Black Loyalists in the Evacuation of New York City, 1783
By L. Goulet and Mary Tsaltas-Ottomanelli
On April 15, 1783, Congress ratified the Preliminary Articles of Peace with Great Britain, officially ending the Revolutionary War. Sir Guy Carleton, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces, began the colossal task of evacuating those under his control. From May to November, over 30,000 British and German troops, along with 27,000 Black and white British subjects, evacuated New York City. From 1776, the city stood as the stronghold of British operations in the thirteen colonies. The last British officials departed on November 25, ending their seven-year occupation of the city. We remember this event today as Evacuation Day. It was once a celebrated holiday but has since been largely forgotten by the public. Public commemorations primarily concentrated on the return of Patriot forces. It is crucial to move beyond the narrow focus and highlight the importance of expanding public memory to include the experiences of Loyalists who evacuated and the thousands of Black Loyalists who sought their freedom.
By 1783, New York City had become the largest fugitive slave community in North America. When British General Sir Henry Clinton ordered the Philipsburg Proclamation in 1779, he declared “to every NEGROE who shall desert the Rebel Standard, fu’l Security to follow within these Lines, any Occupation which he shall think proper.” [1] Unlike previous proclamations, Clinton promised freedom to all enslaved persons who safely crossed into British-controlled territory. With no requirement of prior military service, it encouraged Black men and women to seek their freedom. That year, census takers counted more than twelve hundred Black residents who had recently arrived in Manhattan.
Free and self-emancipated Black people entered New York City during the British occupation seeking protection. They took up paid roles left vacant by a wartime worker shortage. It’s likely this was the first time the refugees were earning wages for their labor. They worked as mechanics, cooks, or blacksmiths, using their skills to provide support for the British. They transported food, armaments, and other supplies from the docks to storehouses. Many led foraging expeditions in the countryside because they knew the terrain. Black women were commonly employed in domestic service as servants and cooks.
Life in the city for many Black Loyalists remained difficult. Between 1771 and 1781, the city’s population doubled to nearly 25,000 people, estimated to be about half civilian and half military personnel. In addition, the beginning of British occupation was marked by a mysterious fire on September 21, 1776, which destroyed nearly a quarter of the buildings in the city. As a result, resources like housing, food, and clean water were scarce. Smallpox, cholera, and yellow fever outbreaks often ran rampant through the city.
After the Preliminary Articles of Peace were approved, the Americans immediately challenged the evacuation of Black Loyalists across the colonies under Article Seven, which prohibited the “carrying away any Negroes, or other Property of the American Inhabitants.” [2] Patriot enslavers, including American Commander-in-Chief General George Washington, were desperate to retrieve their property. In their eyes, this was a significant economic loss. Washington called for a meeting with Carleton in Orangetown, New York, on May 6, 1783, to discuss the return of “American property,” along with the timeline of evacuation and establishing state government control.
Carleton intended to protect the promised freedom of Black Loyalists who had joined the British during the war. He believed that any enslaved person behind British lines before November 30, 1782, the day the Preliminary Articles were signed, were British subjects and not bound by Article Seven. Carleton emphasized his position at Orangetown, as William Smith, Jr, recalls of the event in his memoir: “no Interpretation could be put upon the Articles inconsistent with prior Engagements binding the National Honor, which must be kept with all Colours, and he added that the only Mode was to pay for the Negroes, in which Case Justice was done to all Parties: the Slave and the Owner.” [3] In a letter to Washington after their meeting, Carleton writes, “I had no right to deprive them of that liberty.” [4]
Washington's interpretation was straightforward. He considered all formerly enslaved people stolen Patriot property–regardless of when they crossed into British territory–and demanded their immediate return. But during the meeting at Orangetown, Washington did not push back on Carleton’s position. It seems that he knew the likelihood of reclaiming formerly enslaved people was near impossible once they possessed a passport and were ready to board an evacuating ship.
At Orangetown, Carleton assured Washington that he was making swift progress with evacuation. He had already dispatched a team of ship inspectors and ordered them to create a registry of any Black Loyalists who had left so former enslavers could be compensated for their losses. Carleton also boasted that 6,000 British subjects, including some Black Loyalists, had already embarked to Nova Scotia. As Smith recounts, "Here Washington affected to be startled - ‘Already imbarked!’” [5]
Washington was a plantation owner and enslaver himself. He left the meeting in Orangetown agreeable to Carleton’s terms but continued to pursue reclaiming his own former slaves. In a letter to Daniel Parker in April 1783, Washington asked him to inquire about the whereabouts of several formerly enslaved people:
Some of my own Slaves, and those of Mr Lund Washington who lives at my House may probably be in N. York: but I am unable to give you their Descriptions—their Names, being so easily changed will be fruitless to give you—If by chance you should come at the knowlege of any of them, I will be much obliged by your securing them, so that I may obtain them again. [6]
Washington later assigned Parker as a ship inspector on the committee to document Black Loyalists evacuating the city.
