The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution nv9355246

Citation preview

a

.

.; .. i

t

4

’

:,

‘

.

.: ‘\

:‘

,

.

q

eee nee x oe eee : ste o 2% ee ae. oe #e eee ete SS s 2B 2g E z g e s oe

“-} and a preat. Variety of other entertaining Matte, 9 i ce @ x g one warn a oe ‘ . ew - 4 OO oe bile 34 - eo : — a Ay

34: i’ 4i ¢dion . asta ahi ORES oS oe Lee Pi sleet ers ~ . a f — tate BE IPP ek, Oh] eae

toot feen 4AyyyNel3Ss oe Cel wr | AA Emcee prec — spree Al a4 a! J,as ‘4\ peae - ee he Es Atos Hts apes fr econtne os Md pe ghie—Bee Sea cea AN A SN

pected § SE NR ee fy) eS 8 Yee Sait bE Aeiei. aiksya a.esoneast Liabway, eRe oe“aa % aSearyascar vineene hee oes =-.. oe : say heventier spipenes pees ame .SieVaded tg ee 2.2 oe Sed deligrd one Peete cewae ee kdpooch !%%i ria, whe : ees fhe Seory | a te Rewrarhaietaiege team eek. | rar “ : a Oh ae JMS a aa taele ts

fa Mem reo othe ty tog he on rg — ont ws a Lede ¢ a ee ri; apS i. iia- ea. ee rj i # | ne%The vetand beigehioeg Sig ame. Some ‘he tear: age : ‘:Witton Come Oa. age prog tig ep oe He _—— se j : a cai bi Mie REED. EE se ei ih oy Dona, Ree SNS a acted tty 43 ae

Papen te Sy Sot one Geer =the he chy See deplore tng So tener entrap nergneren teavimatvordwabed Meet St satel sie Se, et

2 Haesnaes, ‘a le hated Wideeemeieeeae oelimunar id withJe qeithedi eseans Bars VorSecrer speasly igs Eps ccrye otShe, Sobiefoe hats sreethre PAL [amen Soeeees a DeSales ee es oreo sae Tt ‘hr cuore tool Trecmmpen this Rhus skid, essere mics Bilger’

dhe Gray» Rego mal has «fh cketerenBarborans germany er ther Brey: — Sean feeilt bg ye iy es .Seipeioe ea seek Ria, tha readin 4 : oe " spend Rage Bey

anh ins eid be Compre gpm eeemashoty abe. ehseraapons Taster senbedes the Deed. ‘rls wpe moe eevee etek fen. Teepe” se " ipret bas so aeeshed nade toon bok ores Fhe gr As mele Mee” Saad Coss Saad tocemen, jan aves, Cames Menges: tea “oe on. oe ast a =y bane Sengeaat og, hand oe. the Mande Silload vences wectect tre of therm (Cuno? Mons, Jeri ane). Mortntiy, om Soe ee bin Seat ven towne 2

pnt aed oleae poe eee iets ba es Ce a

SEs mar sae Blt, bn ee I Wins each pin te fm Me Some Mane,» proming yuo 0. sae ih th Henge ep by ove Sag, IE Scr Vichon eho wt mw) thwty Se

b Aer Stgen ond > 1-6 Uo tein) at ety and be. teemscansly has. Moats a-watel, » Soll ‘cor bx tact inset peree & te : a

: ces, tv opgers a, pon aah IS rs sag os ue ng gn ow oon on te nk Pe awe are 5 hock ste bby wattle dag aoe ocd be: c. fe hide ZOE

