By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. We all have seen the pictures and portrayals of Continental soldiers struggling with disease and malnutrition during the severe winter at Valley Forge – sacrificing all for liberty. And always, it is a white army that gazes up at Washington as he rides by his assembled troops.
Nothing could be further from the truth. During what Americans to this day consider their most sacred time in history, when true patriots stood steadfast in the struggle for a new nation’s liberty, incredibly, nearly one if every five troops standing at attention before General Washington – representing the last hope of freedom, were black – many former slaves. These were the men who remained with the army through its darkest hours. They were not sunshine soldiers. Some of these men had survived the savage voyage from Africa in chains. At Valley Forge, they stood alongside fellow white troops and put their heart and soul behind the promise of freedom – that all men were created equal. They were willing to chance death, so that every man and woman – white, black, and Native American – could look upon each other and share a heritage that guaranteed true humanity. For some, that dream was achieved. For most, it remained as distant as the moon; a battle for future generations who even to this day, struggle for equality. As such, this brief article is just one of many which helps to raise the awareness that African Americans played a major role in the founding of our nation; whose heritage is as rich and self-deserving as any of our most sacred founding fathers.
History has either buried or flatly denied the incredible role African Americans played in the American Revolution. Many reasons contributed to this and were partially to blame:
- Refusal by many founding fathers (Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, to mention a few) rooted in the general population to accept the African American as equal both physically and mentally to white Americans.
- The growth of plantation servitude after the war and fear of slave rebellions by former black soldiers.
- Early publishers’ and authors’ desire to not raise confrontational issues that could hinder the sale of text books.
- The growth of racism and bigotry, especially after the Civil War, that saw horrendous organizations like the KKK flourish – including civic government supported racism throughout both the north and ‘Jim Crow’ south.
The Federal Government’s Military which, right up to and during the Second World War, segregated black soldiers from whites; often treating German prisoners of war far better than African American soldiers; ie: German prisoners could eat at military canteens among white American soldiers which were off limits to African American soldiers.
Therefore, given our nation’s long history of racism and bigotry, it would seem incredulous that African Americans, the majority of whom were slaves, were allowed among the ranks of Continental troops during the American Revolution. Also, that the British, so too the purveyors of the slave trade for previous centuries, would consider arming the black population. The answer is best supplied by W. B. Hartgrove, author of one of the early texts on African Americans in the Revolution, 1916: The Negro Soldier in the American Revolution. He wrote that we forget that during the 18th century, slavery was a patriarchal institution rather than the economic plantation system as it developed after the multiplication of mechanical appliances, which brought about the world-wide industrial revolution. Prior to the inventions that required large slave populations to harvest cotton and agricultural crops in general, white colonials on average, owned far fewer slaves per capita in the 18th century.
Colonial slaves were brought more closely into contact with their masters and were generally enlightened and later emancipated. Like England, who banned slavery from England in 1774 with the Mansfield decision, colonial America was beginning to move away from the ‘industry’ of slavery. The populace of freed slaves, those who were granted certain rights including the ability to bear arms, was greater prior to the American Revolution. But that all changed after the war, when southern farmers required a large work force to harvest their crops. They invested heavily in acquiring more black servants to work the fields and the slave market exploded, bankrolled by corporate interests in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island who made a fortune in the slave trade. Not until the late 18th century and after the war, were extreme draconian laws levied against African Americans both slaves and freemen which restricted their ability to gain freedom, land, and firearms.
Large numbers of black Americans, both freed and slaves (many having escaped slavery) served both sides of the conflict during the American Revolution, prior to and throughout the war; some scholars place the number as high as one hundred thousand. They did so not in separate units, but within the ranks of militias, Continental troops, and aboard ships, mostly privateers. The majority served as support units called ‘pioneers’, those who drove the wagons and supplied the armies. However, upwards of anywhere from six, as high as eight percent of white troops in the American cause were African Americans. This percentage was much higher in winter when much of the army was furloughed to go home. The ‘sunshine soldiers’ returned home, often leaving African Americans who represented a higher percentage of troops present. Only two regiments in the American army could be considered segregated and consisted mainly of recruited black soldiers; the 1st Rhode Island of former slaves which saw much action and praised as one of if not the finest regiment of the American Army by French troops, and the Bucks of America, which never saw action. The British had two such units who fought with arms; the Ethiopian Brigade of escaped slaves under Lord Dunmore which saw action early in the war, and the Black Brigade of guerrilla fighters in New Jersey under former Ethiopian Brigade soldier and escaped slave, Colonel Tye (Titus Corlies).
