Stephen Bates (1842-1907)

Charles City County · dedicated 2023 · Route 5 near intersection with Shirley Plantation Road

Stephen Bates, the earliest-known Black sheriff in the North, began life at Shirley enslaved as a domestic worker. Along with many other people enslaved in the region, he claimed his freedom during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. After the Battle of Malvern Hill, he worked for a Union officer at nearby Harrison’s Landing and departed with the army in August. Bates became a coachman for VT Congressman Frederick E. Woodbridge in Washington, DC, and in 1869 moved with him to Vergennes, VT. The city council appointed Bates constable (1875-79), and in 1879 the overwhelmingly White electorate chose him to be sheriff. He was regularly elected sheriff and often appointed chief of police until his death.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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