Cant, Pgs ng anal odin eer hedge cimeegee pire Sar Se ey ee Or omndes “ ‘ 7. Be Broete the Tamnionn wate oF deve advianed tormagin x qoute whe bad ciples TEL of age, oh apps es to Sn, Weare. Skapwencet Bw The Iakebermen anenied oo seth Henge ara ee shiek ee. caer ene eeag ee UE Sitti Weed. Bedchem deton ome womsied. a Goll meanved bin Seach Atws bey oroeRsem se tect Bi |Seen espeshee Com it taBM remneh coe UsHEpomames foong [ms at asin eg4 hoakes n> nnwadaothectSiegen BEReker he Bara ohms osmoet OlBoe i ia

tom aces aiMe a ee eesiay: hey thewiepeeaees revs) Cape wm Peden thse Powe a Settee oe*ee— ee pettins ke Peale exes pga Do, hl pt Baeeee. te elie. 9:08 Cee wteck, at 5od WCbmE ‘ee

i wise : a ty Mr. bears swermcbes Bh white parents tt Mettesk wns «2 apgrentsy ow Heme afer tien, :

ER SS ocleetl berg teens Bed oe ry Sree ecthe by bara dew Baten A int sama on Co, eet 53 200 fet, oes enamine, ae ene vie Teamiens woe be, we

Ree teed Perera pre ee ae) beter’ pert eat aie

st bn Youn hr sei gid elas EY mes ech P= apt tement emad vn vte ewes. A Toehley Morting evinced «mnt aking ' ‘ i 2. wee ee: petri peter tee’ — Raerd Payne, of she san, Sherhane, me tees aon ok oer be Toucan Recker. en iotcossion te

eos oe]ESS Pee EE broRee pace nd a RS ErRy ae Par flys roe aan

ay ae nae So el pes ea ms Soe pred © (Rom, Ascend Soret Soangh Seonatir beep ina Peg fh Mhereae) ren tar sahecom ste me

_ 2 Hae mien oie ia ata Fee re| eae en place Wb Gey op Lewes mane: Sachondtpeamd Grijees Senet Sect gery i dehomoy ‘Blan way Therea ent oy TRFaz, Laser,preooneend + tetRetin waster ets hip, tae ontop See ot Mel ponteFons erry meabnelage ee thang ee fmoa. Fento, i vache ee ey same * oad bthape ego een. he we spt em, a greet bod of Woes, Titans on 1c ate weer. tthe Hoe of tee YMioaher Ben. Bary he

Fi —roan pps(eit Oe| Get eetolder , ie.deste are,selefsteers gt, whet (fdBeceem feagher sereteepiston 3 ond thieSollee seoats: Senet ekwkinPrinads eodhey be ee teenie seek SWags wick Me, Oy thet sibel atte omeee ss Redwines «PeeSheer sexerstaf thee lcomnyoantig aneeeBence. eves Bie vie fecosh Tamescod is Agee * eae We gees pe3 Ay ‘eae Tees, veam Psnasee ver bint i, Min.a Be St LeleWe bn dcepe PE hipta, Sadwree ons ar Bae, pea teoseg' Sr cw aepation fo creesh Preente weenie! thence Se sacs ee tick sod puck thew ba [book whieh grand Behe wat prety pulpy prs Or ol Anes ee ee ee says te a Hr ge i dhe ne a

pect peee ps wis co tare, Ip retling forwend Samed 6 binot ot the & iat smned Do bierngeidns ery er to Uh ted ores Fectier Bond aad carwage, be. cae ime hee Mite. lao sohenast hy my nemmras

ted he ee Sig Op eyes ew me as Tae emt rd i ie 1d ar meh td fo Dt pn a ie (Tr of Garis Ginny te Sma

SESS Rie mate tok whe Toba ne Be —, hoor sone we Se EF ois ek great Wosaars be ‘od 3 Nemes Sate sin sae bit tee he TE ie ton waemne. pura ths E SOSET CT ar cr onge in hee ek» Odeon he toed emma mg es Se OE Sa TSS sa ere Md ee a clon Soli Did esa hows I ap sian ess bars «4 vrs Dinah, oe Bi

, ark wat 5 ith the tongs perdoeh Aeetod buch IB et what Breed «8 Reith seed | ‘oes: oe oe cater see oe Bathe, pip Seg sgn ee ose pen gen

hos : — ety a i ope pee ie et tees ee oe NRO 8: oe Oe ed — et I baron dad ond Nat ri ‘shale Poel se ebb, tory ia Benipien.