At the start of the Revolution, many blacks were won over to the universal cause of freedom. Those who chose the American cause stood alongside colonial Sons of Liberty ‘boys’ and militia minutemen in defiance of British ‘aggression’. At the Battle of Lexington, Prince Estabrook, a slave for the local miller, stood firmly on the green and was wounded during the ‘first shots heard round the world.’ Earlier on, Crispus Attucks, considered the first fatality of the war, in 1770 during the ‘Boston Massacre’, fell mortally wounded before a redcoat volley. According to early 19th century author George Bancroft, considered the ‘father of American History, “the roll of the army of Cambridge had from its first formation borne the names of men of color… Negroes stood in the ranks by the side of white men…” Before military leaders and local politicians could decide if African Americans should be enlisted in the war, many, like Attacks and Estabrook, had numbered themselves among the first to spill blood on behalf of American liberty. Peter Salem, two months after Lexington and Concord, distinguished himself at Bunker Hill by killing marine commander Major Pitcairn [some scholars contribute this action to Salem Poor]. In the same action, Salem Poor of Colonel Frye’s regiment had gained battle honors at Bunker Hill in what was then called the Battle of Charlestown. Fourteen American officers commended Poor to the Continental Congress for valor.
Early in the war, questions arose as to arming African Americans. By then, a large number of black freemen faced British arms along with slaves who stood beside their masters. So too, escaped slaves were accepted in the ranks of militiamen desperate for bodies to confront the British army that was under siege in Boston. When General George Washington joined the new American Army outside Boston in July of 1775, the growing number of African Americans gave rise to critics. Though some hailed the advent of black soldiers fighting for freedoms held dear by white patriots, many more thought otherwise. As Hartgrove wrote, “Some, having the idea that the Negro was a savage, too stupid to be employed in fighting the battles of freemen, seriously objected to his enlistment. Others were fearful of the result from setting the example of employing an uncivilized people to fight the British, who would then have an excuse not only for enlisting Negroes, but also Indians.” Still others, mostly large plantation owners and southern planters, feared arming a slave population who, when hostilities were over, entice other slaves to rise in revolt against their masters.
As to the question of enlisting slaves and even freemen, those who believed that black soldiers should be excluded from the army triumphed early on in the war. In Massachusetts, the Committee of Safety, in May, 1775, in which John Hancock and Dr. Joseph Warren were members, reported to the Provincial Congress the opinion that the admission of any persons of color who were not freemen, ‘reflect dishonor on the colony.’ They urged that no slaves be admitted into the army under any consideration whatsoever. Though they stressed this belief, no action was taken as recruiters actively signed on black soldiers, often looking the other way when an escaped slaves signed on. Washington, a large slaveholder and one adhering to southern suspicions that no African American should be armed, commanded upon his arrival at Cambridge in July of 1775, that recruiting officers must prohibit enlisting any black person, regardless they were a freeman. This stern order to allow no more black soldiers recruited into the army provoked a debate in the Second Congress meeting in Philadelphia in September, 1775. Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, took Washington’s orders one step further and moved that the commander-in-chief be instructed to discharge all Negroes from the army, whether they were slaves or not. This motion had failed, but it did not fall on deaf ears.
