11. Slaves Ran Away From Mount Vernon
Runaway slaves were a problem for every slave owner, including George Washington. Even though Washington was known to be a kind man to his slaves in comparison to many other slave owners and allowed slaves freedoms on Mount Vernon that slaves didn’t see on other plantations, he often had to write up an advertisement looking for a runaway slave. Sometimes these slaves were brought back to Mount Vernon and other times the slaves were able to escape to their freedom.
In one advertisement, Washington was looking for his slave, Caesar, who was known as a spiritual leader on Mount Vernon. A few other publications where Washington requests assistance in finding his runaway slave give details of the slave’s physical features. There are even instances where a couple of slaves continued to run away from Mount Vernon. At one point, Washington decided to sell one of his slaves because the slave kept running away.