Slave George

George Lewis (also known as Slave George or Lilburn Lewis' slave George) (b. 1794 - d. 15 December 1811) was an African American held as a slave; he was murdered in western Kentucky on the night of December 15–16, 1811 by Lilburn and Isham Lewis, grown sons of Dr. Charles Lilburn Lewis and Lucy Jefferson Lewis, and nephews of Thomas Jefferson. The brothers were also related to Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame.

Because of the killing coinciding with the time and location of the notorious New Madrid quake and the ensuing disgrace of the prominent Lewis family, accounts of it quickly became part of the regional and national lore. Soon after being released on bail, Lilburn Lewis committed suicide. Jailed after his brother's death, Isham escaped and disappeared from the area and is believed to have perished in January 1814 Battle of New Orleans.

George was born into slavery in 1794 in Virginia and held by the Lewis family. He grew up as a house slave and learned what was needed in the kitchen and other areas. When Randolph and Lilburne Lewis decided to move to Kentucky in 1806 with their families, they took their slaves with them, including George.

In early 1812, Lilburne and Isham Lewis were still in mourning for their mother and older brother Randolph, who had died the year before. Lilburne had also lost his first wife in 1811. He had remarried a local woman named Letitia. She was pregnant with their first child by early 1812, and Lilburne was struggling during financial reversals to support his first five children.

George was a 17-year-old slave held by Lilburne Lewis. Isham had come to Lilburne on an extended visit, and that night after George accidentally broke a water pitcher that belonged to their mother; angered, they killed him in front of seven other slaves.

"In a drunken rage, they seized George, tied him to the floor of the kitchen cabin. The brothers assembled their seven slaves and ordered them to build a large fire in the fireplace. Lilburn locked the door and informed his slaves that he intended to end their insolence once and for all. While the terrified slaves stood against the wall, Lilburn struck George in the neck with an ax, and the two brothers compelled one of the slaves to dismember the body. The remains of George’s body were burned in the fireplace piecemeal until about 2:00 a.m. when an earthquake hit western Kentucky, causing the chimney to collapse and smother the fire. The next day, during the aftershocks, the Lewis brothers forced their slaves to clean the remains of the body out of the fireplace and begin rebuilding it. They concealed the unburned portions of George’s body among the rocks of the reconstructed chimney." A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760-1891, Marion Brunson Lucas

...
Wikipedia