Historical Moments: Military Contributions of African Americans. Robert Harris

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      African Americans in the Revolutionary War

      Historians continue to debate whether more blacks fought on the side of the Americans or on the side of the British. But it is for certain that they were engaged in battle on both sides with both England and America promising freedom if they were victorious. The Bucks of America was an all-black military company that operated against the British in and around Boston. Little is known of their service, but Governor John Handcock of Massachusetts presented them a white silk flag that stated “Bucks of America” for their service. Slaves also began to fill the muster rolls of the militia with their masters being compensated for their service. Between 1777 and 1781, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Maryland all passed laws encouraging slaves to serve as soldiers. Lord Dunmore, the governor of Virginia and loyal to the British crown, offered freedom to any slave willing to take up arms against the rebels. Dunmore raised an army of five hundred slaves that were called Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment. Slaves served in both the American and the British Navy piloting the vessels and handle ammunition. At the end of the war, African Americans who served with honor and distinction in the continental army found that the postwar military held no rewards for them. Slaves were returned to their masters, and in 1784 and 1785, laws were passed banning all blacks free or slaves from military service. Those blacks who fought on the side of the British were put on a list known as the Book of Negros, and in 1792, many of them sailed with the British back to England or other English colonies, including Jamaica, Nova Scotia, and Serra Leone, all English colonies.

      The Bucks of America medallion is an engraved oval silver disk with the letters MW on the bottom. Thirteen stars for the thirteen original colonies are above a leaping buck and a shield with three fleur-de-lis flowers and the crest of the last French royal family, the Bourbons. This was the symbol of the Franco-American War alliance, made in honor and recognition of the all-black patriot militia company, Bucks of America. One notable member of the militia was Prince Hall, 1735–1807, who was the founder of the Freemason society in America.

      Gabriel Hall, the only known image of a black Nova Scotian, who migrated to the colony during the war of 1812.

      The First Rhode Island Regiment

      On February 14, 1778, the Rhode Island Assembly voted to allow every able-bodied negro, mulatto, Indian, or slave in the state to enlist into either of the Continental battalions that were being formed. The assembly further stipulated that every slave enlisting be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress and be freed.

      The 1st Rhode Island Regiment at the Battle of Bloody Run Brook, August 28, 1778, courtesy of David Wagner.

      Crispus Attucks

      (1723–1770)

      The Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British, was a confrontation on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed five people. The incident was heavily publicized by patriots Paul Revere and Samuel Adams to encourage rebellion against the British authorities.

      Crispus Attucks was an American dockworker of African and Native American descent. He is widely regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and thus the first American killed in the American Revolutionary War.

      Peter Salem

      Peter Salem was one of the five thousand black men in the Revolutionary War. This former slave from Framingham, Massachusetts, won fame and glory in the Battle of Bunker Hill. It happened this way: A British officer, Major Pitcairn, showing more bravery than sense, charged the American position, shouting, “Forward men the day is ours.” Peter Salem fired and the major fell mortally wounded. This action helped to change the battle from defeat to a moral victory. Former slaves Salem Poor and Prince Hall also fought in this battle. The bravery of these ex-slaves not only placed them among the heroes of that day but won for them the respect of their white comrades.

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