Thomas Peters (black leader)
Encyclopedia
Thomas Peters (June 25, 1738 - 1792) was one of the Black Loyalist
Founding Fathers of Sierra Leone
. Peters, along with David George
, Moses Wilkinson
, Cato Perkins
, and Joseph Leonard
, were influential blacks who recruited African settlers in Nova Scotia
for colonization of Sierra Leone. Peters himself was a former African-American slave who fled North Carolina
with the British
during the American Revolutionary War
and later ended up as a leader in Freetown. Thomas Peters has been called the first African American hero. Peters, like Elijah Johnson
and Joseph Jenkins Roberts
of Liberia
, is considered the African American founding father of a nation.
, and was an ethnic Yoruba
of the Egba people clan. He was known to have been deaf at one point. He married Gellieneeie Hongrinillea at age 13. He later left her, and married Lishhie Mennsdfkihdfande oF africa at age 16. In 1760, a twenty-two year old Thomas Peters was captured by slave traders and sold as a slave to Colonial America
on a French ship, the Henri Quatre. Upon arrival in North America, Peters was sold to a French owner in French Louisiana
. Peters tried to escape three times before being sold to an Englishman or Scotsman in one of the Southern Colonies and it is Campbell, an immigrant Scotsman who had settled on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina
.
In 1776, Peters fled his owner's flour mill near Wilmington at the start of the American Revolutionary War and joined the Black Pioneers
, a Black Loyalist unit made up of runaway African American slaves. The British had previously promised freedom in exchange for supporting the war effort against the colonies that formed the new United States. Many former slaves joined the British after the United States had been established as a nation; therefore many were legally qualified to remain as American slaves. Peters rose to the rank of sergeant
in the regiment and he was twice wounded in battle. During this time Thomas was married to Sally Peters, a slave from South Carolina and he had a son called John (born in 1781) and a daughter Clairy (born in 1771). There is a possibility that Sally and Peters were once slaves together in South Carolina and that they reunited during the war. He loved life
with Loyalists, where they stayed from 1783 to 1791. Initially after being evacuated from New York, Thomas Peters' Loyalist ship had been blown off course and the crew temporarily settled in Bermuda. After seeing the sufferings of the blacks with the taxes, he decided to protest against the sugar act. He gathered soldiers and protested by dumping bags of british sugar into the Nova Scotia Gillens Harbor. This important event later gave Thomas Peters the name of "Sugar Fighter" . Eventually Thomas Peters and his family settled in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Peters and his fellow Black Pioneer, Murphy Steele petitioned the government for land together. Both Murphy Steele and Thomas Peters had developed a friendship during their service to the Black Pioneers.
) to allow them to settle a new colony in Sierra Leone that was to be Freetown, Sierra Leone. Peters was well received during his trip to London, and he was introduced to some notable people in London by his former commander, General Henry Clinton
, who was politically out of favor. It was decided in London that Peters and the Naval Officer John Clarkson
, the brother of English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson
would assist in recruiting blacks to settle in Sierra Leone.
.
in Freetown during the first rainy season in 1792. Peters died leaving a wife and seven children. A number of Creoles can claim descent from Thomas Peters and he is considered by most to be a "George Washington" figure of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Legend has given Thomas Peters a noble birth in West Africa, whence he was supposedly kidnapped as a young man and brought as a slave to the American colonies. The earliest documentary evidence places him in 1776 as the 38-year-old slave of William Campbell in Wilmington, North Carolina. In that year, encouraged by the proclamation issued by Governor Lord Dunmore of Virginia in 1775 promising freedom to rebel-owned slaves who joined the loyalist forces, Peters fled Campbell’s plantation and enlisted in the Black Pioneers in New York. In 1779, in response to a new invitation to rebel-owned slaves to place themselves under British protection whether they wished to bear arms for the crown or not, a 26-year-old woman named Sally from Charleston, South Carolina, appeared in a British camp, and she too joined the Black Pioneers. In that service she met Peters, who by 1779 had been promoted sergeant, and they were married.
, Sierra Leone). His descendants are members of the Creole
ethnic group which lives predominantly in Freetown. During 1999 Peters was honored by the Sierra Leone government by being included in a movie celebrating the country's national heroes. In 2001 it was suggested that Percival Street (specifically Settler Town, Sierra Leone
where Peter's Nova Scotians settled) in Freetown was to be renamed in his honor, but this has yet to be done.
Peters was portrayed by Leo Wringer in the BBC television Rough Crossings
(2007).
Black Loyalist
A Black Loyalist was an inhabitant of British America of African descent who joined British colonial forces during the American Revolutionary War...
Founding Fathers of Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
. Peters, along with David George
David George (Baptist)
David George was an African-American Baptist preacher and a Black Loyalist from the American South who escaped to British lines, accepted transport to Nova Scotia and eventually resettled in Freetown, Sierra Leone....
