Enslaved People of Patrick Henry’s Scotchtown, 1771-1778

This dataset documents the individuals that noted patriot, “Orator of the Revolution,” and two-time governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry (b. 1736-d. 1799), enslaved on his Hanover County plantation, Scotchtown, from 1771 to 1778. At the current time, the known records documenting Henry’s acquisition and dispensing of enslaved people during his years of residence at Scotchtown are limited. Existing gaps in our understanding left us to infer information about those Henry enslaved in Hanover by considering his holdings on residential properties prior to and following Scotchtown. These bookending properties include Roundabout (1765-1771, Louisa County) before Scotchtown, and after: the Governor’s Palace (1776-1779, Williamsburg), Leatherwood (1779-1784, Henry County), Long Island (1792-1799, Campbell County), and Red Hill (1794-1799, Campbell County). As the only original residence of Patrick Henry that is still standing today, and also open to the public, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA; today Preservation Virginia), obtained Scotchtown at auction in 1958. Preservation Virginia has always had a limited understanding of the enslaved population that lived and labored at Scotchtown. However, submitting this data to Enslaved.org has ignited Preservation Virginia staff to better understand what archival records we currently possess and which gaps in our knowledge exist for future research. Though Patrick Henry enslaved well over 100 people in his lifetime, Preservation Virginia approached this dataset with the intent of only documenting individuals recorded as enslaved at Scotchtown. Henry’s retirement property, Red Hill, has also submitted a dataset of their own to Enslaved.org detailing his slaveholding in 1794-1799. The records to create the dataset, which include tithable lists, inventories, letters, advertisements, etc., belong to other institutions which are noted in each citation.