Tuesday, December 17, 2013

December 18, 1863---William Breedlove, "a free person of colour."



DECEMBER 18, 1863:        

William Breedlove, a blacksmith and a “free person of colour” was convicted in Virginia for aiding and abetting escaping slaves to enter Union lines. His punishment was to be perpetual enslavement. Today, his Attorneys petitioned the Governor of Virginia for a complete pardon on the grounds that everyone involved (including Breedlove and the witnesses who testified against him) agreed that they believed the escapees to be carrying the proper passes.  Breedlove was pardoned, and his freedom was restored in one of the few such decisions in American history. 


After the war, Breedlove helped draft the new Virginia State Constitution, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace, Town Councilman, and Postmaster of Tappahannock, Virginia.

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