Blacks in the Revolutionary War

With recent events and the resurgence in popularity of Hamilton (2015), I have heard many stating that blacks have been erased from history. In a way, they are right. The contributions of minorities to this country have largely been forgotten or ignored. For the most part, there just isn’t time in school to teach everything about everyone. So, I decided to investigate black soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Some information I knew and others I did not. I was surprised that the information that I didn’t know. At the start of the War, Washington was opposed to recruiting black men. “Most southern slave owners (and many northern slave owners), found the idea of training and arming slaves and thereby abetting a possible slave rebellion far more terrifying than the British” (Collins, 2013). Eventually, as the war continued, the colonists need every man they could, and many black men served bravery.

I remember hearing the name, Crispus Attucks, in my history classes. Born circa 1723 in Framingham, Massachusetts, Attucks was a stevedore (dockworker) of African and Native American descent. Historians disagree on whether he was a free man or an escaped slave. March 5, 1770, a crowd of colonists confronted a sentry who had chastised a boy who complained an officer did not pay a barber bill. Soon townspeople and a company of British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot gathered. The colonists threw snowballs and debris at the soldiers. Attucks, along with a group of men, approached, armed with clubs. A soldier was struck with a piece of wood. Some witnesses claimed was done by Attucks while other witnesses, including Samuel Adams, stated that Attucks was "leaning upon a stick" when the soldiers opened fire (Editors, 2020). Attucks and several others were killed. The event became known as the Boston Massacre. Many historians believe he was the first American casualty of the Revolutionary War. His body was carried to Faneuil Hall, where it would lay in state until March 8 when he was buried, along with the other victims of the massacre, in Boston’s Granary Burying Ground. “City leaders waived segregation laws in the case and permitted Attucks to be buried with the others” (Editors, 2020).

Salem Poor was born 1747 into slavery on a farm in Andover, Massachusetts owned by John Poor and his son, John Poor Jr. Salem bought his freedom on July 10, 1769 for 27 pounds, a year’s salary for an average worker at the time (National Park Service). In May 1775, Poor enlisted in the militia and served under Captain Benjamin Ames in Colonel James Frye's regiment, fighting against the British troops occupying Boston. His name is best known for performing heroically at the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775). There are no details to his exact deeds on the battlefield. The documents which survives state “to set forth the particulars of his conduct would be tedious” (National Park Service). Perhaps there were just too many to list. A petition to the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony, a man from Colonel Frye’s regiment “behaved like an experienced officer” and further calls him a “brave and gallant soldier” (National Park Service). Very high praise. The petition was signed by 14 officers who were present at the battle including William Prescott. Of the 2,400-4,000 colonist at the battle, no other man was singled out like Salem Poor was (National Park Service).

Prince Whipple (1750-1796), an African American slave and later freedman who accompanied his former owner, General William Whipple of the New Hampshire militia. According to legend, Prince Whipple was present on the Delaware Crossing on Christmas Day, 1776. The famous painting of the crossing, by German American artist Emanuel Leutze, has been said to depict Prince Whipple at Washington’s knee. There is a black man portrayed pushing away ice with an oar. However, many historians doubt that there is any basis for this story because General Whipple or Prince Whipple was present at the Battle of Trenton (December 26, 1776) as the general was serving in the Continental Congress in Baltimore at the time. According to records, General Whipple granted Prince Whipple the rights of a freeman on February 22, 1781 and legally manumitted on February 26, 1784 (Portsmouth Town Records). The man in the painting could be Primus Hall (February 29, 1756 - March 22, 1842) who was present at the Battle of Trenton with the 5^th Massachusetts Regiment. According to his obituary, Hall was remembered, particularly by the younger citizens, for his “habit of recounting scenes of the Revolutionary War” (Minardi, 2010).

Rhode Island had trouble raising the enlistment numbers the Continental Congress wanted. At the urging of General James Varnum, the Rhode Island General Assembly authorized the enlistment of “every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man slave” who chose to enlist and allowed “every slave so enlisting shall, upon his passing muster before Colonel Christopher Greene, be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely free” on February 14, 1778 ( Lanning, 2016). “The 1st Rhode Island was a segregated unit, with white officers and separate companies designated for black and white Soldiers. It was the Continental Army's only segregated unit, though. In the rest of the Army, the few blacks who served with each company were fully integrated: They fought, drilled, marched, ate and slept alongside their white counterparts” (Collins, 2013) The regiment would participant in the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1778, in which they successfully held their line against the British and their Hessian allies for four hours and allowed the entire American army to escape a trap (Collins, 2013). The 1^st Rhode Island Regiment was also at the Battle of Yorktown, on the night of October 14, 1781, they took part in the assault and capture of Redoubt 10 (Collins, 2013). A monument to the 1st Rhode Island Regiment stands at Patriots Park in Portsmouth, Rhode Island on the site of the Battle of Rhode Island and the regimental flag is preserved at the Rhode Island State House in Providence.

In conclusion, it is disheartening to know that many black soldiers would return to the heavy yoke of slavery until their masters “remembered” they were promised freedom for their service, if they remembered at all. It is even more disheartening that they were forgotten in the aftermath as the colonists’ focus turned to becoming a nation. Retired Major Glenn Williams, a historian at the US Army Center for Military History, said it best. “They certainly did their part to earn not only their own freedom, but ours as well. We should never forget that for them, it was a double fight for liberty: their own and their country's” (Collins, 2013). Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough time to fully teach history and acknowledge every person’s contributions especially when schools are focused more on math and science. It is our responsibility to take the extra step and learn as much as we can about everyone who played a role in our history.

References

Collins, Elizabeth M. (March 4, 2013). Black Soldiers in the Revolutionary War. U.S. Army. https://www.army.mil/article/97705/black_soldiers_in_the_revolutionary_war. Retrieved July 10, 2020.  

Editors (June 1, 2020). Crispus Attucks Biography. Biography.com. https://www.biography.com/military-figure/crispus-attucks. Retrieved July 15, 2020.

Lanning, Michael Lee (October 17, 2016). African Americans in the

Revolutionary War. https://media.lanecc.edu/users/escobarj/transfer/PDF_collection/African%20Americans%20in%20the%20Revolutionary%20War.pdf. Retrieved July 16, 2020.

Minardi, Margot (September 2, 2010). Making Slavery History: Abolitionism and the Politics of Memory in Massachusetts: Abolitionism and the Politics of Memory in Massachusetts. Oxford University Press. Retrieved July 15, 2020.

National Park Service. (no date). Salem Poor “A Brave and Gallant Soldier. The American Revolution. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/salem_poor.html. Retrieved July 10, 2020.

Portsmouth Town Records, Vol. III, p. 95, New Hampshire State Library at Concord, New Hampshire