Charles Stewart
He helped 13 enslaved take advantage of the Cochrane Proclamation and find freedom during the War of 1812.
Born around 1776
Charles Stewart was a 38-year-old skilled, enslaved man who was owned by Levin W. Ballard of Lower Marlboro in Calvert County ( Levin was the son of the man who owned Charles Ball). Stewart was valued by his owner at $500, because of his skill working as a rough cooper and carpenter.
He was married to an enslaved woman, Sarah Green. Sarah 38 was owned by Levin Ballard’s mother Elizabeth Wheeler Ballard. Charles and Sarah Stewart had five daughters Betty Stewart Coates 18, Eliza 10, Juliet 7, Jane 4, and Rebecca. The girls, like their mother, were owned by Elizabeth Ballard.
June 16, 1814, Charles Stewart escaped to British forces and their ships anchored off of Lower Marlboro in the Patuxent River. He was heeding British Admiral Cochrane’s Proclamation and their promise of freedom. However, he did not want to leave without his family. Accompanied by British officers, Charles returned to the home of Elizabeth Ballard in the evening. Together they helped 13 other enslaved escape, including Stewart’s family. The others who escaped are listed as: Phillis 22 and her child Famma 2, Eve,25, an excellent cook, Mary 19, a good weaver, and a Negro man (unnamed), plantation hand, 25.
Charles Stewart and his family boarded H.M.S. Loire, in the Patuxent River. Halifax, Nova Scotia records show that this ship carried the Stewart family to Nova Scotia. Stewart, his wife Sarah, and at least one of their children arrived in Nova Scotia according to the Halifax list which recorded a list of refugees that arrived in Halifax following the War of 1812. The Stewart family settled in the town of Hammonds Plain in Nova Scotia.
After the war, Maryland slaveholders filed reparation claims seeking compensation for the loss of their property, including slaves. The commission awarded Maryland slave owners $280 for each slave that ran off or were taken away by the British. Charles Stewart, who was a valuable rough cooper and carpenter, was worth more than the money that was paid out by the commission. Levin W. Ballard, acting for his mother Elizabeth Ballard, filed a claim with the Department of State. The commission awarded Elizabeth Ballard $3,640 for the loss of her thirteen slaves. This handwritten claim can be viewed online at the Maryland Archives site listed below.
Additional Resources
Charles Stewart, MSA SC 5496-50842, War of 1812 Refugee, Calvert County, Maryland, Biography, Maryland State Archives.
Claim of Levin Ballard, Calvert County, Case No. 717 and 718, Case Files. Ca. 1814-1828, entry 190, Record Group 76, National Archives, College Park. Maryland State Archives Record of the hand written filing by Levin Ballard for his mother Elizabeth Ballard to the State Department for reparations for loss of her 13 slaves.
Other enslaved aboard the H.S. M. Lorie were:
