Initially, blacks couldn’t have guns because whites feared they would revolt. But as fighting wore on—and the British recruited black soldiers—the Virginia Congress also let free blacks fight.
After the revolution, DeBaptist returned to the Rappahannock River. He operated a ferry between Falmouth and Fredericksburg.
His children were prosperous builders and businessmen, and his grandchildren were active in the abolitionist movement.
The family name is spelled in historical accounts with and without an “e” at the end.
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by clicking on the names below. |
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• Gabriel Prosser, inspired by the Bible |
• John J. Wright devoted leader, reader |
• Urbane Bass, city doctor |
• Sadie Combs, first teacher at Snell
• Philip Wyatt,
• Palmer Hayden,
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• Venus Jones, First black graduate of MWC |
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petitioning for change |
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Sources: "A Different Story" by Ruth Coder Fitzgerald; HistoryPoint.org of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library; The Free Lance-Star archives; State of Michigan Web site; African Within; The Kennedy Center; We Were Always Free By T.O. Madden Jr.; The Richmond Times-Dispatch; Life Magazine; Westmoreland County, Virginia. |
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