In early 1776, a man whom George Washington had enslaved and assigned the name Harry, escaped and joined the British to fight against his enslaver and the other revolutionaries. Come learn about his story on this edition of Footnoting History. Hey Footnoters, it’s Josh! And it feels like it’s been a while since we’ve sat down for a chat together. It was nice getting to tell you about Innocent III with Christine and Tet during our Holiday Episode,
but I really appreciate our one-on-one time. And hey, did you Footnoters know that Footnoting History just turned 11 years old?! No matter how long you’ve been here, we – Christine, Kristin, Lucy, Sam, and myself – we all want to say thank you for coming along with us on our voyages through the lesser-known past. And hey, if you’re listening to this episode on YouTube, you should leave a comment wishing us happy birthday! Hit that Like button, make sure you’re subscribed.
As you all know, February is Black History month. So today, in the spirit of Black History month, I want to tell you the story of Harry Washington. Harry Washington was not this man’s original name, but one given to him by his enslaver. We don’t know his birth name; as far as I know, we have absolutely no record with his birth name on it. That is one of many brutal realities of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – the erasure of any identity other
than the one attached to that person’s enslaver. We will call this man Harry Washington during this episode though. What records we do have of him use that name and thus his name became his legal identity. I first learned about Harry Washington when I was a Teaching Assistant back at UNC-Chapel Hill. The professor I worked under – Matt Andrews – told Harry’s story as a part
of his U.S. to 1865 survey course. And, as he told his students, Harry’s story shows one of many complexities about the American Revolution. And when I tell Harry’s story to my students now, I follow Prof. Andrews’ lead, and they have the same reaction that I did – shock and amazement. How had I never heard this story before? It’s a good story, wouldn’t someone have wanted to tell it? Why had I never considered slavery when it came to the American Revolution?
Dear listeners, you’ve been historians for a while now, so I bet you’ve got a pretty good idea about the answer to those questions. But let’s say it plainly – Harry’s story undermines the cultural mythology that Americans have created around the American Revolution. But I think I’m getting ahead of myself. Harry Washington’s story starts in Africa,
like many who were kidnapped and sold to slave traders bound for the Americas. We are not sure precisely where he was born, but the consensus is that he was born in Senegambia (west Africa) around 1740. The slavers who bought and sold him would not have had any interest in keeping records about who he was or where he came from. Remember, this is slavery, Harry Washington was merchandise.
George Washington purchased this man and assigned him the named “Harry.” As was the convention at the time, the enslaved were also assigned the surname of their enslaver, hence he became Harry Washington. George Washington put Harry to work right away. The future general of the Continental Army had recently invested in a new company, the Dismal Swamp Company, which Washington and other investors hoped would earn them a great
deal of wealth via some land speculation. I literally laughed out loud when I learned that there is a place in the United States called “The Great Dismal Swamp.” Though I lived in North Carolina for 5 years, I never got out to eastern Virginia and the Norfolk area. I’m probably saying that wrong, it’s “Norfolk,” right Virginians? You let us know. Anyway. So, I had no idea this
was an actual place. But, sure enough, the Great Dismal Swamp is there, just south of Norfolk and just north of South Mills, North Carolina. When you look at Google Maps, like I did, you might think, how did I not know that this was there?! It really sticks out like a dismally sore thumb. See what I did there? Dad jokes. If you’ve ever been to the mid-Atlantic states, it shouldn’t be a surprise to you that there is an awful lot of marshy wetlands the closer that you
get to the ocean. Just think of all of the rivers that let out into the Atlantic in North Carolina and Virigina. There’s the James River, the Middle River, the York River, the Pamlico River, and several others. There are plenty of sounds, too! The Great Swamp Company – or the Great Dismal Swamp Company – had a novel business plan – since the land in Virginia and northern North Carolina was valuable for tobacco production, the company planned to drain the swamp and to turn it into
arable land that it could use to sell to interested parties. Tobacco, which is a very nutrient-demanding plant had exhausted a lot of the soil in Virginia already, so land had already been at a premium. So, this isn’t a bad plan, but one that was going to take an awful lot of labor to execute. And, of course, these investors weren’t so worried about that because there was a constant stream of the enslaved that they could purchase in the Virginia slave markets.
