Overview Section on Cuba

Cuba, an African woman, was being held under house detention in Jamaica Plain in fall 1777 when she filed this petition for her freedom. [1]

State of the Massachusetts Bay - To the Honorable Council for said State now Sitting in Boston in the same State - Most Humbly showeth

Massachusetts Archives Collection, v. 168 pp. 31-32. Petition of Cuba, November 21, 1777. SC1/series 45X. Massachusetts Archives. Boston, Massachusetts.

Cuba a Negro woman of about Twenty five Years of Age who was taken on the high Seas in the Weymouth Packet by the Oliver Cromwell Sloop of War Commanded by Capt Harden and brought into Boston, that she is rejoiced She is in this Land of Liberty where she hopes to Spend her life in Comfort and Freedom, That however the officers of the Oliver Cromwell want to make her their own property and, the Lieu’t (one Chapman) of the s’d Ship, after abusing the Council and all Concerned for her in a most Scurrilous manner Swore that he did not Believe God ever made a Negro and that in Spite of all Courts and Persons whatsoever he would have her Sold as a Slave and Sent to Jamaica next week in Consequence of which She is confined at a House on Jamaica Plains in this State & as that she is scarcely Permitted to see or speak to any Person whatsoever, Your distressed Petitioner therefore in the most humble manner Fly’s to Your Honors for Relief, and earnestly Prays that you would be pleased in your great goodness to Commisurate her deplorable Case by Ordering that She should be Considered and treated as being within the true Intent and meaning of the Act of the Hon General Court of this State September 16, 1776 respecting Negro’s taken on the high Seas and brought in here as therein expressed.

And your unhappy Petitioner as in Duty Bound shall Ever Pray

her
Cuba X
Mark

Boston Nov. 21, 1777

The petition brings many questions to mind.

How Did Cuba End Up in Jamaica Plain?
Cuba had been a passenger aboard the British packet ship Weymouth [2,3] bound from Jamaica to London when it was captured by the Connecticut Navy Ship Oliver Cromwell on July 28, 1777 during the American Revolutionary War. Was Cuba traveling as an enslaved person or was she a free African from either Jamaica or Britain?

Although packet ships were meant to carry mail and passengers, Captain Seth Harding of the Connecticut Navy who captured the Weymouth described her in a Sept. 5, 1777 letter to Governor Jonathan Trumbull as a “Sloop of War in the English Navy, … mounting 14 Guns… completely fitted in every Respect for War.” This description would prove critical to Cuba’s future. Harding also noted there were a number of passengers on board and proposed to send them as prisoners to Boston by land.[4]

Subsequent correspondence between Boston officials and Gov. Trumbull shows that by September 10, 1777, the passengers, likely Cuba among them, had been transported from the Kennebeck River by land to Boston and that the two ships had arrived in Boston harbor. Gov. Trumbull requested the Bostonians to treat the prisoners “with Humanity & Tenderness & with that Attention & Complaisance their Stations and Conduct shall appear to merit.” [4] What might her “station” portend for Cuba as an African woman?

Over the next month, a prisoner exchange was worked out and on October 17, 1777, the Connecticut Gazette reported, “50 Seamen, taken in the Weymouth Packet … were put on Board a Flag of Truce which sailed for New-York, to be exchanged for a like Number of our Men.”[5]

However, Cuba was not among those prisoners. She remained detained in a house in Jamaica Plain, unable to leave or to speak with visitors. Captain Harding had become ill upon disembarking in Boston and, in his absence, Lt. Chapman had taken charge. Cuba’s petition quoted Chapman’s racist comments and his stated intention to sell her into slavery in Jamaica.

Could Lt. Chapman Sell Cuba into Slavery?
Yes, the Continental Congress established rules for the division of prizes for both the Continental and state navies. After an American vessel took a prize ship like the Weymouth, it would be brought back to port and submitted to the admiralty court to judge whether it was a lawful prize. If so, then the ship and its contents – including, in this case, the Weymouth passenger Cuba, an African woman – would be sold.

For merchant vessels, two-thirds went to the Congress or the state, and one-third went to the captors (owner and crew). But for ships of war, each side received half. The money was then further divided into shares among the crew according to the ship’s articles. This was the system Connecticut and the crew of the Oliver Cromwell would have used.[6]

So, while Cuba was detained in Jamaica Plain, a legal battle ensued over the status of the Weymouth to determine if it was a “Vessel of War” as defined by a Congressional resolution of October 30, 1776.

