Runaway Slave

July 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Maryland Gazette (July 4, 1776).

“RUN AWAY … [a] negro fellow named WILL.”

On July 4, 1776, the delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to approve a revised version of a declaration of independence written by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and others appointed for that task.  In the 250 years that have passed since that momentous event, the document they approved has become known as the Declaration of Independence and July 4 has been celebrated as the day the colonies, now states, declared their independence from Great Britain.  Celebrations and commemorations of that event often overlook other declarations of independence made on July 4, 1776.  On that day, American newspapers published more than half a dozen advertisements concerning enslaved people who declared their independence by running away from their enslavers.

Maryland Gazette (July 4, 1776).

The Maryland Gazette, published in Annapolis, carried two such notices.  In one, Alexander Ogg of Calvert County offered a reward for the capture and return of Will, a “negro fellow” who liberated himself three weeks earlier on June 10.  Ogg described what Will wore when he departed, but he also reported that “‘tis probable he may alter his dress” to avoid detection.  In so doing, Ogg acknowledged that Will was clever as well as courageous.  In the other advertisement, Anne Gaither of Annapolis sought the return of “a negro fellow named FLANDERS.”  She mentioned that he “has been used to go by water,” indicating that he had experience working on boats or ships just like many other enslaved men who lived on or near the Chesapeake Bay.  Gaither also reported that Flanders “has no toes,” though she did not elaborate on that detail.  Flanders, no doubt, would have told a much more robust story about who he was and what he had experienced if given the opportunity.

New-York Journal (July 4, 1776).

Enslaved people in southern colonies were not the only ones who liberated themselves by running away at the same time that the Continental Congress voted to declare independence.  The New-York Journal carried Jacob Wilkins’s advertisement regarding “a negro man named JACK” who liberated himself from his enslaver on June 20.  Jack “carried off with him his master’s gun, fitted for, but without a bayonet, and a grenadiers broad sword, brass mounted.”  Wilkins suspected that Jack made his way out of the city and was “sculking in the country, or among the troops, where several of his colour have been observed to be very fond of his company.”  The many disruptions caused by the war presented opportunities for enslaved people to free themselves by fleeing from their enslavers.  To help readers recognize Jack, Wilkins gave his age, “about 35 years,” and mentioned some distinguishing physical characteristics.  Having been “born in Guinea,” Jack had “his country’s marks” or ritual scarring “across the middle of his forehead, [and] towards his nose.”  At some point, he “lost one of his under fore teeth.”  During his enslavement, Jack learned to speak “broken English.”  He also developed valuable skills: he “understands something of the brass founders business, [and] can handle the file very well.”  Many enslaved people were skilled artisans.  Wilkins lamented that Jack “will endeavour to pass for a freeman.”  Jack made himself a free man with his decision to escape from Wilkins.

New-York Packet (July 4, 1776).

The New York Packet carried another advertisement, this one regarding “a Negro Man, named BEN,” placed by John Taylor of “New Germantown, Hunterdon county, West Jersey.”  Ben liberated himself on June 5 and had evaded capture for a month.  Taylor focused primarily on describing Ben and his clothing, noting the young man’s height, age (“twenty-two years old”), and a left leg “considerably larger than the other, with a large scar on the small of said leg.”  Ben wore a blue coat, red jacket, black breeches, and “calf skin shoes, [with] a pair of carved silver buckles,” though he also took another coat and jacket, “a fine shirt with ruffles at the bosom, a pair of woollen trowsers, [and] a half worn wool hat” in a bag “marked I.T. near the mouth.”  Given a chance to write about himself, Ben certainly would have chosen to a tell a different story than the one that Taylor relayed.  If readers detected a young black man carrying a bag with his former enslaver’s initials, Taylor offered a reward for securing him in any jail until he could retrieve him.

Continental Journal (July 4, 1776).

The Continental Journal, published in Boston after the siege of that city ended, carried two advertisements about enslaved people who liberated themselves.  Silas Atkins described Cloe, “a Negro Woman” who was “likely gone in the Country, as she took her best Cloaths and left her old.”  Atkins gave Cloe’s age (“37 Years’), provided a physical description, and noted that she “speaks good English,” all characteristics that would aid readers in identifying her.  Cloe had been gone since the middle of June.  Atkins promised that anyone who “will take up said Negro, or give information where she may be found, shall have Four Dollars for their Trouble” as well as any expenses they incurred. In a nota bene, he added a standard warning that appeared in many such advertisements: “All Persons are hereby cautioned not to conceal, harbour or carry off said Negro, as they would avoid all trouble.”  The “trouble” would not come from Cloe but rather from legal action undertaken by Atkins.

