impossible for this State to furnish recruits
for the said two battalions without adopting the said measures so
recommended, — '

It is Yoted and Resolved, That every able-bodied negro, mulatto,
or Indian man-slave in this State may enlist into either of the said
two battalions, to serve during the continuance of the present war
with Great Britain ; — That every slave so enlisting shall be entitled
to and receive all the bounties, wages and encouragements allowed
by the Continental Congress to any soldiers enlisting into this
service.

It is further Voted and Resolved, That every slave so enlisting
shall, upon his passing muster by Col. Christopher Greene, be im-
mediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and
be absolutely free, as though he had never been incumbered with
any kind of servitude or slavery. And in case such slave shall, by
sickness or otherwise, be rendered unable to maintain himself, he

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

shall not be chargeable to his master or mistress, but shall be sup-
ported at the expense of the State.

And, whereas, slaves have been by the laws deemed the property
of their owners, and therefore compensation ought to be made to the
owners for the loss of their service, —

It is further Voted and Resolved, That there be allowed and paid
by this State to the owners, for every such slave so enlisting, a
sum according to his worth, at a price not exceeding one hundred
and twenty pounds for the most valuable slave, and in proportion
for a slave of less value, — provided the owner of said slave shall de-
liver up to the officer who shall enlist him the clothes of the said
slave, or otherwise he shall not be entitled to said sum.

And for settling and ascertaining the value of such slaves, —
It is further Voted and Resolved, That a committee of five shall be
appointed, to wit, — one from each county, any three of whom to be
a quorum, — to examine the slaves who shall be so enlisted, after
they shall have passed muster, and to set a price upon each slave,
according to his value as aforesaid.

It is further Voted and Resolved, That upon any able-bodied negro,
mulatto or Indian slave enlisting as aforesaid, the officer who shall
so enlist him, after he has passed muster as aforesaid, shall deliver a
certificate thereof to the master or mistress of said negro, mulatto,
or Indian slave, which shall discharge him from the service of said
master or mistress.

It is further Voted and Resolved, That the committee who shall es-
timate the value of the slave aforesaid, shall give a certificate of the
sum at which he may be valued to the owner of said slave, and the
general treasurer of this State is hereby empowered and directed to
give unto the owner of said slave his promissory note for the sum
of money at which he shall be valued as aforesaid, payable on de-
mand, with interest, — which shall be paid with the money from
Congress.

A true copy, examined, HENRY WARD, Sec'ij.

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

In 1782, a female slave named Belinda presented a
petition to the Legislature, in which she says : — " Although
I have been servant to a Colonel forty years, my labors
have not procured me any comfort. I have not yet enjoyed
the benefits of creation. With my poor daughter, I fear I
shall pass the remainder of my days in slavery and misery.
For her and myself, I beg freedom." *

MUM BETT.

I extract the following account of this remarkable woman
from an Address delivered in Stockbridge, Mass., February,
1831, by Theodore Sedgwick, Esq., a son of Judge Sedg-
wick, who had the honor of judicially pronouncing the doom
of slavery in Massachusetts, under her Bill of Rights : —

u We have arrived, by imperceptible degrees, to a point
of elevation from which we look down and around, with a
sense of superiority, as if the height had been attained by
our unaided efforts, and without remembering or regarding
the means whereby we ascended. We despise the abject
African, because he does not at once leap up to the ascent
upon which we have been placed by circumstances, which
we could no more control than he could have controlled his
destiny.

"We should look at the subject in a different aspect.
We should make all allowances for the different condition
of the Africans and ourselves ; give them credit for what

♦American Museum Collection.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

they have done, and not reproach them for not doing what
they had no means of doing. They have the same princi-
ple of buoyancy with ourselves, and the instant that the
weight which depresses their level in society is taken off,
they will rise and occupy the space which is left vacant for
them.

" Such has been my acquaintance with individuals of this
race, that I regard the pretence of original and natural supe-
riority in the whites, very much as I regard the tales of
ancient fables, setting forth the superior bodily strength of
heroes. But for the care of one of this calumniated race, I
should not now, probably, be living to give this testimony.

" A very slight sketch of the history of the person to whom
I refer may serve to illustrate this argument. Elizabeth
Freeman (known afterwards by the name of Mum Bett)
was born a slave, and lived in that condition thirty or forty
years. She first lived in Claverac, Columbia county, in the
State of New York, in the family of a Mr. Hogeboom. She
was purchased at an early age by Col. Ashley, of Sheffield,
in the county of Berkshire, in the now Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. In both these States, and I believe every
where in the Northern States, slavery existed in a very
mitigated form. This is not so much to be ascribed to the
superior humanity of the people, as to the circumstances of
the case. The slaves were comparatively few. Society,
except, perhaps, in the capitals, was in a state nearly primi-
tive. The slaves were precluded from the table in but few
families. Their masters and mistresses wrought with the
5*

COLORED

PATRIOTS OF THE

slaves. A great degree of familiarity necessarily resulted
from this mode of life. Slavery in New York and New
England was so marked, that but a slight difference could
be perceived in the condition of slaves and hired servants.
The character of the slaves was moulded accordingly.
Sales were very rare. The same feeling which induces a
father to retain a child in his family, or at least under his
control, disinclined him from parting with his slave. There
was little distinction of rank in the country. The younger
slaves not only ate and drank, but played with the children.
They thus became familiar companions with each other.
The black women were cooks and nurses, and, as such, as-
sisted by their mistresses. There was no great difference
between the fare or clothing of black and white laborers.

" Tn this state of familiar intercourse, instances of cruelty
were uncommon, and the minds of the slaves were not so
much subdued but that they caused a degree of indignation
not much less than if committed upon a freeman.

" Under this condition of society, while Mum Bett resided
in the family of Col. Ashley, she received a severe wound
in a generous attempt to shield her sister. Her mistress, in
a fit of passion, resorted to a degree and mode of violence
very uncommon in this country : she struck at the weak and
timid girl with a heated kitchen shovel ; Mum Bett interposed
her arm, and received the blow ; and she bore the honorable
scar it left to the day of her death. The spirit of Mum Bett
had not been broken down by ill usage — she resented the
insult and outrage as a white person would have done. She

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

left the house, and neither commands nor entreaties could
induce her to return. Her master, Col. Ashley, resorted to
the law to regain possession of his slave. This was shortly
after the adoption of the Constitution of Massachusetts. The
case was tried at Great Barrington. Mum Bett was de-
clared free ; it being, I believe, the first instance (or among
the first instances) of the practical application of the declar-
ation in the Massachusetts Bill of Rights, that c all men
are born free and equal.'

" The late Judge Sedgwick had the principal agency in
her deliverance. She attached herself to his family as a
servant. In that station she remained for many years, and
was never entirely disconnected from his family.

" She was married when young; her husband died soon
after, in the continental service of the Revolutionary War,
leaving her with one child. During the residue of her life,
she remained a widow. She died in December, 1829, at a
very advanced age. She supposed herself to be nearly a
hundred years old.

" If there could be a practical refutation of the imagined
natural superiority of our race to hers, the life and character
of this woman would afford that refutation. She knew her
station, and perfectly observed its decorum ; yet she had
nothing of the submissive or the subdued character, which
succumbs to superior force, and is the usual result of the
state of slavery. On the contrary, without ever claiming
superiority, she uniformly, in every case, obtained an ascen-
dency over all those with whom she was associated in

56 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

service. Her spirit of fidelity to her employers was such as
has never been surpassed. This was exemplified in her
whole life. I can convey an idea of it only by the relation
of a single incident.

" The house of Mr. Sedgwick, in this town, (Stockbridge,)
was attacked by a body of insurgents, during the Shay's
war, so well remembered in this vicinity. Mr. Sedgwick
was then absent in Boston, and Mum Bett was the only
guardian of the house. She assured the party that Mr.
Sedgwick was absent, but suffered them to search the house
to find him, which they did, by feeling under the beds and
other places of concealment, with the points of their bayo-
nets. She did not attempt to resist, by direct force, the
rifling of property, which was one of the objects of the
insurgents. She, however, assumed a degree of authority ;
told the plunderers that they 1 dare not strike a woman,'
and attended them in their exploring the house, to prevent
wanton destruction. She escorted them into the cellar with
a large kitchen shovel in her hand, which she intimated that
she would use in case of necessity. One of the party broke
off the neck of a bottle of porter. She told him that if he or
his companions desired to drink porter, she would fetch a
corkscrew, and draw a cork, and they might drink like gen-
tlemen ; but that, if the neck of another bottle should be
broken, she would lay the man that broke it flat with her
shovel. Upon tasting the liquor, the party decided that
' if gentlemen loved such cursed bitter stuff, they might
keep it.'

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

c Understanding, from the conversation of the party, that
they intended to take with them, in their retreat, a very fine
gray mare that was in the stable, which she had been in the
habit of riding, she left the house and went directly to the
stable. Before the rioters were apprised of her intention,
she led the animal to a gate that opened upon the street,
stripped off the halter, and, by a blow with it, incited the
mare to a degree of speed that soon put her out of danger
from the pursuit of the marauders.

" Even in her humble station, she had, when occasion
required it, an air of command which conferred a degree of
dignity, and gave her an ascendency over those of her rank,
which is very unusual in persons of any rank or color. Her
determined and resolute character, which enabled her to
limit the ravages of a Shay^ mob, was manifested in her con-
duct and deportment during her whole life. She claimed no
distinction ; but it was yielded to her from her superior
experience, energy, skill, and sagacity. In her sphere, she
had no superior, nor any equal. In the latter part of her
life, she was much employed as a nurse. Here she had no
competitor. I believe she never lost a child, when she had
the care of its mother, at its birth. When a child, wailing
in the arms of its mother, heard her steps on the stairway,
or approaching the door, it ceased to cry.

" This woman, by her extreme industry and economy,
supported a large family of grand-children and great-grand-
children. She could neither read nor write ; yet her con-
versation was instructive, and her society was much sought.

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

She received many visits at her own house, and very fre-
quently received and accepted invitations to pass consider-
ble intervals of time in the families of her friends. Her
death, notwithstanding her great age, was deeply lamented.

u Having known this woman as familiarly as I knew
either of my parents, I cannot believe in the moral or physi-
cal inferiority of the race to which she belonged. The
degradation of the African must have been otherwise caused
than by natural inferiority. Civilization has made slow
progress in every portion of the earth ; where it has made
progress, it proceeds in an accelerated ratio."

In 1795, Judge Tucker, of Virginia, propounded to Rev.
Dr. Belknap, of Massachusetts, eleven queries respecting
the slavery and emancipation of negroes in Massachusetts,
which were answered by Dr. Belknap in a very intelligent
manner. The queries and replies may be found in the
fourth volume of the Collections of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society. In one of his letters, Dr. Belknap says : —
u The present Constitution of Massachusetts was established
in 1780. The first article of the Declaration of Rights
asserts that 'all men are born free and equal.' This was
inserted not merely as a moral or political truth, but with a
particular view to establish the liberation of the negroes on
a general principle, and so it was understood by the people
at large : but some doubted whether this was sufficient.
Many of the blacks, taking advantage of the public opinion
and of this general assertion in the Bill of Rights, asked

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their freedom and obtained it. Others took it without leave.
In 1781, at the Court in Worcester County, an indictment
was found against a white man for assaulting, beating and
imprisoning a black. He was tried at the Supreme Judicial
Court in 1783. His defence was that the black (Walker)
was his slave, and that the beating, &c, was the necessary
restraint and correction by the master.

" The judges and jury were of opinion that he had no right
to beat- or imprison him. He was found guilty, and fined
forty shillings. This decision was a mortal wound to slave-
ry in Massachusetts.''

There is no specific record of the abolition of slavery in
Massachusetts ; and, of course, different versions are given
concerning it. John Quincy Adams, in reply to a question
put by J. C. Spencer, stated that " a note had been given
for the price of a slave in 1787. This note was sued, and
the Court ruled that the maker had received no consideration,
as man could not be sold. From that time forward, slavery
died in the Old Bay State."

I find, in Dr. Belknap's letters, the following account of
an early kidnapping enterprise in the city of Boston. The
kidnappers were not so successful as others of a more
recent date, since they do not seem to have had the State
authorities on their side. " In the month of February,
1788," says Dr. Belknap, "just after the adoption of
the present Federal Constitution by the Convention of
Massachusetts, a most flagrant violation of the laws of so-

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

ciety and humanity was perpetrated in Boston, by one
Avery, of Connecticut. By the assistance of another infa-
mous fellow, he decoyed three unsuspecting black men on
board a vessel, which he had chartered, and sent them
down into the hold to work. Whilst they were there em-
ployed, the vessel came to sail and went to sea, having been
previously cleared out for Martinice.

"As soon as this infamous transaction was known, Gov-
ernor Hancock and M. L. Etombe, the French consul, wrote
letters to the governors of all the islands in the West Indies,
in favor of the decoyed blacks. The public indignation be-
ing greatly excited against the actors in this affair, and
against others who had been concerned in the traffic of
slaves, it was thought proper to take advantage of the fer-
ment, and bring good out of evil.

" The. three blacks who were decoyed were offered for
sale at the Danish island of St. Bartholomew. They told
their story publicly, which coming to the ears of the gov-
ernor, he prevented the sale. A Mr. Atherton, of the
island, generously became bound for their good behavior
for six months, in which time letters came, informing of
their case, and they were permitted to return.

" They arrived in Boston on the 20th of July following ;
and it was a day of jubilee, not only among their country-
men, but among all the friends of justice and humanity."

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Extract from a charge delivered to the African Lodge, June 24th,
1797, at Menotomy,' (now West Cambridge,) Mass., by the
Right Worshipful Prince Hall.

u Beloved Brethren of the African Lodge :

" It is now five years since I delivered a charge to you on
some parts and points of masonry. As one branch or su-
perstructure of the foundation, I endeavored to show you
the duty of a mason to a mason, and of charity and love to all
mankind, as the work and image of the great God and the
Father of the human race. I shall now attempt to show you
that it is our duty to sympathise with our fellow-men under
their troubles, and with the families of our brethren who are
gone, we hope, to the Grand Lodge above.

" We are to have sympathy," said he, " but this, after
all, is not to be confined to parties or colors, nor to towns or
states, nor to a kingdom, but to the kingdoms of the whole
earth, over whom Christ the King is head and grand mas-
ter for all in distress.

" Among these numerous sons and daughters of distress,
let us see our friends and brethren ; and first let us see them
dragged from their native country, by the iron hand of ty-
ranny and oppression, from their dear friends and connec-
tions, with weeping eyes and aching hearts, to a strange land,
and among a strange people, whose tender mercies are cru-
el,— and there to bear the iron yoke of slavery and cruelty,
till death, as a friend, shall relieve them. And must not
the unhappy condition of these, our fellow-men, draw forth
6

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

our hearty prayers and wishes for their deliverance from
those merchants and traders, whose characters you have de-
scribed in Revelations xviii. 11-13? And who knows but
these same sort of traders may, in a short time, in like man-
ner bewail the loss of the African traffic, to their shame
and confusion ? The day dawns now in some of the West
India Islands. God can and will change their condition and
their hearts, too, and let Boston and the world know that He
hath no respect of persons, and that that bulwark of envy,
pride, scorn and contempt, which is so visible in some, shall
fall.

u Jethro, an Ethiopian, gave instructions to his son-in-
law, Moses, in establishing government. Exodus xviii. 22-
24. Thus, Moses was not ashamed to be instructed by a
black man. Philip was not ashamed to take a seat beside
the Ethiopian Eunuch, and to instruct him in the gospel.
The Grand Master Solomon was not ashamed to hold con-
ference with the Queen of Sheba. Our Grand Master Sol-
omon did not divide the living child, whatever he might do
with the dead one ; neither did he pretend to make a law
to forbid the parties from having free intercourse with one
another, without the fear of censure, or be turned out of
the synagogue.

" Now, my brethren, nothing is stable ; all things are
changeable. Let us seek those things which are sure and
steadfast, and let us pray God that, while we remain here,
he would give us the grace of patience, and strength to bear
up under all our troubles, which, at this day, God knows, we

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have our share of. Patience, I say ; for were we not possessed
of a great measure of it, we could not bear up under the
daily insults we meet with in the streets of Boston, much
more on public days of recreation. How, at such times,
are we shamefully abused, and that to such a degree, that
we may truly be said to carry our lives in our hands, and
the arrows of death are flying about our heads. Helpless
women have their clothes torn from their backs. . . . And
by whom are these disgraceful and abusive actions com-
mitted ? Not by the men born and bred in Boston, — they
are better bred ; but by a mob or horde of shameless,
low-lived, envious, spiteful persons — some of them, not
long since, servants in gentlemen's kitchens, scouring
knives, foorse-tenders, chaise-drivers. I was told by a gen-
tleman who saw the filthy behavior in the Common, that, in
all places he had been in, he never saw so cruel behavior
in all his life ; and that a slave in the West Indies, on Sun-
days, or holidays, enjoys himself and friends without moles-
tation. Not only this man, but many in town, who have
seen their behavior to us, and that, without provocation,
twenty or thirty cowards have fallen upon one man. (O,
the patience of the blacks !) 'T is not for want of courage in
you, for they know that they do not face you man for man ;
but in a mob, which we despise, and would rather suffer
wrong than to do wrong, to the disturbance of the commu-
nity, and the disgrace of our reputation ; for every good cit-
izen doth honor to the laws of the State where he resides.
" My brethren, let us not be cast down cruder these and

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

many other abuses we at present are laboring under, — for
the darkest hour is just before the break of day. My breth-
ren, let us remember what a dark day it was with our Afri-
can brethren, six years ago, in the French West Indies.
Nothing but the snap of the whip was heard, from morning
to evening. Hanging, breaking on the wheel, burning, and
all manner of tortures, were inflicted on those unhappy peo-
ple. But, blessed be God, the scene is changed. They
now confess that God hath no respect of persons, and,
therefore, receive them as their friends, and treat them as
brothers. Thus doth Ethiopia stretch forth her hand from
slavery, to freedom and equality.'"

About this time, the celebrated Prince Sanders was teach-
ing in Boston. He subsequently prepared a compilation of
Haytien documents, and presented, December 11, 1818, to
the American Convention, a memorial for the abolition of
slavery, and improving the condition of the African race.

PHILLIS WHEATLY.

Phillis Wheatly was a native of Africa, and was
brought to this country in the year 1761, and sold as a
slave. She was purchased by Mr. John Wheatly, a re-
spectable citizen of Boston. This gentleman, at the time
of the purchase, was already the owner of several slaves ;
but the females in his possession were getting something
beyond the active periods of life, and Mrs. Wheatly wished
to obtain a young negress, with the view of training her up

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 65

under her own eye, that she might, by gentle usage, secure
to herself a faithful domestic in her old age. She visited
the slave-market, that she might make a personal selection
from the group of unfortunates for sale. There she found
several robust, healthy females, exhibited at the same time
with Phillis, who was of a slender frame, and evidently suf-
fering from change of climate. She was, however, the
choice of the lady, who acknowledged herself influenced to
this decision by the humble and modest demeanor* and the
interesting features, of the little stranger.

The poor, naked child (for she had no other covering
than a quantity of dirty carpet about her, like a " fillibeg")
was taken home in the chaise of her mistress, and comfor-
tably attired. She is supposed to have been about seven
years old, at this time, from the circumstance of shedding
her front teeth. She soon gave indications of uncommon
intelligence, and was frequently seen endeavoring to make
letters upon the wall with a piece of chalk or charcoal.

A daughter of Mrs. Wheatly, not long after the child's
first introduction to the family, undertook to learn her to
read and write ; and, while she astonished her instructress
by her rapid progress, she won the good- will of her kind
mistress by her amiable disposition and the propriety of her
behavior. She was not devoted to menial occupations, as
was at first intended ; nor was she allowed to associate with
the other domestics of the family, who were of her own
color and condition, but was kept constantly about the per-
son of her mistress.

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

She does not seem to have preserved any remembrance
of the place of her nativity, or of her parents, excepting
the simple circumstance, that her mother poured out water
lefore the sun at its rising — in reference, no doubt, to an
ancient African custom.

As Phillis increased in years, the development of her
mind realized the promise of her childhood ; and she soon
attracted the attention of the literati of the day, many of
whom furnished her with books. These enabled her to
make considerable progress in belles-lettres ; but such grati-
fication seems only to have increased her thirst after knowl-
edge, as is the case with most gifted minds, not misled by
vanity ; and we soon find her endeavoring to master the
Latin tongue.

She was now frequently visited by clergymen, and other
individuals of high standing in society ; but, notwithstanding
the attention she received, and the distinction with which
she was treated, she never for a moment lost sight -of that
modest, unassuming demeanor, which first won the heart of
her mistress in the slave-market. Indeed, we consider the
strongest proof of her worth to have been the earnest affection
of this excellent woman, who admitted her to her own board.
Phillis ate of her bread, and drank of her cup, and was to
her as a daughter ; for she returned her affection with un-
bounded gratitude, and was so devoted to her interests, as
to have no will in opposition to that of her benefactress.

In 1770, at the age of sixteen, Phillis was received as a
member of the church worshipping in the Old South Meet-

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ing House, then under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Dr.
Sewall. She became an ornament to her profession ; for
she possessed that meekness of spirit, which, in the lan-
guage of inspiration, is said to be above all price. She was
very gentle-tempered, extremely affectionate, and altogether
free from that most despicable foible, which might naturally
have been her besetting sin, — literary vanity.
The little poem, commencing,

" 'T was mercy brought me from my heathen land,"

will be found to be a beautiful expression of her religious
sentiments, and a noble vindication of the claims of her
race. We can hardly suppose any one, reflecting by
whom it was written — an African and a slave — to read
it, without emotions both of regret and admiration.

Phillis never indulged her muse in any fits of sullenness
or caprice. She was at all times accessible. If any one
requested her to write upon any particular subject or event,
she immediately set herself to the task, and produced some-
thing upon the given theme. This is probably the reason
why so many of her pieces are funeral poems, many of
them, no doubt, being written at the request of friends.
Still, the variety of her compositions affords sufficient proof
of the versatility of her genius. We find her, at one time,
occupied in contemplation of an event affecting the condi-
tion of a whole people, and pouring forth her thoughts in a
lofty strain. Then the song sinks to the soft tones of sym-
pathy, in the affliction occasioned by domestic bereavement.

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Again, we see her seeking inspiration from the sacred vol-
ume, or from the tomes of heathen lore ; now excited by
the beauties of art, and now hymning the praises of Nature
to " Nature's God." On one occasion, we notice her — a
girl of but fourteen years — recognizing a political event,
and endeavoring to express the grateful loyalty of subjects
to their rightful king — not as one, indeed, who had been
trained to note the events of nations, by a course of histori-
cal studies, but one whose habits, taste and opinions, were
peculiarly her own ; for in Phillis, we have an example of
originality of no ordinary character. She was allowed, and
even encouraged, to follow the leading of her own genius ;
but nothing was forced upon her, nothing suggested or
placed before her as a lure ; her literary efforts were alto-
gether the natural workings of her own mind.

There is another circumstance respecting her habits of
composition which peculiarly claims our attention. She
did not seem to have the power of retaining the creations
of her own fancy, for a long time, in her own mind. If,
during the vigil of a wakeful night, she amused herself by
weaving a tale, she knew nothing of it in the morning — it
had vanished in the land of dreams. Her kind mistress in-
dulged her with a light, and, in the cold season, with a fire,
in her apartment, during the night. The light was placed
upon a table at her bedside, with writing materials, that, if
any thing occurred to her after she had retired, she might,
v/ithout rising or taking cold, secure the swift-wing fancy
ere it fled.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

By comparing the accounts we have of Phillis's progress
with the dates of her earliest poems, we find that she must
have commenced her career as an authoress as soon as she
could write a legible hand, and without being acquainted
with the rules of composition. Indeed, we very much doubt
if she ever had any grammatical instruction, or any knowl-
edge of the structure or idiom of the English language, ex-
cept what she imbibed from the perusal of the best English
writers, and from mingling in polite circles, where, fortu-
nately, she was encouraged to converse freely with the wise
and the learned.

We gather, from her writings, that she was acquainted
with astronomy, ancient and modern geography, and an-
cient history : and that she was well versed in the scriptures
of the Old and New Testament. She discovered a decided
taste for the stories of Heathen Mythology, and Pope's Ho-
mer seems to have been a great favorite with her.

The reader is already aware of the delicate constitution
and frail health of Phillis. During the winter of 1773, the
indications of disease had so much increased, that her
physician advised a sea voyage. This was earnestly sec-
onded by her friends ; and a son of Mr. and Mrs. Wheatly,
being about to make a voyage to England, to arrange a
mercantile correspondence, it was settled that Phillis should
accompany him, and she accordingly embarked in the sum-
mer of the same year.

She was at this time but nineteen years old, and was at
the highest point of her short and brilliant career. It is

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

with emotions of sorrow that we approach the strange and
splendid scenes which were now about to open upon her —
to be succeeded by grief and desolation.

Phillis was well received in England, and was presented
to Lady Huntingdon, Lord Dartmouth, Mr. Thornton, and
many other individuals of distinction ; but, says our inform-
ant, " not all the attention she received, nor all the honors
that were heaped upon her, had the slightest influence upon
her temper or deportment. She was still the same single-
hearted, unsophisticated being."

During her stay in England, her poems were given to the
world, dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, and embel-
lished with an engraving, which is said to have been a strik-
ing representation of the original. It is supposed that one
of these impressions was forwarded to her mistress, as soon
as they were struck off ; for a grand niece of Mrs. Wheatly
informs us that, during the absence of Phillis, she one day
called upon her relative, who immediately directed her at-
tention to a picture over the fire-place, exclaiming, — aSee !
look at my Phillis ! Does she not seem as though she would
speak to me ? "

Phillis arrived in London so late in the season, that the
great mart of fashion was deserted. She was, therefore,
urgently pressed, by her distinguished friends, to remain
until the Court returned to St. James, that she might be
presented to the young monarch, George III. She would
probably have consented to this arrangement, had not let-
ters from America informed her of the declining health of

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

her mistress, who entreated her to return, that she might
once more behold her beloved protege. Phillis waited not
a second bidding, but immediately reembarked for that once
happy home, soon after made desolate by the death of her
affectionate mistress.

She soon after received an offer of marriage from a re-
spectable colored man, of Boston. The name of this indi-
vidual was Peters. He kept a grocery in Court street, and
was a man of handsome person. He wore a wig, carried a
cane, and quite acted out " the gentleman" In an evil
hour, he was accepted ; and, though he was a man of tal-
ents and information, — writing with fluency and propriety,
and, at one period, reading law, — he proved utterly unwor-
thy of the distinguished woman who honored him by her
alliance.*

The following letter, written by General Washington in
reply to a -communication sent to him by Phillis, will be
read with the deepest interest. The letter may be found
in Spark's Life of Washington.

Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 28, 1776.

Miss Phillis —

Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hands till
the middle of December. Time enough, you will say, to have
given an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of important
occurrences, continually interposing to distract the mind and with-
draw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay, and plead

' For this account of Phillis Wheatly, I am principally indebted to a compi-
lation from the original memoir published by Mr. George W\ Light, and understood
to have been written by 3d its M. M. OdelL

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

my excuse for the seeming, but not real, neglect. I thank you
most sincerely for your polite notice of me, in the elegant lines^you
enclosed : and, however undeserving I may be of such encomium
and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of
your poetical talents ; in honor of which, and as a tribute justly due
to you, I would have published the poem, had I not been appre-
hensive that, while I only meant to give the world this new
instance of your genius, I might have incurred the imputation of
vanity. This, and nothing else, determined me not to give it place
in the public prints.

If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near head- quarters, I
should be happy to see a person so favored by the Muses, and to
whom Nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensa-
tions.

I am, with great respect, your obedient, humble servant,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

As a preface to the edition of Miss Wheatly's poems
published in Boston about 1770, I find this card from the
publisher : —

TO THE PUBLIC.

As it has been repeatedly suggested to the publisher, by persons
who have seen the manuscript, that numbers would be ready to
suspect they were not really the writings of PHILLIS, he has pro-
cured the following attestation, from the most respectable characters
in Boston, that none might have the least ground for disputing their
Original,

We whose Names are under- written, do assure the World, that
the Poems specified in the following page were (as we verily
believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was, but a

AMERICAN

REVOLUTION.

few Years since, brought, an uncultivated Barbarian, from Africa,
and has ever since been, and now is, under the disadvantage of
serving as a Slave in a family in this town. She has been examined
by some of the best judges, and is thought qualified to write them.

His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, Governor,
The Hon. Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant Governor,

Hon. Thomas Hubbard,
Hon. John Erving,
Hon. James Pitts,
Hon. Harrison Gray,
Hon. James Bowdoin,
John Hancock, Esq.
Joseph Green, Esq.
Richard Cary, Esq.

Rev. Charles Chauncy,

Rev. Mather Byles,

Rev. Ed. Pemberton,

Rev. Andrew Elliot,

Rev. Samuel Cooper,

Rev. Samuel Mather,

Rev. John Moorhead,

Mr. John Wheatly, her master.

PAUL CTJFFE.

Paul Cuffe's father was a native of Africa, whence, at
an early age, he was dragged by the unfeeling hand of
avarice from his home and connections ; torn from the
parental roof and every thing in this world that was near
and dear to him ; transported over the wide and trackless
ocean, many thousand miles from the land of his birth, to be
for ever consigned to rigorous and cruel bondage :

" To increase a stranger's treasures,
O'er the raging billows borne. "

He was purchased as a slave by a person named Slocum,
residing in Massachusetts, one of the United States of North
America, by whom he was kept in slavery a considerable
7

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

portion of his life ; and there is no reason to doubt, had it
not been for his laudable enterprise, aided by great perse-
verance, he would have worn out his life in perpetual bond-
age, and ended his days, like many of his degraded and
unjustly oppressed fellow-countrymen, under the galling
yoke of fetters and chains, or the smart inflicted by the whip
of the unrelenting driver. Being possessed, however, of a
mind far superior to his degraded and unhappy condition,
he was always diligent in his master's business, and proved
himself in numerous instances faithful to his interests ; so
that, by unremitting industry and economy, he was enabled,
after a considerable length of time, under the blessing of a
kind Providence, to procure the means for purchasing his
personal liberty, of which he had been deprived, as already
stated, in very early life.

According to the custom of the country into which he
was transported, Cuffe also received the name of Slocum,
as expressing to whom he belonged ; though it appears in
after life he was known by the name of John Cuffe. Soon
after the happy period in which Cuffe effected his emanci-
pation, and succeeded in releasing himself from the bonds
of slavery and unjust oppression, he became acquainted
with Ruth Moses, an honorable woman, descended from one
of the Indian tribes residing in Massachusetts.

Cuffe's acquaintance with Ruth Moses ended in their ta-
king each other in marriage ; and continuing in his praise-
worthy habits of industry and frugality, he was enabled,
soon after this occurrence, to purchase a farm of 100 acres

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

of land, in Westport, Massachusetts. Cuffe and Ruth con-
tinued to live happily together, and brought up a family of
ten children — four sons, and six daughters. Three of the
former, David, Jonathan and John, were farmers in the
neighborhood of Westport, filled respectable stations in soci-
ety, and were endowed with good intellectual capacities.
They all married well, and gave their children a good edu-
cation.

Cuffe died in 1745, leaving behind him a considerable
property in land, the fruits of his industry.

Paul, the youngest son of Cuffe, and the interesting sub-
ject of the present memoir, was born on Cutterhunker, one
of the Elizabeth Islands, near New Bedford, in the year
1759 ; so that, when his father died, he was about fourteen
years of age, at which time he had learned but little more
than the letters of the alphabet. The land which his father
had left behind him proving unproductive, afforded but little
provision for the numerous family ; so that the care of sup-
porting his mother and sisters devolved jointly upon himself
and his brothers. Thus he labored under great disadvan-
tages, being deprived of the means and opportunity for ac-
quiring even the rudiments of a good education. He was
not, however, easily to be discouraged, and found opportuni-
ties of improving himself in various ways, and cultivating
his mind. Having never received the benefits of an educa-
tion, the knowledge he possessed was obtained entirely by
his own indefatigable exertions, and the little assistance
which he occasionally received from persons who were

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

friendly disposed towards him. Aided by these means, he
soon learned to read and write, and he also attained to a
considerable proficiency in arithmetic, and skill in naviga-
tion ; and we may form some estimate of the natural talent
with which he was endowed for the speedy reception of
learning, from the fact that, with the assistance of a friend,
he acquired such a knowledge of the latter science, in the
short space of two weeks, as enabled him to command the
vessel, in the voyages which he subsequently made to
England, to Russia, to Africa, and to the West Indies, as
well as to several different ports in the southern section of
the United States.

It has already been stated that his three brothers were re-
spectable farmers in the neighborhood of Westport. The
mind of Paul, however, was early inclined to the pursuits of
commerce. Conceiving that they furnished to industry more
ample rewards than agriculture, and conscious that he pos-
sessed qualities which, under proper culture, would enable
him to pursue commercial employments with prospects of
success, he entered, at the age of sixteen, as a common hand,
on board of a vessel destined to the Bay of Mexico, on a
whaling expedition. His second voyage was to the West
Indies ; but on his third, which was during the American
war, about the year 1776, he was captured by a British
ship. After three months' detention as a prisoner at New
York, he was permitted to return home to Westport, where,
owing to the unfortunate continuance of hostilities, he spent
about two years in agricultural pursuits. During this inter-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 77

val, Paul a!nd his brother, John Cuffe, were called on by the
collector of the district in which they resided for the pay-
ment of a personal tax. It appeared to them that, by the
laws and the Constitution of Massachusetts, taxation and the
whole rights of citizenship were united. If the laws de-
manded of them the payment of personal taxes, the same
laws must necessarily and constitutionally invest them with
the rights of representing, and being represented, in the
State Legislature. But they had never been considered as
entitled to the privilege of voting at elections, or of being
elected to places of trust and honor. Under these circum-
stances, they refused to comply. The collector resorted to
the force of the laws ; and after many delays and vexations,
Paul and his brother deemed it most prudent to silence the
suit by payment of the demands, which were only small.
But they resolved, if it were possible, to obtain the rights
which they believed to be connected with taxation. In pur-
suance of this resolution, they presented a respectful petition
to the State Legislature, which met with a warm and almost
indignant opposition from some in authority. A considera-
ble majority, however, perceiving the propriety and justness
of the petition, were favorable to the object, and, with an
honorable magnanimity, in defiance of the prejudice of the
times, a law was enacted by them, rendering all free persons
of color liable to taxation, according to the ratio established
for white men, and granting them all the privileges belong-
ing to other citizens. This was a day equally honorable to
the petitioners and to the Legislature ; a day in which justice
7*

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

and humanity triumphed over prejudice and oppression;
and a day which ought to be gratefully remembered by
every person of color within the boundaries of Massachusetts,
and the names of John and Paul Cuffe should always be
united with its recollection.

Paul, being at this time about twenty years of age, thought
himself sufficiently skilled to enter into business on his own
account, and laid before his brother David a plan for open-
ing a commercial intercourse with the State of Connecticut.
His brother was pleased with the prospect, and they built
an open boat and proceeded to sea.

They encountered such numerous and untoward discom-
fitures, as would have caused the courage of most persons
to fail. But PauPs dispositions were not of that yielding na-
ture. He possessed that inflexible spirit of perseverance
and firmness of mind, which entitled him to a more suc-
cessful issue of his endeavors ; and he believed that, while
he maintained integrity of heart and conduct, he' might
humbly hope for the protection of Providence. Under
these impressions, he prepared for another voyage. In his
open btfat, with a small cargo, he again directed his course
towards the island of Nantucket. The weather was favor-
able, and he arrived in safety at the destined port, and dis-
posed of his little cargo to advantage. The profits of this
voyage, by strengthening the confidence of his friends, en-
abled him further to enlarge his plans, and by a steady per-
severance, he was at length enabled, under Divine assist-
ance, to overcome obstacles apparently insurmountable.

AMERICAN RETOLUTION.

Having become master of a small covered vessel, of
about twelve tons burthen, he hired a person to* assist him
as a seaman, and made many advantageous voyages to dif-
ferent parts of the State of Connecticut ; and, when about
twenty-five years of age, he married a native of the coun-
try, and a descendant of the same tribe to which his mother
belonged. For some time after his marriage, he attended
chiefly to his agricultural concerns ; but from an increase of
family, he at length deemed it necessary to pursue his com-
mercial undertakings more extensively than he had before
done. He arranged his affairs for a new expedition, and
hired a small house on Westport river, to which he removed
his family. A vessel of eighteen tons was now procured,
in which he sailed to the banks of St. George, in quest of
codfish, and returned home with a valuable cargo. This
important adventure was the foundation of an extensive and
profitable fishing establishment from Westport river, which
continued for a considerable time, and was the source of an
honest and comfortable living to many of the inhabitants of
that district.

At this period, Paul formed a connection with his brother-
in-law, Michael Wainer, who had several sons well qualified
for the sea service, four of whom, subsequently, laudably
filled responsible situations as captains and first mates. A
vessel of twenty-five tons was built, and in two voyages to
the Straits of Bellisle and Newfoundland, he met with such
success as enabled him, in conjunction with another person,

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

to build a vessel of forty-two tons burthen, in which he made
several profitable voyages.

Paul had experienced the many disadvantages of his very
limited education, and he resolved, as far as it was practica-
ble, to relieve his children from similar embarrassments.
The neighborhood had neither a tutor nor a school for the
instruction of youth, though many of the citizens were de-
sirous that such an institution should be established. About
1797, Paul proposed convening a meeting of the inhabi-
tants, for the purpose of making such arrangements as
should accomplish the desired object, the great utility and
necessity of which was undeniable. The collision of opin-
ion, however, respecting mode and place, occasioned the
meeting to separate without arriving at any conclusion.
Several meetings of the same nature were held, but all were
alike unsuccessful in their issue. Perceiving that all ef-
forts to procure a union of. sentiment were fruitless, Paul,
by no means disheartened, set himself to work in earnest,
and had a suitable house built on his own ground, and en-
tirely at his own expense, which he freely offered for the
use of the public, without requiring any pecuniary remu-
neration, feeling himself fully compensated in the satisfac-
tion he derived in seeing it occupied for so useful and ex-
cellent a purpose ; and the school was opened to all who
pleased to send their children.

How gratifying to humanity is this anecdote ! and who,
that justly appreciates human character, would not prefer
Paul Cuffe, the offspring of an African slave, to the proud-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

est statesman that ever dealt out destruction amongst man-
kind ?

About this time, Paul proceeded on a whaling voyage to
the Straits of Bellisle, where he met with four other ves-
sels, completely equipped with boats and harpoons, for
capturing whales. Paul discovered that he had not made
proper preparations for the business, having only ten hands
on board, and two boats, one of which was old and almost
useless. When the masters of the other vessels discovered
his situation, they refused to comply with the customary
practices adopted .on such voyages, and refused to mate
with his crew. In this emergency, Paul resolved to prose-
cute his undertaking alone, till, at length, the other masters
thought it most prudent to accede to the usual practice, ap-
prehending his crew, by their ignorance, might alarm and
drive the whales from their reach, and thus defeat the ob-
ject of their voyage. During the season, they took seven
whales. The circumstances which had taken place roused
the ambition of Paul and his crew ; they were diligent and
enterprising, and had the honor of killing six of the seven
whales, two of which fell by Paul's own hands.

He returned home in due season, heavily freighted with
oil and bone, and arrived in the autumn of 1793, being then
about his thirty-fourth year. He went to Philadelphia to
dispose of his cargo, and found his pecuniary circumstances
were by this time in a flourishing train. When in Philadel-
phia, he purchased iron necessary for bolts, and other work
suitable for a schooner of sixty or seventy tons, and, soon

COLORED PATRIOTS OP THE

after his return to Westport, the keel for a new vessel was
laid. In 1795, his schooner, of sixty tons burthen, was
launched, and called "The Ranger."

He also possessed two small fishing boats ; but his money
was exhausted, and the cargo of his new vessel would re-
quire a considerable sum beyond his present stock. He
now sold his two boats, and was enabled to place on board
his schooner a cargo valued at two thousand dollars ; with
this he sailed to Norfolk, on the Chesapeake Bay, and there
learned, that a very plentiful crop of Indian corn had been
gathered that year on the eastern shore of Maryland, and
that he could procure a schooner-load, for a low price, at
Vienna, on the Nantcoke river. Thither he sailed, but, on
his arrival, the people were filled with astonishment and
alarm. A vessel, owned and commanded by a black man,
and manned with a crew of the same complexion, was un-
precedented and surprising.

The white inhabitants were struck with apprehensions of
the injurious effects which such circumstance would have
on the minds of their slaves, suspecting that he wished se-
cretly to kindle the spirit of rebellion, and excite a destruc-
tive revolt among them. Under these notions, several per-
sons associated themselves, for the purpose of preventing
Paul from entering his vessel or remaining among them.
On examination, his papers proved to be correct, and the
custom-house officers could not legally refuse the entry of
his vessel. Paul combined prudence with resolution ; and,
on this occasion, conducted himself with candor, modesty,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

and firmness ; and his crew behaved, not only inoffensively,
but with a conciliating propriety. In a few days, the inim-
ical association vanished, and the inhabitants treated him
and his crew with respect, and even kindness. Many of
the principal people visited his vessel, and, in consequence
of the pressing invitation of one of them, Paul dined with
his family in the town.

During the year 1797, after his return home, he pur-
chased the house in which his family resided, and the ad-
joining farm. For the latter, including improvements, he
paid $3500, and placed it under the management of
his brother, who, as before stated, was a farmer.

By judicious plans, and diligence in their execution, Paul
gradually increased his property, (one farm covered a hun-
dred acres,) and by the integrity and consistency of his con-
duct, he gained the esteem and regard of his fellow-citizens.
In the year 1800, he was concerned in one-half of the ex-
penses of building and equipping a brig of 162 tons burthen.
One fourth belonged to his brother, and the other fourth was
owned by persons not related to his family. The brig was
commanded by Thomas Wainer, Paul Cuffe's nephew,
whose talents and character were perfectly adapted to suqh
a situation.

The ship " Alpha," of 268 tons, carpenter's measure, of
which Paul owned three fourths, was built in 1806. Of
this vessel, he was the commander ; the rest of the crew
consisting of seven men of color. The ship performed a

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

voyage, under his command, from Wilmington to Savannah,
thence to Gottenburg, and thence to Philadelphia.

After Paul's return, in 1806, the brig " Traveller," of
109 tons burthen, was built at Westport, of one half of
which he was the owner. After this period, being exten-
sively engaged in his mercantile and agricultural pursuits,
he resided at Westport.

In his person, Paul Cuffe was tall, well-formed, and ath-
letic ; his deportment conciliating, yet dignified and prepos-
sessing ; his countenance blending gravity with modesty and
sweetness, and firmness with gentleness and humanity ; in
speech and habit, plain and unostentatious. His whole ex-
terior indicated a man of respectability and piety, and such
would a stranger have supposed him to be at first view.
His prudence, strengthened by parental care and example,
was, no doubt, a safeguard to him in his youth, when ex-
posed to the dissolute company which unavoidably attends
a seafaring life ; whilst the religion of Jesus Christ, influ-
encing his mind, under the secret guidance of the Holy
Spirit of Truth, in silent reflection, added, in advancing
manhood, to the brightness of his character, and instituted
or confirmed his disposition to practical good.

He became fully convinced of the principles of truth, as
held by the Society of Friends, and, uniting himself in mem- .
bership with them, it pleased the great Head of the Church,
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
who respecteth not the persons of men, in his own due time,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

to entrust him with a gift in the ministry, which he frequent-7
ly exercised, to the comfort and edification of his friends
and brethren.

When he was prevented from going abroad, as usual, in
the pursuit of his business, on account of the rigors of the
winter, he often devoted a considerable portion of his time in
teaching navigation to his own sons, and to the young men
in the neighborhood in which he resided. And, even on
his voyages, when opportunities occurred, he employed him-
self in imparting a knowledge of this invaluable science to
tfiose under him, so that he had the honor of training up,
both amongst the white and colored population, a considera-
ble number of skilful navigators.

He was careful to maintain a strict integrity and upright-
ness in all his transactions in trade, and, believing himself
to be accountable to God for the mode of using and acquir-
ing his possessions, he was at all times willing, and conceived
it to be his bounden duty, as a humble follower of a crucified
Lord, to sacrifice his private interests, rather than engage in
any enterprise, however lawful in the eyes of the world, or
however profitable, that might have a tendency, in the small-
est degree, either directly or indirectly, to injure his fellow-
men. On these grounds, he would not deal in intoxicating
liquors, or in slaves, though he might have done either,
without violating the laws of his country, and with great
prospects of pecuniary gain.

He turned his attention to the British settlement at Sierra

Leone, being induced to believe, from various communica*
8

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

tions he had received from Europe and other sources, that
his endeavors to contribute to its welfare, and to that of his
fellow-men, might not be ineffectual. On examination, he
found his affairs were in so prosperous and flourishing a
state as to warrant the undertaking; and, being fully con-
vinced that he was called upon to appropriate a portion of
what he had freely received from the hands of an ever
bountiful Providence, to the benefit of his unhappy race, he
embarked, in the commencement of 1811, in his own brig
" Traveller," manned entirely by persons of color, his
nephew, Thomas Wainer, being the captain. After a pas-
sage of about two months, they arrived at Sierra Leone,
where Paul remained about the same length of time, during
which interval he made himself acquainted with the real
state and condition of the colony. He had frequent conver-
sations with the Governor and principal inhabitants, during
which opportunities he suggested several important improve-
ments. Amongst other things, he recommended the forma-
tion of a society, for the purpose of promoting the interests
of its members and the colonists in general ; which measure
was immediately acceded to and adopted, and the society
named, " The Friendly Society of Sierra Leone," com-
posed principally of respectable men of color.

Paul Cuffe terminated his labors and his life, which he
departed in peace, the 7th of the 9th mo., 1817, being then
in the fifty-ninth year of his age.*

• I am indebted for this account of Paul Cuffe to the Address of Rev. Peter Wil-
liams, delivered in 1812, and since published in the Liverpool Merely.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Joseph Congdon, Esq., of New Bedford, has kindly ob-
tained for me the following valuable documents, bearing on
Paul Cuffe's exertions in behalf of equal suffrage : —

To the Honorable Council and House of Representatives, in General
Court assembled, for the State of the Massachusetts Bay, in New
England :

The petition of several poor negroes and mulattoes, who are
inhabitants of the town of Dartmouth, humbly showeth, —

That we being chiefly of the African extract, and by reason of
long bondage and hard slavery, we have been deprived of enjoying
the profits of our labor or the advantage of inheriting estates from
our parents, as our neighbors the white people do, having some of
us not long enjoyed our own freedom ; yet of late, contrary to the
invariable custom and practice of the country, we have been, and
now are, taxed both in our polls and that small pittance of estate
which, through much hard labor and industry, we have got
together to sustain ourselves and families withall. We apprehend
it, therefore, to be hard usage, and will doubtless (if continued)
reduce us to a state of beggary, whereby we shall become a burthen
to others, if not timely prevented by the interposition of your justice
and power.

Your petitioners further show, that we apprehend ourselves to be
aggrieved, in that, while we are not allowed the privilege of free-
men of the State, having no vote or influence in the election of those
that tax us, yet many of our colour (as is well known) have cheer-
fully entered the field of battle in the defence of the common cause,
%and that (as we conceive) against a similar exertion of power (in
regard to taxation), too well known to need a recital in this place.

We most humbly request, therefore, that you would take our
unhappy case into your serious consideration, and, in your wisdom
and power, grant us relief from taxation, while under our present

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

depressed circumstances ; and your poor petitioners, as in duty-
bound, shall ever pray, &c.

JOHN CUFFE,
ADVENTTJR CHILD,
PAUL CUFFE,
SAMUEL X GRAY,

his mark.

PERO X HOWLAND,

his mark.
PERO X RUSSELL,

his mark.

PERO COG GESH ALL.
Dated at Dartmouth, the 10th of February, 1780.

Memorandum in the hand-writing of John Cuffe : —
" This is the copy of the petition which we did deliver
unto the Honorable Council and House, for relief from
taxation in the days of our distress. But we received
none. John Cuffe."

There is also a copy of the petition, with the date,
" January 22d, 1781," not signed, by which it would appear
that they intended to renew their application to the govern-
ment for relief.

[From the Records of Dartmouth, May 10, 1780.]
" The town [Dartmouth] took in consideration the form of Gov-
ernment, &c.

" The Committee recommend * * * that in the 4th article,
25th page, the words « sui juris and that pays a poll tax, except
such who, from their respective offices and age, are exempted by
law/ be added after the words, * every male person ' ; and to
expunge the following clause in said article, namely, — * having a

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

freehold estate within the same town of the annual income of three
pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty pounds,' — for the fol-
lowing reason: such qualification appears to your Committee to
be inconsistent with the liberty we are contending for, so long,
especially, as any subject, who is not a qualified voter, is obliged
to pay a poll tax.

"(Signed,) EDWARD POPE, Chairman.

" The report was accepted by an unanimous vote of one hundred
and fifty persons present."

Extract from the Town Warrant of Dartmouth, dated February 20,
1781:

"To choose an agent or agents to defend an action against John
and Paul Cuff, at the next Court to be holden at Taunton."

At the meeting, March 8, 1781, — "The Honorable Walter
Spooner, Esquire, chosen agent, in behalf of the town, to make
answer to John and Paul Cuff at the next Inferior Court to be held
at Taunton."

"A REQUEST.
" To the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, Greeting :

"We the subscribers, your humble petitioners, desire that you
would, in your capacity, put a stroke in your next warrant for call-
ing a town meeting, so that it may legally be laid before said town,
by way of vote, to know the mind of said town, whether all free
negroes and mulattoes shall have the same privileges in this said
Town of Dartmouth as the white people have, respecting places of
profit, choosing of officers, and the like, together with all other
privileges in all cases that shall or may happen or be brought in this
our said Town of Dartmouth. We, your petitioners, as in duty
bound, shall ever pray.

"(Signed,) JOHN CUFFE,

PAUL CUFFE.
" Dated at Dartmouth, the 22d of the 4th mo., 1781."
8*

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

This " Request " bears the following endorsement : —

"A true copy of the request which. John Cuffe and Paul CufFe
delivered unto the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, for to
have all free negroes and mulattoes to be entered equally with the
white people, or to have relief granted us jointly from taxation, &c.

« Given under my hand, JOHN CUFFE."

"Dartmouth, June 11, 1781.
"Then received of John CufFe, eight pounds twelve shillings,
silver money, in full for all John CufFe' s and Paul CufFe' s Rates,
until this date ; also, for all my Court charges. Received by me,
" RICHARD COLLENS, Constable."

" John and Paul Cuff, of Dartmouth, Dr. to Elijah Dean, of Taun-
ton, —

To summoning the assessors of Dartmouth to Taunton

Court, 24/. £14 0

[On the back]

"Rec'd of John CufF twenty-four shillings, being the contents of
the within acc't, in behalf of Elijah Dean.

"(Signed,) EDWARD POPE."

It was ascertained by these proceedings, that taxes must
be paid, the receipts being forwarded ; and this case, al-
though no action followed in Court, settled the right of the
colored man to the elective franchise in the State of Massa-
chusetts.

Richard Johnson, who married a daughter of Paul CufFe,
resided at New Bedford nearly fifty years. In early life,
he was engaged as a mariner, and filled every capacity,
from a cabin boy to a captain.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

During the war of 1812, he was taken prisoner, but was
released, after having been confined six months.

He was distinguished for prudence and sagacity in his
business operations, and, despite the obstacles that prejudice
against color so constantly strewed in his path, he succeeded
in his mercantile affairs, accumulated a competency, and
retired from business several years since.

Mr. Johnson was always ready to extend the hand of re-
lief to his enslaved countrymen, and no one was more
ready to assist, according to his ability, in the elevation of
his people.

He was one of the earliest friends of Mr. Garrison ; a
subscriber to his paper, from the time the first number was
issued in Baltimore, and for several years an efficient agent
for the Liberator ; and very active in circulating Mr. Gar-
rison's " Thoughts on Colonization," in 1832. In all the
vicissitudes through which the anti-slavery cause has been
called to pass, Mr. J. always maintained a straight-forward,
consistent course, firmly adhering to the pioneer who first
sounded the alarm.

He died in peace, February 15, 1853, aged seventy-
seven ; and the funeral service of himself and wife (whose
death preceded his one day) was numerously attended by
New Bedford citizens.

RICHARD POTTER.

On the Northern New Hampshire Railroad, some thirty
miles from Concord, in the town of Andover, is a station

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

called Potter's Place. This little village derives its name
from Richard Potter, the celebrated Ventriloquist and
Professor of Legerdemain. Within twenty rods of the
track stands a neat white, one-story building, with two
projecting wings, all of Grecian architecture. From this
extends, south-westerly, a fine expanse of level meadow.
This house, and the adjacent two hundred acres, were owned
by Richard Potter. There once stood, on pillars before
the house, two graven images, taken from Lord Timothy
Dexter's place, in Newburyport. Potter built the house and
cultivated the farm, which were estimated, in the days of
Potter, and long before the railroad was built, to be worth
$5000. This Potter owned in fee simple, unincumbered,
— the fruits of his successful illusions, optical and auricular.

Potter was a colored man, half-way between fair and
black. He for a long time monopolized the market for
such wares as sleight of hand, and u laborious speaking
from the stomach.'" Says one writer in the Boston Travel-
ler, of November 6, 1851 : —

" We well remember how our astonished eyes first be-
held his debut upon the stage, — a portentous-looking magi-
cian from India. And then, to see him perform ; eat tow,
spit fire, and draw from his mouth yards and yards of rib-
bon, all made out of tow ; far down in his crop to hear him
command an egg to roll all over him, from head to foot,
from foot to head, etc., etc. And then his comic songs!
Donning another attire, he would hobble around the stage,
an old woman ; and the old woman would tell over her

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

various troubles, in successive stanzas, always concluding
with the cheerful refrain — ' Howsever, I keep up a pretty-
good heart.' "

Richard was born in the town of Hopkinton, Mass., and,
when quite a boy, was prevailed upon to engage himself in
the service of Samuel Dillaway, Esq., of Boston, — a relative
of the family being on a wedding tour to that pleasant
town. After being " brought up" by Mr. Dillaway, he be-
came a valued and esteemed servant in the family of Rev.
Daniel Oliver, of Boston ; and in his kitchen, he studied
out • the theory and began the practice of legerdemain.
Mr. Oliver's son, late Adjutant General of Massachusetts,
often alludes to the winter evening amusements afforded
to the children at home by the tricks and pranks of Potter.

He, who was so successful in these, his first efforts, and
so able to set up business on his own account, could not
long be retained as a servant. He followed his vocation,
ever after, till death arrested him in his course. Columbian
Hall, and Concert Hall, in the olden time, were the promi-
nent places, in Boston, for Potter's levees.

Potter was temperate, steady, attentive to his business,
and his business was his delight. He took as much pleas-
ure in pleasing others, as others did in being pleased. I
have never heard a lisp against his character for honesty
and fair dealing. He was once the victim of persecution
from a Mr. Fitch, who had him arrested as a juggler. Pot-
ter plead his own case, and secured an acquittal.

