while in washington in 1860, he was a frequent guest of benjamin taylor. he engaged rooms at the wormley's establishment on i street. in his book about his travels, he described wormley as thusly. i'm bound to say that my friend did well for me. i found myself put up at the house of one wormley, a colored man in i street to whose attention i can recommend any e englishman, who may chance to want porters in washington. i conceive myself to be greatly in luck. in 1863 when blacks were finally allowed to join in the battles of the war, james' brother, samuel, and two of his sons, had registered for the draft and served in the army. being the very first to enlist in the new d.c. regiment, william served with charles and john cook j.r. during the peterson campaign, as quoted in the tribune. as further evidence of the role the family played in abolition, james actively engaged in slave running. on a visit with governor seward, after his career in government had ended, a correspondent wrote seward had commented that he and james had spirited slaves down the james

and dined on lafayette square at madison's house, gadsby's house, daniel webster's house and benjamin taylor's house. webster was secretary of state at this time and owned the house just a few doors west of here, the site of the chamber of commerce building today. the they lowe's lived on the same lane as dolly and july they low would occasionally forward notes to dolly asking if he might borrow paul for her dinner parties. the soirees at all of these fine homes could not have been grander thanks to household staff like paul jennings, nancy syfax, and at webster's, cook monica mccarty. all three of these individuals were about the same age. jennings and syphax each had a connection to a president and his virginia plantation. nancy syphax, like her mother before her, having been born at mt. vernon. monica mccarty had been offered for sale years before to daniel webster. she was a very talented cook. but webster replied that he could never own a slave, but he would pay mccarty's purchase price and have her work it off as his employee. one imagines the friendship, the alternate culture going on a