George Washington purchased Harry Washington for exactly this reason. In 1763, Harry was forced to work in The Great Dismal Swamp along with 59 other enslaved persons. These enslaved people dug ditches and hacked down cedar trees, from which they would make shingles from the cedarwood. I can only imagine just how difficult the work was. Some three years after assigning Harry to work in the Great Dismal Swamp, George Washington reassigned Harry to Washington’s estate at
Mount Vernon. Rather than having to cut down trees and dig ditches, Harry was tasked with grooming Washington’s horses. Given the sheer amount of horses that Washington owned, Harry was never without work to do. Harry groomed Washington’s horses until 1771, when George Washington forced Harry to work on a mill being built at the edge of the
Mount Vernon estate. Whether or not being reassigned to this much more grueling task had anything to do with his escape attempt is unclear, but Harry liberated himself that same year either in either late July or early August. According to his records, George Washington spent 1 pound and 16 pence (about $300 today) on advertisements in order to recapture Harry and to return him to enslavement. Washington was successful in this endeavor relatively
soon after Harry’s self-emancipation. I could not pin down a precise date, but Washington’s records place Harry back in his custody by June 10, 1772, where Harry’s name can be found on a list of Washington’s “tithables” – property that was subject to taxes. Harry Washington’s desire for freedom did not subside once returned to his enslaver, though it would take some time for him to have another opportunity to emancipate himself.
That opportunity came shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the opening battles of the American Revolution. In Virginia, the Royal Governor of the colony, John Murray, better known as Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation on November 7, 1775. Dunmore’s Proclamation, as it is now remembered, offered freedom to any indentured servant or enslaved person who fled to the British lines and took up arms to defend their colony – a colony that belonged to Britain.
Now, Dunmore’s Proclamation should not be read as the Royal Governor’s attempt at emancipation and abolition. Instead, much like the Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, this was done as a war measure. The rebellion in Virginia was so great that Dunmore only had about 300 troops
at his disposal. Plus, if Lord Dunmore could attract the enslaved to his lines, it would seriously undermine the American Rebels, who were already afraid of the enslaved revolting. The rebels responded in kind a month later, offering the enslaved a reprieve from punishment if they returned to their plantations within 10 days. However, they made it clear that any enslaved person who joined in the rebellion would face a death sentence.
Harry Washington was one of many of the enslaved to seize on this opportunity for freedom, about 300 in the initial wave following Dunmore’s Proclamation. Eventually, however, perhaps as many as 80,000-100,000 of the enslaved, at least according to some estimates, would make their way to the British lines. Other estimates put the total number of self-emancipated folks at a more conservative 20,000-30,000. George Washington certainly had an opinion
on Lord Dunmore’s proclamation. In a letter dated December 15, 1775, Washington wrote to Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Reed, and he referred to Lord Dunmore as an – and I quote – an “arch traitor to the rights of humanity,” continuing on to tell Reed that crushing Dunmore was “indispensably necessary” because “the Negros; for if he [Dunmore] gets formidable, numbers of them [these Black folks] will be tempted to join who will be afraid to do it without.” In other words,
we gotta stop this now before Dunmore gets too strong and we cannot overcome him. Washington actually refers to it as “a snowball.” Harry made his escape in the summer of 1776, just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when one of Dunmore’s ships sailed up the Potomac to Mount Vernon. He joined three white indentured servants who also made their escape. By April of 1781, 18 enslaved persons had escaped from Washington’s
plantation. Washington’s hired slave catcher managed to return 7 of them to enslavement. Eventually, Harry joined Dunmore, who had fled from the seat of the governorship in Williamsburg to his ship the HMS Roebuck, on which he had overseeing his operations. Harry joined what became called The Ethiopian Regiment. Why was it called the “Ethiopian
Regiment?” Only because the soldiers who were a part of it were Black. It seems to me that often “Ethiopian” is just a stand-in for African, and, therefore, Black in a lot of early modern sources. My hunch on why it was specifically Ethiopia? Ethiopia was a Christian kingdom – and, if you remember the Prester John episode, Prester John was relocated there after
nobody could find him in Asia. And if you follow white European logic here, the fact that Ethiopia was largely Christian meant these Africans were worthy of more humane treatment. I don’t have hard data for this, though. If someone has a book or article that discusses this, I’d really love it if you could recommend it to me! Harry and the Ethiopian Regiment helped defend Dunmore’s position at Norfolk,
Virgina, which had been retaken by the American patriots. Embroidered on the Regiment’s blue uniforms were the words, “Liberty to Slaves.” Dunmore’s forces, which included the Regiment, were only able to hold Norfolk and its fort, Fort Murray, for a brief while before having to evacuate and retreat. Eventually they sailed for New York City, though when they arrived the
Ethiopian Regiment was soon disbanded. Veterans of the Regiment, however, were soon reorganized into a new unit called The Black Pioneers, which served as part of the Royal Artillery Department. The Black Pioneers were a non-combat unit and instead were tasked with helping keep combat troops supplied and building fortifications. Harry’s company within The Black Pioneer, of which he soon became corporal, participated
in the invasion of South Carolina and Harry was in Charleston in 1781. Harry Washington’s company was under the authority of the famous General Cornwallis but the company did not travel to Virginia when Cornwallis departed northward. When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, a new sort of scramble began. Those formerly enslaved people who had fled to the British
lines had bet their freedom on the British, and the British had lost. Those who had enslaved them before would certainly want to re-enslave them, and, as a result many sought refuge outside of what would become the United States. During the negotiations for the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the treaty that officially ended the American Revolution, the Americans had included a provision that mandated the return of all American property, including the enslaved,
which the British had accepted. George Washington was certainly ready to reclaim his “property” who were “with the enemy.” The chief negotiator for the British, Sir Guy Carleton, however, informed Washington that the treaty only applied to those who were currently American property and not those who had fled to the British side successfully.
