Gallery 1 Highlight: “He intended to Join the Army”

Born around 1754, Cicero spent his adolescence enslaved by Edward and Mary Emerson of Boston. Edward Emerson died in 1769, and a year later his widow married Jonathan Bowman, a member of the Hancock family. The couple brought Cicero to Pownalborough (Dresden), Maine. They lived on the banks of the Kennebec River in a home now owned by Historic New England. 

Jonathan Bowman was a staunch supporter of the revolutionary cause and Cicero was likely affected by his enslaver’s calls for liberty from oppression. On November 1, 1775, Cicero left Bowman 

House, effectively emancipating himself, and enlisted with an artillery company garrisoned near Kittery, Maine. Bowman placed a runaway ad in the newspaper and hired Reuben Colburn to capture Cicero. Colburn tracked Cicero to Cambridge, Massachusetts, apprehending him in December and returning him to Bowman House. It is unknown if Bowman punished Cicero, sold him, freed him, or if Cicero self-emancipated once more and reenlisted in the army.

Runaway ads are often the primary means by which historians recover information about enslaved people in New England. The ad for Cicero describes the attire he wore the night he fled Bowman House. Historic New England reimagined this outfit using historic garments and handmade reproductions.