Colonial leaders always had misgivings about black enlistments in militias during pre-Revolutionary War years and later among those who fought for American Independence. Though there was a large population of available African Americans to fill the ranks of colonial enlistments, the number one fear both north and south was the apprehension that slaves trained in the use of arms might revolt against their masters. The popular viewpoint was reflected among a group of Carolina prominent landowners who stated, “there must be great caution used, lest our slaves when armed might become our masters.” This caution towards slave recruits also stemmed to free blacks. They were often viewed as potential leaders or instigators of slave revolts. Therefore, African Americans, both free and slave, were totally barred from bearing arms. However, when need arose for additional bodies behind muskets, some militia leaders looked the other way.
The taboo of black involvement in militias began in Virginia in 1639, when the male population of the colony was expected to take up arms, except blacks. In 1656, Massachusetts reversed its previous position that allowed arming those with African heritage and also excluded blacks. Four years later, in 1661, Connecticut did likewise. Soon after the rest of colonial America followed suit; legally outlawing black colonials from participation in militias.
Over time militia restrictions towards blacks was altered slightly. Free blacks could enlist, but were not allowed to bare arms, filling the roles as drummers, fifers, draymen, and general laborers. By the early 1700’s, temporary exceptions to this policy were additionally altered when faced with hostilities between colonists and Native Americans. In 1703, South Carolina authorized planters to arm their slaves against ‘Indian’ attack. In some cases, allowing slaves to petition for freedom if they killed or captured Native Americans. In 1715, several hundred slaves fought alongside their South Carolina masters during the Yamassee War. In French Louisiana, slaves were enlisted to fight the Chickasaw and Natchez Native Americans. All this came to a screeching end with the Stono Slave Revolt on September 9, 1739. Sixty slaves armed themselves from a firearms shop and rebelled near the Stono River, twenty miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. More than twenty whites were killed as the slaves headed south towards Florida where the Spanish government offered freedom and land to any fugitive slaves. The white community pursued and by nightfall, half the slaves were dead. Most of the rest were later captured and executed. The result of this rebellion for slaves throughout the colonies became severe. No longer would slaves be allowed to grow their own food, assemble in groups, earn their own money, or learn to read
Less than twenty years after Stono, with the advent of the Seven Years War, French and Indian War in the Americas, blacks were once more allowed to bear arms in militias. Exigences forced colonists, who could not fill necessary rosters with just white recruitments, to reach out to free blacks and, to a lesser extent, slaves. Colonists were compelled to allow black soldiers to carry arms and in some cases, offering slaves freedom as rewards for good performance; however, these slaves had to surrender all wages to their master. Even though promised freedom at the end of the conflict, many if not most, were returned to slavery. What was more so, these black soldiers served right alongside whites in unsegregated units. A polity that would later extent to the American Revolution, but not again until the Korean War of the early 1950’s.
In 1776, the colonial population numbered nearly three million in which 600,000 were enslaved African Americans. In Georgia, blacks accounted for 40% of the population and in South Carolina, blacks outnumbered whites.
Outline of Black Participation in the American Revolution
Renowned historical author Donald L. Robinson wrote that: “Negroes were less reluctant than whites to sign up for long enlistments and readier to go wherever their commanders ordered them. Typically, they had fewer reasons for clinging to civilian life and were thus less likely to desert their regiments to go home. Thus they made better Continental soldiers.”
- March 5, 1770. Crispus Attucks, runaway slave, first American killed while resisting British authority in what was termed the Boston Massacre.
- March 1774. Massachusetts Committee of Safety permitted towns and village companies of ‘Minutemen’ militias to enlist African Americans.
- April 19, 1775. Black militiamen fought alongside white militiamen at the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
- April, 1775. Black soldiers enlisted in the New England Provincial Army.
- April, 1775. Green Mountain Boys of New England Grants (later Vermont) offered blacks enlistments, particularly Lemuel Haynes – later renowned poet and author.
- May 11, 1775. African Americans were actively present during the taking of Fort Ticonderoga.
