Volume 13, Issue 02
The PEACEKEEPER
Page 19
Library Computer
RADM
Thomas
Pawelczak
Security
&
Morale Officer
RUNAWAY CANADIAN SLAVES. Although the
role of runaway slaves in the Chesapeake during
the War of 1812 is well known, what is never
men oned is that runaway slaves from Canada
probably fought for the United States during the
conflict. Upper Canada prohibited the importa‐
on of slaves in 1793 and provided for the gradu‐
al emancipa on of the children of slaves. But the
ins tu on lingered on un l it was finally abol‐
ished in all Bri sh colonies in 1833.
A number of Canadian slaves, some of
whom belonged to Bri sh Indian agent Ma hew
Ellio , slipped across the Detroit River in 1806 and se led in Michigan. Although the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery in Michigan, a confusing welter of
French, Bri sh, and American laws and trea es permi ed those who already owned
slaves to keep them, and the census of 1810 showed that there were s ll 24 slaves living
in the territory. Nevertheless, Governor William Hull refused Canadian pleas to return
the runaways, and territorial judge Augustus B. Woodward ruled against Canadian suits
to force their return. The former slaves therefore remained in the United States as free
men.
Hull treated all runaways as U.S. ci zens and even included them in a black mili a
company that he organized in 1806. Although Hull disbanded this company before the
war, some of the runaways probably served in volunteer mili a units that fought on the
Detroit fron er in 1812‐13. In addi on, Hull in 1812 gave three blacks commissions in
the U.S. Army. One or more of these men may have been former Canadian slaves who
had severed in the disbanded Michigan mili a unit.