Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2018 Archive

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“Loyalist Trails” 2018-38: September 23, 2018

In this issue:
- Certified Free by General Musgrave (Part 4 of 4), by Stephen Davidson
- More about the Marquis de Lafayette
- Advanced Loyalist Studies: Theatres and Actors
- Comment: Books About Esther Wheelwright
- Borealia: Is History too Important to be Left to Historians?
- JAR: The Most Extraordinary Murder
- The Junto: Luxurious Tipping Points in Early Massachusetts
- Ben Franklin's World: The Burr Conspiracy
- Where in the World?
- Region and Branch Bits
- From the Twittersphere and Beyond
- Queries
+ Oath to ... Christianity?

Articles

Certified Free by General Musgrave (Part 4 of 4)

One cannot help but being moved by a reading of the Book of Negroes as it lists the names and circumstances of those who received a General Musgrave Certificate (GMC) that ended their slavery to patriot masters. In almost every entry in the ledger compiled by the British army based in New York City, one reads the words “formerly the property of” next to the name of a Black Loyalist.

The exceptions are few and they are usually children. Ranging in age from one month to six years in age, 18 youngsters were listed as being “born free within the British lines”. Were it not for their Musgrave certificates, these children and their parents could have been captured by slave hunters and returned to white masters. One Black Loyalist named Boston King recalled how he “saw our old masters ... seizing upon their slaves in the streets of New York, or even dragging them out of their beds.”

Some GMC holders had never been slaves, but needed to have Thomas Musgrave’s signature to verify that status. Thirty-five Black Loyalists ranging in age from 16 to 40 described themselves as being “born free”.

The entries for some Black Loyalists hint at much larger stories. James Rea, a 24-year-old, set sail for freedom on the Elijah, bound for Port Mouton, on October 31, 1783. Once considered the property of George Wilk of Williamsburg, Virginia, Rea had joined the British forces in 1779. His all-too-brief description says that he was an “ordinary fellow without legs”. Whether he was injured during his enslavement or during his four years of service to the crown is not clarified. How did this young man manage to survive his first winter in Nova Scotia?

Hannah Lining was Rea’s fellow passenger and another GMC holder. “Formerly a slave” to Dr. John Lining of Charleston, South Carolina until she ran away in 1789, Hannah was “blind of an eye”.

Another of the passengers aboard the Elijah had once been an officer within the wagon master general department (WMGD). Listed as Lieutenant Colonel Bridges, this 43-year-old is the only Black Loyalist on the ship's manifest to have achieved a rank within the WMGD. Bridges' potential to continue to serve as a leader in Nova Scotia would be limited by the fact that he came to the province crippled by some accident of the Revolution.

Ben and Eleanor Field (respectively 38 and 27 years old) shared an unusual story as they applied for their Musgrave certificate. Rather than running away from slavery, their master, Jeremy Field of Piscataway, New Jersey, got up and abandoned both of them. Perhaps he fled advancing British troops and in his haste did not bother to take his slaves with him. It’s a story waiting to be told.

Two former slaves from Virginia seemed to be the only family young Isaac Cooper (14) and his sister Nancy (4) had left in the world. Described as “worn out”, 63 year-old Anthony Cooper of the Royal Artillery Department and his wife Sarah (60 and “worn out”) made sure that their two grandchildren received GMCs before boarding the Danger, one of the two last evacuation ships to leave New York City. Again, the historical records are all too silent on how this family fared in Nova Scotia.

Thomas James was a strong 18 year-old who served in the wagon master general department right up until the end of hostilities. He would either have been a driver of a wagon or one of those who helped to load the wagons. Given all of the equipment, furniture, and personal effects that thousands of British troops would have had to have moved to the docks of New York City, it is easy to understand why the Black Loyalists who served as teamsters would be among the last to leave the city.