On October 8th, 1775, a council of war was held in Cambridge with the following generals present: Washington, Lee, Thomas, Spencer, Heath, Sullivan, Greene, and Gates. The question was raised, whether or not it was advisable to enlist African Americans in the new Continental Army or “whether there be any distinction between such as are slaves and those who are free.” The gentlemen present represented military leaders hailing from both north and southern colonies; some were slave holders – some not. It was unanimously agreed to reject all slaves and by a large majority, to refuse black soldiers altogether. It appeared that patriotic freedoms should only be reserved for the white populace went beyond the military and was shared by the civilian leaders. Ten days later, during a Committee of Conference to devise a method of renovating the army, the question of enlisting black soldiers came up. The leaders of this council were Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Lynch, the Deputy Governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the Committee of Council of Massachusetts Bay. To a man, the council agreed that not only former slaves, but all African Americans should be rejected from the military all together. And on November 12, 1775, the future ‘father of our country’ declared that neither Negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure fatigues of the campaign should be enlisted.
Early African historian Hartgrove pondered, “The men who had taken this position had acted blindly. They had failed to consider the various complications which might arise as a result of the refusal to admit Negroes to the army. What would the Negroes think when they saw their offering thrown away from the altar of their country? Were the Revolutionary fathers so stupid as to think that the British would adopt the same policy?” And of course, at first, they did not.
Embattled Lord Dunmore, John Murray, Royal Governor of Virginia at the start of hostilities in 1775, issued a proclamation on November 7 offering freedom to any slaves of patriots who escaped and enlisted with British forces. Dunmore was desperate for troops to counter the growing number of hostile Virginia militias. He appealed to England for reinforcements, but was only sent a company from the garrison in Florida. To beef up his forces, he decided to arm former slaves of patriots (not loyalists) and formed them into a regiment of approximately eight hundred men entitled the Ethiopian Brigade. They were given muskets, uniforms with the words “Liberty to Slaves” stitched on the breast, and trained along with British regulars. The regiment faced their first test at the Battle of Kemp’s Landing on November 15, 1775. One hundred and seventy Princess Ann militiamen, commanded by Colonel Joseph Hutching and Anthony Lawson (prominent landowner), set up an ambush along the road to Great Bridge where Dunmore had posted a company of men at a constructed redoubt. Dunmore got word of the ambush and attacked the inexperienced militia with his trained regulars and Ethiopian regiment. The former slaves behaved like well-seasoned soldiers and moved through the woods and flushed out the militia who scattered. During the chase, many were captured including Hutchings – appropriately by one of his former slaves.
When George Washington learned that Dunmore had armed African Americans, he went into a rage declaring that Dunmore be instantly crushed by any means possible. This British victory was short-lived as they were defeated at the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9th. When Dunmore, convinced that the American fortification had been evacuated, launched a head on assault, his troops were devastated by a ferocious fire from behind the well protected embankment. Dunmore was forced to withdraw his troops to Norfolk and later upon his fleet in the harbor. However, upon reflection of Dunmore’s initial success in quickly recruiting a regiment of black soldiers, Washington may have rethought his decision to expunge blacks from his army. He wrote; “But that which renders the measure indispensably necessary is the Negroes, if he [Dunmore] gets formidable numbers of them, will be tempted to join him.”
With enlistments expiring and men going home, by late 1775, Washington was already confronted with a problem that would plague him throughout the war. The attraction of war was already wearing thin on men who had to return home to their families and former lives. And with such short-term enlistments (long before Congress approved enlistment for the entire war), Washington and his officers became desperate for bodies. Both military and civil leaders soon receded from their radical position of excluding all black soldiers from the army. It helped that New England officers informed Washington and politicians that the free blacks who had served well in the ranks of northern colonies were displeased at their exclusion from the service. These officers feared that these same men who already proved themselves in battle might depart and join the enemy.
By the end of 1775, Washington retreated from his former policy and instructed recruiting officers to accept ‘Negroes’ and promised to lay the matter before Congress, which, he informed his officers, would approve. A committee soon recommended that free Negroes who had served faithfully in the army at Cambridge be reenlisted in the Continental Army that was reformed at the start of 1776. Afterwards, the Continental Congress followed the policy of leaving the matter as to recruiting black soldiers to various states which were jealously mindful of their rights; especially northern states who instructed recruiters to aggressively seek out enlistments – wherever they could find them.
