[Footnote 6: Semple, _History of the Baptists_, etc., p. 355.]

[Footnote 7: _Ibid._, p. 356.]

The intellectual progress of the colored people of that day, however,
was not restricted to their clergymen. Other Negroes were learning to
excel in various walks of life. Two such persons were found in North
Carolina. One of these was known as Caesar, the author of a collection
of poems, which, when published in that State, attained a popularity
equal to that of Bloomfield's.[1] Those who had the pleasure of
reading the poems stated that they were characterized by "simplicity,
purity, and natural grace."[2] The other noted Negro of North Carolina
was mentioned in 1799 by Buchan in his _Domestic Medicine_ as the
discoverer of a remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake. Buchan learned
from Dr. Brooks that, in view of the benefits resulting from the
discovery of this slave, the General Assembly of North Carolina
purchased his freedom and settled upon him a hundred pounds per
annum.[3]

[Footnote 1: Baldwin, _Observations_, etc., p. 20.]

[Footnote 2: _Ibid._, p. 21.]

[Footnote 3: Smyth, _A Tour in the U.S._, p. 109; and Baldwin,
_Observations_, p. 20.]

To this class of bright Negroes belonged Thomas Fuller, a native
African, who resided near Alexandria, Virginia, where he startled
the students of his time by his unusual attainments in mathematics,