Hercules ("Herculas", "Uncle Harkless") was the head cook at George Washington's Virginia plantation Mount Vernon in the 1780s. In November 1790 he was brought to Philadelphia (then the national capital) to run the kitchen of the President's House. Most of what is known of him comes from Martha Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, whose posthumous memoirs were published in 1860.[1]
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Mount Vernon
Hercules probably was born around 1755, and either was the child of Washington's slaves or was purchased following Washington's 1759 marriage to the widow Martha Custis. Hercules took Alice, one of Martha Washington's "dower" slaves, as a wife, and they had 3 children: Richmond (born 1777), Evey (born 1782), and Delia (born 1785). Alice died in 1787.
Presidential Household
Hercules was one of 9 enslaved Africans to work in the Philadelphia presidential household. The others were: Richmond (his son), Oney Judge, Moll, Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Paris, and Joe (Richardson)[2]. G.W.P. Custis states that Hercules was "a celebrated artiste ... as highly accomplished a proficient in the culinary art as could be found in the United States." He was given the privilege of selling the extra food from the Philadelphia kitchen, which Custis estimates earned him over $100 a year.[3]
Pennsylvania had begun an abolition of slavery in 1780, and prohibited non-residents from holding slaves in the state longer than 6 months. If held beyond that period, the state's Gradual Abolition Act[4] gave slaves the legal power to free themselves.[5] Washington argued (privately) that his presence in Pennsylvania was solely a consequence of Philadelphia's being the temporary seat of the federal government, and that the state law should not apply to him. On the advice of his attorney general, Edmund Randolph, he systematically rotated the President's House slaves in and out of the state to prevent their establishing a 6-month continuous residency. This rotation was itself a violation of Pennsylvania law, but the President's actions were not challenged.[6]
Richmond worked alongside his father for about a year in the Philadelphia kitchen. After being returned to Virginia, he was implicated in a theft of money at Mount Vernon in November 1796. Washington concluded that the father and son were planning a joint escape.[7] Hercules escaped to freedom from Philadelphia in March 1797, but alone.[8]
Freedom for Some
Louis-Philippe, the future king of France, visited Mount Vernon in the spring of 1797. According to his April 5 diary entry:
The general's cook ran away, being now in Philadelphia, and left a little daughter of six at Mount Vernon. Beaudoin ventured that the little girl must be deeply upset that she would never see her father again; she answered, "Oh! Sir, I am very glad, because he is free now."[9]
Hercules was a Washington slave and, although he was never apprehended, 4 years after his escape he was freed under the terms of the former-President's will.[10] Because Hercules's wife Alice had been a "dower" slave, owned by the estate of Martha Washington's first husband, their children could not be freed by Washington's will. Instead, they were among the 153 "dowers" divided up by Martha Washington's four grandchildren following her 1802 death.
Legacy
A new building for the Liberty Bell opened in Philadelphia in 2003, which partially covers the footprint of the long-demolished President's House. The lawn in front of the Liberty Bell Center is to become a commemoration of the house and all it residents, including the enslaved Africans.
A portrait attributed to Gilbert Stuart, now at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain, may portray Hercules.[11]
References
- ^ Hercules biographical sketch at www.ushistory.org
- ^ Sarah, the wife of "Postilion Joe", and their children took the surname "Richardson" after being free under Washington's will. Joe was a dower slave, and was not freed.
- ^ Hercules biographical sketch at www.ushistory.org
- ^ Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act (1780)
- ^ Enslaved minors were legally freed, but required to work as indentured servants until they attained their majority.
- ^ By strict legal interpretation, a slave's residency could be terminated by spending 1 day outside the state. Slaveholders exploited this loophole until Pennsylvania eliminated it through a 1788 amendment to the Gradual Abolition Act. It was this amendment that Washington repeatedly violated. He was also careful never to spend 6 continuous months in Pennsylvania (which might be interpreted as establishing legal residency), arguing that he remained a citizen of Virginia, and subject to its laws regarding slavery.
- ^ Richmond biographical sketch at www.ushistory.org
- ^ "Hercules and Hemings: Presidents' Slave Chefs". http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18950467.
- ^ Louis-Philippe, Diary of My Travels in America, translation by Stephen Becker (New York: Delacorte Press, 1977), p. 32.
- ^ Washington's will
- ^ Hercules portrait?
External links
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