Equality in the National Capital Area During the Revolution and War of 1812

In retaliation for burning the Canadian capital at York, now Toronto, British troops burned places of government, the White House then known as the President's Mansion, and other landmarks.

William Thornton, 1815 - Library of Congress

The end of the Revolutionary War brought the promise of a free and equal nation. But freedom was not meant for everyone. African Americans proved capable, but most found themselves slaves for life. Even free communities were subject to severe laws known as Black Codes, intended to create and reinforce the idea of White superiority and Black inferiority.

Whether seen as inferior or not, African Americans, some willingly and many not, took on unskilled and skilled labor. The enslaved usually worked in agriculture but were also put on contract for work, such as the construction of Washington, DC, and the building of the Capitol. They also conducted ferry rides and worked on docks and waterway transportation throughout the Potomac River and the greater Chesapeake Bay. Free African Americans also proved themselves capable; Benjamin Banneker a surveyor, almanac-author and farmer, assisted in the survey of Washington, DC.

Free communities developed in rural areas as well as the city, such as Batestown on the eastern side of Prince William County. And by the time of the War of 1812, Chesapeake region African Americans were prominent in the ongoing naval fighting. The knowledge watermen had of the region’s myriad creeks was essential to both the British and Patriot militias.

The timeline is provided by Thematic Framework for the History of Civil Rights in the National Capital Area by Cheryl LaRoche PhD, Patsy Fletcher, Caroline Spencer, and Lauren Hughes. It summarizes the trials and triumphs of freedom seekers and the internal struggle for equality in the United States of America before the end of the War of 1812.

Fourteen Black men and three Black women self-liberated from slavery by escaping to the British warship HMS Savage anchored off the Potomac shore, not far from the estate.

Middleton, Strobridge & Co., 1861 - Library of Congress

Timeline 1776-1814

1776-1783 – Black men from several counties in the National Capital Area answered the call to fight for American liberty and served in the American Revolutionary War.

1778 - A woman born in Loudoun County of an African man and a white woman, Jane Robinson, was the first to be emancipated under 1765 Virginia legislation.

1781 - During the American Revolution, seventeen people held in slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate—fourteen men and three women—sought their freedom from slavery by escaping to the British warship HMS Savage anchored in the Potomac off the shore of the plantation. Harry Washington escaped to join Royal Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment of freed slaves. Dunmore guaranteed what the Americans would not, freedom from slavery. Washington evacuated to Nova Scotia with the British at the end of the War (Laroche et al, 2021).
James Armistead Lafayette was born in slavery to the Armistead family and was raised as a companion to William Armistead, Jr. His ability to read and write in English and French gave him advantage as a spy for the Continental Army. His intel helped give an advantage against the British forces.

1792 - Federal law barred Blacks from bearing arms for the US Army, although they had served in the Revolutionary War and would go on to serve in the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
Thomas Barton, an African American veteran of the Revolution, stood for election to the Maryland House of Delegates, promising to “represent so many hundreds of poor Blacks as inhabit this town” (Bedell, Wilkins, 2022).

1794-1795 - L’Hermitage (now known as the Best Farm) was the home and farm of the Vincendiere family, who had moved to Maryland in the 1790s to escape the overthrow of the French regime ruling Santo Domingue (now Haiti) by those who had been enslaved. The Vincendieres brought many of their enslaved people with them, and by 1800, the family enslaved over 90 people, one of the largest enslaved populations in the region.

15-cent Benjamin Banneker commemorative stamp.

February 15, 1980, National Postal Museum

1800-1830 - Quakers and Methodists, the latter eschewing the national church’s neutral position, led the spiritual crusade against slavery. Leesburg’s Methodist Church and Lincoln’s Goose Creek Meeting hosted many anti-slavery discussions.

1805 - The first attempt was made to pass legislation to emancipate all people held in slavery in Washington, DC.

1807 – Batestown, a free African American community, formed in Prince William County, Virginia (Bedell, Wilkins, 2022).

1808 - Federal Law officially ends the trans-Atlantic slave trade into America, legally.

1812 – Ferry Hill, a plantation on the Maryland side of the Potomac River, was built by John Blackford. He and his sons kept historical information documenting the lives of the enslaved on the plantation, as well as those who operated the ferry (Laroche et al, 2021).

The War of 1812 began between the United States of America and Britain.

1814 - Several enslaved Black men in Prince George’s County, MD joined the British forces during the War of 1812 in exchange for freedom. The British landed at the mouth of the Patuxent River and marched through the southern Maryland counties into Prince George's, collecting some 120 enslaved people along the way.

At least 30 from the Potomac Valley fled to British ships that had sailed up the Potomac River intent on raiding Alexandria and ultimately Washington. Among them were James Bruce, a bondsman of the Addisons, and Ned Carey and Stephen Allen, held by Henry Daingerfield.

Potomac Valley Black troops along with the British captured Bladensburg and burned Washington, D.C’s Capitol and federal buildings in retaliation for the sacking of York, now Toronto. The Star-Spangled Banner Heritage Trail today marks the series of land and water routes that helped achieve troop movement throughout the national capital area.

After the war, many freedom-seekers were shipped to Canada, Bermuda, the British West Indies, and even Sierra Leone, ostensibly to live as free people. However, the British sold many back into slavery. As a result, after the war, as part of the settlement, England had to pay over a million dollars in indemnities to the United States for the 3-5,000 slaves and other properties not restored.

The years after the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 showed the promise of freedom was empty. For the next half of the century, African Americans continued to struggle for equal rights through abolitionism and resistance in any and every way possible.

Read more about the growth of the Underground Railroad and abolitionism in the decades before the Civil War.

Works Cited

Bedell J and Wilkins A. 2022. African American Experience Before Emancipation: Historic Context Narrative. Historic Resource Study. National Park Service. Washington, DC
DataStore - (African American Experience Before Emancipation: Historic Context Narrative)

LaRoche CJ, Fletcher P, Hughes L, Spencer C. 2021. Thematic Framework for the History of Civil Rights in the National Capital Area. NPS Special History Study. National Park Service. Washington, DC
DataStore - (Thematic Framework for the History of Civil Rights in the National Capital Area)