Ran Away on the 28th Ultimo: Freedom Seekers and Self Manumission at Schuyler Mansion

By Ian Mumpton

On March 4^th, 1797, two years before the Gradual Manumission Act of New York was passed, Philip Schuyler sent a letter to Mr. Samuel Jones esqr. offering his critique of a bill Jones had submitted to him on the topic of abolition:

                Dr Sir
                …Inclose [sic] your draft of the bill for Abolishing Slavery – and if you think proper you may either add the Inclosed [sic] properly corrected by you, or to offer it as a Substitute, I believe it would be more Agreable [sic] to the owners of slaves. That It should be a substitute for the whole bill.
                I am Dr Sir
                                Sincerely your &c
                                                                Ph. Schuyler

A life-long slaveholder who had just left the NY senate to resume his seat in the US senate, Philip Schuyler had little interest in abolition outside of the political capital to be gained as more and more politicians embraced the idea (in theory if not in their daily lives). Schuyler’s concern was to ensure that the slaveholding families of the state be as little discomfited as possible by the process. Even at the time of his death in November of 1804, at least seven people, including three children, still labored in slavery at his estate in Albany. 

While these individuals were freed shortly after his death, this was entirely at the discretion of the executors of the estate, as no provision was made for their manumission in Philip’s will. As of December 18^th, 1804, the last people to be enslaved at the Schuylers mansion in Albany were free or had been transferred to the estates of other family members, possibly including that of the youngest son of the Schuyler family, Rensselaer.

But not everyone enslaved in the Schuyler household had waited this long. At least three, possibly four, men, and one woman had already sought to escape the bonds of slavery and reclaim their freedom elsewhere.

The first of these self-manumitters was a man named Haare, who fled slavery in 1768. At the time of his escape, Haare was somewhere in his early 30’s, a young man still, but with many years of hard labor under his belt. Philip Schuyler placed a “runaway” advertisement in the New York Journal that offers a description of this individual. According to Schuyler, Haare was “short, [with] broad shoulders, large staring eyes, remarkable small legs, large feet, and walks something lame, having had his toes frozen...” Philip also specified that Haare spoke both English and “Low Dutch”.

Harre's 1768 Runaway Ad

While some of these descriptors, e.g. “large staring eyes”, are thought to have relied on exaggerated racial features aimed at a primarily white audience, others give us a detailed depiction of this young man and hint at the sort of work he performed for the Schuylers. For example, he walked “something lame” due to having had his toes frozen. We know from other records that Philip sent enslaved men out in frigid conditions to cut firewood. Perhaps it was a similar incident that gave Haare his notable gait. Unfortunately, we do not know what ultimately happened to Haare, and there is no indication as to whether or not he was able to avoid recapture.

After Haare, every other documented escape attempt by people enslaved by the Schuylers took place during the turbulent times of the American Revolution. The next person to attempt escape from the Schuylers' estate was a woman named Diana. No runaway ad is known to exist for Diana, depriving us of the sorts of physical description available for Haare. All that we have to document her escape is a letter detailing its unfortunate conclusion. As John Lansing reported to Philip Schuyler on February 3^rd, 1779:

John Lansing Jr., who assisted Philip
Schuyler in recapturing Diana in 1779

                Diana was last night brought to Town[.] From every Circumstance attending her Apprehension it is probable that she has been harboured for a considerable time by a Scotchman, who lives in the neighborhood of Mr. Amory’s farm. I have directed her to be committed to goal [jail] to prevent another Elopement, and shall keep her there until I receive your Directions respecting her.

The difficulties attending any effort to escape the bonds of slavery are evident here. Despite finding refuge with someone willing to aid her in her attempt, Diana was recaptured and imprisoned. No letter survives regarding Philip’s directions, but it is likely that Diana was sold. While physical punishment was not uncommon at the time, neither Philip nor Lansing reported whether this was the case for Diana. All that is certain is that this is the last known reference to Diana in Schuyler’s papers.

On November 4^th, 1782, Philip Schuyler ran another runaway ad, this time for a man named Claas:

                                        TEN DOLLARS REWARD 

Ran away on the 28^th ultimo, from the Subscriber, a MOLATTO, named Nicholas (commonly called Claas); he is about five feet eight or ten inches high, slender made, large eyes, much given to liquor: he had on when he went off, a whitish stuff coat, striped linen waistcoat, linen breeches, blue yarn stockings, tow cloth shirt, and large silver buckles on his shoes. Whoever apprehends said Runaway, and commits him to any Goal [jail] in this State, shall be paid TEN DOLLARS in Specie, and all reasonable charges by                                                PH SCHUYLER

 This description gives us little idea of what sort of work Claas had performed prior to his escape. What is of particular interest here, however, is the detail with which Philip describes his clothing. As the 18^th century had a thriving second-hand clothing industry, Claas would likely want, and have the opportunity, to change his clothing soon after his escape, both to alter his appearance and to fund his travels. For someone who owned no property of any kind, the clothes on his back, and especially the silver buckles on his shoes, represented his entire financial means for aiding his escape. By detailing Claas’s attire at the time of his flight to freedom, Philip both made sure that Claas was recognizable, and that he was less able to sell the clothes he had.

