"Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832" Presentation at MPAAGHS Monthly Meeting

January 13, 2024

Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society (MPAAGHS) will hold its monthly meeting virtually on Saturday, January 13, 2024, at 11:00 AM Eastern Time. The meeting will feature a talk by historian Alan S. Taylor about his book, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832. This searing story of slavery and freedom in the Chesapeake reveals the pivot in the nation's path between the founding and Civil War, with an emphasis on the impact that enslaved people in Virginia had on the War of 1812.

The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 addresses the paradoxical and complex subject of slavery in a state dedicated to ideals of liberty and freedom yet that still enslaved two-fifths of its population. As the book's title suggests, white Virginians viewed their enslaved populations as an "internal enemy," enticed by the British to run away from their enslavers and mount an armed rebellion against them during the American Revolution. Therefore, when the British returned to the Chesapeake during the War of 1812, invading plantations and freeing the enslaved, Virginians faced another wave of fear of this "internal enemy" that further deepened the state's commitment to slavery in the early decades of the 19th century.

Frederick Douglass recalled that enslaved persons living along the Chesapeake Bay longingly viewed sailing ships as "freedom's swift-winged angels." In 1813, those angels appeared in the Bay as British warships coming to punish the Americans for declaring war on the empire. Hundreds of enslaved persons paddled out to the warships seeking protection from the ravages of slavery. The runaways pressured the British admirals into becoming liberators. As guides, pilots, sailors, and marines, the formerly enslaved used their intimate knowledge of the countryside to transform the war. They enabled the British to escalate their onshore attacks and to capture and burn Washington, D.C.

Drawn from new sources, Dr. Taylor's riveting narrative re-creates the events that inspired black Virginians, haunted slaveholders, and set the nation on a new and dangerous course. Published in 2013, The Internal Enemy won the Pulitzer Prize for History, the Merle Curti Prize (OAH), and was a finalist for the National Book Award for non-fiction. The book may be purchased on Amazon.

MPAAGHS 2024 dues of $25 are due and payable. Payments may be made electronically via MPAAGHS's Payments webpage or by mailing checks made payable to MPAAGHS to:
MPAAGHS
4114 Tidewater Trail
Jamaica, VA 23079

If you are not on our email list and would like to receive an invitation for this virtual meeting or to get further information about MPAAGHS, call 804.758.5163.