Revolution - Negro Troops
Black is the accepted term used today to refer to Americans of African descent. While the terms Negro and Colored are historically correct, they can be deemed as offensive in the 21st century. No one would have used the term African-American.
At the start of the Revolution, Washington had been a vocal opponent of recruiting black men, both free and especially slaves. He wasn't alone: 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. Black men had long served in colonial militias and probably even saw action during the French and Indian War, but they had usually been relegated to support roles like digging ditches.
The British saw an opportunity to divide the colonies, however, and the royal governor of Virginia offered freedom to any slave who ran away to join British forces. Thousands took him up on it, and Washington relented almost immediately. In fact, the famous picture of him crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day, 1776, also features a black Soldier who many historians, according to "Come all you Brave Soldiers" by Clinton Cox, believe is Prince Whipple, one of Washington's own bodyguards, who had been kidnapped into slavery as a child and was serving in exchange for freedom.
Most historians believe that 10 to 15 percent is an accurate representation of black Soldiers who served in the Revolution. It is estimated that there was an average of thirty-five Negroes in each white regiment in the Revolutionary War. According to an official report there were in the army under General Washington's immediate command on the 24th of August, 1778, seven hundred and seventy-five Negroes. This does not appear to include the Negro troops furnished by Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
There were altogether about 3,000 Negro soldiers employed by the Americans. Negro soldiers have served with distinction in every war that the United States has waged. Free Negroes and slaves were employed on both sides in the Revolutionary War. They were found in all branches of the patriot army. They generally served in the same regiments with the white soldiers. A Hessian officer under date of October 3, 1773, wrote “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.”
Some of the most heroic deeds of the War of Independence were performed by the black men. The first martyr in the Boston massacre, March 5, 1770, was the Negro, Crispus Attucks. Samuel Lawrence, a prominent white citizen of Groton, Massachusetts, led a company of Negroes at the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was the Negro, Peter Salem, who at the Battle of Bunker Hill fired the shot that mortally wounded Major Pitcairn. Solomon Poor, another Negro, so distinguished himself at the Battle of Bunker Hill that a petition was drawn up by some of the principal officers to secure him recognition by the Massachusetts Colony. At the fight at Brandywine, Beach Sampson, a giant Negro, armed with a scythe swept his way through the British works.
The Black Legion, organized in 1779 in St. Domingo by Count D'Estaing, consisted of 800 young freedmen, blacks and mulattoes. At the siege of Savannah on the 9th of October, 1779, this legion by covering the retreat and repulsing the charge of the British, saved the defeated American and French Army from annihilation.
Only a small number of Negroes were allowed to serve in the patriot army of the Southern colonies. Toward the close of the struggle however, there was a growing sentiment among these colonies to use a large number of Negro troops. In 1780, Col. John Laurens, of South Carolina, seconded by General Lincoln, urged that State to raise black troops. In 1782, General Greene proposed to the governor of South Carolina a plan for raising black regiments. Negroes were also employed in the British army during the Revolutionary War. This fact helped to gain them admittance into the patriot army.
It is estimated that 30,000 slaves were carried off by the British troops and used in pioneer work and in building fortifications. In 1775, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all Negroes and indentured white servants who might enlist in the British army.
In 1776, the British formed a regiment of 800 Negroes on Staten Island. In 1782, a Mr. J. Cruden, of Charleston, wrote a letter to Lord Dunmore, proposing that 10,000 black troops be raised in the province of South Carolina. Lord Dunmore wrote to Gen. Clinton approving this scheme and declared his perfect willingness “to hazard his reputation and person in the execution of the measure.” Letters containing the proposal were also sent by Lord Dunmore to London. Before they reached there, however, peace negotiations began. It appears that it was the intention of the highest British and American military authorities to begin a general policy of arming the Negro slaves and employing them as soldiers. The closing of the war, alone, prevented this policy from being carried into effect.
After the American Revolution Negroes served creditably during the War of 1812. Individuals of African ancestry served as sailors in the United States Navy and soldiers in State Militias. At the beginning of the War of 1812 the United States Navy could not recruit enough white citizens to operate its ships, and recruited or pressed blacks into service aboard ships. The Army initially barred blacks from service. As the war waged on, though, the states enlisted blacks out of necessity to man their militias. However, it was not until the Civil War that blacks experienced large-scale participation in the United States Armed Forces.
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