Early Years
Nothing is known of Hercules's parents or family, although he may have been born on the estate of Captain John Posey, Washington's neighbor in Fairfax County. A heavy drinker, Posey played cards with Washington and the two were friends. After falling deeply into debt, Posey mortgaged to Washington in 1765 twenty-six enslaved people, including Hercules. In 1770, Posey leased to Washington land that contained a ferry operated by Hercules and another enslaved man, Jack, and two years later Washington purchased it. At some point, Washington came to own Hercules. It is possible, meanwhile, that Hercules turned sixteen while with Posey. Ferrymen were exempt from levies and so no record would have been made.
By 1777, Hercules married Alice, an enslaved seamstress, and the couple produced three children: Richmond, Evey, and Delia. Alice, also known as Lame Alice, died in September 1787.
President's House
Eight other enslaved people made the trip, including Martha Custis Washington's personal attendant, Oney Judge, and Hercules's thirteen-year-old son, Richmond. In a letter to his personal secretary, George Washington groused that Richmond was joining the president's household staff "not from his appearance or merits I fear, but because he was the Son of Herculas & his desire to have him as an assistant." Father and son lived together on the fourth floor of the President's House.
In the spring of 1791 George Washington learned that Pennsylvania law complicated his ability to hold slaves in the state. Passed in 1780, "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery" required that any slaves living in Pennsylvania for six uninterrupted months be freed. In a letter to his secretary, dated April 12, 1791, Washington ordered that his slaves be sent back to Virginia before their six months expired in May, and then returned to Philadelphia. It is unclear whether he was aware of a 1788 amendment to the Pennsylvania act that prohibited exactly this means of subverting the law. There also was some confusion at the time over whether federal officials were exempt from the law's requirements and, if they were not, whether Pennsylvania would enforce them in such a politically sensitive situation.
Freedom
Hercules himself ran away early in 1797. Historians long argued that he had become attached to life in Philadelphia, and fled because Washington's term was set to end on March 4. However, in 2009, the Mount Vernon historian Mary V. Thompson uncovered records that demonstrated a different motivation. In November 1796, perhaps while on one of their regular trips home, Hercules's son Richmond was caught stealing money at Mount Vernon. Within a month, according to the records found by Thompson, Hercules was no longer working as a chef but as a common laborer.
In a letter to his farm manager, dated November 14, 1796, Washington wondered whether Hercules had been involved in the theft. "I hope Richmond was made an example of, for the Robbery he committed on Wilkes Saddle bags," the president wrote. "I wish he may not have been put upon it by his father (although I never had any suspicion of the honesty of the latter) for the purpose perhaps of a journey together." Washington ordered that they be carefully watched, lest they attempt to escape.
Hercules may have been planning an escape with his son all along. Or the loss of his privileges as the mansion's chef may have prompted him to run. But run he did, alone, sometime on February 21 or 22, 1797. (February 22 was Washington's sixty-fifth birthday.) In a March 10 letter, Washington indicated his belief that Hercules may have returned to Philadelphia by urging his secretary to enlist the help of Frederick Kitt, steward of the President's House, in the search.
In April Louis Philippe, duke of Orléans and later the king of the French, visited Mount Vernon. In his diary he noted that his manservant interviewed Hercules's six-year-old daughter about the former chef's whereabouts. (Hercules may have married again after his wife's death.) The servant "ventured that the little girl must be deeply upset that she would never see her father again; she answered, Oh! sir, I am very glad, because he is free now."
Washington's last will and testament, signed July 9, 1799, manumits his own slaves, which included Hercules, but not the dower slaves owned by the Custis family, which included Hercules's children. As a result, Hercules legally became free in 1801, although the historical record does not indicate anything about his life or death after 1798.
Time Line
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ca. 1754 - Hercules is born enslaved, possibly on the Fairfax County estate of Captain John Posey.
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1765 - Captain John Posey, a neighbor of George Washington, mortgages to Washington twenty-six enslaved people, including Hercules.
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April 23, 1770 - Captain John Posey, a neighbor of George Washington, leases Washington 7 acres of land bordering Mount Vernon.
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July 16, 1770 - Hercules first appears in historical record in George Washington’s "Memorandum List of Tithables." He and a man named Jack are indicated to be ferrymen at the Home Farm.
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1772 - George Washington purchases from his neighbor Captain John Posey land that contains a ferry.
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1777 - By this date Hercules and Alice (also known as Lame Alice) are married at Mount Vernon. They will have three children.
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February 18, 1786 - The Mount Vernon slave census lists Hercules as working as the chief cook of Mansion House.
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September 1787 - Alice, the wife of Hercules dies, and Martha Washington gives three bottles of rum as a mourning gift.
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November 1790 - President George Washington and his family move to Philadelphia, site of the new federal capital.
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April 5, 1791 - In a letter to George Washington, Tobias Lear informs the president of a Pennsylvania law that complicates his holding of slaves in the federal capital.
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April 12, 1791 - In a letter to Tobias Lear, George Washington asks his secretary to temporarily relocate his slaves from Philadelphia to Mount Vernon.
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May 21, 1796 - Oney Judge, the enslaved body servant to Martha Custis Washington, escapes from the President's House in Philadelphia while the family is eating dinner.
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November 1796 - Richmond, the son of George Washington's enslaved cook Hercules, is caught stealing money at Mount Vernon.
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January 1797 - Hercules is back at Mount Vernon, and working as a laborer rather than a chef.
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February 21–22, 1797 - Hercules escapes from Mount Vernon.
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March 4, 1797 - George Washington's second term as U.S. president ends and he retires from public life.
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March 10, 1797 - In a letter to Tobias Lear, George Washington asks his secretary about apprehending Hercules, his runaway enslaved chef.
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April 1797 - Louis Philippe, duke of Orléans, visits Mount Vernon.
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January 10, 1798 - In a letter to Frederick Kitt, steward of the President's House in Philadelphia, George Washington urges him to look for his runaway slave Hercules.
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January 15, 1798 - Frederick Kitt, steward of the President's House in Philadelphia, writes George Washington that his slave Hercules is in that city.
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January 29, 1798 - In a letter to Frederick Kitt, George Washington urges him to continue the search for Hercules.
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July 9, 1799 - George Washington signs his last will and testament, which manumits his slaves but not the dower slaves owned by the Custis family.
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1801 - Hercules, once enslaved by George Washington, is munumitted. Hercules had run away in 1797 and was never found.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Wolfe, B. Hercules (b. ca. 1754). (2019, March 5). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Hercules_b_ca_1754.
- MLA Citation:
Wolfe, Brendan. "Hercules (b. ca. 1754)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, 5 Mar. 2019. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: October 24, 2018 | Last modified: March 5, 2019
Contributed by Brendan Wolfe, editor of Encyclopedia Virginia from 2008 to 2019.