To James Madison from Rawleigh W. Downman, [ca. 1 August 1815]
From Rawleigh W. Downman
[ca. 1 August 1815]
The Memorial of Rawleigh William Downman of the county of Lancaster & State of Virginia most respectfully represents that some time in the month of December 1814 whilst the enemy’s vessels were up the Rappahannock, a flag was sent by Capt. Barrie, the Senior officer of their flotilla, to procure the release of a surgeons assistant who had been made a prisoner. Capt. Barrie addressed a letter to the Officer commanding the U.S. forces who at that time was Lt. Col. John Chowning jr. of the 92. Regt. Va. Ma. The original letter written by Capt. Barrie with a copy of Colo: Chowning’s answer your memorialist has obtained and herewith submits, marked A. & B.1
The flag vessel received on board and carried off eleven of your memorialists slaves. A list of which shewing their sex, age, occupation and value is hereto annexed marked C.2
Your memorialist made this representation to Lieut. Col. Chowning and obtained from him a flag to apply for the restoration of these slaves. The Letter of Colo. Chowning to Capt. Barrie is hereto annexed marked D.3 the subject matter whereof fully explains the case of your memorialist and to which he begs leave particularly to call the attention of the Government. To support the facts stated in this letter your memorialist caused the affidavits of Leonard Stamper and James Ball & Fanny his wife to be taken which he herewith submits marked E.4
Your memorialist represents that before a vessel could be procured to bear the flag he had obtained, the enemy’s vessels had left the Chesapeake, and his only prospect of being redressed is by an application to the constituted authorities of his country.
He confidently trusts that his case will Receive such consideration as the honour of the United States and his interests require and that proper measures will be adopted to obtain for him full compensation for his loss of property.5
RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 76, Preliminary Inventory 177, entry 190, Great Britain, Treaty of 1814, Domestic Claims, Case Files, box 5, case 325); Tr and Tr of enclosures (MHi: Adams Papers). RC bears JM’s penciled note: “This a strong case. Mr. Adams may use it not only separately but if negociations be pending connect it with the argument for a general provision. ⟨It⟩ ⟨wd⟩ be well to acknowlege the rect of the memorial, with an intimation that it will be sent to London and to suggest to Downman, the propriety of his collecting further testimony if he can of the fact that the negroes were carr⟨ie⟩d off in the flag of Truce.” Undated; conjectural date assigned based on evidence in nn. 2 and 5. For enclosures, see nn. 1–4.
1. Capt. Robert Barrie’s 6 Dec. 1814 letter to Chowning (2 pp.) stated that he was sending a flag of truce with clothing for the lieutenant of the British ship Havana, who had been taken prisoner the previous day by American forces. Barrie also requested the release of “Mr Jeffery Surgeon’s assistant,” who had been captured at the same time, citing a cartel agreement between the United States and Great Britain to the effect that persons of “that class” were not to be held as prisoners of war. He added that he would be happy to exchange “several American Prisoners” held by him for “any British subjects” Chowning could produce, “on the principle of man for man.” The enclosed copy of Chowning’s 6 Dec. 1814 reply (1 p.) stated that the clothes would be sent to the lieutenant, that Jeffery would be returned to the ship, and that Chowning did “not feel authorized” to pursue an exchange of prisoners.
2. The enclosed list of slaves “taken … on the 9th. of December 1814 by a British flag Vessel, during a truce” (1 p.) named the men Daniel, age 41, value $333; Robin, 39, value $400; Abel, 36, value $400; Joe, 36, value $500; Charles, 26, value $500; Nassau, 27, value $500; Andrew, 25, value $500; and Ben, 24, value $500; the women Nell, 39, value $250; and Alice, 19, value $300; and the infant Cyrus, age three months, value $80. The total value of the slaves was listed as $4,263. An asterisk was placed by Nassau’s name, with the corresponding note below the list: “The man Nassau returned having excaped from Bermuda.” At the bottom of the page, a 13 July 1815 affidavit, signed by Chowning in his capacity as Lancaster County justice of the peace, stated that Joseph B. Downman had sworn before him to the accuracy of the list.
3. The enclosed copy of Chowning to Barrie, dated December 1814 and addressed to Barrie “on board HM.S. Dragon” (3 pp.; Tr dated 20 Dec. 1814), stated that “on the morning of the 8th. Inst.” the British flag vessel Franklin “sent a barge to the shore and took on board Eleven slaves the property of Rawleigh W. Downman Esquire,” then sailed down the Rappahannock, unmolested because still under the flag of truce, and picked up Jeffery the next morning at Windmill Point, where Chowning had agreed to deliver him. Asserting that it was not “just or according to the usages of war” for the Franklin “to commit an act of hostility against the United States by seizing and carrying away the property of one of its Citizens” under a flag of truce, especially since U.S. forces had scrupulously observed the truce and the surgeon’s assistant had been freed as requested, Chowning demanded that the slaves be returned.
4. Leonard Stamper’s 22 Dec. 1814 affidavit (1 p.), sworn before Lancaster County justice of the peace John Carpenter, stated that on the morning of 8 Dec. 1814, he had seen a barge and a canoe leave a British schooner that was flying a white flag; that the barge “came to the shore & took from the farm of … Rawleigh W. Downman several slaves … Viz: eight men, two Women & a child, & carried them on board the said Schooner, which very soon after sailed down the River.” Stamper recognized the slaves because he was “well acquainted with all” of them, having “lived in the family of … Downman … for several years last past.” James and Fanny Ball’s affidavit of the same date, also sworn before Carpenter (1 p.), corroborated Stamper’s report.
5. On 21 Aug. 1815 Stephen Pleasonton wrote to John Quincy Adams in London: “The President has directed me, in the absence of the Secretary of State, to forward to you the inclosed memorial of Raleigh W. Downman and the accompanying documents. He wishes you, if a negotiation be pending, to connect this case with others heretofore transmitted of a similar nature, with a view to a general provision. Should that not be the case you will urge it specially, on its own merits, and in the manner best calculated to give it effect” (MHi: Adams Papers [microfilm ed.], reel 160).