- June 17, 1775. Black soldiers in the New England Provincial Army fought at Bunker Hill.
- 1775 throughout the war. Black sailors, both freemen and slaves were welcome in both local state, Continental Navies, and aboard pioneers. The fear of insurrection that applied to serving with infantry did not affect those serving aboard ship; serving as gunners, seamen, and cooks.
- May 29, 1775. Though black soldiers proved gallant and dependable, due to slaveholder protests of arming African Americans, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety issued an order prohibiting the enlistment of slaves; stating to do so would ‘reflect dishonor on this colony.’
- June 17, 1775. Continental Congress takes over authority of the army around Boston, leaving the Commander-in-Chief, General George Washington to determine the issue of black enrollments.
- July 9, 1775. General Washington, who had a low opinion of African Americans and a proponent of slavery, issued a proclamation instruction increment officers not to enroll “any stroller, Negro, or vagabond.”
- July, 1775. Virginia opened the militia to “all free male persons.” Soon after, some slaves deserted their masters to join, pretending to be free blacks. Some white masters passed off their slaves as free blacks in an attempt as a substitute for themselves or family member. Soon after, militia recruiters were ordered to demand documentation of all ‘free black’ recruits.
- Fall 1775. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina introduced a resolution to the 2nd Continental Congress that required Washington to discharge all blacks, free as well as slaves. Congress refused to act on Rutledge’s resolution.
- Oct. 8, 1775. Washington and his staff met at Cambridge, Mass. To consider whether African Americans should be enrolled in the new Continental Army and if a distinction should be made as to “such as are slaves and those that are free.”
- Oct. 24, 1775. American General John Thomas wrote to John Adams of Boston that it was unwise to close the ranks of the patriot army to blacks, many of whom in action “have proved themselves brave.”
- Nov. 7, 1775. Royal Governor John Murray, Lord Dunmore, of Virginia issued a Proclamation promising freedom to slaves of those in rebellion against England who would join the British and bare arms against the colonial insurrection.
- Nov. 12, 1775. Washington issues an order specifically forebidding the enlistment of blacks, although those already enlisted would be allowed to finish their tours. State and local authorities quickly followed Washington’s lead.
- December, 1775. Three hundred former slaves join Governor Dunmore’s troops at Norfolk, Virginia, forming what Dunmore titled the Ethiopian Regiment. They wore white and scarlet unitforms with the inscripted words ‘Liberty to Slaves’ on their coats.
- December 30, 1775. With white enlistments discouragingly slow and few soldiers reenlisting, the need for manpower became urgent. In a reversal of policy, Washington authorized recruiting officers to accept free blacks in the army. Washington wrote to John Hancock, president of Congress, that by not allowing free blacks to enlist, or reenlist, they might offer their services to the British.
- January 17, 1776. The Continental Congress accepted Washington’s recommendation and agreed to the reenlistment of free blacks. But due to lack of southern delegate support, insisted that no others should be accepted.
- Early 1776. British officers on the coast of Georgia began promising freedom to defection slaves. Many runaway slaves accepted and flocked to the British banner.
- April, 1776. South Carolina passed an act authorizing the death penalty for African Americans found guilty of fleeing to the British or persuading others to do so.
- April, 1776. Reverand Dr. Samuel Hopkinson of Rhode Island, considered the most influential theologian of the American Revolutionary period, appealed to Congress to help deter this flight by slaves to the British banner. He proposed that Congress offer freedom to slaves who fought for the American cause.
- April, 1776. Congress, due to the slaveholder objections, refused to respond to Dr. Hopkinson’s appeal to grant freedom to slaves who fought for the American cause.
- April, 1776. British General Henry Clinton organized the Black Pioneers, former slaves. Seventy-one members at first, they grew in numbers throughout the war.
- September, 1776. Congress ordered the states to raise 88 battalions of Continentals to serve for three years or the duration of the war. Thee months later, Washington authorized to enlist 16 more battalions. This proved a hardship as whites were reluctant to enlist leaving African American enthusiasts frustrated by the untapped large number of available recruits.
