Manumission record of Cardardo Wanton, NHS collections
In 1775, John G. Wanton, at the urging of the Society of Friends, manumitted (freed) Cardardo Wanton, a person John enslaved who lived with him at what is today the Wanton–Lyman–Hazard House on Broadway. As the Revolution approached and Newport’s population scattered, Cardardo enlisted as a private in a Massachusetts militia regiment out of Taunton. In September 1777 Cardardo and several other men formerly enslaved by the Wanton family 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 of that year; to date, no further references to him have been recovered.