African Americans in the Revolutionary War

African Americans in the Revolutionary War

Introduction

The American Revolution was not only seen as a fight for liberty for white colonists. African Americans saw the Revolution as a fight for liberty, but his own liberty and freedom from slavery. Benjamin Quarles believed that the role of the African American in the American Revolution can be understood by "realizing that loyalty was not to a place or a people, but to a principle". [Benjamin Quarles, "The Negro in the American Revolution" (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), i.] Regardless of where the loyalties of the African American lay, they made a contribution that was often disregarded, to the birth of the United States. During the American Revolutionary War, African Americans served both the Continental Army and the British Army. It is estimated that 5,000 African Americans served as soldiers for the Continental army, [Michael Lanning,"African Americans in the Revolutionary War" (New York: Kensington, 2000), 177.] , while more than 20,000 fought for the British cause. [ [http://www.americanrevolution.com/AfricanAmericansInTheRevolution.htm American Revolution — African Americans In The Revolutionary Period] .]

lavery in Colonial America

One fifth of the total American population in 1776 was enslaved, about 500,000 black men, women and children. [Gordon Wood, "The American Revolution: A History" (New York: Modern Library, 2002), 55.]

Free African Americans in Colonial America

By 1770, there may have been 40,000 or more free blacks in the American colonies. This number may have included runaway slaves, descendants of early indentured servants, and black immigrants from the West Indies. [World Book [http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight/aajourney/africa] ]

The status of the free black in colonial America was one of uncertainty, one between a slave and a free white. He was faced with special legal, economic and social restrictions.

Motivating Factors

Freedom was the motivation for the African American slave whether joining either the Patriot or British army. The free black may have been drafted or enlisted by his own volition. Some motives to joining the American forces may have been a desire for adventure, belief in the justice and the goals of the Revolution and the possibility of receiving a bounty. Monetary payments were given or promised to those who joined.

African American Patriots

At the time of the American Revolution, some African Americans had already been enlisted as Minutemen. Both free and enslaved blacks had served in local militias, especially in the North defending their villages against attacks by Native Americans. In March 1775 the Continental Congress assigned units of the Massachusetts militia as Minutemen. They were under orders to become activated if the British troops in Boston took the offensive. Peter Salem, who had been freed by his owner to join the Framingham militia was one of the African Americans in the militia. He served for seven years.

In April 1775 at Lexington and Concord, African Americans again responded to the call and fought with Patriot forces. The Battle of Bunker Hill also had African American soldiers, fighting along the side of the white Patriots. Many African Americans both enslaved and free wanted to join with the Patriots, believing that it would either lead to their freedom or expand their civil rights. [Philip Foner, "Blacks in the American Revolution" (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976), 43.] In addition to the role of soldier, African Americans also served as guides, messengers, and spies.

American states had to meet quotas of troops for the new Continental Army, and New England regiments recruited African American slaves by promising freedom to those who served in the Continental Army. During the course of the war, about one fifth of the northern army was African American. [Liberty! The American Revolution (Documentary) Episode II:"Blows Must Decide: 1774-1776". ©1997 Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. ISBN 1-4157-0217-9] At the Battle of White Plains in 1781, Baron Closen, a German officer in the French Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment, estimated the American army to be about one quarter black. [ [http://www.americanrevolution.org/blk.html The Revolution's Black Soldiers] by Robert A. Selig, Ph.D.]

African American Sailors

Because of manpower shortages at sea, both the Continental and the British army signed African Americans into the navy. Even southern states, which worried about putting guns into the hands of slaves for the army, had no qualms about using blacks to pilot vessels and to handle the ammunition on ships. In state navies, some blacks served as pilots, South Carolina had significant numbers of black pilots. [Foner, "Blacks in the Revolution", 70.]

Some African Americans had been captured from the Royal Navy and used by the Patriots on their vessels. Throughout the war, blacks served as seamen on British vessels.

Patriot Resistance to Using African Americans

Revolutionary leaders began to be fearful of using African Americans in the armed forces. They were afraid that slaves who were armed would uprise against them. Slave owners became concerned that military service would eventually free their slaves.

In May 1775, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, stopped the enlistment of slaves in the armies of the colony. This action was adopted by the Continental Congress when they took over the Patriot Army. George Washington in July 1775 issued an order to recruiters, ordering them not to enroll "any deserter from the Ministerial army, nor any stroller, negro or vagabond". [Foner, "Blacks in the Revolution", 44.]

This order did not apply to blacks already serving in the army. In September 1775, the southern delegates moved that Washington should discharge all blacks, free or slaves. The northern delegates were aware of how brave the African Americans had been in the Massachusetts battles and opposed the notion. The blacks that were already in the army were then allowed to finish out their enlistments.

In October 1775, Washington announced that all blacks, both free and slave would be "rejected altogether." In November he said that "Neither Negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure the fatigues of the campaign, are to be enlisted." [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 47.] Most African Americans were integrated into existing military units, but some segregated units were formed, such as the Bucks of America.

