Nathaniel Johnson (b. circa 1780 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-050641
War of 1812 Claimant, St. Mary's County, Maryland
Biography:
Born around 1780,1 Nathaniel Johnson
was enslaved at Trinity Manor, the farm of Colonel Mathias
Clarke. On February 19, 1815, a Sunday night, Nathaniel 
escaped
to the British frigate
Havannah.
The ship was "lying in the mouth of St. Mary's River" near St. George's
Island, visible from Trinity Manor.2 Three days later, eight
of George
Loker's slaves went off with the British. Loker suggested to Clarke
that they board the Havannah and demand the return of their slaves.3
On February 27th, George Loker, Mathias Clarke, his son Robert
Clarke, and two neighbors, Captain William Smith and Peter
U. Thompson, boarded the Havannah near the Virginia Capes.4
George Loker and Robert Clarke claimed that "the slave Nathaniel showed
a disposition to return to his master, but was prevented by the officers
on board of said ship."5 Peter W. Thompson described him as
"a bright molatter aged about thirty or forty."6
Captain William Hamilton7 informed the slaveholders that "No Negros would be restored unless [the slaveholders] caused the Seamen to be given up, who had recently deserted from his Ship." Robert Clarke then showed Captain Hamilton a copy of the Treaty of Ghent, pointing out that the captain had taken the slaves in peacetime. When Captain Hamilton still refused the return of the slaves, Robert Clarke wrote a letter to the Secretary of State, ending with the following entreaty: "As it is possible the Frigate in question may be about to leave the United States, may I beg as early a reply to this letter as your convenience will allow?"8 Unknown to Clarke, Captain Hamilton had transferred Nathaniel and the other slaves to another frigate, the Orlando, after the slaveholders had left the Havannah.9
Nathaniel likely ended up in Nova Scotia following his escape. A thirty-four-year-old
Nathaniel Johnson appeared on the list of approximately two thousand slaves
sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, between 1815 and 1818.10 He had
built a hut on his half-acre of land in the settlement of Preston, Nova
Scotia, by 1816.11 Nathaniel's land stood in plot B, section
7.12 He was still living in Preston in 1833.13
1. Claim of Matthias Clarke,
Case 120, 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.
Thomas M. Bayly, No. III, Bayly's List (RG 76. Records of Boundary
and Claims Commissions and Arbitration. Records of the Mixed Claims Commission:
Miscellaneous Records. National Archives, College Park) 112.
2. Claim of Matthias Clarke, Case 120, 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. Docket of Claims Prepared for the Domestic Claims Commission / Compiled 1826 / ARC Identifier 1172798 / MLR Number PI 177188. Robert Clarke.
4. Claim of Matthias Clarke,
Case 120, 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.
Claim of William Smith, Case 119, 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.
5. Claim of William Smith.
6. Claim of George Loker, Case 121, 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.
7. W.B.S. Taylor, History of the University of Dublin (Founded by Queen Elizabeth): Its Origin, Progress, and Present Condition (London, UK: George Woodfall and Son, 1845) iv.
8. Docket of Claims Prepared for the Domestic Claims Commission / Compiled 1826 / ARC Identifier 1172798 / MLR Number PI 177188. Robert Clarke.
9. Bayly 107.
10. "Halifax List,"African Nova Scotians: in the Age of Slavery and Abolition, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/.
11. "Report of lands cleared by the people of colour in the settlement of Preston..." Commissioner of Public Records NSARM RG 1 vol. 421 no. 3 (microfilm no. 15464), African Nova Scotians: in the Age of Slavery and Abolition. Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/.
12. "A list of people of colour settled at Preston," Commissioner of Public Records NSARM RG 1 vol. 419 no. 90-91 (microfilm no. 15460), African Nova Scotians: in the Age of Slavery and Abolition. Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/.
13. "Return of the distribution of
twenty-five pounds granted by the...House of Assembly for relief of poor
coloured people at Preston," NSARM MG 15 vol. 9 no. 56 (microfilm
no. 15108), African Nova Scotians: in the Age of Slavery and Abolition.
Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/.
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