: tie sox bien gee agp on mPearechey — : era etonde: Boater BOSTON SMewd vo. | Cig enWiding aie >:Sa Reateetoel oem Boronfomoat het eee ae ES eeima eee i, bok “FieEe or 5 wm Me Semysd Cove, WlledBE th the age a= Poe thet Liens, Gemersor ie wie== ie op‘Sie peer oe oT oe eben beh tn (Pree.ae aadFe poe

Sos eee Sash fF eyce; on = see at aie Se Sewith Ratironroaoe Mer Sicha Fae, seas mas wire seIne Seehe Seve he petty tee «core saan oe a pena dees ah leseebed sshjcteed « pn pacer p opengl nay

Eero aos (ety etal Secure ere heared bp oat med ies "hs yng dan be mes oe 6 «| ee ee higestt | $8 tile BE and Warmch Wacpong tht oceaton, Uy ete bin ell Witlnt hedge ft a ies ee

4=teks: needVin rating, slhey te coer ' ~*oy 5 °Mart meee be er eos de inerorle tse debe tio Ai ted Fr eine ty Gowran 8 2h igh Wao sek Be peeoeOE wien disnddoMet i Pg, og toy =ory

pas pao he Se ws “ed i old ol page load ph pol gnaaly ono . SR posts 2 | > ol ii : Agee tnd rope ons

Fete Es Seale Te eane None A IEoerAEA REE Hi, seoe FOEeect, EOPome serethiesiiscreens a ny ng wstn 3tefoer te bss ssVonnse : ee i of. ? 4. Paul Revere, An account of a late Military Massacre at Boston . . . taken from the Boston Gazette, March 12, 1770, broadside engraving. Courtesy of the New-York Historical Society.

’ -— anenough, unknown perhaps a black, to Curiously it iswriter, possible that some Governor Thomas Hutchinson [fig. 6]: three years later Adams had second thoughts

on the matter. In an entry in his diary on a You will hear from Us with AsMonday in July 1773, he copied a letter by tonishment.— You ought to hear

10 / Preludes to the Declaration Ap gos ems wesseam, saath as AE FEMLL POWELL, SET UW EE wir us cs a, cap ET a s ee

guard, Nattthé luter brevis,feven oe treatment this Rick Wee de Stee | Ahat, hot,babe, Cait «Baileyand * Saw Molatto or eightasminutes betor fsaSaweny (Me Loudtl a ve the Biking, at the head of twenty or thisty failos in Cort Ate 8 le tetany Ce C7

Sill, td be bad a large cordwood ftiek.” $0 that this A. ee 2

toa ee be ee bitte pigs undertaken to . — — —.. _Met. kaa ee dsAtA peings sadwe this army with ban.

‘ners, to form them in the firft place in Dock fguare, and— ee pole pied aide, Si Abiad Mabibad lla laa al eo as

mee ie attack, IF this w fe ee Felsokig tee CD € Btty-box; when the foldiers pu “le re “fF . oe ond ne : dale hectic cease ee niald of thems, ther Ja Hs. Wa oars to — Sf 4k,

oc ie 5 oe tek OE he ed ce a ,. eee * Ad le: “a Z 5 : , the edinitalid of @ itout Molatta fellow, Whale very look ha wil, t.. Sa ie

Me eiiarh teak? He hed becdincd codugh totem ie hel Jae G Ge

@eiitie, cic tivtone tice IMG Hala GPs tones ct waa, WSK our Blot Phy Soblins wine

WAN the ode bddched thd wan dean Thc ce. ae LM. - bk 4 rave Neg tesrentar eae reyes oe aa wh Nf Feftemersach, wane Morbines aa

