Two Captain Sterretts: Abolitionist and Enslaver during The War of 1812
Samuel Sterrett, an abolitionist, and his brother Joseph Sterrett, a plantation owner and enslaver, both fought in Herring Run Park against the British invasion in 1814.
Herring Run in the early nineteenth century was a landscape of many contradictions, home to plantations that depended on enslaved labor, Quakers, country estates, and abolitionists. The story of the two Captain Sterretts underscores these contradictions, and highlights the largely unrecognized contributions made by free Black communities to the defense of Baltimore.
Following the Battle of North Point in the War of 1812, British forces advanced toward the eastern end of Herring Run. This area had several grand country estates. British soldiers made temporary headquarters at Orangeville, the property of Judge Thomas Kell, but soon moved on to Mount Deposit, a plantation owned by Militia Captain Joseph Sterrett and his family.
Upon seeing the British advancing toward his home, Sterrett hastily evacuated his family, but left the plantation’s enslaved laborers behind. Sterrett then led the men of the Fifth Regiment of Maryland Militia to Hampstead Hill.
But there were two Captain Sterretts defending Baltimore against the British invasion in 1814.
Joseph’s brother, Samuel Sterrett, was an active member of the “Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes, and Others Unlawfully Held in Bondage,” and served as the president of the Society in 1791. During the War of 1812, he organized an independent militia company from the Lower Patapsco Neck, and among the men who answered his call to arms was Private Nicholas Brice, a free Black man who lived in the area.
Mr. Brice’s name appears in the 1813 muster and payrolls. “Private” was the highest rank available to non-White military men at the time, regardless of the quality of their service.
Given Samuel Sterrett’s commitment to the abolitionist cause, he may have had a positive relationship with the free Black community before the War of 1812, and this rapport may have helped him recruit other free Black men to his company. Although Nicholas Brice is so far the only soldier so identified, there may be other representatives of that community in the company’s muster roll.
Sources:
Elting, John R. (1995). Amateurs to arms! A military history of the War of 1812. New York: Da Capo Press.
George, Christopher T. (2001). Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay, Shippensburg, PA: White Mane.
Gleig, George R. (1833). A Subaltern in America; Comprising His Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army, at Baltimore, Washington, &c &c. during the Late War. Baltimore: E.L. Carey & A. Hart
Maryland Historical Trust (n.d.). https://mdhistoricaltrust.wordpress.com/tag/war-of-1812/
Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, and others unlawfully Held in Bondage. (July 4, 1791). “Oration Upon The Moral and Political Evil of Slavery”. University of Michigan: Evans Early American Imprint Collection
Samuel Sterrett, an abolitionist, and his brother Joseph Sterrett, a plantation owner and enslaver, both fought in Herring Run Park against the British invasion in 1814.
Herring Run in the early nineteenth century was a landscape of many contradictions, home to plantations that depended on enslaved labor, Quakers, country estates, and abolitionists. The story of the two Captain Sterretts underscores these contradictions, and highlights the largely unrecognized contributions made by free Black communities to the defense of Baltimore.
Following the Battle of North Point in the War of 1812, British forces advanced toward the eastern end of Herring Run. This area had several grand country estates. British soldiers made temporary headquarters at Orangeville, the property of Judge Thomas Kell, but soon moved on to Mount Deposit, a plantation owned by Militia Captain Joseph Sterrett and his family.
Upon seeing the British advancing toward his home, Sterrett hastily evacuated his family, but left the plantation’s enslaved laborers behind. Sterrett then led the men of the Fifth Regiment of Maryland Militia to Hampstead Hill.
But there were two Captain Sterretts defending Baltimore against the British invasion in 1814.
Joseph’s brother, Samuel Sterrett, was an active member of the “Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes, and Others Unlawfully Held in Bondage,” and served as the president of the Society in 1791. During the War of 1812, he organized an independent militia company from the Lower Patapsco Neck, and among the men who answered his call to arms was Private Nicholas Brice, a free Black man who lived in the area.
Mr. Brice’s name appears in the 1813 muster and payrolls. “Private” was the highest rank available to non-White military men at the time, regardless of the quality of their service.
Given Samuel Sterrett’s commitment to the abolitionist cause, he may have had a positive relationship with the free Black community before the War of 1812, and this rapport may have helped him recruit other free Black men to his company. Although Nicholas Brice is so far the only soldier so identified, there may be other representatives of that community in the company’s muster roll.
Sources:
Elting, John R. (1995). Amateurs to arms! A military history of the War of 1812. New York: Da Capo Press.
George, Christopher T. (2001). Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay, Shippensburg, PA: White Mane.
Gleig, George R. (1833). A Subaltern in America; Comprising His Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army, at Baltimore, Washington, &c &c. during the Late War. Baltimore: E.L. Carey & A. Hart
Maryland Historical Trust (n.d.). https://mdhistoricaltrust.wordpress.com/tag/war-of-1812/
Maryland Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, and others unlawfully Held in Bondage. (July 4, 1791). “Oration Upon The Moral and Political Evil of Slavery”. University of Michigan: Evans Early American Imprint Collection
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