rtMsemg H^agee
IN
Hmencan HMstotrv
BY
Haura E. Wilkes
£
ARMISTICE EDITION
Robert W. Woodruff
Library
Gift of
Randall K. Burkett
EMORY UNIVERSITY
Special Collections & Archives
MISSING PAGES
IN
AMERICAN HISTORY
REVEALING THE SERVICES OF NEGROES
IN THE EARLY WARS IN THE
UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
1641 - 1815
BY
LAURA E. WILKES
TEACHER IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
OF WASHINGTON, D. C.
Copyright by
Laura E. Wilkes,
1519
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
5
FOREWORD.
PATIENT research, extending over a period of six
years, has given the author the courage to send
out this volume. It has also convinced her that the
Negroes of America have done their bit in every war
and taken no small part in every military movement
made for the salvation of this country from the time of
its earliest settlement.
The facts found herein are taken from colonial records, state
papers, assembly journals, histories of slavery, and old time
histories of the various colonies, and of the republic. The reader
can easily verify this statement by using the bibliograpy at the
end of the work.
/
While it is impossible to gather all of the truth concerning
this matter it is doubtless true, that much more, than is here
chronicled, will be available to the student of this particular
department of history, if he shall have leisure and funds to dig
deeper into half-forgotten traditions of old towns and villages.
That these pages may prove a stimulant for farther research, by
others, their writer ardently desires and she earnestly hopes the
book will eventually be read collaterally, with the histories of the
United States, by every one who can be inspired by its in¬
formation.
L,. E. W,
Missing Pages in American History.
DEFENSE SERVICES OF NEGROES IN
COLONIAL, WARS.
1641-1755.
It appears that on every hand the white settlers were at first
kindly received by the original inhabitants of the Amercian soil. It,
however, came about as the Indians realized that their hunting
grounds were being turned into tilled fields and that thriving vil¬
lages and towns were taking the place of their forests, that had
afforded them everything needful for their existence, fear, distrust,
and hatred became the substitutes for friendly interest. Each new
settlement made by the white men showed the red men only too
plainly that they who had been the sovereigns of the woodland and
the stream were rapidly becoming the subjects of foreign masters.
Death, migration, or civilization,> little of whiph latter was offered
by the British to the aboriginees, were all, to them, equally objec¬
tionable and they fell upon the only feasible plan, that of making
war, in the hope of exterminating those who were the cause of
their sorrows. Dating from the infancy of the English and the
Dutch Colonies there were frequent and very terrible outbreaks on
thq part of the Indians all up and down the Atlantic Coast. For
their protection the colonists were forced to provide defense of no
uncertain sort. To this end they enacted laws for the calling of
men to arms, as well as for the training of these men in the carry¬
ing of the same. Very early in the history of every colony from
New Hampshire to Georgia, Negro slavery existed in one form or
another, and in many, if not in all of them, the masters did not hes¬
itate to calij upon their bondmen to render assistance in the shoul¬
dering of drms, and this call received a willing response.
New York.
The first slaves were carried into the colony of New Amsterdam
by the Dutch West India Company from Spanish possessions in
1626. It happened that in 1641, only a few years later, the Dutch,
by law, armed these people with a tomyhawk and a half pike to aid
;them in fighting murderous Indians. In 1664 the Hollanders put
8
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
their slaves to work throwing up breastworks to defend the city
against the English sent by Charles the Second. The people of this
colony did not object, on the whole, to the coming of the English,
and in a short time after their advent terms were agreed updii
which changed the name of the settlement to New York, and placed
it under England's control. The black men had evidently given
satisfactory service, for in April, 1G99, the Earl of Belmont, writing
to the Lords of Trade, said:
"I»ut rather than require more soldiers from England, I should
advise the sending for negroes from Guinea, which I undei stand
are bought there and brought hither, all charges whatever being
borne, for ten pounds apiece, New York money, and I can clothe
and feed them very comfortably for nine pence apiece per day
sterling money, which is threepence per day less than I require for
soldiers."
In this colony, in the year 1693, Xegroes and others not listed
were ordered to work on the fortifications whenever they needed re¬
pairing, under the captains in whose wards they resided. This en¬
actment went into effect in the time of King William's War and
■enabled Negroes to aid in bringing that struggle to an end. This
war extended from 1G89 to H>97. The horrible massacre of
Schenectady took place at that time, and Port Royal was captured
by the English under Sir William Phipps.
A Border Story.
Long after King William's War and Queen Anne's War, Indian
hostilities continued in this colony. Milages were often burned,
and traveling, as well as hunting parties, were attacked on the roads.
In 1749 two Dutchmen, Duk Van Yost and Daniel Toll, with Ryck-
ert, the Negro slave of the latter, were out looking for some horses
that had strayed from a farm about three miles from the west of
Schenectady. The Hollanders had gone out with a large bodv of
their countrymen, whom they left in order to more successfullv earn-
on their search. Shortly after they left the main party it was at¬
tacked by Indians. This they learned from one of the number who
had escaped. Fearing for their lives Yan Yost and Toll hid them¬
selves and sent Ryckert on to Schenectady to give the alarm and
if possible, to secure aid for them. This lie did, and a small bodv
of militia at his direction left the village and proceeded toward the
farm to which the two white men had said they would ender yor to
make their way. The faithful Ryckert did not remain in town as
he might have been expected to have done, but instead made his wa '
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY -9
back to the hiding place of his master, Toll, and together they pushed
on to the point where it had been agreed that they should meet the
militia. In this they were unsuccessful, for they were overtaken by
the Indians and Toll was-slain. Ryckert, however, was uninjured,
and started again for the town. On his way he met the rescue party,
who had been delayed, and he offered to return with them and to
show them where his master had fallen. On being given a horse
he conducted the men to the place. The Indians meanwhile, unsus¬
pected by the whites, still lingered in the neighborhood, looking for
more victims. Indeed, they had prepared a decoy in.the belief that
some one would come to look for the slain Dutch farmer. They
propped the dead man's body in an upright sitting position and with
a string tied a live crow to it. The bird, of course, hopped up and
down in an effort to get away. This is what the rescuers saw when
they came upon the scene and, not knowing the man was dead, nor
seeing the string fastened to the crow, they rushed forward to ex¬
amine what appeared to be a wonderful sight—a bird continuing to
hop up and down in one place in front of a man. The red men,
who had concealed themselves nearby, had anticipated this and they
rushed out and killed many of them. There were seventy men in
this band of militia. It is not recorded that Ryckert was slain.
Massachusetts.
The first Negro slaves landed on the bleak and stormy shores of
Massachusetts from Bermuda in 1638. Very shortly after this some
of these men were called upon to help fight the Indians; for in 164!},
\rhen a list was prepared in Plymouth of men capable of bearing
arms, it contained the name of Abraham Pearse and described him
as being a blackamore. In 1652 an act was passed in this colony
requiring that: "All Negroes and Indians from sixteen to sixty year;
of age, inhabitants or servants to the English, be listed and hereby
enjoined to attend trainings as well as the English." These train¬
ings were held at regular intervals. The only music employed was
that of a drum. This law was repealed in 1656, but in 1660 all of
the males, regardless of race, were required to attend trainings.
This statute was set aside, in its turn, and it was not until the ad ¬
ministration of Sir Edmund Andros that it was again decreed that
no one above the age of fifteen should remain unenlisted by himseK
or by his master, Negroes not excepted. This law was probably in
effect during King William's War, which began in 1693. In 1707
-free Negroes aifd mulattoes of Massachusetts, were required to per¬
form services equivalent to that of the militia, under the command
10
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
of the officers in charge of the military district in which they lived.
Under this enactment they served on the highways. Thirty of these
people living in the city of Boston are reported as having served
in this capacity, giving two hundred and eighteen days of labor.
Queen Anne's War was at its height at this time. It was during
tins period, 1702-1713, that the English colonists suffered terribly
at the hands of the French and their Canadian allies, who, dividing
themselves into many bands, came down from Maine and made at¬
tacks upon a number of the flourishing villages of Massachusetts.
Deerfield was sacked in this conflict.
North Carolina.
The Virginia planters, moving southward, carried their slaves into
North Carolina before 1658, where a special impetus was added to
their importation into that colony in that every master was offered
fifty acres of land for each servant* over fifteen years of age who
could be armed in time of need. In the words of the ancient law
referred to, * * * "They to be armed with a good firelock or
matchlock bore, twelve bullets to ten. pounds of powder and twenty
pounds of bullets with match proportionable." (Guns at this time
were fired by applying a match to a touchhole.) Several other laws
similar to this were passed in the early days of North Carolina for
the defense of her settlements. In 1706 all free men of this colony
from sixteen to sixty, unless exempted by law, were required to
organize as well as keep themselves supplied with ammunition, and
whenever an Indian outbreak occurred, all ablebodied men, slave a?
well as free, were called upon to render military services.
The Tuscarora War.
The provinces at this period were for the most part wild, un¬
broken forests. The settlements were small towns, at the mouths of
rivers and on islands along the coast. Away from these places were
vast stretches of primeval forest, or great swamps filled with tan¬
gled thickets. There were no roads other than the highways from
one post to another, and these were lonely and deserted. In this
great region, twenty-eight _ Indian tribes, friendly at first to the
whites, began to grow irritable and warlike at their constant en¬
croachments. The red men began hostilities in 1711 near Roanoke,
♦Slave.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY II
North Carolina. Here in one night thirty-seven settlers were put
to death. This was the opening scene of the Tuscarora War. It
lasted two years. Most of its battles were fought on the soil of
the Old North State. Free men of color, by an act of 1706, saw
service in this conflict.
With the assistance of their neighbors from South Carolina and
Virginia the whites succeeded in conquering the savages, and the
Tuscaroras migrated northward and cast in their lot with their kins¬
men, the Five Nations, in the vicinity of the Great Lakes.
South Carolina.