Close by Potter's house, in a small enclosure, stands two

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

monumental slabs, of white marble ; one, for his wife, Sally
H., — the other,

In Memory of
RICHARD POTTER,

THE CELEBRATED VENTRILOQUIST,

Who died
Sept. 2 0, 1 8 35,
Aged 52 years.

THE MARSH PEE INDIANS.

The Marshpee Indians also did noble service in our revo-
lutionary struggle. During the discussion of the subject of
the militia laws before the Massachusetts Constitutional Con-
vention of 1853, it was stated that the practice of excluding
colored men from the militia did not exist previous to the
United States Militia Law of 1792, which first introduced
the word " white " ; and in confirmation of this statement,
the following interesting fact in our own State history was
mentioned. During the War of the Revolution, when the
county of Barnstable was required to raise a regiment of
four hundred men in the Continental army, the Indian dis-
trict of Marshpee, in that county, furnished twenty-seven
colored soldiers, who fought in the battles, and all but one
of them perished, and he died a pensioner a few years
ago. At that time, (1776,) Marshpee had a population of
three hundred and twenty-seven colored persons, of whom
fourteen were negroes married to Indian women. There
were sixty-four married couples and thirty-three widows on

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

the plantation ; so that, in proportion to adult male popula-
tion, Marshpee furnished a larger quota for that regiment
than any white town in the county. A census taken after
the Revolutionary War, showed that there were seventy-
three colored widows in Marshpee, whose husbands had
been slain or died in the service of their country during
that war.

And yet, the Legislature of Massachusetts, in 1788-89,
treated these Indians with extreme rigor, by abolishing their
charter — under which, in 1763, they had been incorporated
into a district, with right to choose their selectmen — and
putting them under guardians, who had power to take all
their lands and income, and treat the proprietors as paupers.
Under these laws, the Indians could make no contract and
hold no property, and the overseers could take all their
earnings, bind out their children without their parents' con-
sent ; and, still further, by a subsequent act, these over-
seers, from whose decision there was no appeal, could sell
the proprietors, male or female adults, to service, for three
years at a term, and renew it at pleasure.

These laws, and worse, against these poor Indians, who
all the time were sole owners of ten thousand acres of land,
were continued in force until 1834, when, principally by the
efforts of Benj. F. Hallett, Esq., as their counsel, in expos-
ing their injustice, the system was broken up, and the dis-
trict of Marshpee was incorporated under free laws, and the
property divided among the proprietors in fee. They are
now a very prosperous and thriving community, deserving

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

the interest and encouragement of every wise statesman
or true philanthropist.

Among the Marshpee volunteers in the War of the Rev-
olution were the following: — Francis Websquish, Samuel
Moses, Demps Squibs, Mark Negro, Tom Caesar, Joseph
Ashur, James Keeter, Joseph Keeter, Daniel Pocknit, Job
Rimmon, George Shaun, Castel Barnet, Joshua Pognit,
James Rimmon, David Hatch, James No Cake, Abel Hos-
witt, Elisha Keeter, John Pearce, John Mapix, Amos Bab'
cock, Hosea Pognit, Church Ashur, Gideon Tumpum.

In 1783, Parson Holly presented a memorial to the Le-
gislature, in behalf of the seventy-three widows whose '
husbands had died in their country's service,

PATRIOTS OF THE OLDEN TIME.

The wife of Samuel Adams, of revolutionary celebrity,
one day informed her husband that a friend had made her
a present of a female slave. Mr. Adams replied, in a very
decided manner, " She may come, but not as a slave ; for a
slave cannot breathe in my house. If she comes, she
must come free." The woman took up her abode with the
family of this champion of liberty ; and there she lived free
and died free.

LOYALTY OP AN AFRICAN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY,

Some of the colored citizens, in 1796, instituted at Boston
the African Society. Its objects were benevolent ones, as

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

set forth in the preamble, which also expressed its loyalty
as follows : — " Behaving ourselves, at the same time, as
true and faithful citizens of the commonwealth in which we
live, and that we take no one into the Society who shall
commit any injustice or outrage against the laws of their
country."

I subjoin the names of the members of the "African
Society."

Plato Alderson,

Glosaster Hasklns,

Hannibal Allen,

Prince M. Harris,

Thomas Burdine,

Juber Holland,

Peter Bailey,

Richard Holsted,

Joseph Ball,

Thomas Jackson,

T''n"TlT?T> t\ 1> V 'Vf^TT

JL l-.ln.lt JJltAiN l/U,

It T7f\ T> t~1 T? T A /~< "IT Otf"\ TVT

VTl^UltljrJfcj *) AL/li-bU JN ,

Prince Brown,

Lewis Jones,

Boston Ballard,

Isaac Johnson,

Anthony Battls,

John Johnson,

Serico Collens,

Sear Kimball,

Rufus Callehorn,

Thomas Lewis,

John Clark,

Joseph Low,

Scipio Dalton,

George Middleton,

Arthur Davis,

Derby Miller,

John Decruse,

Cato Morey,

Hamlet Earl,

Richard Marshall,

Cjesar Fayerweather,

Joseph Ocruman,

Mingo Freeman,

John Phillips,

Cato Gardner,

Cato Rawson,

Jeremiah Green,

Richard Standley,

James Hawkins,

Cyrus Yassall,

John Harrison,

Derby Yassall.

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

ISAAC WOODLAND.

The following obituary of one who will be long remem-
bered in Boston is inserted here as connected with the asso-
ciations of by-gone days.

Isaac Woodland was a native of Maryland, but many
years since, he adopted for his home the State of Massachu-
setts. His life here was marked with an active zeal for the
fugitive from Southern bondage. His money was always
generously appropriated for their aid and comfort. At one
of the meetings in Belknap Street Church, when the ques-
tion whether Boston jail should longer confine George Lati-
mer as a slave was the theme of discussion in every gather-
ing, I well remember Isaac Woodland walking up the
aisle, and placing upon the table a handful of silver, with the
remark that he had more shot in the locker, if by that means
the man could be kept from slavery. In the olden time,
when the abolitionists of Boston celebrated the 14th of July,
commemorative of the abolition of slavery in the State, (the
day was not historical, for no special act of emancipation
had taken place, but the grateful heart of the colored man
thus wished to signalize the fact that slavery had departed
from the old Bay State,) in their processions, his towering
and manly form was always the observed of all observers.
And when that was superseded by the glorious First of
August, the Jubilee of British West India Emancipation, no
one name was more sure of appointment as Marshal than

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

his ; and, surely, but few, if any, could better adorn the
office.

His occupation was that of grain inspector, and by his
application and integrity in business, he won the respect
and patronage of a large circle of Boston merchants.

He was genial and mirthful, fond of children and friends,
but yet had that in him which, when roused in defence of
his race, was not easily subdued. This last trait was fully
illustrated in an encounter on one of the wharves, several
years since, between a party of white aud colored laborers,
when, but for his prowess and Herculean strength, the fate
of his companions would have been much worse than the
event proved. He was " in war a tiger chafed by the
hunter's spear ; but in peace, more gentle than the unweaned
lamb." His death took place in Boston, May 24, 1853,
aged 68.

EPITAPHS OX SLAVES.

The following celebrated epitaph from the old burial
ground of Concord, Mass., although it has been often pub-
lished, will bear to be reprinted here. It is understood to
have been. written by Daniel Bliss, Esq., a lawyer at Con-
cord, before the Revolutionary War. He was the son of a
minister of that place, whose name and history occupy a
large space in the ecclesiastical annals of the town. This
single production will secure to its author for ever the
credit of taste, ingenuity, and an enlightened moral sense ;

100

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

and proves that sound abolition sentiments were cherished
then as strongly as at the present day.

GOD
Wills us free.
MAN
Wills us slaves.
I will as God wills.

God's will be done.
Here lies the body of John Jack, a native of Africa,
who died March, 1773, aged about 60 years.
Though born in a land of slaves,
He was born free.
Though he lived in a land of liberty,
He lived a slave ;
Till, by his honest, though stolen labors,
He acquired the source of Slavery,
Which gave him his freedom.
Though not long before
Death, the grand tyrant,
Gave him his final emancipation,
And set him upon a footing with kings.
Tho' a slave to vice,
He practic'd those virtues
Without which, kings are but slaves.

The following inscription is taken from a gravestone in
a burying-ground in the town of North AttIeboro\ Mass.,
near what was formerly called " Hatch's Tavern." It is an
interesting memento of what the state of things was in this
Commonwealth seventy years ago. The testimony thus
borne to the goodness of " Ca3sar,s" heart certainly reflects

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

101

but little credit on the person who could make him or keep
him a slave.

"Here lies the best of slaves,

Now turning into dust ;
Caesar, the Ethiopian, craves,

A place among the just.
His faithful soul is fled,

To realms of heavenly light,
And, by the blood that Jesus shed,

Is changed from black to white.
Jan. loth he quitted the stage,
In the 77th year of his age,
1780."

THE EQUAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

A number of the chivalric portion of the colored Bostoni-
ans, having taken the initiatory steps for a military com-
pany, petitioned the Legislature, in the year 1852, for a
charter, the claims of which were advocated by Charles
Lenox Remond and Robert Morris, Esqs. ; but, like the
Attucks petitioners, they, too, " had leave to withdraw." In
February, 1853, the subject was again presented to the Con-
stitutional Convention, and RobertMorris, Esq., before a com-
mittee of that body, alluded to an old law of the Massachu-
setts colony, which called upon all negroes, inhabitants of
9*

102

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

the colony, of the age of sixteen and upwards, to make
their appearance in case of alarm, armed and equipped, in
connection with the regularly enrolled militia company, un-
der a penalty of twenty shillings. And they always did
appear, and performed efficient service. He further re-
marked, that a charter had been lately granted to an Irish
company, and said that the colored citizens, who are native
born, desired the same rights which were given to our adopt-
ed brethren. " We do not want," said he, " a step-mother
in the case, who will butter the bread for one, and sand it
for another. We hunger and thirst for prosperity and ad-
vancement, and, so far as in your power lies, we wish you
to do all you can to aid us in our endeavors. We wish you
to make us feel that we are of some use and advantage, in
this our day and generation."

William J. Watkins, Esq., concluded an able argument
as follows : —

" We love Massachusetts ; if she reciprocates that love,
let her show forth her love by her works. Let her throw
around us the mantle of her protection, and then, O Massa-
chusetts, if we forget thee, " may our right hand forget, its
cunning, and our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth."
Yes ! let the old Bay State treat us as men, and she shall
elicit our undying, indissoluble attachment ; and neither
height, nor depth, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, shall ever be able to alienate
our affection from her. We will be with her in the sixth
trouble, and in the seventh ; we will neither leave nor forsake

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

103

her. Amid the angry howling of the tempest, as well as
in the cheering sunshine, we shall be ever found, a faithful
few, indomitable, unterrified, who know their friends to love
them with that affection which nought but the destroying an-
gel can annihilate.

" Again, grant us this petition, and it will induce in us a
determination to surmount every obstacle calculated to im-
pede our progress ; to rise higher, and higher, and higher,
until we scale the Mount of Heaven, and look down, from
our lofty and commanding position, upon our revilers and
persecutors. Yes, sir ; it will incite us to renewed dili-
gence, and cause our arid desert to rejoice and blossom as
the rose. It will inspire us with confidence, and encourage
us to hope, amid the almost tangible darkness that envelopes
us. We care not for the hoarse, rough thunder's voice, nor
the lightning's lurid gleamings, if we are yet to be a people ;
if we are yet to behold the superstructure of our liberties
consummated amid poeans of thanksgiving, and shouts from
millions, redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled. "

Sixty-five colored citizens of Boston petitioned the Mas-
sachusetts Constitutional Convention, in June, 1853, —
" That the Constitution be so amended as to remove the
disabilities of colored citizens from holding military com-
missions and serving in the militia. "

An amendment was offered, " That it is inexpedient to
act thereon ; " when Henry Wilson, Charles Sumner, E. L.
Keyes, D. S. Whitney, and others, advocated the colored

104 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

man's equality. The following are extracts from the speech
of Hon. Henry Wilson, in support of his amendment, viz. :

" Besolved, That no distinction shall ever hereafter be made, in
organizing the volunteer militia of the Commonwealth, by reason of
color or race."

" If it be true," said Mr. Wilson, " that our 8 volunteer sys-
tem' is cnot contemplated by the laws of the United States'
— that it is the creature of Massachusetts law — that 'no
reference in the law is made to color' — that the c officers'
authorized c to grant petitions for raising companies ' have
; control and authority' over the ' whole subject' — and that
they may grant petitions for companies without distinction
of color, — then it is in accordance with the ideas and senti-
ments of the people, to declare in the fundamental law of
the Commonwealth, that in the organization of these volunteer
companies, no distinction on account of color or race shall
ever be made by those ' officers' having ' control and authority
over the whole subject.' This is my proposition — nothing
more, nothing less. If our voluntary militia system is the
creature of local law, purely a Massachusetts system, c not
contemplated by the laws of the United States,' no distinc-
tion on account of race or color should be allowed. The
Constitution of this Commonwealth knows no distinction of
color or race. A colored man may fill any office in the
gift of the people. A colored man may be the 6 Supreme
Executive Magistrate ' of Massachusetts, and 6 Commander-
in-chief of the army and navy, and of the military forces of

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

105

the State by sea and land,' and he c shall have full power
from time to time to train, instruct, exercise, and govern
the militia,' and c to lead and conduct them, and with them
to encounter, repel, resist, expel and pursue,' c and also to
kill, slay and destroy ' the invading enemies of the Com-
monwealth. If a colored man may be by the Constitution
c Captain General and Commander-in-chief and Admiral 1
of the Commonwealth, should he be denied admission into
the ranks of her volunteer militia ? The colored men of
Massachusetts have been denied admission into the volun-
teer militia, although the Committee tell us that 4 no refer-
ence is made by law to color or race.' If c officers,' who
are authorized by law c to grant petitions for companies,'
and who have 8 control and authority over the whole sub-
ject,' have made distinctions on account of color or race,
when c no reference is made to color ' in the laws, then
they should be compelled by constitutional authority to
abandon the position they have without law assumed, and to
carry out the idea which pervades our Constitution, that all
men, of every race, are equal before the laws of this Com-
monwealth. The democratic idea of the equality before
the law of all men, no matter where they were born or from
what race they sprung, is the sentiment of the people.

"This right, claimed by the colored men of Massachusetts,
to become members of the volunteer militia, is of little
practical importance to them or to the public. They feel
the exclusion as an indignity to their race. If we have the
power to remove that unjust exclusion, we are false to the

106

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

principles and ideas upon which our Constitution is founded,
if we do not do so. If we have not the power, or if its ex-
ercise would bring us in conflict with the laws of the United
States, which we acknowledge to be the supreme laws of
the land, we must submit to the necessity imposed upon us,
and bow to what we cannot control. I have said, Sir, that
the question was of little practical , importance, whether the
right of the colored men of Massachusetts to become mem-
bers of the volunteer militia was admitted or not. To them,
it can be of little practical value, although they have wives,
children and homes, and a country, to defend. To the coun-
try, it is of little practical importance. We are strong and
powerful now, able to drive into the ocean any power on earth
that should step with hostile foot upon the soil of the Repub-
lic. But it was not always so. In our days of weakness,
the men of this wronged race gave their blood freely for the
defence and liberties of the country.

" The first victim of the Boston massacre, on the 5th of
March, 1770, which made the fires of resistance burn more
intensely, was a colored man. Hundreds of colored men
entered the ranks and fought bravely on all the fields of the
Revolution. Graydon, of Pennsylvania, in his Memoirs,
informs us that many of the Southern officers disliked the
New England regiments, because so many colored men
were in their ranks. When the country has required their
blood in days of trial and conflict, they have given it freely,
and we have accepted it ; but in times of peace, when their
blood is not needed, we spurn and trample them under foot.

AMERICAN EE VOLUTION.

107

I have no part in this great wrong to a race. Wherever and
whenever we have the power to do it, I would give to all
men, of every clime and race, of every faith and creed,
freedom and equality before the law. My voice and my
vote shall ever be given for the equality of all the chil-
dren of men before the laws of the Commonwealth of Mas-
sachusetts and the United States."

The petition was received, referred, and finally rejected,
on the ground that it could not be granted without bringing
Massachusetts into conflict with the United States Constitu-
tion and the laws of the land.

On the last day of the Convention, the following petition
was presented by the Hon. E. L. Keyes, of Dedham : —

To the Convention f 07" revising and amending the Constitution of Mas-
sachusetts :

The undersigned, acknowledged citizens of this Common-
wealth, (notwithstanding their complexional differences,) and there-
fore citizens of the United States, with the feeling and spirit
becoming freemen, and with the deepest solicitude, respectfully
submit —

That having petitioned your honorable body for such a modifica-
tion of the laws as that no able-bodied male citizen shall be forbid-
den or prevented from serving, or holding office or commission, in,
the militia, on account of his color, their petition was duly referred
and considered, but not granted, and therefore they are still a pro-
scribed and injured class. The reason assigned for the rejection of
their request, in the report submitted by the Committee to whom
the subject was referred, was, " that this Convention cannot incor-
porate into the Constitution of Massachusetts any provision which

108

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

shall conflict with the laws of the United States." , In the course
of the debate that ensued upon this report, the Attorney General
of Massachusetts [Hon. Rufus Choate] said, — "You can raise no
colored regiment, or part of a regiment, that shall be of the militia
of the United States — none whatever. ... It is certain that, if
they were to go upon parade, and to win Bunker Hills, yet they
never can be part of the militia of the United States. . . . Nay,
more ; he did not see how he could do any thing for this colored
race, by putting them in one of the high places of the Common-
wealth, with weapons in their hands, and allow our glorious banner
to throw around them all "the pomp and parade and condition of
war ; the color cleaves to them there, and on parade is only the more
conspicuous."

Another distinguished member of the Convention [Hon. Benj.
F. Hallett] said, — "If Massachusetts should send a colored com-
mander-in-chief at the head of her militia, the United States would
not recognise his authority, and would at once supersede him"

Your petitioners feel bound to protest, (in behalf of the colored
citizens of Massachusetts,) that all such opinions and declarations
constitute —

(1) A denial of their equality as citizens of this Commonwealth,
and are clearly at variance with the Constitution of this State,
which knows nothing of the complexion of the people, and which
asserts [Art. I.] that " all men are born free and equal, and have
certain natural, essential and inalienable rights ; among which
may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives
and liberties ; that of acquiring, possessing and protecting property ;
in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness."
It would be absurd to say that the General Government, or that
Congress, has the constitutional right to declare, if it think proper,
that the white citizen of Massachusetts shall not be enrolled in the.
militia of the country ; and it is not to be supposed, for a moment,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

109

that, if such a proscriptive edict were to be issued, it would be
tamely submitted to. It is, surely, just as great an absurdity, just
as glaring an insult, to assume that colored citizens may be legally
excluded from the national militia.

(2) In the Constitution of the United States, not a sentence or
a syllable can be found, recognising any distinctions among the
citizens of the States, collectively or individually, but they are all
placed on the same equality. Article IV., Section 2d, declares —
"The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges
and immunities of citizens in the several States." It is not possible
to make a more unequivocal recognition of the equality of all citi-
zens; and, therefore, whatever contravenes or denies it, in the
shape of legislation, is manifestly unconstitutional. Whatever may
have been the compromises of the Constitution, in regard to those
held in bondage as chattel slaves, none were ever made, or proposed,
respecting the rights and liberties of citizens.

(3) It is true that, by the United States Constitution, Congress
is empowered " to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining
the militia"; it is also true, that Congress, in "organizing" the
militia, has authorised none but " white " citizens to be enrolled
therein ; nevertheless, it is not less true, that the law of Congress,
making this unnatural distinction, is, in this particular, unconstitu-
tional, and therefore ought to exert no controlling force over the
legislation of any of the States. To organize the militia of the
country is one thing ; to dishonor and outrage a portion of the citi-
zens, on any ground, is a very different thing. To do the former,
Congress is clothed with ample constitutional authority ; to accom-
plish the latter, it has no power to legislate, and resort must be had,
and has been had, to usurpation and tyranny.

Your petitioners, therefore, earnestly entreat the Convention, by
every consideration of justice and righteousness, not to adjourn
without asserting and vindicating the entire fitness and equal right

110

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

of the colored citizens of Massachusetts to be enrolled in the

ask that this protest may be placed on the records of the Conven-
tion, and published with the official proceedings, that the stigma
may not rest upon their memories of having tamely acquiesced in a
proscription, equally at war with the American Constitution, the
Massachusetts Bill of Rights, and the claims of human nature.

This petition having been read, it was ordered to be
entered upon the records, by a vote of 97 to 66 ; but sub-
sequently, on motion of Mr. Stetson, of Braintree, the vote
was reconsidered.

Hon. B. F. Hallett, for Wilbraham, upon a question of
privilege, spoke at some length in defence of his action in
the matter, and in favor of reconsideration, which, under
the previous question, was carried — 97 to 57; and, on
motion of Mr. Bird, of Walpole, the whole question was
laid on the table without dissent. This final action was
highly discreditable to the Convention ; for the petitioners,

national militia ; or, if this be not granted, then they respectfully

William C. Nell,
Jonas W. Clark,
Edward Gray,
John Thompson,
Enoch L. Stallad,
John Wright,
John P. Coburn,
Thomas Brown,
John Lockley,
Ira S. Gray,
Benjamin P. Bassett,
Benjamin Weeden^

William J. Watkins,
Isaac H. Snowden,
Simpson H. Lewis,
John J. Fatal,
Lemuel Burr,
Thomas Cummings,
N. L. Perkins,
John Oliver,
H. L. W. Thacker,
George Washington,

James Scott.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

Ill

having been virtually excluded from the pale of American
citizenship by that body, had a right at least to have their
protest against such an exclusion placed on the records of
the Convention ; nor was there a sentence or word in their
petition uncalled for or offensively used.

The limits of this work will not allow of an elaborate or
statistical report of the present condition of the colored
Americans, though very much that is encouraging is at the
compiler's disposal. It will be found that, throughout the
book, references are made to representative cases of indi-
vidual enterprise and genius, sufficient, it is presumed, to
convey a general idea of the improvements daily developed
by that class, which has commonly been stigmatized as in-
capable of mental and social elevation.

So far as Massachusetts is concerned, it is safe to say
that, in many respects, her record is one to be proud of.
Her colored citizens (in all but the militia clause in the
Constitution) stand, before the law, on an equality with the
whites. Her public schools are accessible to all, irrespec-
tive of complexion, — prophetic of the day, soon, I hope, to
be ushered in, when the mechanic's shop and the mer-
chant's counting-room will be alike ready to extend to them
equal facilities with those of another and more favored race.

New Bedford occupies a very prominent position in all
that contributes to the prosperity of the colored American,
in general intelligence, business enterprise, and public spirit ;
much of which is justly attributable to the impetus given
by Paul Cuffe's efforts for the franchise. Some of his de-

112

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

scendants yet live in New Bedford. The colored voters
there hold the balance of power, and hence exert a potent
influence on election day. The faithful Friends, or Qua-
kers, have always borne such a testimony at New Bedford,
as materially to have aided the progress of the colored citi-
zens.

Worcester can boast, among her colored mechanics, Wrn.
H. Brown, whose well-established reputation as an uphol-
sterer reflects great credit upon the large firm in Boston
with whom he served a faithful apprenticeship.

Salem, Springfield, and Lowell, together with many
smaller localities, have good and true colored men among
their inhabitants, sustaining creditable business relations,
and the owners of real estate in a fair proportion with their
white fellow-citizens.

Boston compares favorably, in this respect, with larger
cities in the United States. Several causes have combined
to retard the progress of colored mechanics ; but these are
being removed, and, in a few years, the results will be
manifest. Business and professional men are continually
increasing. In addition to the mechanical, artistical, and
professional colored men in Boston, elsewhere mentioned,
it may be noted, that the two most popular gymnasium gal-
leries are in the proprietorship of J. B. Bailey and Peyton
Stewart ; the prince of caterers is J. B. Smith ; a dentist
highly recommended is J. S. Rock ; a young artist in cray-
on portraits is winning his way to excellence and reputation ;
and other equally meritorious aspirants, — women inclu-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

113

ded, — are soaring to those heights that challenge the am-
bition of earth's gifted children. Real estate to the value
of, at least, $200,000, is in the hands of our colored citi-
zens. During the struggle for equal school rights, many of
the largest tax payers removed into the neighboring towns,
and withdrew their investments from Boston real estate.

American colorphobia is never more rampant towards its
victims, than when one would avail himself of the facilities
for mental improvement, in common with the more favored
dominant party, — as if his complexion was, indeed, prima
facie evidence that he was an intruder within the sacred
portals of knowledge. In Boston, the so-called " Athens of
America," large audiences have been thrown almost into
spasms by the presence of one colored man in their
midst ; and, on one occasion, (in the writer's experience,) a
mob grossly insulted a gentleman and two ladies, who
did not happen to exhibit the Anglo-Saxon (constitutional)
complexion.

But, within a few years past, this spirit of caste has lost
much of its virulence, owing somewhat to the efforts put
forth by the colored people themselves. For ten years, they
sustained the Adelphic Union Library Association, and were
generally fortunate in securing the most talented and dis-
tinguished gentlemen as lecturers. Though proscribed
themselves, they removed from the colored locality, opened
a hall in the central part of the city, and magnanimously in-
vited all to avail themselves of its benefits. A number of
white young men associated themselves with this Society,
10*

114

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

and participated in several public elocutionary exhibitions ;
and their lecture-room was usually visited by representatives
from all classes of the community, which has had a tendency
to excite something of a reciprocal feeling on the part of
other associations, — now extending itself through all the
ramifications of society ; so that the presence of colored
persons at popular lectures is now a matter of common oc-
currence, and excites scarcely any notice or remark. This
agreeable state of things superseded the necessity of an
exclusive organization, though social literary clubs, mostly
composed of colored members, have continued to exist.

In New Bedford, a deserved rebuke was administered to
colorphobia, which grew out of an attempt to prescribe col-
ored patrons of the Lyceum from the privileges heretofore
shared by them in common with others. This persecu-
tion aroused the indignation of those ever-to-be-honored
friends of equal rights, Charles Sumner and Ralph Waldo
Emers* n. They were both announced to lecture, but, on
learning the proceedings, they immediately recalled their
engagements, rather than sanction, by their presence on the
rostrum, such an outrage on the rights of man. This noble
deed was not without its effect, and, as a legitimate conse-
quence, prompted the freemen of New Bedford to establish
an independent Lyceum, where men, irrespective of acci-
dental differences, could freely assemble, and have dis-
pensed to them the precious stores of knowledge. Various
circumstances combined to create an impetus in favor of the
free Lyceum, which completely superseded the other, and
thus a victory was achieved in humanity's behalf.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

115

A similar triumph, in many respects, was also won in
Lynn, where opposition was manifested to a Lyceum lec-
ture by Charles Lenox Remond. A majority united in the
formation of another institution, thus proving that, where
there is a will, a way can always be found for united hearts
to bear a faithful and1 effective testimony against proscrip-
tion and tyranny.

Since then, Samuel R. Ward, Frederick Douglass, and
other distinguished colored lecturers, have been welcomed
to Lyceum platforms in different parts of the country.

To Raynal, who expressed surprise that America had not
produced any celebrated man, Jefferson replied, — " When
we shall have existed as a nation as long as the Greeks be-
fore they had a Homer, the Romans a Virgil, or the French
a Racine, there will be room for inquiry ; " and I would
say, Let the evil spirit of American pro-slavery and preju-
dice only remove its feet from the neck of its outraged vic-
tims, and if improvement be not made comrr. Lsurate with
the means afforded, then, — but not till then, — will we ad-
mit the truth of the gratuitous assertion, that the Author of
the universe has stamped upon the brow of the colored
American a mark of inferiority.

This feeling must have moved C. V. Caples, a colored
teacher, when he uttered the following eloquent words at an
early Anti-Slavery Convention in Boston : — "I am pained,"
said he, " when I think of the condition of colored men in
the United States. My blood is as warm as yours, Mr. Presi-
dent, or that of any patriot ; and when I behold the finger

116

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

of scorn pointed at my brethren, and the curled lip, my soul
weeps. I think, there may be thus insulted one possessing
the highest attributes of man ; a mind, perhaps, that, if
trained like other minds, might lead to great deeds, — some
Cincinnatus, capable of influencing the destinies of a nation,
a Hampden, to inspire patriotism, or a Milton, * pregnant
with celestial fire/ "

The colored man's friends are constantly claiming for
him an equality of privileges, based on his nativity, loyalty,
and the immutable law of God. There have been those,
however, sometimes found deficient in a trying hour. Such
"fallings from grace" doubtless occur in the ranks of every
reform ; for all who profess are not always fully imbued
with the principle, thereby losing opportunities of squaring
their practice with their preaching. To those colored
friends, however, who constantly harp upon real or sup-
posed derelictions of white Abolitionists, it is but seasonable
to hint, that some of their own number are very indifferent
to practical Anti-Slavery, and that, at the South, there are
black, as well as white, slaveholders, — a fact teaching hu-
mility to both classes, while, at the same time, it proves the
identity of both with the human family. These Anti-Slavery
tests are presented in the every-day routine of business and
social life, and ofttimes prove severe trials, except to those
of the genuine radical stamp. All reformers owe it to their
high calling to be consistent ; not to place their light under
a bushel, but to let its rays be conspicuous, as a direct
means of influencing public sentiment.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

117

A few years since, when the State of Massachusetts was
agitated, from Cape Cod to Berkshire, with the exclusion of
colored passengers from equal railroad privileges, many
an instance occurred where Abolitionists wholly identified
themselves with the proscribed, — " remembering those in
bonds as bound with them ; " and, on some occasions, en-
countering peril of life and limb, and sharing indignities
equally with those whose sin was the " texture of hair and
hue of the skin."

It is with the most grateful emotions that I would here
record the names of William Lloyd Garrison and Wen-
dell Phillips, both of whom, on separate occasions, re-
monstrated against the colonization of colored friends from
the cars, and, in the crisis, exiled themselves to the " Jim-
Crow car," rather than remain in comfort with the oppres-
sor. Such exhibitions of fidelity to principle were not lost
upon their fellow-passengers.

There is abundant reason to believe that these and simi-
lar incidents, in connection with the eloquent appeals of
Charles Lenox Remond and other Anti-Slavery lecturers,
were instrumental in removing all odious restrictions from
the Eastern Railroad ; and, at this day, who ventures to ex-
clude a colored passenger, in this section of country ? The
idea has been consigned to the tomb of the capulets, from
whence we do not anticipate a resurrection. Until within a
few years, the Boston Directory had a Liberia department
for persons of color ; but it luckily fell into the hands of an
Anti-Slavery man, George Adams, Esq., who, to his honor

118

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

be it remembered, abolished this inglorious distinction, in-
serted the names of colored citizens among " the rest of
mankind," and, to this day, no orb has been so eccentric
as to wander from its sphere in consequence thereof. " So
shines a good deed in a naughty world." Live the true life,
speak the true word, and God will bless the effort.

There is a,.sun-dial in Italy, with the inscription, " I mark
only the hours that shine" — inculcating the lesson, that
though this life is not all happy and beautiful, yet we
should not dwell always upon the darker portion of the pic-
ture, but remember to look also upon the bright side. What
a satisfaction to the proscribed colored American is the fact,
that, in this slavery-cursed land, there are those true hearts
ready to accord the rights and privileges to others so prized
by themselves ; that, in the highways and byways of life,
on the railroad car and in the steamboat, in the lyceum
and college, in the street, the store, and the parlor, a noble
band is found, united in purpose, uncompromising in princi-
ple, fearless in action, whose examples are like specks of
verdure amidst universal barrenness, — as scattered lights
amidst thick and prevailing darkness.

AM E ETC AX REVOLUTION.

119

CHAPTER II.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

JUDE HALL — LEGISLATIVE POSTPONEMENT OF EMANCIPATION — LAST
SLAVE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE — SENATOR MORRILL'S TRIBUTE TO A
COLORED CITIZEN.

Jude Hai^l was born at Exeter, N. H., and was a soldier
in the Revolutionary War, under General Poor. He served
faithfully eight years, and fought in most all the battles,
beginning at Bunker Hill. He was called a great soldier,
and was known in New Hampshire to the day of his death
by the name of " Old Rock."

Singular to relate, three of his sons have been kidnapped
at different times, and reduced to slavery. James was put
on board a New Orleans vessel ; Aaron was stolen from
Providence, in 1807; William went to sea in the bark
Hannibal, from Newbury port, and was sold in the West
Indies, from whence he escaped after ten years of slavery,
and sailed as captain of a collier from Newcastle to Lon-
don.

The anecdote of the slave of Gen. Sullivan, of New
Hampshire, is well known. When his master told him
that they were on the point of starting for the army, to
fight for liberty, he shrewdly suggested, that it would be a

120

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

great satisfaction to know that he was indeed going to fight
for his liberty. Struck with the reasonableness and justice
of this suggestion, Gen. S. at once gave him his freedom.

It is not very surprising, that in the time of the Revolu-
tionary War, when so much was said of freedom, equality,
and the rights of man,4he poor African should think that
he had some rights, and should seek that freedom which
others valued so highly. There were slaves then, even in
New Hampshire, and their owners, like the Egyptians of
old, and the Carolinians now, were unwilling to " let them
go." Here is an extract from the Journal of New Hamp-
shire, touching this matter, showing how justice and hu-
manity were postponed, as repentance often is, to a more
convenient opportunity : —

"June 9, 178Q. Agreeable to order of the day, the petition of
Negro Brewster and others, negro slaves, praying to be set free
from slavery, being read, considered, and argued by counsel for
petitioners before this House, it appears that at this time this House
is not ripe for a determination in this matter. Therefore, ordered,
That the further consideration of the matter be postponed till a
more convenient opportunity"

Senator Morrill, of New Hampshire, in his speech at
Washington, in 1820, on the Missouri question, alluded to a
colored man in his own State, by the name of Cheswell,
who, with his family, were respectable in point of property,
ability, and character. He held some of the first offices of
the town in which he resided, was appointed Justice of the
Peace for the county, and was perfectly competent to per-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

121

form all the duties of his various offices in the most prompt,
accurate, and acceptable manner.

" In New Hampshire,1' says Dr. Belknap, in 1795, " those
blacks who enlisted into the army for three years, were
entitled to the same bounty as the whites. This bounty
their masters received as the price of their liberty, and then
delivered up their bills of sale, and gave them a certificate
of manumission. Several of these bills and certificates
were deposited in my hands ; and those who survived the
three years' service were free." *

New Hampshire papers of a quite recent date record the
death, at Hanover, of Mrs. Jane E. Wentworth, a colored
woman, at the age of three score and ten. Graduates at
Dartmouth will recollect her as Aunt Jenny, the wash-wo-
man, and nurse in sickness. Her parents were slaves,
kidnapped when very young, and came by inheritance in
possession of the family of Mrs. House, of Hanover. They
were subsequently sold to a gentleman in Salem, N. H.,
where they remained until they were emancipated by the
laws of the State. Jenny was born in Hanover, in 1777,
was sold with her parents, and upon becoming free, she
married Charles Wentworth, a slave of Gov. Wentworth.
They then removed to Hanover, where they remained till
their death. Jenny outlived her husband several years, and
was one of the last of the African race who in our early
history were held in bondage in New England.

♦ Massachusetts Historical Collection, Vol. IV., p. 203.

122

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER III.

VERMONT.

SEVEN HUNDRED BRITISH SOLDIERS ESCORTED BY A COLORED PA-
TRIOT— REV. LEMUEL HAYNES — JUDGE HARRINGTON'S ANTI-FU-
GITIVE - SLAVE - LAW DECISION.

August 16th, 1777, the Green Mountain Boys, aided by
troops from New Hampshire, and some few from Berk-
shire County, Massachusetts, under the command of Gen.
Stark, captured the left wing of the British army near Ben-
nington. As soon as arrangements could be made, after
the prisoners were all collected, — something more than
seven hundred, — they were tie(J to a rope, one on each
side. The rope not being long enough, Gen. Stark called
for more ; when Mrs. Robinson, wife of Hon. Moses Robin-
son, said to the General, " I will take down the last bedstead
in the house, and present the rope to you, on one condition.
When the prisoners are all tied to the rope, you shall per-
mit my negro man to harness up my old mare, and hitch
the rope to the whiffletree, mount the mare, and conduct
the British and tory prisoners out of town." The General
willingly accepted Mrs. Robinson's proposition. The negro
mounted the mare, and thus conducted the left wing of the
British army into Massachusetts, on their way to Boston.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

123

Gen. Schuyler writes from Saratoga, July 23, 1777, to
the President of Massachusetts Bay, " That of the few
continental troops we have had to the Northward, one third
part is composed of men too far advanced in years for field
service, of boys, or rather, children, and, mortifying barely
to mention, of negroes."

The General also addressed a similar letter to John Han-
cock, and again to the Provincial Congress, in which he
stated that the foregoing were facts which were altogether
incontrovertible.

Lemuel Haynes was born in Hartford, Conn., July 18,
1753. His father was an African, his mother, white. It
was his good fortune to fall into kind hands, and he enjoyed
excellent advantages of education, both before and after the
Revolution. He ultimately became a ripe scholar, and, in
1804, received the honorary degree of A. M. from Middle-
bury College, Vt. After completing a theological course of
study, he preached in various places in Connecticut, until
the year 1788, when he made a permanent settlement in
West Rutland, Vt., and remained there thirty years, being
one of the most popular preachers in the State.

In 1805, Mr. Haynes preached his noted sermon from

>Q Si 86W

Gen. ill • 4, the fame of which, and his discussion with the
venerable Hosea Ballou,was world-wide.

He was no less distinguished for his patriotism than for
his theological attainments. He enlisted as a minute man
in 1774, and became connected with the American army.
After the battle of Lexington, in 1775, he joined the army

124

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

at Roxbury. Two years after, he was a volunteer in the
expedition to Ticonderoga, to stop the inroads of Burgoyne's
Northern army. His neighbors and friends often heard him
describe his sufferings while engaged in that campaign.

His social qualities were of a high order. He was a
somewhat eccentric man, very musical, and full of wit and
anecdote, but serious and reverent when the occasion de-
manded. He was a kind neighbor and a warm friend. He
lived to the age of 81, dying on the 28th of September,
1833.

The opinion of Judge Harrington, of Vermont, in the
case of a person claimed as a fugitive slave, is probably
familiar to most Abolitionists. In answer to some inquiries
with regard to the particulars of the case, by Hon. Samuel
E. Sewall, of Massachusetts, the Hon. Dorastus Wooster, of
Middlebury, Vt., says : —

" The transaction to which you allude is somewhat an
ancient one. The case occurred before my time ; but I
have the history of it from the lips of an eye-witness, who
was present at the time, — the Hon. Horatio Seymour,
formerly a Senator from this State in Congress. There
was a person of color in Middlebury, who was claimed as a
slave by his master, from the State of New York. He was
brought before two Justices of the Peace, and they decided
to surrender him. Loyal Case, Esq., counsel for the slave,
brought him up, on a habeas corpus^ to the Supreme Court,
then in session, for his liberation. The master brought for-
ward documentary and other evidence to show his title to

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

125

the slave. Judge Harrington, who was then on the bench,
gave the opinion of the Court. He said that the evidence
of title was good, as far as it went, but the chain had some
of its links broken. The evidence did not go far enough.
If the master could show a bill of sale, or grant, from the
Almighty, then his title to him would be complete : other-
wise, it would not. And as he had not shown such evi-
dence, the Court refused to surrender him, and discharged
him. This is the opinion of the Court, as delivered by-
Judge Harrington, as well as can be recollected after such
a lapse of time. The transaction took place about the year
1807. Judge Harrington is now dead. He possessed a
powerful mind, not fond of technicalities: had a strong
sense of justice, and was a great friend to liberty.'"
Two points in this case merit particular attention : —

1. The decision was made only about seventeen years
after the Constitution of the United States went into ope-
ration.

}q oijo ion )ud. ; Gfj?jtx>i jjf

2. It was the solemn and deliberate decision of the

Supreme Court of Vermont, not the opinion of Judge Har-
rington alone. As such, it becomes of great weight as a
legal authority, and should be cited whenever a person,
claimed as a fugitive slave, is brought before any Court.

oih rbhfw iii ti\ar/d boSL
V 3; » *\n . r liorfj to fcfrooifj otU gnomr*

[''■> ~" : v . nbiiud luo'i jjsri* bojooffooy'f
*±<*fyy*&i k-\n. txP f v' ;.r , 4te v'lmh^nm ban o'Jmol
i&fy'fy.umJ V» : ' T , 'A oQ twoO '(4 bobnotl f#joOTJ

126

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER IV.

RHODE ISLAND.

ADMISSION" OF HON. TRISTAM SURGES — DEFENCE OF RED BANK. —
ARREST OF MAJOR GENERAL PRESCOTT BY PRINCE — COLORED
REGIMENT OF RHODE ISLAND — SPEECH OF DR. HARRIS — LOY-
ALTY DURING THE DORR REBELLION.

The Hon. Tristam Burges, of Rhode Island, in a speech
in Congress, January, 1828, said: — " At the commence-
ment of the Revolutionary War, Rhode Island had a num-
ber of slaves. A regiment of them were enlisted into the
Continental service, and no braver men met the enemy
in battle ; but not one of them was permitted to be a soldier
until he had first been made a freeman."

" In Rhode Island," says Governor Eustis, in his able
speech against slavery in Missouri, 12th December, 1820,
" the blacks formed an entire regiment, and they discharged
their duty with zeal and fidelity. The gallant defence of
Red Bank, in which the black regiment bore a part, is
among the proofs of their valor." In this contest, it will be
recollected that four hundred men met and repulsed, after a
terrible and sanguinary struggle, fjfteen hundred Hessian
troops, headed by Count Donop. The glory of the defence

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

127

of Red Bank, which has been pronounced one of the most
heroic actions of the war, belongs in reality to black men ;
yet who now hears them spoken of in connection with it ?
Among the traits which distinguished the black regiment,
was devotion to their officers. In the attack made upon the
American lines, near Croton river, on the 13th of May,
1781, Colonel Greene, the commander of the regiment,
was cut down and mortally wounded ; but the sabres of the
enemy only reached him through the bodies of his faithful
guard of blacks, who hovered over him to protect him,
and every one of whom was killed.

Lieutenant-Colonel Barton, of the Rhode Island militia,
planned a bold exploit for the purpose of surprising and
taking Major-General Prescott, the commanding officer of
the royal army at Newport. Taking with him, in the night,
about forty men, in two boats, with oars muffled, he had the
address to elude the vigilance of the ships of war and guard
boats, and-, having arrived undiscovered at the General's
quarters, they were taken for the sentinels, and the General
was not alarmed till his captors were at the door of his lodg-
ing chamber, which was fast closed. A negro man, named
Prince, instantly thrust his head through the panel door
and seized the victim while in bed. The General's aid-de-
camp leaped from a window undressed, and attempted to
escape, but was taken, and, with the General, brought off
in safety.*

♦Thacher's Military Journal, August 3, 1777.

128

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

I have received from Mr. George E. Willis, of Provi-
dence, the following list of names, as among the colored
soldiers in the Rhode Island Regiment during the Revolu-
tionary War: —

Scipio Brown, Thomas Brown,

Prince Vaughn, Samson Hazzard,

Guy Watson, Richard Rhodes,

Primus Rhodes, Cuff Greene,

Prince Greene, Cato Greene,

Henry Tabor, Prince Jenks,

Reuben Roberts, Philo Phillips,

Cjesar Power, York Champlin,
Ichabod Northup.

Richard Cozzens, a fifer in the Rhode Island Regiment,
was born in Africa, and died in Providence in 1829.

In this connection, the following extracts from an ad-
dress delivered, in 1842, before the Congregational and
Presbyterian Anti-Slavery Society, at Francestown, N. H,,
by Dr. Harris, a Revolutionary veteran, will be read with
great interest : —

" I sympathize deeply," said Dr. Harris, " in the objects
of this Society. I fought, my hearers, for the liberty which
you enjoy. It surprises me that every man does not rally
at the sound of liberty, and array himself with those who
are laboring to abolish slavery in our country. The- very
mention of it warms the blood in my veins, and, old as I
am, makes me feel something of the spirit and impulses of
'76.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 129

" Then liberty meant something. Then, liberty, indepen-
dence, freedom, were in every man's mouth. They were
the sounds at which they rallied, and under which they
fought and bled. They were the words which encouraged
and cheered them through their hunger, and nakedness, and
fatigue, in cold and in heat. * The word slavery then filled
their hearts with horror. They fought because they would
not be slaves. Those whom liberty has cost nothing, do
not know how to prize it.

" I served in the Revolution, in General Washington's
army, three years under one enlistment. I have stood in
battle, where balls, like hail, were flying all around me.
The man standing next to me was shot by my side — his
blood spouted upon my clothes, which I wore for weeks.
My nearest blood, except that which runs in my veins, was
shed for liberty. My only brother was shot dead instantly
in the Revolution. Liberty is dear to my heart — I cannot
endure the thought, that my countrymen should be slaves.

" When stationed in the State of Rhode Island, the regi-
ment to which I belonged was once ordered to what was
called a flanking position, — that is, upon a place which the
enemy must pass in order to come round in our rear, to
drive us from the fort. This pass was every thing, both to
them and to us; of course, it was a post of imminent danger.
They attacked us with great fury, but were repulsed. They
reinforced, and attacked us again, with more vigor and deter-
mination, and again were repulsed. Again they reinforced,
and attacked us the third time, with the most desperate cour-
age and resolution, but a third time were repulsed. The

130 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE 1

contest was fearful. Our position was hotly disputed and
as hotly maintained.

" But I have another object in view in stating these facts.
I would not be trumpeting my own acts ; the only reason
why I have named myself in connection with this transaction
is, to show that I know whereof I affirm. There was a Hack
regiment in the same situation. Yes, a regiment of negroes,
fighting for our liberty and independence, — not a white man
among them but the officers, — stationed in this same danger-
ous and responsible position. Had they been unfaithful, or
given way before the enemy, all would have been lost.
Three times in succession were they attacked, with most
desperate valor and fury, by well disciplined and veteran
troops, and three times did they successfully repel the as-
sault, and thus preserve our army from capture. They
fought through the war. They were brave, hardy troops.
They helped to gain our liberty and independence.

" Now, the war is over, our freedom is gained — what is
to be done with these colored soldiers, who have shed their
best blood in its defence ? Must they be sent off out of the
country, because they are black ? or must they be sent back
into slavery, now they have risked their lives and shed their
blood to secure the freedom of their masters ? I ask, what
became of these noble colored soldiers ? Many of them, I
fear, were taken back to the South, and doomed to the fetter
and the chain.

" And why is it, that the colored inhabitants of our na-
tion, born in this country, and entitled *to all the rights of
freemen, are held in slavery ? Why, but because they are

AMERICAN KEVOLUTION.

131

Hack ? I have often thought, that, should God see fit, by a
miracle, to change their color, straighten their hair, and
give their features and complexion the appearance of the
whites, slavery would not continue a year. No, you would
then go and abolish it with the sword, if it were not speedily
done without. But is it a suitable cause for making men
slaves, because God has given them such a color, such hair
and such features, as he saw fit ? "

During the Dorr excitement, the colored population of
Rhode Island received high encomiums from the papers of
the State for their conduct. The New York Courier and
Enquirer said : — " The colored people of Rhode Island de-
serve the good opinion and kind feeling of every citizen of
the State, for their conduct during the recent troublous
times in Providence. They promptly volunteered their
services for any duty to which they might be useful in
maintaining law and order. Upwards of a hundred of them
organized themselves for the purpose of acting as a city
guard for the protection of the city, and to extinguish fires,
in case of their occurrence, while the citizens were absent
on military duty. The fathers of these people were distin-
guished for their patriotism and bravery in the war of the
Revolution, and the Rhode Island colored regiment fought,
on one occasion, until half their number were slain. There
was not a regiment in the service which did more soldierly
duty, or showed itself more devotedly patriotic. "

A colored military company, called the " National Guard,"
has recently been formed in Providence, using, by special
grant, the State arms.

132

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER V.

CONNECTICUT.

HON. CALVIN GODDARD'S TESTIMONY — CAPTAIN HUMPHREYS* COL-
ORED COMPANY — FAC SIMILE OF GENERAL "WASHINGTON'S CER-
TIFICATE— HAMET, GENERAL "WASHINGTON'S SERVANT — POOR JACK.

EBENEZER HILLS — LATHAM AND FREEMAN FRANCHISE OF

COLORED CITIZENS — DAVID RUGGLES — PROGRESS.

Hon. Calvin Goddard, of Connecticut, states that in the
little circle of his residence, he was instrumental in secur-
ing, under the Act of 1818, the pensions of nineteen colored
soldiers. " I cannot," he says, " refrain from mentioning
one black man, Primus Babcock, who proudly presented to
me an honorable discharge from service during the war,
dated, at the close of it, wholly in the handwriting of
George Washington. Nor can I forget the expression of
his feelings, when informed, after his discharge "had been
sent to the War Department, that it could not be returned.
At his request, it was written for, as he seemed inclined
to spurn the pension and reclaim the discharge."

There is a touching anecdote related of Baron Steuben,
on the occasion of the disbandment of the American army.
A black soldier, with his wounds unhealed, utterly desti-
tute, stood on the wharf, just as a vessel bound for his dis-

By His Excellency
GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq;

General and Commander in Chief of the Forces of the United
States of America.

THESE are to CERTIFY that the Bearer hereof

in the tor*-'
ferved the United States

Regiment, having faithfully

^$^77^ f~ ffff? "and being inlifted for the War only, is

herehy Discharged from the American Army. ^

GIVEN at Head-Quarters the f. jZ^/ftPJ

By His Excellency's
Command,

REGISTERED in the Books
of the Regiment,

THE above
has been honored with the
Years faithful Service.

Adjutant, .

G E of M E R I T for c7^cy

Head-Quarters, June 0 — 1783.

' THE within CERTIFICATE mall not avail the
Bearer as a Difcharge, until the Ratification of the definitive
Treaty of Peace; previous to which Time, and until Proclama-
tion thereof fhall be made, He is to be confidered as being on
Furlough.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

133

tant home was getting under weigh. The poor fellow
gazed at the vessel with tears in his eyes, and gave him-
self up to despair. The warm-hearted foreigner witnessed
his emotion, and, inquiring into the cause of it, took his
last dollar from his purse, and gave it to him, while tears
of sympathy trickled down his cheeks. Overwhelmed
with gratitude, the poor wounded soldier hailed the sloop,
and was received on board. As it moved out from the
wharf, he cried back to his noble friend on shore, " God
Almighty bless you, master Baron ! "

During the Revolutionary War, and after the sufferings
of a protracted contest had rendered it difficult to procure
recruits for the army, the Colony of Connecticut adopted
the expedient of forming a corps of colored soldiers. A
battalion of blacks was soon enlisted, and, throughout the
war, conducted themselves with fidelity and efficiency.
The late General Humphreys, then a Captain, commanded
a company of this corps. It is said that some objections
were made, on the part of officers, to accepting the com-
mand of the colored troops. In this exigency, Capt. Hum-
phreys, who was attached to the family of Gen. Washing-
ton, volunteered his services. His patriotism was rewarded,
and his fellow officers were afterwards as desirous to obtain
appointments in that corps as they had previously been to
avoid them.

The following extract from the pay roll of the second
company, fourth regiment, of the Connecticut line of the
12

134

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Revolutionary army, may rescue many gallant names from
oblivion : —

Captain,
DAVID HUMPHREYS.

Privates,

Jack Arabus,

Brister Baker,*

John Ball,

Jolm Cleveland,

Caesar Bagdon,

John McLean,

Phineas Strong,

Gamaliel Terry,

Jesse Yose,

Ned Fields,

Lent Munson,

Daniel Bradley,

Isaac Higgins,

Heman Rogers,

Sharp Camp,

Lewis Martin,

Job Caesar,

Jo Otis,

Caesar Chapman,

John Rogers,

James Dinah,

Peter Mix,

Ned Freedom,

Solomon Sowtice,

Philo Freeman,

Ezekiel Tupham,

Peter Freeman,

Hector Williams,

Tom Freeman,

Cato Wilbrow,

Juba Freeman,

Congo Zado,

CufF Freeman,

Cato Robinson,

Peter Gibbs,

Juba Dyer,

Prince George,

Prince Johnson,

Andrew Jack,

Prince Crosbee,

Alex. Judd,

Peter Morando,

Shubael Johnson,

Pomp Liberty,

Peter Lion,

Tim Csesar,

CufF Liberty,

Sampson CufF,

Jack Little,

Pomp Cyrus,

Dick Freedom,

Bill Sowers,

Harry Williams,

Pomp McCufF.

Dick Violet,

Sharp Rogers,

The Hartford Review for Sept., 1839, gives the follow-
ing account of a colored man by the name of Hamet, then
living in Middletown, who was formerly owned by Wash-
ington : — " Hamet is, according to his own account, nearly

* Seo the annexed fac simile of the original certificate of Baker's discharge.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

135

one hundred years old. He draws a pension for his ser-
vices in the Revolutionary War, and manufactures toy
drums for his support. He has a white wife and one child.
His hair is white with age, and hangs matted together in
masses over his shoulders. His height is about four feet
six inches. He retains a perfect recollection of his massa
and missus Washington, and has several remembrancers of
them. Among these, there is a lock of the General's hair,
and his (the General's) service sword. He converses in
three or four different languages, — the French, Spanish
and German, besides his native African tongue."

A clergyman in Connecticut, during the Revolutionary
War, manifested, on all occasions, his zeal in the cause of
freedom and his country, but, at the same time, held in
bondage a colored man named Jack. To contend for lib-
erty, and hold the poor African in slavery, was, according
to Jack's conception of right and wrong, a manifest incon-
sistency. Under this impression, and anxious to obtain that
liberty which is the inherent and natural right of man, Jack
went to his master one day, and addressed him in the fol-
lowing language: — "Master, I observe you alway keep
preaching about liberty and praying for liberty, and I love
to hear you, sir, for liberty be a good thing. You preach
well and you pray well ; but one thing you remember,
master, — Poor Jack is not free yet." Struck with the
propriety and force of Jack's admonition, the clergyman,
after a momentary pause, told Jack if he would behave
well in his service for one year longer, he should be free.

136 , COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Jack fulfilled the condition, obtained his freedom, and be-
came a man of some property and respectability.*

Ebenezer Hills died at Vienna, New York, August,
1849, aged one hundred and ten. He was born a slave, in
Stonington, Connecticut, and became free when twenty-
eight years of age. He served 'through the Revolutionary
War, and was at the battles of Saratoga and Stillwater, and
was present at the surrender of Burgoyne.

