Hercules Escaped On His Enslaver’s Birthday!

Hercules was born around 1750 in Virginia. He was originally owned by one of President George Washington’s neighbors. When that neighbor couldn’t afford to pay his mortgage, a lot of his property was given to Washington, who he owed money to. Hercules was on the list of property given away.

Hercules started out as the ferry operator then became a cook for the Washingtons around 1786. Everybody loved his cooking. Martha Washington’s grandson wrote in his book that Hercules was “a celebrated artiste… as highly accomplished a proficient in the culinary art as could be found in the United States.” He also wrote that Hercules was “dandy,” meaning he had style, which aligns with stories of him walking through town in fancy clothes and a golden cane. He was also described as having “great muscular power” and a “master spirit, “whose “underlings flew to his command.”

Although Hercules was enslaved and wasn’t free to make his own decisions, he was considered privileged compared to other enslaved people. He got paid, he was also allowed to sell dinners, and he could roam the town after his job was done. I often wonder if he was cool with James Hemings, the enslaved chef who cooked for President Thomas Jefferson. After all, they did the same kind of work for the same kind of folk around the same time and in the same place (in Philly).

In 1796, Washington moved to Philadelphia which was temporarily the nation’s capital. Slavery was illegal in Pennsylvania then—unless you were from out of town. If you were from out of town, you could own people for six consecutive months then they were freed. So, when it was getting close to six months, Washington sent the Black people he owned back to Virginia for awhile to reset the clock. 

A few months later, on February 22, 1797, which was Washington’s 65th birthday, Hercules ran away. He emancipated himself. White folk couldn’t understand why he would want to run away. I’m sure some Black folk were thinking the same thing too. He’s paid so well, treated so well, why would he want to leave? For a lot of us, freedom weighs heavier than finances. That was surely the case for Hercules too.

No one is for sure where he went or what he did after he left, although some researchers believe that he went to New York City. He had to leave his family behind. He’d got married around 1775 to a woman named Alice who was owned by a neighboring plantation. They had three children together, and Alice died when their youngest child was only two years old. So, when he self-emancipated, he left his children behind. Good news is: He was never caught.