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Toby Gilmore (c. 1742/47 –19 April 1812) was born in coastal West Africa as Shibodee Turrey Wurry, the son of a local chieftain. He was kidnapped at the age of sixteen by slave traders. [1] Later he would regain his freedom by enlisting in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. [2]
Around 1758, Shibodee Turrey Wurry was captured by slave traders while collecting coconuts, and placed in chains below deck aboard the slave ship Dove. This ship bound for Virginia had to change course because it was damaged during a storm, sailing to Rhode Island instead. There he was auctioned off and purchased by Captain (nautical, not military) John Gilmore of Raynham Massachusetts. [3] According to local legend John and his wife had no children of their own and renamed Shibodee to Toby Gilmore, teaching him to read and write. [4] However this has proven to be untrue; the couple had several children, and it is unclear if Toby could read and write. [3]
During the war, Toby was attached to military companies that served at Battle of Monmouth, Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery, Battle of White Plains, West Point, Siege of Fort Ticonderoga (1777) [5] and the Winter at Valley Forge.
Toby began his service on 8 December 1776, as a Private in Capt. Jonathan Shaw's company, Col. George Williams's Regt. (3rd Bristol Co.) He served for eleven days. The company marched to Warren, RI, on an alarm. [6] 4 November 1777, he joined Capt. James Cooper's company, Col. Gamaliel Bradfords's 12th Regt. After that his Continental Army pay records show he served from 19 September 1777, to 3 September 1780; he was enlisted for three years. In 1781 he served for two months and 24 days at North River (Hudson River). He was discharged from the army in December 1781 and returned home to Raynham. Afterwards he served during Shays' Rebellion his mitre was embroider with the a Federalist logo. [7] Some of the records for him are missing local[ where? ] history/legend has linked him with Gen. George Washington.[ citation needed ]
It is unknown whether or not Gilmore served under Gen. Washington. Local history of the Greater Taunton area states that Toby during the war rose in the ranks to the position of "body guard " or "body servant" of George Washington. For his service he was awarded a cannon, [4] that today resides at Old Colony Historical Society (OCHS) in Taunton, Massachusetts nicknamed "Old Toby". Every 4 July in celebration Toby would fire the cannon 14 times; 13 of these shots fired for the original Thirteen Colonies and the last shot would be fired to honor Gen. Washington. [8] Some have made claims that Toby is the African American pictured in Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's 1851 oil painting Washington Crossing the Delaware . Popular belief today is that the figure was Prince Whipple; however, it is documented that Whipple and his master were in Baltimore at the time of the crossing. [9] It may be that Leutze wanted to express that black patriots fought alongside their white counterparts during the Revolutionary War, and that the image of the soldier in the painting is not of anyone in particular but embodies all Black Patriots.
By the end of his service Toby was married to Rosanna Hack. They would go on to have eight children: Toby Jr., Nancy, Delia, Timothy, Esquire, Selina, Rosina, and Seabury. Toby returned and worked for his former master. Later he and his wife started their own housekeeping business. Toby was considered to be a frugal businessman and purchased forty-five acres and sixty rods (18.4 hectares) of confiscated land in Raynham, Mass. The land was confiscated from a loyalist and auctioned off. Toby was so well liked in the area that very few prospectors bid against him.
The first house he built about 1784 still stands in Raynham. In 1798 he built his second homestead that was larger than his former master's home. [3]
Toby died 19 April 1812, at the age of 70, according to his grave marker that still stands at Hall & Dean Cemetery in West Raynham. [10]
Most of the history of Tobias Gilmore can be found at OCHS where local historians are the keepers of some of his artifacts. These artifacts include his military mitre, "Old Toby" the canon, and his rundlet all on display. In the archives they have a military coat that was also donated by the Gilmore family. It is unclear exactly what period the coat comes from but it is unlikely that it was Toby's. It is speculated that it comes from one of his descendants and is a Civil War era coat.
The Taunton Daily Gazette on 24 October 1921, did a short article stating that Caroline J. Gilmore, the last member of the Gilmore line, had died that morning. It was believed that all of Toby's Gilmore descendants had died out. In the summer of 2010 OCHS staff along with one of the Gilmore descendants rediscovered the missing genealogical link. The article was printed on 20 October 2010 in the Taunton Daily Gazette. [11]
In 2021 The Toby Gilmore Story, a play written by the playwright, actor Stephen Sampson and produced by Greater Joy Production, depicted scenes from Toby's life during the war. The play was performed at OCHS.
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze was a Kingdom of Württemberg-born American history painter best known for his 1851 painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting.
Easton is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,058 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Boston area.
Raynham is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately 32 miles (51 km) south of Boston and 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Providence, Rhode Island. The population was 15,082 at the 2020 census. It has one village, Raynham Center.
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Robert Treat Paine was a lawyer, politician and Founding Father of the United States who signed the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence as a representative of Massachusetts. He served as the state's first attorney general and as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court.
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Prince Whipple (1750–1796) was an African American slave and later freedman. He was a soldier and a bodyguard during the American Revolution under his slaveowner General William Whipple of the New Hampshire Militia who granted him his freedom after the event he died. Prince is depicted in Emanuel Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware and Thomas Sully's painting Passage of the Delaware.
South Carolina was outraged over British tax policies in the 1760s that violated what they saw as their constitutional right to "no taxation without representation". Merchants joined the boycott against buying British products. When the London government harshly punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, South Carolina's leaders joined eleven other colonies in forming the Continental Congress. When the British attacked Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775 and were beaten back by the Massachusetts Patriots, South Carolina Patriots rallied to support the American Revolution. Loyalists and Patriots of the colony were split by nearly 50/50.
Women in the American Revolution played various roles depending on their social status and their political views.
Dunmore's Proclamation is a historical document signed on November 7, 1775, by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of the British colony of Virginia. The proclamation declared martial law and promised freedom for slaves of American Patriots who left their owners and joined the British army, becoming Black Loyalists. The same right was offered to indentured servants. Most relevant historians agree that the proclamation was chiefly designed for practical rather than moral reasons.
In the American Revolution, gaining freedom was the strongest motive for Black enslaved people who joined the Patriot or British armies. It is estimated that 20,000 African Americans joined the British cause, which promised freedom to enslaved people, as Black Loyalists. Around 9,000 African Americans became Black Patriots.
Black Patriots were African Americans who sided with the colonists who opposed British rule during the American Revolution. The term "Black Patriots" includes, but is not limited to, the 5,000 or more African Americans who served in the Continental Army and Patriot militias during the American Revolutionary War.
Agrippa Hull (1759–1848) was an African-American patriot who served as an orderly to Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish military officer, engineer and nobleman, for five years during the American Revolutionary War. He served for a total of six years and two months. After the war, he received a veteran's pension. It was signed by George Washington, and he treasured it for the rest of his life. Born free in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1759 in the middle of the Seven Years' War, Hull became the most significant black landowner in Stockbridge, where he lived after the Revolutionary War. He lived to the age of eighty-nine.
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