Sir John Yemans carried slaves into South Carolina to work his
plantations, on the Ashley River, in 1671. Negroes were at worT<
a few years later on the breastworks of Charleston. An act which
employed them, reading as follows: "Be it further enacted: That
the said William Rhett (commander for managing fortifications)
shall have power and is hereby authorized and empowered to press
any Negroes within the' aforesaid limits (a specified portion of
Charleston) to work at the rate of two royals* and a half per diem,
their masters finding the victuals, excepting the said Negroes are
tradesmen, and then, if wanted, to be pressed to work, at three
royals per diem, their masters finding the victuals; and shall also
have power to press white men for overseers, within the precincts
aforesaid, at the rate of two shillings sixpence per diem." The part
of the city fortified had a front on the Cooper River. The Negroes
were furnished tools, carts and horses. They made entrenchments,
flankers and parapets. - ^
The very next year, 1704, a lav/ was enacted reading as subjoined,
which called upon slaves tQ render military aid in time of alarm.
"Whereas, among the several slaves belonging to this colony there
are a great number of them who, by care and discipline may be ren¬
dered serviceable towards the defense and preservation of this
province, and in case of actual invasion, and in order to make the
assistance of our trusty slaves more certain and regular: First. Be
it enacted by His Excellency, John P. Granville, Palatine, and the
rest of the true and absolute lords of this province, by and with the
advice and consent of the rest of the members of the General As¬
sembly now met at Charleston, for the southwest part of this prov¬
ince and by the authority of the same: That within thirty days
after the ratification of this act, the several captains or commanders
*The writer is unable to ascertain the value of a "royal" in pres¬
ent-day money.
1:2
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
throughout this province do, by virtue of a warrant, under their
hands and seals, empower and commission five freeholders, in'their
respective divisions, to form and complete a list of such Negro,
mulatto and Indian slaves as they, or any three of them, shall judge
serviceable for the purpose aforesaid, which said commanders, after
having finished their said lists, are to warn and summon the said
masters and mistresses, or overseers, to whom said slaves belong,
to appear before them at a certain date to show cause why their
said slave or slaves so chosen should not continue the said list: of
which reason the said commanders 01 any three of them are made
competent judges, to allow or disapprove as they, in their discre¬
tion, shall see fit; and further, to direct and require the said masters
and mistresses, or overseers, of.said slaves, on time of alarm or
special summons, that they cause their several slaves so enlisted,
and armed with a serviceable lance, hatchet or gun, with sufficient
ammunition, according to the convenience of the said owners, to
appear under the colors of the respective captains in their several
divisions throughout this province, there to remain and to be dis¬
posed in such manner as said officers or the commander-in-chief
shall direct and appoint for the public service. And the said com¬
missioners are hereby directed and required that within ten days
after completing said list they do return the same to their respec¬
tive captains in each division under their hands, and upon their
oaths, as a true, fair and impartial list of said slaves, according to
the best of their judgment; the oath to be administered by the sev¬
eral captains on the return of said lists. And the said captains are
hereby also required, that within ten days after the receipt of said
list, they present the same to the Right Honorable, the Governor,
and receive such instructions for the management of such slaves
as His Honor shall prescribe and think fit, and as may best suit the
public safety intended thereby."
Section 3 : "If any slaves, enlisted as aforesaid, shall happen to
be killed or maimed in actual service by the enemy, then the master
or owner of such slave so killed or maimed as aforesaid shall be
satisfied for the same by the public at such rate of value as the free¬
holders of the neighborhood, appointed by the governor, on their
oaths shall award; on which award so returned the governor is
hereby empowered to order the receiver to pay the same.''
The above act was in effect two years. The conduct of the
drafted black men was doubtless satisfactory, for at the end of that
period they were continued in the service through more laws of the
Colonial Lords which declared: Whereas, it is necessary for the
safety of this province, in case of actual invasion, to have the as¬
sistance of our trusty slaves to serve us against our enemies, and
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY Ij
it being reasonable that said slaves should be rewarded for the good
services they may do us, and a satisfaction may be made the owners
of such slaves, either on their death, fieedom or maiming:
Section 1: Be it enacted that His Excellency, John, Lord Gran¬
ville, Palatine, and the rest of the true and absolute lords and pro ¬
prietors of the province, by and with the concent of the rest of the
members of the General Assembly, now met at Charleston for the
southwest part of this province, and by the authority of the same: 1
That, within fifteen days after the ratification of this act the several
captains of patrol, captains, lieutenants and ensigns of the com¬
panies throughout this province, form and complete a list of such
Negro, mulatto -and Indian slaves as they or any two of them shall
judge serviceable for the purpose aforesaid, not exceeding the num¬
ber of white men under the command of each respective captain,
excepting one man slave who shall be at the choice of his master to
attend him, upon alarms, armed with a gun and a hatchet or a cut¬
lass at his own proper cost and charge.
Section 3 : Every slave enlisted as aforesaid, upon an alarm, shall
repair to the colors of their respective captains in their several di¬
visions throughout this province, and on actual invasion shall be
accoutred and armed by the captain of each division out of the pub¬
lic store with a launce (lance) and a hatchet or a gun, with am¬
munition sufficient, and if as aforesaid, by their respective master,
mistress or overseer the same (slave) is lost, or damaged, to be paid
and allowed them by the public, and the said officers are further di¬
rected and required that within five days after completing the said
list they do return the same, under their hands and upon their oaths
as true, fair and impartial lists of said slaves according to the best
of their judgments. The oath to be administered by the next justice
of the peace.
Section 5: If any slave shall, in actual invasion, kill or take one
or more of our enemies, and the same shall prove, by any white
person, to be done by him, he shall, for his reward, at the charge of
the public, have and enjoy his freedom for such, his killing or tak¬
ing as aforesaid; and the master oi" owner of such slave shall1 be
paid and satisfied by the public at such rates and prices as three
freeholders of the neighborhood, who know the said slave, being
nominated and appointed by the Right Honorable the Governor,
or governor for the time being, shall award, on their oaths, on which
award so returned the governor, or governor for the time being, is
hereby empowered to order the public receiver to pay the same ac¬
cordingly. And if any of the said slaves happen to be killed or
taken in actual service of this province by the enemy, or afterward
14 missing pa6es in american iiistorv
enlisted as aforsaid, shall desert and run over to the enemy in time
of an invasion, then the master or owner shall be paid and satis¬
fied for him in such manner and form as before appointed to the
owner whose slaves are set free.
Section 6: And be it further enacted, by authority aforesaid:
That if any slave in actual service of this province is wounded so
that he is disabled for service to his master or owner, then such
slave so disabled shall be set free at the charge of the public.
This law also contained an act providing for a fine of the officers
who failed to put it into execution, as well as one for to punish the
owners of slaves who did not comply with its requirements. .
The: Yemasee War.
Two years after the struggle with the Tuscaroras in North Caro¬
lina came the Yemasee War, in 1715, which threatened the very life
of the colony of South Carolina. The Yemasees were a very pow¬
erful tribe of redskins, with large possessions in the neighborhood
of Port Royal. They were joined by their neighbors, the Musko-
gees, the Appalachians, Catawbas, Congarees vand Cherokees. In¬
deed, all of the Indians living between Cape Fear and Florida
banded together, determined to destroy the settlement on the Ash¬
ley River. Craven was at that time the governor of the colony. He
put an embargo on all ships, proclaimed martial law and armed a
band of trusty Negroes to co-operate with the whites in their mil¬
itary operations. One of these was the defense of a fortification
on Goose Creek. This place was defended by forty black and sev¬
enty white men, who had decided to remain there until theijr last
drop of blood was shed. Although there were four hundred men in
the ranks of their enemy, the settlers held out until the afternoon.
The Indians then made overtures of peace. They were admitted
into the stockade and immediately slew its defenders. The war
continued three years. Its closing scene is considered the "most
bloody battle" in the life of the provinces. This occurred when the
redskins, after a season of uncertain events on both of the con¬
tending sides, were driven southward from their camps across the
Salkihatchi River and a large number of them were slain. Many
Negroes fell in this battle. Many slaves who rendered military
service at this time were set free. They were not in separate rahks,
but marchd side by side with the whites.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Rhode Island.
Slavery was introduced into the Colony of Rhode Island in the
year 1647. All men within this colony from the age of sixteen to
sixty were in the militia in the year 1708 by law. This meant free¬
men a(id bondmen, both black and white. Queen Anne's war was
being waged at this time.
Virginia.
The first Negroes who arrived in the Colony oi Virginia were
nineteen persons, who landed at Jamestown in the year 1619. Let
it be said here, by the way, that had these people been citizens of
a civilized country they might have been given the protection re¬
ceived by captives under international law, for they were the vic-
tim^ of piracy, having been taken from Spanish-American domin¬
ions on a filibustering trip of the ship that brought them here. The ■
Virginia planters realized this fact, too, for they were treated bv
them as political slaves only, that is to say, they were placed in the
hands of the town officials, for whom they worked, or for the town
itself. While Negroes very probably rendered some^military as¬
sistance in Virginia prior to the year 1636, when they were by law
excused from carrying or owning arms, the first recorded act calling
them into such service was passed in 1723, when it was ordered
that: "Free Negroes, mulattoes and Indians as are capable may be
listed and employed as drummers or trumpeters, and upon any in¬
vasion, insurrection or rebellion all free Negroes, mulattoes or In¬
dians shall be obliged to attend and march with the militia and do
the duty of pioneer, or any such other servile duty as they may be
directed to perform." In the same year, a little later, another act
armed these men, when it was declared that: "Every free Negro,
mulatto or Indian being a housekeeper shall be enlisted in the
militia, and may be permitted to keep one gun," powder and shot ;
* * * and that all Negroes, mulattoes or Indians, bond or free,
being at any frontier plantation, shall be permitted to keep and use
guns, powder and shot or other weapons, offensive or defensive,
having first obtained a license for the same from some justice of the
peace of the county wherein such plantations lie." This license
could be granted upon the application of their owners or upon that
of the Negroes themselves. There were many free Negroes in this
settlement at this time. Some had secured their liberty by purchas¬
ing it; others through Free Issue laws, meritorious acts, or through
manumission by Quakers or other conscientious persons. This lat-
16 MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN -HISTORY
ter method of setting people free began as early as 1668. The serv¬
ices of this class (the fre£ Negro) were retained in the army
through another act of the General Assembly, passed in 1738; but
at that time they were employed only as pioneers, drummers or
tiumpeters. It is pretty safe to say in the latter capacity they made
most of the music to which the colonials marked time in those days.
