Agrippa Hull (March 7, 1759 – May 21, 1848) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot(s) or The Patriot(s) may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American R ...

who served as an orderly to

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, and military leader who then became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and ...

, a Polish military officer, engineer and

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

, for five years during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. He served for a total of six years and two months. After the war, he received a veteran's pension. It was signed by

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

, and he treasured it for the rest of his life. Born free in

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence, Massachusetts, Florence and ...

, in 1759 in the middle of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, Hull became the most significant black landowner in Stockbridge, where he lived after the Revolutionary War. He lived to the age of eighty-nine.

Early life, education, military service

At eighteen years old, Hull enlisted in 1777 for six years to fight with the Patriots. For nearly five years, he was a personal aide for

, the Polish engineer and nobleman who was essential to Continental defences.Gary B. Nash, "Agrippa Hull" revolutionary patriot"
Black Past, 2008, accessed 12 March 2012. He also assisted the medical corps in caring for the sick and wounded. In the last two years, he worked with doctors and was trained to perform simple operations, including amputations of body parts and fixing broken bones. Impressed with Hull and other African Americans in the Continentals, Kościuszko became a strong supporter of

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. ...

. In 1798 Kościuszko named his friend

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

as executor of his will; he intended to use his American estate to purchase freedom for black slaves, including those of Jefferson, and provide them with vocational training and land to be able to provide for themselves and their families. But, after he died in 1817, neither the elderly Jefferson nor another executor carried out his plans. The funds were eventually transferred in 1852 to his heirs in Poland.Gary Nash and Graham Russell Hodges, ''Friends of Liberty: A Tale of Three Patriots, Two Revolutions, and the Betrayal that Divided a Nation: Thomas Jefferson, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, and Agrippa Hull'', (New York: Basic Books, 2008), p. 258.

Return to Massachusetts

When the war was over, Hull returned to Massachusetts. He used his savings to buy land in Stockbridge, where, over the years, he became one of the largest black landowners in the town. He steadily purchased properties from his savings from work. After the war, he worked for a period as a servant in the household of

Theodore Sedgwick Theodore Sedgwick (May 9, 1746January 24, 1813) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served in elected state government and as a delegate to the Continental Congress, a U.S. representative, and a senator from Massachusetts. H ...

. As a young attorney, the latter had defended

Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett) Elizabeth Freeman ( 1744 December 28, 1829), also known as Mumbet, was one of the first enslaved African Americans to file and win a freedom suit in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, in Freeman's favor, found sla ...

in her

freedom suit Freedom suits were lawsuits in the Thirteen Colonies and the United States filed by enslaved people against slaveholders to assert claims to freedom, often based on descent from a free maternal ancestor, or time held as a resident in a free sta ...

and helped gain an end to slavery in Massachusetts. Freeman worked for the Sedgewick household for years as well. Sedgwick became a state politician and US Senator before being appointed as a justice for the Massachusetts State Supreme Court.

References

External links

Gary B. Nash, "Agrippa Hull" revolutionary patriot"
Black Past, 2008

PBS ''Africans in America'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hull, Agrippa 1759 births 1848 deaths Free Negroes Continental Army soldiers African Americans in the Continental Army People of Massachusetts in the American Revolution People from Northampton, Massachusetts 18th-century American physicians People from Stockbridge, Massachusetts African-American history of Massachusetts People from colonial Massachusetts

Early life, education, military service

Return to Massachusetts

Further reading

References

External links