Harry Washington () was a

Black Loyalist Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term referred to men enslaved by Patriots who served on the Loyalist side because of the Crown's guarantee of fr ...

in 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 ...

, and enslaved by Virginia planter

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 ...

, later the first President of the United States. When the war was lost the British then evacuated him to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. In 1792 he joined nearly 1,200 freedmen for resettlement in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

, where they set up a colony of free people of color. Harry had been born in

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

and sold into slavery as a war captive. He was purchased by George Washington, who had plantations in Virginia. During the American Revolutionary War, Harry Washington escaped from slavery in Virginia and served as a corporal in the

Black Pioneers The Black Company of Pioneers, also known as the Black Pioneers and Clinton's Black Pioneers, were a British Provincial military unit raised for Loyalist service during the American Revolutionary War. The Black Loyalist company was raised by Gener ...

attached to a British artillery unit. After the war he was among Black Loyalists resettled by the British in

, where they were granted land. There Washington married Jenny, another freed American slave. In 1792 the couple were among more than 1,000

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

chosen to migrate to

, West Africa, where the British had established a new colony of people of African descent. In 1800 Washington joined a rebellion against the British colonial authorities in the Sierra Leone Colony. He was exiled to the

Bullom Shore Bullom Shore is geographical area in Sierra Leone facing the Atlantic Ocean and the estuary of Sierra Leone River The Sierra Leone River is a river estuary on the Atlantic Ocean in Western Sierra Leone. It is formed by the Bankasoka River and Rok ...

, where he subsequently died.

Early life

Washington was a saltwater slave (a term for American slaves born in Africa, rather than in North America), born in the

River in West Africa around 1740. In the colony of Virginia, he was purchased in 1763 to be part of George Washington's workforce in the

Great Dismal Swamp The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in the eastern United States, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is located in parts of t ...

of southeastern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and northeastern

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

.Black Loyalist, ''Harry Washington''
, University of SydneyBlackPast.org.
/ref> Washington later went to work on one of the Washington plantations in

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for t ...

. In 1771 he escaped from Mount Vernon and took refuge in New York,Henry Wiencek, ''An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. but later returned to the Washingtons. He had been working in the stables at Mount Vernon, caring for Washington's horses, when he fled again in 1776 to join the Virginia

Ethiopian Regiment The Royal Ethiopian Regiment, also known as Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment, was a British military unit formed of "indentured servants, negros or others" organized after the April 1775 outbreak of the American Revolution by the Earl of Dunmor ...

, made up of escaped slaves and established by Royal Governor

Lord Dunmore Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title Earl of Dunmore was created in 1686 for Lord Charles Murray, son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. The title passed down through generations, with various earls serving ...

during the

. Dunmore had recruited slaves of rebel masters, promising them freedom if they joined the British military effort.

American Revolutionary War

Moving to New York in late 1776, Washington served as corporal in the Loyalist

, attached to a British artillery unit and part of the British forces in

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Lord Dunmore's fleet. The British occupied New York City through much of the war. At the end of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, Washington was one of about 3,000

Black Loyalists Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term referred to men enslaved by Patriot (American Revolution), Patriots who served ...

evacuated from New York by the British and resettled in

. The Crown granted the Loyalists land there. When Sir Guy Carleton's officials included him on the list for evacuation in the Book of Negroes, Washington gave his age as forty-three and said he had fled Mount Vernon in 1776.

Emigration to Nova Scotia and then Sierra Leone

Under General Carleton's policy, Harry Washington took a British ship to Nova Scotia (as did two other former Mount Vernon slaves, a man and a woman). He lived for several years in

Birchtown, Nova Scotia Birchtown is a community and National Historic Site in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located near Shelburne in the Municipal District of Shelburne County. Founded in 1783, the village was the largest settlement of Black Loyalists and ...

, Canada, which had become the largest free African-American city in North America. There he married Jenny, another freed slave, and they began to plan for their future. Discontented with conditions in Nova Scotia, he and his wife chose to join the 1,192 black colonists who migrated to

, West Africa (see

Nova Scotian Settlers The Nova Scotian Settlers, or Sierra Leone Settlers (also known as the Nova Scotians or more commonly as the Settlers), were Black Britons or Black Canadians who founded the settlement of Freetown, Sierra Leone and the Colony of Sierra Leone, ...

), a new colony founded by the British in West Africa. He planned to begin a farm, using scientific farming techniques he had learned at Mount Vernon.

Rebellion in Sierra Leone

In 1800 Washington was among several hundred settlers who rose up in a brief rebellion against British rule. The precipitating issue was one familiar from the American Revolution: taxation. The

Sierra Leone Company The Sierra Leone Company was the corporate body involved in founding the Freetown, second British colony in Africa on 11 March 1792 through the resettlement of Black Loyalists who had initially been settled in Nova Scotia (the Nova Scotian Settler ...

, which ran the colony for the British government, required the settlers to pay taxes, called quitrents, for using their land, which land remained the property of the company. The rebels formed a provisional government and wrote a set of laws, which they nailed to the office door of a company administrator.

Internal exile and death

The Sierra Leone Company responded by sending a corps of recently arrived black Jamaican maroons against the rebels. In the trials that followed the defeat of the rebellion, Washington was among the rebels sentenced to banishment to Bullom Shore, a flat but fertile area north of the new colony where Lungi Airport is located today. He became one of the two leaders of a new settlement but died there of disease.Cassandra Pybus, "Washington's Revolution, Harry that is not George", ''Journal of Atlantic Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 2, 2006, 183–198. His descendants and those of other African Americans make up a portion of the

Sierra Leone Creole people The Sierra Leone Creole people () are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone be ...

Notes

References

*Cassandra Pybus, ''Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty'', Beacon Press, 2006.
"Washington, Henry (ca. 1740-post 1801)"
BlackPast.org. * *https://books.google.com/books?id=6qJ71dqsmboC&pg=PA98&dq=virginia+blacks+freetown&sig=oROaLz33TNPFyyYwJ-lCg3blX-0 *"Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty",
Talk by Cassandra PybusBlack Loyalist.info, Harry Washington

Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave TraderThe Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History: Volume 2: Continental America, 1800-1867
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Harry 1740s births 1800 deaths American people of Gambian descent African Americans in the American Revolution Black Loyalists Sierra Leone Creole people Sierra Leonean people of Gambian descent Nova Scotian Settlers Great Dismal Swamp Loyalist military personnel of the American Revolutionary War Loyalists in the American Revolution from Virginia People who were enslaved by George Washington 18th-century American slaves