In a letter to the author, Parker Pillsbury, of New Hamp-
shire, says : — "The names of the two brave men of color,
who fell, with Ledyard, at the storming of Fort Griswold,
were Lambo Latham and Jordan Freeman. All the
names of the slain, at that time, are inscribed on a marble
tablet, wrought into the monument — the names of the col-
ored soldiers last, — and not only last, but a blank space is
left between them and the whites ; in genuine keeping with
the " Negro Pew" distinction — setting them not only be-
low all others, but by themselves, even after that. And it
is difficult to say why. They were not last in the fight.
When Major Montgomery, one of the leaders in the expedi-
tion against the Americans, was lifted upon the walls of the
fort by his soldiers, flourishing his sword and calling on
them to follow him, Jordan Freeman received him on the
point of a pike, and pinned him dead to the earth. [ Vide
Hist. Collections of Connecticut.] And the name of Jor-
dan Freeman stands away down, last on the list of heroes,
— perhaps the greatest hero of them all."

« Book of American Anecdotes.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 137

The seventy-second anniversary of the memorable tragedy
at Groton Heights, in 1781, was celebrated by the people
of New London and vicinity, on Wednesday, September 7,
1853. Of the address of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop on
that occasion, the New York Express says : —

"It was beautifully eloquent and appropriate. His father was
born in New London, and his ancestors for a century and a half had
lived there. The very name of Groton came from Groton Manor in
England, an estate once owned by the Winthrops. The names of
New London and the Thames originated in a natural love for the
great metropolis of the old world and the river which passed by,
for these were once in the neighborhood of the homes of those who
planted some of the earliest colonies in America. Mr. W. pictured
the events of the 6th of September, the bravery of the volunteers,
the shocking murders, the dead and surviving, the sufferings of
Ledyard, the revolutionary struggle, and all in letters of gold.
His address charmed alike the lettered and unlettered among his
hearers, and that is the test of true eloquence.' '

The orator's omission to make a brief allusion, even, to
the two colored soldiers, called out the following tribute
from William Anderson, of New London, Connecticut: —

" I stood," he says, " on the heights of Groton, a few
days since, listening to the praises of the white heroes, from
the lips of Hon. R. C. Winthrop, W. I. Hammersley,
Esq., Gov. Seymour, and others. I saw there, on the
battle-ground, the descendants of the gallant Ledyard,
(or, rather, the connections,) with those of the Averys,
the Lathams, the Perkinses, the Baileys, and others, in the
12*

138

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

full enjoyment of that liberty so dearly bought by their
ancestors. I was glad that they were free, and living out
their God-given rights. My mind became excited with the
scene ; but, on reflection, my excitement was calmed down
by the sober thought of an unpleasant reality, and you will
ask, why was I sad ? Well, as Shakspeare says, c I will
to you a tale unfold 1 ; and, while you bear with me in the
recital, I know your sympathies will attend me in the sequel.

"September 6th, 1781, New London was taken by the
British, under the command of that traitor, Arnold. The
small band composing the garrison retreated to the fort op-
posite, in the town of Groton, and there resolved either to
gain a victory or die for their country. The latter pledge
was faithfully redeemed, and by none more gallantly than
the two colored men ; and, if the survivors of that day's car-
riage tell truly, they fought like tigers, and were butchered
after the gates were burst open. One of these men was
the brother of my grandmother, by the name of Lambert,
but called Lambo, — since chiselled on the marble monu-
ment by the American classic appellation of ' Sambo.'*
The name of the other man was Jordan Freeman. Lam-
bert was living with a gentleman in Groton, by the name
of Latham, so, of course, he was called Lambert Latham.
Mr. Latham and Lambert, on the day of the massacre, were
at work in a field, at a distance from the house. On hear-
ing the alarm upon the approach of the enemy, Mr. Latham
started for home, leaving Lambert to drive the team up to
the house. On arriving at the house, Lambert was told

AMERICAN

REVOLUTION.

139

that Mr. Latham had gone up to the fort. Lambert took
the cattle from the team, and, making all secure, started
for the point of defence, where he arrived before the British
began the attack. And here let me say, my dear friend,
that there was not any negro pew in that fort, although
there was some praying as well as fighting. But there they
stood, side by side, and shoulder to shoulder, and, after a
few rounds of firing, each man's visage was so blackened
by the smoke of powder, that Lambert and Jordan had but
little to boast of on the score of color.

" The assault on the part of the British was a deadly one,
and manfully resisted by the Americans, even to the club-
bing of their muskets after their ammunition was expended ;
but finally, the little garrison was overcome, and, on the
entrance of the enemy, the British officer inquired, " Who
commands this fort ? " The gallant Ledyard replied, u I
once did; you do now," — at the same time handing his
sword, which was immediately run through his body to the
hilt by the officer. This was the commencement of an un-
paralleled slaughter. Lambert, being near Col. Ledyard
when he was slain, retaliated upon the officer by thrusting
his bayonet through his body. Lambert, in return, received
from the enemy thirty-three bayonet wounds, and thus fell,
nobly avenging the death of his commander.

" These facts were given me on the spot, at the time of
the laying of the corner-stone, by two veterans who were
present at the battle. And now I would ask, has Connecticut
done her duty towards us, while she permits foreigners to

140

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

exercise the right of suffrage, — yes, even those who were
fighting against us in the last war, — while we," native, and
to the manner born," are not allowed to peep into the ballot-
box ? Among the many great orators at Groton Heights,
this last 6th of September, I heard not the first word spoken
of our forefathers' valor, or of our present disfranchisement.

" My dear friend, 1 well remember the last war between
this country and Great Britain. I was then a mere school-
boy. The school where I went was also attended by sev-
eral hundred boys; and, one day, we were all marshalled
out, and under drum and fife, marched down to help con-
struct a battery, near the water's edge, below the mouth of
the harbor ; and proudly did we feel, that we little fellows
could do something for our country, if nothing more than
lugging a small turf, or carrying wooden pins for securing
the turf. I have often thought of that day's work and of its
close, as being so truly in keeping with past and present
usage. At the close of the day, we returned to town, tread-
ing time to the music, with the promise that we should re-
ceive some food — of which we had not tasted any since
morning. But, alas ! the proverb was verified in that case,
"that the last should be first," — for, on arriving at the
house, the order was given to open ranks, and those in the
rear, being the men, passed up the ranks, filling the house,
to the exclusion of the boys, who returned home to a late
supper, thinking of ardor, patriotism, and hunger ; but nev-
ertheless, ready for another tramp, if called on."

The colored inhabitants of Connecticut assembled in Con-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

141

vention, in 1849, to devise means to secure the elective fran-
chise, denied to seven thousand of their number. A gentle-
man present gives the following incident: — UA young
man, Mr. West, of Bridgeport, spoke with a great deal of
energy, and with a clear and pleasant tone of voice, which
many a lawyer, statesman, or clergyman, might covet, no-
bly vindicating the rights of the brethren. He said that the
bones of the colored man had bleached on every battle-field
where American valor had contended for national indepen-
dence. Side by side with the white man, the black man
stood and struggled to the last for the inheritance which the
white men now enjoy, but deny to us. His father was a
soldier slave, and his master said to him, when the liberty
of the country was achieved, c Stephen, we will do some-
thing for you.' But what have they ever dorjp for Stephen,
or for Stephen's posterity ? This orator is evidently a
young man of high promise, and better capable of voting
intelligently than half of the white men who would deny
him a freeman's privilege.'"

At the Troy Convention, held October, 1847, Rev. Amos
G. Beman gave vent to his feelings in a most eloquent speech
on the pro-slavery results of the colored suffrage question, in
his native State, Connecticut, remarking that nine-tenths of
the Irish residents in Connecticut voted against the colored
American ; and, though he had loved Ireland, revered her
great men, sympathized with her present and past afflictions,
and some of her blood flowed in his veins, he could not
forego administering the burning rebuke which he believed

142

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

due for their recreancy to the cause of human rights, and to
the men who had never done harm to them. He alluded to
the conversion of Judge Daggett, which has been graphically
delineated by another writer, as follows : —

" While the black laws of Connecticut were in force, Chief
Justice Daggett decided that we were not citizens of the
United States, and that the colored people there had no
claims to the privileges of American citizens. But time rolled
on ; he had become acquainted with the intelligent and en-
terprising colored citizens of that State ; he had finished his
term and retired. But a few years ago, when the question
was before the people of Connecticut — Shall the colored
people of the State have the right to vote ? — while his fel-
low-citizens were voting, three to one, in the negative, the
old gentleman^ from his retirement, stepped forth, in his
white-topped boots, with his silver locks of eighty winters
flowing beneath his venerable brim ; leaning upon his staff,
he walked to the polls, amid popular excitement, and voted
in the affirmative." Not a few great men, on the bench, at
the bar, or in the pulpit, have undergone similar changes.
These changes will multiply, under the influence of the
praiseworthy exertions of her gallant, but proscribed, col-
ored citizens, encouraged by the good and true around
them. In the struggle for enfranchisement, victory, at no
distant day, is destined to perch upon their banners.

In addition to what Mr. Phillips has said of David Rug-
gles, in earlier pages of this book, the following reminis-
cences of that gifted son of Connecticut are worthy to be
recorded here.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

143

August 1st, 1841, a complimentary soiree was given to
Mr. Ruggles in Boston, at which he made a speech, in the
course of which he said : —

"I have had the pleasure of helping six hundred persons
in their flight from bonds. In this, I have tried to do my
duty, and mean still to persevere, until the last fetter shall
be broken, and the last sigh heard from the lips of a slave.
But give the praise to Him who sustains us all, who holds
up the heart of the laborer in the rice swamp, and cheers
him when, by the twinkling of the North Star, he finds his
way to liberty. Six hundred in three years I have saved ;
had it been in one year, I should have been nearer my duty,
nearer the duty of every American, when he reflects that
it was the blood of colored men, as well as whites, which
crimsoned the battle-fields of Bunker Hill ajid the rest, in
the struggle to sustain the principles embodied in our Dec-
laration of Independence."

Mr. Ruggles, for a brief period, successfully edited the
Mirror of Liberty. He died in 1849, and highly eulo-
gistic notices of him appeared in the Boston Liberator and
the Chronotype, the editors of these papers having long
been conversant with the trials, perseverance and martyr-
dom of this " brave soldier in ihe battle of life."

Rev. J. C. Beman gives the following account of the origin
of his name. He says that when his father was presented
with manumission papers, he was asked what name he had
selected, and replied that he had always loathed slavery, and
wanted to be a man ; hence he adopted the name, Be-man.

144

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

At the Colored Men's Convention held at Hartford, in
October, 1854, Rev. ^. G. Beman, of New Haven, made a
report on the condition and prospects of the colored people
of that city and county. He contrasted their present posi-
tion with what it was twenty years ago. Then, not a man
of them could enter his habitation and say, " This is mine " ;
not a single church, nor the shadow of any school or other
place for the education of their children, was in existence
or prospect. To have looked for the strictly temperate,
moral and religious, had been as fruitless as to search for
hailstones in boiling water. Now, there are about two
hundred thousand dollars' worth of real estate, besides
bank and railroad stock, four Methodist churches, one Con-
gregational, one Episcopal, and one Baptist, and a Literary
Society with a Circulating Library, in possession of the col-
ored people of New Haven city. There are four schools in
full and prosperous operation. How can any man, said Mr.
B., who has lived in the midst of the one thousand and
upwards colored people of New Haven, and witnessed
the progress they have made in spite of almost every obsta-
cle, publicly say, as the Hon. H. Olmstead has done, in his
report on Colonization to the Legislature of 1851, that " the
colored men in this State are dying out, their hopes crush-
ed, their manhood gone " ?

EPITAPH PROM THE LIBERTY STREET BURIAL GROUND, MIDDLETOWN.

In Memory of
JENNY,

Servant to the Rev. Enoch Huntington, and wife of Mark Winthrop,
Who died April 28, 1784.
The day of her death she was Mr. Huntington's Property.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

145

CHAPTER VI.

NEW YORK.

NEGRO PLOT — DEBATE IN THE STATE CONVENTION OF 182 1 ON THE
FRANCHISE OF COLORED CITIZENS — NEW YORK COLORED SOL-
DIERY — MILITARY CONVENTION IN SYRACUSE, 18 5 4= — EXTRACT
FROM A SPEECH OF H. H. GARNET — CYRUS CLARKE'S VICTORY
AT THE BALLOT BOX — J. M. WHITFIELD — STATISTICAL* AND OTHER
FACTS.

As early as 1712, there had been an insurrection of the
slaves in New York, and the recollection of this, and a gen-
eral distrust of the negro population, rendered the citizens
of that city peculiarly suspicious of their movements ; and
when, in 1741, the cry was raised of a " negro plot," there
ensued a scene of confusion and alarm, of folly, frenzy,
and injustice, which scarcely has a parallel in this, or any
other, country. It happened that a Spanish vessel, partly
manned with negroes, had previously been brought into
New York as a prize, and that all the men had been con-
demned as slaves, in the Court of Admiralty, and were sold
at vendue. Now, these men had the impudence to say,
notwithstanding they were black, that they had been free-
men in their own country, and to grumble at their hard
usage in being sold for slaves. One of them had been
13

146

COLORED PATKIOTS OF THE

bought by the owner of a house in which fire had been dis-
covered, and a cry was raised among the people — "The
Spanish negroes!" — "Take up the Spanish negroes!"
They were immediately incarcerated, and, a fire occurring
in the afternoon of the same day, the rumor became gen-
eral, that the slaves, in a body, were concerned in these
wicked attempts to burn the city.

The negroes were brought to trial, May 29, 1741. The
principal evidence against them was one Mary Burton, the
common informer, who was rewarded by the sum of one
hundred dollars from the city authorities. She continued to
implicate parties, until the " people of consequence " began to
be annoyed by her, when the prosecutions became unpopular,
and the excitement subsided. There was some evidence
against them from negroes, as, by a law of the colony, the
evidence of slaves was competent against each other, though
not allowed to be used against white men. The prisoners had
no counsel, while the Attorney General, assisted by two
members of the bar, appeared against them. The evidence
had little consistency, and was extremely loose and general.
The arguments of the lawyers were chiefly declamatory
respecting the horrible plot, of the existence of which, how-
sver, no sufficient evidence was introduced. " The mon-
strous ingratitude of the black tribe (was the language of
)ne of them in addressing the jury) is what exceedingly
ggravated their guilt ; their slavery among us is generally
oftened with great indulgence." The prisoners were lm-
lediately convicted, and were sentenced by the Court, in a

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

147

brutal address, (which is singularly indicative of the general
excitement on the subject,) to be burnt to death. " You,
abject wretches," said the Judge, "the outcast of the na-
tions of the earth, are treated here with tenderness and
humanity " ! The prisoners protested their innocence, and
utterly denied any knowledge of any plot whatever ; but,
when they were taken out to execution, the poor creatures
were much terrified ; and, when chained to the stake, and
the executioner was ready to apply the torch, they admitted
all that was required of them. An attempt was then made
to procure a reprieve ; but a great multitude had assembled
to witness the executions, and the excitement was so great,
that it was considered impossible to return the prisoners to
prison ; they were, accordingly, burned at the stake.

John Ury, the son of a former Secretary of the South
Sea Company, a non-juring clergyman, and a man of educa-
tion, was convicted, on the evidence of Mary Burton, though
denying all knowledge of any plot, or even of the witnesses
who testified against him.

After his execution, a day of thanksgiving to Almighty
God was observed by public command, for the delivery from
the late execrable conspiracy. But the public mind was at
rest for a short time only. A few negroes in Queen's coun-
ty, on Long Island, having formed themselves into a military
company for amusement on the Christmas holidays, a letter
was written to the authorities there by the Attorney General,
and the slaves were severely chastised for this daring piece
of insolence. The cry of a new plot was immediately

148

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

raised, which resulted in the execution of other slaves.
The whole number of persons taken into custody was over
^ one hundred and fifty. Of these, four white persons were
hanged ; eleven negroes were burnt, eighteen were hanged,
and fifty were sold, principally in the West Indies.

Thus ended the famous " Negro Plot " of New York.
Upon a review of the evidence, as reported by one who had
implicit faith in the existence of a conspiracy, we have no
difficulty in pronouncing the whole thing to have been a
complete delusion — the natural result of the condition of
society at that day. This opinion is confirmed by Bancroft,
United States historian, and Dunlap, in the History of New
York*

Dr. Clarke, in the Convention which revised the Constitu-
tion of New York, in 1821, speaking of the colored inhabi-
tants of the State, said : — " My honorable colleague has told
us, that, as the colored people are not required to contribute
to the protection or defence of the State, they are not enti-
tled to an equal participation in the privileges of its citizens.
But, Sir, whose fault is this? Have they ever refused to
do military duty when called upon ? It is haughtily asked,
who will stand in the ranks shoulder to shoulder with a negro ?
I answer, no one, in time of peace ; no one, when your musters
and trainings are looked upon as mere pastimes ; no one, when
your militia will shoulder their muskets and march to their
trainings with as much unconcern as they would go to a
sumptuous entertainment or a splendid ball. But, Sir, when

* Chandler's State Trials.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

149

the hour of danger approaches, your c white ' militia are just
as willing that the man of color should be set up as a mark
to be shot at by the enemy, as to be set up themselves.
In the War of the Revolution, these people helped to fight
your battles by land and by sea. Some of your States were
glad to turn out corps of colored men, and to stand ; shoul-
der to shoulder ' with them.

" In your late war, they contributed largely towards
some of your most splendid victories. On Lakes Erie and
Champlain, where your fleets triumphed over a foe superior
in numbers and engines of death, they were manned, in a
large proportion, with men of color. And, in this very
House, in the fall of 1814, a bill passed, receiving the pp-
probation of all the branches of your government, author-
ising the Governor to accept the services of a corps of two
thousand free people of color. Sir, these were times which
tried men's souls. In these times, it was no sporting mat-
ter to bear arms. These were times, when a man who shoul-
dered his musket, did not know but he bared his bosom to re-
ceive a death wound from the enemy, ere he laid it aside ;
and, in these times, these people were found as ready and
as willing to volunteer in your service as any other. They
were not compelled to go ; they were not drafted. No ;
your pride had placed them beyond your compulsory pow-
er. But there was no necessity for its exercise ; they were
volunteers ; yes, Sir, volunteers to defend that very country
from the inroads and ravages of a ruthless and vindictive foe,
which had treated them with insult, degradation, and slavery.
13*

150

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

" Volunteers are the best of soldiers. Give me the men,
whatever be their complexion, that willingly volunteer, and
not those who are compelled to turn out. Such men do not
fight from necessity, nor from mercenary motives, but from
principle.*"

Said Martindale, of New York, in Congress, 22d of Jan-
uary, 1828: — " Slaves, or negroes who had been slaves,
were enlisted as soldiers in the War of the Revolution ; and
I myself saw a battalion of them, as fine martial-looking
men as I ever saw, attached to the Northern army, in the
last war, on its march from Plattsburg to Sackett's Harbor.'"
During the Revolutionary War, the Legislature of New
York passed an Act granting freedom to all slaves who
should serve in the army for three years, or until regularly
discharged. (See 2 Kent's Com., p. 255.)

The poor requital for the colored man's valor was forci-
bly alluded to by Henry H. Garnet at the anniversary of
the American Anti-Slavery Society, in New York city,
May, 1840. " It is with pride," said he, " that I remember,
that in the earliest attempts to establish democracy in this
hemisphere, colored men stood by the side of your fathers,
and shared with them the toils of the Revolution. When
Freedom, that had been chased over half the world, at last
thought she had here found a shelter, and held out her
hands for protection, the tearful eye of the colored man, in
many instances, gazed with pity upon her tattered garments,
and ran to her relief. Many fell in her defence, and the
grateful soil received them affectionately into its bosom.

AMEEICAN REVOLUTION.

151

No monumental piles distinguish their c dreamless beds 1 ;
scarcely an inch on the page of history has been appropri-
ated to their memory ; yet truth will give them a share of
the fame that was reaped upon the fields of Lexington and
Bunker Hill ; truth will affirm that they participated in the
immortal honor that adorned the brow of the illustrious
Washington."

I am indebted to Rev. Theodore Parker, of Boston, for
the following historical sketch of the New York colored
soldiery : —

" Not long ago, while the excavations for the vaults of
the great retail dry goods store of New York were going on,
a gentleman from Boston noticed a large quantity of human
bones thrown up by the workmen. Every body knows the
African countenance : the skulls also bore unmistakable
marks of the race they belonged to. They were shovelled
up with the earth which they had rested in, carted off and
emptied into the sea to fill up a chasm, and make the foun-
dation of a warehouse.

" On inquiry, the Bostonian learned that these were the
bones of colored American soldiers, who fell in the disas-
trous battles of Long Island, in 1776, and of such as died
of the wounds then received. At that day, as at this, spite
of the declaration that 1 all men are created equal,' the
prejudice against the colored man was intensely strong.
The black and the white had fought against the same
enemy, under the same banner, contending for the same
4 unalienable right' to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness. The same shot with promiscuous slaughter had

152

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

mowed down Africans and Americans. But in the grave,
they must be divided. On the battle-field, the blacks and
whites had mixed their bravery and their blood, but their
ashes must not mingle in the bosom of their common
mother. The white Saxon, exclusive and haughty even in
his burial, must have his place of rest proudly apart from
the grave of the African he had once enslaved.

" Now, after seventy-five years have passed by, the bones
of these forgotten victims of the Revolution are shovelled up
by Irish laborers, carted off, and shot into the sea, as the
rubbish of the town. Had they been white men's relics,
how would they have been honored with sumptuous burial
anew, and the purchased prayers and preaching of Christian
divines ! Now, they are the rubbish of the street!

"True, they were the bones of Revolutionary soldiers, —
but they were black men ; and shall a city that kidnaps its
citizens, honor a negro with a grave ? What boots it that
he fought for our freedom ; that he bled for our liberty ;
that he died for you and me? Does the 4 nigger' deserve a
tomb? Ask the American State — the American Church!

" Three quarters of a century have passed by since the
retreat from Long Island. What a change since then !
From the Washington of that day to the world's Washing-
ton of this, what a change ! In America, what alterations !
What a change in England ! The Briton has emancipated
every bondman ; slavery no longer burns his soil on either
Continent, the East or West. America has a population of
slaves greater than the people of all England in the reign

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

153

of Elizabeth. Under the pavement of Broadway, beneath
the walls of the Bazaar, there still lie the bones of the col-
ored martyrs to American Independence. Dandies of either
sex swarm gaily over the threshhold, heedless of the dead
African, contemptuous of the living. And while these
faithful bones were getting shovelled up and carted to the
sea, there was a great slave-hunt in New York : a man was
kidnapped and carried off to bondage by the citizens, at the
instigation of politicians, and to the sacramental delight of
4 divines.'

" Happy are the dead Africans, whom British shot
mowed down ! They did not live to see a man kidnapped
in the city which their blood helped free."

Within a recent period, several military companies have
been formed in New York city, exclusively of colored men.
They have been organized, in part, through the exertions
of Captains Simmons and Hawkins, and are designated as
the " Hannibal Guards," the " Free Soil Guards," and the
" Attucks Guards." The New York Tribune says of one
of these companies, in announcing their parade, " They
looked like men, handled their arms like men, and, should
occasion demand, we presume would fight like men."

At the New York State Convention of the Soldiers of
1812, held at Syracuse, June 21, 1854, the following reso-
lutions were adopted : —

Resolved, That in view of the resulting benefits to the nation at
large, and in view of the dangers and hardships encountered by the
soldiers of the war of 1812, — in view of the state of our finances,

154

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

and especially in view of the fact that the soldiers of that war are
now aged and rapidly dropping away, — and in view of the prece-
dent established by Congress in reference to the soldiers of the
Revolutionary War, — all officers and soldiers in the war of 1812,
now living, and the widows of such as are deceased, should be pro-
vided for by a liberal annuity, to be continued during their natural
lives, and that such provisions should extend to and include both the
Indian and African race, for services either on sea or land, who en-
listed or served in that war, and who joined with the white man in
defending our rights and maintaining our independence.

Resolved, That we cordially invite the cooperation of the officers
and soldiers of the war of 1812, in all the other States of the Union ;
that they be respectfully and earnestly requested to hold similar
Conventions in their own States, to call upon their respective Legis-
latures to instruct their members in Congress to make just and
ample provision, by grants of land and annuities, for the officers and
soldiers of 1812, and for the widows of such as are deceased; and
that without distinction of race or color.

Lewis and Milton Clarke several years since made
their escape from Kentucky slavery, and have distinguished
themselves by their public advocacy of human rights.
Their father was a Scotchman, who came to this country in
time to be in the earliest scenes of the* American Revolu-
tion. He was at the battle of Bunker Hill, and continued
in the army to the close of the war. When his children
were about being sold at auction, the venerable father,
though debilitated from the effects of the wounds received
in the war, was nevertheless roused by this outrage upon his
rights and upon those of his children. " He had never

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

155

expected," he said, " when fighting for the liberties of this
country, to see his own wife and children sold in it to the
highest bidder." But what were the entreaties of an aero-
nized old man in the sight of eight or ten hungry heirs ?

Cyrus Clarke, brother to Lewis and Milton, became a
resident of Hamilton Village, N. Y., and, possessing all
the necessary qualifications of white men to vote, went to
the polls and presented his ballot, when he was challenged,
and told that, being a colored man, he could not vote unless
possessed of two hundred and fifty dollars' worth of real
estate. Clark replied to the challenger, " I am as white as
you, and don 't you vote ? v Friends and foes warmly con-
tested what constituted a colored man under the New York
statute. The officers finally came to the conclusion that to
be a colored man, an individual must be at least one half
blood African. Mr. Clarke, the Kentucky slave, then voted,
he being nearly full white.

It is believed that the debate on the military services of
colored men had great influence in obtaining for them the
right of suffrage ; though it must also be recorded, that col-
ored citizens were ungenerously made subject to a property
qualification of two hundred and fifty dollars. Plutus must
be highly esteemed where his rod can change even a negro
into a man. If two hundred and fifty dollars will perform
this miracle, what would it require to elevate a monkey to
the enviable distinction ? The friends of freedom are now
attempting to remove this restriction, and we feel assured
the right will triumph in the Empire State.

156 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

In Watkins, Schuyler county, on the 13th of August,
1855, a colored man (John D. Berry, Esq.) was chosen to
sit as a juror in a criminal trial, and the citizens appeared
very well satisfied.

James M. Whitfield, the colored poet, is a resident of
Buffalo. His time is almost constantly occupied in his
business as a hair-dresser, and he writes in such intervals of
leisure as he is able to realize. He is uneducated, — not
entirely, but substantially ; his genius is native and unculti-
vated, and yet his verse possesses much of the finish of
experienced authorship. The following is an extract from
a poem by him on the Fourth of July : —

" Another year has passed away,
And brings again the glorious day,
When Freedom from her slumber woke,
And broke the British tyrant's yoke —
Unfurled her standard to the air,
In gorgeous beauty, bright and fair —
Pealed forth the sound of war's alarms,
And called her patriot sons to arms !
* * * * * *

May those great truths which they maintained
Through years of deadly strife and toil,
Be by their children well sustained,
Till slavery ceases on our soil ! "

I have taken great pleasure in visiting, in New York city,
the Apothecary's Hall of Dr. J. M'Cune Smith, and also
that of Philip J. White. (Since then, several accomplished

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

157

colored physicians have been added to the list.) I found
Drs. Smith and White practical men, conducting their busi-
ness and preparing medicines with as much readiness and
skill as any other disciples of Galen and Hippocrates. I was
also introduced to a colored carpenter, — not a practical

one, but a master workman, and contractor for buildings.

Among the enterprising Albanians, may be mentioned
William H. Topp, a merchant tailor, and a perfect gentle-
man, winning golden opinions from all who, in the course
of business or otherwise, become acquainted with him. His
store, in Broadway, will not suffer by comparison with the
best in any of the Atlantic cities. He has long been inter-
ested in the ways and means of elevating his oppressed
brethren, and, in their hearts' best affections, evidently
stands a-Topp of the fraternity.

It is a fault, with many colored men, that they do not aim
at perfection in a knowledge of their business, whereas, they
should all aim for the highest pinnacle of merit. As a
friend once said to a musical aspirant, " You should strive
to be something more than a superficial scraper of catgut."
Policy and principle alike demand this at the hands of col-
ored Americans.

From an elaborate and very encouraging statistical re-
port, embracing the real estate owned by the colored cit-
izens of New York, the amount invested by them in
business enterprises, and their general prosperity, as a
class, prepared by Dr. J. M'Cune Smith, I copy the fol-
lowing statements.

158

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

The Colored Home and Orphan Asylum contain all the
colored poor, dependent on public support, with a very few
exceptions. In New York city, the colored population to
the white, fairly estimated, is as one to twenty-five ; hence,
the colored population of that city is twenty-seven per cen-
tum less burdensome, than is the white population, to the
poor fund. And this happy state of things has arisen, in
part, from the fact, that the former class have mutual bene-
fit societies, with a cash capital of $30,000, from which
they take care of their sick and bury their dead.

The sending of children to school is a fair test of the in-
telligence of a people. During the year 1850, there were
3,393 colored children in attendance in common schools,
in New York city, which is nearly the same proportion
as there were white children attending the same class of
schools.

In reviewing these facts, it must be borne in mind, that
but one quarter of a century has elapsed since a large
portion of the colored population of New York has been
freed from slavery ; and that, during the earlier portion of
this time, the very possession of the newly-gotten freedom
had in it an enjoyment so full and perfect, that the getting
of money became a secondary consideration, to say nothing
of the dependent and thriftless habits which slavery had en-
gendered. Nor should it be forgotten, that, during the same
fourth of a century, we have borne the brunt of competition
with a flood of emigrants from the old world ; for nearly
all such emigrants were immediate and direct competitors

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

159

in our callings, having on their side the odds of complex-
ional sympathy and political influence, from the moment of
their landing upon our shores.

The following business card is inserted for its historical
significance, having a two-fold application to the purposes
of this book. This example supersedes the necessity of ex-
clusive colored action, and, at the same time, is an exhibi-
tion of practical anti-slavery. May such instances be
speedily multiplied !

WILLIAMS, PLUMB & CO.,

IMPORTERS AND WHOLESALE DEALERS IN

CHINA, GLASS AND EARTHEN WARE,

No. 71 BARCLAY STREET.

ONE of the partners (Mr. Williams) is a colored man, and
has been connected with the Crockery Trade of New York
for twenty years, and for several years has conducted the business
on his own account. A leading object in establishing the present
firm, both by the parties themselves and their friends and advisers,
having been to contribute to the social elevation of the colored
people, they feel warranted in making an appeal for patronage, as
they now do, to all that class of merchants throughout the country
who sympathise with the object now expressed, and who would
gladly avail themselves of so direct a method and so favorable an
opportunity to subserve it. We hope to see all such in our estab-
lishment, and we express the confidence that the favors bestowed
upon us by our friends will be the interest of themselves as well
as us.

JAMES WILLIAMS,
DAVID PLUMB,
JAMES J. ACHESON.

160

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER VII.

NEW JERSEY.

OUTER CROMWELL — SAMUEL CHARLTON — HAGAR — CONSISTENT
FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.

The Burlington Gazette gives the following account of an
aged colored resident of that city, which will be read with
much interest : —

" The attention of many of our citizens has, doubtless,
been arrested by the appearance of an old colored man, who
might have been seen, sitting in front of his residence, in East
Union street, respectfully raising his hat to those who might
be passing by. His attenuated frame, his silvered head, his
feeble movements, combine to prove that he is very aged ;
and yet, comparatively few are aware that he is among the
survivors of the gallant army who fought for the liberties of
our country, ; in the days which tried men's souls.'

" On Monday last, we stopped to speak to him, and asked
him how old he was. He asked the day of the month, and,
upon being told that it was the 24th of May, replied, with
trembling lips, ' I am very old — I am a hundred years old
to-day.'

u His name is Oliver Cromwell, and he says that he
was born at the Black Horse, (now Columbus,) in this

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

161

county, in the family of John Hutchin. He enlisted in a
company commanded by Capt. Lowery, attached to the Sec-
ond New Jersey Regiment, under the command of Col. Israel
Shreve. He was at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandy-
wine, Monmouth, and Yorktown, at which latter place, he
told us, he saw the last man killed. Although his faculties
are failing, yet he relates many interesting reminiscences of
the Revolution. He was with the army at the retreat of the
Delaware, on the memorable crossing of the 25th of Decem-
ber, 1776, and relates the story of the battles on the suc-
ceeding days with enthusiasm. He gives the details of the
march from Trenton to Princeton, and told us, with much
humor, that they ' knocked the British about lively ' at the
latter place. He was also at the battle of Springfield, and
says that he saw the house burning in which Mrs. Caldwell
was shot, at Connecticut Farms."

1 further learn, that Cromwell was brought up a farmer,
having served his time with Thomas Hutchins, Esq., his
maternal uncle. He was, for six years and nine months,
under the immediate command of Washington, whom he
loved affectionately. " His discharge," (says Dr. M'Cune
Smith,) " at the close of the war, was in Washington's own
hand-writing, of which he was very proud, often speaking
of it. He received, annually, ninety-six dollars pension.
He lived a long and honorable life. Had he been of a little
lighter complexion, (he was just half white,) every newspa-
per in the land would have been eloquent in praise of his
many virtues." He left three sons and three daughters ;
14*

162

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

had fourteen children who reached the age of maturity —
seven sons and seven daughters. He saw his grand-child-
ren to the third generation. He was a man of strong
natural powers — never chewed tobacco nor drank a glass of
ardent spirit. He died, in the town of his birth, January
24th, 1853, and now sleeps in the church-yard of the Broad
street Methodist Church.

"Samuel Charlton," says Mr. McDougal, " was born
in the State of New Jersey, a slave, in the family of Mr.
M., who owned, also, other members belonging to his fam-
ily— all residing in the English neighborhood. During the
progress of the war, he was placed by his master, (as a
substitute for himself,) in the army then in New Jersey,
as a teamster in the baggage train. He was in active ser-
vice at the battle of Monmouth, not only witnessing, but
taking a part in, the struggle of that day. He was, also, in
several other engagements in different sections of that part
of the State. He was a great admirer of General Washing-
ton, and was, at one time, attached to his baggage train, and
received the General's commendation for his courage and
devotion to the cause of liberty. Mr. Charlton was about
fifteen or seventeen years of age when placed in the army,
for which his master rewarded him with a silver dollar. At
the expiration of his time, he returned to his master, to serve
again in bondage, after having toiled, fought and bled for
liberty, in common with the regular soldiery. Mr. M.,
at his death, by will, liberated his slaves, and provided a
pension for Charlton, to be paid during his lifetime. Mr.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

163

Charlton then, with his wife, took up his residence in New
York city, with his son, Charles Charlton. He died twelve
years since, being about eighty years of age. He and his
partner were both honored and worthy members of the
Dutch Reformed Church.

" An old colored woman," says the Stamford Advocate^
" familiarly known as Hagar, died in this village, on Satur-
day last. Her age is not exactly known, but, from the most re-
liable data at our command, we infer that she must have been
upward of a hundred years old. She was born a slave, in
Newark, New Jersey, and was brought to Stamford when she
was five or six years old, and lived here until the day of her
death. A lady, Mrs. Knapp, now living, aged ninety-six
years, remembers that Hagar used to carry her when a
child. Assuming that Mrs. Knapp must have been three
years old at the time to which her recollection extends, and
that Hagar must have been thirteen to be charged with the
care of children, it will make her, at the time of her death,
one hundred and six years old. Another circumstance con-
firms this view of the case. During the Revolutionary War,
Hagar was a cook in Weed's Tavern, and her husband,
George Dykins, was hostler in the same establishment. Ha-
gar used to relate, that she once cooked a dinner for General
Washington, when he stopped at the tavern, on his way to
Cambridge, Massachusetts, the head-quarters of the Ameri-
can army, in June, 1775. On the same occasion, Washing-
ton presented to her husband a silver dollar for his name's
sake. Supposing Hagar to have been twenty-seven at that

164

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

time, it would make her age one hundred and six, as is the
case of the first supposition. In all probability, this is very
nearly her age."

The Newark Eagle published, some time ago, the follow-
ing account of a consistent celebration of the Fourth of July,
in Woodbridge : —

" We have recently had an interview with a person who
was present at the first abolition meeting ever held in the
United States. It took place in the township of Woodbridge,
County of Middlesex, in this State, on the Fourth of July,
1783, being the first anniversary of our Independence, after
the close of the Revolutionary War. Great preparations
had been made — an ox was roasted, and an immense num-
ber had assembled on the memorable occasion. A plat-
form was erected, just above the heads of the spectators,
and, at a given signal, Dr. Bloomfield, father of the late
Governor Bloomfield, of this State, mounted the platform,
followed by his fourteen slaves, male and female, seven
taking their stations on his right hand, and seven on his left.
Being thus arranged, he advanced somewhat in front of his
slaves, and addressed the multitude on the subject of slavery
and its evils, and, in conclusion, pointing to those on his
right and left, c As a nation,' said he, 6 we are free and
independent, — all men are created equal, and why should
these, my fellow citizens, my equals, be held in bondage ?
From this day, they are emancipated ; and I here declare
them free, and absolved from all servitude to me or my
posterity.' Then, calling up before him one somewhat ad-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 165

vanced in years — c Hector,' said the Doctor, c whenever
you become too old or infirm to support yourself, you are
entitled to your maintenance from me or my property.
How long do you suppose it will be before you will require
that maintenance ? ' Hector held up his left hand, and,
with his right, drew a line across the middle joints of his
fingers, saying — c Never, never, massa, so long as any of
these fingers remain below these joints.' Then, turning to
the audience, the Doctor remarked, — c There, fellow-citi-
zens, you see that liberty is as dear to the man of color as
to you or me.' The air now rung with shouts of applause,
and thus the scene ended.

" Dr. Bloomfield immediately procured for Hector, either
by purchase or setting off from his own farm, three acres of
land, and built him a small house, where he resided and
cultivated his little farm until the day of his death ; * and it
was a common remark with the neighbors, that Hector's
hay, when he took it to Amboy to sell, would always com-
mand a better price than their own." f

• u This took place within the last nine years, near Metuchin, in New Jersey, at
the advanced age of 105 years. An interesting fact is connected with this gift of
freedom and land. The son of Hector inherited it, and his widow now resides on
it. The freed slaves generally took care of and supported themselves.'"

t New Jersey disfranchises twenty-two thousand of her colored population.

166

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER VIII.

PENNSYLVANIA.

JAMES FORTEN — JOHN B. VASHON — MAJOR JEFFREY — JOHN JOHN-
SON AND JOHN DAVIS — WM. BURLEIGH — CONDUCT OF COLORED

FHILADELFHIANS DURING THE PESTILENCE — CHARLES BLACK

JAMES DERHAM — THE JURY BENCH AND BALLOT BOX — GLEAN-
INGS.

JAMES FORTEN.*

James Forten was born on the second day of September,
1766, and died on the Ides of March, 1842. He was the
son of Thomas Forten, who died when James was but
seven years old. His mother survived long after he had
reached the years of maturity. In early life, he was
marked for great sprightliness and energy of character, a
generous disposition, and indomitable courage, always frank,
kind, courteous, and disinterested. In the year 1775, he
left school, being then about nine years of age, having
received a very limited education (and he never went to
school afterwards) from that early, devoted, and world-
wide known philanthropist, Anthony Benezet. He was
then employed at a grocery store and at home, when his

•Abridged from a eulogy on his life and character, delivered at Bethel Church,
Philadelphia, March 30, 1842, by Robert Purvis.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 167

mother, yielding to the earnest and unceasing solicitations
of her son, whose young heart fired with the enthusiasm
and feeling of the patriots and revolutionists of that day,
with the firmness and devotion of a Roman matron, but
with a heart then truly deemed American, gave the boy
of her promise, the child of her heart and her hopes,
to his country ; upon the altar of its liberties she laid the
apple of her eye, the jewel of her soul.

In 1780, then in his fourteenth year, he embarked on
board the " Royal Louis," Stephen Decatur, Senr., Com-
mander, in the capacity of " powder-boy." Scarce wafted
from his native shore, and perilled upon the dark blue sea,
than he found himself amid the roar of cannon, the smoke
of blood, the dying and the dead. Their ship was soon
brought into action with an English vessel, the Lawrence,
which, after a severe fight, in which great loss was sustained
on both sides, and leaving every man wounded on board
the " Louis" but himself, they succeeded in capturing, and
brought her into port amid the loud huzzas and acclamations
of the crowds that assembled upon the occasion. Forten,
sharing largely in the feeling which so brilliant a victory
had inspired, with fresh courage, and an unquenchable de-
votion to the interests of his native land, soon reembarked
in the same vessel. In this cruise, however, they were
unfortunate ; for, falling in with three of the enemy's ves-
sels,— the Amphyon, Nymph, and Pomona, — they were
forced to strike their colors, and become prisoners of war.
It was at this juncture that his mind was harassed with the

168

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

most painful forebodings, from a knowledge of the fact that
rarely, if ever, were prisoners of his complexion exchanged ;
they were sent to the West Indies, and there doomed to a
life of slavery. But his destiny, by a kind Providence, was
otherwise. He was placed on board the Amphyon, Captain
Beasly, who, struck with his open and honest countenance,
made him the companion of his son. During one of those
dull and monotonous periods which frequently occur on
ship-board, young Beasly and Forten were engaged in a
game at marbles, when, with signal dexterity and skill, the
marbles were upon every trial successively displaced by
the unerring hand of Forten. This excited the surprise
and admiration of his young companion, who, hastening to
his father, called his attention to it. Upon being questioned
as to the truth of the matter, and assuring the Captain that
nothing was easier for him to accomplish, the marbles were
again placed in the ring, and in rapid succession he re-
deemed his word.

A fresh and deeper interest was from that moment taken
in his behalf. Captain Beasly proffered him a passage to
England, tempted him with the allurements of wealth, under
the patronage of his son, who was heir to a large estate
there, the advantages of a good education, and freedom,
equality and happiness, for ever. " No, no ! " was the
invariable reply ; " I am here a prisoner for the liberties of
my country ; I never, never, shall prove a traitor to her
interests ! " What sentiment more exalted ! What patri-
otism more lofty, devoted, and self-sacrificing! Indeed,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

169

with him, the feeling was, "America, with all thy faults, I
love thee still " ; for, with a full knowledge of the wrongs
and outrages which she was then inflicting upon his brethren
by the " ties of consanguinity and of wrong," we see this
persecuted and valiant son of hers, in the very darkest hour
of his existence, when hope seemed to have departed from
him, when the horrors of a hopeless West India slavery,
with its whips for his shrinking flesh, and its chains for his
free-born soul, could only be dissipated by severing that
tie, which, by the strongest cords of love, bound him to his
native land, we see him standing up in the spirit of martyr-
dom, with a constancy of affection, and an invincibility of
purpose, for the honor of his country, that place him above
the noblest of the Csesars, and entitle him to a monument
towering above that which a Bonaparte erected at the Place
Vendome. Beasly, having failed in inducing him to go to
England, soon had him consigned to that floating and pesti-
lential hell, the frigate "Old Jersey," — giving him, how-
ever, as a token of his regard and friendship, a letter to the
Commander of the prison-ship, highly commendatory of
him, and also requesting that Forten should not be forgotten
on the list of exchanges. Thus (as he frequently remarked
in after life) did a game of marbles save him from a life of
West India servitude. In the mean while, his mother, at
home, was in a state of mind bordering upon distraction,
having learned that her son had been shot from the foretop
of the Royal Louis ; but her mind was relieved, after he had
been absent nearly eight months, by his appearing in person.
15

170

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

To return. While on board the " Old Jersey," amid the
privations and horrors incident to that receiving ship of dis-
ease and death, no less than three thousand five hundred
persons died ; and, according to a statement of Edwards,
eleven thousand in all perished, while she remained the re-
ceptacle of the American prisoners. And here we have an
instance to record of the most thrilling and stupendous ex-
hibition of his generous and benevolent' heart. Amid all
that would make escape from his confinement desirable,
when disease the most loathsome, death the most horrible,
was around him, he was willing to and did endure all. He
stifled the longings of his heart for the enjoyments of home,
and for the embraces of his widowed and adored mother ;
yes, at a time when, if ever, self would lay in contribution
every feeling of the heart, and every avenue of a generous
out-going spirit be smothered, when the instincts and im-
pulses of nature would unerringly covet in the closest scru-
tiny and watchfulness its own interests, James Forten, in
the ardor of his own high-toned beneficence, performed an
act, which, in my humble opinion, is unexcelled, perhaps
without a parallel, in the annals of our country's history. It
was this : An officer of the American navy was about to be
exchanged for a British prisoner, when the thoughtful mind
of Forten conceived the idea of an easy escape for himself
in the officer's chest ; but, when about to avail himself of
this opportunity, a fellow-prisoner, a youth, his junior in
years, his companion and associate in suffering, was thought
of. He immediately urged upon him to avail himself of the

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

171

chances of an escape so easy. The offer was accepted,
and Forten had the satisfaction of assisting in taking down
the " chest of old clothes," as it was then called, from the
side of the prison ship. The individual thus fortunately
rescued was Captain Daniel Brewton, — the present incum-
bent in the Stewardship at the Lazaretto. I will read the
certificate of Mr. Brewton in regard to this matter : —

" I do hereby certify, that James Forten was one who participated
in the Revolution, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and seventy- six, and was a prisoner on board of the
prison-ship 1 Old Jersey,' in the year of our Lord one thousand
seven hundred and eighty, with me.

(Signed,) DANIEL BREWTON."

Philadelphia, March loth, 1837* Acknowledged before Alder-
man J. W. PALMER.

It was my great privilege to see, but a short time ago,
this venerable and grateful friend of James Forten ; to
hear from his own lips a strict confirmation of the facts
stated, as well as to witness the solemn scene which ensued,
in his taking for the last time the hand of his dying ben-
efactor. The old man's tears fell like rain ; his stifled
utterance marked the deep emotions of his almost bursting
heart. Sad and dejected, with feelings that made him more
ready to die than to live, he silently retired, stayed with the
hope that they would soon meet in a better and a happier
world.

After remaining seven months a prisoner on board this
ship, young Forten obtained his release, and, without shoes

172

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

upon his feet^ (until he reached Trenton, where he was
generously supplied,) arrived home in a wretchedly bad
condition, having, among other evidences of great hard-
ships endured, his hair nearly entirely worn from his head.
He remained but a short time at home, when, in company
with his brother-in-law, he sailed, in the ship Commerce,
for London. He arrived there at a period of the greatest
excitement. The great struggle between liberty and sla-
very had already been settled by the decision in the noted
case of Somersett, when it was decreed, that the moment
a slave trod the soil of Britain, " no matter in what lan-
guage his doom may have been pronounced, — no matter
what complexion incompatible with freedom an Indian or
an African sun may have burnt upon him, — no matter in
what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven
down, — no matter with what solemnities he may have been
devoted upon the altar of slavery, the first moment he
touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god
sink together in the dust; his body swells beyond the mea-
sure of his chains that burst from around him, and he stands
redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled, by the irresistible
Genius of Universal Emancipation."

But the accursed slave trade was still glutting in the blood
and sinews of Afric's helpless children, and that mighty
man, that prince of philanthropists, Granville Sharpe,
was directing his benevolent efforts to its overthrow. At
this time, the Christian feeling had awakened up an indig-
nant nation to a determination for its destruction ; and no

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

173

small interest was taken in the discussions, both in and out
of Parliament, by our deceased friend. It was among the
many pleasing reminiscences of his life to refer to those
scenes, so strikingly analogous to the trials and persecutions
of the friends of freedom here, and the hypocritical soph-
isms of their opponents. After remaining in London about
a year, he returned home, and was apprenticed, with his
own consent, to Mr. Robert Bridges, sail-maker. He* was
not long at his trade, when his great skill, energy, diligence,
and good conduct, commended him to his master, who,
neither discriminating nor appreciating a man by the mere
color of the skin in which he may be born, served his own
interest in doing an act commensurate to the merits of
young Forten, in promoting him foreman in his business.
This was in his twentieth year. He continued in this
capacity until 1798, when, upon the retirement of Mr.
Bridges, he assumed the entire control and responsibility of
the establishment. Having formed for himself a reputation
for capability and industry, he found it no difficult task to-
secure the friendship of those, who, perceiving qualities in
him which ever adorn and beautify the human character,
gave him their countenance and patronage ; for although it
was by the force of his own unassisted genius and energy of
character that he rose above those depressing influences
which have ever operated against those

"Whose hue makes a brother hate
A brother mortal here," —
16*

BR H

174 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

yet he was indebted to some few stanch friends, of whose
encouragement and kindness he was ever wont to speak in
terms of gratitude. He continued, with great consistency
of conduct, in prosecuting his business, offering up, on the
altar of filial and fraternal regard, the first fruits of his labor,
in purchasing a house for his mother and widowed sister,
which sheltered the one until the period of her death, and
now affords protection and support to the other in her
declining years. With undiminished vigor of mind and
body, enjoying the very best of health, he continued to give
personal attention to his business until confined to his house
from that disease, which, in a few months, proved fatal to
him. It was during the long period of his active business
life that he acquired that reputation, which ever remained
unclouded, shedding abroad in its own clear sky the bright-
est and noblest qualities of the human heart; so courteous,
polished and gentlemanly in his manners, — so intelligent,
social, and interesting, — so honest, just and true in his
'dealings, — so kind and benevolent in his actions, — so
noble and lofty in his bearing, — that none knew him but to
admire, to speak of him but in praise. He lived but to
cherish those noble properties of his soul, and those exalted
principles of action, which ever prompted him to deeds of
benevolence, patriotism and honor. Perhaps one of the
strongest traits in his character was that of benevolence.
With him, it was no occasional or fitful impulse, but a living
principle of action. Wherever suffering humanity present-
ed itself, a glow of gene/ous and brotherly sympathy was

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

175

excited in his heart ; and not bestowing nor graduating his
gifts by the mere color of the skin, his open hand was ever
ready to administer to the wants of all. Nor was this feel-
ing confined to the giving of his worldly substance. No
danger could appal him, no hindrance prevent, even at the
greatest personal risk, in relieving from danger and death
his fellow-man. No less than seven persons were at differ-
ent times rescued from drowning by his promptness, energy
and benevolence. From the Humane Society he obtained
this certificate : —

" The Managers of the Humane Society of Philadelphia, enter-
taining a grateful sense of the benevolent and successful exertions
of James Forten in rescuing, at the imminent hazard of his life,
four persons from drowning in the river Delaware at different times,

to wit : one on the day, 11th mo., 1805 ; a second on the

day of 1st mb., 1807; a third on the day of 4th mo., 1810;

and on the day of 4th mo., 1821, present this Honorary Certi-
ficate as a testimony of their approbation of his meritorious conduct.
/ By order of the Managers,

JOSEPH CRUKESHANK, President.
Philadelphia, Fifth mo., 9th, 1821."

Of his patriotism, who doubts ? He gave the best evi-
dence of his love for his country by consecrating his life,
in " the times that tried men's souls," to her liberties ; and
when urged by an honorable gentleman to petition his gov-
ernment for a pension, he promptly declined, saying, " I
was a volunteer, sir." In the last war, when an invasion
was threatened by the British upon our city, he was found,

176

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

with twenty of his journeymen, and with hundreds of his
persecuted and oppressed brethren, throwing up the redoubts
on the west bank of the Schuylkill. Indeed, his interest
was so strong in any matter connected with his country,
that we would sometimes express our surprise at this. He
would reply, " that he had drawn the spirit of her free
institutions from his mother's breast, and that he had fought
for her independence." With all this, however, his sensi-
tive mind was but too truly pained at her ingratitude, in the
wrongs she continued to inflict upon her unoffending and
unfortunate children ; believing, as he often expressed it,
that she would bring down the vengeance of Heaven upon
her, and quoting the fearful lines of Jefferson, " I tremble
for my country when I remember that God is just, and that
his justice will not sleep for ever." Perhaps no instance
gave greater poignancy to his feelings than the late atro-
cious act of the miscalled Reform Convention. For this
State, his attachments were peculiar and strong. Here he
was born, — his ancestors were residents for upwards of one
hundred. and seventy years. He had paid a large amount
of taxes, and contributed to almost every institution which
adorned and beautified this large city. Here had lived a
Franklin, Rush, Rawle, Wistar, Vaux, Parrish, and Shipley,
the very brightest ornaments of Christian love and philan-
thropy. Yet no recollection of their principles, no regard
for the true policy of this State, or for justice, humanity, or
God, could stay the ruthless arms of those marauders upon
human liberty from striking down the rights of forty thou-
sand of her tax-paying citizens.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

177

In the year 1800, Mr. Forten addressed a letter to Hon.
George Thatcher, in reference to the law of Congress of
'93, authorising the seizure of fugitive slaves. The letter
was intended as an acknowledgment for Mr. Thacher's
advocacy of the petition of Mr. Forten and others, remon-
strating against the iniquitous law.

In the year 1817, this good man's principles were put to
the test. Having, at this time, an extended influence, and
being prominent in the eyes of the community as a man
of singular probity and worth, extorting, even from the
jaundiced heart of prejudice, involuntary respect, he was
marked by the enemies of freedom, and every device,
which the scheme of colonization could invent, was attempt-
ed to blind and mislead him. It was about this time, that
this society of innate wickedness, mantled in the cloak of
benevolence, came stalking over the land, so specious and
whining in its tone, so soft and insinuating in its low breath-
ings, that many were deceived. But the discriminating
mind of James Forten penetrated the veil that covered its
deformed and damning features. The clique of clerical
wolves, who had besieged him in tones of flattery, assuring
him that he would become the Lord Mansfield of their
" Heaven-born republic " on the western coast of Africa,
was told, in the simplicity of truth, but with sarcasm the
more cutting because unaffected, " That he would rather
remain as James Forten, sail-maker, in Philadelphia, than
enjoy the highest offices in the gift of their society." The
matter^ however, did not rest here with him. He foresaw

178

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

what would be the evil tendencies and effects of this infa-
mous institution, and the necessity of frustrating the designs
of the leagued spirits of this dark crusade against the rapidly
improving condition of his people, and of incorporating, at
once and for ever, the idea in the public mind, that we
were fixtures in this our native country, — " that here we
were born, here we would live, and here die." With this
view, and having the cooperation of some of the most intel-
ligent of his brethren, among whom were our sterling and
inflexible friend to human rights, Robert Douglass, Senr.,
the good-hearted Absalom Jones, and last, though not least,
the founder of your church, that extraordinary man, the
lit. Rev. Bishop Allen, a meeting was called in this church,
in the month of January, 1817. The house, upon the oc-
casion, was literally crammed. Mr. Forten presided as
chairman, and a beautiful preamble and resolutions, which
had been previously prepared, went down, in an unanimous
vote, as the death-knell to colonization. Of these resolu-
tions, two were from the pen of Mr. Forten.

