About the Project
This project is a work of recovery focused on the forgotten narrative of Nelson Hackett and the Black militia company in Chatham in 1841. Promoting the history of Chatham-Kent's Black community in a global context, the project explores the extraordinary actions of the armed Black redcoats, a volunteer company of Black soldiers stationed in Chatham since the Rebellions of 1837, who burst into the Chatham magistrates’ makeshift courtroom on the morning after Hackett’s arrest and tried to free him.
Using militia muster rolls belonging to the 2nd Battalion Incorporated Militia, among other Chatham located Companys, the project reveals a rich but unacknowledged narrative of Chatham’s Black resistance in the pivotal period between emancipation in the British Empire and the U.S. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Placing this history in the context of the global antislavery networks that decried the injustice of Hackett’s treatment, our project restores a vital history of Black agency and activism to the narrative of the Hackett extradition case and illuminates the importance of Hackett and his defenders for the history of Black abolitionism in Canada, and for contemporary discussions of race, resistance, and activism.
The database highlights specific Redcoat Militia men enlisted with the volunteer company at the time of Hackett’s arrest who were also from or served in Chatham. While it is difficult to determine the individual life stories of these militia men, pieces can be uncovered through these militia muster rolls and other primary sources.
Who Was Nelson Hackett?
Nelson Hackett is known as the first and last enslaved person to escape to freedom in Canada, only to be extradited by the British colonial government and returned to slavery in the United States. His flight from enslavement began in Fayetteville, Arkansas, around July 1841, where he was an enslaved domestic servant to Alfred Wallace, a merchant determined to recapture and punish him as an example to other enslaved people. Hackett fled north through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and eventually reached Chatham, Canada, on September 1st, 1841. Wallace soon tracked him down, had him imprisoned, and sought his extradition back to Arkansas on questionable charges of stealing a horse, saddle, coat, watch, and 100 pounds. At the time, Hackett’s situation gained the attention of abolitionists and locals who viewed the charges as an attempt to strip him of his newfound freedom and facilitate his return to enslavement. Despite abolitionists and local advocates’ efforts, the governor general of the Province of Canada, Sir Charles Bagot, sided with Wallace and sent Hackett back to Arkansas. Hackett officially left Canada in February 1842 and arrived back in Fayetteville in June 1842. It is suspected that Hackett was publicly flogged and taken to Texas to be worked to death, but his fate largely remains unknown.
Begin Your Search
Explore the database to learn more about the stories of Nelson Hackett's Black Redcoat defenders.
Acknowledgements
The Nelson Hackett and his Black Redcoat Defenders project builds on longstanding partnerships between Huron University, the University of Guelph, and the Chatham Kent Black History Society (CKBHS) and creates an exciting new research collaboration with the Nelson Hackett Project at the University of Arkansas.
Project Co-Leads
Nina Reid-Maroney (Huron University College)
Deirdre McCorkindale (University of Guelph)
Chatham-Kent Black History Society
The Nelson Hackett Project (University of Arkansas)
