the British General Capture of for his important service. The exploit was much commended at the time, as its results were highly important; and Colonel Barton, very properly, received from Congress the compliment of a sword for his ingenuity and bravery. It seems, however, that it took more than one head to plan and to execute the undertaking. Doctor account. "They landed about five miles from Newport, and three-quarters of a mile from the house, which they approached cautiously, avoiding the main guard, which was at some distance. The Colonel went foremost, with a stout, active negro close behind him, and another at a small distance: the rest followed so as to be near, but not seen. "A single sentinel at the door saw and hailed the Colonel: he answered by exclaiming against, and inquiring for, rebel prisoners, but kept slowly advancing. The sentinel again challenged him, and required the countersign. He said he had not the countersign; but amused the sentry by talking about rebel prisoners, and still advancing till he came within reach of the bayonet, which, he presenting, the colonel suddenly struck aside, and seized him. He was immediately secured, and ordered to be silent, on pain of instant death. Meanwhile, the rest of the men surrounding the house, the negro, with his head, at the second stroke, forced a passage into it, and then into the landlord's apartment. The landlord at first refused to give the necessary intelligence; but, on the prospect of present death, he pointed to the General's chamber, which being instantly opened by the negro's head, the Colonel, calling the General by name, told him he was a prisoner." — Pennsylvania Evening Post, Aug. 7, 1777; (in Frank Moore's Diary of the American Revolution, vol. i. p. 468.) The event was thus noticed by a contemporary (Dr. Thacher), who was a surgeon in the American army: — Albany, Aug. 3, 1777. — The pleasing information is received Thacher's here that Lieut.-Col. Barton, of the Rhode-Island militia, planned a bold exploit for the purpose of surprising and taking Major-Gen. Prescott, the commanding officer of the royal army at Newport. Taking with him, in the night, about forty men, in two boats, with oars muffled, he had the address to elude the vigilance of the ships-ofwar and guard-boats: and, having arrived undiscovered at the quarters of Gen. Prescott, they were taken for the sentinels; and the Thacher's general was not alarmed till his captors were at the door of his lodging- Doctor chamber, which was fast closed. A negro man, named Prince, account. instantly thrust his beetle head through the panel door, and seized his victim while in bed. This event is extremely honorable to the enterprising spirit of Col. Barton, and is considered as ample retaliation for the capture of Gen. Lee by Col. Harcourt. The event occasions great joy and exultation, as it puts in our possession an officer of equal rank with Gen. Lee, by which means an exchange may be obtained. Congress resolved that an elegant sword should be presented to Col. Barton for his brave exploit.” It was perhaps "Prince" to whom Dr. Thacher alludes in the following characteristic anecdote: "When the Count D'Estaing's fleet appeared near the British batteries, in the harbor of Rhode Island, a severe cannonade was commenced; and several shot passed through the houses in town, and occasioned great consternation among the inhabitants. A shot passed through the door of Mrs. Mason's house, just above the floor. The family were alarmed, not knowing where to flee for safety. A negro man ran and sat himself down very composedly, with his back against the shot-hole in the door; and, being asked by young Mr. Mason why he chose that situation, he replied, 'Massa, you never know two bullet go in one place."" Thacher's Military Journal, pp. 87, 175. The subject of the employment of Negro soldiers came before the Connecticut General Assembly in 1777, in connection with the subject of slavery and emancipation. By the courtesy of J. Hammond Trumbull, Esquire, Editor of "The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut," and Secretary of State, I am enabled to give, in his own words, the following interesting account of the action of that State: the Con "In May, 1777, the General Assembly of Connecticut appointed Action of a Committee' to take into consideration the state and condition of the necticut negro and mulatto slaves in this State, and what may be done for Assembly. their emancipation.' This Committee, in a report presented at the same session (signed by the chairman, the Hon. Matthew Griswold of Lyme), recommended Legislation in Connec ticut. "That the effective negro and mulatto slaves be allowed to enlist with the Continental battalions now raising in this State, under the following regulations and restrictions: viz., that all such negro and mulatto slaves as can procure, either by bounty, hire, or in any other way, such a sum to be paid to their masters as such negro or mulatto shall be judged to be reasonably worth by the selectmen of the town where such negro or mulatto belongs, shall be allowed to enlist into either of said battalions, and shall thereupon be, de facto, free and emancipated; and that the master of such negro or mulatto shall be exempted from the support and maintenance of such negro or mulatto, in case such negro or mulatto shall hereafter become unable to support and maintain himself. "And that, in case any such negro or mulatto slave shall be disposed to enlist into either of said battalions during the [war], he shall be allowed so to do: and such negro or mulatto shall be appraised by the selectmen of the town to which he belongs; and his master shall be allowed to receive the bounty to which such slave may be entitled, and also one-half of the annual wages of such slave during the time he shall continue in said service; provided, however, that said master shall not be allowed to receive such part of said wages after he shall have received so much as amounts, together with the bounty, to the sum at which he was