After the initial rejection of black troops, many officers in the new Continental army generally approved the enlistment of black soldiers. General and Doctor John Thomas from Massachusetts though so well of the proposition that he wrote John Adams in 1775, expressing his surprise that any prejudice against it should exist. About this time the idea of offering freedom to slaves who would come forward to join in the American cause took shape. No doubt taking the lead from Dunmore’s initial success, Samuel Hopkins, member of Washington’s staff and Lt. Colonel of the Virginia 10th regiment, was of the opinion that the way to counteract the tendency of black soldiers to join the British was not to restrain them by force and severity, but by public acts. He recommended that slaves be set free and encourage them to labor and take arms in defense of the American cause. Others on Washington’s staff would speak out. Captain Alexander Hamilton, moved by “the dictates of humanity and true policy,” urged that slaves be ‘given their freedom with the swords to secure their fidelity, animate their courage, and influence those remaining in bondage by opening a door to their emancipation.’ General Nathanael Greene, Rhode Island Quaker and Washington’s prodigy who would rise to Major General and second in command of the Continental Army, emphatically urged that blacks be armed, believing that they would make good soldiers.
So too, the effectiveness of black soldiers seeped southward and into Virginia. James Madison, delegate to the Second Congress and good friend of Thomas Jefferson, suggested that slaves be liberated and armed. He thought that the slaves might be put to a much better use that way then the more popular southern solution of being given as a bounty to induce white men to enlist. “It would certainly be consonant to the principles of liberty,” he said, “which ought never to be lost sight of in a contest for the liberty.” John Laurens, aide-de-camp to Washington and close friend of Alexander Hamilton, son of wealthy South Carolina politician Henry Laurens, was a campion of arming and freeing African American slaves. He was among the first to see the wisdom of doing so, but failed to convince his fellow statesmen. He stated that “I would advance those who are unjustly deprived of the rights of mankind to a state which would be a proper gradation between abject slavery and perfect liberty, and besides I am persuaded that if I could obtain authority for the purpose, I would have a corps of such men trained, uniformly clad, equipped and ready in every respect to act at the opening of the next campaign.” Lauren’s pleas fell on southern deaf ears and tragically, he lost his life in one of the last actions of the war.
Though the Carolinas and Georgia dragged their feet, colonies from Virginia and northward began to look more favorably upon the enlistment of black soldiers. Battle casualties, sickness, desertions, short enlistments expiring, and just plain fatigue along with dying enthusiasm for the cause’; all took their toll on the patriot fighting force. In the course of time, both military and civic leaders became desperate to the point that former restrictions on who would be accepted within the ranks of the army were relaxed. Recruiters accepted any and all enlistees including both freemen and escaped slaves, with or without papers. Within two years of the war, by 1777, ever regiment and unit of the American army had black soldiers among their troops. Also, over time, it became apparent that the black soldiers, especially former slaves, tended to remain among the ranks.
While entire companies of white soldiers deserted to go home to farms and family businesses, the black soldier, with few exceptions, remained. By the winter of 1777 – 78, at Valley Forge, PA, the American army had thinned so much from desertions and furloughs that in some regiments, the ratio between white and black soldier was as high as four to one. As such, by mid-winter, black soldiers in Washington’s army represented sixteen percent of those present! Over eight hundred men of arms were African Americans with an additional two to four hundred pioneers. For detailed research and breakdown of individual regimental percentages of black soldiers at Valley Forge, please check out the following article:
These black soldiers had not only proven themselves in battle, but also in their dedication to remain by their commanding officers side through the most trying times. At the same time, Congress continued to put pressure on states to fulfill their required numbers of troops. As such, in 1778, while at Valley Forge, Brigadier James Mitchell Varnum of Rhode Island received permission from General Washington to return to Rhode Island to recruit. The two Rhode Island regiments had been devastated by sickness, expired enlistments, and battle casualties and were desperate to fill troop vacancies. In a state that had a large African American population (Newport Rhode Island was the nation’s center for the slave trade), Varnum had a plan. Once there, he would meet with the Rhode Island Assembly to convince them to finance a newly recruited regiment of African American slaves who in return, would be granted their freedom. The assembly would bankroll the masters’ fees to purchase the slaves outright to serve for the duration of the war. The slaves would be freed upon their enlistment whose owners would receive payment in accordance to a committee’s valuation of said slave. Governor Nicholas Cooke of Rhode Island, reported the assembly’s decision to establish the Rhode Island 1st regiment, the first all-black regiment, to Washington. He boasted that liberty would be given to every effective slave who donned the uniform and that upon his passing muster, he became absolutely free and was entitled to all the wages, bounties, and encouragements given to any other soldier.