In 1755 this law was renewed and the}' were also required to at¬
tend the military trainings held in the province.
Georgia.
Georgia was settled in 1732 by the English under Oglethorpe.
What is now Florida was then a Spanish province. The Spaniards
wished to hold Georgia also, and a conflict arose between them and
the English for its possession. Realizing the attitude of the Span¬
ish, Oglethorpe marched across Georgia in the spring of 171-0 with
the intention of taking the fortification of Saint Augustine. In this
he was disappointed. That stronghold was so well defended that
the English failed outright. Its garrison was made up of seven
hundred regulars, two troops of horse and four companies of armed
Negroes. Many, if not all, of the latter had at various times left
the* plantations of the settlers of the Carolinas, as well as of Geor¬
gia, because of a freer life offered to them by the Spanish govern¬
ment in her province of Florida. In 1742, in order to promote
their cause, the Spanish fitted out an expedition in Havana to pro¬
ceed against Oglethorpe. They landed near his fortifications in
June of the same year. In this expedition there was a regiment of
Negroes, with officers of the same race, bearing the same rank as
Spanish offioers and similarly clothed in gold and fine lace. "They
also talked with the commander-in-chef, Don Antonio de Rodundo,
with equal social equality.". This undertaking was not a success
and Georgia remained an English province.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
17
NEGROE'S IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
Until a period very near the Revolutionary War the best fur-
producing regions, as well as the best fishing grounds 011 the Amer ¬
ican continent, were the property of the French, who also con¬
trolled the country's waterways. This state of affairs gave the
French several advantages over the English in that the former
thereby not only managed the sales of the two staples exported from
Northern North America, but also had easy access to the section
containing the same. The knowledge of this w^s most distasteful
to England, who had a larger population in the1 new world than
France. She had also better situation -for commercia} enterprises,
both home and foreign, as well as direct relation with the mother
country throi^h her settlements on the coast. At this time the
English, through Cabot, claimed all of the land north and south
fi om New Foundland to Florida, and west to the Pacific Ocean,
while the French, 011 their own explorations, owned that part of the
continent adjacent to the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi Rivers.
In various parts of these regions the latter erected forts.
Frequent disputes arose over the boundaries of the possessions
of the two countries. As early as 1G90 conflicts occurred in which
both sides were aided by friendly Indians and sometimes by Negroes.
The French were more favored by the redskins than the English.
This was due to the fact, doubtless, that the former were more tact¬
ful in their dealings with the savages because they saw, sooner than
the English, the wisdom of holding friendly relations with them.
Outbreaks occurred in sections far apart from each other. Between
!(!!)() and 1(597 the French had won and lost Arcadia. A little later
came trouble in New Hampshire and in Massachusetts. In 1'. 02 all
cf Nfcw England was involved in the bloody struggle known as
Queen Anne's War. In 1711 the English of New Jersey and New
York, with their dark-skinned allies, marched against the French in
Montreal.
By 1716 the English had opened a road across the Blue Ridge
Mountains and had made settlements on the Oswego River by 1721.
This made them neighbors of the Five Nations, living in- the region
about the Great Lakes. The French, fearing the friendliness, which
they saw growing between the Indians and the English in tlus sec¬
tion might result unfavorably to them, planned to break up the pat¬
ter's strength. To that end they made stronger their own holdings
by erecting defenses on Lake Champlain and by inviting the French
of New Foundland and Arcadia to leave those settlements and go
to Louisburg. Both of these places had formerly been ceded to
(•Qreat Britain. The English objected to the exodus that resulted
18
MISSING PAGKS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
and did what tliey could to prevent it. This was followed by more
outbreaks and there was serious trouble in Maine. At this period
Negroes of Massachusetts saw defensive service. There was Nero
Den son, from Pramingham. He was a-trumpeter in the company
of Capt. Isaac Clark. He entered His Majesty's service August 27,
172;>. Dlack men were called to duty not only on land but also on
sea at this time, for record is made of Caeser , a Negro, in
a list of officers and men on board the transport sloop George. He
was registered in March, 1722. About this time both countries
began to fill the valley of the Ohio with settlers. The French
marked, with leaden plates, their sections at the mouths of the vari¬
ous tributaries of this stream. This brought about bloody border
fights, as the fertile lands became more and more populated and
filled with French bases for military operations. ®
The struggle, which ended the dispute for this coveted territory,
began in 17o3, when the French built forts on the land of the Ohio
Company, an English firm holding a grant from the King to regions
near the Ohio River. This corporation had been organized to set¬
tle the country and to trade in fur with the Indians. A road was
opened for their operation from the headwaters ot the Potomac
River, in Maryland, to the present site of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
and some settlements were made along the river banks. In a short
time thereafter a dispute arose with the French over one of the
boundaries of this point, and George Washington, then not more
than twenty-three years of age, was sent by the Governor of Vir¬
ginia with a protest to the French commander, St. Pierre, stationed
at Fort Le Beuf. When Washington returned from what was then
a long and perilous journey, he reported that the French not only
refused to give up the disputed territory but were making wrarlike
preparations for a struggle to keep it. Realizing that war was in¬
evitable, the English also began to make ready for it. They made
an effort to dislodge the French from the property of the Ohio
Company in 1754. In this they were unsuccessful.
D r a i >i )o c k ' s Campaign.
Following the failure of the English colonists to take the dis¬
puted territory from the French, the mother coumrv took a hand
in the matter and early in 17.~m sent over Gen. Draddock from Eng¬
land with three thousand picked veterans to take charge of military
affairs and to direct an expedition against Fort Duquesne. Brad-
dock reached Hampton Roads in February of the same year, and
proceeding up the Potomac River, landed in Alexandria. Virginia.
MISSING PAGES I^J AMERICAN HISTORY
*9
Here, after a short stay, (luring which lie held many discussions
with several of the colonial governors as to the management of the
war he was about to wage, he crossed the Potomac River, disem¬
barking. at what was then Georgetown, Maryland, and started on a
slow and roundabout march to Pennsylvania. Because of the con¬
dition Oi the roads the army traveled only a few men deep and was
Consequently nearly four miles long. The baggage train was made
Up of two hundred wagons and nearly twenty-five hundred horses.
1 he commander-in-chief traveled in a stately and very cumbersome
coach which he had purchased 111 Alexandria. Many of the wag¬
oners at this time were Negroes. Among them were Sandv Ten-
kins, of Fairfax County, Virginia. This man lived to be the great
age of one hundred and fifteen, dying in Lancaster, Ohio, in Febru¬
ary, 1849. The legislative act ,through which he was doubtless en¬
listed has been referred to elsewhere in these pages.
In the ranks led by Braddock were several companies of Inde¬
pendents from South Carolina and New York. Black men were
among their number and were with them when a halt was made al
Fort FredericktOwn, now Frederick, Maryland, on May 13, 1755.
There they (black men) helped to clear ground and took part in a
parade at two o'clock on the evening of that day. It is evident that
Braddock picked up black recruits in several places on his line of
march to Fort Ducjuesne. In Pennsylvania there was Capt. Jack,
called ''Blat;k Jack" and sometimes "Susquehanna Jack." He was
a well-known scout and a fearless Indian hunter of mixed blood.
Caucasian and African. This man lived on the Juanita River, and
his hatred for Indians was very great because his whole family had
been murdered by them. He dressed as they did, and often'with a
band of followers made war upon them. He offered his services to
Braddock gratuitously with those of his men, who were all familiar
with the woods,, if they might go as free lances in the expedition.
Although Jack had already rendered personal service to Yio small
degree as a guide to the general, his offer was not accepted by the
strict disciplinarian. Pennsylvania sent another of her darkci sons
in the person of Billy Brown, of Frankfort, to help in the attack on
the French fortification. He was born in Africa and was brought
to this country a slave. He was alive in 182(5 at the age of ninety.
From Buck County in the same state came another Negro, Jack-
Miner, who went as a recruit in the company of Capt. Walker.
There,' too, were Abraham Lawrence and Archibald Kelso.
When within eight miles of the fort the English were attacked by
the French and Indians. The Irish General, Braddock, had the
itupst pronounced objection to his men's fighting from behind trees,
20
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
as was ihe American style, adopted from the savages, and they con¬
sequently fell into an ambuscade. Unnecessarily exposing himself
to the foe, the leader had four horses shot under him. On the fifth
he received a wound that ended his life. As he lay dying on the
ground he bequeathed to George Washington, Bishop, a very digni¬
fied black man, who is described as being the general's bodyguard.
Others of the same race as Bishop at this time with Washington
were Gilbert and John Alton.
The Surrender of Fort DuouESne.
In 175G the British lost much that they had won in the vicinity
of the Great Lakes, in the colony of New York, and things were
not much better for them the following year. In 1758 three cam¬
paigns wrere planned. One of these was another attack on Fort
Duquesne, which at that time was still in the hands of the French.
The Virginia regiments of the army were then under the command
of Washington. He arrived at Fort Cumberland (Cumberland,
Maryland), on July 2nd, and began cutting the road to Raystown,
now known as Bedford, Pennsylvania. This finished, he there
awaited the approach of the rest of the army, under Gen. Forbes.
