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By 1860, the Slaughter family was one of the largest enslaved families on Richard Eppes’ plantation. The eldest members of the family were Matthew Slaughter and his wife, Hannah. Their son, Stewart was married to Susan Corn, a member of another large enslaved family on Eppes’ plantation about 1840. They had four daughters: Dilsy, Amy (who died in 1861), Louisa, and Emma and had three sons: Thomas, Richard, and Peter. Stewart Slaughter worked as a foreman in the fields. Susan Slaughter labored as the cook for the Eppes family. Thomas’ responsibility was to row Richard Eppes across the James and Appomattox Rivers to his Bermuda Hundred and Eppes’ Island properties. Richard carried water out into the fields for those people who worked there. War's Arrival The Slaughter family migrated from the plantation as a result of the fighting around Petersburg. With City Point between the Confederate and Federal armies in the spring of 1862, Eppes’ wife, Elizabeth, and their children abandoned the family’s home in City Point and moved to Petersburg. Elizabeth took Susan Slaughter with her. The presence of the Federal soldiers in the region and of the navy at City Point prompted most of the enslaved residents on Eppes’ plantation to seek their own freedom behind Union lines between May and August 1862. For the Slaughter family, they were broken up in this movement. The elderly Slaughters did not leave the estate, possibly because of their ages; but their son, Stewart escaped with his children, Dilsy, Richard, and Louisa. It is likely that Peter and Emma were in Petersburg with their mother. Thomas also did not leave with his siblings and father for unknown reasons. The Slaughters who were able to flee made it to Hampton, Virginia. Richard Slaughter recalled in 1936 that he was aboard the USS Maratanza in his flight from City Point. His Civil War service took him on other ships and to other places where he recalled seeing President Abraham Lincoln. He enlisted in the 19th United States Colored Infantry in Baltimore in 1864. His military service brought him back to the same region from which he fled from slavery. After the end of the Petersburg Campaign in 1865, Richard Slaughter and thousands of other colored troops were sent to Brownsville, Texas and he was mustered out January 15, 1867. During the Civil War, Stewart Slaughter was a servant to a Federal officer, but died in Hampton before his son, Richard’s military service ended. Eventually, Thomas was able to escape from City Point and enlisted in the United States navy on August 8, 1863. Susan, Peter, and Emma rejoined their family in Hampton after the Civil War. Susan married Peyton Brooks in Hampton on August 4, 1867. Thomas married Frances Cooke on December 18, 1867. He worked as an oysterman and had a family. Richard Slaughter married Lucy Douglass in 1874 and worked as a laborer and oysterman. Lucy and her mother Phillis had escaped from Westover Plantation in 1862. Susan died in Hampton on June 14, 1892. Richard Slaughter died in 1938 and is buried at the Hampton National Cemetery. |
Last updated: August 8, 2019