New Hampshire’s state assembly enacted measures that basically eradicated slavery from their state by the end of the war. Slaves who enlisted received the same bounty offered white recruits, however the bounty was turned over to their masters. This served as the price of the slave in return for which the previous owner issued bills of sale and certificates of freedom. Eventually, scholars can trace 629 slaves who availed themselves of the opportunity to gain their freedom by enlisting to fight among New Hampshire’s regiments. Most of the African American male slave population took advantage of this offer and consequentially worked towards purchasing not only land, but their loved ones from former masters.
Though Massachusetts led the way in recruiting black regiments during the later Civil War, they did not do so well eighty-some years earlier. The Militia Act of 1775 forbade “Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians from baring arms. An act in May of 1776 that provided for reinforcing the American army declared that “Indians, Negroes, and mulattoes shall not be held to take up arms…” However, this did not deter recruiters when signing up new recruits for eventually seventy-two towns and cities across the region sent African Americans to fight in Massachusetts’ regiments. On April 3, 1778, Thomas Kench, a member of an artillery regiment serving on Castle Island in the Boston Harbor, wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Council. He noticed that there were many black soldiers mixed in with white troopers and thought that the blacks would have a better spirit de corps if they were organized in companies by themselves. This was a compelling argument that created much debate in the state’s council. Many did not believe that slaves should be compelled to fight the battles of freeman, disregarding the fact that both freeman and former slaves had been doing so since the very first shots of the war were fired. The discussion went beyond council chambers and onto the streets of Boston and in its coffeehouses, resulting in blows between combatants. The result was that no action was taken prompting Kench to later write, “… it is justifiable that negroes should have their freedom, and none amongst us be held as slaves, as freedom and liberty is the grand controversy that we are contending for; and I trust, under the smiles of Divine Providence, we shall obtain it…” Like Laurens in South Carolina, Kench’s appeals fell victim to prejudices of greed and bigotry.
Early in the war, no other state provided as many troops to the cause as Connecticut. Of the nine regiments, according to David White, author of Connecticut’s Black Soldiers, there were over four hundred freeman and former slaves serving in all the states regiments. As the conflict wore on, the state found it difficult to replace expired enlistments. They undertook to raise a black regiment; however, nothing ever came up it and recruiters continued to enlist African Americans to fill the ranks of all regiments.
New York also felt the squeeze of limited manpower and turned to recruiting slaves. There was a large population of African Americans throughout the state; New York City alone had more slaves per capita than any other city of the colonies – however by 1776 it was occupied by the British. The state legislature offered the usual land bounties to masters to purchase slaves, promising freedom to all such slaves who would enlist for three years. Eventually, it is believed that over 15,000 slaves from New York offered their services to bear arms or act as pioneers for both Americans and British; however, England, for the most part, used former slaves only in support. By 1780, Maryland, whose regiments had fought in every major battle of the war, provided that each unit of £16,000 of property should furnish one recruit who might be either a freeman or a slave. In 1781, they resolved to raise 750 ‘Negroes’ to be incorporated with the other troops.
Further south, because of the fear of arming slaves who might instigate a rebellion among the slave population, state legislatures resisted recruiting black soldiers. In fact, early on in the war, Virginia and North Carolina used slaves as bait to fill their ranks among the state regiments. In addition to the allotment of money and land to entice enlistments, they allocated “one healthy sound Negro” into the pot. By 1779, the war had moved south. The southern army that consisted mostly of militia, were no match for the British regulars and their loyalist forces. The Continental Army had been called upon to aid southern forces, but after the loss of General Benjamin Lincoln’s army at Charleston (which included the entire Virginia Line) and General Horatio’s Gate’s sound defeat at the Battle of Camden, most of the southern colonies from North Carolina and south fell to British occupation. By then, African Americans had been promised sanctuary and eventual freedom by British General William Howe. Thousands of slaves saw an opportunity to break the bonds of servitude and ran from their masters to risk a dangerous journey to the British lines.
