Barzillai Lew

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Barzillai Lew
5 November 1743 – 18 January 1822
Place of birth Groton, MA
Place of death Dracut, MA
Allegiance American Colonies
Service/branch Army
Years of service American Revolution
Battles/wars Battle of Bunker Hill

Battle of Ticonderoga
Other work Cooper

Musician

African American Portal

Barzillai Lew (November 5, 1743-January 18, 1822) African American soldier and musician, served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.[1]


Contents

[edit] Family history

Barzillai (pronounced BAR-zeal-ya) "Zeal" or "Zelah" Lew, was born a free-black in Groton, Massachusetts November 5, 1743,[2] the oldest son of Primus and Margaret Lew. Following in his father’s footsteps, Barzillai Lew was a fifer in Captain Thomas Farrington’s Company from Groton, which marched northward for “the total reduction of Canada." From March 10, 1760 – December 1, 1760, he served with the English forces against the French and Indians and was probably present at the capture of Montreal by the British.[3] Barzillai Lew was known as "big and strong with an extraordinary talent as a musician."[4] In the mid-1760s, Lew sold his family farm in the Pepperell section of Groton and moved to Chelmsford, Massachusetts where he worked as a cooper or barrelmaker. About 1766, he bought the freedom of Dinah Bowman (1744-1837), born a slave, who was fair skinned and described as "bleached by the sun," from Major Abraham Blood for 400 pounds (today's value $28,000) and married her.[5]

[edit] American Revolutionary War

[edit] Bunker Hill

The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull, June 17, 1775. A black soldier holding a musket is pictured in the right corner.
The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull, June 17, 1775. A black soldier holding a musket is pictured in the right corner.

At the opening of the American Revolution, Lew's skills and talents were called upon again and he enlisted May 6, 1775 in Captain John Ford's Company, 27th Regiment, Chelmsford, Massachusetts. As soldier, fifer, and drummer Lew fought on June 17, 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. In the miltiary records, Lew is described as "cooper by trade, and quite dark-colored, a large man, six feet tall."[6] Bunker Hill was one of the most important battles in the American Revolution, inexperienced colonial forces fought a highly trained army of British soldiers. Less well-known were the approximately three dozen African American soldiers including Barzillai Lew, Phillip Abbot, Alexander Ames, Isaiah Bayoman, Cuff Blanchard, Titus Coburn, Grant Cooper, Caesar Dickenson, Charlestown Eaads, Alexander Eames, Asaba Grosvenor, Blaney Grusha, Jude Hall, Cuff Haynes, Cato Howe, Caesar Jahar, Pompy of Braintree, Salem Poor, Caesar Post, Job Potama, Robin of Sandowne, New Hampshire, Peter Salem, Seasor of York County, Sampson Talbot, Cato Tufts, and Cuff Whitemore, who also took part in the battle.[7][8] During the bloodiest battle of the war the British lost 226 troops, with another 828 wounded, and the Colonists/Americans counted 140 dead, 301 wounded, and 30 captured. It was said that during the battle, Lew kept morale high with his fife version of "There's Nothing Makes the British Run like 'Yankee Doodle Dandy.'"[9] The powder horn used by Barzillai Lew in the Revolutionary War is now in collections of the DuSable Museum, Chicago, Illinois. Donated by Gerard Lew great, great, grandson of Barzillai Lew and co-founder of the DuSable Museum, the first African American museum in the United States.

[edit] Fort Ticonderoga and Burgoyne's surrender

Surrender of General Burgoyne at Fort Ticonderoga hangs in the United States Capitol Rotunda.
Surrender of General Burgoyne at Fort Ticonderoga hangs in the United States Capitol Rotunda.

In 1777, on his return home to Chelmsford, Lew joined Captain Joseph Bradley Varnum's company of volunteers, Dracut, Massachusetts. In September 1777, Varnum's militia is ordered to Fort Ticonderoga and the company marched to reinforce the Northern army. Joseph Bradley Varnum’s son Jonathan wrote in his diary on November 1, 1777, Zeal is selected as "a fifer and fiddler for the grand appearance the day that Burgoyne's Famous Army is to be brought in. A Wonderful Show. . . This "wonderful show" was the surrender of British General John Burgoyne to American General Horatio Gates at at Saratoga, after the Battle of Ticonderoga (1777). During the American Revolution, African Americans from Massachusetts served as freemen or as slaves with their masters in many local militias.[10]