Mid Gee fey od rita entoo.oro eeeClit v4will . 1fwhud, :2 7 vceeesed Mahe el hada neaed bp i ce Minee) Bhhe bahos beifertbed.” And it ts ip Bee Fees temps oblesy io ney ch oo ee mes yond oe. Y

Nive ie att i, ee. Ss Wiey can Colle@ topettier, and thes oe ee dm weed A ju Agent ‘the bok Fpedpie’ 6f't f> perfor Fe cece we ete Goings ts Zé dex 7 ool, hichersdl wh, alh fash prsmen

oF sparwt M8 inn Calrerulnr bot 5. From The Trial of William Weems, James tyaruh ag People as Prwul which tac he J: ght Hartegan . . . for the murder of Crispus Attucks ¥ Fos nt SO Ave te grubioh &, Khe Gove Zt. (Boston 1770). Mount Holyoke College 7 Mundin, Gem lh Kena Pathan frorrs e

Library. Ghat pus Ahado,

; 6. Diary of John Adams, July 1773. Massa-

from Us with Horror. You are charge- Giuseees Historical Society

able before God and Man, with our Blood—The Soldiers were but pas-

sive Instruments, were Machines . a: ither moral or oluntarv Ace t rostrum, he noticed an exhibit of revolu-

ur Destructio an a , elletts, with which we were

neither moral nor voluntar nts in — ,

sup iestnueton snore ac Aen tionary relics including a cup owned by At-

Pelletts. with which ; tucks, an engraving of Emanuel Leutze’s

d , d.— You was a free Avent Washington Crossing the Delaware with black wounded.—You was a nt— You acted. cooly. deliberatel 3 ith Prince Whipple at the stroke oar, andthe

uatacted, c ra Ww premedita a n

all that , - na ted M (ee ot silk flag that John Hancock had presented to , a a Particular but - . Boston’s black company, the Bucks of . People j eral. whj aA " America. “Emerson said the first gun heard

against Us in Particu ut agains a ,

e People in general, which in the .

Sicht i fia oa g an fepredieapin round the world was that of Lexington,” dethe C ‘tion of Murder. You will clared Phillips: “Who set the example of

omposition urder. You w _

hear o from Us hereaft Who taught earf;further from Usguns? hereafter. : the British soldier that

he might be defeated? Who first dared look

The signature is “Crispus Attucks.” into his eyes? Those five men! The 5th of On March 5, 1858, black abolitionists in March was the baptism of blood. . . . I Boston, including William C. Nell and place, therefore, this Crispus Attucks in the Lewis Hayden, inaugurated a Crispus At- foremost rank of the men that dared. When tucks Day. A “festival” was held in Faneuil we talk of courage, he rises, with his dark Hall. As Wendell Phillips approached the face, in the clothes of the laborer, his head Ma

Aftermath of Attucks | V1

uncovered, his arm raised above him defy- tion the government. Five petitions of the ing bayonets . . . when the proper symbols years 1773 and 1774 echo the patriot James are placed around the base of the statue of Otis’s cry for the rights of man with a new Washington, one corner will be filled by the intensity and deserve to be enshrined among colored man defying the British muskets.”* the treasures of our literature. The mood is one of exasperation, even anger, although the phraseology is sometimes cautious.

Aftermath of Attucks: Freedom is their impassioned theme. Portraits in Petitions ON January 6, 1773, to Governor HutchinThe blood of Attucks nourished the tree of son and the General Court came “the humliberty, in Jefferson’s phrase, in two ways. ble Petition of many Slaves, living in the Five years after the massacre, when protest Town of Boston, and other Towns in the gave way to arms, the name of the man who Province . . . who have had every Day of first had “dared” was still green in the mem- their Lives imbittered with this most intol- _ ory of the minutemen—black and white— lerable Reflection, That, let their Behaviour

who took their stand at Lexington and be what it will, nor their Children to all Bunker Hill. More immediately, the spirit Generations, shall ever be able to do, or to of Attucks doubtless spurred New England possess and enjoy any Thing, no not even blacks openly to question the anomaly of Life itself, but in a Manner as the Beasts that human bondage in a nation about to be born perish. We have no Property! We have no and fighting for its independence under the Wives! No Children! We have no City! No slogan of “Liberty or Death!” Such a ques- Country! . . .” The signature, ironically, 1s tioner was Caesar Sarter of Newburyport, “Felix.” This “humble Petition” of Boston who in midsummer 1774 wrote the remark- slaves describing their “intollerable” condiable essay for the Essex Journal of Salem that tion was in fact the first public protest to a appears here {fig. 7}. At the same moment, legislature made by blacks in New England.

