The "Negro Fellow named Tom," age about nineteen years, ran away to British lines in 1775 but was soon taken by Patriot forces and ordered by the Committee of Safety to work in the lead mines. In 1776, Tom was sent to the West Indies and sold "in order to procure a Supply of Powder and Ammunition for the use of State." Moss Armistead, the administrator of Joseph Selden, avows that the said Selden, Tom's owner, "in his Life Time or your Petitioner since his Death has not been able to procure Payment for the Same." He therefore prays that he be enabled "to provide for said Joseph Selden's numerous Family who have been greatly distressed during the War."
Result: Reasonable.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
