Flights to Freedom

N-51

People enslaved in Mathews County and environs repeatedly seized opportunities to escape, taking advantage of the area’s long shoreline and access to deepwater shipping. Some who fled to British ships during the Revolutionary War received certificates of freedom, served with the British forces, and later settled in Nova Scotia. Enslaved people fled during the War of 1812, and at least 70 found freedom with the British in March 1814. During the Civil War, self-emancipated people boarded Union vessels, and some enlisted in the U.S. Navy. These recurrent flights from bondage, made at great risk, defied the system of slavery and demonstrated the depth of enslaved peoples’ desire to be free.

Department of Historic Resources, 2022

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Bobby G. Moss and Michael S. Scoggins, African American Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution (Blacksburg, SC: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 2005). Graham R. Hodges and Susan H. Cook, comps., The Black Loyalist Directory: African Americans in Exile After the American Revolution (New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1996). “Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People,” https://blackloyalist.com/cdc/index.htm “Soldiers and Sailors Database,” https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm Muster Rolls of Naval Ships, January 1, 1860 to June 9, 1900, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1798-2007, RG 24, NARA. Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2013).