
FRESH STUFF DAILY
Seacoast New Hampshire
& South Coast Maine
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
|
|
| |
|
|
|
114a
pharmac y support group viagra propecia guaranteed cialis generic propecia sales canada viagra propecia without prescription propecia online canada cheapest med buy viagra online viagra online no prescription online prescritions levitra online get viagra without a prescription online viagra canadian pharmacy viagra without prrescription canadian levitra cialis viagra united pharmacy buy cialis viagra buy online canada pharmacy viagra buy viagra online viagra sale propecia without prescription viagra from canada free cialis no prescription zoloft canadian drug store get viagra detox from vicodin viagra sale viagra with prescription prescription drugs on line levitra 10 cialis 5 mg cialia or viagro
0
|
Slaves at the William Pitt Tavern
|
|
|
|
Written by Valerie Cunningham
|
|
Page 2 of 3
The Stavers Family and Slavery (consinued)

Fortune Runs Away
On May 11, 1764 the New Hampshire Gazette advertised:
Ran-away -- Negro Boy named Fortune,
Age 16, wearing a Red Jacket and
Canvas Trowsers....
We will never know what incident triggered Fortune's departure: perhaps an argument, a scolding, or a blow like that delivered a dozen years earlier to the ship captain's slave. But the underlying cause was the condition and nature of enslavement. The tasks at the tavern may seem routinely domestic, but slavery was never benign. While white youths were formulating visions of their future, Fortune had few choices in life and little hope of improved status.
Fortune could be freed from enslavement only at the whim of his owner. An owner might grant freedom as a reward for decades of fidelity and good conduct. An owner might give a slave permission to work for pay on the side and buy his own freedom. But without an owner's permission there was no hope that talent, intelligence, or hard work could change a slave's status. Enslavement must have been intolerable to the adolescent Fortune. Other enslaved people found this to be true too; early Portsmouth papers frequently advertised run-away slaves. The number would increase in the 1770s.
Running away in 1764 was problematic; there was no place to go. The thirteen colonies combined had only a few thousand free blacks, with no community large enough for a run-away to disappear in the crowd. A hundred years later on the eve of the Civil War the situation would be quite different . No more is heard of Fortune after his disappearance was advertised.
James Defends the Tavern
On Wednesday January 29 1777 in the midst of the Revolution a mob assembled in front of Stavers' tavern. They were patriots who believed that John Stavers was a Royalist. One of them began chopping down Stavers' tavern sign. Stavers sent his slave James out to drive them away. James struck the axe-man -- Mark Noble -- on the head with the axe, rendering him unconscious. Stavers was arrested immediately and subsequently taken before the Committee of Safety in Exeter for a gang trial of fifteen suspected royalists. A few, including Stavers, were released for lack of evidence; most were imprisoned.
In considering this event, historians usually focus on the meaning of Stavers' arrest for his suspected political beliefs. But what about James?
He was not arrested, nor charged with assault. Apparently James was terrified of legal or social retribution; oral tradition reported that James was found several days later hiding in the cellar, up to his chin in a barrel of water . A few days later, on February 3, Mark Noble wrote to the NH Committee of Safety saying he understood no harm was meant by the "bad blow" he received, and that he hoped Stavers would be released.
The entire incident -- whether in the NH Committee of Safety records on in later reminiscence -- was defined in terms of its free white participannts. It appears that two mechanisms were at work. The first was public preoccupation with the Revolutionary War. When releasing John Stavers, the Committee of Safety summed up the mood of the era when they advised him to be careful "in these times of Jealousy & danger." James' actions were (correctly) interpreted as representing his master not himself. This in turn illustrates the second mechanism: lack of status of slaves. Their identities were often simply absorbed into their masters'. They had a non-existent voice in the revolutionary political debate. CONTINUE to read about thievery and the albuno slave
|
Please visit these SeacoastNH.com ad partners.