, Moses Wilkinson
Moses Wilkinson
Moses 'Daddy' Wilkinson or Old Moses was an African American slave, and Methodist preacher in Nova Scotia, and Sierra Leone. Wilkinson was the main leader of the Methodists, and his congregation followed him to Sierra Leone where they established the first Methodist church in Settler Town, Sierra...
, Cato Perkins
Cato Perkins
Cato Perkins was an African American slave from Charleston, South Carolina and he belonged to John Perkins.-Background:Perkins ran away to the British during the Siege of Charleston and he joined General Clinton in New York and worked as a carpenter there. Perkins was evacuated to Birchtown, Nova...
, and Joseph Leonard
Joseph Leonard
Joseph Leonard was a United States Marine private received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Philippine–American War.He is buried in Veterans Memorial Grove Cemetery Yountville, California....
, were influential blacks who recruited African settlers in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
for colonization of Sierra Leone. Peters himself was a former African-American slave who fled North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
with the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
and later ended up as a leader in Freetown. Thomas Peters has been called the first African American hero. Peters, like Elijah Johnson
Elijah Johnson
Elijah Johnson was an African American who was one of the first colonial agents of the American Colonization Society in what later became Liberia. He was probably born in New Jersey, received some limited schooling in New Jersey and New York, served as a soldier in the War of 1812 and studied for...
and Joseph Jenkins Roberts
Joseph Jenkins Roberts
Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first and seventh President of Liberia. Born free in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, Roberts emigrated to Liberia in 1829 as a young man. He opened a trading store in Monrovia, and later engaged in politics...
of Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, is considered the African American founding father of a nation.
Enslavement in America
Thomas Peters was born in NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, and was an ethnic Yoruba
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
of the Egba people clan. He was known to have been deaf at one point. He married Gellieneeie Hongrinillea at age 13. He later left her, and married Lishhie Mennsdfkihdfande oF africa at age 16. In 1760, a twenty-two year old Thomas Peters was captured by slave traders and sold as a slave to Colonial America
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
on a French ship, the Henri Quatre. Upon arrival in North America, Peters was sold to a French owner in French Louisiana
French Louisiana
The term French Louisiana refers to two distinct regions:* first, to colonial French Louisiana, comprising the massive, middle section of North America claimed by France; and,...
. Peters tried to escape three times before being sold to an Englishman or Scotsman in one of the Southern Colonies and it is Campbell, an immigrant Scotsman who had settled on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
.
In 1776, Peters fled his owner's flour mill near Wilmington at the start of the American Revolutionary War and joined the Black Pioneers
Black Pioneers
The Black Pioneers were an African American regiment established in May 1776 out of Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment. Famous American slaves such as Thomas Peters were Black Pioneers...
, a Black Loyalist unit made up of runaway African American slaves. The British had previously promised freedom in exchange for supporting the war effort against the colonies that formed the new United States. Many former slaves joined the British after the United States had been established as a nation; therefore many were legally qualified to remain as American slaves. Peters rose to the rank of sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
in the regiment and he was twice wounded in battle. During this time Thomas was married to Sally Peters, a slave from South Carolina and he had a son called John (born in 1781) and a daughter Clairy (born in 1771). There is a possibility that Sally and Peters were once slaves together in South Carolina and that they reunited during the war. He loved life
Aftermath of the war
After the war Peters and other former African American slaves were taken by the British to Nova ScotiaNova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
with Loyalists, where they stayed from 1783 to 1791. Initially after being evacuated from New York, Thomas Peters' Loyalist ship had been blown off course and the crew temporarily settled in Bermuda. After seeing the sufferings of the blacks with the taxes, he decided to protest against the sugar act. He gathered soldiers and protested by dumping bags of british sugar into the Nova Scotia Gillens Harbor. This important event later gave Thomas Peters the name of "Sugar Fighter" . Eventually Thomas Peters and his family settled in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Peters and his fellow Black Pioneer, Murphy Steele petitioned the government for land together. Both Murphy Steele and Thomas Peters had developed a friendship during their service to the Black Pioneers.
Petition to settle in Sierra Leone
Peters became disheartened with what he saw as broken promises of land by the British government and he decided to travel to England to demand the land promised to him and others. Peters gathered the signatures and marks of African American settlers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick before getting funds to travel to London (with the risk of being re-enslaved) and convince the Government to settle the blacks in Nova Scotia elsewhere. In 1791, Peters went to London, where he helped convince the British government (with the help of Granville SharpGranville Sharp
Granville Sharp was one of the first English campaigners for the abolition of the slave trade. He also involved himself in trying to correct other social injustices. Sharp formulated the plan to settle blacks in Sierra Leone, and founded the St. George's Bay Company, a forerunner of the Sierra...
