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Culpeper County unveils marker honoring Revolutionary War patriots of color
Summary
A ceremony at the Museum of Culpeper History recognized at least 19 men—enslaved and free—who served in the Revolutionary War; speakers emphasized recovered records, family lineage, and the county’s role in preserving a fuller local history.
Culpeper County officials, genealogists and descendants gathered at the Museum of Culpeper History for a dedication ceremony that recognized “patriots of color” who served in the American Revolutionary War and announced an immediate marker unveiling at a nearby church.
Dr. Shelley Viola Murphy, a professional genealogist who has worked on projects at the University of Virginia, delivered the keynote. “This moment is deeply personal to me. Today is not simply about history. It is about visibility, truth, legacy, and remembrance,” Murphy said, urging communities to recover names long omitted from public memory.
Organizers said the marker commemorates roughly 19 to 20 local patriots, both free and enslaved. The program included readings of primary‑source material about Spencer Slaughter, described in a diary passage as serving alongside Philip Slaughter at Valley Forge, and remarks about William Clark, identified in pension records as a free African‑American soldier who later applied for a pension in Culpeper County.
Kay Slaughter, a descendant whose family research helped link archival records to living descendants, described archival finds in Captain Philip Slaughter’s journals. “I’m so thrilled that we’ve discovered this history and shared this history and that finally Spencer is really being recognized as he should be,” she said, recounting how loose pages and journals revealed names of enslaved men, women and children tied to the Springfield farm.
Jim Bish, a local historian and longtime teacher, outlined the site’s local history—noting the area’s older name of “Slaughter’s Mountain”—and described how journals and oral histories corroborated the connections between enslaved workers and subsequent generations now identified as descendants in the crowd.
Kimberly Tricket, matron of ceremonies and a museum board member, and Lee Langston Harrison, interim executive director of the Museum of Culpeper History, thanked the Culpeper Minutemen chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution, volunteers and the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors for financial and organizational support. Mandy Brown, the county supervisor for the Cedar Mountain District, said the event helped bring pieces of local history together and called the unveiling “important in so many ways to a lot of us.”
The ceremony included ceremonial honors and a musket salute, a roll call of the named patriots and readings from diaries and pension files. Organizers invited attendees to continue across Route 15 to a church for the formal unveiling of the historical marker immediately after the indoor program.
The event concluded with a benediction and closing music. Museum leaders said the marker is part of an ongoing program to identify and mark sites of local historical significance; they also noted that the museum will continue research and community outreach to document additional names and stories.
