Saul Matthews was an enslaved
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
who spied for the
Continental Army during
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. He spied on the British, obtaining valuable information for the
Patriots. As a result, Matthews was given his full freedom from slavery by the Virginia legislature in 1792: "In consideration of many very essential services rendered to this Commonwealth during the late war … full liberty and freedom … as if he was born free."
Slavery
Born in Virginia, Saul Mathews was enslaved by
Thomas Mathews
Thomas Mathews (October 16762 October 1751) was a British officer of the Royal Navy, who rose to the rank of admiral.
Mathews joined the navy in 1690 and saw service on a number of ships, including during the Nine Years' War and the War of the ...
.
American Revolutionary War
In 1781, General
Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...
and his troops captured Portsmouth, Virginia. Saul Matthews was under the command of Colonel Josiah Parker, who ordered Matthews to go into British camps and spy on them several times. Matthews always returned with much success and information, even though he was forced back into slavery for about ten years.
In 1792 he successfully petitioned the Virginia General Assembly for freedom again.
See also
*Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War
*Intelligence operations in the American Revolutionary War
References
African Americans in the American Revolution
People of Virginia in the American Revolution
18th-century American slaves
American spies during the American Revolution
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