By Sarah Lindecke
This blog post is an update to
one posted by Schuyler Mansion in February 2021 discussing Prince, a man who
was enslaved by civilian commissary Alexander McCullough of the British Army
and was later purchased by Major General Philip Schuyler. New research has
uncovered more information on Prince’s life during 1775 as he was captured and
made a prisoner of war.
The Invasion of
Canada during the winter of 1775-76 was considered a major failure for the
Continental Army. The army was able to capture Montreal but failed
spectacularly when attacking Quebec City. After capturing Fort Chambly, several officers and civilians were taken prisoner of war. Civilian commissary
Alexander McCullough was among them.[1]
Alongside the capture of Alexander McCullough, but not mentioned in many
official papers, was Prince, a man enslaved by McCullough who was also made
prisoner.
 |
| Fort Chambly National Historic Site. Parks Canada. |
Prince’s
life prior to his capture is unclear. It is not known if Prince was born in
Africa, the Caribbean, the North American colonies, or Canada. He may have
known several languages, French and English being most likely, because of his
current situation in the English-French province of Quebec in Canada. His
enslaver, Alexander McCullough, lived in Quebec with his family prior to the
Continental army invasion.[2]
It is presumed Prince accompanied McCullough to Fort Chambly, but it is unknown
how long Prince was enslaved by McCullough prior to their capture.
In addition to a
lack of records relating to Prince’s origins, it is unclear what labor he
provided to McCullough. As commissary, McCullough was likely tasked with
providing needed supplies, such as food, arms, munitions, clothing, and pay to soldiers
stationed at Fort Chambly, and Prince may have served McCullough as an
assistant in this business. Though the work of enslaved people was often
implied rather than explained directly, there are several examples of those who
performed assistant work to their enslavers. William Lee, a man enslaved by
George Washington, traveled alongside his enslaver for the entire Revolutionary
War. Lee’s role as valet saw him constantly attending to Washington’s needs
whether that meant carrying messages or assisting with dressing.[3]
Prince, though never referred to as valet or manservant in any known primary
sources appears to have taken a similar place with McCullough and Philip
Schuyler.
Primary evidence
indicates to us that Prince could read and write. One example, which we will
return to, was written to Catharine Schuyler in 1776 in which he described his
situation and personal details. Much later, on October 8th, 1791, Major
General Philip Schuyler wrote to his son John Bradstreet Schuyler, “Prince mentioned
boards [planks].”[4] From
this example, it is possible to suggest that Prince was reading over Philip
Schuyler’s shoulder and making informed commentary to remind him not to leave
out important information. The exact nature of his labor while enslaved to
McCullough and Philip Schuyler is oftentimes unclear, but it is possible that
Prince served in a capacity that required literacy in both situations.
 |
| An engraving of carpenters, A Panorama of Professions and Trades. Edward Hazen, 1837. |
The first known mention
of Prince appears in a letter from Philip Schuyler to Brigadier General Richard
Montgomery on November 5th, 1775.[5]
Schuyler noted, “Mr. McCullough has a
Negro at St. Johns named Prince … should You become Master of that Place, I
wish You to secure him, that his Master may have him again.” Fort Chambly and
Fort St. Johns were about 12 miles apart. It is likely McCullough’s commissary
duties required him to travel between the local forts. During the siege in
which the forts were taken, McCullough happened to be at Chambly, away from St.
Johns where Prince had remained. As soon as General Montgomery could arrange
matters, Prince was to be returned to McCullough. Separated from his enslaver,
the record shows that Prince was working for the master carpenters at
St. Johns.[6]
Prince was likely working outside of his usual duties at this time. Despite the separation, and temporary work assignment, Prince would be returned
as “property” to McCullough, even though McCullough was now in custody as a
prisoner of war to the Continental Army.
Major General Philip
Schuyler, decided at the request of the captured British officers, that the prisoners
of war would be marched to Trenton, New Jersey.[7]
Many of them, including McCullough, had already traveled south to Fort
Ticonderoga, where Philip Schuyler was stationed. Schuyler gave McCullough
permission to remain at Ticonderoga to “make suitable arrangements for his wife
and children at Quebec.”[8]
Later, on November 19th, 1775, Schuyler wrote that McCullough was
permitted to return to Quebec to make arrangements for his children, alongside
the message that McCullough’s wife had died.[9]
By late January 1776, arrangements were still unsettled for the care of
McCullough’s “four small children.”[10]
The fate of these children is unclear.