It was not lost on Carleton that as the last British evacuation in the North American colonies loomed, so did the Patriot enslavers’ final opportunity to reclaim their “property.” Emboldened by Article Seven, Americans began the last push to find their former slaves, inciting fear among the remaining Black Loyalists. Former slave Boston King recalls the chaos of living in the city in his autobiography:
For a report prevailed at New-York that all the slaves, in number 2000, were to be delivered up to their masters, altho some of them had been three or four years among the English. This dreadful rumour filled us with inexpressible anguish and terror, especially when we saw our old masters coming from Virginia, North-Carolina, and other parts, and seizing upon their slaves in the streets of New-York, or even dragging them out of their beds. [7]
Boston King had traveled to New York from Charleston, South Carolina, having run away from his former enslaver, Richard Waring, around 1779 at the age of 19. He sailed to Port Roseway on the HMS L’Abondance after his inspection on July 31, 1783. [8]
To uphold his promise, Sir Carleton tasked Brigadier General Samuel Birch to issue passports protecting Black Loyalists. The passports declared that the person was free, having traveled across British lines “in consequence of the Proclamations of Sir William Howe, and Sir Henry Clinton, late Commanders in Chief in America,” and that the carrier could travel to Nova Scotia or “wherever else [he] may think proper.” [9] Carleton also took measures to safeguard Black Loyalists from being enslaved. Enslavers or slave catchers were at risk of being arrested if they attempted to enter the city to recapture a Black refugee who had one of those passes. [10]
Book of Negroes pages 90 and 91. Harry Washington was recorded on this page of the register, having run away from General George Washington around 1776. Courtesy of the National Archives (UK). [11]
Carleton’s committee of ship inspectors recorded their notes and a registry of names in a document titled the Book of Negroes. It describes 1,336 men, 914 women, and 750 children who left New York between April 26 and November 30, 1783. There were two copies made, an American and a British. Both contain a register of those who boarded vessels, listing each person’s name, age, physical description, the vessel they were departing on, its destination, and the name of their former enslaver. The register also contains the names of enslaved people who were traveling with their enslavers from Canada, England, and Germany. The British copy also includes the committee’s meeting minutes, which describe their orders from and correspondence with Carleton, as well as the cases they oversaw claiming formerly enslaved people before they boarded evacuating vessels.
The American representatives were virtually powerless in the embarkation process. Commissioners Egbert Benson and William Stephens Smith complained to Washington that they suspected some formerly enslaved passengers were the property of American subjects. In a letter to General Washington on June 14, 1783, they noted “that all applications for the delivery of property will be fruitless” as the British representatives allowed “at least, one hundred and thirty Negroes, who appear to be property of the Citizens of the United States” to depart. [12]
Despite Benson and Smith’s grumblings, the committee members met to decide on just ten disputed claims brought forward by enslavers. The minutes of the board record eight meetings from May 30 to August 7, 1783, at “Fraunces’s Tavern” in Lower Manhattan, where officers determined the fate of fourteen people. Samuel Doron, Judith Jackson, and Dinah Archey were sent to British Major General Samuel Birch since claims made by British subjects were not under this committee’s control. [13] Violet Taulbert, Thomas Francis, Peter, Elizabeth, Betty, Mercy, and her three unnamed children were sent back to their enslavers. Their fates would have been determined at the city garrison. Nancy Bartram and Sally were allowed to go free. However, they do not appear in the register on later dates.
The committee heard two cases that separated Samuel Doron from his two young children, Peter and Elizabeth. On July 15, 1783, Doctor Abraham Teller challenged Doron’s freedom. The committee noted, “his Defence says that in April 1778 he with Consent of his Mistress went on Board a Galley commanded by Captain Clarke in Order to come to New York.” [14] He also provided a certificate of freedom dated May 14, 1782. Teller brought several witnesses to dispute Doron’s claim. The committee could not determine the validity of the claim, and his case was referred to the city’s Commandant, General Birch.
A week after Doron had been sent to the garrison, the committee heard the petition to return Peter and Elizabeth to their former enslaver. The children were ready to evacuate with their father when the claimant, Gerrard G. Beekman had them “brought on shore for examination.” Beekman claimed that Doron took his children from the Van Cortlandt Manor in Westchester in April 1778. The location of their mother is unclear. The committee decided that “the Children ought to be delivered to [Beekman] And he is hereby permitted to take and dispose of them as he may think proper.” [15]
The men, women, and children in the Book of Negroes give us a glimpse into the make-up of Black Loyalists at the end of the war. The combined number of women and children leaving New York exceeds the number of men, indicating an effort to keep families with many small children born behind British lines together; over 400 families are documented as traveling together. [16] Although young people, from ages 16-30, make up the majority of entries, one of the oldest travelers was 93 years old.
