Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Richard Cornelius (b. circa 1764 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-014636
War of 1812 Escaped Slave, Calvert County, Maryland, 1814

Biography:

Around July or August 1814, Richard Cornelius escaped his enslavement on Anne Dare's farm in Calvet County where he had worked as a field hand under Jacob Breden, the farm manager. Also called Dick Corn, he escaped with William Mitchel, another of Anne Dare's slaves, to British ships in the Patuxent River.1

Since Mitchel and his family ended up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with their names appearing in the Halifax List, the Dare family's agent John Marbury concluded that Richard Cornelius was the Richard Mitchell listed with them.2 However, the Halifax List gave Richard Mitchell's age as only twenty-eight, while Richard Cornelius was fifty-five at the time of his escape. More likely, Cornelius was separated from William Mitchel before even leaving the United States, since Mitchel had received permission to remain behind during the Battle of Bladensburg to rescue his family from slavery.3
 



Footnotes

1.     Claim of Ann Dare, Case 560, Case Files, compiled ca. 1827 - ca. 1828, documenting the period ca. 1814 - ca. 1828, *ARC Identifier 1174160 / MLR Number PI 177 190,* National Archives, College             Park.
3.    

2.     "Halifax List," African Nova Scotians: in the Age of Slavery and Abolition, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/.
3.     Claim of Ann Dare.

3.     Ibid.  

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