Continental Journal (July 4, 1776).

The other advertisement in the Continental Journal concerned “a Negro Man named CATO, about twenty-five Years of Age,” who liberated himself from Andrew Mitchel of “Balstown [Ballston], in the County of Albany, about 5 Weeks ago.”  Mitchel described Cato’s features and clothing, but he did not provide other details.  He devoted nearly as much space to the network of associates who agreed to aid him by holding Cato until he could retrieve him if a reader managed to capture him.  Those seeking the reward could deliver Cato “to Capt. Daniel Hubbard of Pittsfield, [Massachusetts], or Mr. Thomas Luttridge at Albany Ferry, or J. GILL, Printer in Queen Street, BOSTON, or secure him in any Goal [Jail]” and notify Mitchel.  In a nota bene, the enslaver reported that Cato “was seen one day last Week at Lanesborough [in western Massachusetts], and is a sly Rogue, and whoever takes him, is desired to be careful of him.”  Mitchel meant “sly Rogue” as an insult, not intending to compliment Cato on the ingenuity and perseverance he expected the young Black man to demonstrate in attempting to escape if captured.

New-England Chronicle (July 4, 1776).

One more advertisement in a newspaper published in Boston, the New-England Chronicle, identified an enslaved man who liberated himself by running away from his enslaver.  This one concerned Sam, “a Negro man” who escaped from John Hunter of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in late June.  Hunter did not know Sam’s age, estimating that he was “30 or 40 years old,” but he did know that Sam “has been 19 years from Africa” and in that time learned to speak “good English.”  Readers might recognize Same from his “upper fore teeth” that stuck out or by the “light crimson-coloured coat” that he wore.  Hunter inserted a nota bene with a warning like the one that appeared in Atkins’s advertisement about Cloe: “All masters of vessels are hereby desired not to harbour, conceal or carry off said Negro, so as to avoid the Penalty of the Law.”  Hunter included an evocative phrase when he said that Sam “has been 19 years from Africa.” What kind of stories would Sam have told about his own life and his decision to liberate himself after so many years of bondage?

The men who gathered in the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) to declare independence from Great Britain are often called the founders of the nation, yet they were not the only ones who envisioned freedom from oppression.  They were members of a founding generation that included soldiers and farmers, women and youth, and many others from diverse backgrounds who contributed to the American cause.  Will, Flanders, Jack, Ben, Cloe, Cato, and Sam were all founders as well.  They made their own declarations of independence during the era of the American Revolution and their former enslavers published those declarations of independence on July 4, 1776.  Will, Flanders, Jack, Ben, Cloe, Cato, and Sam joined countless other enslaved men and women who seized their liberty during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.  Those courageous and resilient men and women sought freedom long before the American Revolution and continued seeking freedom long after the American Revolution.  Their stories matter and must be told alongside the stories of other founders as we celebrate and commemorate 250 years of independence.

For other stories of enslaved people liberating themselves originally published on July 4 during the era of the American Revolution, see:

June 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Freeman’s Journal (June 1, 1776).

“RAN AWAY … a NEGRO MAN, named Seneca.”

Benjamin Dearborn published the first issue of the Freeman’s Journal or New-Hampshire Gazette on May 25, 1776.  In a note that followed his address to readers, he “requested that those who would have advertisements, &c. [including letters and poetry] inserted in this paper will send them” to the printing office in Portsmouth “before the Post arrives, (which is on Friday afternoon) as it’s proposed to publish the paper on Saturday mornings.”  Several advertisers heeded those instructions.  The following week the second issue of the Freeman’s Journal featured more than half a dozen advertisements, a good start for a printer seeking to establish multiple revenue streams for his new newspaper.

