A Great Escape

A Great Escape. One of Shirley's enslaved men risked all to become free. , Siah Hulett was a 23-year-old enslaved carpenter whose cabin stood in this immediate vicinity in the Great Quarters. On May 18, 1862, he used a rare day off from toil to execute a bold plan: Leave his family, future wife, and community behind to row out to USS Monitor anchored in the James River. That night he fled the plantation. Would he die or gain his freedom?, As midnight approached, armed Monitor sailors on alert in hostile waters suddenly saw a boat appear. The deck watch yelled challenges, heard nothing, and opened fire - but missed - and Siah Hulett stepped on deck a free man. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy the following morning., Siah became one of the first of over 200,000 men who self-emancipated and fought for the United States, and inspired others. After the war, he married Eliza Tarrow, who was also born into slavery at Shirley., They lived across the river at Bermuda Hundred, and moved to Philadelphia in the 1870s. After his death, Eliza filed for his veteran's pension under the name Siah Hulett. Siah, however, had enlisted as Siah Carter not as a Hulett, and the pension was rejected. The matter was finally fixed with affidavits, including one from their former enslaver's granddaughter., The stories of men like Siah exemplify steadfast courage. Such men fought not only for their rights but also for their loved ones. Please visit Shirley to learn more about these heroes, and the world from which they came.