Fair copy of Alleged Washington Slave and African American Revolutionary War Veteran's Signature and Booklet about His Life

Hammett Achmet served in the Revolutionary War from Connecticut. He always claimed that he had been one of General George Washington's slaves until he ran away.

Emilie T. Stedman, whose maternal grandfather Jonathan Barnes helped care for Hammett Achmet in his later years, wrote several letters to William Chauncey Fowler in nearby Durham in 1935-1936 and enclosed a traced copy of Hammett Achmet's autograph from an 1839 promissory note. This small collection also includes a copy of her booklet on Achmet.

[GEORGE WASHINGTON.] Emilie T. Stedman, Copy of Hammett Achmet's Autograph, ca. 1935. 1 p., 6.25" x 5". Very good.
Also includes

- Emilie T. Stedman, Hammet Achmet booklet. Middletown, CT: n.p., [ca. 1900]. 10 pp., 5.25" x 7.75".
- Emilie T. Stedman, four Autograph Letters Signed, to William Chauncey Fowler, May 22, 1935 – December 20, 1936. 29 pp., 5" x 8".
- Susan Cifaldi, "Music in His Drum Hamet Achmet: Middletown's legendary African drummer," The Middletown Press, July 2, 2001, A5 (newspaper clipping).
- Emilie T. Stedman, Photostats of two drawings of Hammett Achmet by Stedman. 2 pp., 4.125" x 5.25" and 4.875" x 5.5".

Excerpts
"Middletown Aug 16th 1839
"On demand I promise to pay Seth Hall one dollar value received
"Hammett Achmet
"Copy of Hammets autograph"

[Stedman to Fowler, May 22, 1935:]
"As regards the spelling of Hammets name, I had several 'orders' among Grandpa's papers & wished I had one to give you. The only one I have is signed I enclose copy." (p3)

Hammett Achmet (ca. 1759-1842) was born in Africa, captured as a young boy, and shipped to Virginia. There, he claimed that he became a servant of George Washington, first tending his horse, then serving as a waiter. According to Achmet's account, he ran away to Middletown, Connecticut, where in 1777, he enlisted in Captain Benjamin Throop's company in Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs's regiment, which later became the First, then Fourth Connecticut Regiment. He was wounded at Germantown, spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, participated in the Battles of Monmouth and Stony Point, and was present at the surrender at Yorktown in 1783. After the war, he returned to Middletown, where he lived with his wife Jane (ca. 1774-1827) and their daughter. He tended a garden and lived in poverty, drumming for the vendue (estate sales) and selling old shoes to the local gun factory. He later began making and selling drums. In 1818, he applied for a military pension, a process that took two years but provided some support. P. T. Barnum allegedly attempted to get Achmet to join his traveling show of curiosities, but Achmet declined. After his first wife died, he married a white woman, who darkened her skin to avoid interracial marriage laws.

Emilie Tracy Stedman (1859-1941) was born in Connecticut and lived her entire life in Middletown. She never married. From the early 1930s, he lived in St. Luke's Home for Aged Women in Middletown, Connecticut.

William Chauncey Fowler (1875-1941) was born in Hudson, New York, and was the grandson and namesake of the Yale-educated professor and scholar William Chauncey Fowler (1793-1881), who wrote a history of Durham, Connecticut (1872) and was a son-in-law of Noah Webster. He moved to Durham as an infant and lived there for the rest of his life, working as a farmer. He never married.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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