Young Thomas’ story is interesting because he was rescued from slavery rather than running away from his master. His entry in the Book of Negroes says that he was “brought off by the captain of the Alcide”, presumably a British warship. Thanks to that officer and his GMC, Thomas James could look forward to a life of freedom in Port Mouton, Nova Scotia.

General Musgrave might have been especially pleased to sign the emancipation certificate for twenty-two year old Daniel Payne before he boarded the Concord bound for Nova Scotia’s Port Mouton. Payne had escaped from his master in Virginia when he was eighteen. You might have heard of his enslaver: George Washington.

Lucy, a 26 year-old woman from Long Island, had both a GBC and a GMC when she boarded a ship to freedom There were also two Black Loyalist couples who between them had both a General Birch Certificate and a General Musgrave Certificate. Thomas Peters had a GMC while his wife Sally had a GBC -- as did a man named Samuel Willis. The latter’s wife, Rachel, received a GMC. Lucy left New York on the Kingston on October 7th; the Willises sailed together on the Nisbet on November 8th; the Peters sailed together on the Joseph on the following day. Given that Samuel Birch left New York at the end of August, these double certificate situations seem odd indeed.

But if one remembers how confusing it was in the final days of the British occupation, the solution becomes apparent. Sally Peters, Samuel Willis, and Lucy must have been interviewed by Birch prior to his stepping down as commandant of New York City. Having received their GBC, they waited for their spouses to get similar documentation from Musgrave, the new commandant. Once the certificates were in hand, the couples then had to wait for an available evacuation ship.

Given that the two husbands had jobs with the British that required them to be in New York until the bitter end, the Peters and Willises had to wait three long months to finally board a ship to Nova Scotia. In Lucy’s case (unless her double certification is a transcription error in the Book of Negroes), it would seem that she insured her emancipation by getting a certificate from both Birch and Musgrave.

The GMC holders who sailed for Port Roseway would, by and large, settle in Birchtown just outside the white loyalist settlement. Those who disembarked at Annapolis Royal would settle in nearby Digby, go up the Annapolis River to other refugee communities, or make homes for themselves in Brindley Town, the second largest settlement of free blacks in Nova Scotia.

Those who settled near Port Mouton watched a disastrous fire devour their homes within six months of founding Guysborough. Both Black and white loyalists then established a new community on Chebucto Bay further up Nova Scotia’s coast. They brought the name Guysborough with them, and it eventually became the name for the entire county. There, the Black Loyalists founded Tracadie, one of the oldest continuous black communities in Canada.

At least seven of the Black Loyalists who received their General Musgrave Certificates would leave Nova Scotia in 1792 to become the founders of Sierra Leone, a colony on the west coast of Africa comprised of free blacks. Within ten years of their departure from New York City, Black Loyalists who received emancipation documents from General Thomas Musgrave were scattered on either side of the Atlantic, having made homes in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, England, the Bahamas, Belgium, Germany, and Sierra Leone.

Thomas Musgrave, the seventh baronet of Hayton Castle, may be a forgotten British hero of the American Revolution, but his time in a “troublesome office” gave him the opportunity to serve as the emancipator of over 250 Black Loyalists. Although it was just a legal formula on a piece of paper, nevertheless the words “certified by General Musgrave” --and an inky signature-- would forever change the lives of former slaves and the generations of descendants who would follow them.

To secure permission to reprint this article, email Stephen Davidson.

More about the Marquis de Lafayette

Charlie Humber UE followed up on the item A Silk Vest Honoring the Marquis de Lafayette, c1824 in the last issue of Loyalist Trails with a note which reads:

"In my forthcoming book I have written an 800-word vignette about Lafayette. My forthcoming book is called CIGAR BOX LITHOGRAPHS. This production, some 200 pages in length, illustrates over 160 vintage cigar boxes from the 1880-1920 period, a supreme era that produced stunning images that are unsurpassed in the new world of digital reproduction. I have included a page from my book that honours Lafayette not only with an illustration of the famous Frenchman but the vignette that I wrote to reinforce this striking image."