Meanwhile, Alexander Hamilton saw an opportunity to put forward his good friend John Lauren’s plan to raise southern battalions of black troops. Earlier on, in 1778, Lt. Colonel John Laurens, then aide to Washington, approached the Commander-in-Chief with his bold plan to raise a black regiment of four battalions from the southern slave population. In exchange for fighting against the British, they would receive their freedom (similar to what Washington had already approved for Rhode Island). However, Washington was a southern planter who owned several large estates with one of the country’s largest collection of slaves. He shared his fellow southern brethren’s hesitation when it came to arming slaves. He was also skeptical about white southerners’ willingness to emancipate their slaves for the revolutionary cause. Rather than authorize Lauren’s plan, he left it to Congress. That’s when Hamilton, Washington’s prodigy secretary and aide-de-camp, threw his hat into the lot. The astute abolitionist wrote to the president of Congress, John Jay, supporting Lauren’s ideas. Congress decided the affair was too delicate for that body to decide to pass the buck onto the South Carolina Assembly. When Laurens finally met with them in May of 1779, the offer was soundly rejected by a strong majority of aristocratic planters. Laurens would try once more before the war ended, however to no avail.
Washington, also the politician who tried to remain standing with one foot squarely on each side of the fence wrote to Laurens that he was not at all astonished by the southern legislature’s decision. “That spirit of freedom,” he consoled his aide, “which at the commencement of the Revolution would have sacrificed everything to the attainment of this object, had long since subsided, and every selfish passion had taken its place… It is not the public but the private interest which influences the generality of mankind, nor can Americans any longer boast an exception. Under these circumstances, it would have been rather surprising if you had succeeded.” Any yet, just days after his aide, Hamilton, wrote to President Jay and Congress in support of the measure, Washington received a letter from John Lauren’s father Henry. In it, the elder Laurens expressed that “Had we arms for three thousand such black men as I could select in Carolina, I should have no doubt of success in driving the British out of Georgia…” To which Washington cautiously replied, “The policy of our arming slaves is in my opinion a moot point, unless the enemy set the example… The contest then must be who can arm fastest, and where are our arms? Besides, (and here is the businessman/plantation owner speaking) I am not clear that a discrimination will not render slavery more irksome to those who remain in it. Most of the good and evil things in this life are judged by comparison; and I fear a comparison in this case will be productive of much discontent in those, who are held in servitude.” And here Washington flatly denies a subject that he’d considered from the very first weeks of his new command outside Boston and in subsequent committees both in 1775 right up and through 1778: “But, as this is a subject that has never employed much of my thoughts, these are no more than the first crude ideas that have struck me upon ye occasion.”
We know that tens of thousands, as many as eighty thousand African Americans assisted the British during the war. Their role, outside some exceptions – notably Colonel Tye who led a brigade of black and white guerrilla warriors in New Jersey, were many in support – driving wagons, hauling supplies, constructing forts and embankments, and camp sanitation. How many African Americans served in the Continental Army? We know the number was considerable, but determining this proved difficult. Scholars estimate that anywhere from five thousand to eight thousand African Americans fought for the American cause for liberty from mother England. Black soldiers marched side by side with the white soldier, and in most cases, according to the War Department, even after making an extended research as to the names, organizations, and numbers, the results would be that little can be obtained from the records to show exactly what soldiers were white and which were black. Also, there was no formal system of recruiting black soldiers as each colony dealt with the matter differently. Black men continued to enlist under various laws and sometimes under no law or in defiance of it. A Hessian officer observed in 1777 that “the Negro can take the field instead of his master; and, therefore, no regiment is to be seen in which there are not negroes in abundance, and among them there are able-bodied, strong and brave fellows.”