black protest was mounting to a higher Quickly published as a pamphlet, the stage—the resolution to organize and peti- urgency of Felix’s argument was buttressed

, with two letters by “A Lover of True LibSS erty” and “The Sons of Africa” [fig. 8]. *Thirty years later, during the fall of 1888, a Three months later, on April 20, a

monument commemorating the Boston Massacre (to . .

be known as the Crispus Attucks Monument) would P rinted leaflet in the form of a letter to the be unveiled on Boston Common. The project was pro- delegates of the towns in the House of Repmoted by fifty prominent citizens headed by black resentatives was circulated by four slaves— and white abolitionists, among them Lewis Hayden, Peter Bestes, Sambo Freeman, Chester Joie, Archibald H. Grimké, William H. Dupree, A. E. and Felix Holbrook (the same Felix?)—“in Pillsbury, and ex-Governot John F. Andrew. The behalf of our fellow slaves in this province. whole enterprise was assailed by members of the Mas- | sachusetts Historical Society and the New England and by order of their Committee" [fig. ot. Historic Genealogical Society who reviled Attucks in The letter begins with a taunt: “We expect the manner of John Adams and were rebutted in the great things from men who have made such historian John Fiske’s keynote address. Frederick a noble stand against the designs of their felDouglass had been invited to deliver the dedicatory Jow-men to enslave them” and continues with

oration in Faneuil Hall; he was unable to attend but y , sent an eloquent letter. Here and there the petty war a suggestion: now, at least, allow the Afriagainst the reputation of Crispus Attucks still con- cans .. . one day in a week to work for

tinues. themselves, to enable them to earn money, ”

oe lc 7

12. / Preludes to the Declaration

nn i r—— ~~ |

a pe PN76CON (ODOeNOD) Ver beites wee OS. lea Co) \DLON fA : FREE Po aN Pl oS ON (AE) KY BON (CS lar yea aia cS (em ot Cate

2 a - ie,DtKY ue Toft (S=)OO } oe a fk WyeSOO eS J) POOR Od y haw Pe Slee ty AD | Ly es) #£

“Noo SOA _ FOE yy |%IRR AGEOLE” ay L Ae2 Beeacve fe— : ica — { i er) eee fo OO ; )3ig ‘Fo SUS! allaNSe), of ficfal

ee i ee ae SSS

iB _meee - ao |oe OSFON oF acA++. é. =.=; ~~ _ nw.d . on ~5Agig e tie i : |(NS Hi 4 . ..T. COD... at nf We 2M ae VEGI TIIaCN FF Cc iC , & it 0 wees YF ee be: -_l—lrlrmrmrrw~”~w@wO—O~O™OCOCU:ir:i:;:«wd:‘C ‘CON‘OORNOC’COROOCRCNS’NS:COAWNN =e,

Wee A 4| 6Aga Get Advertifer, : -oo : / fT i7 6 i/4 (27 vs ic 2rbire VP?) i). 4 Vive 7) ;1eral =e ’ ; a ‘hi ia xee pie A Per ee \ ig rr ga oy

See the priv councils report part 1. ctrt SUANYS. Mattes of evidence before the House of Commons.