Carleton believed that returning these people would be “dishonorable.” Washington hounded Carleton for some time after, telling the British negotiator that all of the former enslaved needed to be returned. Carleton, to his credit, never relented. Though the British did compensate enslavers for their loss of property. Harry was one of many Black people who fled on British ships to other British colonies – Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Nova Scotia. Some even went to
England itself. But, in this instance, Harry Washington was fortunate again because of his military service. Many Black folks who wished to escape the new American Republic were turned away by the British. Or would cling to the sides of the British’s ships as they rowed to the larger vessels waiting to cross the Atlantic. Only about 8,000 to 10,000 Black folks made it out.
Harry Washington boarded a boat, L’Abondance headed for Nova Scotia. We know this thanks to records that the British kept of those Black people who did manage to escape from the Americans. This record, called “The Book of Negros,” has several copies. Harry is listed in these records, though he is erroneously entered in as “Henry.” He was regarded as a “fine fellow” who had escaped George Washington 7 years earlier. He was 43 years old.
Novia Scotia, despite promises of land, work, and pay, fell far short of the expectations of those who emigrated there. Harry and his wife, Jenny, settled in a place they called “Birchtown.” While in Nova Scotia, Black settlers were denied the right to vote and could not serve on juries. This denial of rights, the broken promises of land, and wages that were far below those paid to white workers led Black residents to file a formal protest with the British government in 1791.
Though Harry had managed to secure land, about 40 acres in all, he joined with disaffected Black Birchtown residents in their protest. He and about 1,000 other Black Nova Scotians joined the Sierra Leone Company, a corporation started by the abolitionist Granville Sharp, and would make the journey across the Atlantic to resettle on the western coast of Africa. Those who joined the Sierra Leone Company were offered 20 acres of land per man,
10 acres for every woman, and five acres for every child. They company also promised equal rights within the colony. This new settlement was named Freetown and the 1,000-1,200 formerly enslaved joined many other formerly enslaved people who were already on the west coast of Africa. Harry himself bought a farm on the outskirts of Freetown where he grew several crops, including coffee, ginger, rice, casava, and yams. Much like Birchtown, Freetown did not live up to
the promises that the Sierra Leon Company made. The British government began charging “quit-rent,” a system of perpetual indebtedness that quite frankly we can just describe as sharecropping. This combined with the denial of the promised rights led the residents of Freetown to file
official complaints with the British government. The Sierra Leone Company, which continued to manage the land in Freetown for the British government, responded by sending a new white governor, Thomas Ludham, who refused to recognize the standing of any Black elected official or judge in Freetown. So in 1800, the people of Freetown had had enough and declared their independence. Harry, now 60 years old, was one of the leaders of this new revolution. Just think about that for a
second! A man whom George Washington enslaved was now fighting for many of the same ideals as those at the head of the American Revolution. Unlike the American Revolution, though, the revolution in Freetown was short-lived. The British quickly crushed the rebellion and arrested the leaders, including Harry. Harry Washington faced a military tribunal
but did not face execution as some of his fellow revolutionaries did. Instead, Harry Washington was banished from Freetown across the Sierra Leone River to the Bullom Shore. And that banishment is where history lost Harry Washington. No other records of him survive. What a story! I hope you’re feeling now what I felt when I heard it for the first time – a sense of awe, pride, and, of course, sadness that Harry Washington was unsuccessful in his own revolution.
And so, here it comes – what do we do with the story of Harry Washington? For me, it makes the American Revolution much more complicated. We Americans often think of our Revolution in the starkest terms and the sharpest of reliefs; it was a battle between tyranny and freedom, self-determination and oppression, even between good and evil. And for the American Patriots who fought in the War for Independence, it was exactly those
things. But for people like Harry Washington who were chained by the yolk of slavery, the American Revolution was an opportunity for a different kind of independence – freedom from enslavement. And they had to fight against the American Patriots to gain it. This paradox, this glaring contradiction is something that Americans have had to wrestle with. How can a nation founded on the ideals of liberty and equality also be one that is founded
on the enslavement of other human beings? While many of the founders, including George Washington, eventually revised their views on slavery and came to see it for the evil that it was, this paradox is something that subsequent generations of Americans have had to reconcile with. But I also think that Harry Washington’s story demonstrates just how powerful these relatively new ideas of freedom, liberty, and equality were during this so-called
age of revolutions and still are today. And I think that’s something worth remembering. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Footnoting History. Don’t forget to head over to FootnotingHistory.com for visuals, links, and sources related to Harry Washington. Don’t forget that all of our episodes are now on YouTube, complete with closed captions. Please go visit
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