American History Moment

Hannah Till was born into slavery in or around Philadelphia about 1728 and given the surname of Longpoint. She worked as a cook and was allowed to sell her homemade goods sometimes and was able to buy her freedom in 1756 taking the name Archer. She met and married Isaac Till, a whipmaker from New York. At the start of the American revolution Isaac and Hannah were hired by George Washington as a personal cooks. The Tills served in Washington’s many military campaigns for the next six and half years and are best known for their service during the encampment at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778. During that unusually harsh winter Till gave birth to a son Isaac Worley Till and he was baptized in the Philadelphia Scots Presbyterian Church in 1799. After Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at Yorktown the general lent Till’s services as a cook to the Marquis de Lafayette. Till stayed with Lafayette for six months before her contract with Washington ended and she returned to Philadelphia. When Lafayette returned to the United States for a tour in 1824 he visited Till and gave her money to pay off debts so she could avoid losing her home. Till was named DAR patriot as an example of a woman of loyalty as an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War.

From Jauflione Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution