Hercules Posey

Hercules Posey was born between 1747-1749, likely on the plantation of John Posey, George Washington’s neighbor. ¹ In 1769, Posey sent Hercules to join Washington’s household at Mount Vernon to settle a debt. In 1786, Hercules appeared on the Mount Vernon slave census as a cook. He married Alice, a seamstress enslaved by Martha Washington, and they had three children before Alice’s death in 1787. ² 

In November 1790, President Washington brought Hercules to cook at the President’s House in Philadelphia. With Washington’s permission, Hercules brought along his eleven-year-old son, Richmond, but had to leave his two young daughters, Delia and Eve, behind at Mount Vernon. Richmond worked in the President’s House as an errand boy and scullion alongside his father.³ Hercules’ financial position was different from most enslaved people in Washington’s household. He earned up to $200 per year selling “slops” from the kitchen. Martha Washington’s grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, recollected Hercules bought himself fine clothing and dressed in the “grand costume of the celebrated dandy…of the president’s kitchen.”⁴ 

According to the 1780 Gradual Abolition Act in Pennsylvania, after six months an enslaved person in the state became free. Therefore, Washington rotated enslaved people, including Hercules, between Mount Vernon and Philadelphia. At one point, Hercules discovered this arrangement. According to Washington’s private secretary, Tobias Lear, Hercules was “mortified” that the president did not trust him. As a result, Martha allowed Hercules to stay in Philadelphia after the six month mark, though she eventually ordered him to Mount Vernon to prepare for a trip there by the president. ⁵ Despite Hercules’ expression of loyalty, Washington did not fully trust him. In the summer of 1796, Hercules’ son Richmond was accused of stealing money from a hired White servant at Mount Vernon. Washington feared Richmond was plotting an escape with his father, writing, “I wish he may not have been put upon it by his father…for the purpose perhaps of a journey together.” Washington instructed his Mount Vernon farm manager, William Pearce, to keep a close eye on the pair and did not bring them back to Philadelphia. He also did not allow Hercules to continue cooking, instead assigning him to manual labor.⁶

On February 22, 1797, Hercules self-emancipated from Mount Vernon. Washington, upset by the loss of his best cook, pursued Hercules, but was unable to capture him. Ultimately, after Washington’s death in 1799, all of his enslaved people were emancipated. However, since Hercules’ children were enslaved by Martha as dower property, they did not gain their freedom.⁷ Hercules moved to New York City, where he worked as a laborer and cook. He died in 1812 and was buried at Second African Burial Ground.⁸