Peregrine Young
MSA SC 5496-51075
War of 1812 Refugee, St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1814
Biography:
Peregrine Young lived on Sotterley Plantation in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, as one of Colonel John R. Plater’s slaves. In his reparations claim, Plater described Peregrine as “a most valuable servant” and appraised him at $700, making Peregrine the second most valuable slave to escape from Sotterley during the War behind only Ignatius Seale at $800. Several other slaves who escaped from Sotterley during the war shared Peregrine's surname including Catherine S. Young, Crowley Young, Daniel Young, Henry Young, John Young, Mary Ann Young, and Mary Young, and Prince Young who all later escaped by boarding the H.M.S. Severn on July 22, 1814.1
Peregrine, however, did not join his family members on the Severn, and instead escaped earlier from Sotterley in June of 1814 by boarding the H.M.S. Loire while it was in the Patuxent River. Peregrine, age 20, escaped along with Ignatius Seale, age 19, James Bowie, age 20, and Joseph Wood, age 22, all young male slaves belonging to John R. Plater. They were the first slaves to escape from Sotterley during the war, and also the most valued by John R. Plater.2 The ship logs for the H.M.S. Loire report on June 20, 1814 that the ship "received several Black men and women" and then "sent the Black people to the Admiral."3 The first departure of slaves from Sotterley coincides with the First Battle of St. Leonard's Creek, which resulted in the British blockading Commodore Joshua Barney's Flotilla in St. Leonard's Creek. With Barney's Flotilla trapped in St. Leonard's Creek, the British fleet could freely pillage the various plantations along the Patuxent River.4 Sotterley's position straight across the Patuxent River from the mouth of St. Leonard's Creek put the plantation at the epicenter of combat, and made it particularly vulnerable to incursions from the British. The slaves at Sotterley would have witnessed the combat up close, and would have made perfect targets for British recruitment.
After escaping to the British, Peregrine Young, Joseph Wood, and James Bowie enlisted with the Colonial Marines, but it is unclear if Ignatius Seale joined them. Joseph Wood and James Bowie survived the war and settled in Trinidad where they could safely maintain their freedom within the confines of the British Empire.5 Peregrine, however, did not share their fortune. The ship musters for the H.M.S. Albion list him as "Perry Young" and identify him as initially enlisting with the Colonial Marines on June 12, 1814 while he was on board the Loire. Almost exactly two months later, Perry is listed on August 11, 1814 as discharged dead on board the Albion. Just a few days before his death, Perry was joined on the Albion by his relative and fellow Sotterley refugee Crowley Young, who enlisted with the Colonial Marines on July 30, 1814.6 Crowley would share Perry's fate, and the two were the only Sotterley refugees to die in service to the crown.
1. Claim of John Rousby Plater, St. Mary's County, Case #310, Case Files Ca. 1814-28, 3.5 ft., entry 190, Record Group 76, National Archives, College Park.
2. Ibid.
3. Chronicles of St. Mary's Vol. 8 No. 10, pg. 95
4. http://mason.gmu.edu/~chughes3/creek11.html
5. Weiss, John McNish. The Merikens: Free Black American Settlers in Trinidad 1815-1816. London, UK: McNish & Weiss, 2002. pg. 25
6. Albion Ship Musters, ADM 37/5005,
British National Archives, Kew.
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