Tenny Merritt
1800’s
Agency and Resistance – “A Good Cook”
Tenny Merrit was 46 when she escaped enslavement by John Rousby Plater of Sotterley in St. Mary’s County. In July of 1814, Tenny Merrit was one of the 49 enslaved at Sotterley who escaped to British forces anchored in the Patuxent during the War of 1812. Out of the 49 who that escaped 44, including Tenny, fled to the British ship H.M.S. Severn.
In John Rousby Plater’s claim for reparations following the war, Tenny Merrit was listed at 46 years old, appraised at $450, and given the title “a good cook.” Only six of the 49 listed were given a title or occupation. Tenny was one of only two women given a title, and was the highest valued woman listed by Plater, indicating her skill.
While it is not known where Tenny Merritt settled after gaining her freedom with the British forces, it is possible she followed the same route as other former Sotterley enslaved such as the Coursey, Munroe, and Seale families. These families were recorded settling in the Northwest Arm of Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada. Nova Scotia is where the largest group of freed individuals sought refuge. But others enlisted in the war effort with the British military, while others settled in the West Indies. Some refugees even migrated to England and then the new British colony of Sierra Leone in West Africa.
Tenny Merritt exercised resistance and agency by participating in the largest emancipation in the United States until Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation almost half a century later. This wave of emancipation was created by British Vice Admiral Cochrane’s Proclamation of 1814.
Additional Resources
Maryland State Archives, Sotterley Plantation (Images of America) by Jeanne K. Pirtle.
Historic Sotterley, www.sotterley.org
The Slaves’ Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812: Smith, Gene Allen, St. Martin’s Press, 2013.
