On this 4th of July, A revolutionary conflict of words and deeds

During this summer of Coronavirus and Black Lives Matter, what better way for a genealogy enthusiast to spend a muggy 4^th of July than chasing down the Revolutionary War service records and slave holdings of her veteran ancestors? Liberty and slavery. Celebrated and reviled. While searching, I let myself think about what we celebrate and how we hold celebration apart from the statement that “all men are created equal.”

War and slavery. Two practices that I’m not drawn to as a writer and I am challenged to put my thoughts down on paper about either one. I haven’t found the words. It’s been easy for me to look the other way. I hope that by writing this blog I will be able to confront the legacy of my Southern slave-holding ancestors.

So, to get started, without celebration or blame, I speak their names:

4^th Great Grandfather Thomas Healy (1746-1813), Middlesex County, Virginia

Healy was recommended as ensign in the county militia in 1778. Later, he was made captain and qualified as major after the war, in 1794. He furnished the Continental Army with 900 pounds of grass beef, a cart and driver for 2 days, and one gun, for which he sought reimbursement after the war. According to the US Census of 1810, his household included 8 white and 32 enslaved black people.

4^th Great Grandfather Peter Foster (1757-1819), Mathews County, Virginia

Virginia’s navy of the revolution lists Peter Foster as a ships carpenter. He served on the Henry under Captain Robert Tompkins, and received a bounty as a Revolutionary War veteran. According to the 1810 US Census, his household included 7 white and 19 enslaved black people. Peter Foster was married in 1776 to Ann "Nanny" Hall and his father-in-law was Robert Hall, whose sons Robert Jr. and Spence served with Peter on the Henry.

5^th Great Grandfather Burwell Bell (c. 1754-1824), Wake County, North Carolina

When he was called up, Bell paid for a substitute, Jacob Newsom, to take his place. During the American Revolution, Newsom served 4 tours of duty for a total of 30 weeks of service in 1780: 3 tours for others and 1 for himself as a draftee. In 1832 at the age of 70, he petitioned to receive a bounty for his service. According to the 1798 US Census, Burwell Bell’s household included 6 white and 8 enslaved black people, and by the 1800 US Census there were 10 white and 15 enslaved black people in his household.

5^th Great Grandfather Henry Harrison Macon (1745-1790), Louisburg, North Carolina

Macon served as a captain in the North Carolina militia. He was wounded at the Battle of Camden, 10 August 1780, and imprisoned by the British in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1781, he was granted leave to ship his tobacco crop in order to defray debts contracted while he was imprisoned. He died at the age of 45 in 1790, before the first US Census was taken. During the 1810 Census, his son and my 4^th great grandfather, Nathaniel Macon (1778-1843), reported 6 white and 7 enslaved black people in his household.