 |
| A 19th century engraving of the Albany City Hall. People of Colonial Albany. |
To date,
evidence does not reveal the whereabouts of Prince from November to February,
but it is likely that during this period he was making the trek southward from
Canada to Albany. By early February 1776, Prince was held prisoner in the jail
below city
hall in
Albany, awaiting another 200+ mile journey to Trenton, New Jersey. While
imprisoned, he seemingly experienced significant shortage of provisions, as
well as illness from the long trek to Albany during winter. His situation was
dire; he could either remain in prison or seek another situation enslaved in an
Albany household. Neither option was desirable, but Prince made the choice to
advocate for himself and his safety. Sometime prior to February, he wrote to
Major General Philip Schuyler. After receiving no response, he decided to write
to Schuyler’s wife, Catharine, at the family home in Albany. The text of this
letter reads:
“To The Honourable Lady Schuyler. –
The Humble Petition of Prince the Negro
Belonging to Mac
Colough - - -------------------
Most Humbly Sheweth that as Your Petitioners in the Greatest
Distress & Lowest Situation being almost set up With
Verment & have Quick Lost the use of My Limbs With Cold
for Want of Cloaths & Blankets – & to Inform Your Ladyship
that I Wrote to his Excellency the General but Received no
intelligence of My Being Released from my Long & Miserable
Confinement I am Very Willing to Go to Work for his
Excellency the General at any Sort of employ or any of the
Inhabitants in the Town for My Vituals & Cloaths. Therefore
I Humbly Beg Your Ladyship Would be so Good & to inter
cede With His Excellency for Me and Get Me Released as i am
Informed My Master Mr. MacCulough is in Remedy and Your
Good
Great & Bountious Goodness I Shall be as in duty Bound
ever Pray
Prince
the Negro”[11]
This
letter provides good evidence that Prince was literate. As a prisoner and an
enslaved man, it is unlikely Prince found a helpful jailor to transcribe his
plea. The letter is also signed by “Prince, the Negro.” It was commonplace for
illiterate individuals, free and enslaved, to have written documents for
property transactions or other business. However, these people would often sign
with a distinguishing mark or an “x.” The signature, in the same hand as the
rest of the letter, suggests that Prince wrote it himself.
A
response from Catharine Schuyler has not been found, but by March 20th,
1776, General Schuyler returned to Albany. He received a letter that McCullogh
“has sent him the Negro man Prince together with the Bill of Sale.”[12]
Philip Schuyler purchased Prince, and he was brought to Schuyler Mansion where
he would begin his enslavement to the Schuylers. However, within a few months, matters
involving Prince appear to have been less than settled.
On May 27th,
1776, Philip Schuyler wrote to his secretary, Richard Varick, expressing frustration
with Prince: “[I] cannot keep such a worthless scoundrel in my house. If you
have already written to [McCullough], pray write again.”[13]
Schuyler does not explain to Varick the matter of contention with Prince, but
Prince’s own letter may add vital context.
 |
| Winter Landscape Caspar David Friedrich, 1811. Gallery of Old and New Masters, Germany. |
In his February
1776 petition to Catharine Schuyler, Prince writes about the “loss of the use
of my limbs with cold.” This debilitating situation was likely the result of
the long trek to Albany during winter without proper clothing and footwear.
Frostbite may have been the result—a common condition among many enslaved
people in the Northeast. The weeks Prince spent in jail were likely no better, as conditions were often
cold and damp. Upon coming into the Schuyler household, Prince may not have
been in a condition to do labor of any sort. Schuyler likely felt his
investment a poor choice. The weakness in Prince’s physical body may have
severely limited him, requiring time to recover. For Prince, a change in his
situation was a matter of life-or-death. For Philip Schuyler, the choice to
purchase Prince was a business decision that went awry.
The next month Alexander McCullough
responded to Richard Varick. On June 22nd, 1776, he wrote:
“I am Extremely Sorry to find that the Negro man does not now answer the
Character I entertained of him, for I flattered myself that having no
Complaints during my stay at Albany nor any time till now that he was the
General’s property agreeable to his Bill of Sale to all Intents … Let General
Schuyler keep the Negro, until my Releasment, which I hope will be soon, shall
make him abalement in his price or take the Negro to myself if the General
still persists.”[14]
McCullough’s response was cordial,
considering the situation. He remained a prisoner of war but believed he would
be released. Once released, he would either reduce the purchase price for
Schuyler or take possession of Prince again, if Schuyler wished. Neither party
involved give insight into Schuyler’s specific grievances, however, Schuyler
had missed out on months of expected labor if Prince was still recovering in
June 1776. Little is known about Schuyler’s expectations for those he enslaved,
and it is unclear how he treated the people he held in bondage, but whatever
those standards were, it is clear that at least for the first months of his
time with Schuyler, Prince was not complying with them.
In the case of
Alexander McCullough, it is unclear if he was ever released from captivity as
he had hoped. Letters between General Putnam and George Washington from May
1777 state that no “officers have been returned in exchange for those you
mention; proper notice will be taken respecting them.”[15]
McCullough made it to New Jersey where he was in captivity, but a full year
after the sale of Prince to Philip Schuyler there is no evidence that he had
been released or was in any position to repurchase Prince.
