Last updated: November 21, 2024
Article
Black Freedom Seeking During the War of 1812: From the Chesapeake, Cumberland Island, and Beyond Part 2
By William Kelley, M.A.
At four o’clock in the afternoon on March 6, 1815, an American contingent composed of Captain Thomas M. Newell and Thomas Spalding arrived at Dungeness Plantation on Cumberland Island. Armed with an edition of the Treaty of Ghent published in the National Intelligencer, the pair felt confident that they could successfully retrieve any freedom seekers from Cumberland Island. Newell and Spalding immediately made such a demand of Rear Admiral George Cockburn who oversaw operations on Cumberland Island. Cockburn rejected the Americans’ request out-of-hand.[1]
Unbeknownst to Newell and Spalding, however, ships populated with Black freedom seekers had already begun leaving Cumberland Island. One day before Newell and Spalding arrived on the island, Robert Colburn and David Gales joined nearly 500 men, women, children, and fellow Colonial Marines in evacuating Cumberland Island aboard the massive British warship Regulus. A long journey lay ahead for the refugees. Their first stop was the British colony of Bermuda – if they could only elude Spalding and Newell.[1]
While Black freedom seekers sailed away from Cumberland Island aboard the Regulus, Newell and Spalding continued to haggle with Rear Admiral Cockburn for restitution. The news hundreds of freedom seekers sailing for Bermuda aboard the Regulus diminished the Americans’ chances for success. “It is with much regret,” Spalding wrote to Cockburn, “that of the slaves which you have ordered to be restored…several of them [are] now on board the Regulus.” But the duo continued to pursue the freedom seekers.
Cockburn permitted Spalding, Newell, and even some local enslavers to board the Regulus and attempt “to obtain the voluntary return of their slaves” under the supervision of a British officer. Allegedly, the effort yielded the recording of thirteen freedom seekers who, according to the American interpretation of the Treaty of Ghent, were eligible for re-enslavement. More freedom seekers would have been recorded, Spalding and Newell argued, “if it had not been for the means employed by the inferior officers to prevent their return.” Frustrated, the Americans searched for another strategy. “A great proportion of the slaves received, were sent from the waters of the United States, or from the island of Cumberland, as late as between the period of the 2d and the 5th of March,” Spalding and Newell wrote to Cockburn, “and no inconsiderable number of slaves have been sent on board your shipping in the offing, even since we have had the honor of addressing to you our first note, of [March 7]…We have then, sir,” the Americans concluded, “no alternative but to prefer this affair to our Government.”[1]
Whereas the United States understood the Treaty of Ghent to guarantee them the return or, at the very least, the compensation for freedom seekers who escaped to the British during the war, the British looked at the treaty from an entirely different perspective. On their part, the British insisted on a much narrower interpretation of the treaty: that a freedom seeker could only be involuntarily re-enslaved if they still resided at the place from which they escaped. Such a scenario was highly improbable – and the British likely knew this. Afterall, nearly 500 freedom seekers had just left the island the day before. If American negotiators assented to the British interpretation of the treaty, the number of freedom seekers eligible for involuntary re-enslavement would be a slim fraction of the 3,608 total that escaped during the war. If British officers complied with the American interpretation of the treaty, the British government would be liable to pay American enslavers compensation for thousands of freedom seekers.[1] The actions of Black freedom seekers sparked a diplomatic dispute between the United States and Great Britain – the grounds of which were reflected in the disagreement between Newall and Spalding, and Cockburn –that would not be fully resolved until 1828.
