There is now living
in the borders of the town of Greenland, N.H., a runaway slave of Gen. Washington,
at present supported by the County of Rockingham. Her name at the time of her
elopement was ONA MARIA JUDGE. She is not able to give the year of her escape,
but says that she came from Philadelphia just after the close of Washington's
second term of the Presidency, which must fix it somewhere in the [early?] part
of the year 1797.
Being a waiting maid
of Mrs. Washington, she was not exposed to any peculiar hardships. If asked why
she did not remain in his service, she gives two reasons, first, that she
wanted to be free; secondly that she understood that after the decease of her
master and mistress, she was to become the property of a grand-daughter of
theirs, by name of Custis, and that she was determined never to be her slave.
Being asked how she
escaped, she replied substantially as follows, “Whilst they were packing up to
go to Virginia, I was packing to go, I didn't know where; for I knew that if I
went back to Virginia, I should never get my liberty. I had friends among the
colored people of Philadelphia, had my things carried there beforehand, and
left Washington's house while they were eating dinner.”
She came on board a
ship commanded by CAPT. JOHN BOLLES, and bound to Portsmouth, N.H. In relating
it, she added, "I never told his name till after he died, a few years
since, lest they should punish him for bringing me away. . . .”
Washington made two
attempts to recover her. First, he sent a man by the name of Bassett to
persuade her to return; but she resisted all the argument he employed for this
end. He told her they would set her free when she arrived at Mount Vernon, to
which she replied, “I am free now and choose to remain so.”
Finding all attempts
to seduce her to slavery again in this manner useless, Bassett was sent once
more by Washington, with orders to bring her and her infant child by force. The
messenger, being acquainted with Gov. [then Senator John] Langdon, then of
Portsmouth, took up lodgings with him, and disclosed to him the object of his
mission.
The good old
Governor. (to his honor be it spoken), must have possessed something of the
spirit of modern anti-slavery. He entertained Bassett very handsomely, and in
the meantime sent word to Mrs. Staines, to leave town before twelve o'clock at
night, which she did, retired to a place of concealment, and escaped the
clutches of the oppressor.
Shortly after this,
Washington died, and, said she, “they never troubled me any more after he was
gone. . . .
The facts here
related are known through this region, and may be relied on as substantially
correct. Probably they were not for years given to the public, through fear of
her recapture; but this reason no longer exists, since she is too old and
infirm to be of sufficient value to repay the expense of search.
Though a house
servant, she had no education, nor any valuable religious instruction; says she
never heard Washington pray, and does not believe that he was accustomed to.
"Mrs. Washington used to read prayers, but I don't call that
praying.["] Since her escape she has learned to read, trusts she has been
made "wise unto salvation," and is, I think, connected with a church
in Portsmouth.
When asked if she is
not sorry she left Washington, as she has labored so much harder since, than
before, her reply is, "No, I am free, and have, I trust been made a child
of God by the means.["]
Never shall I forget
the fire that kindled in her age-bedimmed eye, or the smile that played upon
her withered countenance, as I spake of the Redeemer in whom there is neither
"bond nor free," bowed with her at the mercy seat and commended her
to Him "who heareth prayer" and who regards "the poor and needy
when they cry," I felt that were it mine to choose, I would not exchange
her possessions, "rich in faith," and sustained, while tottering over
the grave, by "a hope full of immortality," for tall the glory and
renown of him whose slave she was.
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