Sir Henry Clinton, who issued the Philipsburg Proclamation

Claas was taking a huge risk in his attempt. On November 7^th of 1775, in an effort to weaken the revolutionaries’ resources, the British governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, had issued a proclamation offering freedom to any enslaved person claimed as property by the revolutionaries, who made their escape behind British lines. This was reinforced in 1779, when Sir Henry Clinton passed the Philipsburg proclamation, promising freedom for anyone enslaved by the revolutionaries. Despite the opportunity for freedom, however, the Revolutionary governments of the colonies did not intend to simply allow their slaves to join the enemy.

The British proclamations were met with outrage throughout the colonies. In 1775, a law* was passed in Albany, that any enslaved man found more than a mile from home without his master’s permission could be shot on sight. This was in reaction to the fear that slaves would use the disruptions created by the war to attempt to escape or coordinate some sort of resistance to the slave-holding class. While Claas made his escape attempt later in the war, he ran the same risks. It is likely that he sought to escape to the British, but, to this day, it is unknown if he was successful.

While Claas’s intention of joining the British can only be guessed at, the remaining two individuals did in fact join the British during the war, and traveled to Nova Scotia as free men after the end of hostilities. At the end of the war, approximately 3,000 freed slaves who had served with the British were transported to Nova Scotia where they became known as the Black Loyalists. Their names and many personal details were listed in a British document known as “The Book of Negroes”. Amongst these three thousand were two men, Scipio Scuyler, and Adam Way, both of whom have connections to the Schuyler family.

Scipio Scuyler listed himself as having escaped from enslavement by a man referred to as “Philip Schuyler of Albany” in 1779. Scipio gave his own birth year as 1752, meaning that he was in his early thirties when he joined the British. Scipio was described as being of stout build when he sailed aboard the Prosperous Amelia for Port Roseway in 1783. There were several Philip Schuylers living in Albany in 1779, meaning that the Philip Schuyler referred to may be our Philip Schuyler, or one of his cousins. For Adam Way, however, the evidence is much more concrete.

Adam Way was described as being at least 80 years old and “worn out” when he sailed for Annapolis and St. Johns aboard the Clinton in 1783. He reported his former owner as “General Broadstreet” of Albany. This is believed to be a mistranscription of General John Bradstreet. Bradstreet was not only a close friend of Philip Schuyler, serving as Philip’s commanding officer and mentor, but he helped supervise the construction of the Schuylers’ home and lived with them for many years prior to his death in 1774. Adam Way is believed to be the same Adam listed in a December 16^th, 1771 “Account of Shoes” in the Schuyler Household, where his shoes were repaired for two shillings and six pence. It is not clear whether he was enslaved by the Schuylers after Bradstreet’s death, or if he was passed through other hands prior to his escape, but, at long last, a man born into slavery in 1703, who had likely labored for multiple families over the course of his life, was free.

As Professor A. J. Willaims-Meyers, of SUNY New Paltz, writes in the foreword to In Defiance:Runaways from Slavery in New York’s Hudson River Valley, 1735-1831:

The vast number of runaway slave notices during this period[…] speaks to the magnitude of the struggle for freedom being fought by an oppressed and enslaved people. The dangers of running and the consequences if caught were dire and had to have struck abject fear into the hearts of those contemplating such a feat. Yet, for many, the opportunity to live as a human being, out of bondage, able to breath the air in freedom, was worth the dangers. It was a courageous choice.

For many, there was no choice. Of the approximately thirty people enslaved at the Schuylers’ home in Albany, roughly half were women, but only one woman, Diana, was able to run the risks of escaping. It is important to note here that women were much more likely to be enslaved with their children in the Schuyler household, making it much more difficult to escape. Philip always purchased men separately from other family members, which meant that they only had to coordinate their own escape. It is possible that this separation from other family may have even encouraged men to leave at a higher rate than women, as they sought to reunite with families they had been separated from.

Nevertheless, despite the difficulties and dangers, between 13.33 and 16.67% of the enslaved population at the Schuylers’ estate over the years did make the choice to leave in search of the freedom owed them as human beings. While not all, perhaps not even most, succeeded, it is important to remember the efforts and courage of these self-manumitters when telling the story of slavery at this site.

If you are interested in learning more about the enslaved population of New York, check out our other articles in this series by clicking on "The Servants" above. Another great resource, used in the writing of this article, is the New York Slavery Record Index, which you can search by clicking here.

*See Page 301