On April 29, 1815, Colburn, Gales, and the hundreds of other freedom seekers aboard the Regulus reached Bermuda. While Colburn and Gales traveled alone, many freedom seekers reunited with their families in Bermuda. Between July 12 and July 14, 1814, twenty-five-year-old Peter Sewell joined sixteen others in their escape from Calvert County, Maryland. Of those sixteen, at least four joined Sewell aboard the Regulus when it embarked from Cumberland Island on March 5, 1815: John Sewell (27), Nathaniel Smith (14), Hezekiah Smith (18), and Basil Butler (22). While enlistment in the Colonial Marines brought John, Nathaniel, Hezekiah, Basil, and Peter from Tangier Island to Cumberland Island, the twelve remaining women and children stayed at Tangier Island in the Chesapeake for the duration of the war. On March 18, 1815 – nearly two weeks after her husband boarded the Regulus and embarked from Cumberland Island – the HMS Orlando departed Tangier Island and headed for Bermuda with Peter’s wife, Rachael, and the couple’s three children on board. On April 29, 1815, Peter reunited with his wife and children on the island of Bermuda.[1]
Cockburn permitted Spalding, Newell, and even some local enslavers to board the Regulus and attempt “to obtain the voluntary return of their slaves” under the supervision of a British officer. Allegedly, the effort yielded the recording of thirteen freedom seekers who, according to the American interpretation of the Treaty of Ghent, were eligible for re-enslavement. More freedom seekers would have been recorded, Spalding and Newell argued, “if it had not been for the means employed by the inferior officers to prevent their return.” Frustrated, the Americans searched for another strategy. “A great proportion of the slaves received, were sent from the waters of the United States, or from the island of Cumberland, as late as between the period of the 2d and the 5th of March,” Spalding and Newell wrote to Cockburn, “and no inconsiderable number of slaves have been sent on board your shipping in the offing, even since we have had the honor of addressing to you our first note, of [March 7]…We have then, sir,” the Americans concluded, “no alternative but to prefer this affair to our Government.”[1]
Whereas the United States understood the Treaty of Ghent to guarantee them the return or, at the very least, the compensation for freedom seekers who escaped to the British during the war, the British looked at the treaty from an entirely different perspective. On their part, the British insisted on a much narrower interpretation of the treaty: that a freedom seeker could only be involuntarily re-enslaved if they still resided at the place from which they escaped. Such a scenario was highly improbable – and the British likely knew this. Afterall, nearly 500 freedom seekers had just left the island the day before. If American negotiators assented to the British interpretation of the treaty, the number of freedom seekers eligible for involuntary re-enslavement would be a slim fraction of the 3,608 total that escaped during the war. If British officers complied with the American interpretation of the treaty, the British government would be liable to pay American enslavers compensation for thousands of freedom seekers.[1] The actions of Black freedom seekers sparked a diplomatic dispute between the United States and Great Britain – the grounds of which were reflected in the disagreement between Newall and Spalding, and Cockburn –that would not be fully resolved until 1828.
On April 29, 1815, Colburn, Gales, and the hundreds of other freedom seekers aboard the Regulus reached Bermuda. While Colburn and Gales traveled alone, many freedom seekers reunited with their families in Bermuda. Between July 12 and July 14, 1814, twenty-five-year-old Peter Sewell joined sixteen others in their escape from Calvert County, Maryland. Of those sixteen, at least four joined Sewell aboard the Regulus when it embarked from Cumberland Island on March 5, 1815: John Sewell (27), Nathaniel Smith (14), Hezekiah Smith (18), and Basil Butler (22). While enlistment in the Colonial Marines brought John, Nathaniel, Hezekiah, Basil, and Peter from Tangier Island to Cumberland Island, the twelve remaining women and children stayed at Tangier Island in the Chesapeake for the duration of the war. On March 18, 1815 – nearly two weeks after her husband boarded the Regulus and embarked from Cumberland Island – the HMS Orlando departed Tangier Island and headed for Bermuda with Peter’s wife, Rachael, and the couple’s three children on board. On April 29, 1815, Peter reunited with his wife and children on the island of Bermuda.[1]
From Bermuda, many refugees sailed for Trinidad – a British colony in 1815 off the coast of Venezuela. Robert Colburn and David Gales ventured to Trinidad alone where they established free lives. The historical record is scant on the lives of both Colburn and Gales after their arrival. Both Colburn and Gales served in the Trinidad-based British ranks through 1823. Colburn died in Trinidad on February 9, 1857, while the date of Gales’ death remains unknown.[1]
Other Black refugees opted to sail to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in British Canada. Their names are recorded in the Halifax List. Akin to the Book of Negroes compiled after the American Revolution, the Halifax List provided an inventory of Black refugees from the War of 1812 who landed in Nova Scotia during and after the war. Upon landing at Halifax, refugees faced harsh conditions, racism, and few economic development opportunities. Nonetheless, they persisted in cultivating the rocky and barren land they were allotted and even petitioned in the Canadian government for infrastructural improvements in their communities.