Wadsiroms Lisa on Colonization § thr.

of the Slaves shou’d happen, and a Loss arise upwards of 40 Minutes, when finding they thereon, more or less, if your Underwriters could not effect it, all the Fantee and most pay in the Case. . . .” The Newport slave of the Accra Men Slaves jumped over board,

traders knew the risks of their business. in my opinion to get up abaft. . . .” There During the fall of 1776 a worried report were other revolts aboard Rhode Island _ from the Rhode Island slaver Thames, an- slavers in 1785 and 1796 as well as on two chored off the African coast near Accra, de- Massachusetts slavers, the Fe/zcity in 1789

scribed in detail an event of Friday, and the Nancy in 1793, another on a New November 8: “we had the misfortune to lose London, Connecticut, ship in 1791 36 of the best slaves we had by an Insurrec- {fig. 24}.

tion. . . . We had 160 Slaves on board Once landed on the soil of the colonies, {who} were that day lett out of the Deck the slaves from New York to Georgia conChaines in order to wash, about 2 OClock. tinued their resistance in various modes of

They began by siesing upon the masquerade, sabotage, flight, conspiracy, Boatswain. . . . They continued to threw and revolt. The documentation by histoStaves, billets of wood etc. and in endeavor- rians of their freedom-seeking restlessness ing to get down the Barricado, or over it for has grown year after year.

34 / Bearers of Arms

It was not easy for slave owners to arm July 4, 1781, Baron Ludwig von Closen, an their chattels, and two southern states re- aide-de-camp to General Rochambeau, sisted the idea to the end. Nor was the anx- viewing the army at White Plains, noted in iety confined to the south. In Bucks County, his journal: “A quarter of them were Pennsylvania, during the summer of 1776, negroes, merry, confident, and sturdy.”* Henry Wynkoop wrote to the patriot Com- Soon after the Siege of Yorktown, a young mittee of Safety: “The people in my Neigh- French sublieutenant sketched in waterborhood have been somewhat alarmed with colors in his notebook four foot-soldiers of fears about Negroes & disaffected people in- the patriot army—one of whom is a black juring their families when they are out in light infantryman of the First Rhode Island

the Service. . . .” To quiet fears, he sug- Regiment [fig. 25}. gested that additional powder be sent to his There were, of course, many blacks who

neighbors. fought with the Tories. The British, always

As Lorenzo J. Greene once pointed out, short of men in spite of the large contingent the black population might have been as- of German mercenaries, saw clearly from sessed by both patriots and Tories as crucial the start the role that black power might in the balance of military power. But in July play in the struggle ahead. When slaves 1775, when Washington arrived in New abandoned their patriot masters in response England to take command, one of his ear- to the blandishments of Lord Dunmore and liest orders barred “Negroes” and “Vaga- Sir Henry Clinton, the decision to join the bonds” from the army. Many months passed British was for them, as for their brothers before the general and the Congress saw the on the opposite side, a blow struck against light. Thereafter recruitment of black sol- American slavery and for their own indediers went on apace. During the winter of pendence [fig. 26}. It is possible that tens of 1777 a German officer traveling through thousands of slaves in South Carolina and western Massachusetts was struck by the Georgia went over to the British. Some fact that a slave could “take the field in his blacks fled into the swamps and the forests master’s place; hence you never see a regi- or conspired to fight their own battle for ment in which there are not negroes, and freedom. By the war’s end, fourteen thouthere are well-built, strong, husky fellows among them.” In early spring of 1778 a ~-¥Von Closen has other first-hand observations of Moravian farmer in Bethlehem, Pennsylva- blacks in his journal. In 1782 he records a meeting nia, wrote in his diary: “From New England with “a slave ship, under an Austrian flag, coming there arrived a company of soldiers, com- from the Guinea coast and bound for the Cape. . . . posed of whites, blacks and a few Stock- The commerce La in negroes is an abominable and

bridge Indians, who were lodged over Sv hn, mycin, On Bud he sts night.” After the Battle of Monmouth, Ad- and women on the other, in the forepart of the ship. jutant General Alexander Scammell could There is an iron chain which crosses from one side to report the names of over 750 black soldiers the other, to which they are all attached, 2 by two, in fourteen brigades of the Continental except for the few who are necessary for assistance in

Army. On the roll of Captain David the maneuvres. All these unfortunate beings are |

; ; naked, and at the least movement that does not suit

Humphreys black Connecticut company 1n the Captain, they are beaten toa pulp. . . . the loss of 1781-83, among the forty-eight surnames, a fifth of them, from sickness or despair during a voyten are Freedom, Freeman, or Liberty. On age of 2 or 3 months, is expected.”