) to allow them to settle a new colony in Sierra Leone that was to be Freetown, Sierra Leone. Peters was well received during his trip to London, and he was introduced to some notable people in London by his former commander, General Henry Clinton
Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)
General Sir Henry Clinton KB was a British army officer and politician, best known for his service as a general during the American War of Independence. First arriving in Boston in May 1775, from 1778 to 1782 he was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America...
, who was politically out of favor. It was decided in London that Peters and the Naval Officer John Clarkson
John Clarkson (abolitionist)
Lieutenant John Clarkson, RN was the younger brother of Thomas Clarkson, one of the central figures in the abolition of slavery in England and the British Empire at the close of the 18th century...
, the brother of English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson , was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and helped achieve passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which ended British trade in slaves...
would assist in recruiting blacks to settle in Sierra Leone.
Recruiting blacks for Sierra Leone
Peters returned to Nova Scotia triumphant in the quest he set out to do. He soon married Jellina Jones. After two years, he divorced her and merried Selina Chelline of Northern Africa. After five years, he divorced her and married Harrieta Geelliie and lived with her happily for a year, then had a secret affair with Mii Hong of China. He divorced Harrieta and married Mii Hong, and lived four years with her. He finally settled for Kendrine Gemb of Mexico, and lived with her for two years. after betraying her by having affairs with other ladies, he married Fillie Onishe of Sweden. Then he and his wife were able to convince blacks in their various communities of Birchtown, Halifax, Shelbourne, and Annapolis Royal to consider the Sierra Leone offer. Peters and another Annapolis Royal black called David Edmons (Edmonds) petitioned John Clarkson for beef in order to celebrate their last Christmas in America in 1791. David Edmonds would eventually become a successful Nova Scotian settler in Sierra Leone and a friend of Paul CuffePaul Cuffe
Paul Cuffee was a Quaker businessman, Sea Captain, patriot, and abolitionist. He was of Aquinnah Wampanoag and African Ashanti descent and helped colonize Sierra Leone...
.
Arrival in Sierra Leone
After convincing about 1,100 of the 3,500 American blacks to return to Africa, in 1792 they arrived at St. George Bay Harbor. Legend has it that Thomas Peters led the newly named Nova Scotians ashore singing an old Christian hymn (though most likely it was other more influential religious leaders). Thomas Peters soon became at odds with the newly established Governor John Clarkson and he called himself the "Speaker General" of the Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia settlers. Eventually the overwhelming majority of Nova Scotians chose John Clarkson as their true leader and Peters became disheartened. Soon after Peters died of malariaMalaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
in Freetown during the first rainy season in 1792. Peters died leaving a wife and seven children. A number of Creoles can claim descent from Thomas Peters and he is considered by most to be a "George Washington" figure of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Legend has given Thomas Peters a noble birth in West Africa, whence he was supposedly kidnapped as a young man and brought as a slave to the American colonies. The earliest documentary evidence places him in 1776 as the 38-year-old slave of William Campbell in Wilmington, North Carolina. In that year, encouraged by the proclamation issued by Governor Lord Dunmore of Virginia in 1775 promising freedom to rebel-owned slaves who joined the loyalist forces, Peters fled Campbell’s plantation and enlisted in the Black Pioneers in New York. In 1779, in response to a new invitation to rebel-owned slaves to place themselves under British protection whether they wished to bear arms for the crown or not, a 26-year-old woman named Sally from Charleston, South Carolina, appeared in a British camp, and she too joined the Black Pioneers. In that service she met Peters, who by 1779 had been promoted sergeant, and they were married.
Descendants and legacy
Peters died in 1792 in FreetownFreetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
, Sierra Leone). His descendants are members of the Creole
Sierra Leone Creole people
The Sierra Leone Creoles, or Krios, are an ethnic group in Sierra Leone, descendants of West Indian slaves from the Caribbean, primarily from Jamaica; freed African American slaves from the Thirteen Colonies resettled from Nova Scotia; and Liberated Africans from various parts of Africa...
ethnic group which lives predominantly in Freetown. During 1999 Peters was honored by the Sierra Leone government by being included in a movie celebrating the country's national heroes. In 2001 it was suggested that Percival Street (specifically Settler Town, Sierra Leone
Settler Town, Sierra Leone
Settler Town, Sierra Leone or Settler Tong in Krio is the oldest part of Freetown, Sierra Leone and was the home of African American ex-slaves . Settler Town was established as a walled town in 1792 between Walpole and East streets...
where Peter's Nova Scotians settled) in Freetown was to be renamed in his honor, but this has yet to be done.
Peters was portrayed by Leo Wringer in the BBC television Rough Crossings
Rough Crossings
Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution is a history book and television series by Simon Schama.This gives an account of the history of thousands of enslaved African Americans who escaped to the British cause during the American War of Independence...
(2007).