Brister Freeman; Strength, Black Ownership, and the Power of Names

Brister Freeman, born in 1744, who had been given as a wedding gift to Dr. John Cuming between the ages of five and nine, lived in captivity for the first thirty or so years of his life until he gained his freedom after fighting in the Revolutionary War1. During his service, Brister marched under Colonel John Buttrick to Saratoga in 1777 and watched British General Burgoyne surrender. Two years later, after being documented with the name Brister Cuming, he enlisted under the name Brister Freeman, announcing his newly acquired freedom.

In his later life, Brister purchased an acre of “old field” in Walden Woods with Charlestown Edes, a fellow African-American Revolutionary War soldier, and set up a two-family household2. He was the second man of African descent (after John Jack – see “​​John ‘Jack’ Garrison, Sr.; Racial Inequality Then and Now”) to purchase Concord land. Other formerly enslaved people followed and Walden Woods became one of three black enclaves that sprang up in Concord following gradual emancipation in Massachusetts1. Walden Woods was home to as many as fifteen formerly enslaved people and their families3.

Brister’s wife Fenda Freeman told fortunes; they had three children. He worked as a day laborer and endured frequent harassment from other residents and local officials. In one instance, Brister was locked by someone else with an angry bull in a slaughterhouse he frequented for work. Impressed by what Brister was able to accomplish in such a hostile environment, Henry David Thoreau compares him in Walden to Scipio Africanus, the great Roman general. This comparison is one of the many references to Brister Freeman that Thoreau makes in his writing. As a close neighbor, Thoreau also at one point details the path to Brister’s home from Walden Pond: “Down the road, on the right hand, on Brister’s Hill, lived Brister Freeman… there where grow still the apple trees which Brister planted and tended…”4

Brister passed away in 1822, but his burial site is neither marked nor known1. In his will, Brister left his land to a neighboring woman to avoid having it go to an unwelcome owner. Today, the land is part of the Hapgood Wright Town Forest and is stewarded by the Town of Concord Natural Resources Commission. The ditch fence Brister dug around his property to keep animals enclosed is still visible to passers-by. In commemoration of his life, The Robbins House placed a boulder marking the Freeman Family home site in 2011, and the site is also addressed by a nearby plaque1. The nearby “Brister’s Spring” and “Brister’s Hill Road” acknowledge Brister’s contributions to the Union and the Town of Concord. Recognition for Brister is copious; however, all mentions of Brister like these identify him by his first name, while other sites nearby are dedicated to important Concordians using their last names, such as Thoreau’s Cabin (these audio excerpts refer to their subjects by first name to allow them to be more personable to the listener). Between the last name he was forced to take on and the tendency because of his race to ignore his chosen last name, Brister’s story asks us to consider what the names we use for others say about the respect we accord to them.

Works Cited

1 “Brister Freeman Family Home Site – the Robbins House.” The Robbins House, 7 Mar. 2019, robbinshouse.org/projects/brister-freeman-family-home-site/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2023.

2 The Robbins House. “On Brister’s Hill with the Walden Woods Project – the Robbins House.” The Robbins House, 13 June 2018, robbinshouse.org/on-bristers-hill-with-the-walden-woods-project/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2023.

3 Lemire, Elise. Black Walden: Slavery and Its Aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts. S.L., University of Pennsylvania, 2019, p. 126.

4 Henry David Thoreau. Walden. London Vintage, 9 Aug. 1854.