It's the 1780s. America is newly freed from bondage to England, but most enslaved Africans have decades of bondage before them. One, however, who served admirably as a spy and medic as a substitute for his New Jersey plantation owner, is granted emancipation by no other than George Washington. His trajectory toward medical school is cut short when a mission for Alexander Hamilton returns him to slavery at Brookgreen Plantation. Young and old will enjoy this righteous albeit fictitious correction of a societal wrong, filled with historical facts, relatable characters, and a satisfying outcome. The book is author Lee's third (after The Chatham Patriot and The Palmetto Patriot) in his series of Revolutionary War stories featuring returning characters and geared to middle school readers and beyond.
In The Black Patriot, we meet again the fictional character Ben Minthorn, an enslaved person in New Jersey, who in The Chatham Patriot was sent in place of his owner to serve in the American Revolution. For his service to America, he was emancipated, but we pick up his story again at Washington's inauguration in 1789 as he reflects on his life from his capture as a young boy in Africa, through great trials to his improbable role as a member of Alexander Hamilton's staff.
Ben Minthorn had waited for this moment a very long time. Ten years earlier he was a slave in New Jersey. Sent to fight in place of his owner in the American Revolution, Ben distinguished himself as a spy. In the field hospital at Yorktown, he cared for the wounded in 1781, capturing the attention of Alexander Hamilton and George Washington. Both personally signed Ben's emancipation papers after the War. In an incredible turn of events, Ben was captured by pirates and re-enslaved at Brookgreen plantation in South Carolina, owned by Doctor Flagg, Washington's Surgeon General during the war. Here Ben toiled five long years in the rice fields.
Through patience and ingenuity, Ben passed a note to his boyhood friend, Nate Muchmore, an attorney in NJ. Nate, appealing to the South Carolina Governor in 1789, secured Ben's release. Two years later, Ben traveled in the company of Washington as a trained medical doctor on his "Southern Tour," stopping at Brookgreen for an elegant dinner in Washington's honor. Ben stood outside the huge doors leading to the dining room and shook hands with the house slaves. Ben Minthorn took a deep breath and slowly opened the doors. The plantation owner's wife let out an audible gasp when Ben walked into the room. Washington, a master of understatement, spoke. "Doctor Flagg, allow me to introduce Mr. Ben Minthorn, MD, a member of my personal staff. I think you two know each other." Ben looked around the room, in particular at the slaves who lined the wall serving this elegant meal. He nodded to each one.
Turning to his former owner, he simply said: "Hello Mr Flagg. I am sure you remember me..."