I11 August of the same year (1758) thirteen colored men were in
camp at this place, eight of whom were with the RoyaJ American
Regiment. In September three black men were reported as being
connected with the Sixty-seventh Regiment, First Highlanders, in
camp at Raystown. All of the points mentioned were not far from
Fort Duquesne. Raystown, however, not proving near enough to
the coveted point for satisfactory military operation, another post
was established at Loyal Hanna (Ligionier) with Col. Bouquet as
commander. He had here a force of two thousand men. A list,
capulated "Effective Rank and File," reports that thirty-six Negroes
were with these men under Col. Washington on October 21, 1758.
It was on the 24th of November that these black and white men of
arms began their march to assail Fort Duquesne. When in sight of
the place they discovered it was on fire. Its magazine had been
blown up by the French commander who, knowing the strength of
the force proceeding against him, realized that there was nothing
for him but defeat.
Raids.
During this period many unattached bands of Indians made raids
in various parts of the country, often unexpectedly, as allies of the
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
21
1'rench, swooping down on the settlements of the English and reap¬
ing a bloody harvest. More than one of these outbreaks occurred
in the neighborhood of Fort Cumberland, in Western Maryland.
On one occasion, to punish the redskins, a band of volunteers under
Col. Creasap marched as far as what is now known as Negro Moun¬
tain. With them was a black man of gigantic stature, who was
killed on the mountain in the fierce fight that followed after they met,
the Indians. It is this event that im,mortalizes the name Negro on
the ridge near the headwaters of the Potomac, for the high land has
been called Negro Mountain ever since. ^
Northern Campaigns.
In the year 1758 new expeditions were also sent against Crown
Point and Ticonderoga, both in the hands of the enemy, in Northern
New York. The first of these fortifications was built by the French
ip 1741. During the conflict the English had made several previous
efforts to secure it, always to fail. This time, however, they out¬
numbered the enemy, whose commander, realizing his inability to
hold out against such a force, set the fort afire and then abandoned
it. About the same time an advance was made upon Ticonderoga
and the English secured it in much the same way. In their ranks on
the occasion of both of these attacks were a number of Negroes fronij
the northern colonies, especially Massachusetts. One of these is re¬
corded as Caesar , of Westfield, a private under Jedidiah
Preeble, and another of the same race, from Hingham, bearing a
similar name. Black militiamen were seen alio at this period at
Fort Williams, a stockade on the road to Oswego, New York. This
place was at the southwestern end of Lake George and was built
in 1735.
Until 1759 Canada was unreduced. That year eight thousand
men, under Wolfe, fought the terrible battle of the Plains of Abra¬
ham, not far from the city of Quebec. Negroes were in this battle
in more than one capacity. Among those who served as body serv¬
ants was Tony Proctor. He was only sixteen years of age at the
time of the conflict. He lived to be a very old man, and died in
Florida in 1855. Some of the privates were Pompey , a
native of Guinea, who was sworn in in Capt. Maynard s company;
Cuff of Warren, who served His. Majesty under Jeffrey
Amherst, and Cuff of the Second Massachusetts Regiment
of Provincials.
The next year France made an unsuccessful effort to regain her
lost territory in America and New Jersey sent her black men into
the ranks. By an act of the legislature they were in 17G0 enlisted
22
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
with their masters' consent. The same year an act of Parliament
provided for the enlistment of servants as soldiers. For the serv¬
ices of such persons the masters were paid by the recruiting officers
out of the public funds.
The war continued until ] 703, but the English were then too
strong to lose what had fallen into their hands. A treaty of peace,
signed that same year, made Great Britain the mistress of all of the
land east of the Mississippi River and north of the Iberville in
Louisiana. As has been said, there were many Negroes in this war.
They came especially from the northern colonies to help the Eng¬
lish win their victory. Many were enrolled in the colony of Mas¬
sachusetts simply as Caesar, and many are the ways of spelling that
name, for black men described as privates in muster rolls are re¬
ported as Caesar, Caezer, Cesar, Cezar, Sarser, Seazon, Eunta,
Ceser, Ceezer, Seasar, Ceasar, Ceazer, Sarser. Seazon and Augustus.
MISSING tAOiES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
23
CRISPUS ATTUCKS IN THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
Scarcely had the curtain fallen upon the closing scene of the
French and Indian War before the first act of the Revolutionary
struggle began, for although five years elapsed between the firing
of the guns that were heard around the world from Concord Bridge
and the Battle of Bunker Hill, many historiSns concede that the
fight for American independence really began when the blood of
Crispus Attucks was shed upon the streets of Boston.
The Stamp Act, duties laid upon glass and tea, the dissolution of
the Massachusetts Assembly by the English king, the Billotmg Act,
which forced the Americans to lodge and feedi British troops, were
all'sources of great aggravation to the colonists, especially to those
residing in Boston. They revolted against these*acts of tyranny to
such a degree that they incurred the displeasure of their king and
he determined to humiliate them. To that end, in the fall of 1768,
he sent over four regiments of British troops, numbering seven hun¬
dred men. These were stationed in Boston, lender Gen. Gage. Be¬
tween the soldiers and the people of the town there were clashes con¬
tinually, even the boys were not unmolested.
The climax to these rows, which ended on March the fifth, 1770,
began three days earlier, when a soldier applied for employment at
the rope works of John Gray. This fellow was sent away with
rough language, after having been beaten in a boxing match which
occurred at his own challenge. Later in the day he returned with
several of his comrades to renew the altercation, but they, too, were
driven off. The soldiers, upon learning of this matter, felt rhat an
indignity had been placed upon their regiment and determined to
meet the citizens in an effort to remove it. They were considerate
enough, however, to warn the people for whom they had any friend¬
liness to keep off of the streets. It was not long before the feelings
of both populace and soldiers were in a seething state and very un¬
pleasant events occurred during the next two_ days. Men who
should have been in their quarters at night were in the streets after/
dark harrassing the citizens, both in trade and out-of-door inter¬
course. Early on the evening of the fifth a quarrel took place be¬
tween a barber's boy and a redcoat, when the latter was ^accused by
the former of not having paid his bill foi a hail cut. Ihe boy re¬
ceived a blow on the head for this taunt which made him cry out
with pain. Following this event a number of soldiers came up,
threatening to kill every one in sight, and another boy was knocked
down By this time the excitement was so gre^t that the alarm
bell at the head of King street was rung. This, of course, brought
24
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
out a number of people, both citizens and English troops. Partly
through the interference of well-disposed officers and partly through
ihe courage of Crispus Attucks, a mulatto, this affray was soon over.
The indignation of the populace was at high pitch, however, and
while some of the cooler heads were for going home, many others
were for an immediate attack upon the quarters of the main guard,
or the "Nest," as they called it, located on the green or common. So
bent on avenging their wrongs and "led" by Attucks, the wrathful
townfolk pressed on, the crowd growing larger and larger each min¬
ute. Many boys and youths fell into line. Some, like the barber's
boy, fomenting their anger as they proceeded by.the recital of per¬
sonal affronts from the soldiers. Up what was then King street
Ihey went, crying out, "Let us drive out these ribalds. They have
no business here." At the custom house the band, still led by the
mulatto, assailed the sentinel with snowballs; pieces of ice or any¬
thing else that could be used as missies. So furiously did they do
this that their victim called for the guard, and the corporal and a
few soldiers were sent to protect him. These were met by the patri¬
ots,, who in warm language dared them to fire. As a result the noise
and confusion were terrific. en howled and swore, and bell* rang.
The soldiers awaited the order to fire, knowing full well that under
existing circumstancs it should come from a civil magistrate. It is
impossible to tell whether Attucks and those with him knew this
fact or not. At any rate he, with twelve of the men, began to strike
upon the muskets of the soldiers with clubs and to taunt them with
being afraid to fire and crying to the people behind them, "Be not
afraid; they dare not fire. Why do you hesitate? Why do you not
kill them? Why not crush them at once?" Whereupon Capt.
Preston came up and attempted to disperse the crowd. Attucks
struck at the English officer's head, who warded off the blow with
his hand. Just then a soldier's musket fell to the ground and At¬
tucks seized it. A struggle followed between the two men for its
possession, and the owner was either knocked down or else he fell
to the ground. At this time voices in the crowd took up the cry,
"Why don't you fire?" Upon hearing these words the soldier,
struggling to his feet, fired as he arose, and the brave Crispus, lean¬
ing upon a stick, received two balls in each breast. These caused his
death. More firing occurred and three others were immediately
killed. They were Caldwell, Maverick and Gray. Five persons
were dangerously injured and several slightly hurt.
The dead men were regarded as heroes and a public funeral was
given them, the rites being celebrated in the most solemn manner
as a manifestation of the sorrow and the regret fell by the people fo"
their death. The service for all three* of them was held at the same-
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
25
hour, in Faneuil Hall on the eighth of March, the bells of Roxbury,
Boston and of Charlestown being tolled meanwhile. The three pro ¬
cessions, made up of carriages in which rode distinguished men and
friends of the victims, met at King street and wound their way to
Middle Burying Ground on Tremont street, a few steps from, the
head of the Boston Common. Here the bodies were interred in one
tomb, located in the extreme northeastern corner of the cemetery.
Very little more than this is known concerning the black hero of
this event. He was born about 1723 in the vicinity of Cochetuate
Lake, Framingham, Mass., of probably Negro and Indian parentage.
He escaped from slavery in this locality in 1750. He was a well-
proportioned mulatto with curly hair. At the time cf his death he
was forty-seven years of age.
The spot on which Attucks fell, located on what is now State
street, somewhat to the east of the old State House, is today marked
by an arrow embedded in the sidewalk. On the Boston Common
stands a monument of granite erected in honor of the men who fell
in the massacre. One side of this memorial bears this quotation
from Daniel Webster, "From that moment we may date the sever¬
ance of the British Empire," and this one from John Adams, "On
that night the foundation of American independence was laid."