A Trio with the Generals | 35

wae “dl 1 Naps aac nae ma gear . . see

:&>éZ‘a&

, : 4 Be ee i e ~ 1 % 2 oS G x 8,

. . TY : ae, 4 vr {ye - ik S a i oe C ea eo pe nes oils “ome ee SS es wee 2 a ae ~ : anaes es ee 25. Jean-Baptiste-Antoine DeVerger, American Foot Soldiers, Yorktown Campaign, watercolor, 1781. Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library.

sand black men, women, and children, after they had fallen, most of them were forsome still bound to fleeing Tory masters, gotten. The white memory of things resome now free and ready to begin new lives corded in print and paint usually left them

in new places, had been evacuated by the out. British from Savannah, Charleston, and

New York, and transported to Florida, —

Nova Scotia, Jamaica, and, later, Africa. A Trio with the Generals: William The black soldier and sailor of the revo- Lee, James Armistead Lafayette, lution, whether he fought for Congress or A grippa Hull

king, served in a variety of ways—as in-

fantryman, artilleryman, scout, guide, spy, In 1768 George Washington bought a slave pilot, guard, courier, wagoner, orderly, named William from Mary Lee. Seven years cook, waiter, able seaman, privateersman, later, when Washington took command of and military laborer of all sorts. In a few the Continental Army, William Lee jour-

cases, blacks formed their own units. neyed with him to Massachusetts and conHow many were killed or wounded, we tinued at the general’s side as servant and can only guess. Some were heroes. Not long orderly through thick and thin to the close

36 / Bearers of Arms

i tt Sa 1 OLEMETY, ¢/29 SEF? Y O07, ada

Qorrannnls 02) ClMLf Uf SI Vl OD hi I OT be

Sir Henry Clinton, New 57... 7, -

York, January 1, 1781. FE HMI Yt 2 lcclbrreey iv 0 William L. Clements Li- .r—CO—CsCC ne ff... yn br ary, The Univer sity of fo ; : Oe - —r—~—sSSC CLS OU 10 :

¢ ee rrr CL CO THE GRAIOST (DUC CL 7

a —,—UrrUr—~—C EG

Nl JAF MOC COTA) :

LO — _.

of the war. In John Trumbull’s portrait of Mount Vernon his wife, Margaret Thomas,

Washington at West Point, painted in a free woman of Philadelphia, Washington London in 1780, the artist shows young reluctantly agreed: “I cannot refuse his reWilliam, in a turban, holding the bridle of quest . . . as he has lived with me so long the general’s horse [fig. 27}. The fighting and followed my fortunes through the War

over, William returned to Virginia with with fidility.” Washington to serve the Mount Vernon Washington’s soul-searching about the household for the next twenty years. It is as rightness of slavery is well known. There

a factotum of the Washington family— was “not a man living,” he wrote to two George and Martha with their grand- friends in 1786, who wished more sincerely children—that Edward Savage portrayed than he “to see some plan adopted by which the black veteran in 1796 [fig. 28}. The slavery may be abolished by law.” When he genre of both these paintings, white master died in 1799, his will provided that upon and black servant—a traditional one for the Martha’s death all his slaves should be liber-

white artist—perhaps conceals the deep ated, but “to my Mulatto man William feeling that Washington had for his revolu- (calling himself William Lee) I give imme-

tionary comrade. When William in 1784 diate freedom. . . . [allow him an annuity

asked the general if he could bring to of thirty dollars during his natural life . .