Samuel Hall of Portsmouth was among those advertisers.  He published a notice that described Seneca, a “NEGRO MAN” who liberated himself by running away from his enslaver, and offered a reward for his capture and return.  Such advertisements encouraged readers to engage in surveillance of Black men and women to determine whether they matched the descriptions that appeared in the public prints.  In this case, Hall included Seneca’s age and height, noting as well that he was “a stout thick sett fellow.”  Readers might also recognize him by the clothing that he wore and took with him, including “two coats, one red the other blue; one blue pea Jacket; … 2 pair leather breeches; 2 pair worsted, and 2 pair yarn stockings; [and] a mill’d cap turn’d up with fur.”  In addition, Seneca “talks good English.”  Hall intended for all those details in aid in identifying the fugitive from slavery.

Enslaved men and women liberated themselves by running away from their enslavers throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Advertisements describing Black men and women who emancipated themselves in this way began appearing in newspapers soon after the Boston News-Letter commenced publication in 1704.  Seneca likely knew of other enslaved people who escaped from slavery by fleeing from their enslavers.  He may have taken advantage of the disruptions caused by the Revolutionary War to increase his chances of evading detection.  At the same time Seneca made his decision, Dearborn set about a new venture made possible in part by the war, establishing a newspaper called the Freeman’s Journal.  The title made a political statement about liberty on the eve of the colonies declaring independence, yet in the second issue Dearborn joined every other American newspaper printer, Patriots and Tories, who generated revenues and played a role in perpetuating slavery by publishing advertisements about enslaved people.

April 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Maryland Gazette (April 11, 1776).

“JAMES, a mulatto slave, … took on abrupt leave of his overseer.”

Thomas Jones of Patapsco Neck in Baltimore County made a significant investment in his efforts to recover James, “a mulatto slave” who liberated himself by running away in the spring of 1775.  James “took on abrupt leave of his overseer” on March 29 “and has not yet returned” by the time Jones composed an advertisement on April 3.  It first ran in the Maryland Gazette, published in Annapolis, in the April 13 edition and then appeared in nearly every issue for the next year.  The notice made its forty-second appearance in the April 11, 1776, edition.  That was also the last time that it ran.  While that may have been because someone finally captured James and returned him to bondage, the timing suggests that after a year the enslaver gave up.

Frederick Green, the printer of the Maryland Gazette, did not list the advertising fees in the colophon in 1776, but four years earlier Anne Catharine Green and Son did: “ADVERTISEMENTS of a moderate Length, are inserted the First Time, for 5s. and 1s. for each Week’s Continuance.”  If the son continued charging the same fees when he operated the press after the death of his mother, that meant that Jones paid five shillings for having the type set and the space the advertisement occupied in the April 3, 1775, edition and then another shilling for each of the forty-one subsequent insertions.  Overall, that amounted to two pounds and six shillings.

The investment made by Jones meant revenue for the printing office.  The colophon from 1772 that listed the advertising fees also gave the annual subscription fee: twelve shillings and six pence per year.  The forty-six shillings that Jones spent on his advertisements almost covered four subscriptions.  He was prepared to spend even more to recover James, offering “TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD … if he should be taken up out of the province, or 60 miles from Baltimore town in the province, and brought home; five pounds of at the distance of 40 miles, three pounds if 20, and forty shillings [or two pounds] if 20 miles; with reasonable travelling expence.”  Whether or not Jones had to pay out a reward, he did have to pay Green for publishing the advertisement.  The notice concerning James helped pay for the dissemination of other news in the Maryland Gazette during the first year of the Revolutionary War.

February 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Virginia Gazette [Dixon and Hunter] (February 10, 1776).

“Runaway Negroes … going to the Governor.”

For several weeks in January and February 1776, the Virginia Gazette carried an advertisement about a canoe recovered from “some runaway Negroes” making their way down the James River.  John Watkins described the canoe and noted that the enslaved men also possessed “sundry Clothes, some of which were stolen, and have since been claimed by the Owners.”  He assumed that the remaining clothes belonged to the enslaved men.  Watkins offered the canoe to its rightful owner and the clothes to the enslavers of the Black men who sought to liberate themselves.  He did not, however, indicate that those men had been captured and imprisoned until their enslavers claimed them.  Perhaps the men managed to make their escape when Watkins seized the canoe.