On the other faces of the monument may be read, respectively, the
date of its erection and the name of the fallen heroes, with the time
of their death. After the Boston Massacre March fifth was always
glorified by patriotic celebrations each year until the Declaration of
Independence took its place. Attucks always received due credit
for his patriotism on these occasions from even such men as Han¬
cock and Washington, while in 1773 John Adams addressed in the
name of the mulatto, the following letter to the Tory governor,
Hutchinson, who still continued the persecution of the colonists.
"You shall hear from us with astonishment. You ought
to hear from us with horror. You are charged before God
and man with our blood. The soldiers were but passionate
instruments, mere machines, neither moral nor voluntary
instruments, in our destruction, more than the leaden bul¬
lets with which we were wounded. You were a free agent.
You acted coolly, deliberately, with all that premeditated
malice not against us in particular but against the people in
general, which in the sight of the law is an ingredient in
the composition of murder. You will hear from us here¬
after.
(Sipned ^ Crispus Attucks." .
*The body of one was claimed by friends and buried out of
Boston.
26
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
NEGROES IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Massachusetts.
The five years subsequent to the Boston Massacre saw a smoul¬
dering fire of sentiment, growing larger and larger in all of the col¬
onies in favor of independence from the mother country. In Mas¬
sachusetts, by the spring of 1775, preparations had already begun
for the war which the provincials felt was inevitable. Military
stores had been collected and men drilled upon many village greens.
Shortly after midnight on April 3 8th of that year a detachment of
English soldiers left Boston to go to Concord that they might there
destroy a supply of cannon, small arms and ammunition stored in
that place by the Committee on Public Safety. To prevent this,
companies of men ready to respond on the minute, hence called
Minute Men, came out of every farm and village along the line of
march taken by these troops. Negroes, bond and free, were among
this band of defenders. Boston alone had many free colored people
and over two thousand slaves at this time, to say nothing of Cam¬
bridge and the other towns along the road to Concord. The wrath¬
ful Americans met the British, first on Lexington Common, where
a short skirmish occurred, in which several of the former lost their
lives and the result was a defeat for the colonists. As they took up
the march to Concord many recruits entered their ranks. Among
them was a Negro, Peter Salem, of Framingham. Tie entered the
ranks of the little band of patriots as a Minute Man, and when
they met the foe on Concord Bridge he, with the black man, Samuel
Craft, of Newton, and a number of others of their race, helped the
sturdy American farmers" win a victory which forced the British
to retreat to Boston. In that city, by April 28 of the same year,
three thousand regulars were blockaded by these farmers.
The Battle of Bunker Hill.
In a very short while the English holdings in Boston were very
much strengthened by reinforcements from England, and the Amer¬
icans realized that it would be to their advantage to have fortified
some point from which they might overlook the city and the harbor.
Their camp was on the Cambridge Common, and Cambridge lay to
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 27
the west of Boston, across the Charles River. Of all the points of
elevation nearby, Breed's Hill, on the Charlestown side of the
stream, was considered most favorable to this end. It happened,
then, that on June sixteenth one thousand of the colonials secretly
left their camp and proceeded by a mistake to Bunker Hill, there to
build a redoubt. When the clock struck the hour of midnight, so
sVift were their movements that they had already unslung their
packs and were stacking their 'arms. The before-mentioned Peter
Salem was there, as were also the black men, Titus Coburn and Sey¬
mour Burr, of Andover; Grant Cooper and Cato Howe, the latter
all the way up from Plymouth. There was also Charlestown Eads,
shouldering his pick with the well-known "spirit of '70."' He en¬
tered the army at the very beginning of the trouble and was after¬
wards in Col. Bigelow's company of the Fifteenth Massachusetts.
He was not discharged until December 3, 1780. Barzillai Lew, the
giant cooper, born at Chelmsford, was there, too. He later became
a famous musician in the Continental Army, in the Twenty-seventh
Regiment under Capt. Ford. He had served in this capacity in the
French and Indian War. He it was who organized for guerrilla
warfare at a later period of the struggle a band of Negro men, all
of one family, known as Lew's men. He was later in the engage¬
ment which took place at Ticonderoga and remained in the rank.1'
until 1777. There also was Sampson Talbert, of Bridgewater,
helping to throw up the hillocks on Bunker Hill that warm night in
early June. He afterwards spoke of this service as the "hottest
day's work he had ever done." These men were all pensioners at
the close of the war. So well did the black and the white compatri¬
ots work, and so quietly, that the English knew nothing of tneir
nearness until daylight the next day, when the outworks were al¬
most closed. By an army twice the size of their own the Ame icans
were attacked 011 the 17th day of June, and the terrible battle of
Bunker Hill occurred, "in which the dead lay as thick as sheep in the
fold," says one writer. Indeed, each army lost nearly a third of its
number. Among those who fell on the American side ras the
Negro, Caesar Brown, of Westford. Twice were the American
farmers able to repel the British before they themselves retieated,
and this they did only when powder and shot were all gone and
there was nothing left with which to fight except butts and barrels
of guns. After the brave Warren had fallen, the English mounted
the hill in the wake of their commander, Maj. Pitcairn, who as he
came, waving his sword, exclaimed, "The day is ours.' t was then
that the black Peter Salem seized another's gun, his own having
been lost in battle, and shot the Englishman, who fell dying in the
28
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
arms of his son, who was just behind him. For this deed of valor
Salem received a contribution from the army and was, later pre¬
sented to Gen. Washington. Salem was born a slave. Besides the
engagements already referred to, he was present at the battles of
Saratoga and of Stony Point, with many othefrs of his race. He
served "as a faithful soldier in the regiment of Col. Nixon." After
the war was over he resided a long time in Leisester, Massachu¬
setts, on a road named in his honor, leading to Auburn. He finally
removed to his native town, Framingham, where he died August 1G,
1816. There he is buried in an old cemetery. In 1882, at a cost of
one hundred and fifty dollars, the town folks erected a monument
three feet high, of Middlesex granite, in his honor. This gives in¬
formation concerning the battles in which he fought and calls him a
"Soldier of the Revolution." For many years an old bank in
Charlestown, the Monumental, as well as the Freedmen's Bank of
Boston, commemorated his deed by placing his picture upon their
bank notes. A painting of the battle of Bunker Hill, made by an
eye witness, shows the likeness of Salem. Among the other black
men present at the battle of Bunker Hill were Caesar Basom, of
Westford; Alexander Eames, of Boston; Saesar Jahar, of Natick;
Cuff Blanchard and Caesar Post, of Andover, and :— Gushar,
of Framingham. Caesar Basom lost his lie in the engagement. He
was at first a private in the company of Capt. John -Mino, and
n\arched with these men to Lexington from Westford. In the action
on Bunker Hill he w7as in the company of Capt. Wevman. As he
firtd his last charge of powder, exclaiming, "Nowr, Caesar, give them
some more," he was shot and fell dead into the trenches. He was a
stripling of twenty-two. Another colored man who distinguished
himself in the battle fought on the little hill at Charlestown was
Salern Poor. He killed Lieut. Col. Abercrombie, of the British Reg¬
ulars, as the latter sprang on the redouot and shouted, "Surrender,
you rebels." A petition in favor of Salem Poor was sent to the gen-
eial court of Massachusetts six months after the battle was ^ought,
signed ty some of the principal officers.' It read as follows:
'"The subscribers beg leave to report to your Honorable
Home, which we do in justice to the character of so brave
a man, that under our own observation we declare that a
Negro, called Salem Poor, of Col. Fry's regiment, Capt.
EameV company, in the late battle of Charlestown, be¬
haved like an experienced officer, as well as an excellent
soldier, To set forth the particulars of his conduct would
be tedious. We only beg leave to say, in the person of the
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
29
said Negro is set forth a brave and gallant soldier. The
reward due so great and distinguished a character we sub¬
mit to Congress.
Jonah Brew, Colonel,
Ephm Corey, Lieutenant,
Joshua Row, Lieutenant,
Jonas Richardson, Captain,
Josiah Foster, Captain,
John Morton, Sergeant,
Thomas Nixon, Lieut. Colonel,
Joseph Barker, Lieutenant,
William Prescott, Colonel,
Eliaphalett Bodwell, Sergeant,
Ebenezer Varnum, 2nd Lieutenant,
William H. Vallard, Captain,
Richard Walsh, Lieutenant,
William Smith, Captain.
"In council, December 21, 1775. Read and sent down.
"Perez Morton, Secretary
Salem, Poor did duty at Fort George, Ticonderoga, Valley Forge
and White Plains. His term of enlistment did not expire untl 1780.
Negroes Excluded From and Re-Enlisted in the Army.
The colonists, realizing that war was upon them, bent every effort
that theirs might be the victory at its close. Washington took com¬
mand of the Continental Army on July 3, 1775. There he found much
to do in the way of organization. In its ranks, as has already been
said, were many Negroes. Very soon the consistency of employing
slaves in the fight for liberty became a much debated question on
the part of those in authority. So, despite their manifestations of
courage at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, a committee ap¬
pointed to consider the matter resolved that all black men be ex¬
cluded from the army, except those who were free, declaring that a
participation in this fight by any others would be a reflection on the
honor of the colony. On the passage of this act many slaves were
emancipated that they might enlist, and this they did in very large
numbers. In a short time objection was again raised to the pres¬
ence of Negroes in the army, and a committee, made up of Benjamin
Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Kench and the Deputy Gov¬
ernors of Rhode Island and Connecticut, which convened October,
1775, to consider the condition of the army and to plan for its im-
3°
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
provement, reconynended that all black men be excluded from its
lanks. Washington endorsed this decision. This act, however, met
strong protest from the officers and men who had served with per¬
sons of color, to say nothing of the expressions of dissatisfaction
made by the latter themselves. They even appealed for the annul¬
ment of this law. About this time an affair occurred in Virginia
which materially changed things in Massachusetts as far as black
r-oldiers were concerned. This was the hearty response on the part
of black men to an invitation, through a proclamation of Lord Dun-
more, the Tory governor of that colony, to its slaves to enter the
Ministerial Army with the promise of freedom. These men dis¬
tinguished themselves like soldiers at the battle of Kemp's Landing,
the present site of Kempville, Virginia, located between Norfolk
and the sea. This engagement occurred between the Loyalists and
tlTfc Federalists. These facts being made known to the Commander-
in-chief of the American Army, he decided to ignore the exclusion
act and ordered that Negroes be re-enlisted, unless otherwise sodi-
dected by Congress. Thus it came about that they were re-employed
and Congress endorsed this policy on January 16, 1776. by an act
of legislation which was never thereafter set aside. Through all
the ensuing years of the war they entered the ranks and not a reg¬
iment was seen in which there was not a goodly number "of the
able-bodied, strong fellows."