Here is the beginning:

One of the most celebrated heroes of the American Revolution was a Frenchman named Gilbert du Motier, better known as Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834). His background can be traced to ancestors who served in the Crusades and alongside Joan of Arc. Illustrated above is a 120-year old cigar box, manufactured by J.M. Fortier of Montreal. It reveals a debonair Lafayette.

In 1775, at a chance meeting with the Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of British King George III, a young Lafayette became sympathetic to the seeds of revolution percolating in the British colonies across the Atlantic Ocean. He understood innately the frustration the thirteen colonies were experiencing in their ongoing attempts to secure "home rule," an escalating matter dear to the young Frenchman who could see in the near future an insurgence in his own country where freedom was demanded from the French aristocracy controlling a disenfranchised public. Lafayette left for America in 1777 as the rebellion in the colonies was escalating. Made a Major General, he participated in battles alongside General George Washington whose Army was confronting British troops and their alliances on such battlefields at Brandywine, Monmouth and Valley Forge. His role at the Battle of Yorktown endeared him more than ever to George Washington. At one time, at Brandywine, when Lafayette was shot in the leg, George Washington commanded the doctor treating Lafayette to care for him "...as if he were my son."

See the image and read more.

Advanced Loyalist Studies: Theatres and Actors

During the time of the American Revolution, the theatre was present in most of the major cities that the British soldiers held, most particularly New York. Many of the actors who performed in the theatre were officers in the army, including some Loyalists. They performed many works of Shakespeare as well as more modern comedies and tragedies.

These performances were very well attended by a civilian population wearied by war, as well as by officers of the army seeking a break from the daily military routine. Read three notices from the newspapers of contemporary theatre productions.

Comment: Books About Esther Wheelwright

The article Borealia: The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright in last week's Loyalist Trails elicited this comment from Shelley Banks:

I just read Ann M Little's book on Esther Wheelwright, and then followed that with Julie Wheelwright's book, Esther: The Remarkable True Story of Esther Wheelwright: Puritan Child, Native Daughter, Mother Superior, (HarperCollins, 2012).V

These books are very similar, but it looks like Julie Wheelwright's came first. It is a gem — highly researched, accessible, and well written.

Here's the Globe and Mail's 2011 review.

Borealia: Is History too Important to be Left to Historians?

Canada's Odyssey: A Country Based on Incomplete Conquests, by Peter H. Russell. Reviewed by Nicole C. O'Byrne, 21 September 2018

In the introduction, Russell boldly asserts his purpose: "[t]he book is an argument about Canadian history and its bearing on Canada today" and that he is "a political scientist who believes strongly that an understanding of today's politics requires an appreciation of formative events of the past." He then clearly states that his work uses historical research to illustrate the idea that modern Canada is the product of the relationship of three pillars: First Nations, French Canadians and an English-speaking majority. He argues that it is the intersections between the people who constitute these three pillars that have shaped the unique constitutional experiment that is the Canadian state. Throughout the book, Russell marshals historical evidence to support his thought-provoking thesis that Canada has been successful as a pluralistic nation because the English-speaking pillar never successfully dominated the French Canada or Indigenous peoples. Keenly sensitive to historical context, Russell carefully outlines that the imperial ambitions of the English-speaking pillar were often tempered by political expedience, lack of resources, or withdrawn due to active resistance. The ambition and scope of the work reflects Russell's decades of working and thinking about the constitution and political dimensions of the Canadian state. Some may question his instrumentalist use of historical material to inform a reconceptionalization and challenge some of his conclusions; however, his ideas are supported by a prodigious amount of research and careful analysis. The book is a monumental achievement -- one that will undoubtedly influence the debate over the nature of Canada itself. Peter Russell may not be a 'licensed historian'; however, his ideas about the nature, history and purpose of Canada will undoubtedly be as influential as those presented by such ground-breaking historians as Donald Creighton, Harold Innis, Sylvia Van Kirk, or H.V. Nelles.

Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2018 Archive

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