Other Black refugees opted to sail to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in British Canada. Their names are recorded in the Halifax List. Akin to the Book of Negroes compiled after the American Revolution, the Halifax List provided an inventory of Black refugees from the War of 1812 who landed in Nova Scotia during and after the war. Upon landing at Halifax, refugees faced harsh conditions, racism, and few economic development opportunities. Nonetheless, they persisted in cultivating the rocky and barren land they were allotted and even petitioned in the Canadian government for infrastructural improvements in their communities.
Freedom seeking during the War of 1812 involved meticulous planning, particular timing, and considerable patience. While freedom seekers escaped enslavement aboard British ships, many risked re-enslavement by fighting for British regiments. Others stayed aboard British ships influencing the war effort through other means such as sanitation work or mending clothing and uniforms. Even after the Treaty of Ghent was officially ratified in February 1815, the self-liberation that Black freedom seekers recently obtained remained under threat from American emissaries who, acting on behalf of the United States Government, persisted in their attempts to re-enslave as many freedom seekers as possible. Fortunately, the majority of attempts to re-enslave freedom seekers failed. As a result, thousands of Black people forged free lives around the globe. Their descendants in Trinidad, Bermuda, Jamaica, Halifax, Scotland, and England are present reminders of the global legacy of Black freedom seeking during the War of 1812.
Freedom Halifax 1814 by Richard Rudnicki
Unbeknownst to Newell and Spalding, however, ships populated with Black freedom seekers had already begun leaving Cumberland Island. One day before Newell and Spalding arrived on the island, Robert Colburn and David Gales joined nearly 500 men, women, children, and fellow Colonial Marines in evacuating Cumberland Island aboard the massive British warship Regulus. A long journey lay ahead for the refugees. Their first stop was the British colony of Bermuda – if they could only elude Spalding and Newell.[2]
While Black freedom seekers sailed away from Cumberland Island aboard the Regulus, Newell and Spalding continued to haggle with Rear Admiral Cockburn for restitution. The news of hundreds of freedom seekers sailing for Bermuda aboard the Regulus diminished the Americans’ chances for success. “It is with much regret,” Spalding wrote to Cockburn, “that of the slaves which you have ordered to be restored…several of them [are] now on board the Regulus.” But the duo continued to pursue the freedom seekers.Cockburn permitted Spalding, Newell, and even some local enslavers to board the Regulus and attempt “to obtain the voluntary return of their slaves” under the supervision of a British officer. Allegedly, the effort yielded the recording of thirteen freedom seekers who, according to the American interpretation of the Treaty of Ghent, were eligible for re-enslavement. More freedom seekers would have been recorded, Spalding and Newell argued, “if it had not been for the means employed by the inferior officers to prevent their return.” Frustrated, the Americans searched for another strategy. “A great proportion of the slaves received, were sent from the waters of the United States, or from the island of Cumberland, as late as between the period of the 2d and the 5th of March,” Spalding and Newell wrote to Cockburn, “and no inconsiderable number of slaves have been sent on board your shipping in the offing, even since we have had the honor of addressing to you our first note, of [March 7]…We have then, sir,” the Americans concluded, “no alternative but to prefer this affair to our Government.”[3]Whereas the United States understood the Treaty of Ghent to guarantee them the return or, at the very least, the compensation for freedom seekers who escaped to the British during the war, the British looked at the treaty from an entirely different perspective. On their part, the British insisted on a much narrower interpretation of the treaty: that a freedom seeker could only be involuntarily re-enslaved if they still resided at the place from which they escaped. Such a scenario was highly improbable – and the British likely knew this. Afterall, nearly 500 freedom seekers had just left the island the day before. If American negotiators assented to the British interpretation of the treaty, the number of freedom seekers eligible for involuntary re-enslavement would be a slim fraction of the 3,608 total that escaped during the war. If British officers complied with the American interpretation of the treaty, the British government would be liable to pay American enslavers compensation for thousands of freedom seekers.