It is beyond the scope of this limited study to delve into the many individual black soldiers who fought throughout the war. As mentioned, every regiment in the American army had black soldiers among their ranks, including almost every ship of war and privateer. One regiment in particular, the only black regiment within the Continental army, deserves special mention. The Rhode Island 1st regiment, raised in the spring of 1778 from mostly freed slaves, served well throughout the rest of the war. Though designated a black regiment, the original unit mustered 140 African Americans and 85 whites. Approximately one third were white by war’s end and it is noted that of the African Americans who first mustered with the regiment in February of 1778, five years later, at the end of the war, almost to a man they remained fighting, less battle casualties and deaths to sickness. Historian Henry Wiencek observed that, “there is no record of a popular outcry against the black presence, no record of fights or interdisciplinary problems caused by racial integration. The common white New England soldier seemed to have accepted blacks. The objections to the black presence came not from the rank and file, but from the highest levels of policy makers and politicians.”
The regiment was noted for being one of the finest in both presentation, discipline, and fierceness in battle. At the Battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778, led by Colonel Christopher Greene, third cousin of Major General Nathanael Greene, the regiment, mainly of raw recruits was positioned to hold back a concerted attack by a far superior veteran Hessian force. The regiment helped to offer cover for the majority of the American army to retreat. The Rhode Island 1st repelled three aggressive assaults by the Hessian force allowing precious time for the Americans to withdraw and then enacted a disciplined retreat to join the main American force. General John Sullivan, commanding the American army praised the Rhode Islanders for their actions stating that they bore “a proper share of the day’s honors.” In January of 1781, the Marquis Francois Jean de Chastellux, one of five generals under General Rochambeau (commander of French forces in America), noted the regiment crossing at the Connecticut Ferry. He later wrote in his journal, “The majority of these enlisted men are Negroes or mulattoes, strong, robust men. Those I saw made a very good appearance.”
In May of 1781, tragedy struck the regiment. The Continental Army was stationed near Fishkill, New York and Colonel Christopher Greene’s 1st Rhode Islanders were sent to a location some ten miles distant, at Pines Bridge on the Croton River. This area of Westchester County, north of New York City, was at the time called ‘no man’s land.’ A wide band, some twenty or more miles wide, from the Hudson to the Long Island Sound, separated the main British and American armies. Here, marauding companies of loyalists fought an aggressive war against both American forces and the local patriot population. Called ‘cowboys’, the largest band was a brigade of fierce loyalists established by wealthy New Yorker Oliver DeLancey and led by his nephew Colonel James DeLancey. Small pox had hit the Rhode Island regiment hard with many men listed on sick leave. The regiment had just under two hundred men and was thinly stretched to guard approximately twenty miles of the Croton River region. Eventually, Colonel DeLancey’s spies reported that Colonel Greene and Major Ebenezer Flagg were headquartered at a farmhouse owned by the Davenport family. Greene was sparsely guarded by his regiment who encamped nearby. DeLancey saw an opportunity to surprise his enemy and strike hard. He organized his light horse company of sixty mounted horse and two hundred infantry for a pre-dawn attack.
On May 14, 1781, DeLancey’s forces forded the river and laid a surprise attack on the encampment. Just as the sentries were changing guard for breakfast, DeLancey attacked. As the infantry attacked the encampment, having surrounded and forced the surrender of some, the cavalry raced to the farm house in search for the regiment’s officers. Greene’s guard remained by the house and ultimately surrounded their commanders to defend off the attackers. Every guardsman fought to the death to protect Greene and Flagg, but ultimately were overcome by overwhelming odds and the two commanders were put to the sword. Greene’s body was taken and later found horribly mutilated, no doubt payment for leading a regiment of black troops. Fourteen of the regiment were killed, mainly from the guard. Several were wounded and thirty were taken prisoner, later to be sold on auction, no doubt to the West Indies. Early historian William Cooper Nell, in his book The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, wrote that “Among the traits which distinguish the black regiment was devotion to their officers… Colonel Greene, the commander of the Regiment was cut down and mortally wounded, but the sabers of the enemy only reached him through the bodies of his faithful guard of blacks, who hovered over him to protect him, and every one of whom was killed.”