[After detailing Mr. F.'s efforts against colonization, Mr.
Purvis continues :]

His hand was promptly extended to that pure Christian
and exalted philanthropist, William Lloyd Garrison. He
saw in him all those qualities necessary as a leader in the
great enterprise ; and, in his own language, considered him
as a chosen instrument, in the Divine hand, to accomplish
the great work of the abolition of American slavery. In-
deed, such was his confidence (and justly so) in the princi-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

179

pies of the American Anti -Slavery Society, and of the men
and women who advocated them, that nothing was ever
more painful to his feelings, nothing sooner excited his in-
dignation, than the attempt to cast reproach upon them. The
course pursued by Mr. Garrison he ever thought conforma-
ble to the true anti-slavery principles ; and those principles,
founded upon the immutability of eternal truth, had thrown
around him, and all others who acted with him, the influ-
ences of its divinity. Hence, no difficulties nor dangers
have intimidated them, — they have gone on, conquering
and to conquer. In no restricted sense, but in its proper
signification and application, he was a friend to human
rights. The doctrine of " Woman's Rights," as it is
called, found in him a zealous friend. He believed that
those doctrines would be acknowledged universally, because,
as he would say, we live in an enlightened age, — an age
which tolerates a free expression of opinion, and leaves the
mind to the guidance of its own inwardly revealing light, to
the enjoyment of its own individuality; and, setting aside the
dogmas and creeds of established usage and custom, un-
shackles the immortal mind, leaving it free and indepen-
dent, as it was designed by its bountiful Creator. Yet,
while truth, bright, eternal truth, is rising in all the gor-
geousness of her transcendental supremacy, there are those
who, not more egregiously than pertinaciously, cling to their
blindness, their infatuation, meanness, and despotism. But
woman is not a mere dependant upon man. The relation
is perfectly reciprocal. God has given to both man and

180

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

woman the same intellectual capacities, and made them
subjects alike to the same moral government. He was a
man of religion, but no bigot ; the last survivor of the found-
ers of St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, and its most liberal
patron and friend ; and, though connected with this institu-
tion for more than fifty years — inclose communion with
its ordinances for many years back, — he ever valued the
spirit of Christianity, exemplified in the character of men,
as being of infinitely more importance than a mere unity in
doctrinal views and creeds. As a business man, none were
more honest and fair — no overreaching, misrepresentations,
or deceiving ; and, as a remarkable fact in his history, as
well as a lesson to others, he never had, as I have often
heard him declare, been guilty of that genteel kind of
swindling, which all sorts of professedly good people prac-
tice, under the gloss of the name of note-shaving.

Temperate in habits, and, more especially, an enemy to
all intoxicating drinks, having never taken a glass of ardent
spirit in his life, nor permitted its introduction into the
premises among those he employed, he was a ready advo-
cate of the blessed cause of temperance, and of all other
great moral enterprises which are now so rife in our land.
He was a member and the presiding officer of the Ameri-
can Moral Reform Society, from its origin to the time of
his death. In a word, whatever was right, useful and patri-
otic, secured in him a friend, advocate and patron. In the
social relations, he was the most affectionate of husbands,
and the most indulgent of parents ; as a friend, unwavering
and steadfast in his attachments.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

181

He was a model, not, as some flippant scribbler asserts,
for what are called " colored men," but for all men. His
example will ever be worthy of emulation, his virtues never
forgotten in the community in which he lived.

Three or four thousand persons, it was believed, attended
the funeral of Mr. Forten, one half of whom were white.

Among other reminiscences connected with the Revolu-
tion, Mr. Forten often alluded to the part taken by colored
men in the war. He saw the regiments from Rhode Island,
Connecticut and Massachusetts, when they marched through
Philadelphia, to meet Cornwallis, who was then overrunning
the South, and said that one or two companies of colored
men were attached to each. The vessels of war of that
period were all, to a greater or less extent, manned by
colored men. On board the Royal Louis, in which Mr.
Forten enlisted, there were twenty colored seamen; the
Alliance, of thirty-six guns, Commodore Barry, the Trum-
bull, of thirty-two guns, Captain Nicholson, and the ships
South Carolina, Confederacy, and Randolph, were all
manned, in part, by colored men.

JOHN B. VASHON, *

John Bathan Vashon was born in Norfolk, Va., in
1792. His mother was a mulatto ; his father, Capt. George
Vashon, a white man of French ancestry, who was appointed

• For this account of Mr. Vashon, I am indebted to Dr. M. R. Delany, of
Pittsburg.

182

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Indian Agent under General Jackson, and retained his
office under President Van Buren. Being a colored child,
though the offspring of a white man of standing, there was
probably no other care taken of his education than is usual
with one of his class in the United States, under such circum-
stances. But John continued to grow a boy of observation,
and, as was inseparable from his nature, to be " interested
in whatever was interesting to man."

In 1812, during the struggle in which Europe was en-
gaged to avert the danger threatened by the usurpation of
Napoleon, and the disturbance of the amicable relations
which, for a time, had seemed to exist between the United
States and Great Britain, young Vashon, being now twenty
years of age, and full of that curiosity which the ardor and
romance of youth so naturally inspires, without even the
poor consolation, as the only hope for an escape with life or
liberty, that he was an acknowledged American citizen, em-
barked as a common seaman and soldier on board of the
old war ship " Revenge," destined to cruise through the
West Indies and on the coast of South America. In an
engagement on the coast of Brazil, Mr. Vashon, with others,
was made prisoner of war by the English. Among his
fellow-prisoners was young Henry Bears, now Major Henry
Bears, a prominent and affluent old citizen of Pittsburg,
Pa., to wrhom any reference may be made concerning this
statement. The prisoners were all released on exchange.
On Mr. Vashon's return to Virginia, he settled in Freder-
icksburg, from whence he removed to Dumfries, and subse-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

183

quently to Leesburg. While a resident of the latter place,
he volunteered in the land service, at a time when the
colored people of that neighborhood were called upon to aid
in the defence of their country, and prevent the British fleet
from ascending the Potomac.

In 1822, he left Leesburg, with his family, (an amiable
wife and two children,) and resided in Carlisle, Penn., for
seven years. Here he was much respected as a useful
member of the community ; he was the proprietor of a
public saloon, a place of general resort and accommodation
for the students of Dickinson College, and the first gentle-
men of the town ; an extensive livery stable was also a part
of the establishment.

He was not content with having served his country, but
was desirous of becoming especially useful to his brethren.
In 1823, but one year subsequent to his settlement in the
town, he assisted in the formation of a mutual improvement
association, and was immediately chosen Treasurer, in
cooperation with his friend and very useful fellow-cilizen,
John Peck, as President. This institution was known as the
" Lay Benevolent Society."

In 1829, he removed, with his family, (which now had an
addition of a son,) to Pittsburg, Pa. Here, also, Mr. Vashon
made himself much respected in the community, and quite
useful among his brethren. The first public baths in Pitts-
burg, and probably the first public baths for ladies estab-
lished west of the mountains, were the result of his exer-
tions. He was among the first to promote the assembling

184 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

of colored men in National Conventions ; and was a promi-
nent advocate of the equality of the white and colored
races, always claiming to be an American, — a name which
he appeared to love but little less than that of liberty,
which it seemed to imply.

Immediately after the National Convention of Colored
Men had been held in Philadelphia, Garrison's " Thoughts
on Colonization" made its appearance, for which Mr.
Vashon was appointed by the author an agent. Through
his influence, and that of the book itself, the late Robert
Bruce, D.D., then President of the University of Western
Pennsylvania, and several other prominent citizens of Pitts-
burg, formerly earnest advocates of the Colonization Soci-
ety, were happily converted to anti-slavery views. Mr.
Vashon was also a faithful agent for the Liberator in the
same district.

In 1833, the first Anti-Slavery Society west of the moun-
tains was organized by him in the front parlor of his
homestead. He also promoted the formation of an Educa-
tional Institution, and was its first President. Through
his efforts, the handsome sum of twelve hundred dollars was
contributed in its support, he himself giving, at one time,
fifty dollars from his own purse. In 1834, he was elected
President of a Temperance Society, and also of a Moral
Reform Society, as a testimony to his devoted and assiduous
labors in behalf of those movements.

In 1835, being in Boston when the infuriated mob at-
tacked Mr. Garrison, dragging him like a felon through

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

185

the streets, Mr. Vashon was an eye-witness to the terrible
scene, which was heart-rending beyond his ability ever
afterwards to express, as, of all living men, John B.
Vashon loved William Lloyd Garrison most ; and this
feeling of affection toward him continued, for aught that is
known, till the day of his death. When the mob passed
along Washington street, shouting and yelling like madmen,
the apprehensions of Mr. Vashon became fearfully aroused.
Presently there approached a group which appeared even
more infuriated than the rest, and he beheld, in the midst of
this furious throng, Garrison himself, with a rope round his
neck, led on like a beast to the slaughter. He had been
on the field of battle, had faced the cannon's mouth, seen
its lightnings flash and heard its thunders roar, but such a
sight as this was more than the old citizen-soldier could
bear, without giving vent to a flood of tears.

The next day, the old soldier, who had helped to pre-
serve his country's liberty on the plighted faith of security
to his own, but who had lived to witness freedom of speech
and of the press stricken down by mob violence, and life
itself in jeopardy, because that liberty was asked for him
and his, with spirits crushed and faltering hopes, called to
administer a word of consolation to the bold and courageous
young advocate of immediate and universal emancipation.
Mr. Garrison subsequently thus referred to this circumstance
in his paper: — " On the day of the riot in Boston, he dined
at my house, and the next morning called to see me in
prison, bringing with him a new hat for me, in the place of
16*

186 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

one that was cut by the knives of the 4 men of property and
standing from all parts of the city.' " In this, he proved a
" ministering angel " to the philanthropist in time of trouble.

Mr. Vashon was zealous in promoting the education of
his children. One daughter was sent to the excellent Female
Academy of Miss Sarah M. Douglass, in Philadelphia, and
his son to the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, where he gradu-
ated with the first honors of his class, and delivered the
valedictory. He subsequently studied in the law office of
the late Hon. Walter Forward, ex-Secretary of the U. S.
Treasury, and more recently Presiding Judge in the West-
ern District of Pennsylvania.

A circumstance well worthy of record took place during
the exemplary efforts of this good old American patriot in
preparing his children to fill useful positions in society.
During the collegiate course of his son, (his daughter hav-
ing previously finished her education,) a change in his cir-
cumstances induced a friend to propose recalling his son
George from college.

14 1 will never do it!" was the positive reply.

" How can you do otherwise ? you must live," said his
adviser.

41 1 will stint my market basket," rejoined the old gentle-
man.

44 Yes, but you can *t do without eating," continued his
friend.

" No, but I can eat less, and economise by selecting
cheaper articles of food," replied the devoted father.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

187

" That will do well enough to talk about, friend Vashon,
but when it comes to the test, that 's another thing."

" Friend J.," replied the old gentleman, with feeling, "as
God is my judge, I will live on potatoes and herring, and
see the last piece of furniture sold out of my house, before
my son shall be left without an education. When he comes
from that school, he will have finished his education."

Finding that it was in vain to attempt to advise so contrary
to his feelings and designs, his friend left him. His son did
return, indeed, a scholar of the highest order, and is now
Professor of Belles Lettres in Central College, McGraw-
ville, N. Y. When he applied for admission to the bar, it
was granted, after a successful examination in open Court
in New York city.

Mr. Vashon was one of the Vice Presidents of the Na-
tional Convention of Colored Men, held at Rochester, July,
1853, and was subsequently chosen a member of the Penn-
sylvania State Council. On the 8th of January, 1854, a
National Convention of the old soldiers of 1812 was held
in the city of Philadelphia. This gathering of veterans
aroused the military fire in the old man's breast, and, never
having received a pension, nor government lands, for his
services, he determined on taking his seat, as a soldier dele-
gate, among the defenders of his country. He was amply
supplied with letters and certificates from distinguished gen-
tlemen in his adopted city. In the best of spirits and hopes,
he set out on his mission to the State Council and the Mili-
tary Convention. He had proceeded as far as the depot,

188

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

when, (he was of corpulent person,) resting on his trunk
for relief from his fatigue, Death, that untiring, but ever cer-
tain messenger, unexpectedly summoned him home to his
fathers.

Thus departed the good old citizen-soldier, clothed in the
vesture of peace and war. In the language of one of his
friends, in an editorial column, " he fell with his harness
on, and died in the last act of service to his brethren, and
in obedience to the summons of his country, in the person
of one of her delegated warriors."

MAJOR JEFFREY.

Among the brave blacks who fought in the battles for
American liberty was one whose name stands at the head
of this brief notice. Major Jeffrey was a Tennesseean,
and, during the campaign of Major-General Andrew Jack-
son in Mobile, filled the place of " regular " among the sol-
diers. In the charge made by General Stump against the
enemy, the Americans were repulsed and thrown into dis-
order,— Major Stump being forced to retire, in a manner
by no means desirable, under the circumstances. Major
Jeffrey, who was but a cdmmon soldier, seeing the condition
of his comrades, and comprehending the disastrous results
about to befall them, rushed forward, mounted a horse, took
command of the troops, and, by an heroic effort, rallied
them to the charge, — completely routing the enemy, who
left the Americans masters of the field. He at once re-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

189

ceived from the General the title of " Major," though he
could not, according to the American policy, so commission
him. To the day of his death, he was known by that title
in Nashville, where he resided, and the circumstances which
entitled him to it were constantly the subject of popular
conversation.

Major Jeffrey was highly respected by the whites gene-
rally, and revered, in his own neighborhood, by all the col-
ored people who knew him.

A few years ago, receiving an indignity from a common
ruffian, he was forced to strike him in self-defence ; for
which act, in accordance with the laws of slavery in that,
as well as in many other of the slave States, he was com-
pelled to receive, on his naked person, nine and thirty
lashes with a raw hide ! This, at the age of seventy odd,
after the distinguished services rendered his country, —
probably when the white ruffian for whom he was tortured
was unable to raise an arm in its defence, — was more than he
could bear ; it broke his heart, and he sank to rise no more,
till summoned by the blast of the last trumpet to stand on
the battle-field of the general resurrection.

JOHNSON AND DAVIS.

The names of these brave heroes, Johnson and Davis,
have no where appeared in American history, though, in re-
ality, a part of the history of the times in which they lived.

190

COLOKED PATRIOTS OF THE

The Pittsburg Dispatch, a daily independent paper, of De-
cember 19, 1854, has the following notice of them :

" We are indebted to a friend for a copy of the Pittsburg
Mercury, of March 9, 1814 — nearly forty-one years old.
The paper was in its second year, published by John M.
Snowden, Esq. Pittsburg was then a borough. The war
between England and this country was raging, and the pa-
per is chiefly filled with reports of land and naval opera-
tions. General Hull's trial for the surrender of Detroit was
then pending. The frigate President had just returned
from a cruise, in which she had run past the blockading
fleet, succeeded in destroying a number of English mer-
chant vessels, and rescued the American schooner Comet,
which had been captured by the enemy ; the privateer Gov-
ernor Tompkins had also returned home, after escaping
from an English frigate, from which she had c caught a tar-
tar,' having mistaken her for a merchantman. The only
persons killed on board the General Tompkins were two
colored seamen, John Johnson and John Davis, of whom
Captain Shaler makes this mention : —

" ' The name of one of my poor fellows who was killed ought to
be registered in the books of Fame, and remembered with reverence
as long as bravery is considered a virtue. He was a black man by
the name of John Johnson. A twenty-four pound shot struck him
in the hip, and took away all the lower part of his body. In this
state, the poor, brave fellow lay on the deck, and several times
exclaimed to his shipmates, " Fire away, my boys ! — No haul a color
down ! "

" ' The other was also a black man, by the name of John Davis,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

191

and was struck in much the same way. He fell near me, and seve-
ral times requested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only in
the way of others. While America has such tars, she has little to
fear from the tyrants of Europe.' "

On the capture of Washington by the British forces, it
was judged expedient to fortify, without delay, the^ principal
towns and cities exposed to similar attacks. The Vigilance
Committee of Philadelphia waited upon three of the princi-
pal colored citizens, namely, James Forten, Bishop Allen,
and Absalom Jones, soliciting the aid of the people of color
in erecting suitable defences for the city. Accordingly, two
thousand five hundred colored men assembled in the State
House yard, and from thence marched to Gray's ferry,
where they labored for two days, almost without intermis-
sion. Their labors were so faithful and efficient, that a vote
of thanks was tendered them by the Committee. A battalion
of colored troops was at the same time organized in the
city, under an officer of the United States army ; and they
were on the point of marching to the frontier, when peace
was proclaimed.

In a letter written during the week of the mob against the
colored people, August, 1842, Henry C. Wright, says : —

" A colored man, whom I visited in the hospital, called
to see me to-day. He had just got out, and looked very
pitiful. His head was bent down ; he said he could not
erect it, his neck was so injured. He is a very intelligent
man, and can read and write. His name is Charles Black,
and he resides in Lombard street. He was at home, with

192

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

his little boy, unconscious of what was transpiring without.
Suddenly, the mob rushed into his room, dragged him down
stairs, and beat him so unmercifully, that he would have
been killed, had not some humane individuals interposed,
and prevented further violence. He was an impressed sea-
man on board an English sixty-four gun-ship, in the begin-
ning of the war of 1812. When he heard of the war, he
refused to fight against Ms country, although he had nine
hundred dollars prize-money coming to him from the ship.
He was, therefore, placed in irons, and kept a prisoner on
board some time, and then sent to the well-known Dart-
moor prison. He was exchanged, and shipped for France.
Shortly afterwards, he was taken and sent back to Dart-
moor— was exchanged a second time, and succeeded in
reaching the United States. He soon joined the fleet on
Lake Champlain, under M'Donough ; was with him in the
celebrated battle which gave honor (?) to the American
arms. He was wounded, but never received a pension.
His father was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and his grand-
father fought in the old French War."

James Derham, originally a slave in Philadelphia, was
transferred by his master to a physician, who gave him a
subordinate employment as preparer of drugs. During the
American War, he was sold by this physician to a surgeon,
and by the surgeon to Robert Dove, of New Orleans.
Learned in the languages, he speaks with facility English,
French and Spanish. In 1778, at the age of twenty-one, he
became the most distinguished physician at New Orleans.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

193

" I conversed with him on medicine," says Dr. Rush, " and
found him very learned. I thought 1 could give him infor-
mation concerning the treatment of diseases, but I learned
more from him than he could expect from me."

William Burleigh was a sold ier in the war of 1812,
and fought in the battle of North Point. He was recognised
by the proper authorities, and participated in the Anniver-
sary of Veterans, celebrated at Philadelphia, December,
1853.

A digression from the military services of colored men to
those rendered voluntarily, by the same despised and perse-
cuted class, in a time of pestilence, seems to me warrant-
able in this connection.

In the autumn of 1793, the yellow fever broke out in
Philadelphia with peculiar malignity. The insolent and
unnatural distinctions of caste were overturned, and the
colored people were solicited, in the public papers, to come
forward and assist the perishing sick. The same mouth
which had gloried against them in prosperity, in its over-
whelming adversity implored their assistance. The colored
people of Philadelphia nobly responded. The then Mayor,
Matthew Clarkson, received their deputation with respect,
and commended their course. They appointed Absalom
Jones and William Gray to superintend the operations, the
Mayor advertising the public that, by applying to them,
aid could be obtained. This took place about September.

Soon afterwards, the sickness increased so dreadfully,
17

194

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

that it became next to impossible to remove the corpses.
The colored people volunteered this painful and dangerous
duty — did it extensively, and hired help in doing it. Dr.
Rush instructed the two superintendents in the proper pre-
cautions and measures to be used.

A sick white man crept to his chamber window, and en-
treated the passers-by to bring him a drink of water. Sev-
eral white men passed, but hurried on. A foreigner came
up — paused — was afraid to supply the help with his own
hands, but stood and offered eight dollars to whomsoever
would. At length, a poor black man appeared ; he heard —
stopped — ran for water — took it to the sick man; and then
stayed by to nurse him, steadily and mildly refusing all
pecuniary compensation.

Sarah Boss, a poor black widow, was active in voluntary
and benevolent services.

A poor black man, named Sampson, went constantly
from house to house, giving assistance every where gratui-
tously, until he was seized with the fever and died.

Mary Scott, a woman of color, attended Mr. Richard
Mason and his son so kindly and disinterestedly, that the
widow, Mrs. R. Mason, settled an annuity of six pounds
upon her for life.

An elderly black nurse, going about most diligently and
affectionately, when asked what pay she wished, used to
say, " A dinner, massa, some cold winter's day."

A young black woman was offered any price, if she would
attend a white merchant and his wife. She would take no

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

195

money, but went, saying that, if she went from holy love,
she might hope to be preserved, but not if she went for
money. She was seized with the fever, but recovered.

A black man, riding through the streets, saw a white man
push a white woman out of the house. The woman stag-
gered forward, fell in the gutter, and was too weak to rise.
The black man dismounted, and took her gently to the hos-
pital at Bush-Hill.

Absalom Jones and William Gray, the colored super-
intendents, say, — "A white man threatened to shoot us if
we passed by his house with a corpse. We buried him
three days afterwards."

About twenty times as many black nurses as white were
thus employed during the sickness.

The following certificate was subsequently given by the
Mayor : —

"Having, during the prevalence of the late malignant disorder,
had almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct of Absalom
Jones and Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to
bury the dead, I with cheerfulness give this testimony of my appro-
bation of their proceedings, as far as the same came under my
notice. Their diligence, attention, and decency of deportment,
afforded me, at the time, much satisfaction.

(Signed,) MATTHEW CLARKSON, Mayor.

Philadelphia, Jan. 23, 1794."

Some years since, a singular incident occurred in one of
the courts of Philadelphia. When the Sheriff was calling
over the names of the jury, he summoned, among others,
" George Jones."

196

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

" Here, Sir," answered a voice from the crowd, and a
colored man came forth and took his seat in the jury-box.

"Here is some mistake," said the Sheriff.

" No mistake at all," replied the juror. " Here is your
summons ; my name has been regularly drawn, and it is on
the jury list.

The Judge interfered, — "You may retire," said he.

" I 'd rather not, Sir. I am willing to perform my duty."

Here was a dilemma. There was nothing in the law to
exclude a colored man from the jury box, and the Court was
at a loss what to do. At length, the juryman was chal-
lenged by one of the parties, and had to leave the box.

This is, perhaps, the only instance of such an error,
though it might be supposed that it would be of frequent
occurrence.

The devotion and services of colored Pennsylvanians
have been rewarded by the exclusion of fifty-two thousand
of their number from the ballot-box. An effort, however,
has been recently commenced for restoring to them the
franchise, which, we trust, will soon be successful.

In a very neatly printed pamphlet, prepared by a Com-
mittee of the Colored Citizens of Philadelphia, asking for the
same right of suffrage they enjoyed for forty-seven years
prior to the adoption of the present Constitution, in 1838, it
is stated, that they number 30,000 persons in Philadelphia ;
that they possess §2,685,693 of real and personal estate ;
and have paid $9,766.42 for taxes during the past year, and
$392,792.27 for house, water, and ground rent.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

197

Frederick Douglass, in his paper, says of the people of
color in Philadelphia, and of the State at large : —

"They buy and sell property, own lumber yards, (two of the
most extensive, if not the largest, lumber merchants in the State are
colored men,) and till the soil: there are mechanics, professional
men, and artists, among them ; they are developing, not only their
identity but their equality , with the whites."

We rejoice (says the National Era) in these assurances
of the success of the partial freedom enjoyed by the negro
race in Pennsylvania, and sincerely hope that every man of
them may continue true and steadfast in the judicious
defence of their cause, until the justice shall be accorded to
industry, intelligence, and wealth, that has been withheld
from poverty and ignorance.

17 *

198

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER IX.

DELAWARE.

PRINCE WHIPPLE, THE COLORED SOLDIER AT THE CROSSING OF THE
DELAWARE — PROSCRIPTIVE LAW.

In the engravings of Washington crossing the Delaware on
the evening previous to the battle of Trenton, Dec. 25,
1779, a colored soldier is seen, on horseback, quite promi-
nent, near the Commander-in-Chief, — the same figure that,
in other sketches, is seen pulling the stroke oar in that
memorable crossing. This colored soldier was Prince
Whipple, body-guard to Gen. Whipple, of New Hamp-
shire, who was Aid to General Washington.

Prince Whipple was born at Amabou, Africa, of com-
paratively wealthy parents. When about ten years of age,
he was sent by them, in company with a cousin, to Amer-
ica, to be educated. An elder brother had returned four
years before, and his parents were anxious that their other
child should receive the same benefits. The captain who
brought the two boys over proved a treacherous villain,
and carried them to Baltimore, where he exposed them for
sale, and they were both purchased by Portsmouth men,
Prince falling to Gen. Whipple. He was emancipated
during the war, was much esteemed, and was once entrusted

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

199

by the General with a large sum of money to carry from
Salem to Portsmouth. He was attacked on the road, near
Newburyport, by two ruffians ; one he struck with a loaded
whip, the other he shot, and succeeded in arriving home
in safety.

Prince was beloved by all who knew him. He was the
" Caleb Quotem " of Portsmouth, where he died at the age
of thirty-two, leaving a widow and children. Their de-
scendants now reside in that place, one being married to
Dr. Isaac H. Snowden, son of Rev. Samuel Snowden, of
Boston.

Delaware is yet disgraced by a statute forbidding the
immigration of free colored persons. Even her own native-
born colored citizens, on absenting themselves, cannot
return to the State without being liable to fines and impris-
onment. A colored man from Columbia, Penn., some six
years since, going into the State, was informed against,
and fined by a magistrate fifty dollars, after he had been
some time in prison. That noble friend of humanity,
Thomas Garrett, paid his fine and costs, — about eighty-
six dollars, (a portion of which was contributed in Pennsyl-
vania.) The facts were published, when the magistrate
sued Mr. Garrett for libel, and he was bound over in the
sum of one thousand dollars. The magistrate committed
an act of dishonesty, left his family and the State several
years to avoid prosecution, and finally his friends obtained
a pardon from the Governor, and he returned, and was
reappointed magistrate. Mr. Garrett, fearing that, as he

200

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

had once absented himself, he might do so again, had him
bound over in the sum of five hundred dollars to prosecute
the charge ; but Mr, Garrett has not been troubled on the
subject since.

I learn from Mr. Garrett that three arrests have since
been made in Newcastle county, but the law was so odious,
that the magistrates, fearing their credit would be injured,
released the men on their own recognizance, and they left
the State. Judge Booth states that a colored girl, in order
to obtain better wages, left her parents in Sussex and
crossed over to Jersey, where she remained two years.
Her mother was then taken ill, and she returned home to
nurse her. After she died, before the funeral, some fiend
in human shape informed against her. The magistrate
issued the writ, and the constable served it before the corpse
left the house. Such was the indignation of the neighbor-
hood, however, (slaveholders though they were,) that the
informer and constable would have been mobbed if they
had not desisted from their attempt. The girl remained at
her father's house unmolested.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

201

CHAPTER X.

MARYLAND.

THOMAS SAVOY — THOMAS HOLLEN — JOHN MOORE — BENJAMIN BAN-
NEKER — FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS.

A correspondent of the New Orleans Picayune gives the
following account of Thomas Savoy, a " Negro Veteran,"
as he was called : —

" Few persons, we think, have travelled in Texas, who
have not heard of Thomas Savoy, alias Black Tom, alias
the Special Citizen of Baxar county. He was by trade a
barber, but by inclination a soldier, and his history is inti-
mately connected with the warlike part of that of Texas.
He was much fonder, too, of the company of white men
than of that of persons of his own color. Tom was a
native of Maryland, then a citizen of Washington, D. C,
then a resident of Mississippi, whence he emigrated to
Texas at the beginning of the Revolution, with a company
of Mississippi volunteers, his razor in his pocket, and his
gun on his shoulder. They joined Gen. Houston shortly
after the battle of San Jacinto, but Black Tom's subsequent
conduct as a soldier elicited the praise of his hard-fighting
comrades and superior officers. The year 1839 was dis-
tinguished in Texan annals by the expedition under Jordan

202 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

to Saltillo, to assist the treacherous Canales in his armed
Federalist attempt against the Mexican Anti-Federalists.
He betrayed his little band of Texan allies, but they and
their gallant leader gave the united Federalists and the
State Rights Mexican army two as thorough consecutive
drubbings as they ever received, and then returned leisurely
home without interruption. Black Tom was one of Jor-
dan's men, and if he had little occasion or time to use his
razor, he made up for it by a skilful handling of his offen-
sive weapons. In 1842, Gen. Woll invaded Texas with a
Mexican army, and got a good beating at the battle of
Salado. Tom was in the midst of it, and was wounded.
He participated in several subsequent conflicts with the
Indians, fighting bravely as usual. He followed his old
Texan comrades under Taylor's banner, and hurried along
with them into battle at Monterey. He was also in the
memorable struggle of Buena Vista. Black Tom then
returned to Texas with the Kentucky volunteers, and after
that, San Antonio became his head-quarters. He was, of
course, a general favorite, and lived like a lord ; but the
wandering spirit that ten years in Texas had made second
nature with him, would now and then break out, and Black
Tom would be missing. The next thing heard of him, he
was at a frontier post, or far up in the Indian country, in
the midst of danger. On the 15th of July, 1853, the body
of a man was found two miles west of San Antonio. A
coroner's inquest was held, and a verdict returned of c Came
to his death from cause unknown.' The body was that of
old Tom ! "

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

203

Thomas Hollen, of Dorset county, Maryland, was in
the Revolutionary War, attached to the regiment of Col.
Charles Gouldsbury, and was wounded by a musket ball in
the calf of his leg. He died in 1816, aged seventy-two,
at the town of Blackwood, N. J., and was buried in the
Snowhill church-yard, east of Woodbury. He had an
uncle who fought by his side in the same war. Rev. James
Hollen, of the African M. E. Church, is a nephew of
Thomas Hollen.

John Moore was skipper of the sloop Roebuck, one
hundred and ten tons, which was captured in Chesapeake
Bay, between Spry and Poole's Islands, by the British
seventy-four Dragon. He was placed on board the brig
Bashaw, when, provoked by insolent treatment, he struck
an officer with the tiller, for which he was detained in
prison at Halifax for eighteen months. The sloop and
cargo were confiscated. Mr. Moore now resides in New-
port, R. I.

BENJAMIN B ANN EKEE.

Benjamin Banneker was born in Baltimore county,
near the village of Ellicott's Mills, in the year 1732. His
father was a native African, and his mother the child of
natives of Africa ;. so that, to no admixture of the blood of
the white man was he indebted for his peculiar and extraor-
dinary abilities. His father was a slave when he married ;
but his wife, who was a free woman, and possessed of great

204

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

energy and industry, very soon afterwards purchased his
freedom. Banneker's mother was named Morton before
her marriage, and belonged to a family remarkable for its
intelligence. When upwards of seventy, she was still very
active ; and it is remembered of her, that at this advanced
age, she made nothing of catching her chickens, wThen want-
ed, by running them down. A nephew of hers, Greenbury
Morton, was a person of note, notwithstanding his complex-
ion. Prior to 1809, free people of color, possessed of a
certain property qualification, voted in Maryland. In that
year, a law was passed, restricting the right of voting to free
white males. Morton was ignorant of the law till he of-
fered to vote at the polls in Baltimore county ; and it is
said, that, when his vote was refused, he addressed the
crowd in a strain of pure and impassioned eloquence, which
kept the audience, that the election had assembled, in
breathless attention while he spoke.

When Benjamin was old enough, he was employed to as-
sist his parents in their labor. This, was at an early age,
when his destiny seemed nothing better than that of a child
of poor and ignorant free negroes, occupying a few acres of
land, in a remote and thinly peopled neighborhood ; a des-
tiny which, certainly, at this day, is not of very brilliant
promise, and which, at the time in question, must have
been gloomy enough. In the intervals of toil, and when he
was approaching, or had attained, manhood, he was sent to
an obscure and distant country school, which he attended
until he had acquired a knowledge of reading and writing,

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 205

and had advanced in arithmetic as far as Double Position.
In all matters, beyond these rudiments of learning, he was
his own instructor. On leaving school, he was obliged to
labor for years, almost uninterruptedly, for his support.
But his memory being retentive, he lost nothing of the little
education he had acquired. On the contrary, although ut-
terly destitute of books, he amplified and improved his stock
of arithmetical knowledge by the operation of his mind
alone. He was an acute observer of every thing that he
saw, or which took place around him in the natural world,
and he sought with avidity information from all sources of
what wTas going forward in society ; so that he became
gradually possessed of a fund of general knowledge which
it was difficult to find among those, even, who were far
more favored by opportunity and circumstances than he was.
At first, his information was a subject of remark and won-
der among his illiterate neighbors only ; but, by degrees,
the reputation of it spread through a wider circle ; and Ben-
jamin Banneker, still a young man, came to be thought of
as one, who could not only perform all the operations of
mental arithmetic with extraordinary facility, but exercise a
sound and discriminating judgment upon men and things.
It was at this time, when he was about thirty years of age,
that he contrived and made a clock, which proved an excel-
lent time-piece. He had seen a watch, but not a clock —
such an article not yet having found its way into the quiet
and secluded valley in which he lived. The watch was,
therefore, his model. It took him a good while to accom-
18

206

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

plish this feat ; his great difficulty, as he often used to say,
being to make the hour, minute, and second hands, cor-
respond in their motions. But the clock was finished at last,
and raised still higher the credit of Banneker in his neigh-
borhood as an ingenious man, as well as a good arithmetician.

As already stated, the basis of Banneker's arithmetical
knowledge was obtained from the school book in which he
had advanced as far as Double Position ; but, in 1787, Mr.
George Ellicott lent him Mayer's Tables, Ferguson's As-
tronomy, and Leadbeater's Lunar Tables. Along with
these books were some astronomical instruments. Mr. El-
licott was accidentally prevented from giving Banneker any
information as to the use of either books or instruments at
the time he lent them ; but, before he again met him, (and
the interval was a brief one,) Banneker was independent of
any instruction, and was already absorbed in the contempla-
tion of the new world which was thus opened to his view.
From this time, the study of astronomy became the great
object of his life, and, for a season, he almost disappeared
from the sight of his neighbors.

Very soon after the possession of the books already men-
tioned had drawn Banneker's attention to astronomy, he de-
termined to compile an almanac, that being the most famil-
iar use that occurred to him of the information he had ac-
quired. Of the labor of the work, few of those can form an
estimate, who would at this day commence such a task
with all the assistance afforded by accurate tables and well-
digested rules. Banneker had no such aid ; and it is nar-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

207

rated as a well-known fact, that he commenced and had ad-
vanced far in the preparation of the logarithms necessary
for his purpose, when he was furnished with a set of tables
by Mr. George Ellicott. About this time, he began the
record of his calculations, which is still in existence, and is
left with the society for examination.

The first almanac which Banneker prepared, fit for pub-
lication, was for the year 1792. By this time, his acquire-
ments had become generally known, and among others who
took an interest in him was James McHenry, Esq. Mr.
McHenry wrote a letter to Goddard & Angell, then the
almanac publishers in Baltimore, which was probably the
means of procuring the publication of the first almanac.

In their editorial notice, Messrs. Goddard & Angell say
u They feel gratified in the opportunity of presenting to
the public, through their press, what must be considered
as an extraordinary effort of genius ; a complete and
accurate Ephemeris for the year 1792, calculated by a
sable descendant of Africa," &c. And they further say,
" That they flatter themselves that a philanthropic public, in
this enlightened era, will be induced to give their patronage
and support to this work, not only on account of its intrinsic
merits, (it having met the approbation of several of the most
distinguished astronomers of America, particularly the cele-
brated Mr. Rittenhouse,) but from similar motives to those
which induced the editors to give this calculation the prefer-
ence,— the ardent desire of drawing modest merit from ob-
scurity, and controverting the long-established illiberal pre-
judice against the blacks."

208

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

The motives alluded to by Goddard & Angell, in the
extracts just quoted, of doing justice to the intellect of the
colored race, were a prominent object with Banneker him-
self ; and the only occasions when he overstepped a mod-
esty which was his peculiar characteristic, were, when he
could, by so doing, " controvert the long-established illiberal
prejudice against the blacks." We find him, therefore,
sending a copy of his first almanac to Mr. Jefferson, the Sec-
retary of State under General Washington, with an excellent
letter, to which Mr. Jefferson made the following reply : —

Philadelphia, Aug. 31, 1791.
Sir, — I thank you sincerely for your letter of the 19th instant,
and for the almanac it contained. Nobody wishes more than I do
to see such proofs as you exhibit, that Nature has given to our black
brethren talents equal to those of the other colors of men, and that
the appearance of a want of them is owing only to the degraded
condition of their existence, both in Africa and America. I can
add, with truth, that no one wishes more ardently to see a good
system commenced for raising the condition, both of their body and
mind, to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of their pres-
ent existence, and other circumstances which cannot be neglected,
will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to
Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, at
Paris, and members of the Philanthropic Society, because I consid-
ered it a document to which your whole color had a right, for their
justification against the doubts which have been entertained of
them. I am, with great esteem, sir,

Your most obedient servant,

THO. JEFFERSON.

Mr. Benjamin Banneker, near Ellicott's )
Lower Mills, Baltimore county. )

AMEBIC AN REVOLUTION.

209

When he published his first almanac, Banneker was fifty-
nine years old, and had high respect paid to him by all the
scientific men of the country, as one whose color did not
prevent his belonging to the same class, as far as intellect
went, with themselves. After the adoption of the Constitu-
tion in 1789, commissioners were appointed to run the lines
of the District of Columbia, the ten miles square now occu-
pied by the seat of government, and then called the " Fed-
eral Territory." The commissioners invited Banneker to
be present at the runnings, and treated him with much con-
sideration.

Banneker continued to calculate and publish his almanacs
until 1802, and the folio already referred to and now before
the society, contains the calculations clearly copied, and the
figures used by him in his work. The hand-writing, it will
be seen, is very good, and remarkably distinct, having a prac-
tised look, although evidently that of an old man, who
makes his letters and figures slowly and carefully. His
letter to Mr. Jefferson gives a very good idea of his style of
composition, and his ability as a writer. The title of the,
almanac is here transcribed at length, as a matter of curious
interest at this latter day. If it claims little of the art and
elegance and wit of the almanacs of Punch or of Hood, it
is, nevertheless, considering its history, a far more surpris-
ing production.

"Benjamin Banneker' s Pennsylvania, Delaware, "Virginia, and
Maryland Almanac and Ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1792,
being Bissextile or leap year, and the sixteenth year of American
18*

210

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Independence, which commenced July 4, 1776: containing the
motions of the Sun and Moon, the true places and aspects of the
Planets, the rising and setting of the Sun, and the rising, setting, •
and southing, place and age of the Moon, &c. The Lunations,
Conjunctions, Eclipses, Judgment of the Weather, Festivals, and
remarkable days/'

In 1804, Banneker died, in the seventy-second year of his
age, and his remains are deposited, without a stone to mark
the spot, near the dwelling which he occupied during his
life-time.

During the whole of his long life, he lived respectably
and much esteemed by all who became acquainted with
him, but more especially by those who could fully appre-
ciate his genius and the extent of his acquirements. Al-
though his mode of life was regular and extremely retired,
living alone, having never married, — cooking his own
victuals and washing his own clothes, and scarcely ever be-
ing absent from home, — yet there was nothing misanthropic
in his character; for a gentleman who knew him thus speaks
of him : — "I recollect him well. He was a brave looking,
pleasant man, with something very noble in his appearance.
His mind was evidently much engrossed in his calculations;
but he was glad always to receive the visits which we often
paid to him.'" Another of Mr. Ellicott's correspondents
writes as follows : — " When I was a boy, I became very-
much interested in him, (Banneker,) as his manners were
those of a perfect gentleman ; kind, generous, hospitable,
humane, dignified and pleasing, abounding in information
on all the various subjects and incidents of the day ; very

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

211

modest and unassuming, and delighting in society at his
own house. I have seen him frequently. His head was
covered with a thick suit of white hair, which gave him a
very venerable and dignified appearance. His dress was
uniformly of superfine drab broadcloth, made in the old
style of a plain coat, with a straight collar and long waist-
coat, and a broad-brimmed hat. His color was not jet black,
but decidedly negro. In size and personal appearance, the
statue of Franklin, at the Library in Philadelphia, as seen
from the street, is a perfect likeness of him."

The foregoing account of Mr. Banneker is taken from a
Memoir read before the Historical Society of Maryland, by
John H. B. Latrobe, which was undoubtedly published to
serve the purposes of the American Colonization Society.
Rev. John T. Raymond, a distinguished colored Baptist
clergyman, issued an edition of the pamphlet, in the pre-
face to which he says : — "I have snatched it from their
[the Colonizationists] foul purpose, in order to produce a
contrary effect. Our people are now too wise to be entan-
gled in their meshes."

FRANCES ELLEN W ATKINS.

Maryland has not only produced gifted colored men,
but has contributed a fair proportion of women who have
proved good their claim to equality. Frances Ellen
Watkins, born in Baltimore, has contended with a thousand
disadvantages from early life, and though now a young
woman, is actively engaged, on her own responsibility, as

212

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

an Anti-Slavery lecturer in the Eastern States. She has
published a small volume of poems, which certainly are
very creditable to her, both in a literary and moral point of
view, and indicate the possession of a talent, which, if care-
fully cultivated, and properly encouraged, cannot fail to
secure for herself a poetic reputation, and to deepen the
interest already so extensively felt in the liberation and en-
franchisement of the entire colored race.

I make the following brief extracts from her book, which
is entitled, " Poems and Miscellaneous Writings, by Frances
Ellen Watkins."

ELIZA HARRIS.

Like a fawn from the arrow, startled and wild,

A woman swept by us, bearing a child ;

In her eye was the night of a settled despair,

And her brow was o'ershaded with anguish and care.

She was nearing the river, — in reaching the brink,
She heeded no danger, she paused not to think !
For she is a mother, — her child is a slave, —
And she '11 give him his freedom, or find him a grave !

******
But she 's free ! — yes, free from the land where the slave
From the hand of oppression must rest in the grave ;
Where bondage and torture, where scourges and chains,
Have placed on our banner indelible stains.

The bloodhounds have missed the scent of her way;
The hunter is rifled and foiled of his prey ;
Fierce jargon and cursing, with clanking of chains,
Make sounds of strange discord on Liberty's plains.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

213

With the rapture of love and fullness of bliss,
She placed on his brow a mother's fond kiss : —
Oh ! poverty, danger and death she can brave,
For the child of her love is no longer a slave !

CHRISTIANITY.

Christianity is a system claiming God for its author and the wel-
fare of man for its object. It is a system so uniform, exalted and
pure, that the loftiest intellects have acknowledged its influence,
and acquiesced in the justness of its claims. Genius has bent from
his erratic course to gather fire from her altars, and pathos from
the agony of Gethsemane and the sufferings of Calvary. Philoso-
phy and science have paused amid their speculative researches and
wondrous revelations, to gain wisdom from her teachings and
knowledge from her precepts. Poetry has culled her fairest flow-
ers and wreathed her softest, to bind her Author's "bleeding brow."
Music has strung her sweetest lyres and breathed her noblest
strains to celebrate his fame ; whilst Learning has bent from her
lofty heights to bow at the lowly cross. The constant friend of
man, she has stood by him in his hour of greatest need. She has
cheered the prisoner in his cell, and strengthened the martyr at the
stake. She has nerved the frail and shrinking heart of woman for
high and holy deeds. The worn and weary have rested their faint-
ing heads upon her bosom, and gathered strength from her words
and courage from her counsels. She has been the staff of decrepit
age, and the joy of manhood in its strength. She has bent over the
form of lovely childhood, and suffered it to have a place in the
Redeemer's arms. She has stood by the bed of the dying, and
unveiled the glories of eternal life; gilding the darkness of the
tomb with the glory of the resurrection.

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COLORED PATRIOTS OP THE

CHAPTER XI.

VIRGINIA.

the last of braddock.' s men — patriotic slave girl — benja-
min morris — consistency of a revolutionary hero — simon
lee — major Mitchell's slave — general Washington's de-
sire TO EMANCIPATE SLAVES HON. A. P. UPSHUR'S TRIBUTE TO

DAVID RICH — TRIBUTE TO WASHINGTON BY THE EMANCIPATED —
AGED SLAVE OF WASHINGTON — INSURRECTION AT SOUTHAMPTON —
VIRGINIA MAROONS IN THE DISMAL SWAMP.

The Lancaster (Ohio) Gazette, February, 1849, announces
the death, at that place, of Samuel Jenkins, a colored man,
aged 115 years. He was a slave of Capt. Breadwater, in
Fairfax county, Virginia, in 1771, and participated in the
memorable campaign of Gen. Braddock.

Ishmael Titus (says the Springfield Republican) died in
Williamstown, Mass., January 27th, 1855, at the extraordi-
nary age of 109 or 110 years. He was born a slave in
Virginia, and when Gen. Braddock set out on his ill-fated
expedition, the master of Ishmael was employed by the
Commissary to transport subsistence stores for the army ;
and, as the wagon was heavily loaded, an additional horse
was added to the team, and the boy Ishmael was placed on
this third horse as rider ; and in that capacity, he followed
the army to the scene of its disaster. Like most of the

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215

slaves, he had no distinct knowledge of his age ; but, judg-
ing from his recollection of the event, and his own story, he
must have been nine or ten years old at the time. His
mental faculties were remarkably active for a person of his
years, and after the lapse of nearly a century, he was wont
to recount the striking impression made upon his young
mind by the red coats of the British soldiers, which he sup-
posed were " colored with blood," — unfortunately too true
in this instance.

He ran away from his master, and went into the vicinity
of Springfield, Mass., about the close of the Revolution, and
was then, apparently, thirty-eight or forty years of age.
His story has always been consistent, and no one in that
place has ever doubted its correctness. His mind seemed
more than a match for his body, and physical infirmities
crept upon him, until he seemed to realize all the evils
which afflicted " Uncle Ned," and, like him, it is to be
hoped that he has received his reward.

Hiram Wilson says that an extremely aged woman lives
at the Grand River settlement, Canada, who was a slave
girl in Virginia at the time of the French and Indian War
of 1755. At the time of the Revolutionary War, she was
employed in running bullets for the Americans. Her patri-
otism was but miserably rewarded, for she was held as a
slave till she was about eighty years of age, when she fled
to Canada for freedom, where, under monarchical institu-
tions and laws, she is protected in her old age. No one
can reasonably rebuke her for the utterance of an earnest
w God save the Queen!"

216

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

The Legislature of Virginia, in 1783, emancipated seve-
ral slaves who had fought in the Revolutionary War, and
the example was followed by some individuals, who wished
to exhibit a consistency of conduct rare even in those early
days of our country's history. The Baltimore papers of
September 8th, 1790, make mention of the fact that Hon.
General Gates, before taking his departure, with his lady,
for their new and elegant seat on the banks of the East
River, summoned his numerous family and slaves about
him, and, amidst their tears of affection and gratitude, gave
them their freedom ; and, what was still better, made provi-
sion that their liberty should be a blessing to them.

Sometimes, for other than national services, the colored
man's worth is appreciated by men who claim the right to
own their brother-men, as is seen in the following clause
from the Will of A. P. Upsher, a member of President
Tyler's Cabinet: —

"3. I emancipate, and set free, my servant, David Rich, and
direct my executors to give him one hundred dollars. I recom-
mend him, in the strongest manner, to the respect, esteem and con-
fidence of any community in which he may happen to live. He
has been my slave for twenty-four years, during which time he has
been trusted to every extent, and in every respect. My confidence
in him has been unbounded ; his relation to myself and family has
always been such as to afford him daily opportunities to deceive
and injure us, and yet he has never been detected in a serious fault,
nor even in an intentional breach of the decorums of his station.
His intelligence is of a high order, his integrity above all suspicion,
and his sense of right and propriety always correct, and even deli-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

217

cate and refined. I feel that he is justly entitled to carry this cer-
tificate from me into the new relations which he now must form.
It is due to his long and most faithful services, and to the sincere
and steady friendship which I bear him. In the uninterrupted and
confidential intercourse of twenty -four years, I have never given,
nor had occasion to give him, an unpleasant word. I know no man
who has fewer faults, or more excellencies, than he."

Throughout this work will be found allusions to several
colored persons, bond and free, who were either servants or
slaves of General Washington, or through some other ref-
lation, were led to cherish grateful and pleasant mem-
ories of the treatment they received from him. Some
he manumitted, others he specially rewarded for deeds of
valor and integrity of conduct ; and, though he did not
emancipate the majority of his own slaves until after the
decease of Lady Washington, there yet seemed a constant
struggle of his better nature to do that which, neglected,
has left

" Posterity's sad eye to run

^ Along one line, with slaves and Washington."

In a letter written by General Washington to Tobias
Lear, in England, in 1794, he assigns the following reasons
for empowering Mr. Lear to sell a portion of his landed
estate : —

" I have no scruple in disclosing to you, that my motives to these
sales are to reduce my income, be it more or less, to specialities, —
that the remainder of my days may thereby be more tranquil and

218

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

free from care, and that I may be enabled, knowing what my
dependence is, to do as much good as my resources will admit ; for
although, in the estimation of the world, I possess a good and clear
estate, yet so unproductive is it, that I am oftentimes ashamed to
refuse aid which I cannot afford unless I sell part of it to answer
this purpose. Besides these, I have another motive, which makes
me earnestly wish for these things — it is, indeed, more powerful
than all the rest — namely, to liberate a certain species of property
which I possess, very repugnantly to my own feelings, but which
imperious necessity compels, until I can substitute some other
expedient by which expenses not in my power to avoid, however
well disposed I may be to do it, can be defrayed."

In Washington's Will, special provision is made for his
" mulatto man William, calling himself William Lee,"
granting him his immediate freedom, an annuity of thirty
dollars during his natural life, or support, if he preferred
(being incapable of walking or any active employment) to
remain with the family. " This I give him," says Washing-
ton, "as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me,
and for his faithful services during the Revolutionary War."

The colored soldiers, and others, who were objects of his
solicitude, were found North and South, wherever marched
the Continental army. From among those in Virginia, the
few following cases have been preserved.

The Detroit Tribune, August 10th, 1854, says : —
" A short time since, we chronicled the death of a negro
who had reached the venerable age of one hundred years.
It may not be known to many of our readers, that there is
now living, near this city, in the enjoyment of good health

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

219

and the frugal comforts of life, a negro, who is nearly, or
quite, a century old. His name is Benjamin Morris, and he
is residing on the Charles Moran farm, where he has a life
lease, and where, by the aid of a few friends, he tills enough
ground to earn for himself a plain but comfortable subsist-
ence. His life has been quite eventful. He was born at
Snowhill, in Virginia. His master's name was Bob Sco-
field, as he says, using, probably, the familiar term by
which he was known throughout the neighborhood in which
he resided. He lived with Scofield until after the Revolu-
tionary War. During the war, he was engaged to drive a
baggage wagon ; and so well did his behavior please Gen-
eral Washington, who happened to notice him, that his
master, at the close of the war, gave him his freedom, at
the request of that great and good man. His deed of man-
umission he has now, — of a truth, the c palladium of his lib-
erties ' in this negro-hunting age and country. From Vir-
ginia, Morris went to Cuba, where he stayed but a short
time, returning to this country and settling at Louisville,
Ky. Thence he came to Detroit, in time to witness the
surrender of Hull, and the closing acts of the war of 1812
upon the frontier. Since then, he has been engaged in labor
of various kinds, supporting himself and wife in comfortable
circumstances. About three years ago, she died, and he
has since lived alone in a little cottage on the Moran farm.
He is a member, we believe, of the First Baptist Church of
this city, from the members of which he receives such little
aids, from time to time, as he needs. He is still quite erect

220

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

and vigorous, and able to labor a good deal. He walks
down to church nearly every Sabbath and returns, a total
distance of nearly six miles. We trust the old man is to
live many years yet in comfort and peace, to reap the re-
ward of his services to our country, small though they may
have been, at a time when the weakest forces told on a
country's destinies hanging in equipoise."

A correspondent of the Alexandria (D. C.) Gazette, writ-
ing from Fairfax County, Va., November 14, 1835, says: —
" Upon a recent visit to the tomb of Washington, I was
much gratified by the alterations and improvements around
it. Eleven colored men were industriously employed in
levelling the earth and turfing around the sepulchre. There
was an earnest expression of feeling about them, that in-
duced me to inquire if they belonged to the respected lady
of the mansion. They stated that they were a few of the
many slaves freed by George Washington, and they had
offered their services upon this last melancholy occasion, as
the only return in their power to make to the remains of the
man who had been more than a father to them ; and
they should continue their labors so long as any thing should
be pointed out for them to do. I was so interested in this
conduct, that I inquired their several names, and the follow-
ing were given me: — Joseph Smith, Sambo Anderson,
William Anderson, his son, Berkley Clark, George Lear,
Dick Jasper, Morris Jasper, Levi Richardson, Joe Richard-
son, Wm. Moss, Wm. Hays, and Nancy Squander, cooking
for the men.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

221

That there were exceptions to this community of grateful
hearts may be learned from an incident mentioned by James
T. Woodbury, Esq., brother of Hon. Levi Woodbury, who,
when delivering lectures on the subject of slavery, not un-
frequently adverts to the circumstances which first drew his
attention to the subject. During his stay in the capital of
the United States, he had a wish to visit the tomb of Wash-
ington. He was attended by an aged negro, whose business
it had been for many years to guide travellers to that conse-
crated spot. This old man was formerly the slave of Gen-
eral Washington. Mr. Woodbury asked him if he had any
children. "I have had a large family," he replied. "And
are they living ? " inquired the gentleman. The voice of
the aged father trembled with emotion, and the tears started
to his eyes, as he answered : — " 1 don't know whether they
are alive or dead. They were all sold away from me, and
I don't know what became of them. I am alone in the
world, without a child to bring me a cup of water in my old
age.1' Mr. Woodbury looked on the infirm and solitary be-
ing with feelings of deep compassion. " And this," thought
he, " is the fate of slaves, even when owned by so good a
man as General Washington ! Who would not be an Abo-
litionist ? "

In October, 1854, there came to the house of Isaac and
Amy Post, in Rochester, as if by instinct to those whose
names are synonymous with aid and comfort to all earth's
suffering children, an aged colored man, leaning upon
his staff, — his clothes poor and ragged, — who represented
19*

222

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

himself as the son of General Washington's serving man,
and that he was fleeing to Canada. Mrs. Angelina J. Knox
says, in reference to this case: — " He was born at Mt.
Vernon, on the plantation on which the 'father of our coun-
try ' had lived. His father was a servant of George Wash-
ington. Years passed on ; his heart pleaded that its pulsa-
tions might beat in a land of freedom, and many attempts
had he made, but in vain, to be free. Once he was taken
in a rice swamp, where he had fled for refuge ; the blood-
hounds scented him, and brought him back to his master.
Major Mitchell, of the United States army, had burned into
his forehead the letter M., that thus he might be identified
as Mitchell's slave. I asked him if his master was a Chris-
tian. To which he replied, with a satirical expression, —
'Pious? I guess he was pious! He Free Mason, too, —
my last master — O, he biggest Christian! He 'pears pious.
Ha ! he big man — he 'tempt shoot me, 'cause I won't take
off coat, him to whip me. Gun all ready shoot me — I
take off coat — he get rope, tie me to hang me — I kitched
him, pulled him down, and ran away. Dat is de last of him
I ever saw. I pretty tired sleeping in bush. I want to get
to Canada — dat's all I want. I want to see my boy dare —
dat is what I want. I want to get out dis country. Dey
say dat money is de root of all evil ; but I hab no money,
and go pretty hungry sometimes. Colored folks sometimes
'tray us. Ye aint going to send me back, are ye ? ' Poor
old man — no ! no ! I will not send you back. But what is
the Christianity of this republic doing, but sending you back

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

223

to bondage ? What would the Church do with this o'd
man, with branded brow, who is now looking with a dis-
trustful eye upon every person with whom he meets ? O,
my country, with extended wings, would that thy protection
could overshadow the branded, bleeding fugitive ! But, no!
True is it, that if this fugitive should stand on the spot
where Warren fell — should he clasp the monument on
Bunker's Hill — should he flee to the home of John Han-
cock— even there, the slaveholder may claim him as his
chattel slave. Let us, then, shed no more tears at the tomb
of Washington at Mt. Vernon — let us no more boast ot
liberty — let us break every yoke, and let the oppressed go
free!"

