Tag «Black soldiers»

Black Soldiers and the Victory at Red Bank

The Battle of Red Bank saw four hundred Americans defend Fort Mercer, New Jersey, against 2,000 Hessians resulting in the second most costly defeat for the British forces after the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was an incredible feat of gallantry and determination by Rhode Island ‘rebels’ who doggedly faced the Hessian attackers’ promise that …

Crispus Attucks – First to Fall for Liberty

O, not in vain did Attucks fall, Or Shaw sink on the death-swept wall: We, who have trod the thorny path, And shrank beneath th’ opressor’s wrath, On hill, in dale, on field and flood, They sealed it with there martyr blood! From Centennial Year by Elijah W. Smith Boston, the fifth of March, 1770. …

Paradox of Freedom, and Slavery. Interview with Lord Dunmore.

Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, lays his knife and fork onto the plate before settling back in his chair. What seemed like tight quarters when he first set foot on the frigate HMS Fowey some months back, his cabin has now become quite comfortable like an old hunting frock. Accepting his second glass of …

Washington and the Enlistment of Black Soldiers in the Continental Army

Enlist no Stroller, Negro, Or Vagabond General George Washington In 1775, when rhetoric turned to open conflict, some militia commanders welcomed freemen and slaves into their ranks. Twenty percent of the country’s residents were of African heritage with four percent of that number freeman. For many, especially recruiters pressured to meet Congress’ demands for enlistment …

Escaped Slave Colonel Tye was the Greatest Guerrilla Fighter of the War

Escaped Slave, British Soldier, and the Greatest Guerrilla Fighter Of the American Revolutionary War It is late fall, 1775. A British officer stares out over the river. The wide mouth of the James River is choked with dark hulls that sit peacefully at their anchors, their towering masts swaying in the stiffening breeze that flows …

Black Patriot Benjamin Scott Mayes was Hanged Three Times by the British

Very little has been recorded about Benjamin ‘Daddy Ben’ Scott Mayes. He was an ‘outlandish’ (colloquial term for those born in Africa) who remained a slave until death. He made his mark on history during the American Revolution when he had accompanied his master, then Captain John Scott, to war. According to written accounts, Benjamin …

General Richard Prescott Is Kidnapped: Capture by African American Jack Prince Sisson

Capture of British General Richard Prescott July 10th 1777 A tawny son of Africa’s race. Them through the ravine led, And entering then the Overing House, They found him in his bed. But to get in they had no means, Except poor Cuffee’s head, Who beat the door down, then rushed in, And seized him in his bed. –Anonymous ballad spread from …