Portsmouth Herald
|
Portsmouth Herald Latest Headlines
|
| Portsmouth Herald News from SeacoastOnline.com |
-
Memorial Bridge re-opens
PORTSMOUTH — The Memorial Bridge reopened ahead of schedule on Friday following a month of repairs that forced drivers to seek alternative routes between the city and Kittery, Maine.
-
Driver inattention caused 3-car crash, say police
PORTSMOUTH - A three-car chain-reaction crash snarled lunch hour traffic on Woodbury Avenue Friday and sent a Maine man to Portsmouth Regional Hospital.
-
City police 'did all the right things' with man on bridge
PORTSMOUTH — When two city police officers talked a suicidal man off the High Level Bridge Wednesday morning by promising him a burger, a warm place to go and undivided...
-
and#8216;Lost' to premiere on Groundhog Day! Coincidence?
Now we know when the sixth and final season of “Lost” will begin. According to the ABC press release, the show will debut on Tuesday, February 2. The...
-
Portsmouth police log
8:50 a.m. Report taken about a suspicious male who approached a child in Hannafords.
-
Owner: Cigarettes stolen during Seacoast Variety break-in
PORTSMOUTH — Police were called to the Seacoast Variety store early Friday morning when a witness reported the front door was smashed, and according to store owner Joseph Goulis, $200...
-
Go and Do: Festival of Trees in Portsmouth
-
Say hello to Josie
Josie is a domestic long haired, 2½ year old, spayed and microchipped female. She has been good with children and other cats, but the staff members at the N.H. Society...
-
Movie review: 'Twilight' gets 3 stars
"The Twilight Saga: New Moon," also known as "Twilight: The Squeakquel," is actually pretty good — a tick better than the first "Twilight," which wasn't bad either. These are hardly...
-
The Truth about Dating: Do you have a dating addiction?
Everywhere I turn on television these days I see Dr. Drew Pinsky popping up discussing one type of addiction or another.
-
FairPoint says it's on rebound
PORTSMOUTH — FairPoint Communications remains an aggressive competitor in the telecommunications industry, despite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, a company official told members of the Portsmouth Rotary...
-
Eliot mother wants to be 'Biggest Loser'
ELIOT, Maine — Angela Boyle is pretty and vivacious with a self-deprecating sense of humor, a mother of four, a wife, an income tax preparer, a six-year resident of Eliot...
-
City paying 1 percent for art
PORTSMOUTH — Less than a month after unveiling the "Vigilance" sculpture at Fire Station One, the city will move forward with plans for a new piece of public art at...
-
School officials, police lock down York High
YORK, Maine — School officials and police instituted a lockdown at York High School for less than 30 minutes Thursday morning after a student was allegedly seen armed with a...
-
'Twilight' fans stay up all night for 'New Moon'
NEWINGTON — Kellie Bradley, 17, saw the first "Twilight" film 18 times.
-
'Heart of Portsmouth' auction begins
PORTSMOUTH — The online auction to raise money to help Amy DeStefano as she awaits a heart transplant begins at 8 a.m. today.
-
'Tramp' and killing comment lands man in court
PORTSMOUTH — It was New Year's Eve 2008 when "Bernie" Molloy called the manager of his apartment complex "a tramp of the highest order," leading to his arrest on a...
-
Check progress of Winnicut River work online
GREENLAND — Residents can follow the progress of the Winnicut River restoration with an on-site Web cam that has recorded the work in time lapse photography.
-
Service Credit Union donates 50 turkeys to Portsmouth Salvation Army
PORTSMOUTH — Michele Saccoccia, Aimee Sundstrom and Carolyn Richard leaned over a gray tarp in their bright red Service Credit Union fleece pullovers as they placed on the floor a...
-
Fifth man linked to Mont Vernon burglary killing is charged
NASHUA — A Hollis man was arraigned Thursday on a charge that he helped dispose of evidence from the killing of a Mont Vernon woman last month and an attack...
|
|
|
|
|
| Saturday, November 21, 2009 |
|
|
|