Whatever happened, Watkins believed that the men “were going to Governor.”  That detail meant a lot to eighteenth-century readers of the Virginia Gazette and even more to enslaved people residing in the colony.  On November 7, 1775, John Murray, the earl of Dunmore and royal governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation that declared martial law in the colony.  He hoped to restore order as the fighting that started at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts spread to Virginia.  To that end, he “declare[d] all indented Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY’s Troops as soon as may be.”  In other words, Dunmore offered freedom to enslaved people (and indentured servants and other unfree laborers) who fled from their enslavers, joined his forces, and fought for the king (but only those Black people enslaved by Patriots since the governor did not want to alienate Loyalists).  As word spread, enslaved men, women, and children flocked to Dunmore’s lines.  The men who stole the canoe that Watkins advertised had good reason for acting when they did.  They recognized what may very well have been their best possible chance to make good on their escape and achieve freedom.  As colonizers complained about their figurative enslavement by Parliament, enslaved people saw this offer by the British as a beacon of liberty.  Several months later, the Declaration of Independence counted Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation among the many grievances against George III.  The charge that the king “has excited domestic insurrections amongst us” referred to Dunmore’s efforts to rally enslaved people to join him in fighting against the “Rebels” who opposed the king.

February 3

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Virginia Gazette [Pinkney] (February 3, 1776).

“RUN away … a mulatto man, named GABRIEL.”

After taking out an advertisement in a competing newspaper on January 27, 1776, an apology for not publishing his Virginia Gazette because he had difficulty acquiring paper, John Pinkney managed to print the next issue on schedule on February 3.  He may or may not have published subsequent issues, but today the February 3 edition is the last known one from his press.  In his apology, Pinkney lamented, “It gives me the greatest Uneasiness that I cannot publish such Advertisements as ought to have appeared this Week.”  The next (and perhaps final) issue included more than two dozen advertisements of various lengths on the last two pages.

Among those advertisements, Julia Wheatley offered her services as a midwife, Carter Braxton and John Ware described real estate for sale, and Pinkney hawked “A TREATISE on the MILITARY DUTY, By adjutant DAVIS,” a pamphlet that “has met with the approbation of colonel BULLITT, and many other officers.”  Six of those notices, accounting for one-quarter of the advertisements by number and far more than that by length, concerned enslaved people.  David Meade advertised “ABOUT one hundred Virginia born NEGROES” for sale, including “some female house servants, a carpenter, and shoemaker.”  Four described enslaved men who liberated themselves by running away from their enslavers, offering rewards for their capture and return.  The advertisers enlisted the public in engaging in surveillance of Black men to determine if they matched the descriptions in the newspapers.  John Hudson, for instance, pledged “FIVE POUNDS reward” to “Whoever takes up … and secures” a “mulatto man, named GABRIEL, aged 52 or 53 years,” who had “a free woman for his wife, who goes by the name of Betty Baines.”  The other advertisement described “a negro man named Frank,” dressed like a sailor, “COMMITTED to the jaol of Surry county” two months earlier.  Thomas Wall, the jailer, called on Frank’s enslaver, Walter Gwin of Portsmouth, to claim the enslaved man and pay the expenses of holding him and running the advertisement.

Such advertisements stood in stark contrast to news about the Revolutionary War and “EXTRACTS from a most excellent pamphlet, lately published, and addressed to the Americans, entitled COMMON SENSE” that appeared elsewhere in that edition of Pinkney’s Virginia Gazette.  William Rind founded that newspaper nearly a decade earlier, distributing the first issue shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act.  Eventually, Clementina Rind, his widow, published the newspaper and, following her death, Pinkney did so on behalf of her estate and her children.  During that decade, each of those printers published hundreds of advertisements about enslaved men, women, and children even as they circulated news about the imperial crisis and the first months of the Revolutionary War.  Revenues generated from advertisements about enslaved people underwrote newspaper coverage of current events and editorials about freedom and liberty.

November 2

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-Hampshire Gazette (November 2, 1775).

“’Tis likely he will change his Name, perhaps call himself Elisha Bartlet, as he has said that was … his right Name.”

Even though the disruption in the paper supply once again meant that the New-Hampshire Gazette consisted of only two pages instead of the usual four, Daniel Fowle, the printer, found space to publish three advertisements about enslaved men who liberated themselves by running away from their enslavers in the November 2, 1775, edition.  They appeared one after the other in the final column on the first page.  All three men – Cato (also known as Elisha Bartlet), Peter Long, and Oliver – made their escape in October, perhaps taking advantage of the turmoil caused by the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord the previous spring and the ongoing siege of Boston.