Simon Lee, the grandfather of William Weils Brown, on
his mother's side, was a slave in Virginia, and served in the
War of the Revolution; and, although honorably discharged
with the other Virginia troops, at the close of the war, he
was sent back to his master, where he spent the remainder
of his life toiling on a tobacco plantation. Such is the want
of justice toward the colored American, that, after serving
in his country's struggles for freedom, he is doomed to fill
the grave of a slave !

THE SOUTHAMPTON INSURRECTION.

Nathaniel Turner was born Oct. 2d. 1800. In his
childhood, from some circumstances, his mother and others
said, in his presence, that he would surely be a prophet, as

224

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

the Lord had shown him things that happened before his
birth. This remark made a deep impression upon his
mind, and affected all his subsequent conduct. He learned
to read with such facility, that he had no recollection what-
ever of learning the alphabet, and he grew up a prodigy-
reverenced among his fellows. He was never addicted to
stealing, or known to have a dollar in his life, to swear an
oath, or drink a drop of spirits. He studiously wrapped
himself in mystery, and devoted his hours to fasting and
prayer, and communion with the spirit. He had a vision,
and saw white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle,
and the sun was darkened, the thunder rolled in the heavens,
and blood flowed in streams, and he heard a voice, saying,
" Such is your luck ; such you are called to see ; and
let it come rough or smooth, you must bear it." While
laboring in the fields, he discovered drops of blood on the
corn, as though it were dew from heaven, and found on the
leaves in the woods characters and numbers, with the forms
of men, in different attitudes, portrayed in blood.
From his confession, I extract the following : —

" And on the appearance of the sign, [the eclipse of the sun in
February, 1831,] I should arise and prepare myself, and slay my
enemies with their own weapons. ... I communicated the
great work I had to do to four in whom I had the greatest confi-
dence, (Henry, Hark, Nelson and Sam). It was intended by us to
have begun the work of death on the 4th of July last."

The Rich mond JVhig of October 31, 1831, in giving an
account of Turner's capture, says, — " He is a shrewd, intel-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

225

ligent fellow ; he insists strongly upon the revelations which
he received, as he understood them, urging him on and
pointing to this enterprise. He denied that any except
himself and five or six others knew any thing of it. He
does not hesitate to say that, even now, he thinks he was
right, and if his time were to go over again, he must neces-
sarily act in the same way."

A correspondent of the same paper says, — " Nat had for
some time thought closely on this subject, for I have in my
possession some papers given up by his wife, under the lash"

" We learn," says the Petersburg Intelligencer, " that
the fanatical murderer, Nat Turner, was executed, accord-
ing to his sentence, at Jerusalem, on Friday last, about one
o'clock. He exhibited the utmost composure throughout
the whole ceremony, and although assured that he might, if
he thought proper, address the immense crowd assembled
on the occasion, declined availing himself of the privilege,
and told the Sheriff, in a firm voice, that he was ready.
Not a limb nor a muscle was observed to move."

Upwards of one hundred slaves were slaughtered in the
Southampton tragedy, — many of them in cold blood, while
walking in the streets, — and about sixty white persons.
Some of the alleged conspirators had their noses and ears
cut off, the flesh of their cheeks cut out, their jaws broken
asunder, and, in that condition, they were set up as marks
to be shot at. The whites burnt one with red hot irons, cut
off his ears and nose, stabbed him, cut his ham-strings,
stuck him like a hog, and at last cut off his head, and
spiked it to the whipping-post.

226 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

The following fact was narrated by the Rev. M. B. Cox,
late Missionary to Liberia, soon after the event occurred.
Immediately after the insurrection, a slaveholder went into
the woods in quest of some of the insurgents, accompanied
by a faithful slave, who had been the means of saving his
life in the time of massacre. When they had been some
time in the woods, the slave handed his musket to his mas-
ter, informing him, at the same time, that he could not live
a slave any longer, and requesting him either to set him
free or shoot him on the spot. The master took the gun
from the hands of the slave, levelled it at his breast, and
shot the faithful negro through the heart.

Dr. Rice, of Virginia, published a sermon, in 1823, pre-
dicting very exactly the Southampton insurrection. He
says :— " Without pretending to be a prophet, I venture to
predict, if ever that horrid event should take place which is
anticipated and greatly dreaded by many among us, some
crisp-haired prophet, some pretender to inspiration, will be
the ringleader as well as the instigator of the act."

MADISON WASHINGTON.

An American slaver, named the Creole, well manned
and provided in every respect, and equipped for carrying
slaves, sailed from Virginia to New Orleans, on the 30th
October, 1841, with a cargo of one hundred and thirty-five
slaves'. When eight days out, a portion of the slaves, under
the direction of one of their number, named Madison

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 227

Washington, succeeded, after a slight struggle, in gaining
command of the vessel. The sagacity, bravery and human-
ity of this man do honor to his name ; and, but for his com-
plexion, would excite universal admiration. Of the twelve
white men employed on board the well-manned slaver,
only one fell a victim to their atrocious business. This man,
after discharging his musket at the negroes, rushed forward
with a handspike, which, in the darkness of the evening,
they mistook for another musket ; he was stabbed with a
bowie knife wrested from the captain. Two of the sailors
were wounded, and their wounds were dressed by the ne-
groes. The captain was also injured, and he was put into
the forehold, and his wounds dressed ; and his wife, child
and niece were unmolested. It does not appear that the
blacks committed a single act of robbery, or treated their
captives with the slightest unnecessary harshness ; and they
declared, at the time, that all they had done was for their
freedom. The vessel was carried into Nassau, and the
British authorities at that place refused to consign the libe-
rated slaves again to bondage, or even to surrender the " mu-
tineers and murderers" to perish on Southern gibbets.

THE VIRGINIA MAROONS. *

The great Dismal Swamp, which lies near the Eastern
shore of Virginia, and, commencing near Norfolk, stretches

♦From an article in the "Liberty Bell" for 1853, by Edmund Jackson.

228

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

quite into North Carolina, contains a large colony of ne-
groes, who originally obtained their freedom by the grace
of God and their own determined energy, instead of the
consent of their owners, or by the help of the Colonization
Society. How long this colony has existed, what is its
amount of population, what portion of the colonists are now
fugitives, and what the descendants of fugitives, are ques-
tions not easily determined ; nor can we readily avail our-
selves of the better knowledge undoubtedly existing in the
vicinity of this colony, by reason of the decided objections
of those best enabled to gratify our curiosity — to some ex-
tent, at least — to furnishing any information whatever, lest it
might be used by Abolitionists for their purposes, — as one
of them frankly said when questioned about the matter.
Nevertheless, some facts, or, at least, an approximation to-
wards the truth of them, are known respecting this singular
community of blacks, who have won their freedom, and es-
tablished themselves securely in the midst of the largest
slaveholding State of the South; for, from this extensive
Swamp, they are very seldom, if now at all, reclaimed.
The chivalry of Virginia, so far as I know, have never yet
ventured on a slave-hunt in the Dismal Swamp, nor is it,
probably, in the power of that State to capture or expel
these fugitives from it. This may appear extravagant ; but
when it is known how long a much less numerous band of
Indians held the everglades of Florida against the forces of
the United States, and how much blood and treasure it cost
to expel them finally, we may find a sufficient excuse for

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

229

the forbearance of the "Ancient Dominion" towards this
community of fugitives domiciliated in their midst.

From the character of the population, it is reasonable to
infer that the United States Marshal has never charged him-
self with the duty of taking the census of the Swamp ; and
we can only estimate the amount of population, by such cir-
cumstances as may serve to indicate it. Of these, perhaps
the trade existing between the city of Norfolk and the
Swamp may furnish the best element of computation. This
trade between the Swamp merchants and the fugitives is
wholly contraband, and would subject the white participants
to fearful penalties, if they could only be enforced ; for,
throughout the slave States, it is an offence, by law, of the
gravest character, to have any dealings whatever with
runaway negroes. But, t; You no catch 'em, you no hab
'em," is emphatically true in the Dismal Swamp, where
trader and runaway are alike beyond the reach of Virginia
law. An intelligent merchant, of near thirty years' business
in Norfolk, has estimated the value of slave property lost in
the Swamp, at one and a half million dollars. This city of
refuge, in the midst of society, has endured from generation
to generation, and is likely to continue until slavery is abol-
ished throughout the land. A curious anomoly this com-
munity certainly presents ; and its history and destiny are
alike suggestive of curiosity and interest.

That there are those at the South who desire the abolition
of slavery, the following extract from a speech of P. A.
20

230

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Boiling, Esq., in the House of Delegates, in Virginia, 1832,
will show : —

" Mr. Speaker, it is in vain for gentlemen to deny the
fact, — the feelings of society are fast becoming adverse to
slavery. The moral causes which produce that feeling are
on the march, and will march on, until the groans of slavery
are heard no more in this else happy land. Look over this
world's wide page ! see the rapid progress of liberal feel-
ings ! see the shackles falling from nations who have long
writhed under the galling yoke of slavery ! Liberty is go-
ing over the whole earth, hand-in-hand with Christianity.
The ancient temples of slavery, rendered venerable alone
by their antiquity, are crumbling into dust; ancient preju-
dices are fleeing before the light of truth, — are dissipated
by its rays, as the idle vapor by the bright sun. The noble
sentiment —

" < Then let us pray, that come it may,

As come it will, for a' that,
That man to man, the warld o'er,

Shall brothers be, for a* that '

is rapidly spreading. The day-star of human liberty has
risen above the dark horizon of slavery, and will continue
its bright career until it smiles alike on all men."

The Richmond Enquirer advocates the erection of a
monument to the memory of Peter Francisco, a colored
man, born a slave in Virginia, but emancipated at the com-
mencement of the Revolution, and enlisted as a soldier.
He served all through the war, and was subsequently Ser-
geunt-at-Arms of the Virginia Legislature.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

231

CHAPTER XII.

NORTH CAROLINA.

DAVID WALKER JONATHAN OVERTON — DELPH WILLIAMSON — GEO.

M. HORTON.

David Walker was born in Wilmington, North Carolina,
September 28, 1785. His mother was a free woman,
but his father was a slave. His innate hatred to slavery
was early developed. When yet a boy, he declared that
the slaveholding South was not the place for him, and, re-
ceiving his mother's blessing, he turned his back upon
North Carolina," and, after many trials, reached Boston,
Mass., where he took up his permanent residence.

He applied himself to study, in order to contribute some-
thing to the cause of humanity. In 1827, he entered into
the clothing business, in Brattle street ; married in 1828 ;
and in 1829, published his " Appeal," which, as Henry H.
Garnet truly says, " produced more commotion among
slaveholders than any volume of its size that was ever
issued from the American press. They saw that it was a
bold attack upon their idolatry, and that, too, by a black
man, who once lived among them. It was merely a smooth
stone which this David took up, yet it terrified a host of
Goliahs. The Governor of Georgia wrote to the Hon.
Harrison Gray Otis, then Mayor of Boston, requesting him

232

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

to suppress the " Appeal." His Honor replied to the
Southern censor, that he had no power nor disposition to
hinder Mr. Walker from pursuing a lawful course in the
utterance of his thoughts."

Mr. Walker died in Bridge street, in 1830, aged thirty-
four. His son, Edward Garrison Walker, now resides in
Charlestown, Mass., with his mother, Mrs. Dewson. Mr.
Walker was a faithful member of the Methodist Church in
Boston, whose pastor was the venerable Father Snowden.

Jonathan Overton, (says the Edenton Whig,) a col-
ored man, and a soldier of the Revolution, died at this
nlacc . \t the advanced age of one hundred and one
year*. The deceased served under Washington, and was
battle of Yorktown, besides other less important en-
Agements. He was deservedly held in great respect by
our citizens ; for, apart from the feeling of veneration which
every American must entertain for the scanty remnant of
Revolutionary heroes, of which death is fast depriving us,
the deceased was personally worthy of the esteem and con-
sideration of our community. He has lived among us lon-
ger than the ordinary period allotted to human life, and al-
ways sustained a character for honesty, industry, and integ-
rity. It is not always that the eulogies or epitaphs of per-
sons, in much more exalte^ positions than his, contain so
much truth as does this brief tribute to the humble and patri-
otic negro. We learn that several gentlemen have made
arrangements to have the burial accompanied by every
mark of respect.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

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The Wilmington Journal states that there is an old negro
in the county of Sampson, belonging to a Mr. Williamson,
who was one hundred and fourteen years old on the last
Fourth of July. He has been recently visited by a corre-
spondent of the Journal, who states that he found him cheer-
ful and in fine health, and busily engaged in making him-
self a pair of pants — without spectacles — he being a tailor
by trade. His first master, Archibald Bell, died about
ninety-eight years ago, at which time Delph was thirteen
years of age. He remembers seeing Lord Cornwallis and
his army, as well as other persons and things of note in
those early days. He was taken prisoner near the resi-
dence of William Fryer. He saw the Tories kill John
Thompson — he (Thompson) lingering some three days.
The old fellow lives by himself, not another soul being near
him. He is a sort of doctor, and travels as much as fifty
miles to see sick persons, and many persons visit him for
medical aid. He cooks, washes, milks, and makes his own
clothes, in a very independent manner. He is four feet
high, and weighs one hundred and five pounds. His pres-
ent owner, Mr. Williamson, is seventy-four, and therefore
an old man to the rest of the world, but quite a youth in
comparison to Delph. There is little reason for doubting
the old negro's age, of which he himself is confident, be-
sides having been known in Sampson from time immemorial
almost.

The following is a portion of an " Explanation " which
prefaces a volume of poems by George M. Horton, a
20 *

234 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

North Carolina slave. The volume was published by Mr.
Gales, formerly of North Carolina, but afterwards of the
firm of Gales & Seaton, Washington, D. C, who also
wrote the " Explanation." Mr. Gales is no Abolitionist,
and would not be likely, therefore, to exaggerate the talents
and character of an African slave : —

" George, who is the author of the following poetical effu-
sions, is a slave, the property of Mr. James Horton, of
Chatham county, North Carolina. He has been in the habit,
some years past, of producing poetical pieces, sometimes
on suggested subjects, to such persons as would write them
while he dictated. Several compositions of his have already
appeared in the Raleigh Register. Some have made their
way into Boston newspapers, and have evoked expressions
of approbation and surprise. Many persons have now be-
come much interested in the promotion of his prospects,
some of whom are elevated in office and literary attain-
ments. None will imagine it possible, that pieces produced
as these have been, should be free from blemish in composi-
tion or taste. The author is now thirty-two years of age,
and has always labored in the field on his master's farm,
promiscuously with the few others which Mr. Horton owns,
in circumstances of the greatest possible simplicity. His
master says he knew nothing of his poetry, but as he heard
of it from others. George knows how to read, and is now
learning to write. All his pieces are written down by
others ; and his reading, which is done at night, and at the
usual intervals allowed to slaves, has been much employed

.v " R F 3 ION.

235

on poetry, such as he could procure, his being the species
of composition most interesting to him. It is thought best
to print his productions without correction, that the mind of
the reader may be in no uncertainty as to the originality
and genuineness of every part. We shall conclude this ac-
count of George, with an assurance that he has ever been a
faithful, honest and industrious slave. That his heart has
felt deeply and sensitively in this lowest possible condition
of human nature, will easily be believed, and is impressively
confirmed by one of his stanzas —

" Come, melting Pity, from afar,
And break this vast enormous bar,

Between a wretch and thee ;
Purchase a few short days of time,
And bid a vassal soar sublime,
On wings of Liberty.' 1

Raleigh, July 2, 1829.

236

COL O.E ED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER XIII.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

HON. CHARLES PINCKNEY's TESTIMONY — CAPTAIN WILLIAMSON —
SALE OF A REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER — SLAVES FREED BY THE
LEGISLATURE — VETERAN OF FORT MOULTRIE — JEHU JONES —
MANUEL PEREIRA — JOHN PAUL — COMPLEXIONAL BARRIERS — RE-
VOLT OF 1 7 38 — THE BLACK SAXONS — DENMARK VEAZIE's INSUR-
RECTION IN 18 22 — WILLIAM G. NELL.

The celebrated Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, in his
speech on the Missouri question, and in defence of the
slave representation of the South, made the following ad-
missions : —

" At the commencement of our Revolutionary struggle
with Great Britain, all the States had this class of people.
The New England States had numbers of them ; the North-
ern and Middle States had still more, although less than the
Southern. They all entered into the great contest with
similar views. Like brethren, they contended for the bene-
fit of the whole, leaving to each the right to pursue its hap-
piness in its own way. They thus nobly toiled and bled
together, really like brethren. And it is a remarkable fact,
that, notwithstanding, in the course of the Revolution, the
Southern States were continually overrun by the British,
and every negro in them had an opportunity of running

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

237

away, yet few did. They then were, as they still are, as
valuable a part of our population to the Union as any other
equal number of inhabitants. They were in numerous in-
stances the pioneers, and in all, the laborers of your armies.
To their hands were owing the erection of the greatest part
of the fortifications raised for the protection of our country.
Fort Moultrie gave, at an early period of the inexperience
and untried valor of our citizens, immortality to American
arms. And in the Northern States, numerous bodies of
them were enrolled, and fought, side-by-side with the whites,
the battles of the Revolution."

The Charleston Standard and Mercury, of July, 1854
furnishes these facts : —

" Captain Williamson, a free man of color, died in this
city, on Friday, the 7th instant, at the extraordinary age of
one hundred and thirteen years. He was a native of Saint
PauPs Parish, and came out of the estate of Mr. William
Williamson, a successful merchant of Charleston. Out of
this estate, also, came 4 Good Old Jacob,1 who died a few
months since, at the age of one hundred and two years, and
whose death was noticed in our papers. When Jacob's
obituary notice was read to the Captain, 1 Why,' said the
old man, 4 I used to carry him about in my arms when he
was a child.'

"Mr. Williamson, before the Revolution, had removed to
his country seat near Wallis Bridge, about fifteen miles
from Charleston. There Captain Williamson had charge
of his master's large garden of fiftv acres, with its fish-pond.

238

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

shrubbery, and splendid collection of native and exotic
plants. The Captain was always a faithful servant, devoted
to the service of his master, and afterwards to his mistress,
who went to England, and there died. She left him free,
together with his children. Of these he had fourteen, of
whom only one survives. For many years, he superintend-
ed the farms and gardens of several persons on Charleston
Neck. He was remarkably intelligent and faithful, and was
universally respected by his employers and their neighbors.
During the war of the Revolution, he assisted in throwing
up the lines for the defence of the city, and was an ardent
lover of his country. In further proof of which, we refer to
Dr. Johnson's reminiscences of the Revolution, where the
Captain received honorable notice. There, amongst other
instances of his fidelity, it is recorded that, during the
troublesome times following the Revolution, he brought his
mistress a large sum of money due to her for rent, from
the Sister's ferry, on the Savannah. For this, he was re-
warded by her with a set of silver waistcoat buttons, which
he kept and exhibited with c commendable pride ' to his
visitors of the present generation. By his industry, he ac-
cumulated a sufficiency for the comfortable support of him-
self and his wife, who survives him, and is upwards of
eighty years of age. For upwards of fifty years, he has
been a humble and consistent member of the Circular
Church. He was charitable and kind to the poor, and
willing to assist in every benevolent object. He was highly
esteemed by the whites, and respected by his own color, by

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 239

members of both of whom he was followed to his last rest-
ing place, on Saturday evening."

The following interesting account of the trial and ex-
ecution of a colored man, (said to have been one of the de-
fenders of Fort Moultrie,) which took place at Charleston
in the year 1817, must excite the feelings of every
benevolent heart against the ruthless prejudices engendered
by the foul and leporous stain of slavery. A man belong-
ing to a merchant ship having died, apparently in conse-
quence of poison being mixed with the dinner served up to
the ship's company, the cook and cabin boy were suspected ;
because they were, on account of their occupations, the only
persons on board who did not partake of the mess, — the
effects of which appeared the moment it was tasted.

As the offence was committed on the high seas, the cook,
though a negro, became entitled to a jury, and, with the
cabin boy, was put upon his trial. The boy, who was a
fine-looking lad, was readily acquitted. The man was then
tried. He was of low stature, ill-shapen, and with a strongly-
marked and repulsive countenance. The evidence against
him was — first, that he was cook, and, therefore, who else
could have poisoned the mess ? It was, however, overlooked,
that two of the crew had absconded since the ship came
into port. Secondly, he had been heard to utter expressions
of ill-humor before he went on board. That part of the
testimony was, indeed, suppressed, which went to explain
these expressions. The real proof, no doubt, was written
in the color of his skin, and in the harsh and rugged lines
of his face. He was found guilty.

240

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Mr. Crafts, Jr., a member of the Charleston bar, and an
honor to his profession, who, from motives of humanity, had
undertaken his defence, did not think that a man ought to
die on account of the color of his skin — although prejudice,
with jaundiced eyes, might see nothing but crime and infamy
stamped upon it; and moved for a new trial, on the ground
of partial and insufficient evidence. But the Judge, who
had urged his condemnation with a vindictive countenance,
entrenched himself in forms, and found that the law gave
him no power on the side of mercy. Mr. C. then forwarded
a representation of the case to the President of the United
States, through one of the Senators of the State ; but the
Senator treated with levity the idea of interesting himself in
behalf of the life of a negro. He was, therefore, left to his
dungeon and the executioner.

Thus situated, he did not, however, forsake himself ; and it
was now, when prejudice, and a rigor bordering on persecu-
tion, had spent their last arrow on him, that he modestly, but
firmly, assumed his proper character, — to vindicate not
only his own innocence, but the moral equality of his race,
and those mental energies, which the white man's pride
would deny to the blackness of his skin. Maintaining an
undeviating tranquillity, he conversed with ease and cheer-
fulness, whenever his benevolent counsel, who continued his
kind attentions to the last, visited his cell. " I was present
(says Lieutenant Hall, from whose travels this account is
extracted,) on one of these occasions, and observed his tone
and manner ; he was neither sullen nor desperate, but quiet

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

241

and resigned, — suggesting whatever occurred to him on
the circumstances of his own case, with as much calmness
as if he had been uninterested in the event. Yet, as if he
deemed it a duty to omit none of the means placed within
his reach for vindicating his innocence, he paid the most
profound attention to the exhortations of a Methodist preach-
er, who, for conscience's sake, visited those who were in
prison ; and, having his spirit strengthened with religion, on
the morning of his execution, before he was led out, he re-
quested permission to address a few words of advice to the
companions of his captivity. " I have observed much in
them," he added, " which requires to be amended, and the
advice of a man in my situation may be respected. " A
circle was accordingly formed in his cell, in which he placed
himself, and addressed them at some length, with a sober
and collected earnestness of manner, on the profligacy which
he had noticed in their behavior while they had been fellow-
prisoners — recommending to them the rules of conduct
prescribed in that religion in which he now found his sup-
port and consolation.

If we regard the quality and condition of the actors only,
there is, assuredly, an astonishing difference between this
scene, and the parting of Socrates with his friends and dis-
ciples. Should we, however, put away from our thoughts
such differences as are merely accidental, and seize that
point of coincidence which is most interesting and import-
ant, namely — the triumph of mental energy over death
and unmerited disgrace — the negro will not appear wholly
21

242

COLOEED PATEIOTS OF THE

unworthy of a comparison with the sage of Athens. The
latter occupied an exalted station in the public eye. Al-
though persecuted, even unto death and ignominy, by a band
of triumphant and ruthless despots, he was surrounded in
his last moments by his faithful friends and disciples, to
whose talents and affection he might safely trust the vindica-
tion of his fame, and the unsullied purity of his memory.
He felt that the hour of his glory must come, and that it
would not pass away. The negro had none of these aids ;
he was a man friendless and despised ; the sympathies of
soicety were locked up against him ; he was to suffer for an
odious crime by an ignominious death ; the consciousness of
his innocence was confined to his own bosom, there, prob-
ably, to sleep for ever; to the rest of mankind he was a
wretched criminal — an object, perhaps, of contempt and de-
testation, even to the guilty companions of his prison-house.
He had no philosophy with which to reason down the natural
misgivings which may be supposed to precede a violent and
ignominious dissolution of life ; he could make no appeal to
posterity to reverse an unjust judgment. To have borne all
this patiently would have been much ; he bore it as a hero
and a Christian.

Having ended his discourse, he was conducted to the
scaffold, where, having calmly viewed the crowd collected
to witness his fate, he requested leave to address them.
Obtaining permission, he stepped firmly to the edge of the
scaffold, and, having commanded silence by his gestures, —
" You are come," said he, u to be spectators of my suffer-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 243

ings ; you are mistaken ; there is not a person in this crowd
but suffers more than I do. I am cheerful and contented ;
for I am innocent " He then observed, that he truly forgave
all those who had taken any part in his condemnation, and
believed that they acted conscientiously, from the evidence
before them, and disclaimed all idea of imputing guilt to
any one. He then turned to his counsel, who, with feelings
which honored humanity, had attended him to the scaffold.
" To you, Sir," said he, " lam, indeed, most grateful. Had
you been my son, you could not have acted by me more
kindly ;" and observing his tears, he continued, — "This,
Sir, distresses me beyond any thing I have felt yet. I en-
treat that you will feel no distress on my account. I am
happy." Then, praying Heaven to reward his benevolence,
he took leave of him, and signified his readiness to die ; but
requested that he might be excused from having his eyes
bandaged, wishing, with an excusable pride, to give this last
proof of the unshaken firmness with which innocence can
meet death. He, however, submitted, on this point, to the
representations of the Sheriff, and expired without the quiv-
ering of a muscle.*

Rev. Theodore Parker gives the following anecdote of
a Massachusetts sea-captain. He commanded a small
brig, which plied between Carolina and the Gulf States.
" One day, at Charleston," said he, " a man came and
brought to me an old negro slave. He was very old, and
had fought in the Revolution, and been very distinguished

* American Anecdotes.

244

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

for bravery and other soldierly qualities. If he had not
been a negro, he would have become a Captain, at least,
perhaps a Colonel. But, in his old age, his master found
no use for him, and said that he could not afford to keep
him. He asked me to take the Revolutionary soldier, and
carry him South and sell him. I carried him," said the
man, " to Mobile, and tried to get as good and kind a mas-
ter for him as I could, for I did n't like to sell a man that
had fought for his country. I sold the old Revolutionary
soldier for a hundred dollars to a citizen of Mobile, who
raised poultry, and he set him to attend a hen-coop." I
suppose the South Carolina master drew the pension till the
soldier died. " Why did you do such a thing ? " said my
friend, who was an Anti-Slavery man. " If I did n't do it,"
he replied, " I never could get a bale of cotton, nor a box of
sugar, nor any thing, to carry from or to any Southern port."

Jehu Jones was proprietor of a celebrated hotel in the
city of Charleston, situated on Broad street, next to the
aristocratic St. Michael's church, one of the most public
places in the city. He was a fine, portly looking man,
active, enterprising, intelligent, honest to the letter, — one
whose integrity and responsibility were never doubted. He
lived in every way like a white man. His house was
unquestionably the best in the city, and had a wide-spread
reputation. Few persons of note ever visited Charleston
without putting up at Jones's, where they found not only
the comforts of a private house, but a table spread with
every luxury the country afforded.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

245

Mr. Jones maintained the popularity of his house many
years, rearing a beautiful, intelligent and interesting family,
and accumulating forty thousand dollars or more. The
most interesting portion of his family were three daughters,
the eldest of whom married a gentleman who subsequently
removed to New York, where he engaged in a respectable
and lucrative business.

Mr. Jones often exerted his influence and contributed his
means to redeem persons from slavery. For several years,
he carried on an extensive fashionable tailoring establish-
ment, and among his customers were the wealthiest citizens
of Charleston. He had a large number of apprentices,
among whom was my father, (William G. Nell,) who
served seven years and six months.

Jehu, a son of Mr. Jones, visited the North, and was not
allowed to return home. The details of this case are sim-
ilar to hundreds of others, and prove that the right of loco-
motion is denied in the South to free colored persons from
the North, even though they are native-born Southerners.
The following extract from South Carolina State Documents
is conclusive evidence on this point : —

" Our first and great object is, to prevent the interchange of senti-
ment beticeen our domestic negroes, whether bond or free, and negroes
who reside abroad, or who have left our State. To do this, it becomes
imperative to establish a law prohibiting free negroes from coming into
the State, and those in the State from going, under penalty of impris-
onment and fine if they return'1

21*

246

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

This principle strikes down the rights of citizens of other
States. Though free-born myself, and unable to trace my
genealogy back to slavery, yet I am prohibited from visiting
my father's relatives in a Southern city, except at the risk
of pains and penalties. Why should not my rights as a
citizen of the Old Bay State be as sacred under the Pal-
metto Banner as those of any other man, white though he be ?

Colored seamen from the free States, and also from the
British dominions and elsewhere, continue to be removed
from vessels and imprisoned, though for many years efforts
have been put forth by the several powers to abolish the
restriction.

Complexional distinctions, growing out of the institution
of slavery, exist, to a great and unhappy extent, even among
colored people ; and as the Jews and Samaritans of Scrip-
ture had no dealings one with another, so in Charleston, as
in many other Southern cities, social intercourse and inter-
marriages occur only as exceptions among the two promi-
nent shades of complexion. In 1810, a Society was in
operation in the city of Charleston, of which my father
was a member, composed, as set forth in its Constitution, of
" free brown men only." Its objects were benevolent ; its
name, the Humane and Friendly Society ; but yet, at the
dictation of the spirit of pro-slavery, it was thoroughly pro-
scriptive in its character. This tree of caste, though rooted
in the South, shades many cities of the North with its bane-
ful branches ; but, through the dissemination of more liberal
principles, its influence daily diminishes.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

247

THE BLACK SAXONS.*

Mr. Duncan, a rich slaveholder in South Carolina, was
one evening indulging in a reverie after reading the History
of the Norman Conquest, when a dark mulatto opened the
door, and, making a servile reverence, said, in wheedling
tones, " Would massa be so good as to giv' a pass to go to
Methodist meeting ? " Being an indulgent master, he granted
the permission to him and several others, only bidding
them not to stay out all night. Some time after, when no
response was heard to his repeated bell-ringing, it occurred
to him that he had given every one of his slaves a pass to
go to the Methodist meeting. This was instantly followed
by the remembrance, that the same thing had occurred a
few days before. Having purchased a complete suit of ne-
gro clothes, and a black mask well-fitted to his face, he
awaited the next request for a pass to a Methodist meeting,
when, assuming the disguise, he hurried after the party.
And here, in this lone sanctuary of Nature's primeval ma-
jesty, were assembled many hundreds of swart figures,
some seated in thoughtful attitudes, others scattered in mov-
ing groups, eagerly talking together. He observed that
each one, as he entered, prostrated himself till his forehead
touched the ground, and rising, placed his finger on his
mouth. Imitating this signal, he passed in with the throng,
and seated himself behind the glare of the torches. For

* From the writings of Lydia Maria Child.

248

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

some time, he could make out no connected meaning amid
the confused buzz of voices, and half-suppressed snatches
of songs. But, at last, a tall man mounted the stump of a
decayed tree, nearly in the centre of the area, and requested
silence.

" When we had our last meeting," said he, " I suppose
most all of you know, that we all concluded it was best for
to join the British, if so be we could get a good chance. But
we did n't all agree about our masters. Some thought we
should never be able to keep our freedom, without we killed
our masters in the first place; others did n't like the thoughts
of that ; so we agreed to have another meeting to talk
about it. And now, boys, if the British land here in Caroli-
ny, what shall we do with our masters ? "

He stepped down, and a tall, sinewy mulatto stepped into
his place, exclaiming, with fierce gestures, u Ravish wives
and daughters before their eyes, as they have done to us.
Hunt them with hounds, as they have hunted us. Shoot
them down with rifles, as they have shot us. Throw their
carcasses to the crows, they have fattened on our bones ;
and then let the Devil take them where they never rake up
fire o' nights. Who talks of mercy to our masters ? "

"I do,*" said an aged black man, who rose up before the
fiery youth, tottering as he leaned both hands on an oaken
staff. " I do, — because the blessed Jesus always talked of
mercy. I know we have been fed like hogs, and shot at like
wild beasts. Myself found the body of my likeliest boy under
the tree where buckra rifles reached him. But, thanks to

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

249

the blessed Jesus, I feel it in my poor old heart to forgive
them. I have been a member of a Methodist church these
thirty years ; and I Ve heard many preachers, white and
black ; and they all tell me Jesus said, Do good to them
that do evil to you, and pray for them that spite you. Now,
I say, let us love our enemies ; let us pray for them ; and
when our masters flog us, and sell our pickaninnies, let us
break out singing —

" 1 You may beat upon my body,
But you cannot harm my soul ;
I shall join the forty thousand by and by.

"You may sell my children to Georgy,
But you cannot harm their soul ;
They will join the forty thousand by and by.

" Come, slave-trader, come in too ;
The Lord's got a pardon here for you ;
You shall join the forty thousand by and by/

" That *s the way to glorify the Lord."

Scarcely had the cracked voice ceased the tremulous
chant in which these words were uttered, when a loud alter-
cation commenced ; some crying out vehemently for the
blood of the white men, others maintaining that the old
man's doctrine was right. The aged black remained lean-
ing on his staff, and mildly replied to every outburst of
fury, " But Jesus said, do good for evil." Loud rose the
din of excited voices, and the disguised slaveholder shrank
deeper into the shadow.

250

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

In the midst of the confusion, an athletic, gracefully-pro-
portioned young man sprang upon the stump, and, throw-
ing off his coarse cotton garment, slowly turned round and
round before the assembled multitude. Immediately, all
was hushed ; for the light of a dozen torches, eagerly held
up by fierce, revengeful comrades, showed his back and
shoulders deeply gashed by the whip, and still oozing with
blood. In the midst of that deep silence, he stopped ab-
ruptly, and with stern brevity exclaimed, " Boys ! shall we
not murder our masters ? "

" Would you murder all ? " inquired a timid voice at his
right hand. " They don't all cruellize their slaves."

" There 's Mr. Campbell," pleaded another ; " he never
had one of his boys flogged in his life. You would n't
murder him, would you ? "

" O, no, no, no," shouted many voices ; u we would n't
murder Mr. Campbell. He 's always good to colored
folks."

" And I would n't murder my master," said one of Mr.
Duncan's slaves, " and I 'd fight any body that set out to
murder him. I an't a going to work for him for nothing any
longer, if I can help it ; but he shan't be murdered, for he's
a good master."

" Call him a good master, if ye like ! " said the bleeding
youth, with a bitter sneer in his look and tone. " I curse
the word. The white men tell us God made them our
masters ; I say, it was the Devil. When they don't cut up
the backs that bear their burdens, when they throw us

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

251

enough of the grain we have raised to keep us strong for
another harvest, when they forbear to shoot the limbs that
toil to make them rich, they are fools who call them good
masters. Why should they sleep on soft beds, under silken
curtains, while we, whose labor bought it all, lie on the
floor at the threshhold, or miserably coiled up in the dirt of
our own cabins ? Why should I clothe my master in
broadcloth and fine linen, when he knows, and I know,
that he is my own brother? and I, meanwhile, have only
this coarse rag to cover my aching shoulders ? " He
kicked the garment scornfully, and added, " Down on your
knees, if ye like, and thank them that ye are not flogged
and shot. Of me they '11 learn another lesson ! "

Mr. Duncan recognised in the speaker the reputed son of
one of his friends, lately deceased ; one of that numerous
class which Southern vice is thoughtlessly raising up, to be
its future scourge and terror.

The high, bold forehead, and flashing eye, indicated an
intellect too active and daring for servitude ; while his fluent
speech and appropriate language betrayed the fact that his
highly educated parent, from some remains of instinctive
feeling, had kept him near his own person during his life-
time, and thus formed his conversation on another model
than the rude jargon of slaves.

His poor, ignorant listeners stood spell-bound by the
magic of superior mind, and at first it seemed as if he
might carry the whole meeting in favor of his views. But
the aged man, leaning on his oaken staff, still mildly spoke

252

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

of the meek and blessed Jesus, and the docility of African
temperament responded to his gentle words.

After various scenes of fiery indignation, gentle expostu-
lation, and boisterous mirth, it was finally decided, by a
considerable majority, that in case the British landed, they
would take their freedom without murdering their masters ;
not a few, however, went away in wrathful mood, muttering
curses deep. '

With thankfulness to Heaven, Mr. Duncan again found
himself in the open field, alone with the stars. Their glori-
ous beauty seemed to him, that night, clothed in new and
awful power. Groups of shrubbery took to themselves
startling forms ; and the sound of the wind among the trees
was like the unsheathing of swords. Again he recurred to
Saxon history, and remembered how he had thought that
troubled must be the sleep of those who rule a conquered
people.

" And these Robin Hoods and Wat Tylers were my
Saxon ancestors," thought he. " Who shall so balance
effects and causes, as to decide what portion of my present
freedom sprung from their seemingly defeated efforts ?
Was the place I saw to-night, in such wild and fearful beau-
ty, like the haunts of the Saxon Robin Hoods ? Was not
the spirit that gleamed forth there as brave as theirs ? And
who shall calculate what even such hopeless endeavors may
do for the future freedom of their race ? "

These cogitations did not, so far as I ever heard, lead to
the emancipation of his bondmen ; but they did prevent his

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 253

revealing a secret, which would have brought hundreds to
an immediate and violent death. After a painful conflict
between contending feelings and duties, he contented him-
self with advising the magistrates to forbid all meetings
whatsoever among colored people, until the war was ended.

He visited Boston several years after, and told the story
to a gentleman, who often repeated it in the circle of his
friends. In brief outline it reached my ears. I have adopt-
*. ed fictitious names, because I have forgotten the real ones.

PROJECTED INSURRECTION IN CHARLESTON.

During the Revolutionary War, Captain Veazie, of
Charleston, was engaged in supplying the French in St.
Domingo with slaves from St. Thomas. In the year 1781 y
he purchased Denmark, a boy of about fourteen years of
age, and afterwards brought him to Charleston, where he
proved, for twenty years, a faithful slave. In 1800, Den-
mark drew a prize of $1500 in the lottery, and purchased
his freedom from his master for $600. From that period
until the time of his arrest, he worked as a carpenter, and
was distinguished for his great strength and activity, and
was always looked up to by those of his own: color with awe
and respect.

In 1822, Denmark Veazie formed a plan for the libera-
tion of his fellow-men from bondage. In the whole history
of human efforts to overthrow slavery, a more complicated
and tremendous plan was never formed., A part of the
22

254 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

plan matured was, that on Sunday night, the 16th of June,
a force would cross from James' Island and land on South
Bay, and march up and seize the Arsenal and guard-house ;
another body, at the same time, would seize the Arsenal on
the Neck ; and a third would rendezvous in the vicinity of
the mills of Denmark's master. They would then sweep
the town with fire and sword, not permitting a single white
soul to escape.

The sum of this intelligence was laid before the Gover-
nor, who, convening the officers of the militia, took such
measures as were deemed the best adapted to the approach-
ing exigency of Sunday night. On the 16th, at 10 o'clock
at night, the military companies, which were placed under
thccommand of Col. R. Y. Hayne, were ordered to rendez-
vous for guard.
' The conspirators, finding the whole town encompassed, at
10 o'clock, by the most vigilant patrols, did not dare to
show themselves, whatever might have been their plans.
In the progress of the subsequent investigation, it was dis-
tinctly in proof, that but for these military demonstrations,
the effort would unquestionably have been made ; that a
meeting took place on Sunday afternoon, the 16th, at 4
o'clock, of several of the ringleaders, at Denmark Veazie's,
for the purpose of making their preliminary arrangements,
and that early in the morning of Sunday, Denmark de-
spatched a courier to order down some country negroes
from Goose Creek, which courier had endeavored in vain to
get out of town.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 255

The conspirators, it was ascertained, had held meetings
for four years, without being betrayed. The leaders were
careful to instruct their followers not to mention their plans
to " those waiting men who received presents of old coats,
&c, from their masters," as such slaves would be likely to
betray them.

Denmark Veazie was betrayed by the treachery of his
own people, and died a martyr to freedom. The slave who
gave information of the projected insurrection was purchased
by the Legislature, who held out to other slaves the strong-
est possible motives to do likewise in similar cases, by
giving him his freedom.

The number of blacks arrested was one hundred and
thirty-one. Of these, thirty-five were executed, forty-one
acquitted, and the rest sentenced to be transported. Many
a brave hero fell ; but History, faithful to her high trust,
will engrave the name of Denmark Veazie on the same
monument with Moses, Hampden, Tell, Bruce, Wallace,
Toussaint, Lafayette, and Washington.

_ Wm. G. Nell was steward on board the ship Gen. Gads-
den, when she made good her escape from the British brig
Recruit, July 28th, 1812. They put into Boston, where my
father took up his abode.

A few days after the escape, the two captains were at the
" Indian Queen Tavern," in Bromfield street. The British
captain was relating the particulars of the chase, when the
Yankee captain (overhearing) acknowledged himself as the
one who had given John Bull the slip.

256

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER XIV.

GEORGIA.

MASSACRE AT BLOUNT'S FORT — MONSIEUR DE BORDEAUX — SLAVE
FREED BY THE LEGISLATURE.

On the West side of the Apalachicola River, (says the Hon.
Joshua R. Giddings, in a narrative from which this account
is taken,) some forty miles below the line of Georgia, are
yet found the ruins of what was once called " Blount's
Fort." Its ramparts are now covered with a dense growth
of underbush and small trees. You may yet trace out its
bastions, curtains, and magazine. At this time, the country
adjacent presents the appearance of an unbroken wilder-
ness, and the whole scene is one of gloomy solitude, asso-
ciated, as it is, with one of the most cruel massacres which
ever disgraced the American arms.

The fort had originally been erected by civilized troops,
and, when abandoned by its occupants at the close of the
war, in 1815, it was taken possession of by the refugees
from Georgia. But little is yet known of that persecuted
people ; their history can only be found in the national
archives at Washington. They had been held as slaves in
the State referred to ; but, during the Revolution, they
caught the spirit of liberty, — at that time so prevalent

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

257

throughout our land, — and fled from their oppressors, and
found an asylum among the aborigines living in Florida.

During forty years, they had effectually eluded or resisted
all attempts to reenslave them. They were true to them-
selves, to the instinctive love of liberty which is planted in
every human heart. Most of them had been born amidst
perils, reared in the forests, and taught from their childhood
to hate the oppressors of their race. Most of those who
had been personally held in degrading servitude, whose
backs had been scarred by the lash of the savage overseer,
had passed to that spirit land, where clanking of chains is
not heard, where slavery is not known. Some few of that
class yet remained. Their grey hairs and feeble limbs,
however, indicated that they, too, must soon pass away. Of
the three hundred and eleven persons residing in " Blount's
Fort," not more than twenty had been actually held in ser-
vitude. The others were descended from slave parents, who
fled from Georgia, and, according to the laws of the slave
States, were liable to suffer the same outrage to which their
ancestors had been subjected.

The slaveholders, finding they could not themselves ob-
tain possession of their intended victims, called on the Pres-
ident of the United States for assistance to perpetrate the
crime of enslaving their fellow-men.

General Jackson, Commander of the Southern Military
District, directed Lieutenant-Colonel Clinch to perform the
barbarous task. I was at one time personally acquainted
with that officer, and know the impulses of his generous na-
22*

258

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

ture, and can readily account for the failure of his expedi-
tion. He marched to the fort, made the necessary recon-
noisance, and returned, making report that " the fortification
was not accessible by land."

Orders were then issued to Commodore Patterson, direct-
ing him to carry out the orders of the Secretary of War.
He, at that time, commanded the American flotilla lying in
" Mobile Bay," and instantly issued an order to Lieutenant
Loomis to ascend the Apalachicola River with two gun-
boats, " to seize the people in Blount's Fort, deliver them to
their owners, and destroy the fort."

On the morning of the 17th of September, 1816, a spec-
tator might have seen several individuals standing upon the
walls of that fortress, watching with intense interest the ap-
proach of two small vessels that were slowly ascending the
river under full spread canvass, by the aid of a light south-
ern breeze. They were in sight at early cfawn, but it was
ten o1 clock when they furled their sails and cast anchor op-
posite the fort, and some four or five hundred yards distant
from it.

A boat was lowered, and soon a midshipman and twelve
men were observed making for the shore. They were met
at the water's edge by some half-dozen of the principal men
in the fort, and their errand demanded.

The young officer told them he was sent to make a de-
mand of the fort, and its inmates were to be given up to
the " slaveholders, then on board the gun-boat, who claimed
them as fugitive slaves ! " The demand was instantly re-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

259

jected, and the midshipman and his men returned to the
gun-boats, and informed Lieutenant Loomis of the answer
he had received.

As the colored men entered the fort, they related to their
companions the demand that had been made. Great was
the consternation manifested by the females, and even a
portion of the sterner sex began to be distressed at their
situation. This was observed by an old patriarch, who had
drank the bitter cup of servitude — one who bore on his
person the visible marks of the thong, as well as the brand
of his master upon his shoulder. He saw his friends falter,
and he spoke cheerfully to them. He assured them that
they were safe from the cannon-shot of the enemy — that
there were not men enough on board to storm their fort ;
and, finally, closed with the emphatic declaration, "Give me
liberty, or give me death ! " This saying was repeated by
many agonized fathers and mothers on that bloody day.

A cannonade was soon commenced upon the fort, but
without much apparent effect. The shots were harmless ;
they penetrated the earth of which the walls were com-
posed, and were there buried without further injury. Some
two hours were thus spent, without injuring any person in
the fort. They then commenced throwing bombs. The
bursting of these shells had more effect ; there was no shel-
ter from these fatal messengers. Mothers gathered their little
ones around them, and pressed their babes more closely to
their bosoms, as one explosion after another warned them
of their imminent danger. By these explosions, some were

260

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

occasionally wounded, and a few killed, until, at length, the
shrieks of the wounded and the groans of the dying were
heard in various parts of the fortress.

Do you ask why those mothers and children were thus
butchered in cold blood ? I answer, they were slain for ad-
hering to the doctrine that " all men are endowed by their
Creator with the inalienable right to enjoy life and liberty."
Holding to this doctrine of Hancock and Jefferson, the
power of the nation was arrayed against them, and our army
employed to deprive them of life.

The bombardment was continued some hours with but
little effect, so far as the assailants could discover. They
manifested no disposition to surrender. The day was pass-
ing away. Lieutenant Loomis called a council of officers,
and put to them the question, " what further shall be done ? "
An under officer suggested the propriety of firing " hot shot
at the magazine." The proposition was agreed to. The
furnaces were heated, balls were prepared, and the cannon-
ade was resumed. The occupants of the fort felt relieved
by the change. They could hear the deep humming sound
of the cannon balls, to which they had become accustomed
in the early part of the day, and some made themselves
merry at the supposed folly of their assailants. They knew
not that the shot were heated, and were, therefore, uncon-
scious of the danger which threatened them.

Suddenly, a startling phenomenon presented itself to their
astonished view. The heavy embankment and timbers pro-
tecting the magazine appeared to rise from the earth, and

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

261

the next instant the dreadful explosion overwhelmed them,
and the next found two hundred and seventy parents and
children in the immediate presence of God, making their
appeal for retributive justice upon the government which
had murdered them, and the freemen of the North who
sustained such unutterable crime.*

Many were crushed by the falling earth and timbers ;
many were entirely buried in the ruins. Some were horri-
bly mangled by the fragments of timber and the explosion
of charged shells that were in the magazine. Limbs were
torn from the bodies to which they had been attached ;
mothers and babes lay beside each other, wrapped in that
sleep which knows no waking. The sun had set, and the
twilight of evening was closing around, when some sixty
sailors, under the officer second in command, landed, and,
without opposition, entered the fort. The veteran soldiers,
accustomed to blood and carnage, were horror-stricken as
they viewed the scene before them. They were accompa-
nied, however, by some twenty slaveholders, all anxious for
their prey. These paid little attention to the dead and
dying, but anxiously seized upon the living, and, fastening
the fetters upon their limbs, hurried them from the fort, and
instantly commenced their return toward the frontier of
Georgia. Some fifteen persons in the fort survived the
terrible explosion, and they now sleep in servile graves, or
moan and weep in bondage.

• That is the number officially reported by the officer in command. Vide Exec-
utive Document of the 13th Congress.

262

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

The officer in command of the party, with his men,
returned to the boats as soon as the slaveholders were fairly
in possession of their victims. The sailors appeared gloomy
and thoughtful as they returned to their vessels. The
anchors were weighed, the sails unfurled, and both vessels
hurried from the scene of butchery as rapidly as they were
able. After the officers had retired to their cabins, the
rough-featured sailors gathered before the mast, and loud
and bitter were the curses they uttered against slavery, and
against those officers of government who had thus con-
strained them to murder women and helpless children,
merely for their love of liberty.

But the dead remained unburied ; and the next day, the
vultures were feeding upon the carcasses of young men
and young women, whose hearts on the previous morning
had beaten high with expectation. Their bones have been
bleached in the sun for thirty-seven years, and may yet be
seen scattered among the ruins of that ancient fortification.

Twenty-two years have elapsed, and a Representative in
Congress, from one of the free States, reported a bill, giving
to the perpetrators of these murders a gratuity of five thou-
sand dollars from the public treasury, as a token of the
gratitude which the people of the nation felt for the sol-
dierly and gallant manner in which the crime was committed
toward them. The bill passed both Houses of Congress,
was approved by the President, and now stands upon the
records of the third session of the Twenty-Fifth Congress.

These facts are all found scattered amQng the various

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

263

public documents which repose in the alcoves of our na-
tional library. But no historian has been willing to collect
and publish them, in consequence of the deep disgrace
which they reflect upon the American arms, and upon those
who then controlled the government.

The Savannah Republican of February, 1855, makes the
following mention of a venerable colored patriarch : —

" Monsieur de Bordeaux is a native of St. Domingo.
He left that island when about thirty or thirty-five years
old, during our Revolutionary War, in company with many
French volunteers, and was present at the siege of Savan-
nah, in 1779. He did not play the part of a mere ' looker-
on in Venice,' but took part in the struggle, and received a
severe and dangerous wound in the hip, which rendered
him a cripple for life. He was near Pulaski when he was
wounded, and saw the gallant Pole fa41. The old man can
satisfy the curious, probably, as to where Pulaski died, and
what disposition was made of his venerable remains. After
the war, Monsieur de Bordeaux returned to St. Domingo.
He left the island again, however, during the insurrection,
and by a profitable mistake of the captain of the vessel in
which he took passage, he was a second time landed at Sa-
vannah, where he spent many years with his friend, the late
Daniel Leons, of this city. Some fifty or sixty years since
he removed to South Carolina, where he has resided ever
since.

" Monsieur de Bordeaux is considerable over one hundred

264

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

years of age ; still, he retains a distinct recollection of his
vernacular tongue, the French, and possesses all the vivacity
of that nation, no one ever having seen him depressed in
spirits. He has ever enjoyed the highest character for
integrity and truth."

A few years since, a slave, at great hazard, saved the
State House at Milledgeville, when in flames. The Legis-
lature purchased him of his master for 01800, and set him
free, — thus showing their appreciation of the value of
liberty, even to the mind of a slave.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

265

CHAPTER XV.

KENTUCKY.

HENRY BOYD — LEWIS HAYDEN — THE HEROIC AND GENEROUS KEN-
TUCKY SLAVE.

Henry Boyd* was born a slave in Kentucky. Of imposing
stature, well-knit muscles, and the countenance "of one of
Nature's noblemen, at the age of eighteen, he had so far won
the confidence of his master, that he not only consented to
sell him the right and title to his freedom, but gave him his
own time to earn the money. With a general pass from
his master, Henry made his way to the Kanawha salt works,
celebrated as the place where Senator Ewing, of Ohio,
chopped out his education with his axe ! And there, too,
with his axe, did Henry Boyd chop out his liberty. By
performing double labor, he got double wages. In the day-
time, he swung his axe upon the wood, and for half the night,
he tended the boiling salt kettles, sleeping the other half by
their side. After having accumulated a sufficient sum, he
returned to his master, and paid it over for his freedom. He
next applied himself to learn the trade of a carpenter and
joiner. Such was his readiness to acquire the use of tools,
that he soon qualified himself to receive the wages of a

* This account is taken from the lips of a friend who resided in Cincinnati, and
had good opportunity to know the facts.

266

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

journeyman. In Kentucky, prejudice does not forbid mas-
ter mechanics to teach colored men their trades.

He now resolved to quit the dominions of slavery, and
try his fortunes in a free State, and accordingly directed his
steps to the city of Cincinnati. The journey reduced his
purse to the last quarter of a dollar ; but, with his tools on his
back, and a set of muscles that well knew how to use them,
he entered the city with a light heart. Little did he dream
of the reception he was to meet. There was work enough
to be done in his line, but no master-workman would em-
ploy " a nigger y Day after day did Henry Boyd offer his
services from shop to shop, but as often was he repelled,
generally with insult, and once with a kick. At last, he
found the shop of an Englishman, too recently arrived to
understand the grand peculiarity of American feeling. This
man put a plane into his hand, and asked him to make proof
of his skill. u This is in bad order," said Boyd, and with
that he gave the instrument certain nice professional knocks
with the hammer till he brought it to suit his practised eye.
u Enough," said the Englishman, " I see you can use tools."
Boyd, however, proceeded to dress a board in a very able
and workmanlike manner, while the journeymen from a
long line of benches gathered round, with looks that bespoke
a deep personal interest in the matter. " You may go to
work," said the master of the shop, right glad to employ so
good a workman. The words had no sooner left his mouth,
than his American journeymen, unbottoning their aprons,
called, as one man, for the settlement of their wages.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

267

"What, what," said the amazed Englishman, "what does
this mean ? "

" It means that we will not work with a nigger" replied
the journeymen.

" But he is a first-rate workman."

" But we won't stay in the same shop with a nigger. We
sare not in the habit of working with niggers."

" Then I will build a shanty outside, and he shall work in
that."

" No, no ; we won't work for a boss who employs
niggers. Pay us up, and we '11 be off."

The poor master of the shop turned, with a despairing
look, to Boyd — " You see how it is, my friend, my work-
men will all leave me. I am sorry for it, but I can 't hire
you."