Prince does seem
to have recovered from his winter-related illnesses, as is evidenced by his
continuing presence within the Schuyler household. A receipt from Dr. Stringer,
the family’s primary physician, in 1787 suggests that Prince was one of the
individuals who received medications, but none listed for him suggests a
lingering winter related illness.[16]
Once recovered,
Prince remained enslaved by the Schuylers, and from Schuyler family records, it
appears that Prince stood apart from others enslaved by the family. The name
‘Prince’ for enslaved men is often associated with people who are perceived to
have been descended from royalty. A great-granddaughter of Philip Schuyler, Katherine
Schuyler Baxter, in her book A Godchild of Washington, alludes to
Prince’s personality and how he behaved differently from the other people the
Schuylers enslaved.[17]
This descendent tells a romanticized story based on the memories of her
grandmother Catharine ‘Caty’ van Rensselaer Schuyler (1781-1854), who had not
been born until several years after Prince came into the Schuyler household. Caty
had grown up with Prince already incorporated into the household. Baxter’s narrative relies on common 19th
century stereotypes about slavery that imagine a familial relationship between
the enslaver and the enslaved. These
biases do not account for the inhumanity and violence inherent in the ownership
of another person.
Prince’s story after becoming the “property” of Philip Schuyler remains partially
unknown. The exact nature of Prince’s duties is not documented in primary
documents, but references suggest his work likely was as a butler or valet.
Every mention of Prince does seem to associate his labor closely with Philip
Schuyler. The role would have required the sort of person, like Prince, who had
documented literacy and attention to detail. It is likely that Prince became
integral to the household in the eyes of the Schuyler family.
There are
mentions of Prince throughout the correspondence of the Schuylers’ and friends.
In a letter written by John Jay to Philip Schuyler on February 19th,
1780, a keyword of a cypher is determined, which was likely based on Prince’s
name. Jay wrote: “Let the Keyword be the name of the man who so long and
regularly placed every day a Toot-pick by Mrs. Schuyler’s plate, written
backwards, that is…”[18]
The letter does not clarify the name being used but the keyword it would need
to be an intimate detail, something that only someone close to the Schuylers
would know. A valet or manservant likely would have been the one to place a
“Toot-pick” on Mrs. Schuyler’s plate. Every indication from other sources
places Prince in the role of valet, which Jay would have known.
It
is possible that Prince died sometime in the 1790s as there are no known
references to him after 1794. Prince is also not listed in the manumission
register for Albany in 1804 in which seven individuals enslaved by Philip
Schuyler were listed as freed by the executors of his estate. It is possible
that Prince was among the enslaved individuals above the age of 50 and
ineligible for manumission after Philip Schuyler’s death. Several of these
individuals were incorporated into the households of the Schuyler’s six
surviving children—all of whom enslaved people during their lifetimes.[19]
Though
the majority of Prince’s life remains unknown, his story can show us how
evidence is lost when a person is considered property rather than a person whose
life’s experience warranted memorializing. Through persistent research, more
evidence of Prince’s life has been discovered over the last several years. The
staff at Schuyler Mansion will continue to seek more answers about Prince and
the 60+ other individuals enslaved by the Schuylers, in order to better
understand their lives, stories, and for some, their paths to freedom.
[2]
("Letterbook 1" The New York
Public Library Digital Collections. 1775 - 1776. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/43915150-8829-0134-2908-00505686a51c, Unnumbered, p. 248.) Full letter Images 10-11, Excerpt Image 11.
[3] https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/william-billy-lee
[4]
October 8th, 1791, Philip Schuyler to John Bradstreet Schuyler, NYPL
Philip Schuyler Papers, Letters to Family.
[5] ("Letterbook
1" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1775 - 1776. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/43915150-8829-0134-2908-00505686a51c, No. 162, p. 224.) Image 08
[6] "Letterbook 1" The New York Public
Library Digital Collections. 1775 - 1776.
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/43915150-8829-0134-2908-00505686a51c,
No. 162
[7] Journals
of the Continental Congress, Vol. 3, p. 359
[8]
("Letterbook
1" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1775 - 1776. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/43915150-8829-0134-2908-00505686a51c, No. 161, p. 218.) Full letter Images 02-07, excerpt
Image 02
[9]
Ibid.
[10] ("Letterbook
1" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1775 - 1776.
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/43915150-8829-0134-2908-00505686a51c,
No. 225, p. 311.) Full letter Images 12-15, Excerpt Image 13
[11]
Manuscripts and Archives
Division, The New York Public Library. "Lists of Tories; oaths;
petitions" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1775 -
1777. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/edc87a90-3735-0134-36ca-00505686d14e) Image 16
[12] (Manuscripts and Archives
Division, The New York Public Library. "1776 March 20" The New
York Public Library Digital Collections. 1776. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/58be18d0-3733-0134-628d-00505686d14e) Images 17-18
[13]
https://www.carpelibrumbooks.com/philip-schuyler-autograph-letter-signed-to-richard-varick-on-the-war-in-quebec-and-his-slave-prince-1776) Image 19
[14] (NYPL Schuyler Papers Reel 19,
Box 38) Images 20-21.
[16]
NYPL Philip Schuyler Papers Reel 2, Box 3, Schuyler to Samuel Stringer Jan-Dec
1787.
[17] A
Godchild of Washington, Katherine Schuyler Baxter (pg 435-436).
[18]
Schuyler Mansion Collection found in A Godchild of Washington
[19]
November 30th, 1804, John Barker Church to Philip Jeremiah Schuyler,
New York Historical.
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