- January, 1777. Congress authorizes states to fill their quota of Continental enlistments by drafts of militia. This stressed states who could not fill their quotas; even the advent of bounties and land incentives proved to fall on deaf ears, failing to garnish the necessary white response. Again, frustrating those who proposed recruiting black soldiers.
- This stressed the states as event with the advent of bounties and land incentives to join,
- Early 1777 and into 1778. Without Congressional sanctions, Northern and Middle-Atlantic states authorized the enlistments of free blacks to meet their quotas.
- Late 1777 and into 1778. As the war continued, Northern and Middle-Atlantic states were obliged to begin authorizing the enlistment of slaves. The slave owners would receive compensation and the slaves their freedom at war’s end.
- January, 1778. With two thirds of Rhode Island occupied by British troops, the state was having difficulty replacing those troops whose enlistments had expired. General James Varnum of Rhode Island proposed to Washington at Valley Forge that the two depleted Rhode Island regiments be combined to one regiment and that he return home to recruit a ‘black regiment.’
- Mid 1777. Initiation of some northern states of a ‘substitute system’ that allowed drafted whites to send their slaves instead.
- Late 1777. Connecticut allowed masters to free slaves who served as substitutes for white citizens. New Hampshire permitted slaves and free blacks to meet the state levies; adding that slaves who signed up for three years received freedom and the same bounties as whites.
- Oct. 22, 1777. Battle of Redbank, New Jersey. At Fort Mercer, two Rhode Island regiments held off a large Hessian force five times their size. Many African Americans were present in the RI ranks.
- Oct. 23, 1777. So many draftees had sent their slaves to fight in their place that a Hessian officer wrote in his journal, “The Negro can take the field instead of his master, and therefore no regiment is to be seen in which there are not Negores in abundance, and among them are able-bodied and strong fellows.”
- February, 1778. Rhode Island Governor Nicholas Cooke approves Varnum’s proposal and the state legislature authorized the formation of a black battalion.
- February, 1778. Rhode Island assembly grants black soldiers the same pay and bounties as offered white soldiers. Also for slaves, freedom throughout the conflict and at war’s end. Slave masters would be compensated up to $400 per slave. Governor Cooke explained to Washington that recruiting black soldiers was the only way he could meet his quota.
- Spring, 1778. Colonel Christopher Greene, cousin of Major General Nathaneal Greene, was commissioned commander of the 1st Rhode Island ‘Black’ Regiment.
- April 28, 1778. Massachusetts authorized black enlistments in its Continental regiments.
- Summer 1778. Similar proposals like Rhode Island that recruited a black regiment failed in the Massachusetts and Maryland legislatures.
- August 29, 1778. At the Battle of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island 1st Black Regiment held off three massive assaults by a large Hessian force, helping to allow the bulk of the American army escape.
- Early 1779. The British had invaded the south in Dec. of 1778 and expanded upon their operations in 1779. British Commander-in-Chief General Sir Henry Clinton promised freedom to all southern slaves who deserted rebel masters for the British service.
- March 25, 1779. Congress sent a committee of five to study the desperate situation in the southern states of Carolina and Georgia. On this date they reported that the number of militiamen and Continental soldiers stationed in the south was inadequate to stop the advance of British forces. They recommended that South Carolina and Georgia immediately raise a force of 3,000 black troops and organize them into battalions led by white officers. Slaveholders would be paid $1,000 per slave and black soldiers would be freed by war’s end.
- March 29, 1779. With the support of John Laurens, southern delegate and diplomat, Congress adopted the committee of five’s proposal to raise 3,000 black troops; however, the South Carolina assembly rejected the proposal; South Carolina’s Assembly Hall resounded with a loud huzza after the defeat. The Georgia Assembly delayed Congress’ request until June of 1782, when it was rejected.
- Sept. 16 – Oct. 18, 1779. During the unsuccessful American siege of Savannah, Georgia, 545 black soldiers, freemen and slaves, from Hati, fought alongside the Americans.
