Manumission record of Cardaro Wanton, NHS collections
In 1775, John G. Wanton, at the urging of the Society of Friends, manumitted his slave Cardardo Wanton from service at what is today the Wanton–Lyman–Hazard House on Broadway. As the Revolution approached and Newport’s population scattered, Cardardo disappeared from Newport records, only to resurface as a private in a Massachusetts militia regiment out of Taunton. In September 1777 Cardardo and several other former Wanton family slaves enlisted in a secret mission, under Major General Joseph Spencer, to attack British forces on Aquidneck Island. What would have been the first “Battle of Rhode Island” was abandoned because of terrible weather and Spencer’s incompetence. Cardardo was discharged in October and remains lost to us at this time.