appraised."" This report, in the Lower House, was ordered to be continued to the next session of the Assembly. In the Upper House it was rejected. Mr. Trumbull writes: "You will see by the Report of Committee, May, 1777, that General Varnum's plan for the enlistment of slaves had been anticipated in Connecticut; with this difference, that Rhode Island adopted it, while Connecticut did not. "The two States reached nearly the same results by different methods. The unanimous declaration of the officers at Cambridge, in the winter of 1775, against the enlistment of slaves, confirmed by the Committee of Congress, had some weight, I think, with the Connecticut Assembly, so far as the formal enactment of a law authorizing such enlistments was in question. At the same time, Washington's license to continue the enlistment of negroes was regarded as a rule of action, both by the selectmen in making up, and by 6 The Legislation in Connec able- ticut. the State Government in accepting, the quota of the towns. process of draughting, in Connecticut, was briefly this: The bodied men, in each town, were divided into 'classes'; and each class was required to furnish one or more men, as the town's quota required, to answer a draught. Now, the Assembly, at the same session at which the proposition for enlisting slaves was rejected (May, 1777), passed an act providing that any two men belonging to this State, who should procure an able-bodied soldier or recruit to enlist into either of the Continental battalions to be raised from this State,' should themselves be exempted from draught during the continuance of such enlistment. Of recruits or draughted men thus furnished, neither the selectmen nor commanding officers questioned the color or the civil status: white and black, bond and free, if 'ablebodied,' went on the roll together, accepted as the representatives of their 'class,' or as substitutes for their employers. At the next session (October, 1777), an act was passed which gave more direct encouragement to the enlistment of slaves. By the existing law, the master who emancipated a slave was not released from the liability to provide for his support. This law was now so amended, as to authorize the selectmen of any town, on the application of the master, after 'inquiry into the age, abilities, circumstances, and character' of the servant or slave, and being satisfied 'that it was likely to be consistent with his real advantage, and that it was probable that he would be able to support himself,' —to grant liberty for his emancipation, and to discharge the master 'from any charge or cost which may be occasioned by maintaining or supporting the servant or slave made free as aforesaid.' This enactment enabled the selectmen to offer an additional inducement to enlistment, for making up the quota of the town. The slave (or servant for term of years) might receive his freedom: the master might secure exemption from draught, and a discharge from future liabilities, to which he must otherwise have been subjected. In point of fact, some hundreds of blacks — slaves and freemen were enlisted, from time to time, in the regiments of the State troops and of the Connecticut line. How many, it is impossible to tell; for, from first to last, the company or regimental rolls indicate no distinctions of color. The name is the only guide: and, in turning over the rolls of the Connecticut line, the frequent recurrence of names which were exclusively appropriated to negroes and slaves, shows how considerable was their proportion of the material of the Connecticut army; while such surnames as 'Liberty,' Legislation Freeman,' 'Freedom,' &c., by scores, indicate with what anticipaticut. tions, and under what inducements, they entered the service. in Connec Petition of loyal slaves. "As to the efficiency of the service they rendered, I can say nothing from the records, except what is to be gleaned from scattered files, such as one of the petitions I send you. So far as my acquaintance extends, almost every family has its traditions of the good and faithful service of a black servant or slave, who was killed in battle, or served through the war, and came home to tell stories of hard fighting, and draw his pension. In my own native town, not a large one, I remember five such pensioners, three of whom, I believe, had been slaves, and, in fact, were slaves to the day of their death; for (and this explains the uniform action of the General Assembly on petitions for emancipation) neither the towns nor the State were inclined to exonerate the master, at a time when slavery was becoming unprofitable, from the obligation to provide for the old age of his slave. "Col. William Browne of Salem (a "mandamus counsellor"), who went with the enemy from Boston in 1776, owned large tracts of land in New London and Hartford counties in Connecticut, entailed by his grandfather, Col. Samuel Browne. The General Court cut off the entail, and confiscated the land. A farm in Lyme of twelve thousand four hundred and thirty-six acres, valued, in 1779, at a hundred and sixty-nine thousand pounds (Continental), had been leased for a term of years, with nine slaves. The administrator on confiscated estates, Benjamin Huntington, Esq., when returning the inventory of Mr. Browne's property, stated to the General Assembly that there were a number of slaves appraised, who beg for their liberty;' and that the lessee of the farm would assent to their being liberated, without requiring a diminution of his rent. "Accompanying the inventory is the following petition, in Mr. Huntington's hand-writing: To the Hon. General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, now sitting in Hartford. "The memorial of Great Prince, Little Prince, Luke, Cæsar, and Prue and her three children, all friends to America, but slaves (lately belonging to Col. William Browne, now forfeited to this State,)-humbly sheweth, that their late master was a Tory, and fled from his native country to his master, King George; where he now lives like a poor slave. |