The enslaved population at Mount Vernon resisted slavery in a variety of ways, differing in intensity and methodology. Resistance included seeking to self-emancipate by running away, theft, and not complying with the demands of overseers. However, it also includes “passive” resistance, or were actions such as feigning illness, working slowly, producing lesser work, and misplacing or damaging tools and equipment. Resistance among the enslaved at Mount Vernon is in some instances documented by George Washington, or by various farm managers and overseers as they sought to control the enslaved population there.
Among the less obvious and common methods of resistance was “passive” resistance. By creating situations that required less physical labor, enslaved people could rest, not exert themselves as much physically, or protest the exploitation of their labor altogether. The major advantage of these seemingly "passive" tactics was that they were often difficult for George Washington and his managers to observe and prove. Further, almost any enslaved person, regardless of age or physical ability, could utilize these methods of protest. In this instance, resistance is seen as enslaved people seeking agency, or aspects of control in their daily lives.
Alternatively, resistance could also be more active and noticeable actions such as theft, arson, sabotage of crops, and running away. These acts carried a far greater risk of detection and punishment. Theft was one of the most frequently mentioned acts of visible resistance in George Washington's personal papers. Over the years, enslaved workers at Mount Vernon were accused of stealing a wide variety of objects, including tools, fabrics, yams, raw wool, wine, rum, milk, butter, fruits, meats, corn, and potatoes. Farm manager Anthony Whitting informed Washington that he suspected enslaved people stole cloth, but that whoever stole it “Could not mend his Cloaths with without a discovery,” meaning they likely stole in order to repair their own clothing.1 Often, enslaved people committed theft as a means to supplement diets and provisions provided to them by their enslaver.
Enslaved people also utilized running away and escape as a means to resist forced servitude. At least 47 enslaved people tried to run away from Mount Vernon or other lands belonging to Washington during his lifetime (about 7% of the total population). Most runaways were young men, but women tried to escape too. The majority left alone, but some fled in groups. The largest flight occurred in April of 1781. Seventeen people—Lucy, Ester, Deborah, Peter, Lewis, Frank, Fredrick, Harry Washington, Tom, Sambo, Thomas, Peter, Stephen, James, Wally, Daniel, and Gunner—escaped Mount Vernon while the British warship H. M. S. Savage anchored in the Potomac off the shore of the plantation.2 Like many enslaved people during the American Revolution, they sought freedom by crossing to British lines.
At least three of the people who attempted to escape from the Washington family in Washington’s life time worked very closely with the Washington family. Christopher Sheels worked as George Washington's personal valet, and he made plans to escape in 1799 but was found out and unable to do so.3 Hercules who worked as a cook ran away on February 22, 1797, and Washington was unable to locate him.4 Lastly, Ona Judge, the personal maid of Martha Washington, left the executive mansion in Philadelphia on May 21, 1796, and despite repeated attempts by the Washingtons could not be convinced to return to Mount Vernon and once again be enslaved.5
Those enslaved by the Washington and Custis families at Mount Vernon resisted enslavement, sometimes at great risk. They faced repercussions such relocation from a more desired work assignment, physical punishment, and possibly sale away from their family and community. While some of their resistance is evidenced in the historic record, the day-to-day resistance among those enslaved at Mount Vernon was vast.
Mary V. Thompson Research Historian George Washington's Mount Vernon, updated Zoie Horecny, Ph.D, 14 May 2025
Notes:
1. “To George Washington from Anthony Whitting, 22 January 1792,” Founders Online, National Archives.
2. “From George Washington to Lund Washington, 30 April 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives.
3. “From George Washington to Roger West, 19 September 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives.
4. “From George Washington to Frederick Kitt, 10 January 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives.
5. “From George Washington to Joseph Whipple, 28 November 1796,” Founders Online, National Archives.
Bibliography:
Franklin, John Hope and Loren Schweniger, Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Berlin, Ira. Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Genovese, Eugene. Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made. New York: Vintage Books, 1976.
MacLeod, Jessie, Mary V. Thompson. Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Mount Version Ladies Association, 2016.
Morgan, Philip D. “‘To Get Quit of Negroes’: George Washington and Slavery.” Journal of American Studies, 39, no. 3 (December 2005): 403-29.
Mullin, Gerald W. Flight and Rebellion: Slave Resistance in Eighteenth-Century Virginia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972.
Schoelwer, Susan P., ed. Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington's Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, VA: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 2016.
Scott, James C. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. Yale University Press, 1985.
Thompson, Mary V. “The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret”: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2019.