Jonathan Moulton’s advertisement describing Bartlet was about three times the length of Marifield Berry’s advertisement about Peter Long and Gould French’s advertisement about Oliver.  Moulton reported on the clothes that Bartlet wore when he departed, noting that he “carried with him three Check’d Shirts [and] several Pair of Stockings of different Colours.”  Apparently, Bartlet had been spotted by a boy who observed that “his Things were then done up in one of Check’d Shirts” as a pack that he carried.  Moulton suspected that the man he called Cato would “change his Name, perhaps call himself Elisha Bartlet, as he has said that was his Name with one of his Masters and his right Name.” Although not his intention in placing the advertisement, Moulton revealed Bartlet’s commitment to self-determination in naming himself.  It did not matter to Bartlet what Moulton or any other enslaver called him at their own whim.  He considered Elisha Bartlet his true name, though Moulton did not share enough of the enslaved man’s story to explain why that was the case.

The enslaver did indicate that Bartlet had suggested on more than one occasion that he planned to escape.  He thought it “probable [Bartlet] is making his Way for New York,” having “lately hinted it to one of his Masters.”  In addition, Moulton stated, “It don’t appear at any Time when he hinted of running away that he gave any Reason for it.”  Given the circumstances, Moulton conjectured that Bartlet had been “deluded away by some Person or Persons.”  The enslaver seemingly did not entertain the notion that the man he insisted on calling Cato had the same aspirations for freedom that animated so much of the news and editorials about current events that ran alongside his advertisement in the New-Hampshire Gazette.  Instead, Moulton asserted that since Bartlet “has heretofore been a faithful Boy, if he will return and behave well his Master promises to forgive him his Crime, and trust him as tho’ it had not happened.”  Considering that Bartlet planned his escape from slavery for some time and chose an opportune moment to flee, he likely had little interest in any promises that his enslaver published in the public prints.

October 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

Who was the subject of advertisements in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Constitutional Gazette (October 25, 1775).

“RUN-AWAY … a Negro man, named MINGO.”

“FOR SALE, A VERY healthy Negro Girl.”

In the fall of 1775, John Anderson joined the ranks of newspaper printers who helped perpetuate slavery by disseminating advertisements about enslaved people in their publications.  In this case, one advertisement concerned “a Negro man, named MINGO,” who liberated himself from Benjamin Hutchinson by escaping from Hutchinson of Southold in Suffolk County on Long Island in early October.  The enslaver described the young man, both his physical features and his clothing, and offered a reward for his capture and return.  Another advertisement offered a “healthy Negro Girl, about 18 years of age,” for sale.  She was capable of “all sorts of house work” and sold “only for want of employ” rather than any deficiency.

Those advertisements first appeared in the October 25 edition of the Constitutional Gazette, a newspaper that commenced publication near the beginning of August.  The new publication initially did not carry advertisements, though Anderson began soliciting them by the end of the month.  Local entrepreneurs who had experience advertising in other newspapers, including goldsmith and jeweller Charles Oliver Bruff and Abraham Delanoy, who pickled lobsters and oysters, soon placed notices in the Constitutional Gazette.  Beyond marketing consumer goods and services, others ran advertisements for a variety of purposes, replicating the kinds of notices found in other newspapers of the period.

Constitutional Gazette (October 25, 1775).

That included advertisements about enslaved people.  Two months after first soliciting advertisements (and less than three months after publishing the inaugural issue), Anderson disseminated Hutchinson’s advertisement about Mingo’s escape from slavery and another notice offering an enslaved young woman for sale.  Like printers from New England to Georgia, he compartmentalized the contents of his newspaper, not devoting much thought to the juxtaposition of news and editorials advocating on behalf of the American cause and advertisements placed for the purpose of perpetuating slavery and the slave trade.

Even as Anderson used his newspaper to advocate for liberty for colonizers who endured the abuses perpetrated by Parliament, he used it to constrain the freedom of Black men, women, and children.  The advertisement about Mingo encouraged readers to engage in surveillance of Black men to determine if any they encountered matched his description.  In addition to publishing advertisements about enslaved people, Anderson also served as a broker.  The advertisement for the young enslaved woman whose name was once known instructed interested parties to “Enquire of the Printer.”  Anderson did more than merely disseminate information.  He actively participated in the sale of the young enslaved woman as one of the services he provided as printer.

