Nero Hawley (1742 – January 30, 1817) was anAfrican-American soldier who was born intoslavery inNorth Stratford,Connecticut, and later earned his freedom after enlisting in theContinental Army in place of his owner, Daniel Hawley, on April 20, 1777, during theAmerican Revolution.[1] His life is featured in the 1976 bookFrom Valley Forge to Freedom, which also notes other areas of present-day Trumbull, Connecticut associated with Hawley.
The2nd Connecticut Regiment was raised in the spring of 1777 for the new army orContinental Line and was made up of free and enslaved men, among them Hawley, from throughout Connecticut. Ordered to assemble inDanbury, Connecticut, to prepare to take the field, they went into camp inPeekskill, New York, soon after. They served during the summer and fall of 1777 along theHudson River under the command of GeneralIsrael Putnam. On November 14, 1777, they were ordered to join GeneralGeorge Washington's main army inPennsylvania, where they engaged in the sharp action of theBattle of White Marsh on December 8. The unit lost many officers and men killed or wounded in the battle.[2]
Nero Hawley spent the winter of 1777–1778 atValley Forge, Pennsylvania, under the command of General Washington. He was aprivate in Captain James Beebe's Company, within GeneralJedediah Huntington's Brigade of the2nd Connecticut Regiment, 1st Connecticut Division.[3] On March 12, 1778, the parish of North Stratford, now Trumbull, Connecticut, made donations of provisions for those residents serving in the southern army stationed at Valley Forge. Three of the fifteen men serving there from North Stratford were Hawley's: Abraham, Nathan, and Nero. During the harsh winter encampment, Nero Hawley answered seven roll calls between December 1777 and June 1778.
On July 28, 1778, Hawley fought in theBattle of Monmouth inNew Jersey. Hawley was assigned to the 2nd Connecticut Brigade commanded by Huntington and camped atWhite Plains before spending the winter of 1778–1779 with the division atRedding, Connecticut. He served on the east side of the Hudson River in GeneralWilliam Heath's wing during the operations of 1779 and with the Light Company under Captain Ten Eyck. He was then detached to ColonelReturn J. Meigs' Light Regiment and engaged the enemy at theBattle of Stony Point on July 15, 1779. He wintered during 1779–1780 atMorristown, New Jersey, serving on the outposts.[4] In 1780, he served with the main army along the Hudson River and wintered at Camp Connecticut Village above the Robinson House during 1780–1781.
Nero married Peg, the slave servant of the Unity Parish pastor, ReverendJames Beebe, in 1761. They raised seven children, five born before Nero enlisted in the army. Hawley was emancipated in 1782, but the children born to Nero and Peg remained the property of Reverend Beebe. Two children were listed in Beebe's inventory of his estate after he died in 1785. Nero formally emancipated all four children in 1801 when they were 26 and 34.[5]
After the war, Hawley became a brickmaker. On March 14, 1791, Hawley, described in the old North Stratford Ecclesiastical Society book as a "free Negro man", withdrew with others from the Congregational Society of North Stratford and became a member of the Episcopal Church at Ripton, nowHuntington.[6] On May 26, 1808, Hawley's pension was increased to $3.33 per month. He received a final pension increase to $40 per year in 1813.[7] Nero Hawley died in 1817 at the age of 75, and is buried in the Riverside Cemetery inTrumbull Center.
Nero's grandsons Grant and Peter Hawley were named trustees of the Zion Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in June 1835 when the church purchased land on Broad Street inBridgeport, Connecticut, to construct a church building.[8] The church, now known as the Walter's Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, is the oldest black church in Bridgeport and celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2010.[9]