[4] The actions of Black freedom seekers sparked a diplomatic dispute between the United States and Great Britain – the grounds of which were reflected in the disagreement between Newall and Spalding, and Cockburn –that would not be fully resolved until 1828.On April 29, 1815, Colburn, Gales, and the hundreds of other freedom seekers aboard the Regulus reached Bermuda. While Colburn and Gales traveled alone, many freedom seekers reunited with their families in Bermuda. Between July 12 and July 14, 1814, twenty-five-year-old Peter Sewell joined sixteen others in their escape from Calvert County, Maryland. Of those sixteen, at least four joined Sewell aboard the Regulus when it embarked from Cumberland Island on March 5, 1815: John Sewell (27), Nathaniel Smith (14), Hezekiah Smith (18), and Basil Butler (22). While enlistment in the Colonial Marines brought John, Nathaniel, Hezekiah, Basil, and Peter from Tangier Island to Cumberland Island, the twelve remaining women and children stayed at Tangier Island in the Chesapeake for the duration of the war. On March 18, 1815 – nearly two weeks after her husband boarded the Regulus and embarked from Cumberland Island – the HMS Orlando departed Tangier Island and headed for Bermuda with Peter’s wife, Rachael, and the couple’s three children on board. On April 29, 1815, Peter reunited with his wife and children on the island of Bermuda.[5] From Bermuda, many refugees sailed for Trinidad – a British colony in 1815 off the coast of Venezuela. Robert Colburn and David Gales ventured to Trinidad alone where they established free lives. The historical record is scant on the lives of both Colburn and Gales after their arrival. Both Colburn and Gales served in the Trinidad-based British ranks through 1823. Colburn died in Trinidad on February 9, 1857, while the date of Gales’ death remains unknown.[6]Other Black refugees opted to sail to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in British Canada. Their names are recorded in the Halifax List. Akin to the Book of Negroes compiled after the American Revolution, the Halifax List provided an inventory of Black refugees from the War of 1812 who landed in Nova Scotia during and after the war. Upon landing at Halifax, refugees faced harsh conditions, racism, and few economic development opportunities. Nonetheless, they persisted in cultivating the rocky and barren land they were allotted and even petitioned in the Canadian government for infrastructural improvements in their communities.[7]Freedom seeking during the War of 1812 involved meticulous planning, particular timing, and considerable patience. While freedom seekers escaped enslavement aboard British ships, many risked re-enslavement by fighting for British regiments. Others stayed aboard British ships influencing the war effort through other means such as sanitation work or mending clothing and uniforms. Even after the Treaty of Ghent was officially ratified in February 1815, the self-liberation that Black freedom seekers recently obtained remained under threat from American emissaries who, acting on behalf of the United States Government, persisted in their attempts to re-enslave as many freedom seekers as possible. Fortunately, the majority of attempts to re-enslave freedom seekers failed. As a result, thousands of Black people forged free lives around the globe. Their descendants in Trinidad, Bermuda, Jamaica, Halifax, Scotland, and England are present reminders of the global legacy of Black freedom seeking during the War of 1812.
Sources
[1] "Copy of a letter from Thomas M. Newell, captain of the sea-fencibles, and Thomas Spalding, to Brigadier General Floyd," in “Deportation of Slaves (14-2) Doc. No. 287,” American State Papers: Foreign Relations 4: 109-111. According to the National Park Service, “Sea Fencibles were military units commanded by Army officers and posted at a garrison but equipped as naval units. The [Act to authorize the raising a corps of sea fencibles] specified that the Sea Fencibles would serve in port cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, and Baltimore.” See also, “Chap. XXVII: An Act to authorize the raising of a corps of sea fencibles,” 13th Congress, First Session (26 July 1813). Newell and Spalding’s letter summarizing their experience with Cockburn dated 16 March 1815 was sent from Spalding’s Sapelo Island plantation. The pair likely embarked from Spalding’s other home in Darien, Georgia, on March 5, 1815, before reaching Cumberland Island for the first time the following day. “Marker Monday: Sapelo Island,” Georgia Historical Society, accessed 30 July 2024, https://www.georgiahistory.com/marker-monday-sapelo-island/; “Sapelo Island,” Georgia Historical Society, accessed 30 July 2024, https://www.georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/sapelo-island/.