Even at this repulse, our adventurer did not despair.
There might still be mechanics, in the outskirts of the city,
who had too few journeymen to be bound by their preju-
dicesT His quarter of a dollar had long since disappeared ;
but, by carrying a traveller's trunk or turning his hand to
any chance job, he contrived to exist till he had made appli-
cation to every carpenter and joiner in the city and its sub-
urbs. Not one would employ him. By this time, the iron
of prejudice, more galling than any thing he had ever
known of slavery, had entered his soul. He walked down
on the river's bank below the city, and, throwing himself
upon the ground, gave way to an agony of despair. He
had found himself the object of universal contempt ; his

268

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

plans were all frustrated, his hopes dashed, and his dear-
bought freedom made of no effect ! By such trials, weak
minds are prostrated in abject and slavish servility, stronger
ones are made the enemies and depredators of society, and
it is only the highest class of moral heroes that come off
like gold from the furnace. Of this class, however, was
Henry Boyd. Recovering from his dejection, he surveyed
the brawny muscles that strung his herculean limbs. A
new design rushed into his mind, a new resolution filled his
heart. He sprang upon his feet, and walked firmly and
rapidly towards the city, doubtless with aspirations that
might have fitted the words of the poet —

" Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye I"

The first object which attracted his " eagle eye," on
reaching the city, was one of the huge river boats, laden
with pig-iron, drawn up to the landing. The captain of this
craft was just inquiring of the merchant who owned its con-
tents for a hand to assist in unloading it. " I am the very
fellow for you," said Boyd, stripping off his coat, rolling up
his sleeves, and laying hold of the work. " Yes, sure
enough, that is the very fellow for you," said the merchant.
The resolution and alacrity of Boyd interested him exceed-
ingly, and during the four or five days whilst a flotilla of
boats were discharging their cargoes of pig-iron with unac-
customed despatch, he became familiar with his history, with
the exception of all that pertained to his trade, which Boyd

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 269

thought proper to keep to himself. In consequence, our ad-
venturer next found himself promoted to the portership of
the merchant's store, a post which he filled to great satisfac-
tion. He had a hand and a head for every thing, and an
occasion was not long wanting to prove it. A joiner was
engaged to erect a counter, but failing by a drunken frolic,
the merchant was disappointed and vexed. Rather in pas-
sion than in earnest, he turned to his faithful porter —
" Here, Henry, you can do almost any thing, why can 't
you do this job ? " " Perhaps I could, Sir, if I had my
tools and the stuff," was the reply. " Your tools ! " ex-
claimed the merchant, in surprise, for till now he knew
nothing of his trade. Boyd explained that he had learned
the trade of a carpenter and joiner, and had no objection to
try the job. The merchant handed him the money, and
told him to make as good a counter as he could. The work
was done with such promptitude, judgment and finish, that
his employer broke off a contract for the erection of a large
frame warehouse, which he was about closing with the same
mechanic who had disappointed him in the matter of the
counter, and gave the job to Henry. The money was fur-
nished, and Boyd was left to procure the materials and
boss the job at his own discretion. This he found no diffi-
culty in doing ; and what is remarkable, among the numer-
ous journeymen whom he employed, were some of the very
men who took off their aprons at his appearance in the Eng-
lishman's shop! The merchant was so much pleased with
his new warehouse, that he proceeded to set up the intelli-
23*

270

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

gent builder in the exercise of his trade in the city. Thus
Henry Boyd found himself raised at once almost beyond
the reach of the prejudice which had well-nigh crushed him.
He built houses and accumulated property. White jour-
neymen and apprentices were glad to be in his employment
and to sit at his table. He is now a wealthy mechanic,
living in his own house in Cincinnati, and his enemies who
have tried to supplant him have as good reason as his friends
to know that he is a man of sound judgment and a most vig-
orous intellect.

Lewis Hayden, once a slave in Kentucky, but now a
free man in Boston, Mass., in his extensive business and so-
cial relations, commands the respect of an increasing circle
in the community.

Wm. H. Channing, in a sketch entitled, " A Day in Ken-
tucky," says : —

" I wish to relate what was told me by one of the daugh-
ters of Judge K., as we walked over the estate.

"cIt all looks bright, and peaceful, and happy, does it
not ? ' said she, as, standing on a little knoll under a group
of hickory trees, she pointed over the wide fields to the
family mansion and the cluster of slave huts, at whose
doors the children, in swarms, were playing, with the noisy
glee of the African. c But,' she continued, after a gloomy
pause, ' to us, who know what slavery is, this peace is the
green corruption of a stagnant pool, — the peace of death.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

271

O ! worse, far worse ! It is the yawning grave of human-
ity. Do you s^e that spreading beech yonder, just on the
edge of the hemp field, where the ditch runs ? It was
there that my brother Frank received the blow on the fore-
head, of which you observed, perhaps, the scar. I will tell
you about it. It was his duty, at that time, to keep the
nightly watch ; for you know,' she said, turning to me with
a smile of bitter irony, 4 that we have to be guardians to
these poor friends, who love us so as never to leave us.
Well, Frank kept the nightly watch. Armed to the teeth,
with a dark lantern, he passed once or twice, or oftener,
round the plantation. One stormy night, some two years
since, he had reached that spot, when suddenly he heard a
crackling sound through the hemp stalks. He cloaked his
lantern, drew a pistol, and stepped behind the tree. In a
moment, a man, with stealthy tread, approached the ditch,
which is the boundary of the farm on that side. Frank
flashed the light upon him. It was his own favorite slave,
Ned; — of the same age with himself — almost a foster
brother, for his mother was Franks nurse ; his fellow-
rambler in the woods, his play-fellow through early years.
Hunting, fishing, swimming, nutting, taming horses, every
sport had been shared by them. Frank loved that man,
and Ned, I believe in my heart, loved him. He was high
spirited and manly, though a negro; strong, bold, and some-
what passionate; and, as we found out afterwards, he had
been struck that day by the overseer. It wras a dreadful
meeting. " Ned," said my brother, " turn back ! I cannot in

272

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

honor let you go. I am my father's watchman. You pass
that ditch only over my body. Come ! turn back. You
know I am your friend ; we are all your friends." " Mas-
ter Frank," answered the noble fellow, — for he was so,
though he almost killed my brother, — "Master Frank!
God knows I would die for you, but, I forewarn you, I will
not be taken. That .wretch shall never lay his hand on me 1
again. Let me pass, I beseech you ! let me pass." Frank
stood firm. Again Ned besought him in vain. He then
turned to leap aside. Frank cried, " Beware ! I shall fire ;"
and, quick as thought, Ned struck him a stunning blow.
He fell, utterly insensible. And what did that man do?
Did he leap the ditch and fly ? No ! he took my bleeding
brother on his shoulders, he carried him to the nearest slave-
hut, roused the inmates, set him erect by the door, and then,
and not till then, made his escape. Time enough elapsed
before Frank could come to himself, and be carried to the
house, and my father waked, for Ned to get clear off ; the
darkness, too, and the storm, favored him. He was gone ;
and I do believe we were all glad. Frank never blamed
him. How could he ? In the same case, would he not
have done, the same? Well, two months passed away,
when, early one morning, the overseer found Ned asleep
under some bushes, and brought him to the house. I will
tell you where he had been afterwards ; but see the cun-
ning of the creature, — a cunning and deceit that we sow
in all slaves, and therefore ought to reap. IJe knelt to my
father, and said, " Pardon, master! pardon! I have tried

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

273

free bread, and it is not good. No friends for the poor
slave among the mean white folks over the river, and so I
have come back to you, master." My father did not have
him punished, but ordered him to be bound with ropes and
left in an empty room. The day passed, — two or three
days, indeed, — and Ned was still bound. Meanwhile, the
overseer threatened him with being sent down the river.
You know what that means, don't you ? It means, sent to
sweat and starve, and die by inches, in the sugar-fields of
Louisiana. Ned caught the alarm. By connivance of
some one, he got a knife, and, when all was still, cut his
ropes, and cautiously made his way out of the house. It
was a stormy night, — his tracks were plain, but he could
not help it. He ran to the neighboring plantation yonder,
where his wife lived, and gave his peculiar whistle under
her window. She was awake, and heard him. Poor soul !
I dare say she had hardly s'ept, from anxiety, for the two
months after he ran away. She raised the window. " Jump
down!" whispered Ned; "jump down, just as you are;
wait not a second." She jumped, and, catching her in his
arms, they escaped together.

" c Next morning, pursuit was made from both planta-
tions; not that my father wished Ned to be taken, but our
neighbor was not willing to lose the woman, who was a
house servant, and very valuable. The pursuers, however,
were deceived by the tracks, which were half buried up, and
chilled and blinded by the storm, which was uncommonly
severe for this part of the world, and at night gave up the

274

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

hunt. We heard no more of them till last summer, when,
travelling through Canada, whom should we find, as servant
at a hotel in Prescott, but this rascal Ned. At first, he was
shy and grave, and affected perfect ignorance. But it was-
always a saying of my father's, " If a nigger has sense
enough to run off, and get safely out of the States, he must
be a smart fellow, and has sense enough, too, to take care
of himself, and he shall be free and welcome ; " and Ned
soon saw that we were his friends, and told us his adven-
tures. It seems, that when he first escaped, he made his
way good to Canada ; but no sooner did he feel .himself
safe, than the thought of his wife in slavery so overcame
him, that he instantly resolved to return, at all risks, and
free her too. Night and day, he travelled back, till he
reached our plantation, when, utterly overcome with fatigue
andjiunger, he fell asleep and was taken. Then, as I have
told you, he " played possum," as the negroes say, till he
caught the hint of being sent away, when he again escaped.
And now see how a kind Providence aided those poor
creatures. Would you believe it ? The men who pursued
them came to the very barn into which they had crept for
concealment when the day broke ; they trod, over and over
again, upon their bodies, which were covered by the heaps
of straw and hay; they cursed and swore, and consulted
together, and vowed to take them, at the very ears of their
victims; and yet they were kept safe. As soon as it was
night, they set off again, through the snow, and hid them-
selves a second day in a wood, half frozen and famished.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

275

The third night they reached the Ohio, by good fortune
found a boat, paddled themselves over, and were safe.
Friends forwarded them to Canada; and, when we saw
them, they were as happy as people could be, with every
prospect of success. And now,' said the beautiful girl,
drawing herself up to her full height and folding her arms,
' I know not what you may think, for some of you North-
erners seem to me, with all deference, to have the spirit of
slaves yourselves ; but, Kentuckian as I am, and on this
slave soil, I dare to say it, Ned is a hero, — a hero,
whom, if he had lived in the good old days of Greece,
would have had his deeds immortalized in the strains of
some Homer.'

16 The conversation of this spirited woman gave rise to
some thoughts, which I will briefly state, for the benefit of
those dull folks, who are too lazy to crack a nut and pick
out the kernel.

" 1. All slaveholders are not insensible to the great out-
rages daily committed by slavery upon justice and affection,
nor indifferent to the welfare of those whom they know to
be brethren. There are pure-hearted men and women at
the South, deserving our respect, our sympathy, counsel,
aid, and prayers.

" 2. If a Northern man relishes contempt and insult, he
can find it, in any quantity and intensity, by professing to be
an admirer of their 4 peculiar domestic institutions ' at the
South. Southerners rarely believe such professions, and
are apt to think him who makes them a hypocrite, or, if

276

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

they suppose him sincere, to despise him for a mean-spir-
ited, stupid booby.

" 3. If, even under slavery, the African race exhibits
such heroic and lovely traits, would they not be noble men,
if bound to their white fellow-freemen by the triple bond
of gratitude, and mutual confidence, and generous emula-
tion ? "

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CHAPTER XVI.

OHIO.

CLEVELAND MEETING — DR. PENNINGTON — EXTRACTS FROM ORATION
OP "WILLIAM H. DAY — BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF BUCKEYE PROGRESS.

The colored citizens of Ohio held a Mass Convention at
Cleveland, September 9th, 1852. I cull the following inci-
dents and tributes, as peculiarly appropriate to a military
history of Colored Americans.

At sunrise, a salute was fired in the public square, in
honor of the day, by the " Cleveland Light Artillery," and
another at nine o'clock, as the procession formed, of which
the orator of the day subsequently said : — " They are the
first thunders of artillery that ever awoke the echoes of
these hills in honor of the colored people. But they shall
not be the last."

Rev. Dr. J. W. C. Pennington delivered a speech, of
which Mr. Howland, a colored phonographic reporter,
says, — " The Doctor took the stand and delighted the Con-
vention with a short, brilliant and instructive address on the
history of the past, and the part which the colored people
have taken in the struggles of this nation for independence,
and its various wars since its achievement."

Says the Daily True Democrat, — "The principal fea-
24

278

COLOKED PATRIOTS OF THE

ture in the ceremonials of this jubilee was the address of
our fellow-citizen, Mr. William H. Day, a performance
worthy of its great purpose, and, therefore, most creditable
to the author. Not often have we heard an address listened
to with so absorbing an attention, nor observed an audience
to be more deeply moved, than was Mr. Day's, by some
parts of that address. After noticing the day, the 9th of
September, which had been selected for their jubilation, and
illustrating its preeminent suitableness to the occasion, by
happy references to many illustrious events of which it was
the anniversary, Mr. Day addressed himself to an able vin-
dication of the claims of his race, in this country, to an equal
participation in the exercise and enjoyment of those Ameri-
can rights which large numbers of that race, in common
with the men of fairer complexion, had fought, suffered, and
died to establish. Behind the orator sat seven or eight
veteran colored men. Mr. D.'s apostrophe to those vete-
rans was as touching as admirable, and produced a profound
sensation."

Happily, it is in our power to furnish extracts from the
speech thus referred to, as follows : —

wc Of the services and sufferings of the colored soldiers of
the Revolution,' says one writer, c no attempt has, to our
knowledge, been made to preserve a record.' This is main-
ly true. Their history is not written. It lies upon the soil
watered with their blood: who shall gather it? It rests
with their bones in the charnel-house : who shall exhume
it? Their bodies, wrapped in sacks, have dropped from

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 279

the decks where trod a Decatur and a Barry, in a calm and
silence, broken only by the voice of the man of God — 'We
commit this body to the deep and the plunge and the rip-
ples passing, the sea has closed over their memory for ever.
Ah ! we have waited on shore and have seen the circle of
that ripple. We know, at least, where they went down ;
and so much, to-day, we come to record.

" We have had in Ohio, until very recently, and if they
are living, have here now, a few colored men who have thus
connected us with the past. I have been told, recently, of
one in the Southern portion of the State.

" Another, of whom we all know, has resided, for many
years, near Urbana, Champaigne county. He was invited
to, and expected at, this meeting. Father Stanup (as he is
familiarly called) has lived to a good old age. He has been
afflicted with recent sickness, and it may have prostrated
him permanently. The frosts of a hundred winters will
shrivel any oak ; the blasts of a century will try any vitality.
The aged soldier must soon die. O ! that liberty, for
which he fought, be bequeathed to his descendants ! The
realization of that idea would smooth his dying pillow,
and make the transit from this to another sphere a pleasant
passage. I am credibly informed, that the age 'of Mr.
Stanup is one hundred and nine ; that he was with General
Washington ; and that his position, in this respect, has been
recognised by officers of the Government."

* A correspondent of the National Era says of Mr. Stanup, that- he witnessed
most of the battles of that era, was wounded at the battle of Stony Point, and

280

COLORED

PATRIOTS

OF THE

" So much for the Revolution. I could add other facts
bearing upon this particular, but do not deem it necessary.
We have adduced proof sufficient to show any American
who breasted the tide of death sweeping over this country
in '76. We hold it up, that men who have denied its truth
may observe, that the ignorant may be enlightened, and
that white Americans may be divested of excuse for basing
their exclusive liberty upon the deeds of their fathers. We,
to-day, advance with them to the same impartial tribunal,
and demand, that if the reason be good in the one case, it
be made to apply in the other.

" In May, 1812, the American people again engaged in
conflict with Great Britain.

" The naval engagements of that war are, perhaps, un-
surpassed by any other; and that on the 11th of September,
on Lake Champlain, of that war perhaps the most brilliant
of any. Hear what the Common Council of New York city
said of that battle to Commodore Macdonough. I read
from a newspaper of 1815: —

" * Having approached the chair, his Honor, the Mayor, addressed
the Commodore as follows : — " When our northern frontier was

was left for dead on the field of conflict. The scars from wounds then received he
bears upon his person still, not without evident consciousness that they are re-
garded " honorable scars," as his details denote clearly enough. He is a member
Of the Baptist church, which he joined eighty years ago; and yet he talks, with
the aid of a vivid recollection, seemingly, of his conversion, and his baptism in the
Potomac, while " blessing the Lord " for it. His character has not belied his early
profession,— it having been markedly exemplary.

lie lias certainly not disregarded, during his long life, the scriptural injunction
to increase and multiply and replenish the earth, for he is the father of thirty-
THBEE children, by two wives only. The youngest of these is now about twenty
years of age. — w. c. n.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

281

invaded by a powerful army, when the heroes who have immortal-
ized themselves on the Niagara were pressed by a superior force,
when the capital of the nation was overrun by hostile bands, when
the most important city of the South was attacked by the enemy,
and when he threatened to lay waste our maritime towns with fire
and sword, — at a period so inauspicious and gloomy, when all but
those who fully understand and duly appreciate the firmness and
resources of the American character began to despair of the Repub-
lic, you were the first icho changed the fortune of our arms, and who
dispelled the dark cloud that hung over our country. "With a force
greatly inferior, you met the enemy, vaunting of his superior
strength, and confident of victory ; you crushed his proud expec-
tations, you conquered him ; and the embattled hosts which were
ready to penetrate into the heart of our country > fled in dismay and
confusion. * * * *

" « As long as illustrious events shall be embodied in history, so
long will the victory on Lake Champlain, obtained under your
auspices, command the respect of mankind. And when you, and
all who hear me, shall be numbered among the dead, those who
succeed us, to the most extended line of remote antiquity, will
cherish with exultation those great achievements which are indisso-
lubly connected with the prosperity and glory of America. —
Special Meeting of Common Council, Jan. 7thy 1815.

" To colored men, I remark, as much as to any others,
belongs the honor of that battle."

[Mr. Day here exhibited a copy of an old newspaper, the
organ of the Government, dated Jan. 12th, 1815, containing
the only full account given any where of the names and
equipment of the six larger vessels and the ten galleys, and
added — ]

24*

282

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

" I recollect something of one of the men on board the
row-galley Viper. That man enlisted under Commodore
Macdonough, was apportioned to a row-galley, stood like a
man at his post in the thickest of the fight, and where the
blood of his fellows literally washed the deck. The honor-
marks of that battle he carried to his grave. He sleeps in
a secluded grave-yard, yet not entirely unhonored by those
for whom he perilled all. I hold in my hand c a List of
Acts passed by the Thirteenth Congress at its third session,'
the first of which is a series of c Resolutions, expressive of
the sense of Congress of the gallant conduct of Captain
Thomas Macdonough, the officers, seamen, marines, and
infantry serving as marines, on board the United States
squadron on Lake Champlain.'

" This same man was shortly afterward drafted to go to
the Mediterranean with Commodore Bainbridge's Relief
Squadron.* Says Dr. Frost, in his History, — c Commodore
Bainbridge proceeded, according to his instructions, to
exhibit his force, now consisting of seventeen sail, before
Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, and to make arrangements for
the security of American commerce in the Mediterranean.
Having settled all for the honor and interests of his country,
he returned to the United States.' So, according to Dr.
Frost, colored men have been of service, where c the secu-
rity of American commerce,' and c the honor and interests
of the country ' were concerned. The colored marine to

• The colored marine here referred to is Mr. John Day, father of Mr. William
n. Day.— w. c. n.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

283

whom I have referred received an honorable discharge,
March 16th, 1816."

On the platform on this occasion were Mr. John Julius,
who served under General Jackson at New Orleans ; Mr.
John Boyer Vashon, who has since deceased, who was
in the Jersey prison-ship ; and Mr. L. C. Flewellen, who
enlisted in Georgia. Mr. Day also alluded to Mr. Robert
Van Vranken, who marched, in 1815, to Plattsburg; and
several others, now residing in the West, whose names
escape us, were also mentioned. Mr. Day, in concluding,
remarked : —

u I have purposely omitted mention of other matters. I
have necessarily been mainly historical. We needed to
set forth these facts in form. ... I think we have demon-
strated this point, that if colored people are among your
Pompeys, and CufTees, and Uncle Toms, they are also
among your heroes. They have been on Lakes Erie and
Champlain, upon the Mediterranean, in Florida with the
Creeks, at Schuylkill, at Hickory Ground, at New Orleans,
at Horse Shoe Bend, and at Pensacola. The presence of
some of them here to-day is a living rebuke to this land."

Addressing the large crowd of white citizens present,
Mr. Day said, — "We can be, as we have always been,
faithful subjects, powerful allies, as the documents read
here to-day prove : an enemy in your midst, we would be
more powerful still. We ask for liberty; liberty here —
liberty on the Chalmette Plains — liberty wherever floats
the American flag. We demand for the sons of the men

284

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

who fought for you, equal privileges. We bring to you, to-
day, the tears of our fathers, — each tear is a volume, and
speaks to you. To you, then, we appeal. We point you
to their blood, sprinkled upon your door-posts in your po-
litical midnight, that the Destroying Angel might pass over.
We take you to their sepulchres, to see the bond of honor
between you and them kept, on their part, faithfully, — even
until death."

A colored military company has been formed in Cincin-
nati,— pronounced by competent judges to be well manned,
well officered and well drilled. They have chosen the ap-
propriate historic name of " Attacks Guards." July 25th,
1855, Miss Mary A. Darnes, in behalf of an association of
ladies, presented the company with a flag. Among the
sentiments expressed by her were the following : —

" Should the love of liberty and your country ever demand your
sendees, may you, in imitation of that noble patriot whose name
you bear, promptly respond to the call, and fight to the last for the
great and noble principles of liberty and justice, to the glory of your
fathers and the land of your birth.

" The time is not far distant when the slave must be free; if not by
moral and intellectual means, it must be done by the sword. Re-
member, Gentlemen, should duty call, it will be yours to obey, and
strike to the last for freedom or the grave.

" But God forbid that you should be called upon to witness our
peaceful homes involved in war. May our eyes never behold this
flag in any conflict ; let the quiet breeze ever play among its folds,
and the fullest peace dwell among you ! "

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

285

In the State of Ohio, the average property owned by
white citizens is $5.90 ; that of the colored citizens, $6.71.
Net property of colored people in Cincinnati, $800,000 ;
in the State of Ohio, $5,000,000. In Cincinnati, among
the colored citizens, are to be found three bank tellers,
a superior artist in landscape painting — who has visited
Rome to perfect his education; besides carpenters, cabinet-
makers, stucco-workers, hotel-keepers, shop-keepers, nine
daguerreotype artists, — the gallery kept by Mr. Ball (a col-
ored man) being acknowledged the best in the Western
country. In Cleveland, a city institution has employed a
colored librarian, William H. Day, Esq.

286 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

CHAPTER XVII.

LOUISIANA.

PROCLAMATIONS OF GENERAL JACKSON FREE COLORED VETERANS —

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS — _ JORDAN B. NOBLE, THE DRUMMER —

JOHN JULIUS EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH *OF HON. ROBERT C.

WINTHROP — COTTON BALE BARRICADE — GEN. PACKENHAM — AN-
THONY GILL DOCUMENTARY FACTS — MIXED POPULATION OF NEW

ORLEANS.

In 1814, when New Orleans was in danger, and the
proud and criminal distinctions of caste were again demol-
ished by one of those emergencies in which Nature puts to
silence, for the moment, the base partialities of art, the free
colored people were called into the field in common with
the whites ; and the importance of their services was thus
acknowledged by General Jackson : —

" Head Quarters, Seventh Military District,
Mobile, September 21, 1814.

" To the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana :

" Through, a mistaken policy, you have heretofore been deprived
of a participation in the glorious struggle for national rights, in
which our country is engaged. This no longer shall exist.

" As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend our most
inestimable blessings. As Americans, your country looks with con-
fidence to her adopted children for a valorous support, as a faithful

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

287

return for the advantages enjoyed under her mild and equitable
government. As fathers, husbands, and brothers, you are sum-
moned to rally around the standard of the Eagle, to defend all which
is dear in existence.

" Your country, although calling for your exertions, does not wish
you to engage in her cause without remunerating you for the ser-
vices rendered. Your intelligent minds are not to be led away by
false representations — your love of honor would cause you to de-
spise the man who should attempt to deceive you. "With the
sincerity of a soldier, and in the language of truth, I address you.

" To every noble-hearted free man of color, volunteering to serve
during the present contest with Great Britain, and no longer, there
will be paid the same bounty, in money and lands, now received by
the white soldiers of the United States, namely — one hundred and
twenty-four dollars in money, and one hundred and sixty acres of
land. The non-commissioned officers and privates will also be en-
titled to the same monthly pay, daily rations, and clothes, furnished
to any American soldier.

" On enrolling yourselves in companies, the Major-General com-
manding will select officers for your government, from your white
fellow-citizens. Your non-commissioned officers will be appointed
from among yourselves.

" Due regard will be paid to the feelings of freemen and soldiers.
You will not, by being associated with white men, in the same
corps, be exposed to improper comparisons, or unjust sarcasm. As
a distinct independent battalion or regiment, pursuing the path of
glory, you will, undivided, receive the applause and gratitude of
your countrymen.

" To assure you of the sincerity of my intentions, and my anxiety
to engage your invaluable services to our country, I have communi-
cated my wishes to the Governor of Louisiana, who is fully informed

288

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

as to the manner of enrollments, and will give you every necessary
information on the subject of this address.

ANDREW JACKSON,

Major- General Commanding,

The second proclamation is one of the highest compli-
ments ever paid by a military chief to his soldiers.

December 18, 1814, General Jackson issued, in the
French language, the following address to his colored
members of his army : —

" Soldiers ! — "When, on the banks of the Mobile, I called you to
take up arms, inviting you to partake the perils and glory of your
white fellow -citizens, I expected much from you ; for I was not igno-
rant that you possessed qualities most formidable to an invading
enemy. I knew with what fortitude you could endure hunger and
thirst, and all the fatigues of a campaign. I knew well how you
loved your native country, and that you, as well as ourselves, had to
defend what man holds most dear — his parents, wife, children, and
property. You have done more than I expected. In addition to the
previous qualities I before knew you to possess, I found among you
a noble enthusiasm, which leads to the performance of great things.

" Soldiers ! The President of the United States shall hear how
praiseworthy was your conduct in the hour of danger, and the rep-
resentatives of the American people will give you the praise your
exploits entitle you to. Your General anticipates them in applaud-
ing your noble ardor.

"The enemy approaches ; his vessels cover our lakes; our brave
citizens are united, and all contention has ceased among them.
Their only dispute is, who shall win the prize of valor, or who the
most glory, its noblest reward. By Order,

THOMAS BUTLEU, Aid-de-Camp."

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

289

The New Orleans Picayune, in an account of the cele-
bration of the Battle of New Orleans, in that city, in 1851,
says : —

" Not the least interesting, although the most novel fea-
ture of the procession yesterday, was the presence of ninety
of the colored veterans who bore a conspicuous- part in the
dangers of the day they were now for the first time called
to assist in celebrating, and who, by their good conduct in
presence of the enemy, deserved and received the approba-
tion of their illustrious commander-in-chief. During the
thirty-six years that have passed away since they assisted to
repel the invaders from our shores, these faithful men have
never before participated in the annual rejoicings for the
victory which their valor contributed to gain. Their good
deeds have been consecrated only in their memories, or
lived but to claim a passing notice on the page of the histo-
rian. Yet, who more than they deserve the thanks of the
country, and the gratitude of succeeding generations ? Who
rallied with more alacrity in response to the summons of
danger ? Who endured more cheerfully the hardships of
the camp, or faced with greater courage the perils of the
fight ? If, in that hazardous hour, when our homes were
menaced with the horrors of war, we did not disdain to call
upon the colored population to assist in repelling the invad-
ing horde, we should not, when the danger is past, refuse to
permit them to unite with us in celebrating the glorious
event, which they helped to make so memorable an epoch
in our history. We were not too exalted to mingle with
25

290

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

them in the affray ; they were not too humble to join in our
rejoicings.

u Such, we think, is the universal opinion of our citizens.
We conversed with many yesterday, and, without exception,
they expressed approval of the invitation which had been
extended to the colored veterans to take part in the ceremo-
nies of the day, and gratification at seeing them in a con-
spicuous place in the procession.

" The respectability of their appearance, and the modes-
ty of their demeanor, made an impression on every observer,
and elicited unqualified approbation. Indeed, though in
saying so we do not mean disrespect to any one else, we
think that they constituted decidedly the most interesting
portion of the pageant, as they certainly attracted the most
attention.1'

The editor, after further remarks upon the procession, and
adding of its colored members, " We reflected, that beneath
their dark bosoms were sheltered faithful hearts, susceptible
of the noblest impulses,1' thus alludes to the free colored
population of New Orleans : —

" As a class, they are peaceable, orderly, and respectable
people, and many of them own large amounts of property
among us. Their interests, their homes, and their affec-
tions, are here, and such strong ties are not easily broken
by the force of theoretical philanthropy, or imaginative
sentimentality. They have been true hitherto, and we will
not do them the injustice to doubt a continuance of their
fidelity. While they may be certain that insubordination

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

291

will be promptly punished, deserving actions will ttlways
meet with their due reward in the esteem and gratitude of
the community."

Yet, if five, even of these veterans, should at any time be
seen talking together, they are liable to be arrested for con-
spiracy, according to the laws of Louisiana !

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, in his speech in Congress, on
the Imprisonment of Colored Seamen, September, 1850,
bore this testimony to the gallant conduct of the colored
soldiers at New Orleans : — "I have an impression that,
not, indeed, in these piping times of peace, but in the time
of war, when quite a boy, I have seen black soldiers enlist-
ed, who did faithful and excellent service. But, however it
may have been in the Northern States, I can tell the Sena-
tor what happened in the Southern States at this period. I
believe that I shall be borne out in saying, that no regiments
did better service, at New Orleans, than did the black regi-
ments, which were organized under the direction of General
Jackson himself, after a most glorious appeal to the patriot-
ism and honor of the people of color of that region ; and
which, after they came out of the war, received the thanks
of General Jackson, in a proclamation, which has been
thought worthy of being inscribed on the pages of history."

Chalmette Plains, the scene of the famous Battle of New
Orleans, are five miles below that city, on the left bank
of the Mississippi. There is an elaborate engraving of this
battle, eighteen by twenty inches, executed by M. Hyacinth
Laclotte, the correctness of which was certified to by eleven

292

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

of the superior officers residing in New Orleans, July 15,
1815, when the drawing was completed.

The report " No. 8," from the American Army, cor-
roborates the following interesting statements, which have
been kindly furnished me by Wm. H. Day, Esq., of Cleve-
land : —

" From an authenticated chart, belonging to a soldier-
friend, (writes Mr. Day,) I find that, in the Battle of New
Orleans, Major-General Andrew Jackson, Commander-in-
Chief, and his staff, were just at the right of the advancing
left column of the British, and that very near him were sta-
tioned the colored soldiers. He is numbered 6, and the
position of the colored soldiers, 8. The chart explana-
tion of No. 8 reads thus: — -c8. Captains Dominique and
Bluche, two 24 pounders; Major Lacoste's battalion, formed
of the men of color of New Orleans, and Major Da-
quin's battalion, formed of the men of color of St. Domin-
go, under Major Savary, second in command.'

" They occupied no mean place, and did no mean ser-
vice.

" From other documents in my possession, I am able to
state the number of the 'battalion of St. Domingo men of
color ' to have been one hundred and fifty ; and of c Major
Lacoste's battalion of Louisiana men of color,' two hundred
and eighty.

" Thus there were over four hundred c men of color ' in
that battle. When it is remembered that the whole number
of soldiers claimed by Americans to have been in that bat-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

293

t}e reached only 3,600, it will be seen that the c men of col-
or ' were present in much larger proportion than their num-
bers in the country warranted.

" Neither was there colorphobia then. , Major Planche's
battalion of uniformed volunteer companies, and Major La-
coste's 6 men of color,' wrought together ; so, also, did Major
Daquin's 8 men of color,' and the 44th, under Captain Baker.

" Great Britain had her colored soldiers in that battle :
the United States had hers. Great Britain's became free-
men and citizens: those of the United States continued only
half-free and slaves."

It has long been well known, that to the colored soldiers
belonged the honor of first erecting the cotton-bale defences
which so signally contributed to General Jackson's victory.
We have no means now of confirming the statement, but
the following letter contains some very significant historical
reminiscences : —

Wayland, Feb. 19, 1855.

Mr. William C. Nell :

My Dear Sir, — The fact to which I alluded in our brief con-
versation respecting the interesting memorials you have collected of
the services of colored citizens in the Revolutionary War, and other
wars, was, that some thirty years ago, I was informed by a colored
man from Louisiana, that the idea of erecting a bulwark of cotton-
bags at the battle of New Orleans, was suggested by a colored
man, a native of Africa. Whether that statement is true, I am
unable to say, and in all probability it would be very difficult to
ascertain. The Commander on that occasion, a man of the fiercest
prejudices, and all persons around him, would have an obvious
25*

294

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

interest and pride in concealing any agency which a poor and
despised negro may have had in causing the adoption of that happy
expedient. It was celebrated as a stroke of genius in Gen. Jackson.
It strikes me as strange that no account of the first flash of the
thought, whoseever it was, has been given. There cannot be
a doubt that it saved the city of New Orleans and some thousands
of lives, and raised the spirit of the whole country from the de-
pression consequent upon a war of doubtful necessity and more
than doubtful success ; a war waged upon more plausible pretexts
than the Mexican, but, in reality, for objects no less sectional and
criminal.

I think the story derives some countenance from a passage in an
old Portuguese writer, of which the following is a literal transla-
tion : —

" On the following day, which was great Thursday of the year
1546, when morning came, it was found that a breastwork composed
of earth, with its embrasures and heavy ordnance, had been raised
near to our fortress, having its walls topped by a great quantity of
cotton-bags, sheathed with rawhides to resist our fire. Our people
were astonished at the silence and suddenness with which it had
been erected. It was evidently no contrivance of a barbarous and
disorderly multitude, for during the whole conflict, our enemies
showed equal valor and discipline. Immediately they opened upon
our fortress with decided effect, silencing four of our guns, which
were doing them most harm.

" The good success of this day guided their conduct for succeed-
ing ones, and during five nights, they built five forts, at proportion-
ate distances, so as to be prepared for a general assault by several
breaches.' '

The army of the Sultan of Cambay, employed against the Portu-
guese in this, the siege of Diu, was composed of various races
inhabiting the cotton- growing zone of Asia and Africa. Two Aby-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

295

sinnians of high, rank and distinguished valor are specially men-
tioned. It is probable that this mode of fortification was familiar
to the natives of those countries, and has remained so to the present
day. In the interior of Africa, it would be peculiarly convenient
and important, subject, as the dwellers are, to sudden incursions for
the capture of their wives and children, to supply the Christian and
Arab markets of human flesh.

The work to which I have referred is " The Life of Don John de
Castro, Fourth Vice-Hoy of India, by Jacinto Freire de Andrade,"
first published at Lisbon, 1651. It has passed through several edi-
tions, and been translated into different languages.

I was also informed by the same person, a fugitive from Louisi-
ana, that the slaves who took the field in compliance with Jackson's
invitation, and fought for the country, were promised, before the
battle, that they should have their freedom ; that after it was over,
they sent a committee to the General to claim the fulfilment of this
promise, and that he made no reply, except to bid them " go home
and mind their masters."

It is well known that a large number of slaves did fight bravely
in that battle, and that they neither received their freedom nor any
other mark of the gratitude of this false and degenerate republic.
Two thousand years ago, when the opinion was universal, that nine-
tenths of the men, and all the women, were made for slaves, and the
small remnant of males for masters, the Athenians, and even the
Spartans, set at liberty the slaves who had helped them win their
victories and shared their glorious daring and dangers. They seem
to have thought thus much due to their honor and self-respect as
gentlemen, the doctrines of equal rights and reciprocal duties being
yet undeveloped in the dark void of ages. But we, a nation calling
ourselves Christian as well as republican, have actually fallen below
the low standard of humanity and magnanimity preached by Aris-
totle and practised by the cruel and treacherous Spartans two thou-

296

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

sand years ago. In the name of Heaven, how is it that we are
cursed with a callousness as impenetrable as the Thugs of India or
the father-eaters of Sumatra ?

Wishing you success and satisfaction in your useful labors, I
remain,

Yours, very truly,

D. LEE CHILD.

Among the colored veterans was Jordan B. Noble,
who was a drummer in the seventh regiment of infantry,
which led on the attack of the British army on the night of
December 23d, 1814. The two armies lay within gun-
shot of each other from that night until the 12th of January,
1815. It is Mr. Noble's custom to issue, every New Year's
day, the following card : —

JORDAN B. NOBLE,

THE VETERAN DRUMMER,

Who had the pride and satisfaction of beating to arms the American
Army, on the 23d of December, 1814, and on the 8th of January,
1815, and the members of his Band, Adolph Brooks and William
Savage, who served with him in Mexico, in the First Regiment of
Louisiana Volunteers, Col. J. B. Walton, Commander, under Gen.
Taylor, in 1846, beg to present their congratulations of the season
and best wishes to the officers of the regular and militia service,
under whom they had the honor to serve ; wishing them long lives,
increased honors, and that the National Flag of our great country
may ever be sustained by their faithful arms and gallant hearts.
And beg to remain ever,

Their obedient servants.

JORDAN B. NOBLE, DRUMMER.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

297

In proof of the estimation in which this colored veteran
is held by his fellow-citizens, the New Orleans Daily Delta
mentions the following " happy incident " as having occur-
red at the celebration of the " Eighth," at the St. Charles
Theatre : —

" The bill announced that old Jordan, the matchless drummer,
would appear and beat the drum as he beat it on the morning of
the battle to reveille the Americans to action, and as he beat it again
at night to soothe them to repose, after the arduous duties of the
victorious day were past. Full one-third of the audience visited
the St. Charles for no other purpose than to pay a tribute of respect
to old Jordan ; and as the old veteran appeared, a loud and long
cheer welled up from the audience, and was borne far beyond the
precincts of the building ; again and again was he called out, and it
seemed as if the audience would never tire of his music. The old
veteran bowed his acknowledgments, and apparently felt more
proud of the enthusiastic applause bestowed upon him than he
would to have been seated on the imperial throne of Hayti. When
the tattoo was beat, we were forcibly struck with the remarkable
coincidence, that at the same hour, on the same day and date,
thirty-nine years ago, he beat the same tune upon the battle-field of
Chalmette."

A benefit was also tendered him, at the same theatre, on
the evening of April 24th, 1854; and at the Fourth of
July celebration following, Jordan B. Noble was compli-
mented, and, according to the Delta^ " no speech or toast
produced a finer effect than his."

John Julius was a member of the gallant colored regi-
ment. He is a tall, good-looking, brown-skintfed Creole of

298

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Louisiana, now about sixty-five years of age. He still
bears the terrible gashes of the bayonet conspicuously on
his neck. He was one of those who encountered the British
hand-to-hand on the top of the breastworks. Julius Ben-
noit (for that is his name, though commonly called John
Julius) is a man of strict integrity of character, having all
the delicate sensibility of a Frenchman ; and he laments
more at the injustice done him in the neglect of the authori-
ties to grant him his claim of money and lands, according
to the promises set forth in the proclamation, than any
reverse of fortune he has ever met.

He is enthusiastic on the subject of the battle scenes of
Chalmette Plains, and anxious that all who converse with
him should know of his position in the conflict with Sir
Edward Packenham. He exhibits the complete draught of
the battle, and explains with lively satisfaction all its points
of interest.

At a private dinner-party in New Orleans, some years
after the battle, a relative of Gen. Packenham happened to
be present, when the colored servant in waiting improved a
chance moment to say, — "I saved General Packenham's
life on the battle-ground." He was overheard by his mas-
ter, who reprimanded him, admitting, however, that he was
at the battle-ground, and did good service.

Many of the slaves who engaged in the battle were in-
duced to do so from promises of freedom ; but the sequel
proved that a false hope had been held out to them, num-
bers being ordered to the cotton-fields to resume their unre*

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

299

quited toil, for the benefit of those for whom their own lives
had been jeoparded on the bloody field of battle. The Brit-
ish took advantage of these violated pledges, and induced
many colored Americans, panting for the freedom which,
theirs as a birthright, had been confirmed by deeds of valor
and patriotism, to accept free homes under the banner of
England.

Anthony Gill was one of the soldiers remanded to
work again for his master, when he was accosted by Gen-
eral Packenham, who, learning that he was a slave, told
him to put down his hoe, follow him, and become a free
man. He did so ; and is now undisputed owner of fifty-two
acres of free soil, in St. Johns, N. B. His son resides in
Boston, Mass.

This is but one of numerous instances, of which there are
abundant testimonies.

" When the British evacuated Charleston, in 1782, (says
Ramsay, in his History of South Carolina,) Governor
Matthews demanded the restoration of some thousands of
negroes who were within their lines. These, however,
were but a small part of the whole taken away at the evac-
uation, but that number is very inconsiderable when com-
pared with the thousands that were lost from the first to the
last of the war. It has been computed by good judges, that,
between the years 1775 and 1783, the State of South Caro-
lina lost twenty-five thousand negroes." [At least a
fifth part of all the slaves in the State at the beginning of
the war.]

300

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

" The forces under the command of General Provost
marched through the richest settlements of the State, where
are the fewest white inhabitants in proportion to the number
of slaves. The hapless Africans, allured with the hope of
freedom, forsook their owners, and repaired in great num-
bers to the Royal Army. They endeavored to recommend
themselves to their new masters by discovering where their
owners had concealed their property, and were assisting in
carrying it off."

And the same candid historian, describing the invasion of
next year says : — " The slaves a second time flocked to
the British Army."

Dr. Ramsay, being a native and resident of Charleston, en-
joyed every facility for ascertaining the facts in the case ; but
his testimony does not stand alone; Col. Lee, of Virginia, in
his " Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department,"
confirms the statement.

" Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, (says Burke, in
his History of Virginia,) after escaping from Williamsburg,
in 1775, to a vessel in James River, offered liberty to those
slaves who would join him. It appears, from the history,
that one hundred of them were soon after enumerated
among his forces. How many more joined him does not
appear."

Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary of State, in a letter to Mr.
Hammond, Minister of Great Britain, dated Philadelphia,
December 15, 1791, says : — " On withdrawing the troops
from New York, a large embarkation of negroes, the prop-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

301

erty of the inhabitants of the United States, took place. A
very great number was carried off in private vessels, without
admitting the inspection of the American Commissioners."

In the Secret Journal of the Continental Congress, under
date of March 29, 1799, we find the following : — » The
Committee, appointed to take into consideration the circum-
stances of the Southern States, and the ways and means for
their safety and defence, report that the State of South Car-
olina (as represented by the Delegates of the said State,
and by Mr. Huger, who has come here at the request
of the Governor of the said State, on purpose to explain
the circumstances thereof) is unable to make any effec-
tual efforts with militia, by reason of the great propor-
tion of citizens necessary to remain at home, to prevent
insurrection among the negroes, and to prevent the de-
sertion of them to the enemy ; — that the state of the
country, and the great number of these people among them,
expose the inhabitants to great danger, from the endeavors
of the enemy to excite them to revolt or desert."

Hon. John Quincy Adams, in a letter to Lord Castle-
reagh, dated February 17, 1816, says : — "In his letter of
the fifth of September, the undersigned had the honor of en-
closing a list of seven hundred and two slaves carried away,
after the ratification of the treaty of peace, from Cumberland

Island, and the waters adjacent A number perhaps

still greater was carried away from Tangier Island, in the
State of Virginia, and from other places."

The same important admission was made in debate, on
26

302 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

the floor of Congress, 30th March, 1790, some time after
the war, by Mr. Burke, a Representative from South Caro-
lina. " There is not a gentleman," said he, " on this floor,
who is a stranger to the feeble situation of our State, when
we entered into the war to oppose the British power. We
were not only without money, without an army or mili-
tary stores, but were few in number, and likely to be entan-
gled with our domestics, in case the enemy invaded us."

Similar testimony to the weakness engendered by slavery
was also borne by Mr. Madison, in debate in Congress.
" Every addition," said that distinguished gentleman, " they
(Georgia and South Carolina) receive to their number of
slaves, tends to weaken them, and render them less capable
of self-defence."

And at a still later day, Mr. Justice Johnson, of the Su-
preme Court of the United States, and a citizen of South
Carolina, in his elaborate life of General Green, speaking of
negro slaves, makes the same admission. He says : —
" But the number dispersed through these (Southern) States
was very great ; so great as to render it impossible for the
citizens to muster freemen enough to withstand the pressure
of the British arms."

Hon. Wm. Jay says: — " We find at the South no one
element of military strength. Slavery, as we have seen,
checks the progress of population, of the arts, of enterprise,
and of industry. But, above all, the laboring class, which
in other countries affords the materials of which armies are
composed, is regarded at the South as the most deadly foe

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

303

and the sight of a thousand negroes with arms in their
hands would send a thrill of terror through the stoutest
hearts, and excite a panic which no number of the veteran
troops of Europe could produce. Ever* now, laws are in
force to keep arms out of the hands of a population which
ought to be a reliance in danger, but which is dreaded by
day and night, in peace and war."

The burning of Washington City was a signal instance of
the military weakness of the South, as detailed in Ball's
Compilation. " The city was burnt in the last war with
Britain, for which the Americans may thank their pet c insti-
tution' as much as the invading army. When the British
in the Chesapeake evinced their intention to make a descent
on Washington or Baltimore, the President ordered all the
regular troops to the defence of the latter, and called on
the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia for vol-
unteers for the protection of the capital. All know the
result. The city was taken and burnt, while the Ameri-
cans, lacking numbers to compete with their enemies, were
obliged to return, although, had the Virginia troops, which
were but a few miles distant, come up, they would have
been able to make a stand." s

The cause of their delay is thus explained: — "When
the requisition on Virginia reached her Governor, General
Madison, who was brother of the President, and at that time
commandant of that division of the militia whose services
were required, he promptly issued his orders, collected his
quota, and commenced his march for the scene of action.

304 COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

Scarcely, however, had his force passed from Orange, Cul-
pepper, Madison, and the adjoining counties, from which it
had been principally raised, before the slaves in all that
section were seen in commotion. A rumor^the source of
which nobody knew, had spread among them, that some
powerful foreign prince, — from Africa, we believe they had
it, — with a sufficient force to accomplish his purpose, had
arrived on the coast, to give freedom to the slaves of Vir-
ginia. This rumor soon became confirmed news with them.
They simultaneously quitted work, and, without manifesting
the least disposition to injure the whites, began, in their joy-
ful excitement, to run from plantation to plantation, collect
in bodies, and prepare to go off to meet their expected
deliverers. The white inhabitants, in the mean time, who,
as has ever been the case with the whole South, were sen-
sitively alive to the fear of a slave insurrection, and were
now thoroughly alarmed by this movement of the blacks,
harmless as was the shape it had taken, sent off express
after express to General Madison, whose force had made a
temporary halt in the vicinity of the Potomac, from which it
was on the point of moving on to Washington, and begged
him to return with his troops and quell the apprehended
insurrection of the slaves. This at once completely para-
lyzed the movements of Madison. He immediately marched
back with the principal part of his force, leaving the rest,
we believe, to remain on the spot, to await the event, and be
in readiness to return if wanted. Finding, after a few
days, that the force with which he had returned was suffi-

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

305

cient to overawe the slaves, though he did not dare to with-
draw them from the infected district, he finally sent orders
for the remnant he had left on the Potomac to march on to
Washington, as they then did, but reached the place too
late to be of any service."

A letter from New Orleans, addressed to Le Republicain,
has some interesting matter respecting the population of
mixed blood in that city. It alludes to the brilliant feat
of arms of Dec. 20, 1814, " when the colored population
rivalled in bravery and patriotism the other improvised sol-
diers," and to the battle of Jan. 8, of the same year, where
they figured, and contributed to finish the foreign invasion
of our soil, and goes on to say, that it is an error to con-
found the colored population of Louisiana with that else-
where. They constitute, the writer affirms, an elite set,
having nothing in common with those of the surrounding
States. "The French and Spanish blood from which they
are sprung has not degenerated among us : it has preserved
the primitive warmth and generosity which distinguish those
two chivalric nations." Notwithstanding they are not al-
lowed to participate in the public schools, although forced
to pay school taxes, they have received an elementary edu-
cation, and a good number of them shine in science, arts
and letters. There is, we are told, now in Paris, a Creole
of Louisiana, who is walking in the steps of Alexander
Dumas, and whose dramatic pieces are represented at the
Theatre Francais. There is another in Louisiana, who has
26*

306

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

effected a complete revolution in sugar making, by a refin-
ing invention ; and yet, this man has not been able to
obtain a patent in his own name for the invention which
enriches his country. " Medicine, music, finance, wholesale
commerce and farming, have their representatives in this
class of society ; and there are in Louisiana fortunes hon-
orably acquired by their proprietors, belonging to this class,
which would secure for their owners a distinguished rank in
Parisian society, were they to settle in that capital. I will
not speak here," says the letter writer, " of the native citi-
zens reputed to be Ions blancs. They are very few, if we
may believe an old Creole of the highest respectability, who
said upon 'Change, that he knew more than jive hundred
persons of this sort sprung from maroon negresses, and
now enjoying the rights of citizenship."

AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

307

CHAPTER XVIII.

FLORIDA.

TONEY PROCTOR, A VETERAN OXE HUNDRED AND TWELVE YEARS OLD.

Toney Proctor, a free man of color, died in Tallahas-
see, at the residence of H. L. Rutgers, Esq., on the 15th of
June, 1855, in the 112th year of his age. The Tallahassee
Sentinel thus notices the death of this remarkable man : —

u ' Uncle Toney,' as he was familiarly called, must have
been, at the time of his death, at least one hundred and
twelve years old, and the probabilities are that he was sev-
eral years older. It is known, as a historical fact, that he
was at the battle of Quebec, on the 13th of September, 1759,
some ninety-six years ago. His recollection of that event
was clear and distinct. He was there in the capacity of a
body servant to an English officer, and was sixteen years of
age or more at the time of sailing, in company with the Eng-
lish sailors, from the Island of Jamaica, to return no more to
the place of his nativity. He was subsequently engaged in
the same capacity, though under a different officer, during the
early period of the Revolutionary War between this and
the mother country. He was in the vicinity of Boston at the .
time the tea was thrown overboard, and afterwards at the
battle of Lexington. He came to Florida long before

308

COLORED PATRIOTS OF THE

the change of flags, and settled in St. Augustine, where he
purchased his freedom, married, and reared a large family.
During his long residence in the ; Ancient City,' where he
experienced many reverses — living through a period much
longer than is allotted to an ordinary life-time — his conduct
was such as to command the esteem and respect of its in-
habitants, as well under the administration of the United
States as the dominion of Spain.

" At the change of flags, he considered himself an Ameri-
can citizen, and remained in St. Augustine, true to his alle-
giance, during the campaigns and military regime of Gen-
eral Jackson ; and subsequently rendered himself very use-
ful to General Harney and others, as an Indian interpreter
in the late Seminole war.

" Coming out of that protracted and disastrous war reduced
in circumstances, with nothing to rely upon for support ex-
cept a claim upon the Government for service rendered, but
little of which was ever recognised and paid, he came, some
ten years or more ago, to Tallahassee, to live with his son
George.

"In 1849, George went a gold-hunting, with the intention,
if successful, of returning in a few years, at the furthest,
and relieving himself of his embarrassments. In the mean
time, his family, as well as c Uncle Toney,' were left in
charge of Mr. Rutgers.

" The circumstances attending his death were very remark-
able. He died of no disease. His health continued good
and his spirits cheerful down to within a day or so of his

AMERICAN

REVOLUTION.

309

death. The first evidence of decay was that of sight ; time,
in other respects, working but little change in his appear-
ance. Death seemed to come over him like falling into a
gentle sleep. The vital spark, like the socket of a candle,
literally burned out.

" Uncle Toney was much beloved by his own people.
He was a zealous member of the Baptist Church. His
funeral was one of .the largest processions we remember to
have seen."

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS

OP '•

COLORED AMERICANS.

CHAPTER I .

CITIZENSHIP.

PROSCRIPTION OP- COLORED CITIZENS — NATURALIZATION OF GEORGE
DEGRASSE AND JOHN REMOND — PASSPORTS OF COLORED MEN —
SPEECH OF JOHN MERCER LANGSTON — VIEWS OF HOSEA EASTON —
EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH OF WM. J. WATKLNS.

In 1790, (says Judge Jay,) Congress passed an act pre-
scribing the mode in which " any alien, being a white per-
son," might be naturalized, and admitted to the rights of an
American citizen. Two years after, an act was passed for
organizing the militia, which was to consist of each and
every free able-bodied white male citizen, &c. No other
government on earth prohibits any portion of its citizens
from participating in the national defence. But, not con-
tent with this insult to colored citizens, another, and perhaps

312 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

a still more wanton and malignant one, was offered by the
government in the act of 1810, organizing the Post-Office
Department. The fourth section enacts that " no other than
a free white person shall be employed in carrying the mail
of the United States, either as post-rider or driver of a
carriage carrying the mail," under a penalty of fifty dollars.

Any vagabond from Europe, any fugitive from our own
prisons, may take charge of the United States mail ; but a
native-born American citizen, of unimpeachable morals, and
with property acquired by honest industry, may not, if his
skin be dark, guide the horses which draw the carriage in
which a bag of newspapers is deposited !

The following letter of instructions from the Postmaster
General to one of his deputies, written in 1828, is a curious
commentary on this law : —

" Sib,, — The mail may not, in any case whatever, be in the cus-
tody of a colored person. If a colored person is employed to lift the
mail from the stage into the post-office, it does not pass into his
custody, but the labor is performed in the presence and under the
immediate direction of the white person who has it in custody ; but
if a colored person takes it from a tavern and carries it himself to Jhe
post-office, it comes into his custody during the time of carrying it,
which is contrary to law.

"lam, &c, JOHN MCLEAN."

In the United States Senate, July 29, 1842, the bill regu-
lating enlistments in the Navy was discussed. Mr. Calhoun
moved an amendment, that white men only should be en-

COLORED AMERICANS.

313

listed, except for cooks, servants, and stewards, for which
offices negroes or mulattoes might be employed.

Mr. Woodbury, of New Hampshire, supported the amend-
ment.

Mr. Phelps, of Vermont, and Mr. Clayton, of Delaware,
objected; and each cited instances of the colored man's
valor, and enforced his claim to being enrolled as other
Americans.