Fortifications at Dorchester and Castle Island.
In the first winter of the war occurred the Seige of Boston. A
number of the boats of the enemy were then in the harbor, whose
waters roared at the end of many of the streets of Boston. That the
foe might not make a contemplated landing at Dorchester, a village
adjoining this city, the Americans decided to make a fortification
there. So one night early in March they sent a force whose van¬
guard numbered eight hundred men with tools and carts to the high¬
lands overlooking Dorchester Bay. These men, many of whom
were Negroes, among them being Primus Hall and James Easton,
of Bridgewater, under the direction of Putnam, piled up apple
boughs from the nearby orchards to make hurdles and fascines. On
these they set bales of hay, packing them tightly to make them can¬
non-proof. They had also not far away a collection of barrels of
sand and stones which they intended to roll down upon the enemy
should they come near enough from their ships in the harbor. It
was this action that made Gen. Howe's position in Boston untenable.
At this period Negroes also aided in throwing up fortifications
at Castle Island, another point in the Boston Harbor.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 31
Separate Companies of Negroes.
In the spring of the same year Thomas Kench, then an officer in
the regiment of artillery, stationed at Castle Island, wished to raise
and have command of a body of two or three hundred colored men,
"Sergeants, corporals, drummers and fifers," as he said, "all to be of
the same race." These men were to be set free at the end of their
services. Concerning the matter, he addressed the following letter
to the General Assembly:
"* * * And what I refer to is Negroes. We have
divers of them in our service, mixed with white men. But
I think it would be more proper to raise a body by them¬
selves than to have them intermixed with white men, and
their ambition would be entirely to outdo the men in every
measure that the fortune of war causes a soldier to endure.
And I could rely with dependence on them in the field of
battle, or to any post that I was sent to defend with them,
and they would think themselves happy could they gain
their freedom by bearing a part of subduing the enemy
that is invading our land and thus secure a peaceful in¬
heritance. The method that I would point out of raising a
detachment of Negroes is that a company should consist of
one hundred, including a commissioned officer, and that the
command should be white and consist of one captain, one
captain-lieutenant, two second lieutenants, two orderly
sergeants, all white, and three sergeants, four corporals,
two drummers and fifers, all black, and eighty-four rank
and file. These should engage to serve to the end of the
war and then be free men."
A committe'e of both houses of legislature, acting upon this let¬
ter, advised its adoption. It, however, came about that Kench at:
no time ever had command of a colored company, and yet one or
two companies of this kind were created. Samuel Lawrence, of
Groton, had charge of one of these, whose courage, fidelity and mil¬
itary discipline won a high degree of respect for them from their
leader. Once ^while in an engagement he was surrounded by the
enemy who was about to capture him. ITis brave followers, dis¬
covering his plight, rushed to his rescue and succeeded (in saving
(heir leader. For this deed of theirs Lawrence showed special con¬
sideration to all of the members of their race whom he happened
to meet in the future. The County of Barnstable, Massachusetts,
furnished a number of black men to serve in the Revolutionary
32
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
War. These men were of mixed blood, Indian and African. They
formed a separate company and all save one lost their lives before
the conflict ended. Among them were Francis Websquish, Samuel
Moses, Demps Squibbs, Mark Negro, Tom Caesar, Joseph Ashur,
James Keeter, Joseph Keeter, Daniel Pockknitz and Joe Rimmon.
There was also another colored company commanded by a man
of color by the name of Middleton. He was a noted horse breaker.
These men, who called themselves the Bucks of America, rendered
such meritorious service that at the close of the war they received
a banner. This was presented to them by Gen. Hancock. When on
a march to a neighboring town to a collation to which they had been
invited they were asked to stop in front of the governor's mansion
in Boston, and that gentleman and his son came out of the house
and presented the banner. Their prize is yet in existence. While
it was probably a cream-colored silk, it is now of a buff color. It
is five feet, three inches long and three and one-half feet wide. In
the upper left-hand corner there are thirteen golden stars upon a
blue field. In the center is painted a pine tree, under which, in the
act of leaping, is a brown buck. Above the tree is a short scroll
which bears the initials "J. G. W. H."* Below it is a long open
scroll which stretches very nearly the full length of the design. Upon
its blue field the words "Bucks of America" are printed. The flag
or banner was undoubtedly painted by hand and is an excellent
sample of the artistic handwork done in colonial days.
Among the many blacks who fought in ranks with white men
were AbeKfeenson, a farmer's boy of sixteen, who enlisted in Fram-
ingham and served three years; Tony Clark, of Billeirica, who en¬
listed at the age of nineteen and served from 1776 to 1788 ; the two
Blys, of Rochester, who were likely related, and Bedunah Moses,
of Springfield, who took part in the capture of Peekskill, New York,
and did extra duty under Gen. Glover. There, too, was Pomp
Jackson, liberated for the consideration of five shillings, which he
paid to his master himself in June, 1776. He served through the
entire war. At its close he settled in Andover, near a pond ever
since then called "Pomp's Pond." A black member of Washing¬
ton's bodyguard from the Bay State was Tobias Gilmore. He en¬
listed as a private in 1770, in the regiment of Col. George Williams.
Gilmore was born an African prince. His.native name was Shil-
bogee Turry-Werry. He was sold on the auction block at Newport
as a slave to Capt. Gilmore, of Taunton, from whose home he en¬
tered the war as a substitute in order to secure his freedom. On
^Hancock's initials.
missing pages in american [history 33
his discharge from the army, as a reward for faithful service, he re¬
ceived a section of land and a cannon. Each Independence Day it
was Tobias' custom to take the cannon to the Taunton Green and
fire once for each of the thirteen original states and o ice for "Massa
Washington." He put an end to his patriotic demonstrations only
when a man's arm was shot off. He then said he "guessed he'd
better stop," and presented the gun to the historical society,, whose
property it is today.* In their museum may be seen also a liberty
cap and a blue /roat trimmed with buff. These articles are a part
of the uniform worn by Tobias Gilmore in the Revolutionary' War.
On the red cap are the words, "Federalism and Liberty," inscribed
in white letters on a blue ground.
Vermont.
Slavery as an institution never reached any importance in Ver¬
mont, for by the t census of 1790 there were only seventeen bond
men in this state.' Here, as elsewhere, however, early in the Revo
lutionary struggle black men were set free that they ihight enlist
and were given a certificate of manumission by their masters, who
in turn received the bounty money paid for them by the state.
New Hampshire.
While-the number of Negroes residing in the state of rNew
Hampshire was always very small, many of tho?e who were there
were called upon to do duty in the time of the War for American
Independence. By an act passed early in t^e history of the conflict
black men entered the ranks of the colonial army. Among these
were Jude Hall; born in Exeter. He served eight years in all, and
fought in a great number of battles, beginning with that on Bunker
Hill. Until the day of his death he was known as "Old Rock."
Lemuel Haines was another native of this state who enrolled as a
Minute Man as early as 1774, when preparations for the war to
come were just beginning to go forward. He was at the Battle of
Lexington and later became a volunteer in the ranks of the regu¬
lars. He took part in the expedition to Ticonderoga against Bur-
goyne in 1777. He remained in the service until the war ended.
There, too, was Boston Pickering, who enlisted as a lad of twenty
in the'first regiment of militia of New Hampshire.
*1918.
34
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Rhode; Island.
The Battle of Fort Mercer or Red Bank.
In 1777, after the Battle of Brandywine, the British planned to
clear out the forts, fortifications and flotilla placed on the Delaware
River by the Americans. This thing they very much desired to do
in the hope of establishing communications between their fleets and
that part of their army occupying Philadelphia. To this end they
decided to storm Fort Mifflin and Fort Mercer, both located in New
Jersey. The latter was on the side of the river at what is now the
town of Red Bank, and was rather important because it protected
the stream. At this time two Rhode Island regiments under Col.
Greene and belonging to that part ©f the army supervised by Gen.
Yarnum, were stationed at this place. On October twenty-first
Count Donup, with four batalions of Hessians, crossed the Dela¬
ware at Cooper's Ferry and marched to Fort Mercer. On the way
they met an old Negro called "Old Mitch," whom they tried to se¬
cure as a guide to the American stronghold, but in this they were
unsuccessful. They came upon the place, Jiowever, on the morning
of the twenty-second. It was defended by four hundred and twenty
men. A Hessian officer approached the fort and ordered its surren¬
der in the name of the English king. Col. Greene_ refused to obey
and his refusal was reported to Dunop. The attack upon the forti¬
fication began that afternoon. The Americans left the north side
of the fort late in the day. When this fact was discovered by the
enemy they rushed triumphantly into the place under the impres¬
sion that the former had deserted it. Just as they Avere about to
place their flag upon the merlon* of the ramparts they were sur¬
prised by a shower of grape shot and musket balls from the em¬
brasures which annihilated them. Another division, under Col.
Dunop himself, received the same sort of treatment on the south
side of Fort Mercer, thereby suffering a terrible loss through the
rapid fire of the Americans. The commander was left upon the
field mortally wounded. A large number of the men with Col.