Lord Dunmore's proclamation

Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia was determined to maintain British rule in the southern colonies. On November 7 1775 he issued a proclamation that he would free black and white bondsmen who came to fight with the British. By December 1775 the British army had 300 slaves wearing a military uniform. Sewn on the breast of the uniform was the inscription "Liberty to Slaves". These slaves were designated as "Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment."

Military Response to Dunmore's Proclamation

Dunmore's Black soldiers had brought fear to the Patriots. In December 1775, Washington wrote a letter to Colonel Henry Lee stating that success in the war would come to whatever side could arm the blacks the fastest. Washington then issued orders to the recruiters to reenlist the free blacks who had already served in the army. He worried that these soldiers may cross over to the British side. Congress in 1776 agreed with Washington and free blacks who had already served could be reenlisted. South Carolina and Georgia did resist in enlisting slaves as soldiers. African Americans from northern units did fight in southern battles and some southern blacks were allowed to be a substitute for their master.

African American Loyalists

The British also feared that if blacks had weapons that they would start slave rebellions. The British did use African Americans as laborers, skilled workers, foragers and spies. Except for those blacks who joined Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment, there were only a few blacks who served in the British army while the fighting was concentrated in the North.It was not until the final months of the war, when manpower was low that blacks were used for fighting for Britain. [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 145.]

In Savannahdn, Augusta, and Charleston, when threatened by Patriot forces, the British filled gaps in their troops with African Americans. In October 1779, about 200 Black Loyalist soldiers assisted the British in successfully defending Savannah against a joint French and rebel American attack. [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 148.]

Black Regiment of Rhode Island

In 1778, Rhode Island was having trouble recruiting enough white men to meet the troop quotas set by the Continental Congress, the Rhode Island Assembly decided to pursue a suggestion made by General Varnum and enlist slaves in 1st Rhode Island Regiment. Varnum had raised the idea in a letter to George Washington, who forwarded the letter to the governor of Rhode Island. On February 14, 1778, the Rhode Island Assembly voted to allow the enlistment of "every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man slave" that chose to do so, and that "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..." [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 205.] The owners of slaves who enlisted were to be compensated by the Assembly in an amount equal to the market value of the slave.

A total of 88 slaves enlisted in the regiment over the next four months, as well as some free blacks. The regiment eventually totaled about 225 men; probably fewer than 140 of these were African Americans. [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 75–76.] The 1st Rhode Island Regiment became the only regiment of the Continental Army to have segregated companies of black soldiers.

Under Colonel Greene, the regiment fought in the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778. The regiment played a fairly minor—but praised—role in the battle, suffering three killed, nine wounded, and eleven missing. [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 76–77.]

Like most of the Continental Army, the regiment saw little action over the next few years, since the focus of the war had shifted to the south. In 1781, Greene and several of his black soldiers were killed in a skirmish with Loyalists. Greene's body was mutilated by the Loyalists, apparently as punishment for having led black soldiers against them. [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 79.]

Aftermath of the War for African Americans

On July 21, 1782 as the final British ship left Savannah, more than 5,000 African Americans left for Jamaica or St. Augustine. Because they were the property of Loyalists they never gained their freedom from slavery. About 300 blacks in Savannah did not evacuate, fearing that they would be re-enslaved and established a colony in the swamps of the Savannah River. In 1786, many were back in bondage. The evacuation of Charleston in December 1782 saw the departure of more than 5,000 blacks. Over half were slaves still belonging to Loyalists and went to the West Indies. Another 500 slaves went to east Florida.

Many of the Patriots' slaves who sided with the British were promised their freedom. They sailed to New York, England, and Nova Scotia. In New York, the British created a registry of escaped slaves, called the "Book of Negroes". The registry included details of their enslavement, escape and service to the British. If their claim was believed the slave received a certificate entitling them transport out of New York. By the time the "Book of Negroes" was closed, it had the names of 1,336 men, 914 women, and 750 children, who all resettled in Nova Scotia. About 200 former slaves went to London as free people. [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 161-162.]

Because blacks living in London and Nova Scotia were faring no better than before the Revolution a movement to relocate the blacks to Sierra Leone had begun, On January 15, 1792, 1,193 blacks left Halifax for West Africa and a new life.

The African American Patriot who gave loyal service to the Continental Army found that the postwar military held no rewards for them. State legislatures like Connecticut and Massachusetts in 1784 and 1785 banned all blacks, free or slave, from military service. Southern states banned all slaves but some states allowed free men to serve in their militias. In 1792, the United States Congress formally excluded the African American from military service, allowing only "free able-bodied white male citizens" to serve. [Lanning, "African Americans in the Revolutionary War", 181."]

Many slaves who fought did receive their freedom, but many others did not after their owners reneged on their promise to free them for service in the military.

African American Women

Black women, many who were slaves served both the Americans and the British in the capacity of nurses, laundresses and cooks.

Footnotes

Bibliography

*Foner, Philip. "Blacks in the American Revolution". Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976.

*Lanning,Michael. "African Americans in the Revolutionary War". New York: Kensington Publishing, 2000.

*Quarles, Benjamin."The Negro in the American Revolution". Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961.

*Wood, Gordon." The American Revolution: A History". New York: Modern Library, 2002.


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