October 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-Hampshire Gazette (October 17, 1775).

“RUNAWAY NEGRO … named Kerry, but will answer to the Name London.”

During the first year of the Revolutionary War, Daniel Fowle, the printer of the New-Hampshire Gazette, sometimes experienced disruptions to his paper supply that forced him to resort to broadsheets of alternate sizes.  His newspaper carried less content, both news and advertising, on such occasions.  That was the case on October 3, 1775, when he inserted an “Apology” that stated that “he could not procure any other” paper.  Compared to the usual three columns on each of four pages, that issue had only two columns on each of two pages.  Fowle did not include any advertisements.

The following week, Fowle managed to acquire broadsheets of the usual size, but apparently not enough of them for a four-page issue.  Instead, he published a half sheet edition that had three columns on each of two pages.  He found room for advertisements and even a poem, “On LIBERTY.”  On October 17, however, the New-Hampshire Gazette returned to the smaller sheet from two weeks earlier, but he had enough to publish four pages instead of two.  With twice as much space compared to the October 3 edition, he had room for five advertisements, including one by Mrs. Hooper, a milliner, and another for John Williams’s “House of Entertainment … at the Sign of the SALUTATION.”

Another advertisement featured a headline that proclaimed, “RUNAWAY NEGRO.”  Isaac Rindgel described a “Negro man 27 Years of Age … named Kerry, [who] will answer to the Name London.”  Kerry liberated himself by escaping from his enslaver on August 6.  For two and a half months he managed to elude capture, though Rindgel suspected that Kerry “is sculking about Hon. Jonathan Warner’s Farm, and Gravel Ridge.”  He did not indicate why he thought Kerry might be in that area.  Perhaps Kerry had a wife, a parent, a sibling, or a friend at Warner’s farm.  The advertisement, composed by an enslaver seeking to recover his human property, did not include the details about Kerry’s life and experiences that mattered most to the fugitive seeking freedom.  In addition to not explaining why Kerry may have been in the proximity of Warner’s farm, Rindgel did not speculate on why the enslaved man departed when he did.  Kerry was likely aware of the disruptions caused by the battles at Lexington and Concord in April, the ensuing siege of Boston, and the Battle of Bunker Hill in June.  The same events that affected Fowle’s access to paper created an opportunity for Kerry to liberate himself by running away.  It is impossible to know for certain that was the case since the newspaper advertisement reflected his enslaver’s perspective and included only the details Rindgel chose.  Kerry certainly would have told a different and more complete story had he been given the opportunity.

October 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“Ran-away … a Negro Man Servant named JACK.”

Connecticut Gazette (October 6, 1775).

Even as it carried essays about the imperial crisis and news about one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War, the October 6, 1775, edition of the Connecticut Gazette also ran advertisements described enslaved men and women who liberated themselves by running away from their enslavers.  Each notice encouraged readers to engage in surveillance of Black people they encountered to determine if they matched the description in the newspaper.  Each also offered a reward to those who assisted in capturing fugitives from slavery and returning them to their enslavers.

One of those advertisements, for instance, described a “Negro Man Servant named JACK” who fled from Samuel Hassard of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, at the beginning of September.  He had managed to elude capture for a month.  Hassard described Jack as a “well-built Fellow about five Feet 7 or 8 Inches high,” but did not indicate his approximate age.  At the time he departed, he wore a “maple colour’d Serge Jacket, a striped Flannel [Jacket], black Breeches, white Shirt, [and] an old Beaver Hat cut after the new Fashion.”  Hassard also mentioned that Jack “had a Fiddle with him, which he much delights in” and that he “Hath the Hair cut off the top of his Head.”  Both details made Jack more easily recognizable to readers of the Connecticut Gazette.