One notable name on the register was Harry Washington. Described as a “fine fellow, age 43.” [17] Harry Washington was one of several formerly enslaved people whom George Washington had spent years trying to re-enslave. He sailed to Port Roseway on the HMS L’Abondance after his inspection on July 31, 1783. [18]
What were their final destinations? Anywhere within the British Empire–although the majority of Loyalists, both Black and white, traveled to nearby Nova Scotia, some went to Jamaica, and a smaller number to London. Of the estimated 35,000 Loyalist refugees that sailed to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, around 4,000 were Black Loyalists. Brook Watson, the commissary General to Sir Guy Carleton, writes in a letter to Carleton that “Upwards of twenty Thousand Souls will surely go hence” – to the still-faithful colony of Nova Scotia – “to settle in it this Year and some of them persons of property…” [19]
Bedford Basin near Halifax (Nova Scotia), 1835, by Robert Petley. Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
The first groups from the Book of Negroes landed in July 1783 and settled in free Black communities, like Birchtown, named in honor of General Samuel Birch, who oversaw many of their interviews. They would also go on to settle in Digby, St. John’s, and Port Roseway, since renamed Shelburne.
Despite British promises of sovereignty and equality under the law, Black Loyalists were met with extreme hardship, racial discrimination, and instances of violence. Arriving just before their first cold Canadian winter, many went into the frigid season without proper supplies, food, and shelter and struggled to stay alive. The struggles continued through the next few years.
While Evacuation Day became obscure over time, recent discussions argue that it should not be forgotten. By acknowledging the experiences of all those involved and reframing the narrative, Evacuation Day can regain its significance and become a meaningful part of public memory once again. This significance lies in Evacuation Day’s representation of a major shift in American history, affecting a diverse diaspora of people who once considered themselves Americans. In order to revive this holiday in public memory, it is necessary to have a more inclusive conversation about the evacuation and what it meant for different groups.
L. Goulet is a scholar and curator living and working in New York City. Born in Canada, L. holds a BA in Honours Visual Arts from Brock University and an MA in Museum Studies from New York University. L.’s research investigates history through the material and visual cultures of art and science.
Mary Tsaltas-Ottomanelli is an independent scholar working towards her Master’s in Public History at NYU. She also works at the Hendrick I. Lott House, guiding collections care at one of the oldest structures in the city. Her research focuses on interpreting and writing about the lives of historically underrepresented and excluded people of the 18th century. Last year, she was awarded the Museum Association of New York’s Award of Merit for her research and interpretation of Black Patriot and Loyalist history during the Colonial Revolutionary Era.
[1] Royal Gazette (New York, New York), no. 288, July 3, 1779: Readex: America's Historical Newspapers.
[2] Treaty of Paris; 9/3/1783; Perfected Treaties, 1778 - 1945; General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.
[3] William Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith, 1778-1783, 586.
[4] “To George Washington from Guy Carleton, 12 May 1783,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-11252.
[5] Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith, 1778-1783, 586.
[6] Smith, Historical Memoirs of William Smith, 1778-1783, 586.
[7] Phyllis R. Blakeley, “Boston King: A Negro Loyalist Who Sought Refuge in Nova Scotia,” Dalhousie Review 48, no. 3 (1968): 353.
[8] Library and Archives Canada, “Item: Boston KING (1433),” Carleton Papers – Book of Negroes, 1783, August 30, 2022, https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/loyalists/book-of-negroes/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=1433&.
[9] Passport for Cato Ramsay to emigrate to Nova Scotia, 21 April 1783, Gideon White family fonds, Nova Scotia Archives, MG 1 volume 948 number 196 (microfilm 14960).
[10] Lacey Hunter, “An Expansive Subjecthood in Eighteenth-Century British North America: The Life and Perspectives of Sir Guy Carleton” (Honors Thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2018), 65.
[11] Library and Archives Canada, “Item: Harry WASHINGTON (2654),” Carleton Papers – Book of Negroes, 1783, August 30, 2022, https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/loyalists/book-of-negroes/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=2654&.
[12] “To George Washington from Egbert Benson, 14 June 1783,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-11449.
[13] Rivington’s Royal Gazette, (New York, New York), May 30, 1783, American Antiquarian Association.
[14] “Book of Negroes,” Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester: Papers, The National Archives, Kew (PRO 30/55/100) 10427, 9.
[15] “Book of Negroes,” From Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester: Papers, The National Archives, Kew (PRO 30/55/100) 10427, 10.
[16] Alan Gilbert, Black Patriots and Loyalists Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence (University of Chicago Press, 2012), 201.
[17] “Book of Negroes,” Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester: Papers, The National Archives, Kew (PRO 30/55/100) 10427, 90.
[18] Library and Archives Canada, “Item: Harry WASHINGTON (2654),” Carleton Papers – Book of Negroes, 1783, August 30, 2022, https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/loyalists/book-of-negroes/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=2654&.
[19] Brook Watson to Joshua Mauger, 12 July 1783, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.