- Mid-September, 1779. Spain had declared war on England in 1779. Spanish Louisiana, under Governor Bernardo de Galvez, led a “half black and half white army” who drove the British from the colony.
- Sept. 23, 1779. Many black gunners and sailors served aboard the Bonne Homme Richard, captained by John Paul Jones, during the taking of the British ship HMS Scrapis. When ordered to surrender, Jones famously declined then declared that he had just begun to fight.
- Spring, 1780. Faced with a large invading British force, American General Benjamin Lincoln implored the South Carolina and Georgia legislatures to allow him to arm black slaves. His appeal falls on deaf ears; however, they did allow 1,000 slaves to serve as pioneers (draymen and laborers). On May 12, 1780, Lincoln surrendered Charleston, South Carolina to the British, along with the largest American force lost during the war.
- May, 1780. Maryland’s legislature decreed that free blacks were subject to the draft.
- June, 1780. Connecticut organized a black company of 52 enlisted men. They served as a single unit until Nov. 1782 when they were disbanded.
- 1780, New Jersey. Black British loyalist Colonel Tye led his Black Brigade on many raids throughout mostly Monmouth County, New Jersey. He was considered the greatest guerilla fighter of the war on both sides.
- October, 1780. Maryland officially permitted slave enlistments with the consent of their masters.
- Early 1781. Major General Greene arrived in the south as the new commander. He immediately endorsed the proposal to arm black slaves, but once again, as with Lincoln, he was ignored by the South Carolina and Georgia legislatures.
- May 14, 1781. At Pines Bridge, Croton River New York, a large body of loyalists attacked Colonel Christopher Greene, commanding the RI 1st Black regiment. Several of his men surrounded Greene in a futile attempt to save him. All fought to the death.
- Oct. 14, 1781. During the attack on redoubts 9 and 10, the Rhode Island 1st ‘Black’ Regiment spearheaded the assault on redoubt 10. This attack that denied the British of these two important outposts was the final ‘nail in the coffin’ for the British who surrendered Yorktown days later.
- Oct., 1781. During review of American troops at Yorktown, Baron von Closen, aide de camp to French General Rochambeau, spoke of the black Rhode Island regiment, writing in his journal “that regiment is the most neatly dressed, the best under arms, and the most precise in its maneuvers.”
- January 1782. John Laurens once more encourages South Carolina to arm black slaves. His pleas are ignored.
- February 25, 1782. The South Carolina, to induce recruitment of whites, offered a bounty of one slave per enlistment.
- War’s end did not result in automatic freedom for many black soldiers who served on both sides. Those who fought for the British and did not escape with British forces were re-enslaved. Of those who fought with American troops, many were returned to slavery under one guise or another. Of those who were granted freedom, back pay was non-existent, promised bounties or land grants faded away, and pensions were a long coming, if at all.
In the 1820’s, the American Colonization Society was formed. It was an organization dedicated to transporting freeborn blacks and emancipated slaves to Africa. It was founded in 1816 by Robert Finley, a Presbyterian minister, and some of the country’s most influential men, including Francis Scott Key, Henry Clay, and Bushrod Washington (nephew of George Washington and the society’s first president). The society’s program focused on purchasing and freeing slaves, paying their passage (and that of free blacks) to the west coast of Africa, and assisting them after their arrival there. Some saw colonization as a humanitarian effort and a means of ending slavery, but many antislavery advocates came to oppose the society, believing that its true intent was to drain off the best of the free black population and preserve the institution of slavery.
James Fortin, wealthy Philadelphia sailmaker and famous black leader, wrote in a February 1831 communication opposing the proposal of the American Colonization Society calling for the removal of free blacks to the west coast of Africa:
“I well remember that when the New England Regiment marched through this city [Philadelphia] on their way to attack the English Army under the command of Lord Cornwallis, there was several companies of coloured people, as brave men as ever fought, and I saw these brave men who fought at the Battle of Red Bank…where the Hessians were defeated. All this appears to be forgotten now, and the descendants of these men, to whom we are indebted for the part they took in the struggle for independence, are intended to be removed to a distant and inhospitable country.”