Greene at this time were either blacks or mulattos, who by this bat¬
tle helped to bring to a close the efforts of the British to approach
any further inland against Washington before the beginning of the
winter. This was very fortunate, for the American army was at
that time undergoing many hardships. During the bombardment
"Old Mitch ' lay hidden in a pile of straw not far away from the
fort.
*A battlement.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
35
Separate Rhode Island Regiments.
In order to raise her required quota it came about the next vear
(J778) that Rhode Island, at the request of Gen. Vamum. formed
a battalion composed entirely of Negroes. These men numbered
some three hundred black and mulatto slaves. The legislative act
calling them into service provided that these soldiers should enjoy
all the ^compensation given to white soldiers, that they should serve
through the war, and that their masters should be relieved of all
future responsibility for their support should they be disabled or
live to advanced age. The state, in either of these cases, was to
assume their care. It also arranged for their appraisement and for
a compensation which their masters Were to receive upon their en¬
tering the army. This battalion distinguished itself more than once,
but it attained its crowning glory in the Battle of Rhode Island,
fought on hills and in dales around Providence and Newport. It
was on a hot summer day in August, 1778, that they went into this
battle. The English were assisted by their famous hired soldiers,
the Hessians. These were a body of Germans from Hesse Cassel,
Germany. These men were very brave and very fierce fighters. At
one point they charged down the hill with such force as to almost
carry the redoubt. It was jn repelling these furious onsets that the
newly raised regiments under Col. Greene distinguished themselves
By deeds of desperate valor. "They three times drove back the
Hessians, and so determined were they.in these successive charges
that the day after the battle the Hessian colonel upon whom that
duty devolved applied to exchange his command and go to New
York because he dared not again lead his regiment lest his men
should kill him for having occasioned them so grave a loss." Lafay¬
ette called this the best-fought action of the war. The slaughter
was terrible. The British lost thirteen hundred, the Americans two
hundred and eleven men. This engagement enabled the Americans
to leave the island, not a bi^ too soon, for early the next morning
the English were reinforced by a large fleet commanded bv Sir
Henry Clinton. A part of the Rhode Island Negro battalion came
in prominently for heroism on May 14, 1781, at Pont s Bridge, on
the Croton River, in the state of New York. Here some of these
men defended their beloved Col. Greene so well that it was only
.ever their dead bodies that the enemy reached and murderd him.
In February, 1783, some of them went with a body of-New York
troops, under Col. Willettj to attack a British trading point on Lake
Ontario. Through the treachery or ignorance of an Indian this
imdertakim^ was unsuccessful. These men had a very good appear¬
ance, It .is' said that they did not receive their promised bounty
36 MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
money, but were told to accept their freedom instead of it. They did
not secure the allowance due them such as was given to white sol¬
diers, but were deprived of their wages by means of forged orders.
Among them were Scipio Brown, Thomas Brown, Prince Vaughan,
Sampson Hazard, Guy Watson, Richard Rhodes, Henry Taber,
Cuff Green, Thomas Rhodes, Blato Green, Prince Green, Prince
Jenks, Reubin Roberts, Philo Phillips, Caesar Powers, York Chap¬
lin, Ichabod Northrup, Richard Cousins (fifer).
The Capture of Gen. Prescott.
In connection with the services of colored men of Rhode island
must be given the story of Prince Whipple, or Jack Sissons, as he
is sometimes called. Several diaries of the Revolution prove be¬
yond a doubt that this black man helped to capture the English gen¬
eral, Prescott, July 1), 1777. It happened that some time before this
date Gen. Lee had been ordered to bring his detachment of the army
into the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia. This he had failed to
do and had established his headquarters in the mountains of New
Jersey at Basken Ridge, about twenty miles from a British camp.
Feeling that he was so far away from the enemy that he needed to
use no precautions for his safety, he retained only a small body¬
guard near him, while the main body of his troops were in camp
several miles away. The British learned of this fact through
Tories, and overcoming his sentinels Gen. Harcourt easily brought
about Lee's arrest and conducted him, a prisoner, to British head¬
quarters in New York, where he was closely confined. The military
skill of this American officer was so highly esteemed by his country¬
men that his capture caused the greatest consternation and regret
among them, and they greatly desired his release. In order to se¬
cure this it was planned to take a man of equal rank from the foe,
that Lee might be set free through an exchange of prisoners. To
this end Lieut. Barton designed the seizure of Gen. Prescott, who
had charge of the British forces on Rhode Island. He had landed
a large number of troops at Newport in December, 1776, that they
might be retained there to operate against the New England States.
Finding out through a deserter from the British ranks the exact
location of the English general, Barton, accompanied by forty men,
one at least of whom was a Negro, started on his expedition. The
Americans landed within five miles of the place, and when near the
residence of a Quaker, with whom the general was staying, Barton,
with Prince Whipple and a few others of his men, proceeded to the
hotise, having left his main party in concealment. The sentinel at
the door challenged him, but after a short parley he was overpow-
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
37
ered and ordered, upon pain of death, to be silent. The rest of the
men .answering to an expected given signal, then surrounded the
dwelling. The Negro, with two strokes of his head, forced an entry
into the house, and the landlord then came upon the scene. Ques¬
tioned as to the whereabouts of Prescott, he refused to give any in¬
formation concerning the Englishman, but when threatened with
death he pointed to the door of the officer's room. This was at once
opened by Prince Whipple through the same process that he had
used upon the front door. The general was then informed that he
was a prisoner and he surrendered without resistance to the Amer¬
icans. Through his capture Lee was released. Jack Sisson, or
Prince Whipple, who certainly helped to bring this event to pass,
was a slave, the property of Gen. Whipple, of the American army.
He was born in Africa, was kidnapped and sold in Baltimore. It is
his likeness that is often seen in old paintings of Washington cross¬
ing the Delaware.
Connecticut.
Many Connecticut Negroes entered the army during the War of
the Revolution. Long after the struggle was over almost every
white family had its tradition of a slave or a servant who had either
been killed in some battle,* or who, having served through the war,
had come home to tell stories of hard fighting and to be pensioned.
A number of these men were enlisted as substitutes in place of
their masters. The recruiting officer lost little time inquiring if his
recruits were white or black, and he did not question their legal
status if they were able-bodied. Most of these men were placed
in the ranks with white men, but in the year 1777 the advisability
of raising companies of colored troops was discussed in the General
Assembly of this state, and a committee was appointed to consider the
matter. The result of the deliberation of this body was a recom¬
mendation that Negro and mulatto slaves whose masters were to be
paid the sum of their appraisement, and who themselves upon en¬
listing would become free, should tie formed into a separate com¬
pany Following this a company of fifty-six men was organized
in this state. They were commanded by Col. Humphrey, who vol¬
unteered to do so after many other officers, upon request, had re¬
fused to take charge of them. They were m Butler's regiment, in
-that division of the army over which Maj. Laurens had charge.
ilThey conducted themselves with fidelity and efficiency through the
war." Their names are as follows: ,
Tack Arabus, Ned Fields, Louis Martin,_ Peter Mix, Prince
Shugael Johnson, Dick Violet, Gamaliel Bagden, Ned Free-
38
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
dom, Congo Zado, Pomp Liberty, Sharp Rogers, Cuff Freeman,
Andrew Jack, Peter Lyon, Daniel Bradley, Sharp Camp, Solomon
Sowtice, Pomp Cyrus, John Cleveland, Phineas Strong, Juba Free¬
man, Philo Freeman, Prince Crosbee, Jack Little, Alex Judd, Leut
Munson, Ezekiel Tupham, Peter Gibbs, Cuff Liberty, Job Caesar,
Juba Dyer, Peter Morando, Samson Cuff, Dick Freeman, Joe Otis,
Cato Wilbrow, Pomp Freeman, Hector Williams, Isaac Higgins,
Caesar Chapman, Cato Robinson, Tim Caesar, Bill Soweis, Caesar
Bagden, Herman Rogers, Tom Freeman, Prince Johnson, Harry
Williams, John Rogers, John Ball, John McLean, Jesse Vose, Pomp
McCuff, James Dinah, Brewster Baker.
While it is impossible to know the exact number, some hundreds
of dark men enlisted in this state in mixed companies, among these
were Sambo Lathon, or Lambert, and Jordan Freeman, both of
whom fought with the bravest at Groton after the Americans had
been forced to retreat to that place from New London. In Septem¬
ber, 1778, after a terrible engagement at Fort Griswold, on the
heights of Groton, the fortification was surrendered by Col. Led-
yard, the commander in charge. The English officer who took the
fort committed the unwarrantable atrocity of stabbing him. It was
Lathon who quickly avenged this unusual act by running his bayonet
through the Briton. For this deed he received thirty thrusts from
the enemy's bayonets. On the same occasion Jordan Freeman re¬
ceived the victorious Maj. Montgomery on his pike as the latter was
lifted over the wall of the fortress.
Many slaves, who entered the conflict under a promise of freedom,
had to petition the Connecticut Legislature for the same after it was
over. Nineteen of them were not pensioned until the year 1818.
One of these was Prime Babcock, who held a discharge in the hand¬
writing of Washington.
Nrw York.
Battle of Stony Point.
There were many desirable places for fortifications on the Hud¬
son River. One of these was at Stony Point, on the west side of
the stream, on a great highway connecting the Middle and the New
England States. Nature had protected this point on three sides by
the riyer and on the fourth by a swamp which could be crossed at
low tide by a causeway. The Americans had lost a stronghold here
in 1777, and they were very desirous of regaining it. Gen. Anthony
Wayne was appointed by Washington for this exploit. Learning
that Poinpey Lamb, a Negro living on a nearby farm, visited the
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
39
fort regularly to sell fresh vegetables and berries, Wayne decided
to employ him as a spy. Contact with this slave had very much
pleased the English officers. This was due to his low prices, as well
as to his engaging manner, and this doubtless facilitated his efforts
to closely observe the plan of the fortification. At first he made only
daytime trips, but acting upon the instruction of the officer who had
employed him and that of his master, Capt. Lamb, he told the Brit¬
ish that as he hereafter had to hoe corn he could no longer come in
the day, but would serve them at night if given a pass. Unwilling
tc lose his fresh vegetables, the English gave him their countersign,
"'The fort is our own," that he might pass the guards at any time he
was able to come.