A Boston trial jury on October 29, 1777 returned a verdict in favor of the captors determining that the Weymouth was a “Vessel of War.” [7] With this verdict, it seemed that Chapman and the crew of the Oliver Cromwell were on a path to sell Cuba into slavery.

Cuba in Jamaica Plain
Where in Jamaica Plain was Cuba being held? Any of the residents of Jamaica Plain might have made their homes available as a place of detention, especially if money were being offered in exchange. Very few American prisons existed at the time, and private homes were often used to house prisoners. For example, in 1776-7 Congress sent captured British and Hessian troops to American towns and ordered local officials to hold them under strict parole. Towns unable to erect barracks for prisoners were forced to house them in community churches and citizens’ homes.[8]

How did Cuba, who signed her name with an “X” and was under house detention, obtain assistance to file her petition for freedom? How did she learn about a 1776 ruling of the Massachusetts Maritime Court that prevented the “Sale of two Negro’s taken on the high Seas”?

In 1777, Jamaica Plain was a small closely-knit rural community. Most of the residents attended the church on Centre and South Streets led by Rev. William Gordon, who had spoken out against slavery, including in a letter in May 1777 to Boston newspapers.[9] News of Cuba’s house detention must have traveled within the community, and someone found a way to assist her.

Cuba Files Her Petition …
Cuba filed her petition on November 21, 1777. Her argument was based on a September 16, 1776 Massachusetts Court “Resolve Forbidding the Sale of Negro Captives” that stated, “And that whenever it shall happen, that any Negroes are taken on the High Seas, and brought as prisoners into this State, they shall not be allowed to be sold, nor treated any otherways than as prisoners are ordered to be treated, who are taken in like manner.”[10]

… And Wins
On December 3, 1777, the Massachusetts Council ruled on Cuba’s behalf: [1]

Petition 899 of Cuba a Negro Woman order thereon December 3, 1777

In Council Dec. 3, 1777 Read and Ordered that the Secretary be directed to furnish the Petitioner with a Copy of Resolve for a passed the General Court Septem. 14, 1776 relative to the Prevention of the Sale of two Negroes taken on the high Seas and the Judge of the Maritime Court certify that the said Negro woman comes within the meaning of & intent of the aforesaid Resolve.

(signed) Jn Avery Dp’ty Secty

Cuba was now a free woman in the “Land of Liberty” she cited in her petition. Presumably, she left the site of her captivity in Jamaica Plain and moved on to fulfill the goal of her petition “to Spend her life in Comfort and Freedom.”

Note on the Authors: Hidden Jamaica Plain
Note on Terminology

Cuba’s story is also featured in the overview article about Slavery in Jamaica Plain

Notes

[1] Original held by the Massachusetts Archives Collection. v.168-Revolution Council Papers, 1777-1778. SC1/series 45X, Petition of Cuba, https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:50257729$2i. The transcription is available in Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Volume 10 https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/publications/naval-documents-of-the-american-revolution/NDARVolume10.pdf

[2] History of Maritime Connecticut During the American Revolution, VOLUME I, 1773-1783, By Louis F. Middlebrook, Salem. Massachusetts, The Essex Institute, 1925, pp. 80-87, 98-103, 116-117 https://www.langeonline.com/Heritage/Maritimehistory.htm

[3] British Merchant Packet Weymouth 1775
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=28717

[4] Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Volume 9
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/publications/naval-documents-of-the-american-revolution/NDARVolume9.pdf

[5] Connecticut Gazette (1777) XIV(727), 17 Oct, p. [3], (online NewsBank).

[6] Samuel Smedley and Prize Division, by Jackson Kuhl, Journal of the American Revolution
https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/08/samuel-smedley-and-prize-division/

[7] Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Volume 10
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/publications/naval-documents-of-the-american-revolution/NDARVolume10.pdf

[8] Prisoners of War in the American Revolutionary War, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_of_war_in_the_American_Revolutionary_War#:~:text=Instead%2C%20Congress%20sent%20most%20British,no%20say%20in%20the%20matter.

[9] William Gordon letter to the Independent Chronicle, May 12, 1777

[10] “Resolve Forbidding the Sale of Negro Captives,” Legislative Records of the Council XXXV, 251, Mass. Archives CCXV, 95 and Mass Archives CXXXVII, 81; CCXV, 96 Legislative Reocrds of the Council XXIV, 847, House journal, pp. 105, 106, 109. Province Laws V. 701, notes

Cuba: Petitioner for Freedom