[edit] African Americans in the Continental Army

General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief, excluded African Americans from serving in the Continental Army, until finally on January 2, 1778, Washington responded to a letter from General James Mitchell Varnum (born in Dracut, Massachusetts and brother of Joseph Bradley Varnum) recommending that Rhode Island's troop quota should be completed with blacks. Washington urged Rhode Island Governor Nicholas Cooke to give the recruiting officers every assistance. In February, the Rhode Island legislature approved the action — giving slaves their freedom in return for military service. The resulting black regiment, commanded by white Quaker Christopher Greene was the 1st Rhode Island Regiment also known as the Varnum Continentals.[11]

[edit] After the American Revolutionary War

During the war, with wages earned from his years of service, the Lew family purchased a large tract of farmland on the far side of the Merrimack River in Dracut (now Lowell, Massachusetts.) They build a house near Varnum Avenue on Zeal Road named for Barzillai (now called Totman Road.) After the war, Lew returned to his farm in the Pawtucketville section of Dracut. In addition to farming, Lew continued to work as cooper, making barrels for the Middlesex Canal Company. The Lews were both active members of their community and the Pawtucket Society Church (Congregational) on Mammoth Road. They raised 13 children, Zadock (1768)[12] Amy (1771), Serviah (1773), Eucebea (1775), Barzillai II (1777), Peter (1779)[13], Rufus (1780) – impressed at sea by the British in 1808, Eri (1782), Dinah II (1784), Zimri (1785), Phebe (1788), Lucy (1790) married Thomas Dalton)[14], and Adrastus (1793).[15]

Barzillai, Dinah, and several of their sons and daughters sang and played wind and stringed instruments all over New England. They were noted throughout the 19th and 20th centuries as well-educated, skilled, and talented musicians. It was said "no family in Middlesex County from Lowell to Cambridge could produce so much good music."[16] They formed a complete band in their family and were employed to play at assemblies in Portland, Maine, Boston, Massachusetts, other large cities and towns, as well as commencement exercises at several New England colleges. They kept an elegant coach and fine span of horses and came on the Sabbath to the Pawtucket Society Church in as much style as any family in the town of Dracut.[17] Dinah Bowman Lew may have been the first African American woman pianist in American history. Music historian Israel Katz cites John Playford's "The English Dancing Master" as the leading early American dance band fake book, which was possibly used by Barzillai and Dinah Lew's band. Barzillai Lew died in Dracut on January 18, 1822 and was buried in Clay Pit Cemetery.[18] Years later, Dinah Bowman Lew petitioned and received from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a pension for her husband's military service in the American Revolution.

[edit] Epilogue

In 1943, musician Duke Ellington wrote a piano piece in honor of Barzillai Lew. It is believed that Ellington learned about Barzillai Lew from his high school teacher, African American historian Carter G. Woodson at the Armstrong Manual Training School, Washington, D.C..[19]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dorman, Frank. Twenty Families of Color. Boston: New England Historical Society, 1998.
  2. ^ Groton, Massachusetts Vital Records
  3. ^ Middlesex County Probate Records
  4. ^ Butler, Caleb. "History of the Town of Groton: Including Pepperell and Shirley." Boston: T.R. Marvin, 1848, p. 278
  5. ^ Barzillai Lew and Dinah Bowman
  6. ^ Butler, Caleb. "History of the Town of Groton: Including Pepperell and Shirley." Boston: T.R. Marvin, 1848, p. 278
  7. ^ Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Horton. "In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community, and Protest among Northern Free Blacks, 1700–1860." New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
  8. ^ Oxford African American Studies Center
  9. ^ Oxford African American Studies Center
  10. ^ Patriots of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill
  11. ^ Varnum Continentals
  12. ^ Zadock Lew - Officer, Prince Hall Freemasonry Lodge, Cambridge Street, Boston, Massachusetts
  13. ^ Peter Lew, Grand Master 1811-1816, Prince Hall Freemasonry Lodge, Cambridge Street, Boston, Massachusetts
  14. ^ Thomas Dalton, Grand Master 1831-1832, Prince Hall Freemasonry Lodge, Cambridge Street, Boston, Massachusetts
  15. ^ Chelmsford, Masschusetts and Dracut, Massachusetts Vital records
  16. ^ Butler, Caleb. "History of the Town of Groton: Including Pepperell and Shirley." Boston: T.R. Marvin, 1848, p. 278
  17. ^ Newspaper Article, "American Citizen," 1859
  18. ^ Dracut, Massachusetts Vital Records
  19. ^ Duke Ellington Collection, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Archive Center

[edit] See also

[edit] External links