The amendment was, however, adopted, by a vote of
twenty-four to sixteen ; as was, also, that of Mr. Preston,
(of South Carolina,) prohibiting the enlistment of negroes in
the Army. And this, notwithstanding the fact, that the
victory upon Champlain has been well-known to have
been achieved, in part, by the valor of colored men. That
upon Erie, so far as aided by colored men's valor, has been
in doubt, and in some quarters has been denied. Says Mr.
Day, " I desire to refer you to the proof of the position, that
colored men were with Commodore Perry on Lake Erie,
and that they were as good hands as others. Writing to
Commodore Chauncey, the senior officer, Captain Perry,
said — 1 The men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley
set, blacks, soldiers, and boys. I am, however, pleased to
see any thing in the shape of a man.' So much as to
the fact that there were 4 blacks ' to help man the squa-
dron.

u To show that many of the colored men upon Lakes
Erie and Champlain were among the best, I quote the fol-
27

314

CONDITION AND PKOSPECTS OF

lowing from a letter of Commodore Chauncey to Captain
Perry : —

On board the " Pike," off Burlington Bay, \
July 13th. /
Sir, — I have been duly honored with your letters of the 23d and
26th ultimo, and notice your anxiety for men and officers. I am
equally anxious to furnish you, and no time shall be lost in sending
officers and men to you, as soon as the public service will allow me
to send them from this lake. I regret that you are not pleased with
the men sent you by Messrs. Champlin and Forrest ; for, to my
knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen we
have in the fleets ; and I have yet to learn, that the color of the
skin, or the cut and trimmings of the coat, can affect a man's quali-
fications or usefulness. I have nearly fifty blacks on board of this
ship, and many of them are among my best men ; and those people
you call soldiers have been to sea from two to seventeen years, and
I presume that you will find them as good and useful as any men
on board of your vessel, — at least, if I can judge by comparison,
for those which we have on board this ship are attentive and obedi-
ent, and, as far as I can judge, many of them excellent seamen ; at any
rate, the men sent to Lake Erie have been selected with a view of
sending a fair proportion of petty officers and seamen, and I presume,
upon examination, it will be found they are equal to those upon this
lake.

" So far as to the capacity of colored men with Commo-
dore Perry."

The managers of the Park Theatre, in New York city,
in testimony of the bravery of the lamented Captain Law-
rence and his crew, manifested in the brilliant action with the
British sloop-of-war " Peacock," invited him and them to a

COLORED AMERICANS.

315

play in honor of the victory achieved on that occasion.
The crew marched together into the pit, and nearly one
half of them were negroes.

In March, 1855, Hon. T. D. Eliot, of Massachusetts, suc-
ceeded in obtaining the compensation of Peter Amey, a
colored man of New Bedford, who fought on board the " Es-
sex," in 1812. His motion was opposed by Mr. Chastain,
of Georgia ; but as Mr. Eliot intimated that he should then
probably oppose other private claims, Mr. Seward, of
Georgia, remarked that Georgia would lose her claims, and
Mr. Chastain withdrew his opposition, and the bill passed to
a third reading.

The Homestead Bill was adopted by Congress in March,
1854, with an amendment to limit its grant of land to white
persons only. Thomas Davis, of Rhode Island, Joshua
R. Giddings, of Ohio, and Gerrit Smith, of New York, with
others, ably and strenuously advocated the rights of colored
Americans, but were voted down, seventy-one to sixty-three.

Public bodies and the press have, during the past few
years, discussed several questions bearing on the right of
colored men to the privileges of citizenship. The following
facts showing the theory and practice of this government,
capricious as the latter has been, yet furnish precedents
favorable to the colored man.

Distinctions of color are not recognised in the letter of
the United States Constitution ; yet that instrument leaves it
in the power of Congress and individual States to trample
on or acknowledge, as tyranny may dictate, the rights of
colored citizens.

316

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

Congress can as well naturalize Asiatics, South Ameri-
cans and Africans, as Europeans ; and yet, for reasons best
known to the Slave Power which rules this nation, the in-
stances are few and far between where colored aliens have
received naturalization papers. One case, however, occur-
red, as early as 1804, where a colored man received a cer-
tificate of naturalization, of which the following is a copy :

City of New York, ss.

Be it remembered, that George DeGrasse, of the city of New
York, servant, who hath resided within the limits and jurisdiction
of the United States for the term of five years, and within this
State of New York for the term of one year at least, appeared in
the Court of Common Pleas, called the Mayor's Court, and which
is a common law court of record held in and for the city and county
of New York in the State of New York, on Thursday, the fifth day
of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and four, and
having made proof to the satisfaction of said Court that he is a
person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the
Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good
order and happiness of the same, and having in the said Court
taken the oath prescribed by law to support the Constitution of the
United States, and did in open Court absolutely and entirely
renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign
prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and particularly to the King
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of whom he
was then a subject, the said George DeGrasse was thereupon, pur-
suant to the laws of the United States in such case made and pro-
vided, admitted by the said Court to be, and he is accordingly to be,
considered a citizen of the United States.

Given under the seal of the said Court, the day and year above
written. Per curiam,

T. WOODMAN, Clerk.

COLORED AMERICANS.

317

Mr. DeGrasse has since resided in New York city, where,
for more than fifty years, he has regularly voted for United
States and State officers.

The following account of Dr. John V. DeGrasse, a son
of the above-named, by a correspondent of the New York
Independent^ will be found of interest in this connection : —

" August 24th, 1854, Mr. DeGrasse was admitted in due
form a member of the c Massachusetts Medical Society.'
It is the first instance of such honor being conferred upon a
colored man in this State, at least, and probably in the coun-
try ; and therefore it deserves particular notice, both because
the means by which he has reached this distinction are
creditable to his own intelligence and perseverance, and
because others of his class may be stimulated to seek an
elevation which has hitherto been supposed unattainable by
men of color. The Doctor is a native of New York city,
where he was born June, 1825, and where he spent his
time in private and public schools till 1840. He then
entered the Oneida Institute, Beriah Green, President, and
spent one year ; but as Latin was not taught there, he left
and entered the Clinton Seminary, where he remained two
years, intending to enter college in the fall of 1843. He
was turned from this purpose, however, by the persuasions
of a friend in France, and after spending two years in a
college in that country, he returned to New York in Novem-
ber, 1845, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr.
Samuel R. Childs, of that city. There he spent two years
in patient and diligent study, and then two more in attend-
27*

318

CONDITION AND P.ROSPECTS OF

ing the medical lectures of Bowdoin College, Me. Leaving
that institution with honor in May, 1849, he went again to
Europe in the autumn of that year, and spent considerable
time in the hospitals of Paris, travelling, at intervals, through
parts of France, England, Italy, and Switzerland. Return-
ing home in the ship ' Samuel Fox,' in the capacity of
surgeon, he was married in August, 1852, and since that
time, he has practised medicine in Boston. Earning a good
reputation here by his diligence and skill, he was admitted a
member of the Medical Society, as above stated. Many of
our most respectable physicians visit and advise with him
whenever counsel is required. The Boston medical profes-
sion, it must be acknowledged, has done itself honor in thus
discarding the law of caste, and generously acknowledging
real merit, without regard to the hue of the skin."

In the Doctor's study hangs his diploma, and a beautiful
painting, (" The Ship Outward Bound,") executed by a
young colored artist, Mr. Edward Bannister, which is
enclosed in an elaborate gilt frame, the work of a young
colored mechanic, Mr. Jacob Andrews, — the whole being
a joint presentation to their professional friend. Such tri-
butes of genius and skill harmonize well with every worthy
effort for the elevation of those in this land with whom the
donors are identified by complexion and condition*

In 1811, John Remond was successful in his application
for naturalization, in form as follows : —

Essex, ss.

At the Supreme J udicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massa-
chusetts, begun and holden at Ipswich, within and for the county

COLORED AMERICANS.

319

of Essex, on the fourth. Tuesday of April, Anno Domini 1811, John
Remond, late of the Island of Cura^oa and town of Curacjoa, for-
merly subject to the government of the States General, but now to
George the Third, King of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ire-
land, now resident at Salem, in said county of Essex, Hair-Dresser,
took and subscribed the oath and declaration required by law.
And thereupon he, the said John Remond, was admitted to become
a citizen of the United States, according to the laws in such case
made and provided.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed
the seal of said Court, on this second day of May, Anno Domini
1811.

ICHABOD TUCKER,

Clerk of the Court aforesaid.

Several distinguished colored Americans have succeeded
in obtaining passports. The following circumstance is re-
lated in a letter from the Rev. A. A. Phelps, dated May 24,
1834, to William Goodell : — " On Tuesday evening, I took
tea at Mr. Forten's, (a well-known manufacturer and mer-
chant of Philadelphia — a man of color,) in company with
Brothers Leavitt, Pomeroy, and Dr. Lansing. It was a
very pleasant interview, and not the least pleasing thing
about it is the following : — We were scarcely seated, be-
fore in came Robert Vaux, Esq., with a passport for Robert
Purvis and wife, under the seal of the Secretary of State,
certifying that the said Purvis and wife were citizens of the
United States. Mr. Purvis is son-in-law to Mr. Forten.
He was about to visit Europe fc* his health, and in some of
the countries on the Continent, as in France, a passport is

320 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

necessary, certifying who the person is, where from, &c.
The application was made through Robert Vaux, Esq., and
on the representation of the case by him, it was at once
granted."

Mr. Robert Purvis, in a letter to Mr. Garrison, dated
London, July 13, 1834, says : — "I had, at the House of
Commons, an introduction to the Hon. Daniel O. Connell.
On my being presented to the Irish patriot as an American
gentleman, he declined taking my hand ; but when he un-
derstood that I was not only identified with the Abolitionists,
but with the proscribed and oppressed colored men of the
United States, he grasped my hand, and, warmly shak-
ing it, remarked, — "Sir-, I will never take the hand of an
American, nor should any honest man in this country do so,
without first knowing his principles in reference to Ameri-
can slavery, and its ally, the American Colonization So-
cietyP

Rev. Peter Williams also received a passport from John
Forsyth, Secretary of State, the 17th of March, 1836, re-
questing " all whom it may concern to permit safely and
freely to pass, Rev. Peter Williams, a citizen of the United
States, and in case of need, to give him all lawful aid and
protection."

Rev. Peter Williams, Jr., was born in Brunswick,
N. J., December, 1786. His father was proprietor of the
largest tobacco manufactory then in the city of New York,
and was the first to introduce steam power to drive its ma-
chinery. Mr. Williams was for twenty years (until his

COLORED AMERICANS.

321

death, in 1840) pastor of St. Phillips' Episcopal Church.
Aside from his pulpit efforts, he contributed many able, elo-
quent and practical effusions, through pamphlets and news-
papers, in aid of the colored Americanos elevation. We
learn, from a memoir by Dr. James Mc' Cune Smith, that
" he had mastered Logic and Algebra, read Latin with some
facility, was extravagantly fond of Metaphysics, and, what
is remarkable with the slender advantages he enjoyed, he
had formed a style in composition so clear, concise and ele-
gant, that few men of twice his years and with every advan-
tage, have excelled it. His oration on the Abolition of the
Slave Trade, delivered January, 1808, when he was just
twenty-one years of age, was discredited as having emanated
from his pen, — and it was deemed necessary that his cer-
tificate to that effect should be published, confirmed by Rt.
Rev. Benjamin Moore, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, and others.

During the reign of terror to which Anti-Slavery men
and women were subjected, in the years 1833, '4 and '5,
Mr. Williams was induced by his Bishop, for church rea-
sons, to abstain from taking part in the anti-slavery agitation.
His letter was published, and created much sensation at the
time, especially among many of his former associates. It
is due, however, to his memory, to state, (which we do upon
the most reliable authority,) that the Bishop suppressed those
passages which Mr. Williams had confidently relied upon
to modify the objections of his friends. His natural diffi-
dence of character deterred him from making an explanation.

322 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

From that letter the following reminiscences are extract-
ed : —

" In the Revolutionary "War, my father was a decided
advocate of American Independence, and his life was re-
peatedly jeopardized in its cause. Permit me to relate an
instance, which shows that neither the British sword nor
British gold could make him a traitor to his country. He
was living in the State of Jersey, and parson Chapman, a
champion of American liberty of great influence throughout
that part of the country, was sought after by the British
troops. My father immediately mounted a horse and rode
round among his parishioners to notify them of his danger,
and to call on them to help in removing him and his goods to
a place of safety. He then carried him to a private place,
and as he was returning, a British officer rode up to him,
and demanded, in a most peremptory manner, —

" c Where is parson Chapman ? 1

u c I cannot tell,' was the reply.

" On that, the officer drew his sword, and, raising it over
his head, said, — 4 Tell me where he is, or I will instantly
cut you down.'

" Again he replied, — c I cannot tell.'

" Finding threats useless, the officer put up his sword, and
drew out a purse of gold, saying, — c If you will tell me
where he is, I will give you this.'

" The reply still was, c I cannot tell.'

" The officer cursed him, and rode off.

" This attachment to the country of his birth was strength-

COLOEED AMERICANS.

323

ened and confirmed by the circumstance, that the very day
on which the British evacuated New York was the same on
which he obtained his freedom by purchase, through the
help of some republican friends of the Methodist Church ;
and to the last year of his life, he always spoke of that day as
one which gave double joy to his heart, by freeing him from
domestic bondage, and his native city from foreign enemies.
# # * * #

" Reared with these feelings, though fond of retirement,
I felt a burning desire to be useful to my brethren and my
country, and when the last war between this country and
Great Britain broke out, I felt happy to render the humble
services of my pen, my tongue, and my hands, towards
rearing fortifications to defend our shores against invasion.
I entreated my brethren to help in the defence of the coun-
try, and went with them to the work ; and no sacrifice has
been considered too great by me for the benefit of it or
them."

William Wells Brown, on leaving the United States
for Europe, obtained, through the intercession of a friend, a
passport signed by Wm. B. Calhoun, Secretary of State for
Massachusetts. The following letter from Mr. Brown, cov-
ering the passport obtained in London, countersigned by a
son of Ex-Governor John Davis, is instructive and interest-
ing:—

London, Nov. 22, 1849.

Wendell Phillips, Esq:

Dear Friend — I observe in the American papers an elaborate
discussion upon the subject of passports for colored men. What

324

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

must the inhabitants of other countries think of the people of the
United States, when they read, as they do, the editorials of some of
the Southern papers against recognizing colored Americans as citi-
zens ? In looking over some of these articles, I have felt ashamed
that I had the misfortune to be born in such a country. We may
search history in vain to find a people who have sunk themselves as
low, and made themselves appear as infamous by their treatment of
their fellow-men, as have the people of the United States. If color-
ed men make their appearance in the slave States as seamen, they
are imprisoned until the departure of the vessel. If they make
their appearance at the capital of the country, unless provided with
free papers, they are sold for the benefit of the Government. In
most of the States we are disfranchised, our children are shut out
from the public schools, and embarrassments are thrown in the way
of every attempt to elevate ourselves. And after they have degrad-
ed us, sold us, mobbed us, and done every thing in their power to
oppress us, then, if we wish to leave the country, they refuse us
passports, upon the ground that we are not citizens. This is em-
phatically an age of discoveries ; but I will venture the assertion,
that none but an American slaveholder could have discovered that
a man born in a country was not a citizen of it. Their chosen mot-
to, that " all men are created equal," when compared with their
treatment of the colored people of the country, sinks them lower
and lower in the estimation of the good and wise of all lands. In
your letter of the 15th ult., you ask if I succeeded in getting a pass-
port from the American Minister in London, previous to going to
Paris to attend the Peace Congress. Through the magnanimity of
the French Government, all delegates to the Congress were permit-
ted to pass freely without passports. I did not, therefore, apply for
one. But as I intend soon to visit the Continent, and shall then
need one, I called a few days since on the American Minister, and
was furnished with a passport, of which the following is a copy. If

COLORED AMERICANS. 325

it will be of any service in the discussion upon that subject, you arc
at perfect liberty to use it : —

" LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN ENGLAND.
PASSPORT NO. 33.

The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten-
tiary of the United States of America at the Court of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, begs all whom it may con-
cern to allow safely and freely to pass, and in case of need, to give
aid and protection to

Mr. WILLIAM W. BROWN,
a citizen of the United States, going on the Continent.

Given under my signature, and the imprint of the seal of the
legation in London, Oct. 31, 1849, the 74th year of the independence
of the United States.

For the Minister,

JOHN C. B. DAVIS,

Secretary of Legation"

So you see, my friend, that though we are denied citizenship in
America, and refused passports at home when wishing to visit for-
eign countries, they dare not refuse us a passport when we apply for
it in old England. There is a public sentiment here, that, hard-
hearted as the Americans are, they fear. When will the Americans
learn, that if they would encourage liberty in other countries, they
must practice it at home ? If they would inspire the hearts of the
struggling millions in Europe, they should not allow one human
being to wear chains upon their own soil. If they would welcome
the martyrs for freedom from the banks of the Danube, the Tiber
and the Seine, let them liberate their.- own slaves on the banks of the
Mississippi and the Potomac. If they would welcome the Hunga-
rian flying from the bloody talons of the Austrian eagle, they must
28

326

CONDI T I ON AND PKOSPECTS OF

wrest the three millions of slaves from the talons of their own.
They cannot welcome the wanderer from the battle-fields of freedom
in the old world, as long as the new world is the battle-field of sla-
very. Should the Kossuths and the Wimmers visit America, they
would be reminded of their friends they left in chains in Austria,
by the clanking chains of the American slave.

I was asked a few days since, at a meeting, if I was not afraid
that the abolitionists would become tired, and give up the cause as
hopeless. My answer was, that the slave's cause was in the hands
of men and women who intended to agitate and agitate, until the
iron hand of slavery should melt away, drop by drop, before a fiery
public sentiment.

WM. W. BROWN.

A*t a reception meeting tendered Mr. Brown in Boston,
October 13th, 1854, Wendell Phillips, Esq., in the course
of an eloquent speech, said : —

1 ' 1 still more rejoice that Mr. Brown has returned. Returned to
what f Not to what he can call his « country.' The white man
comes < home.' When Milton heard, in Italy, the sound of arms
from England, he hastened back — young, enthusiastic, and bathed
in beautiful art as he was in Florence. * I would not be away/ he
rsaid, < when a blow was struck for liberty.' He came to a country
where his manhood was recognised, to fight on equal footing. The
black man comes home to no liberty but the liberty of suffering —
to struggle in fetters for the welfare of his race. It is a magnani-
mous sympathy with his blood that brings such a man back. I
honor it. We meet to do it honor. Franklin's motto was, Ubi
UbertaSy ibi patria — Where liberty is, there is my country. Had
our friend adopted that for his rule, he would have stayed in Eu-
rope. Liberty for him is there. The colored man who returns, like

COLORED AMERICANS. 327

our friend, to labor, crushed and despised, for his race, sails under a
higher flag : his motto is — * Where my country is, there will I

BRING LIBERTY."

As recently as the first of January, 1854, John Remond,
of Salem, Mass., obtained a passport from the then Secre-
tary of State, William L. Marcy.

Although, on some occasions, the officials of the United
States government have refused to acknowledge colored
Americans as citizens, — denying them passports and the
like, — yet, with a strange inconsistency, they are sometimes
made recipients of honors and emoluments not to be obtained
by others than citizens of the United States.

At a meeting of the Bar of the County of Suffolk, Mass.,
held at the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the
United States, on Thursday, June 27, 1850, Ellis Gray
Loring, Esq., was chosen Chairman, and Charles Theodore
Russell, Esq., Secretary.

On motion of Charles Sumner, Esq., it was

Resolved, That Robert Morris, Esq., be recommended for ad-
mittance to practice as a Counsellor and Attorney of the Circuit and
District Courts of the United States.

(Signed,)

ELLIS GRAY LORING, Chairman.
CHAS. THEO. RUSSELL, Sec'y. ■

In accordance with this resolve, Mr. Morris presented
himself before Justice Sprague, of the United States District
Court, — who, it is presumed, had ample evidence of his

328

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

color, — and was duly admitted to practice in the Courts of
the United States.

Macon B. Allen, another colored lawyer, was admitted
in Maine, to the Cumberland Bar, on examination, and sub-
sequently in Massachusetts, to the Suffolk Bar, on certificate.
Among those who congratulated him on his appointment
were Hon. John G. Palfrey, and Professor Greenleaf, of
Harvard University.

George B. Vashon was also admitted, on examination,
before the New York Bar, in 1848. A correspondent of
the Philadelphia Inquirer alludes to his admission as Attor-
ney, Solicitor and Counsellor of the Supreme Court of the
State, and adds, that he evinced a perfect knowledge of the
rudiments of law, and a familiar acquaintance with Coke,
Littleton, Blackstone, and Kent.

When it is remembered that most lawyers are admitted
by certificate^ great credit will be awarded Messrs. Allen
and Vashon, who passed the ordeal of open court examina-
tion with signal credit.

Messrs. Morris and Allen are now Justices of the
Peace for Massachusetts.

The Constitution of the United States declares " that the
citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges
and immunities of citizens in the several States."

The Act of February 21, 1799, granting patents for use-
ful improvements, authorizes the issuing of a patent only to
a " citizen." Cannot a man of color obtain one ? Such
lias been done, and he would be a bold officer who should

COLORED AMERICANS.

329

refuse one on the ground of color. The Act of 1831, on
the subject of copyright, is one of the same character.

So the Act of December 31, 1792, concerning the regis-
tering and recording of ships or vessels. It is enacted, that
no vessel shall be considered or treated as an American
vessel, unless she is oioned and commanded by an "Ameri-
can citizen ; " — men of color have owned vessels, and they
have always been considered American vessels.

So by the Act of February 18, 1793, for enrolling and
licensing vessels for the coasting trade and the fisheries, a
like oath must be taken by the owner before she can be
permitted to engage in the same — a " citizen " only can do
it ; but cannot and have not men of color ?

So the militia law uses the words white male citizens ;
implying that there are other citizens besides white ones ;
for else the word citizens would not have been used. It is
true, colored men are exempt from military duty, but so are
all persons under eighteen, or over forty-five, years of age,
and all females ; but yet, Congress can call all these into the
army or navy, or militia ; and none will contend that exemp-
tion from military service proves political inferiority.

So the Act of May 15, 1820, makes it criminal for a
" citizen " to engage in the slave trade. Can people of
color do it ? And yet penal laws are construed strictly.

So the Act of May 28, 1796, for the relief and protection
of American seamen, declares that any " citizen " sailor
can obtain from the custom-house officer a certificate of his
citizenship ; men of color have often done this, and can again.
28*

330 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

So the Act of July 20, 1790, for the regulation of sea-
men in the merchant's service, provides, that every ship or
vessel belonging to a " citizen or citizens " of the United
States, of a certain burthen, on a foreign voyage, shall, un-
der a severe penalty, be provided with a medicine chest.
Are not men of color bound to comply with this law ?

Impressed colored sailors have been claimed by the Na-
tional Government as " citizens of the United States."

If a man of color in New York or Pennsylvania should
sue a white citizen of Connecticut in the Federal Court,
would it be a good plea in abatement that one of the parties
is a man of color ?

The question of colored citizenship came up as a national
question, and was settled, during the pendency of the Mis-
souri question, in 1820.

It will be remembered, that that State presented herself
for admission into the Union, with a clause in her Constitu-
tion prohibiting the settlement of colored citizens within her
borders. Resistance was made to her admission into the
Union upon that very ground ; and it was not until that
State receded from her unconstitutional position, that Presi-
dent Monroe declared the admission of Missouri into the
Union to be complete.

According to Niles's Register, August 18th, vol. 20, pages
338 and 339, the refusal to admit Missouri into the Union
was not withdrawn until the General Assembly of that State,
in conformity to a fundamental condition imposed by Con-
gress, had, by an act passed for that purpose, solemnly

COLORED AMERICANS.

331

enacted and declared, " That this State (Missouri) has as-
sented, and does assent, that the fourth clause of the twenty-
sixth section of the third article of their Constitution should
never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and
that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which
any citizen of either of the United States shall be excluded
from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities
to which such citizens are entitled, under the Constitution of
the United States."

A free colored citizen of the county of West Chester, in
the State of New York, named Gilbert Horton, was em-
ployed as a sailor on board a coasting vessel, which touched
at a port in the District of Columbia. Horton went on
shore, and while peaceably walking in one of the streets of
the city of Washington, was seized and thrown into jail as a
fugitive slave. After he had been in jail a month, the fol-
lowing notice appeared in the National Intelligencer, Au-
gust 1st, 1826 : —

" Was committed to the jail of Washington county, District of
Columbia, on the 2d of July last, as a runaway, a negro man by the
name of Gilbert Horton. He is five feet four inches high, stout
made, has large full eyes, and a scar on his left arm near the elbow.
Had on, when committed, a tarpaulin hat, linen shirt, blue cloth
jacket and trousers. Says that he was born free in the State of New
York, near Peekskill. The owner or owners of the above described
negro, if any, are requested to come and prove him and take hini
away, or he will be sold for his jail fees and other expenses, as the
law directs.

"RICHARD BURR,
« For TENCH RINGOLD, Marshal."

332 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

This advertisement happened to meet the eye of the Hon.
Wm. Jay, a son of the celebrated Governor John Jay, who
took immediate measures to procure a meeting of the citi-
zens of West Chester county. That meeting adopted a
series of resolutions, requesting his Excellency De Witt
Clinton to demand from the proper authorities the instant
liberation of Horton, as a free citizen of the State of New
York. In reply to the Governor's letter, he was informed
that the Marshal, having become satisfied that Horton was a
free man, had liberated him. The truth probably was, that
the Marshal had notice of the proceedings of the State of
New York, and knowing (what was generally well known)
that De Witt Clinton was not a man to be trifled with, and
that he would, at any hazard, maintain and defend the rights
of his own State, and every citizen of it, with a firmness and
a perseverance not to be evaded or eluded, preferred the
immediate liberation of Horton, by what might seem to be
a voluntary act, to a compulsory discharge, in pursuance
of a requisition from the Governor of a free State.

The following is a copy of the letter of De Witt Clinton
to John Q. Adams, President of the -United States, in the
case alluded to : —

" Albany, 4th September, 1826.
" Sir, — I have the honor to inclose copies of the proceedings of a
respectable meeting of inhabitants of "West Chester county, in this
State, and of an affidavit of John Owen, by which it appears that one
Gilbert Horton a free man of color > and a CITIZEN of this State,
is unlawfully imprisoned in the jail of the city of Washington, and

COLORED AMERICANS.

333

is advertised to be sold by the Marshal of the District of Columbia.
From whatever authority a law authorizing such proceedings may
have emanated, whether from the municipality of Washington, the
Legislature of Maryland, or the Congress of the United States, it is,
at least, void and unconstitutional in its application to a CITIZEN,
and could never have intended to extend further than to fugitive
slaves. As the District of Columbia is under the exclusive control
of the national government, I conceive it my duty to apply to you
for the liberation of Gilbert Horton, as a freeman and a citizen, and
feel persuaded that this request will be followed by immediate
relief. I have the honor to be, &c,

« DE WITT CLINTON."

Solomon Northup, a citizen of Washington county,
State of New York, was kidnapped in 1841, and conveyed
to Louisiana, and there held as a slave for twelve years ;
but, through an almost miraculous chain of circumstances,
he was enabled to impart the fact to his friends at Saratoga.
His Excellency, Washington Hunt, demanded from the au-
. thorities of Louisiana the safe delivery of Solomon Northup,
a free citizen of the State of New York. The demand was
complied with, and he was restored to his family and
friends.

Hosea Easton thus forcibly alludes to the claims of col-
ored Americans to the rights and privileges of citizenship : —

" In this country, we behold the remnant of a once noble,
but now heathenish people. I would have my readers lose
sight of the African character. For at this time, circum-
stances have established as much difference between them
and their ancestry, as exists between them and any other

334 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

race or nation. In the first place, the colored people who
are born in this country, are Americans in every sense of
the word, — Americans by birth, genius, habits, language, &c.
They are dependent on American climate, American ali-
ment, American government, and American manners, to
sustain their American bodies and minds ; a withholding of
the enjoyment of any American privilege from an Ameri-
can man, either governmental, ecclesiastical, civil, social or
alimental, is in effect taking away his means of subsistence ;
and consequently, taking away his life. Every ecclesiasti-
cal body which denies an American the privilege of partici-
pating in its benefits, becomes his murderer. Every State
which denies an American a citizenship, with all its benefits,
denies him his life. The claims the colored people set up,
therefore, are the claims of Americans. Their claims are
founded in an original agreement of the contracting parties,
and there is nothing to show that color was a consideration
in the agreement. It is well known, that when the country
belonged to Great Britain, the colored people were slaves.
But when America revolted from Britain, they were held no
longer by any legal power. There was no efficient law in
the land except martial law, and that regarded no one as a
slave. The inhabitants were governed by no other law, ex-
cept by resolutions adopted from time to time by meetings
convoked in the different colonies. Upon the face of the
warrants by which these district and town meetings were
called, there is not a word said about the color of the attend-
ants. In convoking the Continental Congress of the 4th of

COLORED AMERICANS. 325

September, 1774, there was not a word said about color.
At a subsequent period, Congress met again, to get in readi-
ness twelve thousand men to act in any emergency ; at the
same time, a request was forwarded to Connecticut, New
Hampshire, and Rhode Island, to increase this army to
twenty thousand men. Now, it is well known that hundreds
of the men of which this army was composed were colored
men, and recognised by Congress as Americans. # * *

" Excuses have been made in vain to cover up the hypoc-
risy of this nation. The most corrupt policy which ever
disgraced its barbarous ancestry has been adopted by both
Church and State, for the avowed purpose of withholding the
inalienable rights of one part of the subjects of the govern-
ment. Pretexts of the lowest order, which are neither witty
nor decent, and which rank among that order of subterfuges
under which the lowest of ruffians attempt to hide when ex-
posed to detection, are made available. * * * I have
no language to express what I see, and hear, and feel, on
this subject. Were I capable of dipping my pen in the
deepest dye of crime, and of understanding the science of
the bottomless pit, I should then fail in presenting to the in-
telligence of mortals on earth, the true nature of American
deception. There can be no appeals made in the name of
the laws of the country, or philanthropy, or humanity, or
religion, that are capable of drawing forth any thing but the
retort, — you are a negro ! If we call to our aid the thun-
der tones of the cannon and the arguments of fire-arms,
(vigorously managed by black and white men, side by side,)

336

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

as displayed upon Dorchester Heights, and at Lexington,
and at White Plains, and at Kingston, and at Long Island,
and elsewhere, the retort is, you are a negro ! If we pre-
sent to the nation a Bunker's Hill, our nation's altar, (upon
which she offered her choicest sacrifice,) with our fathers,
and brothers, and sons, prostrate thereon, wrapped in fire
and smoke — the incense of blood borne upward upon the
wings of sulphurous vapor, to the throne of national honor,
with a halo of national glory echoing back, and spreading over
and astonishing the civilized world ; — and if we present the
thousands^of widows and orphans, whose only earthly pro-
tectors were thus sacrificed, weeping over the fate of the
departed ; and anon, tears of blood are extorted, on learn-
ing that the government for which their lovers and sires had
died refuses to be their protector ; — if we tell that angels
weep in pity, and that God, the eternal Judge, c will hear
the desire of the humble, judge the fatherless and the op-
pressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress,1
the retort is, you are a negro ! If there is a sparlc of
honesty, patriotism, or religion, in the heart or the source
from whence such refuting arguments emanate, the devil in-
carnate is the brightest seraph in paradise.

Hon. Norton S. Townshend, in submitting to the Senate
a bill in accordance with the wish of petitioners for equal
suffrage, remarked, " That the reasons were so ably set forth
in the following memorial of J. Mercer Langston, that noth-
ing further seemed to be required ; and as Mr. Langston
had been appointed by a State Convention of colored peo-

COLORED AMERICANS. 337

pie, and therefore spoke by authority, the committee adopt
the language of the memorial, making' it a part of their re-
port."

From the memorial thus highly complimented, I make the
following extracts. It was presented to the General Assem-
bly of the State of Ohio, April 19, 1854 : —

" What, then, are the grounds upon which we claim the
elective franchise ?

" In answering this question, we have to say, in the first
place, that we are men. Nor is it necessary to enter upon
an argument in support of so self-evident a proposition. We
possess the physical, the intellectual and the moral attributes
common to humanity. We have the same feelings, desires
and aspirations that other men have ; and we are capable of
the same high intellectual and moral culture. As men,
then, we have rights, inherent rights, which civil society is
bound to respect, nay, more, which civil society is bound to
protect and defend. Prominent among those rights, and one
which we deeply love and cherish, is the elective franchise^
is the privilege of saying who shall be our rulers, and what
shall be the character of the laws under which we live. By
none is this right held in higher estimation than by the col-
ored men. And those greatly mistake who think that we
are contented without it. We are not. We know that it is
one of our dearest rights. We feel that we ought to have it.
We feel that civil society is under obligation to secure it to
us, and protect us in its enjoyment. The first consideration
that we offer, therefore, in favor of granting our claim, is
29

338

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

the fact that it is a dictate of justice and fair dealing, be-
tween civil society and men living within its jurisdiction.
###*#*

" We could, with propriety, however, claim so much at
your hands, if we were foreigners. But when it is remem-
bered that we are native-born inhabitants, and by our birth
citizens, the consideration which has just been offered ap-
pears doubly significant, and therefore doubly forcible. It
is needless for us, in grounding our claim to the elective fran-
chise upon our nativity, to remind you, that it is a principle
fully recognised by the Constitution of the country, that
natural birth gives citizenship, otherwise, our naturalization
laws are absurd and nonsensical. Says Chancellor Kent, in
confirmation of our view, fc Citizens, under our Constitution
and laws, mean free inhabitants born within the United States.,
or naturalized under the laws of Congress. If a slave, born
in the United States, be manumitted, or otherwise lawfully
discharged from bondage, or if a black man be born within
the United States, and born free, he becomes thenceforward
a citizen*' If Chancellor Kent's principle be correct, we
may ask, with some degree of force, where is the right to dis-
franchise us — where is the right to strip us of our citizen-
ship ? Said the Hon. Mr. Baldwin, in the United States Sen-
ate, ' When the Constitution of the United States was
framed, colored men voted in a majority of these States ;
they voted in the State of New York, in Pennsylvania, in
Massachusetts, in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey,
Delaware and North Carolina and long after the adoption

COLORED AMERICANS. 339

of the Constitution, they continued to vote in North Carolina
and Tennessee also. The Constitution of the United States
makes no distinction of color. There is no word c white '
to be found in that instrument. All free people then stood
upon the same platform in regard to their political rights,
and were so recognised in most of the States of the Union.

* * * * The free colored citizens of these
States are as much entitled to the rights of citizenship, as
are men of any other color or complexion whatever. * * *
To this day, in the State of Virginia, free colored persons,
born in that State, are citizens.

" We claim our enfranchisement also upon the ground that
we are patriotic. It is a fact that we love this country. We
love her Constitution, and we love those free institutions that
might and ought to be built up all over this land under its
benign influence. Indeed, at no time have we manifested
for this country any other spirit than that of deep, abiding
affection. And that, too, when we have been outraged and
abused most barbarously. ######

" ' Their right,' (colored Americans) in the truthful lan-
guage of John G. Whittier, ' like that of their white fellow-
citizens, dates back to the dread arbitrament of war. Their
bones whiten every stricken field of the Revolution ; their
feet tracked with blood the snows of Jersey ; their toil built
up every fortification south of the Potomac ; they shared
the famine and nakedness of Valley Forge, and the pestilen-
tial horrors of the old Jersey prison ship/ Have we, then,
no claim to an equal participation in the blessings which

340

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

have 6 grown out of the national independence,' which we
fought to establish ? Is it right, is it just, is it generous, is
it magnanimous, to withhold from us these blessings and
c starve our patriotism ' ? What foreigner, what Irish or
German emigrant, has ever given such evidences of deep
devotion to your government ? And yet, you have taken
pains to make a special arrangement by which, in due time,
they are to enter upon the full enjoyment of citizenship.
To this arrangement we would not object. We simply ask
that we, who have given such strong and significant proofs
•of our love of this country and its laws, be clothed in the
livery of free and independent citizenship.

" As touching this point, we would also submit the views
of Hon. William H. Seward, as presented in the following
letter : —

" « Washington, May 16, 1850.
" ' Dear Sir : — Your letter of the 6th inst. has been received. I
reply to it cheerfully and with pleasure.

* It is my deliberate opinion, founded upon careful observation,
that the right of suffrage is exercised by no citizen of New York
more conscientiously, or more sincerely, or with more beneficial re-
sults to society, than it is by the electors of African descent. I sin-
cerely hope that the franchise will before long be extended, as it
justly ought, to this race, who of all others need it most.

« I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.'

" Thus it will be seen that, in the estimation of such
men — men who have bestowed some thought upon our
condition and our conduct — that we are not all so ignorant

COLOKED AMERICANS.

341

and degraded that we are incapable of exercising the elective
franchise in an intelligent and manly manner.

u Permit us to say, in conclusion, then, in view of these
considerations, we hold that it is unjust, anti-democratic,
impolitic, and ungenerous, to withhold from us the right of
suffrage. "

Mr. Langston has since had satisfactory proof that colored
men are regarded as citizens by a good portion of the Buck-
eyes. Here is his announcement : —

"They put upon their ticket the name of a colored man, who was
elected clerk of Brownhelm township, by a very handsome majori-
ty, indeed. Since I am the only colored man who lives in this
township, you can easily guess the name of the man who was so
fortunate as to secure this election. To my knowledge, the like has
not been known in Ohio before. It proves the steady march of the
an ti- slavery sentiment, and augurs the inevitable destruction and
annihilation of American prejudice against colored men. What we
so much need, just at this juncture and all along the future,, is po-
litical influence ; the bridle by which we can check and guide to our
advantage the selfishness of American demagogues. How import-
tant, then, it is, that we labor night and day to enfranchise our-
selves."

William J. Watkins sums up the argument in behalf of
the citizenship of colored men as follows : —

" It is said that the minister refused the negro a passport,
on the ground that a black man was not considered a citizen
of the United States. We gravely ask the question, If we
are not citizens, then what are we ? What constitutes citi-
29*

342

CONDITION AND

PROSPECTS OF

zenship in this country ? Is color a constitutional disquali-
fication ? If so, there are a great many so-called white men
who are not citizens, for we know not a few who would be
taken for colored men, if the complexion were the standard.
Neither does the texture of the hair exclude any one from
the privileges of American citizens, that is, in compliance
with the edict of the Constitution. It is just as constitutional
to ostracise all the bald heads, or c heads with sandy hair,'
as to thrust a man, in the country, with woolly hair, outside
the pale of American citizenship.

" We believe the Government recognizes the existence
of but two classes of population, natives, or citizens, and
aliens.

" Colored men, born on the soil, cannot be aliens ; of course
not. They cannot, therefore, be naturalized. Who ever
heard of a colored American being naturalized in the United
States? This government naturalizes foreigners only. We
must, then, be CITIZENS. Our white fellow-citizens may
withhold our right, but they cannot annihilate it.

" And now, with the broad, blazing sunlight of the Revo-
lution flashing across our path, and revealing to the gaze of
all men the prowess and patriotism of colored Americans,
in the hour that tried men's souls, we are told we are not
citizens. Shame upon this ingrate Government! But we
will continue to regard ourselves as citizens, and as such
demand our rights. We ask no favors at the hands of the
United States."

COLORED

AMERICANS.

343

CHAPTER II.

ELEVATION.

THE LIBERATOR AND ITS EDITOR — WALKER* S APPEAL — MASSACHU-
SETTS GENERAL COLORED ASSOCIATION COLORED COLLEGE AT

NEW HAVEN — COLORED CONVENTIONS — MARTYR AGE OF ABOLI-
TIONISTS DECLARATION OF ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENTS REV.

THEODORE S. WRIGHT DR. JAMES M'CUNE SMITH EXCLUSIVE

SCHOOLS WM. WHIPPER J. W. C. PENNINGTON, D.D. — TROY

CONVENTION OF 1 8 4 7 — FREDERICK DOUGLASS, 18 4 8 — PRINTER^

FESTIVAL AT ROCHESTER COLORED CHURCHES REV. THOMAS

PAUL REV. JOHN T. RAYMOND COLORED ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIE-
TIES NATIONAL CONVENTIONS OF 1 8 5 3 REFLECTIONS.

Coeval with the establishment of The Liberator in Boston,
in the year 1831, the dormant energies of the oppressed col-
ored Americans became actively aroused, and the ways and
means of elevation were prolific themes in their social gath-
erings. Among the causes contributing to this hopeful state
of things may be mentioned the pamphlet of David Walker,
published during the eventful period of Mr. Garrison's
imprisonment in a Baltimore jail, for being an Anti-
Slavery man, which was signally effective in rousing the
eloquence of Walker. This appeal waked up some feeling
at the South, and a corresponding degree of vitality among
the colored people. But the most potent instrumentality
that inspired the hearts of the colored Americans with faith,

344 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

hope, and perseverance " for the good time coming," was
the publication of that fearless, uncompromising sheet, The
Liberator, which, when commenced, had arrayed against it
the 30,000 churches, and clergy of the country — its wealth,
its commerce, its press. At that time, there was the most
entire ignorance and apathy on the slave question. In that
dark hour, The Liberator was unfurled to the breeze, in
the eyes of the nation, within sight of Banker Hill, and in
the birth-place of American liberty, consecrated to the cause
till every chain be broken, and every bondman set free —
its Editor pledging himself to the work in these immortal
words : — " I am in earnest ! I will not equivocate — I will
not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — and I will
be heard ! " For twenty-five years has that clarion voice
sounded in the ears of this guilty nation, and twenty-
three millions of people complain, to-day, that they hear
of nothing but slavery ! It has unmasked the hydra-
headed monster, Colonization, and secured an audience
for the colored man, who before could hardly utter his
thoughts.

Before The Liberator was issued, Mr. Garrison delivered
Anti-Slavery lectures in Boston, at Julien Hall, and the old
Athenaeum Hall, Pearl street. Among the colored friends
present, on one very interesting occasion, at the latter place,
were Rev. Thomas Paul and Rev. Samuel Snowden. The
hearty amen of Father Snowden was responded to by the
eloquent eye and earnest hand-shaking of the other favorite
colored pastor, both of whom then vowed their devotion to

COLORED AMERICANS.

345

the cause and its enthusiastic young advocate, to which
pledge their life was remarkably consistent.

I remember, when a boy, in January, 1832, looking in at
the vestry window of Belknap Street Church, while the Ed-
itor of The Liberator and a faithful few organized the first
Anti-Slavery Society.

The immediate result of the labors of the Anti-Slavery
press and the public lecturers, was the formation of exclu-
sive organizations among the colored people. They,
and the great body of the Abolitionists, did not then see
eye to eye in the matter of combined action, for many
of the latter supposed their Anti-Slavery mission was ended
when they had publicly protested against slavery, without
being careful to exemplify their principles in every-day
practice. Many of the colored people, too, seemed to think
that enough of heaven was opened unto them, when white
people would talk Anti-Slavery ; the idea of social political
equality seemingly never being dreamed of by them.

In accordance with this view, a society was formed, called
the "Massachusetts General Colored Association," of which
Hosea and Joshua Easton, John E. Scarlett, Thomas Cole,
James G. Barbadoes, William G. Nell, and others, now
numbered with the dead, were members, — together with
Thomas Dalton, John T. Hilton, Frederick Brimley, Coffin
Pitts, Walker Lewis, and others of the " Old Guard," who
yet remain with us. The object of this Association was the
promulgation of Anti-Slavery truth. In January, 1833, it
made application to be received as an auxiliary to the

346

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

Massachusetts (then New England) Anti-Slavery Society,*
through the following letter : —

Boston, January 15, 1833.
To the Board of Managers of the New England Anti- Slavery Society :
The Massachusetts General Colored Association, cordially approv-
ing the objects and principles of the New England Anti- Slavery
Society, would respectfully communicate their desire to become
auxiliary thereto. They have accordingly chosen one of their mem-
bers to attend the annual meeting of the Society as their delegate,
(Mr. Joshua Easton, of North Bridgewater,) and solicit his accep-
tance in that capacity.

THOMAS D ALTON, President.
WILLIAM G. NELL, Vice President.
James G. Barbadoes, Secretary.

Of course, this request was cordially granted ; but they
and their white friends soon learned that complexional
Anti-Slavery societies, as such, were absurdities, to say the
least, and hence, such, distinctions soon melted into thin
air; and if the spirit of Susan Paul takes cognizance of
events familiar to her when in the flesh, she is now rejoicing
in her association with the Anti-Slavery societies of that
time, their " Martyr Age," and her share in the perils con-
sequent upon the burning of Pennsylvania Hall.

From the time of the mobbing of William Lloyd Garri-
son and George Thompson, and the women's meeting at

♦At this meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society, Rev. Samuel Snowden was
elected a Counsellor; the next year, James G. Barbadoes and Joshua Easton;
and subsequently, John T. Hilton was appointed, who, with Charles Lenox
Remond, is now Vice President.

COLORED AMERICANS. 347

Francis Jackson's, in Hollis street, where Harriet Martineau
consecrated herself to the cause, and historically identified
herself with the colored people, colored and white have met
together on one Anti-Slavery platform, where, "like kin-
dred drops, they mingle into one."

John Remond and Prince Farmer, of Salem, and Susan
Paul, of Boston, became life-members of the Massachusetts
Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. Subsequently, other names
were enrolled from New Bedford and elsewhere, and col-
ored persons also connected themselves with the American
Anti-Slavery Society. And if there are any colored friends
who do not now participate fr.eely with their white brethren
and sisters, in their efforts for the slave's redemption and
their own elevation, it is only because they choose to absent
themselves, and not because of objections on the part of
others.

The presence of Robert Purvis on the platform of the
American A. S. Society as presiding officer, or of Charles
Lenox Remond, President, for several years, of the Essex
County Anti-Slavery Society, with the distinguished position
occupied by themselves and William Wells Brown as
orators, fully justifies what Maria Weston Chapman claims
for the American Anti-Slavery Society, when she says it is
"church and university, high school and common school, to
all who need real instruction and true religion. Of it what
a throng of authors, editors, lawyers, orators, and ac-
complished gentlemen of color have taken their degree ! It
has equally implanted hopes and aspirations, noble thoughts

348

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

and sublime purposes, in the hearts of both races. It has
prepared the white man for the freedom of the black man,
and it has made the black man scorn the thought of enslave-
ment, as does a white man, as far as its influence has ex-
tended. Strengthen that nolle influence ! Before its or-
ganization, the country only saw here and there in slavery
some 6 faithful Cudjoe or Dinah,' whose strong natures blos-
somed even in bondage, like a fine plant beneath a heavy
stone. Now, under the elevating and cherishing influence
of the American Anti-Slavery Society, the colored race,
like the white, furnishes Corinthian capitals for the noblest
temples. Aroused by the American Anti-Slavery Society,
the very white men who had forgotten and denied the claim
of the black man to the rights of humanity, now thunder that
claim at every gate, from cottage to capitol, from school-
house to university, from the railroad carriage to the house
of God. He has a place at their firesides, a place in their
hearts — the man whom they once cruelly hated for his color.
So feeling, they cannot send him to Coventry with a horn-book
in his hand, and call it instruction ! They inspire him to
climb to their side by a visible, acted gospel of freedom.
Thus, instead of bowing to prejudice, they conquer it."

In 1831, the plan of Arnold BuiTum for a colored col-
lege at New Haven was thought favorably of by the friends,
white and colored, and Mr. Garrison, during his first mis-
sion to England, was expected to secure funds for the
same ; but a variety of causes prevented his receiving any
donations, and the persecution of Prudence Crandall at

COLORED AMERICANS.

349

Canterbury, Conn, and the attack upon the school-house at
Canaan, N. H., had the effect to open the doors of col-
leges and seminaries to youth, irrespective of complex-
ion, and the necessity (or what seemed to be such) for a
colored college was superseded.

Since that time, colored students have been admitted at
Wilbraham, Leicester, Andover, Dartmouth, and at the
majority of the institutions of learning in the New Eng-
land, Central, and Western States.

In June, 1831, six months after the advent of The Lite-
rator, the first Annual Convention of the People of Color
was held in Philadelphia. New York, Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, Delaware and Virginia were the only States repre-
sented. This Convention appointed Provisional Commit-
tees, and named for Boston, Hosea Easton, Robert Rob-
erts, James G. Barbadoes, and the late lamented Rev. Sam-
uel Snowden. Since then, there have been several Con-
ventions held by colored Americans in different parts of
the country, and no one can deny that some good has
resulted therefrom.

The Hamiltons, the Sipkinses, and a constellation of oth-
ers from the Empire State, with those named elsewhere
from the various sections, acted according to the light and
promise of the times. Let us fulfil, during our mission,
the prophecy of our fathers, who. in passing away, have
left us the legacy of their prayers and fondest aspirations
for success. While they have wept in remembrance of the
past, when denied even a tithe of our present opportunities,
30

350

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

their hearts were made glad in the anticipation of better
associations for their sons, — the gaining of access to vari-
ous avenues of improvement in morals, science, and the
mechanic arts, and through such mediums, effecting an
opening for their brethren to the position of free and inde-
pendent citizenship.

In the Declaration of Sentiments adopted by the Ameri-
can Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia, in 1833, they
pledged themselves to secure to the colored population of
the United States all the rights and privileges which belong
to them as men and as Americans, " come what may to our
persons, our interests, or our reputation." The colored
persons who signed this declaration were, Robert Purvis; of
Pennsylvania, and James G. Barbadoes, of Massachusetts.

The Anti-Slavery women of the United States assembled
in Convention at New York, May, 1837, and published a
circular, from which the following is extracted : —

" Those Societies that reject colored members, or seek to
avoid them, have never been active or efficient. The bles-
sing of God does not rest upon them, because they fc keep
back a part of the price of the land,' — they do not lay all
at the apostle's feet.

" The abandonment of prejudice is required of us as a
proof of our sincerity and consistency. How can we ask
our Southern brethren to make sacrifices, if we are not
even willing to encounter inconveniences? First cast the
beam from thine own eye, then wilt thou see clearly to cast
it from his eye."

COLORED AMERICANS.

351

This circular was signed by Mary S. Parker, President,
and Angelina E. Grimke, Secretary, Miss Sarah Douglass
was among the colored members, and one of the Central
Committee, and their published appeal contained these ded-
icatory lines by Sarah Forten, a colored lady : —

" We are thy sisters, God has truly said,
That of one blood the nations he has made.
O, Christian woman ! in a Christian land,
Canst thou unblushing read this great command ?
-Suffer the wrongs which wring our inmost heart,
To draw one throb of pity on thy part !
Our skins may differ, but from thee we claim
A sister's privilege and a sister's name,"

At the annual meeting of the New England Anti-Slavery
Society, in January, 1836, Rev, Professor Follen offered
the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted :

44 Resolved, That we consider the Anti- Slavery cause the cause of
philanthropy, with regard to which all human beings, white men
and colored men, citizens and foreigners, men and women, have the
same duties and the same rights."

In support of this resolution, Mr. Follen said, — "We
have been advised, if we really wished to benefit the slave
and the colored race generally, not unnecessarily to shock
the feelings, though they were but prejudices, of the white
people, by admitting colored persons to our Anti-Slavery
meetings and societies. We have been told that many
who would otherwise act in unison with us were kept away

352

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

by our disregard of the feelings of the community in this
respect. . . . But what, I would ask, is the great, the
single object of all our meetings and societies ? Have we
any other object than to impress upon the community this
one principle, that the colored man is a man ? and, on the
•other hand, is not the prejudice which would have us
exclude colored people from our meetings and societies the
same which, in our Southern States, dooms them to perpet-
ual bondage ? "

Rev. Theodore S. Wright, at the Anti-Slavery Convention
in Boston, May, 1836, alluding to the Oneida Institute, testi-
fied as follows: — " God is there teaching abolition by
training white and colored young men together. The most
efficient cooperation I ever received was from those with
■whom I have associated in the seats of learning, — my re-
spected classmates. They have always been ready to aid
and counsel me. My heart has always gladdened to see
them. It is important to make the two races feel kindness
and respect for each other, even if but few do, so it will
have an effect on others. Get two men to love each other,
though of two nations, and it will make them love the whole
class."

James M'Cune Smith, J. V. DeGrasse, and their brethren
in the medical profession, as also the trio of college Profes-
sors, Wm. G. Allen, Charles L. Reason and George B.
Vashon, Rev. H. H. Garnet, S. R. Ward, Amos G. Beman,
and others, are manifestly more competent in their various
callings for having graduated at institutions where they

COLORED AMERICANS.

353

contended for -mental superiority with the more favored
class of white students.

This principle is beautifully illustrated at Oberlin College.
Among the classmates at this institution, at one time, were
Lucy Stone, John M. Langston, Sallie Holley, Wm. H.
Day, and others of both complexions and sexes.

But, shout some, " Instruction ! Instruction ! Found
schools and churches for the blacks, and thus prepare for
the abolition of slavery ! " This, in the language of another,
" is shallow and short-sighted. The demand is the prepara-
tion ; nothing can supply the place of that. And exclusive
instruction, — teaching for blacks, — a school founded on
color, — a church in which men are herded ignominiously,
apart from the refining influence of as.ociation with the more
highly educated and accomplished, — what are they? A
direct way of fitting white men for tyrants, and black men
for slaves."

When Dr. James M'Cune Smith returned from Edin-
burgh, in 1837, at whose University he had drank deep of
the Pierian stream of classic literature, the colored citizens
of his native New York tendered him a public welcome.
Ransom F. Wake, in their behalf, congratulated him on
having passed five years in a land where " a man 's a man,"
without regard to his complexion, — where the gentleman,
the scholar, the Christian and the patriot did not restrict
their benevolence to geographical limits, nor to the mean,
degrading, illiberal, detestable and unholy distinction of
color which prevails in our otherwise happy land.
30*

354

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

Dr. Smith happily responded. Among other appropriate
remarks, he said : — "I have striven to obtain education, at
every sacrifice and every hazard, and to apply such educa-
tion to the good of our common country. I have blessed
the chance which threw me upon the sympathies of, and
opened up to me an association with, the Wardlaws and the
Heughs, the Andersons and the Murrays, — men whose
names are the property, neither of the city nor the time in
which they dwell, but will be held in grateful remembrance
so long as civil and religious liberty shall be remembered ;
and I was further permitted, to the extent of my humble
energies, (he says,) to battle side-by-side with them in the
cause of the immediate and universal emancipation of
slaves."

Dr. Smith was then obliged to leave his home to obtain
the education his heart longed for. Now, no colored man
need quit the United States for that purpose.

In 1843, Dr. Smith delivered a lecture before the New
York Philomsethan and Hamilton Lyceum, on the Destiny
of the People of Color, in which he advances the idea,
" that we (the colored Americans) are to remain amid the
institutions which enthral us, in order to bring liberty to the
one by purifying the other." And in 1849, in a letter on
the Equal School Rights Question in Boston, he said : —
" It has ever been my solemn conviction, that separate or-
ganizations of all kinds, based upon the color of the skin,
keep alive prejudice against color, and that no organiza-
tions do this more effectually than colored schools. All ar-

COLORED AMERICANS.

355

guments in favor of the especial appropriateness of colored
teachers for colored children must cease when colored
children are freely and equally admitted into white schools.
In this latter case, all the signs of degradation are removed ;
free and manly instincts — the grand instinct of equality —
grow out of the facts of equality ; colored teachers are
no longer needed for the especial purpose of teaching col-
ored children that they are free and equal ; these children
feel and know that they are free and equal, and it is only in
proportion to their merits and acquirements, only in free
and open competition, that colored teachers should then take
their equal chances with others in obtaining teacherships in
common schools."

