COMPLAINT FILED IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY, ON BEHALF OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, INFANT CHILD OF RACHEL, WITH ARREST WARRANTS
(Jefferson County, KY, 1830-1832).
Even after acts of emancipation, African Americans' status as free men, women and children was often precarious. In this case, Rachel, a freedwoman from Maryland, filed a petition in 1830 alleging that Tunis Applegate, an "Indian doctor," falsely claimed her as a slave in Kentucky. In a separate criminal complaint below, she charged Applegate and an accomplice named Westover with the assault and imprisonment of her young son, George Washington. Rachel here acted vigorously to protect her freedom and the safety of her son; the Jefferson County court, in response, issued a series of arrest warrants for Applegate and Westover over the next two years. The suspects were not apprehended, however, and in 1833 the case was dismissed.