The command was assumed by Lt. Colonel Jeremiah Olney after Greene’s death. By the time British General Charles Cornwallis’ southern army was cornered at Yorktown, Virginia, in the fall of 1781, the first and second Rhode Island was incorporated into one regiment; the first. They marched with the rest of Washington’s army and French allies to Virginia. Outside Yorktown, the French commanders noted that no American regiment compared to the regiment of mainly black troops for discipline and ‘soldierly’ presence. After a protracted siege where gun placements wore down Cornwallis’ troops, a major assault was planned. Colonel Alexander Hamilton was to lead the American front and with him, spearheading his attack, was the Rhode Island 1st. They attacked the evening of October 14th, 1781 with the use of bayonet alone. After hacking through the abatis, the men scaled a ditch and raced up the sides of the redoubt, in places standing on each other’s shoulders to get over the top into the redoubt. The small forts were taken which allowed the Americans to shell the British position from three sides. Cornwallis saw the writing on the wall and surrendered his army three days later on the seventeenth.
Of the valor and services rendered by African American soldiers throughout the war, from the first shots fired in 1775 until the last in 1783, the number of officers and witnesses who came forward to recognized the determination of black troops was overwhelming. At the Battle of Rhode Island, General Lafayette noted the following day that the enemy repeated the attempt three times [to carry the position], and they were as often repulsed with great bravery. Doctor Harris, a veteran of the same battle wrote, “Had they been unfaithful or even given away before the enemy, all would have been lost. Three times in succession they were attacked with more desperate valor and fury by well disciplined and veteran troops [Hessians], and three times they repelled the assault and thus preserved our army from capture.”
Historian W. B. Hartgrove best express the worthiness of the black soldiers. He wrote: “The valor of the Negro soldiers of the American Revolution has been highly praised by statesmen and historians. Writing to John Adams in 1775, General [John] Thomas expressed his surprise at the prejudice against the colored troops in the south, “We have some Negros but I look on them in general equally serviceable with other men for fatigue, and in action, many of them had proved themselves brave.” [General Alexander] Graydon in speaking of the Negro troops he saw in Glover’s regiment at Marblehead, Massachusetts, said, “But even in the regiment (a fine one) there were a number of Negros.” Referring to the battle of Monmouth, [early historian] Bancroft said, “Nor may history omit to record that, of the ‘revolutionary patriots’ who on that day periled life for their country, more than even hundred black men fought side by side with the white.” And according to [historian William] Lecky, “the Negros proved excellent soldiers.”
After the war, what of the promised freedom offered to former slaves? The northern states did a better job of this than their southern brethren. Rhode Island adhered to honor their commitment to free black soldiers and by 1784, freed all slaves within the state. New Hampshire followed suit. So too New York followed with their promise of freedom. However, Virginia and Maryland and further south fell far short. Of the over eight hundred former slaves who fought for Virginia, most were returned to slavery. Even George Washington was persistent in acquiring his missing slaves and returning them to slavery. When it came to land and monetary payments to their black soldiers, all the states were dismal in this, rewarding whites far sooner than African American vets. Even Rhode Island made good on the 100 acres promised to white soldiers, but reneged on the same promise to black soldiers. Colonel Olney would spend most of the rest of his life aiding his former African American soldiers to obtain their promised land, back pay, and eventual pensions.
Overall, most Continental soldiers had to wait many years to get any back pay and pension from the national government. The time frame varied as this depended on the support from their state governments. When the money came, for both white and black, it ended up being a portion of what was owed. Many scams arose to buy promises of back payment from veterans for a fraction of their value. Perhaps the first large ‘insider trading’ scam by banks and wealthy investors, these promissory notes, shortly after thousands were purchased, were miraculously repaid at their full value by treasurer Alexander Hamilton. The investors who paid pennies on the dollar from poor and destitute veterans of the war made incredible fortunes – many were the leading corporate heads and politicians of the day.