During the night of Sunday, December 31, 1854, four slaves, Trolious Riley, Henry Riley, Douglas Riley, and a man named Vincent, escaped from Chantilly farm in a bid for freedom. Trolious Riley, 25 years old, was a house servant and Henry Riley, about 20 years old, was a farm hand. The other men were also in their 20s. Douglas Riley was about 22 years old and Vincent was about 23 years old.[1]

 

The four men were enslaved by the Stuart family who owned Chantilly farm, located in Fairfax County near present day Chantilly, Virginia. A stone house, which was likely the overseer’s house at that time, still stands. These enslaved individuals were considered part of the estate of Charles Calvert Stuart, who died in September 1846. At his death, Stuart owned 23 slaves who were inventoried and their values appraised. All four of the escaped slaves were listed on the inventory.[2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stone House at Chantilly
Likely Overseer's House at One Time

 

Charles Calvert Stuart’s son, Sholto Turberville Stuart, was administrator of his father’s estate and ran the farm for his father’s widow, Cornelia Lee Turberville Stuart.[3] The farm raised cows, pigs, and sheep; and grew wheat, oats, and straw. Enslaved individuals likely used plows, harrows, and cultivators to farm the fields, and sheep sheers and spinning wheels to make woolen goods. The Stuarts also raised funds by hiring out their slaves to others.[4]

 

On January 8, 1855, Sholto T. Stuart placed an advertisement in the Alexandria Gazette offering a reward for the apprehension and securing of the runaway slaves. One hundred dollars for each man was offered if they were captured out of state or fifty dollars each if they were captured in Virginia but out of Fairfax County. Stuart had no doubt that the Riley’s, along with Vincent, were assisted in their escape by an abolitionist living in Fairfax County. The advertisement reported that the men were last seen as they passed the Chain Bridge, Georgetown, D.C. [5]

 

Sholto Stuart could not fathom why the men would seek their freedom. He noted that they left without any known cause, and that two of the men were lately married, and left their wives with an infant each.[6] Though their individual reasons for escaping are unknown, it is possible that they were aware that as slaves they would eventually be distributed among the Stuart heirs. Or they may have feared that they would be sent south to Arkansas, as happened with four of their fellow slaves. An 1849 entry in the estate account ledger notes that $142.45 was expended on Freight on slaves to Arkansas.[7]  Stuart later wrote that Roderick, Dick, Peter, and Daniel were sent to Arkansas to be hired out due to Stuart’s apprehension of their absconding if permitted to remain in this state [Virginia].[8]

 

Estate account entries in 1855 showing expenses for capturing runaway slaves.

 

 

Stuart did not rely solely on the reward offered to others for the return of the men. He paid himself $125.00 out of the estate funds for hunting runaway Negroes belonging to [the] Estate.[9] The Alexandria Gazette reported on January 15 1855, that Stuart succeeded in capturing the runaways at the Point of Rocks.[10] Two hundred dollars in reward money was paid for apprehending the Rileys and Vincent. The men were taken to the Leesburg jail before being conveyed to the Fairfax jail. Stuart paid $6.80 in expenses at the Leesburg jail, and $6.75 in expenses for transferring the slaves to Fairfax. $23.40 was paid for the retention of the slaves in the Fairfax jail.[11]

 

The men did not go back to Chantilly farm. Stuart took them from Fairfax to Richmond to be sold because of the risk of entirely losing them if returned. [12] Trolious Riley, Douglas Riley, and Vincent were sold for $2,402.52. The fourth freedom seeker, later identified as Julius rather than Henry Riley, was sold for $212.08.[13] Though captured and re-enslaved, these four men strove for their freedom by attempting to escape from bondage.

 

[N.B. Trolious was also spelled Troilus.]