THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411180108
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: OLDE TOWNE JOURNAL
SOURCE: Alan Flanders
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Just a step ahead of the law and with a bounty over their heads set by prominent Virginians such as Thomas Jefferson, William Byrd, Benjamin Harrison and John Randolph, they fled to Portsmouth. Some were carpenters, shoemakers, blacksmiths and sailors. Others were known for their horsemanship and ability to pilot a ship. But they all had two things in common. They were escaped slaves, and they were wanted by their owners.
In the 18th century, it was mandatory for local taverns and public houses throughout the town to post runaway slave advertisements as soon as they arrived from the Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg.
By the mid-1700s, Hampton Roads had become a favorite rendezvous for slave runaways as British ships were pleased to get crewmen from whatever source they could. Once the word got around that sailing captains asked few questions about the legal conditions of their sailors, Portsmouth became a favorite destination for slaves who planned their escape to freedom on the seas.
Slave owners were anxious to buy space in the well-read and widely circulated Virginia Gazette where they could offer both a detailed description of an escaped slave and a reward if captured and returned. Often the owners mentioned brands bearing their initials, scars from beatings or iron collars to make it easier for slaves to be identified.
These same advertisements offer today a more realistic look at not only how slaves were treated, but also a rare look at blacks whose lives were forced into the shadows of colonial society and never mentioned in history books.
Common among these notices is one by William B. Walter of Pungoteague, Accomack County, which announced June 26, 1779, ``Runaway from the subscriber two negro fellows, PRECEPT, a small fellow, thin visaged and slow of speech, but sensible, have great reason to believe he will make for Norfolk County, as he formerly belonged to Captain Keelin; the other a stout able fellow, by the name of TONEY, speaks good French bad English, he has several scars about his body, one of which is on his left breast, and have reason to suppose they will try to get on board the British fleet. Any person taking up and securing the said negroes, so that I get them again, shall have a reward of twenty dollars.''
We know now from the Virginia Gazette that area blacks were instrumental in helping escaped slaves. In one of the earliest descriptions of an ``underground railroad,'' Edward Travis of Queen's Creek on the York River noted that July 10, 1778, that he had ``good reason to believe that DANIEL was carried from the College Landing to Portsmouth by a craft conducted by negroes . . . and remained there for upwards of a month before hiring himself on board of some country's craft.''
Slave owners were not above making threats to anyone who might harbor a runaway as Micajah Little warned in the Oct. 21, 1773, Gazette that ``I am apprehensive of my Mullato slave man making towards Portsmouth, and therefore forewarn all masters of vessels from harbouring or carrying him out of the colony, as they shall answer it, at their peril.''
Advertisements often carried very demeaning physical descriptions that were generally exaggerated as was the case of Richard Witton who announced in the July 14, 1774, Gazette that ``BOB, alias Robert Chavers, was about 5 feet 9 inches tall, 26 years old, Virginia bred, has bad teeth, speaks very hoarse and has a small mark on his upper lip; his forehead, which is fleshy, hangs much over his eyes, and makes a dent in his nose joining his forehead. He is a little bow-legged, and his feet are large; can make shoes, play on the fiddle, and is fond of singing with it. He broke Norfolk gaol and was seen at Craney Island.''
Regardless of health or mental condition, owners such as S. Dickinson wanted their slaves back as he noted in the May 29, 1784, edition of the Gazette that ``a mullato girl, named DOLL, about seventeen years old is subject to fits, which sometimes continued on her for several hours. Tis supposed she went to the British at Portsmouth.''
Slave couples were pursued as well, like those mentioned by Robert Langley of Norfolk County in the July 2, 1784, edition of the Gazette when he offered a 10 pound reward for a married couple, ``LEWY and CHLOE,'' or ``NED and PHOEBE,'' who James Greenway noted, ``ran away at the time of Benedict Arnold's invasion, and supposed to have joined the British at Portsmouth.'' Greenway added that PHOEBE had been ``branded many years ago with the letters MI on her cheeks.''
As a composite, the slave runaway advertisements that ran in the Gazette offered only scarce bits of a mosaic that briefly outlined the lives of local slaves. It is a poor substitute for a portrait of a people, who lived, worked and died here in the 18th century. It is a cruel irony that the only written record of their being was made by their owners. by CNB