[2] “A LIST of Supernumeraries borne in his majesty’s ship Regulus, on the 14th March, 1815,” British documents, Colburn (p. 19), Gales, (p. 23), overall (pp. 15-26); “Black history society marks 200th anniversary of HMS Regulus,” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 26 May 2015, accessed 31 July 2024, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/black-history-society-marks-200th-anniversary-of-hms-regulus-1.3087521.
[3] "Copy of a letter from Thomas M. Newell, captain of the sea-fencibles, and Thomas Spalding, to Brigadier General Floyd," in “Deportation of Slaves (14-2) Doc. No. 287,” American State Papers: Foreign Relations 4: 109-111; "No. 5. Messrs. Newell and Spalding to Admiral Cockburn, " 11 March 1815, in "Deportation of Slaves (14-2) Doc. No. 287," American State Papers: Foreign Relations 4: 112-113.
[4] "No. 1. Messrs. Newell and Spalding to Admiral Cockburn," 06 March 1815, in “Deportation of Slaves (14-2) Doc. No. 287,” American State Papers: Foreign Relations 4: 111; "No. 2. Admiral Cockburn to Mssrs. Newell and Spalding," 07 March 1815, in “Deportation of Slaves (14-2) Doc. No. 287,” American State Papers: Foreign Relations 4: 111-112.
[5] From Bermuda, the Sewells and Smiths sailed for Trinidad with other Colonial Marines and their families. John Sewell does not appear in the Trinidad records after 1823. Neither does Peter Sewell. Unfortunately, no record beyond their relationship with their husband/wife exists for Rachael, Clarissa, William, and Fanny. Nathaniel Smith, however, lived the rest of his life in Trinidad where he died on May 6, 1875. Basil Butler enlisted in the Colonial Marines immediately following his escape. He climbed the ranks from corporal to sergeant by October 1814, before following the same path as the Sewells and Smiths from Cumberland Island to Bermuda and ultimately to Trinidad. By 1823, Basil married a woman named Lucy whom he may have met in Trinidad. British Documents, 7, 18, 20, 55, 56, 59; Halifax List, 96; Thomas M. Bayly, "An INVENTORY of Slaves who had deserted from their owners, and public and private Property captured from the United States and the citizens thereof, and remaining on Tangier Island, Feby. 17, 1815," 104-105; Bayly, "LIST of Black and Colored People on Tangier Island, 25 Feb. 1815," 111; Weiss, Merikans, supplement 2, page 2 and page 4, 31, 34, 36, 53.
[6] Weiss, The Merikans, 25, 29, 32.
[7] Nova Scotia, “Return of Black People at Halifax Arrived from the Chesapeake,” 1815, Commissioner of Public Records Nova Scotia Archives RG 1 volume 305 number 7 (microfilm 15387) Search, The Nova Scotia Archives, https://archives.novascotia.ca/africanns/archives/?ID=73; “‘Ship News’: Several Hundred Black Refugees Arrive at Halifax on 1 September 1814,” Acadian Recorder, September 3, 1814, Nova Scotia Archives Acadian Recorder 3 September 1814 p.3 (microfilm 5193), The Nova Scotia Archives, https://archives.novascotia.ca/; “Petition of the Coloured People Settlers at Beech Hill near Halifax,” February 16, 1827, Nova Scotia House of Assembly — Assembly petitions series Nova Scotia Archives RG 5 series P volume 92 number 83, The Nova Scotia Archives, https://archives.novascotia.ca/africanns/archives/?ID=96; “Petition on Behalf of the Black People at Preston and Hammonds Plains,” March 6, 1824, Nova Scotia House of Assembly — Assembly petitions series Nova Scotia Archives RG 5 series P volume 80 number 32 (microfilm 9972), The Nova Scotia Archives, https://archives.novascotia.ca/africanns/archives/?ID=91; “‘“List of Blacks Recently Brought from the United States of America and Settled on the Windsor Road”’” (https://archives.novascotia.ca/africanns/archives/?ID=74, 1815), The Nova Scotia Archives, https://archives.novascotia.ca/.
A LIST of Supernumeraries borne in his majesty’s ship Regulus, on the 14th March, 1815,” British documents, Colburn (p. 19), Gales, (p. 23), overall (pp. 15-26); “Black history society marks 200th anniversary of HMS Regulus,” Canadian Broadcasting Corpora