A Trio with the Generals | 37 i -.—C~C~C~C~C~—i«ixwONCNCSCNSCSC ‘CN

17 ee i

icn- ae 27. John Trumbull, George ‘— >, | | wat Washington, oil, 1780.

|lo |he - a

f€ >. 4 Sa = Metropolitan Museum of iy } ii oe Art (accession no. 24. 109.88).

in eee | m « | > a. — : oe vA eC -_— | a= }. ass=... +. i ee Al... | i) ae on — “

and this I give him as a testimony of my IN March 1781 Washington rushed General sense of his attachment to me, and for his Lafayette to Virginia in an effort to stop faithful services during the Revolutionary Cornwallis. Shortly thereafter, a slave by the

War” [fig. 29]. name of James, in New Kent County, asked In June 1804 on a visit to Mount Ver- his master, William Armistead, for permisnon, the artist Charles Willson Peale, who sion to enlist under the French major genwould later paint a vivid portrait of the eral. That spring and summer, Lafayette felt black Muslim Yarrow Mamout, sought out a crucial necessity to recruit black troops. the aged William Lee, whom he found in an He called for four hundred laborers and outbuilding, crippled, cobbling shoes. The wagoners, and wrote frantically to Washtwo sat down together and talked about old ington: “Nothing but a treaty of alliance times and how to live a long, healthy life. with the Negroes can find us dragoon

5 a ee Bae ‘ nee Pitty + Sa weee Seka o oo

ee ee ee ee Bs ae a :

: i... de. fo ~=—rerhm—ee = [2 —-.hr _ | pas _=se Re es ee ee ee ee ee es lr r S _— i .U”™§€=§©=—hmeD . -— SCs oo :g: RS eee? Fe ee : CC8, rrrr— Seee eee Bec oe a~—r—‘—__ ee ee : aeee ie_, Ags hata) 6%, SsPneeeeasBe ee : Shel An dohCourthouse, hi APTS atVirginia. ey ae At BA a1! aagty#ound . peacerty va Ke feVat opaeyok Prin SP hale IIDC haar ek. A OF Pe Chait OE Jub OF bi ag

of George Washington Ace Beant? Artiad Pits, Te. Cade tia thei Be fos. aide

* wes ie a ; ¥ afey - -os a gd se 5foe. tt as fazeee3 a he #& # go ee : #7~ Lf Se. : 2 eek ‘a a 2 ,éo,; ws a a ee Co , fe ge Es

Kaka a , BIR tn) SAAR. a, YAO Ak

be eg ee ee bg aang MOL ARP td Pte Pca h bad, oda hues gi ge Cn ool: Se Ce aa ey ee ee

we ge s ee “s, Ag? be of

Whekte Cieck aLeraaLsihy baw 2A. Ge Oe

ome Fyre der an, kofhe Pop ae OA f Ad. : foie taf bf om

ven = bb ntvethe. hag tn € fo TF teey BAX on, “e fA Mod Shs

fied A : oh po? EN #

oe Aid HAC in A tnt A bP Phe Me aM BD Pash

. port ASE Rat POR LO, Bl i Rate ttgl? Mia, Me Cae ba

aPC EA mm! Bs

ES ee feo es nth ak tg Fie 6 SA IO aac Rh | y WB Pc ODL IP My Pale De

# g ‘ pi - ae

cy oe ss fe +oSa fie PO? ge 2% ee E alia, rl Fae z St resOng # iy ey OOO bse «gt

we ua OV Kan, Acai. te Za Peek oe Set 62 ol “re wdadid)

en a:Margaad gn 38 ge gig Jorn eeoo ee cafe PAA es 4 eo eee Boe) OMe Ota ome bree OER ae

Ree ree (Agente Bs Awe, eo gen #oe *pbsSIA aimere2raexgees hee? ,

ees llfe nw _ “a ~~

A Trio with the Generals | 39

- . « . i cae 30. Jean-Baptiste Le Paon, a = —rti—“—O—OOOOC—