In the year 1838, William Whipper, and other talented
and distinguished colored Americans, conducted a periodical
called " The National Reformer," the organ of an Association
in which such men as James Forten, John P. Burr, Rev.
Charles W. Gardiner, Robert Purvis, and Rev. Daniel A.
Payne, were members. At one of its meetings, the follow-
ing resolution was adopted : —

" Eesolved, That the erecting what are termed white and colored
churches fosters the spirit of prejudice and insults the spirit of true
reform, by refusing to be associated in Christian fellowship with
their brethren of a different complexion, while they both acknowl-
edge the same God as their ruler, and expect to inherit the same
destiny in a future world."

The "National Reformer" of September, 1838, endorsed
the American Anti-Slavery platform in the following lan-
guage : — "With them (the Society) we make common

356

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

cause ; satisfied to await the same issue with them, we are
willing to labor for its achievement, and terminate our lives
as martyrs in support of its principles ; under this banner
we will rally our countrymen, without distinction of caste or
complexion. Show forth to the world that the white man
and the colored, the rich and the poor, the bond and the
free, can all, on the platform of our common nature, live as
brethren, in harmony, peace, and unity, and you will have
levelled to the ground the most powerful barrier against
universal emancipation."

Rev. J. W. C. Pennington, in his lectures before the
Glasgow Young Men's Christian Association, and the St.
George's Biblical Literary and Scientific Institute of Lon-
don, laid down the following as the basis of his argument: —
" The colored population of the United States have no
destiny separate from that of the nation of which they form
an integral part. Our destiny is bound up with that of
America. Her ship is ours ; her pilot is ours ; her storms
are ours; her calms are ours. If she breaks upon any rock,
we break with her. If we, born in America, cannot live
upon the same soil upon terms of equality with the descend-
ants of Scotchmen, Englishmen, Irishmen, Frenchmen, Ger-
mans, Hungarians, Greeks, and Poles, then the fundamental
theory of the American Republic fails and falls to the
ground." #

* Reference was made to Rev. Samuel R. Ward, for several years pastor of a
white church and congregation, and to Rev. II. H. Garnet, a member of the
Young Men's Institute at Troy. Dr. Tennington has himself exchanged pulpits
with several white pastors In Connecticut and New York, and once presided over
the Congregational Association.

COLORED AMERICANS.

357

"We oppose," says the National Anti-Slavery Standard
of June 18, 1840, " all exclusive action on the part of the
colored people, except where the clearest necessity demands
it. Is it not the grand object of our enterprise to show the
world that our struggle is for great rights ? Are we not
purposed to overthrow any and every arrangement of soci-
ety that hinders us from the attainment of this end ? Then
why should our friends seek to put themselves in a position,
to say the least, that looks like an admission of the rightful-
ness of such lines of demarcation ? Where, then, is the
goodness or depth of that philosophy that leads you to sep-
arate yourselves, for an hour, from those who are your co-
adjutors in this great work ?

" The fetter galls and cuts deeply, but we cannot unlock it
instantly ; in your desire to become free men, be careful
that you do not tear down what you build up.

u Teach the Abolitionists to make common cause with
you ; teach them to forget, and forget yourselves, as fast as
possible, that you are colored men and women. A man is a
man, and the rights of man are what we are seeking to
procure.

" As long as exclusive colored conventions are held, the
white slavite will let them hold them in peace, and strength
and shape is given daily to that system of ostracism from
social, political and religious influence, which, of all things
else, crushes the colored man at the North, and makes him
twin brother to the bond-slave of the South."

The great movement now going on in the United States,

358

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

on the part of foreigners and their descendants, is to coalesce
with those to the " manner born." From a paper devoted to
the interests of the Irish in this country, I take the following
pertinent suggestion : —

" The more an Irishman abstracts himself from those
associations exclusively Irish, the greater is his chance of
amalgamation with Americans, among whom his destiny is
cast, and in whose fraternity he is, after all, to look for the
meed of his industrious career. It may be safely observed,
that those Irishmen who have thriven best in the United
States are those who have taken an independent stand, and,
separating themselves from all clannish connections, have
worked their way alone."

The New York Tribune has recently said, that " nine out
of every ten Catholic parents prefer their children instructed
in good common schools, rather than in the specially Catho-
lic schools in the several States ; " and it is equally true,
that even the social organizations and clubs, so peculiar to
many old countrymen, are fast being regarded by the intel-
ligent as inconsistent, in America, while they are contend-
ing for the position of American citizens. Shall we, col-
ored citizens, native-Americans born, prove less republican
than those who are Americans only by adoption ? Eagles
fly alone ; they are but sheep that always herd together.

In the year 1847, a call was issued for a Convention to be
held in Troy, N. Y. Massachusetts, and some other States,
regarding this as exclusive, it was, by general consent, mod-
ified to a call for a National Convention of Colored Ameri-

COLORED AMERICANS.

359

cans and their friends. Had this arrangement been acced-
ed to sooner, several Anti-Slavery societies would have
sent delegates, white and colored. One colored delegate
was furnished with credentials by the Northampton Anti-
Slavery Society. The feeling, at that time, among promi-
nent white and colored Anti-Slavery friends was, that exclu-
sive colored conventions belonged to the past, and their res-
urrection was not desirable. The great question was that
of abandoning, as soon as possible, all separate action, and
becoming part and parcel of the general community.

The following is an extract from some remarks made
by the author at the Troy Convention, October, 1847: —
" The fear of colored children sinking under the weight of
prejudice in a white institution is not a conclusive argument
against their exercising the right of entrance. The colored
youth should be stimulated to establish such a character in
these seats of learning, by his energy in study and gentle-
manly deportment towards teachers and pupils, as to disarm
opposition, show himself an equal, and, in despite of cold
looks and repulsive treatment, hew a path to eminence and
respect; and, like the gem, which shines brighter by attri-
tion, become himself, among good scholars, the very best.

" Perseverance will accomplish wonders. History is re-
plete with examples where young persons have thus, by a
harmonious association, converted enemies into good friends,
Colored men are daily learning of new avenues opening for
their improvement in all the varied business and social rela-
tions of life, and do not wish to be behind the age. The

360 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

intelligent among them will jump on board the car of free-
dom, and if there are those who will cling to the flesh-pots
of Egypt, why, they should not complain if the advancing
train jostle them from the track.

" Any person, of ordinary capacity, must know that, to
become elevated, he must cultivate and practice the same
traits which are elevating others around him ; and if it is
(as, indeed, we all feel it to be) harder for the colored man
than any other, why, then, let him work the harder, and,
eventually, the summit will be attained. We shall not be
transported, en masse, as the fabled palace of Aladdin was,
by the hands of a magician, and set down upon some Ely-
sian plain; but each for himself must aim for the height, and
an excelsior march will soon place' his feet, like the patri-
arch's of old, upon Pisgah's top, where the promised land
of equality will be presented, in full view, to his longing
eyes."

From the report of the Cambridge (Mass.) School Com-
mittee, submitted in 1851, we make the following extract: —

" In the Broadway Primary School, a singular fact was noticed —
viz., the mixture of four different races among the pupils — the An-
glo-Saxon, Teutonic, Celtic, and African ; but, by the influence of
the teacher and of habit, there exists perfect good feeling among
them, and there is no apparent consciousness of a difference of race
or condition."

A gentleman who attended the examination of this last-
mentioned school, in April, 1854, said of it in one of the

COLORED AMERICANS. 36 1

public prints: — "Colored boys and girls were classified
with those not colored like themselves, and all without the
least apparent sign that such a spectacle was otherwise than
ordinary. The various exercises were participated in by
them with commendable tact, zeal and deportment ; and, in
the Committee's summing up, the marks of distinction for
studies, punctual attendance, and exemplary deportment,
during the term, were very flattering. In map-drawing, a
colored pupil excelled all others."

From Frederick Douglass's speech in Ford Street
Church, Rochester, N. Y., March 13, 1848, I make the fol-
lowing extract : —

"I am well aware of the anti-Christian prejudices which
have excluded many colored persons from white churches,
and the consequent necessity for erecting their own places
of worship. This evil I would charge upon its originators,
and not the colored people. But such a necessity does not
now exist to the extent of former years. There are socie-
ties where color is not regarded as a test of membership,
and such places I deem more appropriate for colored per-
sons than exclusive or isolated organizations.

" I look upon all complexional distinctions, such as negro
pews, negro berths on steamboats, negro cars, Sabbath or
week-day schools or churches, &c, as direct obstacles to
the progress of reform, and as the means of continuing the
slave in his chains."

At the anniversary celebration of Franklin's birthday by
the printers of Rochester, N. Y., in January, 1848, Mr.
31

362 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

Douglass and myself accepted an invitation to be present.
The landlord of the Irving House protested against our par-
ticipation in the celebration, called us intruders, and told us
that it was a " violation of the rules of society for colored
people to associate with whites," &c. But, through the in-
terposition of Alexander Mann, Esq., editor of the Roches-
ter American, seconded by James Vick, Esq., the question
was put to the company, and decided in our favor by almost
an unanimous vote.

The following were among the sentiments offered on the
above occasion : —

By Frederick Douglass. Gentlemen of the Rochester Press —
Promoters of knowledge, lovers of liberty, foes of ignorance, despi-
sers of prejudice, — may you continue to give the world noble
examples by a free and intelligent union of black with, white.

By Wm. C. Nell. Free Speech and a Free Press — The hand-
maids of liberty " the wide world o'er." May the printers of Roch-
ester, in glorious emulation of their honored prototype, Franklin,
ever prove the uncompromising defenders of both.

It has been my lot to listen, from early childhood, to col-
ored clergymen of various sects and denominations, and
with sorrow do I record the fact, that in but few cases have
they exhibited the capability at all worthy of their calling as
teachers. The recollection of the many deficiencies, appa-
rent, at times, even to the school children among the con-
gregation, is sufficient to excite a tear of deep regret in
view of the unprofitable connection between pastor and
people. A few years since, the colored citizens of Boston,

COLORED AMERICANS.

363

regretting that those among them who aspired to lead in
religious matters did not evince the proper degree of zeal
for intellectual improvement, adopted the following resolu-
tions : —

" Resolved, That the apathy manifested by our colored ministers of
the gospel, in reference to the promulgation of the arts and sciences
among us as a people, tends more to retard our intellectual emancipation
than the influence of any elms of persons, except the slaveholders,

" Resolved, That it is the duty of our people to give their support to
such ministers of the gospel as show proof of the best intellectual and
spiritual cultivation,"

When this is done will the beautiful language of the
Psalmist be realised, — " Our sons will be as plants grown
up in their youth, and our daughters as corner-stones, pol-
ished after the similitude of a palace."

The names of some honorable exceptions now occur to
me of clergymen stationed in cities and towns, who have
done their duty, by precept and example, in the general
elevation of their brethren ; but in my native city, Boston,
two prominent clergymen deserve special mention.

Many years ago, the Rev. Thomas Paul presided over a
large congregation. He was possessed of fine talents,
enriched by active intercourse with, and the friendship of,
celebrated individuals in civil and literary relations, both at
home and in England. I can remember, among his merits,
the efforts originated and promoted by him for the education
and welfare of those with whom his fortunes were allied.
Saying this, is but rendering justice to a good man, now in
his grave.

364

CONDITION AND P R O S F E C T S OF

At a later day, John T. Raymond occupied the same
pulpit, and proudly do I testify to one fact conspicuous in his
ministry. Education, Anti-Slavery and Temperance al-
ways received from him deserved attention. Lecturers on
the various reforms were cordially solicited to address his
church, in which exercises he participated with credit to
himself and satisfaction to others. Tie believed and taught,
that " man, educated, will ever be better than when igno-
rant."

Colored men and women, especially the younger portion,
are looking forward, aiming to expand their minds, and they
will not be satisfied with any thing short of what tends to

improve, elevate, and refine." While colored churches
do exist, let the pulpit be filled by those to whom the aspir-
ing mind can look up with confidence. Even this is an
advanced step, and will better prepare all for the advent of
a brighter day.

u Did we at the North (says Wm. J. Watkins) occupy a
position analogous to that of our Southern brethren, were
we compelled, on account of our complexion, to occupy the
highest scat in the synagogue, or hide ourselves in some re-
mote corner, and catch the crumbs as they fall from the
white man's table, then would there be extenuating circum-
stances sufficient to justify us in worshipping God exclusive-
ly under our own vine and fig tree. But no such mitigating
circumstances present themselves. Churches in which we
can unite and worship God as men and brethren are thrown
wide open for our reception, but how few of us wend our

COLORED AMERICANS.

365

way thither! In Boston, there is a colored population of
not quite two thousand, and yet we have Jive colored
churches."

In the year 1848, an attempt was made in Boston to form
a colored Anti-Slavery Society. At a crowded meeting in
Belknap Street Church, January 24th, a resolution opposing
such a scheme was advocated by Wm. Wells Brown, Rob-
ert Morris, Esq., Edward B. Lawton, John T. Hilton, and
others, and adopted as the sense of the meeting.

A combination of influences, in 1853, resulted in a call
for a National Convention of Colored People, to be held at
Rochester, N. Y., July 6th. At a meeting held in Boston,
June 20th, the following resolution was adopted : —

" Resolved, That we, in common with our fellow -citizens of the seve-
ral States, respond to the call for a National Convention of Colored
Americans, though it would have been more in unison with the ad-
vanced state of sentiment among Reformers, had the call embraced
colored Americans and their friends"

One argument in favor of Colored Conventions has been,
that, in some States, the colored people are so oppressed by
local customs, as to be apparently forbidden to have inter-
course with the whites, and hence, that while some parts of
the country may not need such an auxiliary, to others it
may be important. It must be admitted, that there is some
plausibility in this statement, and yet, it is only a superficial
and not an enlarged view of the question. Instead of their
desiring the more advanced to come down to them, they
31*

366

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

should labor to come up themselves, that Illinois and Indi-
ana, with their Black Laws repealed, and Pennsylvania,
with her colored suffrage restored, may stand side by side
with the more liberal and liberty-practising States in other
parts of the Union. When rights are to be discussed and
contended for, it is of vital importance that we invoke a
union of all true hearts, as they have wisely contemplated
in Toronto, Canada, where the Constitution of their Provin-
cial Union embodies measures to further promote literature,
general intelligence, active benevolence, and the principles
of universal freedom, not based on complexional considera-
tions.

Associations, like individuals, to a certain extent, are con-
trolled by the surrounding atmosphere ; as, for instance,
when the Massachusetts State (colored) Council met in
New Bedford, the fact that Protective Unions already exist-
ed open to colored and white stockholders equally, — that
colored children shared equal school privileges with the
whites, — that a colored man, the President of the Council,
was an officer in pay of the city, and that they anticipated
that the time would soon come when colored and white
jurym'en would sit on the same panel, — these facts, and
their legitimate consequences, visible in the body politic,
had the effect to prevent the Council from adopting any
exclusive measures, and even from endorsing the Colored
Industrial School.

The position of those colored Americans who complain
of their brethren for not taking steps backward to accom-

COLORED AMERICANS.

367

modate their lower level, is analogous to the slaves asking
freemen to put on chains, barbarians requiring a people to
abandon civilization, the Pope of Rome abolishing railroads,
or those ancients who burned the Alexandrian Library, be-
cause they had no literature of their own.

There is a glaring inconsistency in exclusive colored
action on the part of those who claim to be Anti-Slavery
reformers. The idea, carried out to its legitimate conclu-
sion, would frustrate all such hopes as were cherished by
many of seeing Frederick Douglass elevated to the
United States Congress ; for, on their theory, a colored
Congress must be organized, as the only one where consist-
ency would allow of his credentials being presented.

That colored Americans should not be isolated, but parti-
cipate with other Americans in the duties of legislation, as
every v/here else, is an essential element in the Anti-Slavery
philosophy, but one, of course, equally derided by Coloniza-
tion ists and slaveholders. In the Colonizationist for Sep-
tember, 1833, Cyril Pearl alluded to Mr. Garrison as the
man who encourages the colored population to expect the
time when " our State and National assemblies will contain
a fair proportion of colored representatives."

How indignant does the colored man feel, when some
Colonizationist denies his equal rights in churches, public
places and conveyances, by saying, " Why don H you go
among your own people, where you belong ? " And yet, in
many instances, the very individuals whose sensibilities are
thus wounded, are themselves active in upholding colored

368 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

institutions. By such a course, they blunt the sword of
their denunciations against colorphobia.

Others protest against the blending of colored with white,
for fear of the loss of identity on the part of colored people ;
and further, for the reason that it will have a tendency to
turn aside patronage from colored professional men, traders
and mechanics. All this is either an ignorant or wilful per-
version of the matter. " Competition is the life of trade."
If colored genius will but imitate the successful examples
among the whites, the public will surely reward the perse-
vering effort.

Hon. Rufus Choate, in opposing the colored military peti-
tion in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, remark-
ed, that " though the colored man should win Bunker Hills,
the color will cleave to him still" — a sentiment based on
Henry Clay's Colonization speech in the Senate, Feb. 7th,
1839, when he asked, " Do they (the Abolitionists) not per-
ceive, that in thus confounding all the distinctions which
God himself has made, they arraign the wisdom and good-
ness of Providence itself 7 It has been his. divine pleasure
to make the black man black and the white man white, and
to distinguish them by other repulsive constitutional differ-
ences" So far as the conduct of some colored people is
concerned, they are constantly strengthening that statement.
It is possible so to deport ourselves, that the idea of color
shall be forgotten. Do not let it be our fault, that the
white people are for ever being reminded of the fact. We
need not always give color to the idea. Rather let us give

C 0 L 0 It E D AMERICANS.

369

them the impression that we are men and women, which is
far preferable. Let our enemies, and not ourselves, rear
the barriers of separation and exclusiveness.

Why do we content ourselves with reposing at the base
of the hill, when, by an ascent to its summit, we can obtain
ingress to its marble halls, where none may molest or make
afraid! Why do we yet hanker after the flesh-pots of
Egypt, when the "delectable mountains" of the long-
promised land of Equality greet our vision, and humane
hearts and helping hands conjure and beckon us to come
and occupy !

Mr. Garrison has, at times, been supposed to be a colored
man, because of his long, patient and persevering devotion
to our cause. He himself (although there is no need of
his words to that effect) often expresses himself as wholly
identified with us — " colored all over " ; and yet, there are
those, for whom he and others have made themselves mar-
tyrs, who can propose societies and action for elevation,
from which William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Ger-
ritt Smith, and their fellow-philanthropists, would be exclud-
ed. When niy head or heart accepts this theory, I .shall
be in a fit condition to believe in the Colonization dogma,
that our Almighty Father has interposed an insurmountable
barrier between the white and colored portion of His child-
ren, and that we are, indeed, a peculiar, isolated, distinct
race, and always to be so ; a state of things in the con-
templation of which angels weep, and fiends clap their
hands for joy.

370

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

u But," ask some, " do Colored Conventions result in no
good ? " To this it is but necessary to reply, that, when a
body of intelligent and aspiring colored men assemble to
interchange opinions, the relation, of course, is often an in-
structive one, and the white communities wherein they meet
are sometimes favorably affected by their presence ; but
this, and, indeed, all that the most sanguine adherents can
legitimately anticipate therefrom, is not an equivalent for
the infraction of Anti-Slavery principle, to say nothing of
the great sacrifice of time and effort, always the penalty of
Colored Conventions.

Let us be in perpetual session of the whole on the subject
of human rights, reporting progress from time to time ;
form business relations, (when possible,) like the firm of
Williams & Plumb, in New York, colored and white in part-
nership; organize Protective Unions, and Industrial Colleges,
of all who think and act alike, irrespective of complexion ;
and secure places in every workshop, book-store, or semi-
nary, where, by dint of perseverance, opposition may be
melted away, — and the work of elevation is accomplished.

But, though Colored Conventions may not solve the prob-
lem of a people's elevation, " all is not lost " thereby. As
was once said in the old Republic, " Sparta does not depend
upon one man ; " so should we not attach all our faith to
one man, or body of men, or set of measures, but avail our-
selves of them all, and then only as means to a noble
end, — the elevation of humanity. Let each man, woman,
and child, aim to excel in those branches now monopolized

COLORED AMERICANS.

371

by the favored classes. Can Colored Conventions teach a
better lesson ? Let us encourage the genius that may be
exhibited by young colored men and women, — not to inflate
their vanity, but to develop into healthy growth the quali-
ties that might otherwise lie dormant. Let us be charitable
to those whom vice and intemperance may have turned
from the paths in which we ourselves love to .walk ; and, as
was said by Mrs. Child, " those whom we now term Tom,
Dick, and Harry, will, under our kind ministrations, become
Mr. Thomas, Mr. Richard, and Mr. Henry." Let us, as
advised by Rev. Daniel A. Payne, " hold licentious men in
the same repute as licentious women." Let us banish from
the social circle that spirit of detraction and backbiting,
which is always the bane of society.

It was my happy privilege, not long since, to meet a com-
pany of colored men in my native city, among whom was a
young man upon whom had been conferred the degree of
Master of Arts, he having passed through a course of the-
ology, and being now engaged in reading law, with a pros-
pect of an early admission to the Bar in one of the Western
States. In conversation with him were two young physi-
cians, one just graduated at Dartmouth College, the other a
student at Bowdoin, having perfected his medical education
by three years' attendance at the hospitals in Paris.

In various cities and towns may now be found those
home circles, where mental and moral worth, genius and
refinement, lend their charms in giving to the world assur-
ance that, despite accidental differences of complexion, here

372

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

you behold a colored man, there a colored woman, compe-
tent to fill any station in civilized society. Let us organize
and sustain intelligent and happy homes, for in them, as
has been truly said, may be found the substitute for both
Church and State.

The following testimony in regard to the character of the
colored people of this country is taken from a speech of
Charles Lenox Remond, at the New England Anti-Sla-
very Convention, May 30, 1854: —

" Since my friend Prince, of Essex, called attention to
the character of the colored people, allow me to ask you to
look in that direction for a moment; for, while men live in
Boston, go upon 'Change, walk up and down the public
streets, all the while coming in contact with colored people,
theyodo not understand their character ; they do not know
that, notwithstanding the constant pressure, from the com-
mencement of our nation's history, which has been exerted
upon their manhood, their morality, upon all that is noble,
magnanimous and generous in their characters, they have
exhibited as many instances of noble manhood, in propor-
tion to their number, as have been displayed by their more
favored brethren of a white complexion. It was said here
by Mr. Prince, that the colored race is at once morally and
physically brave. Do not consider me, Mr. Chairman, in
alluding to this subject, as feeling vain in regard to if ; I
only ask that the whole truth respecting my people may be
known, and there I will leave the success of their cause.

COLORED AMERICANS. 373

But I ask the people not to act blindly with regard to it ; not
to make up their opinions with this great weight of prejudice
on their minds. I ask them to look upon this question im-
partially, generously, magnanimously, patriotically, and I
believe they will be converted to our movement.

" Sir, I have taken note, for the last eighteen years, of the
course pursued by colored people in Anti-Slavery meetings,
for there was a time when the number of colored people
present was greater than at the present time ; and yester-
day, I had evidence that there was some courage left with
them yet. I refer to this incident only as an illustration of
the character of this people generally in our country.
There was a meeting of Anti-Slavery friends in the basement
of Tremont Temple, and a call was made for persons to
come forward and give in their names, that they might be
called upon, at any moment, to discharge not only a respon-
sible, but dangerous duty, [rescuing Anthony Burns,] and
my heart has not been so much encouraged for many a
long day, as when I witnessed a large number of the col-
ored men present walk up to that stand, with an unfaltering
step, and enrol their names.

" Why is it that the Anti-Slavery cause should recommend
itself to every well-wisher of his country ? Because there
are men, white men, who have never been deprived of their
citizenship, nor subjected to persecution, outrage and insult,
who are honored for the patriotism they have exhibited ;
and if the demonstration of that feeling, or principle, or
sentiment, or whatever you may please to call it, is worthy
32

374

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

of honor in the white man, then it is also worthy of honor
in the colored man ; and the last evening that I had the
privilege of speaking in this house, I endeavored, briefly,
to make it clear that, on every occasion where manhood and
courage have been required in this country, the number of
colored people volunteering their services has been equal to
that of white people, in proportion to their number, from
the earliest moment of our nation's existence.

" I think I may safely say, Sir, that the courage and pa-
triotism of the colored man are of a higher character than
those of the white man. There is not a man of fair com-
plexion before me, who has not something in this country to
protect which the colored man does not possess ; and, Sir,
when I see them, in the moment of danger, willing to dis-
charge their duty to the country, I have a proof that they
are the friends, and not the enemies, of the country."

From the Address issued by the Colored Convention held
at Rochester, N. Y., in 1853, and signed by Frederick
Douglass, J. M. Whitfield, H. O. Wagoner, Rev. A. N. Free-
man, and George B. Vashon, I make this extract : —

" Fellow-citizens, we have had, and still have, great
wrongs of which to complain. A heavy and cruel hand
has been laid upon us.

" As a people, we feel ourselves to be not only deeply in-
jured, but grossly misunderstood. Our white fellow-coun-
trymen do not know us. They are strangers to our char-
acter, ignorant of our capacity, oblivious of our history and

COLORED AMERICANS.

375

progress, and are misinformed as to the principles and ideas
that control and guide us, as a people. The great mass of
American citizens estimate us, as being a characterless and
purposeless people ; and hence we hold up our heads, if at
all, against the withering influence of a nation's scorn and
contempt.

" It will not be surprising that we are so misunderstood
and misused when the motives for misrepresenting us and
for degrading us are duly considered. Indeed, it will seem
strange, upon such consideration, (and in view of the ten
thousand channels through which malign feelings find utte-
rance and influence,) that we have not fallen even lower in
public estimation than we have done. For, with the excep-
tion of the Jews, under the whole heavens, there is not to
be found a people pursued with a more relentless prejudice
and persecution, than are the free colored people of the
United States.

u Without pretending to have exerted ourselves as we
ought, in view of an intelligent understanding of our inter-
est, to avert from us the unfavorable opinions and unfriendly
action of the American people, we feel that the imputations
cast upon us, for our want of intelligence, morality, and ex-
alted character, may be mainly accounted for by the injus-
tice received at your hands. What stone has been left
unturned to degrade us ? What hand has refused to fan the
flame of popular prejudice against us ? What American
artist has not caricatured us ? What wit has not laughed at
us in our wretchedness? What songster has not made

376 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

merry over our depressed spirits ? What press has not
ridiculed and contemned us? What pulpit has withheld
from our devoted heads its angry lightning, or its sanctimo-
nious hate ? Few, few, very few ; and that we have borne
up with it all — that we have tried to be wise, though de-
nounced by all to be fools — that we have tried to be up-
right, when all around us have esteemed us as knaves —
that we have striven to be gentlemen, although all around
us have been teaching us its impossibility — that we have
remained here, when all our neighbors have advised us to
leave — proves, that we possess qualities of head and heart,
such as cannot but be commended by impartial men. It is
believed that no other nation on the globe could have made
more progress in the midst of such an universal and strin-
gent disparagement. It would humble the proudest, crush
the energies of the strongest, and retard the progress of the
swiftest. In view of our circumstances, we can, without
boasting, thank God, and take courage, having placed our-
selves where we may fairly challenge comparison with more
highly favored men."

The following encouraging items have been recently
gleaned from the field of improvement of colored people.

A diploma has been awarded^ to a colored girl in Ports-
mouth, N. H., and also to a young colored lad at one of
the Boston public schools, to which he (the only colored

COLORED AMERICANS.

377

boy in the school) had secured access but a few months
previous.

At the semi-annual examination of the State Normal
School, in Salem, Mass., a hymn was sung, the production
of Miss C. L. Forten, a young colored pupil.

This year's graduating class at Dartmouth College con-
tained one colored young many (Edward Garrison Draper.)
The class procured lithographic portraits of each other, to
exchange fraternally, and, to give color to their consistency,
Draper's was among them as a brother beloved.

A colored aspirant for classical knowledge has just ob-
tained admittance to an institution in Connecticut, after sev-
eral years' refusal by the faculty.

A town in Worcester county, Mass., has chosen a colored
man on the School Committee.

A colored citizen of Boston has received an appointment
as Auctioneer.

Mrs. F. J. Webb, the dramatic reader, is winning golden
opinions from poets, authors, and the public.

32*

378

CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

CHAPTER III.

CONCLUSION.

From the foregoing pages, it will be seen that the various
conflicts by sea and land, which have challenged the ener-
gies of the United States, have been signalized by the devo-
tion and bravery of colored Americans, despite the persecu-
tions heaped, Olympus high, upon them, by their fellow-
countrymen. They have ever proved loyal, and ready to
worship or die, if need be, at Freedom's shrine. The amor
patrice has always burned vividly on the altar of their hearts.
They love their native land :

" For, O ! there 's a magical tie to the land of our home,
Which, the heart cannot break, though the footsteps may roam ;
Be that land where it may, at the line or the pole,
It still holds the magnet that draws back the soul ;
'T is loved by the free man — 't is loved by the slave,
'T is dear to the coward — more dear to the brave ;
Ask of any the spot they like best on the earth,
And they '11 answer, with pride, 't is the land of our birth."

Let it not be inferred, however, that because many
colored soldiers were, from the force of circumstances,
assigned a subordinate position by themselves during the
war, that their more immediate descendants are to remain
satisfied with a half-way excellence. But, like Crispus

COLORED AMERICANS.

379

Attucks, leading on Boston citizens to resist tyranny,
in 1770, — Major Jeffrey, Latham and Freeman, each
gallant and brave, — Jordan B. Noble, the drummer of
Chalmette Plains, — and the many others, in more or less
responsible departments, during their country's trial hour,
so, henceforward, in our battle for equality, each should
aim to be incorporated with the mass of Americans, — unite,
when possible, as affinities may lead, with the various politi-
cal, literary, benevolent, ecclesiastical, business and social,
organizations of the land, and so prove valiant and consist-
ent soldiers in Freedom's army, without arranging ourselves
in a colored section.

There is, however, a historical propriety in setting forth
the services of those colored Americans, who, in the " day
of small things," have labored earnestly for the welfare of
humanity. If others fail to appreciate the merit of the col-
ored man, let us cherish the deserted shrine. The names
which others neglect should only be the more sacredly
our care. Let us keep them for the hoped-for day of full
emancipation, when, in the possession of all our rights, and
redeemed from the long night of ignorance that has rested
over us, we may recall them to memory, recollecting, with
gratitude, that the stars which shone in our horizon have
ushered in a glorious dawn.

The light which radiated from the prison-cell of William
Lloyd Garrison, in Baltimore, is yet diffusing itself over
the land. The past, present and future agitation of the
slavery question in these United States owes itself to that

380 CONDITION AND PROSPECTS OF

man, and the hour when he nobly dedicated his life to the
emancipation of the slave, and the elevation of the nominally
free colored Americans.

" I can wait," were the memorable words of John Q.
Adams, when his mouth was gagged on the floor of Con-
gress. The world will bear witness, that we have waited ;
and, O ! how patiently ! We have learned

" How sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong ; "

but, though familiar with) we shall never grow reconciled <o,
the treatment : —

M Our hearts, though ofttimes made to bleed,
Will gush afresh at every wound."

The Revolution of 1776, and the subsequent struggles in
our nation's history, aided, in honorable proportion, by colored
Americans, have (sad, but true, confession) yet left the ne-
cessity for a second revolution, no less sublime than that of
regenerating public sentiment in favor of Universal Brother-
hood. To this glorious consummation, all, of every com-
plexion, sect, sex and condition, can add their mite, and so
nourish the tree of liberty, that all may be enabled to pluck
fruit from its bending branches ; and, in that degree to
which colored Americans may labor to hasten the day, they
will prove valid their claim to the title, " Patriots of the
Second Revolution."

The Anti-Slavery war waged for the last twenty-five

COLORED AMERICANS.

381

years has indeed been prolific in noble words and deeds,
and is remarkable for the succession of victories, always
the reward of the faithful and persevering. To compare
the present with the past — those dark hours when the bugle
blast was first sounded among the hills and valleys of New
England-, — we can hardly believe the evidence daily pre-
sented of the onward progress of those mighty principles
then proclaimed to the American nation. The treatment of
the colored man in this country is a legitimate illustration
of " hating those whom we have injured," and brings to my
recollection that chapter in Waverly where Fergus Mac
Ivar replies to his friend, when being led to execution —
" You see the compliment they pay to our Highland strength
and courage. Here we have lain until our limbs are cramped
into palsy, and now they send six soldiers with loaded
muskets to prevent our taking the castle by storm. " The
analogy is found in the omnipotent and omnipresent influ-
ence of American pro-slavery in crushing every noble and
praiseworthy aspiration of the persecuted colored man. As
in nature, the smiles of summer are made sweeter by the
frowns of winter, the calm of ocean is made more placid
by the tempest that has preceded it, so in this moral battle,
these incidental skirmishes will contribute to render the hour
of victory indeed a blissful realization.

So sure as night precedes day, war ends in peace, and
winter wakes spring, just so sure will the persevering
efforts of Freedom's army be crowned with victory's peren-
nial laurels !

APPENDIX.

MILITARY CONVENTION AT WASHINGTON.

January 8th, 1855, the soldiers of the war of 1812 celebrated the
anniversary of the battle of New Orleans by a Convention at
Washington, having for its object the furtherance of the bill before
Congress giving one hundred and sixty acres of land to all the
soldiers of the last war with Great Britain. Among those present
was a colored man, named George R. Roberts, a well-known res-
ident of Baltimore, and now over seventy years of age. He attended
in quest of a pension for services in behalf of hisv country. He
was a privateer, was captured and carried to Jamaica, and, with
half a dozen others, barely escaped the honors of yard-arm promo-
tion. The National Era informs us that he was requested, by vote,
to make a statement of his experience. He was introduced by Col.
Baldwin, and (says the Washington Sentinel) " made his statement
in an earnest and impressive manner, relating the incidents of his
captivity and condemnation to death by the British, of his exchange
and return home, and of his subsequent services under the celebrat-
ed privateer commander, Captain Thomas Boyle, of Baltimore.
His recital was received with applause/'

Itie Washington Convention was characterized by the presence,
not only of white and black, but also of red Americans, all partici-
pating in its proceedings, — a striking and significant fact.

384:

ATPENDIXi

Gen. Coombs addressed the old soldiers in behalf of the red men
who once owned this beautiful country, but who now had scarcely
enough of it for a graveyard. He said some of them had fought by
his side during the last war with Great Britain with perfect self-
devotion, and had shared with him captivity and suffering. He
would scorn to be the beneficiary of a Government that would take
every thing away and give nothing in return.

THE CLAIMS OF THE RED MAN.

The reader has already learned, from the foregoing pages, some
facts in regard to the history of New England red men, and their
devotion to liberty. The following is a copy of a petition sent,
some years ago, by an Indian of the Catawba tribe, to the Assembly
of South Carolina : —

" I am one of the lingering emblems of an almost extinguished
race. Our graves will soon be our habitations. I am one of the
few stalks that still remain in the held, when the tempest of the
revolution is past. I fought against the British for your sake.
The British have disappeared, and you are free. Yet from me the
British took nothing, — nor have I gained any thing by their
defeat. I pursue the deer for my subsistence ; the deer are disap-
pearing, and I must starve. God ordained me for the forest, and
my habitation is the shade ; but the strength of my arm decays, and
my feet fail in the chase. The hand which fought for your liberty
is now open for your relief. In my youth, I bled in battle that you
might be independent ; let not my heart in my old age bleed for the
want of your commiseration.

PETER HARRIS/'

" The Indians are now but few in number," (says "Wendell I^il-
LlfS, Esq., in an eloquent appeal in behalf of the red man, published
in the Massachusetts Quarterly Beviewy) " separated from the domi-

APPENDIX,

385

nant races, isolated at school and church, and found, after the lapse
of a century, and the trial of three generations, in such a plight,
that humanity weeps, and the best statecraft is dumb and con-
founded. While the humanity of the State gathers up the blind,
the dumb, the idiotic, and the insane, — while strong friends compel
attention to the slave, — let us see, for once, the mercy of the ma-
jority toward those whose only plea is their feebleness, their friend-
liness, and their wrongs. The first word from Indian lips that our
annals have preserved is 'Welcome!' Let us so govern, that the
last farewell of the going- out of the race may be — ' Thanks I ' "

A cluster of brilliant gems adorn this tribute of the gifted author,
whose heart, tongue and pen are a free-will offering to the oppressed
of every clime or kin ; ' and to himself may be most truthfully
applied a quotation familiar to his own lips, when awarding honor
to some of Nature's noblemen, — " The ocean of his philanthropy
knows no shore."

PAYMENT FOR SLAVES LOST OR KILLED IN THE
PUBLIC SERVICE.

In 1816, a bill was pending in the House of Representatives, to
pay " for property lost or destroyed in the public service" A motion
was made so to amend the bill as to grant compensation for " slaves
lost or killed in the public service, in the same manner as other
property" This motion was rejected, only thirty-two members vot-
ing in its favor. [Vide House Docs., No. 401, 1st Session, 21st
Congress, where the Committee state the fact, and refer to the Na-
tional Intelligencer of Dec. 28, 1816.]

Ttifnext case was that of D. Auterive. He had claims against
the United States for wood and other necessaries furnished the
Army, and for the loss of time and expense of nursing a slave who
33

386

APPENDIX.

was wounded in the sendee of government at New Orleans. The
case of D. Autcrive was reported by the Committee on Claims, —
the Chairman who made the report, and two other members of the
Committee, being slaveholders. It states that " slaves, not being
regarded as property, could not be paid for as such,'* This case was
fully considered in the House, and the views of the Committee
sustained.

The bill to pay the people of West Florida for slaves, lost in
1814, was again brought up in 1843, and was rejected, by a vote of
116 to 36.

The case of " Pacheco " was reported upon first by the Committee
on Claims, in 1842, — just eight days after Mr. Giddings resigned, on
account of the censure passed on him by the House. lie was
Chairman of that Committee then, and they would not allow such a
report. It was subsequently reported upon by other committees,
and the last time in 1848, when the Northern members of the Com-
mittee made a minority report, drawn up by Mr. Giddings, at the
request of Hon. John Dickey.

From the correspondence and speeches of Hon. J. R. Giddings, I
am permitted to present the following facts : —

Referring to the Pacheco case, he says, — "The claimant, in 183o,
residing in Florida, professed to own a negro man named Lewis.
This man is said to have been very intelligent, speaking four lan-
guages, which he read and wrote with facility. The master hired
him to an officer of the United States, to act as a guide to the troops
under the command of Major Dade, for which he was to receive
twenty-five dollars per month. The duties were dangerous and the
price was proportioned to the danger. At the time these troops
were massacred, this slave, Lewis, deserted to the enemy, or was
captured by them. He remained with the Indians, — acting with
them in their depredations against the white people, — until 1837,
when, General Jessup says, he teas captured by a detachment of
troops under his command. An Indian chief, named Jumper, sur-

APPENDIX. 387

rendered with Lewis, claimed him as a slave, having, as he said,
captured him at the time of Dade's defeat. General Jessup declares
that he regarded him as a dangerous man ; that he was supposed to
haye kept up a correspondence with the enemy from the time he
joined Major Dade until the defeat of that officer. To insure the
public safety, he ordered him sent with the Indians, believing that,
if left in the country, he would be employed against our troops.
He was sent West, and the claimant now asks that we shall pay
him one thousand dollars as the value of this man's body."

With his (the slave's) extraordinary intelligence, with a knowl-
edge of the wrongs he and his people had suffered at the hands of
those who claimed them as property, he must have thirsted for ven-
geance. He could have felt no attachment or respect for a people at
whose hands he had received nothing but abuse and degradation.

Judge McLean, in a case brought before the United States Su-
preme Court, admitted that, though some local laws had given the
character of property to slaves, the Constitution acts upon them as
persons, and not as property.

Mr. Giddings, in the United States House of Representatives,
December 28, 1848, challenged proof that the House, the United
States Supreme Court, or any respectable Court of any free State,
has decided slaves to be property , under the Federal Constitution ; and
yet, July 26, 1852, Mr. Charlton, of Georgia, aided by Mr. Rusk,
of Texas, and Mr. Cass, of Michigan, though opposed by Mr. Sum-
ner, (in behalf of Mr. Chase, who had prepared for the debate, but
was at this time absent, not expecting the business to be then pre-
sented,) succeeded in obtaining compensation for James C. Watson,
of Georgia, for his slaves, taken by the Creeks in the Seminole War.

This was the sequel to many years' able and unsuccessful efforts
of the friends of freedom in Congress against the acknowledgment
by that body, that man can hold property in man.

388

APPENDIX.

TRIBUTES OF LAFAYETTE AND KOSCIUSKO.

Among the Europeans who left their homes and rallied in defence
of American Independence, history records no more illustrious names
than Lafayette and Kosciusko. Not being tainted with American
colorphobia, they each expressed regret that their services had been
made a partial, instead of a general, boon. Head this extract from
Lafayette's letter to Clarkson : — "I would never have drawn my
sword in the cause of America, if I could have conceived that there-
by I was founding a land of slavery.'*

During his visit to the United States, in 1825, he made inquiries
for several colored soldiers whom he remembered as participating
with him in various skirmishes. Lafayette was consistent. Having
bravely and disinterestedly aided in vindicating our rights, he did
not incur the reproach of hypocrisy, by turning and trampling on
the rights of others. For the purpose of applying his principles to
men of color, he purchased a plantation in French Guiana. His
first step was to collect all the whips and other instruments of tor-
ture and punishment, and make a bonfire of them in presence of
the assembled slaves. He then instituted a plan of giving a portion
of his time to each slave every week, with a promise, that as soon as
any one had earned money enough to purchase an additional day of
the week, he should be entitled to it, and when, with his increased
time to work for himself, he could purchase another day, he should
have that, and so on, until he wras master of his whole time. In
the then state of Anti- Slavery science, this gradual and sifting process
was deemed necessary to form the character of slaves, and to secure the
safety of the masters. Abolitionists wrould not elect this mode now.
They would turn slaves at once into free laborers or leaseholders on
the same estate, if possible, where they have been as slaves. Before
Lafayette's views were fully executed, the French Revolution oc-
curred, which interrupted his operations and made the slaves free at

APPENDIX.

3S9

once. But mark the conduct of the ungrateful and blood-thirsty
blacks. While other slaves in the Colony availed themselves of the
first moment of freedom to quit the plantations of their masters,
Lafayette's remained, desiring to work for their humane and gene-
rous friend.*

Kosciusko, the gallant Pole, was young when the news reached
his ear that America was endeavoring to release her neck from
Britain's yoke. He promptly devoted himself to the service, and
displayed a heroism which won universal respect. Washington
loved and honored him, and the soldiers idolized his bravery ; but
his manly heart was saddened to learn that the colored man was
not to be a recipient of those rights which many a sable soldier had
fought to obtain. Kosciusko, however, with the feeling that all
Americans should have been proud to exhibit, (but, sad to tell, few
did so,) endeavored to render some signal compensation to those
with whose wrongs his own had taught him to sympathise ; and, as
a grateful tribute to the neglected and forgotten colored man, he
appropriated $20,000 of his hard earnings to purchase and educate
colored children. But, by the laws of Virginia, where the bequest
was to be carried into effect, this generous object was defeated.

On the last visit to the United States of this illustrious donor, the
will was put into the hands of Thomas Jefferson, who was appointed
Executor, to purchase slaves and educate them, so as, in his own
words, " to make them better sons and better daughters." Jefferson
transferred the trust to Benjamin L. Lear. In 1830, the bequest,
amounting then to $25,000, was claimed by the legal heirs of
Kosciusko. Interested parties subsequently recommended that the
fund, if recovered, should be employed by the trustees in buying
and educating slave children, with the view of sending them to
Liberia, — an object far enough at variance from the donor's inten-
tion.

* David Lee Child's Oration.
33*

390

APPENDIX.

This matter lias been in litigation a long while, and I have been
unable to learn the conclusion. The circumstance reminds me of
the following question, once put to a Florida planter of twenty-five
years standing: — "Has any property, left by will to any colored
person, ever been honestly and fairly administered by any white
person ? " Mark his answer : " Such instances might possibly have
happened, but never to my knowledge."

HEROIC COLORED MEN.

A correspondent of the New York Observer, writing from tho
West, says — " Before leaving our boat, we must not omit to notice
one of the waiters in the cabin. He is a man of history. That tall,
straight, active, copper-colored man, with a sparkling eye and in-
telligent countenance, was Col. Clay's servant at Buena Vista.
Fearless of danger, and faithful to his master, he attended the Col-
onel into the midst of the fatal charge, saw him fall from his horse,
and, surrounded by the murderous Mexicans, at last carried the
mangled dead body from the field. The Hon. Henry, in gratitude
for such fidelity to his gallant son, has allowed this man to hire
himself out for five years, and to retain half the proceeds ; and at
the end of that time, gives him his freedom.,,

" That is," says the Boston Christian Register, " a human being
perils his life to save the life or bear off the body of another human
being, and for this act, he is to receive one-half of his own earnings,
for five years, and at the end of that time, to be made a present of —
to himself!

In a letter published in The Voice of the Fugitive, Jan. 1, 1853,
Hiram "Wilson says : — " I had an interview on yesterday morning
with a colored man. I will not at present give his name, but he was
a servant to General Taylor through the Mexican war — was with

APPENDIX.

391

him at Palo Alto, Monterey and Buena Vista. He held a beautiful
testimonial in regard to his gentlemanly conduct and martial char-
acter from the hand of Col. Grayson. He had large scars upon his
person from wounds he received in the bloody battles. What was
rather remarkable, he told me he saved the life of Gen. Taylor at
Monterey. A Mexican was aiming at the General a deadly blow,
when he sprang in between the assailant and the assailed, and slew
the Mexican, but received a deep wound from a lance. So it would
seem that a colored man gave to the United States a President, by
6aving his life in a terrific battle ! I examined the scar left from the
wound he received at the time, which was as long as my finger.
He was emancipated by President Taylor about one month before
his death, but represents that his brother-in-law was not acting an
honorable part towards him as the reason for his coming to Canada.
« Ilepublics are ungrateful,' so it is said, even to their most gallant
heroes. How honorable, how creditable to the United States, that
such a man must fly to Canada for freedom ! ! ! "

COLONIZATION.

The history of the American Colonization Society, since its for-
mation by slaveholders, in 1817, is sufficiently familiar, perhaps, to
most of the friends of humanity. Ever since that period, colored
people all over the land have protested against it as an apologist for
slavery and justifier of slaveholders, as the enemy of immediate
emancipation, aiming to expel from the land of their birth the col-
ored population, not for " any color of crime, but for the crime of
color," and preventing, as far as possible, their elevation in the Uni-
ted States.

Among the resolutions expressive of the sense of the colored peo-
ple on the colonization question, the following, submitted by Philip

392

APPENDIX.

A. Bell, at a mass meeting in New York city, January 8, 1839, is
selected : —

Resolved, That onr sympathies for the slave, the love we bear our
native land, our respect and veneration for the institutions and gov-
ernment of our country, are so many cords which bind us to our
home, the soil of our birth, which has been wet by the tears and
fertilized by the blood of our ancestors, and from which, while life
lasts, in spite of the oppressor's wrongs, we will never be seduced
or driven, but abide by principle, and, placing our trust in the Lord
of Hosts, we will tell the white Americans, that their country shall
be our country, we will be governed by the same laws and worship
at the same altar, where they live we will live, where they die there
will we be buried, and our graves shall remain as monuments of
our suffering and triumph, or of our failure and their disgrace.

THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.

The reign of terror which burst upon the land in 1850, by the
passage of the atrocious Fugitive Slave Law, sounded the alarm for
meetings of consultation and vigilance in every community where
its immediate victims were located, and their action has been pub-
lished broadcast to the world. The seizure of Hamlet, Long and
Boulding, in New York, Garnet and others, in Philadelphia, Thom-
as Sims and Anthony Burns, in Boston, with each attendant chain
of associations, has created a healthy agitation, ominous, we hope,
at no distant day, of its final repeal.

The following resolutions, submitted at a public meeting in Bos-
ton, October 5th, 1850, by Wm, C. Nell, (and unanimously adopt-
ed,) may be accepted as embodying the general feeling : —

Resolved, That in view of the imminent danger, present and looked
for, we caution every colored man, woman and child, to be careful
in their walks through the highways and byways of the city by day,

APPENDIX.

393

and doubly so if out at night, as to where they go — how they go
— and who they go with ; to be guarded on nigh side, off side and
all sides ; as watchful as Argus with his hundred eyes, and as exec-
utive as was Briareus, with as many hands ; if seized by any one,
to make the air resound with the signal- word, and, as they would
rid themselves of any wild beast, be prompt in their hour of peril.

Resolved, That any Commissioner who would deliver up a fugitive
6lave to a Southern highwayman, under this infamous and uncon-
stitutional law, would have delivered up Jesus Christ to his perse-
cutors for one-third of the price that Judas Iscariot did.

Resolved, That in the event of any Commissioner of Massachu-
setts being applied to for remanding a fugitive, we trust he will em-
ulate the example of Judge Harrington, of Vermont, and " be sat-
isfied with nothing short of a bill of sale from the Almighty."

Resolved, That though we gratefully acknowledge that the mane
of the British Lion affords a nestling-place for our brethren in dan-
ger from the claws of the American Eagle, we would, nevertheless,
counsel against their leaving the soil of their birth, consecrated by
their tears, toils and perils, but yet to be rendered truly, the " land
of the free and the home of the brave." The ties of consanguinity
bid all remain who would lend a helping hand to the millions now
in bonds. But at all events, if the soil of Bunker Hill, Concord
and Lexington is the last bulwark of liberty, we can no where nil
more honorable graves.

STRIKE OF THE AMISTAD CAPTIVES FOR LIBERTY.

On the 28th of June, 1839, the Spanish schooner Amistad, Ramen
Ferrer, master, sailed from Havana for Porto Principe, a place in
the island of Cuba, about 100 leagues distant, having on board as
passengers, Don Pedro Montes and Jose Ruiz, with 54 fresh African
negroes, just brought from Lemboko, as slaves. Among the slaves
was one called in Spanish, Joseph Cinquez. He was the son of an
African Prince. On the fifth night after leaving port, Cinquez, with
a few chosen men among the fifty-four slaves, revolted, striking

394

APPENDIX.

down the captain and cook, and took possession of the vessel. The
two sailors took the boat and went on shore, and Montes was re-
quired, on pain of death, to navigate the vessel to Africa. He
steered eastwardly in the day time, but put about at night, and thus
kept near the American coast, until the 26th of August, when they
were taken by Lieut. Gedney, United States Navy, and carried into
New London. Judge Judson, of the United States Court, was sent
for, and after a short examination of the two Spaniards, and a Cre-
ole cabin boy, without a word of communication with the negroes,
the latter were bound over for trial as pirates, although their utter
ignorance of any European language, and the admission of Ruiz
himself, showed that they were fresh Africans, and of course could
not be slaves by the laws of Spain. At this time, it was the united
voice of the public press and of public men, that, as a matter of
course, they would either be tried and executed here, or delivered
up to the Spaniards ; and they would have been returned to their
claimants had not the eminent talents of John Quincy Adams frus-
trated the designs of the Administration.

They were released in 1841, by the United States Court, and
" they now sing of liberty on the sunny hills of Africa, beneath their
native palms, where they hear the lion roar, and feel themselves as
free as that king of the forest/' They are living within a few miles
of the Missionary Station at Sherbron Island. Cinquez has built a
town, of which he is chief.

FUGITIVE SLAVES AT CHRISTIANA, PENN.

In the month of September, 1850, a colored man, known in the
neighborhood around Christiana to be free, was seized and carried
away by men known to be professional kidnappers, and has never
been seen by his family since. In March, 1851, in the same neigh-

APPENDIX.

395

borlioocl, under the roof of his employer, during the night, another
colored man was tied, gagged, and carried away, marking the road
along which he was dragged with his own blood. No authority for
this outrage was ever shown, and he has never been heard from.
These, and many other acts of a similar kind, had so alarmed the
neighborhood, that the very name of kidnapper was sufficient to
create a panic.

In September, 1851, (as narrated by a correspondent of the New
York Tribune,) " a slaveholder, with his son and nephew, from
Maryland, accompanied by United States officers of this city and
Baltimore, went to Christiana after two fugitive slaves. The blacks,
having received notice of their coming, gathered, a considerable
number of them, in the house which the slave-catching party were
expected to visit. The door was fastened, and the blacks retired to
the upper part of the house. When the slaveholder and his compa-
ny approached, they were warned off. A parley was held, the
slaveholder declaring, as it is said and believed, * I will go to h — 1,
or have my slaves/ The door was broken in, a horn was sounded
out of one of the upper windows, and, after an interval, a company
of blacks, armed, gathered on the spot, and the negroes in the house
made a rush down and crowded the whites out.

" Here, the parley was resumed, the spokesman of the blacks
telling the white men to go away ; they were determined, he said,
to die rather than go into slavery, or allow any one of their number
to be taken. He declared, moreover, that the blacks would not fire,
but if the whites fired, they were dead men. Shortly, first the
nephew, then the slave-owner and his son, fired revolvers, wound-
ing a number of the blacks, but not seriously. . One man had his ear
perforated by a ball ; the clothes of others were pierced and torn ;
but, as the blacks said afterwards, 1 the Lord shook the balls out of
their clothes.' The fire of the whites was returned. The slave-
owner fell dead, and his son very dangerously wounded. The
whites then retired. One of the United States officers summoned

396

APPENDIX.

the posse, but in vain. Some of the neighbors, Quakers and Anti-
Slavery persons, went and took up the wounded man and carried
him to one of their homes, where, while they told him, in Quaker
phrase, that 1 they had no unity with him in his acts,' and abhorred
the wicked business in which he had been engaged, every attention
was paid him, and medical aid instantly sent for. The effect of this
treatment upon the young man, as our informant told us, may be
easily imagined. He wept, and vowed, if he lived, to correct the
impression people had at his home about Abolitionists. The doctor
pronounced his wounds mortal.

" People soon gathered in large numbers at this scene of blood.
The excitement was intense. Opinions and feelings conflicted, of
course, but there was a strong feeling in behalf of the blacks.
While the crowd were talking, and during the ferment, two blacks
(brick-makers) passed. One of the crowd exclaimed, * There go
two fellows who should be shot ! ' The black men paused and
faced the crowd, and said calmly something to this effect, —
« Here we are ; shoot us, if you choose ; we are a suffering people,
any how. God made us black ; we can 't help that ; shoot us, if
you will.' The revulsion was instantaneous and strong, and any
man who had muttered a word against the blacks would have been
knocked down on the spot."

Several men, white and colored, were arrested for participation
in the killing of Gorsuch, the kidnapper; but, though the United
States Government expended about fifty thousand dollars in the
prosecution, they failed to convict any of the party.

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Full text of "The colored patriots of the American Revolution, with sketches of several distinguished colored persons: to which is added a brief survey of the condition and prospects of colored Americans"

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