In another advertisement, Mortemore Stodder of Groton described a “Negro Girl about 17 or 18 Years old” whose name was once known but did not appear in the notice.  Instead, Stodder informed readers that the “thick set” young woman “speaks good English” and “has a Scar across her Nose and another Scar on the top of one Foot occasioned by a burn.”  In addition to those distinguishing features, she “[h]ad on a tow Shift, a striped woollen Petticoat, and a brown Gown.”  Stodder was so concerned that others might help the young woman remain free that he added a nota bene advising, “All Persons are hereby forbid to harbour, conceal, or carry off the above Servant, on Penalty of the Law.”  There would be consequences beyond Stodder’s frustration and displeasure if he learned that anyone aided this young woman in liberating herself.

As the siege of Boston continued, Timothy Green, the printer of the Connecticut Gazette, published the latest entry in “The Crisis,” a series of essays supporting the American cause, new details about the Battle of Bunker Hill, and an address from George Washington, “Commander in Chief of the Army of the United Colonies of North-America,” to the inhabitants of Canada.  Even as those pieces each promoted liberty in various ways, Green continued a practice adopted by all newspaper printers.  He generated revenue by disseminating advertisements about enslaved people who fled from their enslavers to seize their own freedom.

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For all advertisements about enslaved people that ran in American newspapers published 250 years ago today, visit the Slavery Adverts 250 Project‘s daily digest.

July 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

North-Carolina Gazette (July 7, 1775).

“EXTRACTS from the Votes and Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.”

When they perused the July 7, 1775, edition of the North-Carolina Gazette, readers encountered an advertisement that proclaimed, “JUST PUBLISHED, And to be sold at the Printing Office … EXTRACTS from the Votes and Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, held at Philadelphia, on the Fifth Day of September, 1774.”  The Extracts, however, were not “JUST PUBLISHED,” though James Davis certainly had them for sale at the printing office in New Bern.  The Adverts 250 Project previously featured this advertisement’s appearance in the April 7, 1775, edition of the North-Carolina Gazette.  Few issues of that newspaper survive, preventing a complete reconstruction of when the advertisement ran.  Only seven issues, all from 1775, are available via America’s Historical Newspapers, the most comprehensive database of digitized eighteenth-century newspaper.  Davis’s advertisement for the Extracts did not run on March 24, but appeared on April 7, May 5, and May 12.  It was not in the June 30 issue, yet it returned for the July 7 and July 14 issues.

It is not clear how often the advertisement ran between May 12 and June 30, but Davis did not insert it in the issue immediately before the one that delivered several important updates that might have influenced him to believe that readers who had not yet purchased the Extracts would have increased interest in the “Bill of Rights, a List of Grievance, Occasional Resolves,” and “General Gage’s Answer to the Letter sent him by the General Congress.”  The Extractsdocumented the meeting of the First Continental Congress in the fall of 1774.  When the advertisement ran on July 7, 1775, the Second Continental Congress had been meeting for nearly two months.  That issue included an update that “By Letters from the Congress of the 19th of June, we are informed, that Col. Washington, of Virginia, is appointed General and Commander in Chief of all the American Forces.”  It also delivered news of the Battle of Bunker Hill, acknowledging that the account received in the printing office was “very imperfect, and must leave us in Suspence till a further Account of this most momentous Affair arrives.”  Indeed, that “imperfect” account inaccurately claimed that “General Burgoyne fell … and was interred in Boston with great Funeral Pomp.”  As he sorted through newspapers and letters arriving from the north, Davis apparently believed that the news he selected for publication would spark new interest in his remaining copies of the Extracts from the First Continental Congress.

As had been the case in the April 7 edition, that advertisement ran alongside another that described an enslaved man who liberated himself by running away from his enslaver.  In this instance, “a Negro Slave … named JEM,” was a fugitive from slavery who might have been “harboured or kept out by his Wife, named Rachel.”  James Biggleston, Jem’s enslaver, suspected that Jem was “lurking in the Neighborhood” of the plantation where Rachel was enslaved. Biggleston offered a reward for the capture and return of Jem in a nota bene at the end of the advertisement, though the main body of the notice consisted of a warrant signed by “Two of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace” that authorized that “if the said Jem doth not surrender himself, and return home immediately … that any Person or Persons may kill and destroy the said Slave … without Impeachment or Accusation of any Crime or Offence … or without incurring any Penalty.”  Most readers of the North-Carolina Gazette and other newspapers compartmentalized the contents of those publications.  They did so to such an extent that the juxtaposition of colonizers demanding freedom from oppression and enslaved people seeking liberty did not register as a contradiction.