Primus

first name
Primus
last name
gender
male
birth, death year
-- , --
first, last year in records
--, --
confidence level
indeterminate
freed status (year freed)
unknown
enslaver(s)
location(s)
Deerfield, MA  
place of origin

Bio

On February 29, 1704, Deerfield, Massachusetts was attacked by French soldiers from Canada with their Indigenous allies. More than 100 people were taken captive. A group of residents and soldiers garrisoned in the town chased after the retreating party and a fight ensued in the meadows just north of town. A report was sent to the colony's governor asking for "recompense, that we & others may be incouraged on such occasions, to be forward and active to repell the enemy..." A list of men involved in the meadow fight accompanied the report. It included "primus, Negro". He is also included in "An account of wt [what] plunder was taken fro the enemy on the last of Febewary, 1703-4 & sold by ye company." Primus took a glass bottle that was sold for six shillings. 

Sources Consulted

A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts, Vol. I, George Sheldon, 1895-96, pp. 298, 300