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
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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