On the night of July 15th, having killed all the dogs in the neigh¬
borhood that their bark might not arouse suspicion, the Amer¬
icans made an attack upon the fort. First came Pompey, carrying
his fruit and vegetables, accompanied by two soldieis disguised as
farmers. He engaged the first sentinel he met in Conversation, giv¬
ing him some fruit meanwhile. The disguised soldiers seized and
gagged this man, and soon after a second sentinel was similarly
treated. By this means the causeway was left unprotected, and
Anthony Wayne and the rest of his men, hidden not far away, were
enabled to make an entry into the fortification. So silently did they
ascend the cliff that their presence was not known until they were
within pistol range of the guards on the highland. Here a skirmish
occurred which awoke the entire fort. The Americans forced their
way in amidst a terrible fire. At the close of the battle the garrison
of six hundred men was surrendered by Capt. de Fleurry. For
his deed Pompey received a horse from his master and was never
required by him to work again. In the ranks of the Americans at
this time were several Negroes, one of whom was "Father Stanup."
He was wounded and left on the field for dead. He, however, re¬
covered, and died many years later, near Urbana, in Champagne
County, Ohio. Peter Salem, of Bunker Hill, was also in this battle.
On March 20, 1781, the legislature of New York passed an act
worded as follows:
"Sec. 6. And be it further enacted by the authority of
the aforesaid that any person who shall deliver one or mo'e .
of his or her ablebodied slaves to any one in office, as afore¬
said, to serve in either of the said regiments, or independent
corps, and produce a certificate thereof signed by any per^
sons authorized to muster and receive the men to be raised
by this act and produce such certificate to the Surveyor Gen¬
eral, shall for every male slave so mustered and entered, as
aforesaid, be entitled to the location and grant of one right
4© MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
in manner as by and in this act is directed shall be and here¬
by is discharged from any further maintenance of such
slave, any law to the contrary notwithstanding. And such
slave so entered as aforesaid, who shall serve for the term
of three years, or until regularly discharged, shall imme¬
diately after such service or discharge be and is hereby
declared to be a free man of this state."
This statute provided for the raising of two separate regiments of
men of color from the empire state. How many entered the army
through its enactment it seems impossible to tell, yet at the same
time it is obvious that black men in goodly numbers served their
country here as elsewhere. N
The name of "Negro Tom" appears as early as March 18, 1776,
on the rolls of the Orangetown, New York, regiment, as a drum¬
mer in the company of Capt. Egbert. Phillip Field is mentioned
as having enlisted April 15, 1777, in the Second New York Regi¬
ment. This man was a slave, of Duchess County, New York. He
died in Valley Forge, August, 1778. These facts prove indisputably
that black men of New York entered the American army at the
very earliest period of the strife. This is not at all surprising when
it is recalled that on July 21, 1776, the English were reported to
have collected in their ranks on Staten Island alone, eight hundred
slaves, the property of American masters. These men had gone over
to assist the enemy with the promise of receiving their freedom. To
prevent any more of this, as well as to strengthen their own forces,
the Americans early saw the necessity of enlisting the blacks in this
state.
Many Negroes fell in the Battle of Long Island. This engage¬
ment occurred in August, 1776. It was an effort made by the Brit¬
ish to take the fortifications situated on Brooklyn Heights with the
hope of finally securing New York City. To this end they landed
a force of twenty thousand men, English and Hessians, the latter'
under Gen. De Heister, at Sandy Hook and at Gravesend Cove, the
last-named place near the present site of Fort Hamilton. The ftre
advanced through four passes upon the American position, which
was held by a force of some ten thousand men. A fierce fight oc¬
curred on the road to Flatbush; in which a part of the colonial army
was badly crippled. Later all of the American forces were forced
to join in a midnight flight across the river to New York,
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
41
Burgoyne's Surrender.
Gen. Burgoyne planned to seize Albany in the early fall of 1777,
boasting that he would eat his Christmas dinner in "that city. It
was his hope to make a junction with the forces of Great Britain,
stationed in various parts of this section, by forcing his wav to the
Hudson River from Upper New York. Toward the accomplish¬
ment of this effort he was successful in capturing Grown Point and
the artillery at Ticonderoga that Gen. Sinclair was trying to move.
He was able also to force the Americans to leave the latter place.
Reaching Fort Edward, a point on the Hudson, he sent a force of
Hessians into Vermont to capture some military stores and horses
there belonging to the .colonials. The result of'this expedition was
the Battle of Bennington, fought by the Americans under Stark,
which resulted in a complete defeat for the enemy. Seven hundred
of the men were taken prisoners. When Stark asked f6r a 1 ope to
secure some of these, a Mrs. Robinson, of whom he made the re¬
quest, said she would give the last one belonging to her'bedstead if
her Negro slave might harness up her old mare and lead thie British;
Hessian and Tory captives away. The general acquiesced, and5 a
black man led a part of the left wing of Burgoyne's army over the
state line down the road leading to Boston. Burgoyne led his re¬
maining forces to Stillwater, New York, a Htidson River village,
near which place, on Bemis Heights, on September 19th, he was
hotly attacked by white and by black Americans. 'At the close of
this battle he was forced to surrender. A Negro' who aided in
bringing about this result was Ebenezer Hills, born a slave ili Con¬
necticut. This man was also at the Battle of Saratoga, and oied at
an advanced age in Vienna, New York.
NEW Jersey.
It is probable that black men of New Jersey went inlo the con¬
flict at tne very first call to arms, for wBen facilitated by the parting
of the ice at McConkey's Ferry Washington crossed the Delaware
on that rnemorable Christmas night, the "mulatto" Oliver Cromwell
was there, with others of his race, to take part in the Battle of Tren¬
ton on the next day. This battle resulted in a victory for the con¬
tinentals, who took about a thousand prisoners from the foe. When
describing it Cromwell often said, We knocked the Biitish about
quite lively." This man was a farmer. He enlisted m the company
of Capt. Loney, Second Regiment, New Jersey, under Col. Israel
Shreeve. He remained in the army until the war was over, serving
42
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
in all about six years and nine months, and receiving a discharge in
Washington's own handwriting. He was also in the Balties of
Brandywine and of Monmouth. At the end of the war he became
a pensioner, receiving ninety-six dollars a year. In many old paint¬
ings of the famous passage across the Delaware may be seen the
likeness of a Negro near the commander-in-chief in the fore of the
boat. The original was Prince Whipple, an African chief, who had
Seen sent to America by his father to be educated, but who had been
sold instead as a slave in Baltimore to Gen. Whipple by the very
captain on whose ship he sailed from his native home. He entered
the war with his master, but was emancipated before its close.
The Battles of Brandywine and Monmouth.
All of the cities on the Atlantic coast were in turn viewed with
covetous eyes by the British. They desired very greatly to capture
Philadelphia and fought several battles to this end. Among them
was one known as the Battle of Brandywine, which occurred Sep¬
tember 11, 1777, on the steep banks of a stream bearing that name.
The black men, Brazaillai Lew and Sanford Talbert, were in this
engagement.
The Battle of Monmouth.
The Battle of Monmouth was another contest fought to prevent
the British from seizing the City of Brotherly Love. This engage¬
ment took place when the English, under Gen. Clinton, on their way
to New York, met the Americans near the village of Monmouth,
on Wrennock Creek, June 28, 1778. It appeared in the early parf
of the fight that the enemy would be victorious, for much apathy
was manifested on the part of the Americans, due, it is said, to the
treachery of one of Washington's aides. At any rate, whether this
be true or not, the commander-in-chief, after seeing many of his
colonels passing in swift retreat from the onslaught of their oppo¬
nents, was forced to conduct the rally in person, and affairs then
took a turn in favor of the colonists. In this engagement, and to
whom much of its success was due, were over seven hundred black
men, standing side by side with the other Americans. They belonged
not only to New Jersey but to several other sections of the country,
as a glance at the army return, made public a few months later, will
show:
MISSING PAGES IN. AMERICAN HISTORY
45
return of negroes
Brigades.
Present.
North Carolina
42
Woodford
36
Muhlenburg
04
Smallwood
20
2nd Maryland
DC
Wayne
2
2nd Maryland
33
Clinton
33
Parsons
L17
Huntingfbn
56
Nixon
26
Patterson
64
Late Learned
34
Poor
16
586
THE ARMY/ 24th AUG., 1773.
■Absent.
On Corn mam;.
i oxai.
10
6
58
3
1
40
26
8
98
3
1
24
15
2
60
o
1
1
6
35
2
4
39
12
19
148
2
4
62
—
1
27
13
12
89
4'
8
46
7.
4
27
98
71
755
Alexander Scammcl, Adjutant General.
One of these men was Samuel Charlton, a native of New Jersey.
He entered the service as a substitute for his master. At first he
was only a teamster, but in this engagement he gave artillery serv¬
ice, and stood very near the famous Molly Pitcher when she took
her wounded husband's place at the cannon. Charlton's conduct
brought him personal notice from Washington. He was in several
other battles in this state.
New Jersey seems to have offered no resistance to the entrance
of her men of color into the army. The master's consent was nec¬
essary before a slave could enlist, it is true, but only that the for¬
mer might not be deprived of the services of his bondman without
the equivalent in -money. In 1784 the legislature of this state set
free all slaves who had taken part in the American Revolution, lib¬
erating also those doing war service belonging to Tory masters.
Among these were Peter Williams, who was taken by his master
into the British lines. He escaped and served a while with the state
troops. Later lie entered the ranks of the continental army, where
he remained until the war was over. Cato , of the same town,
became free under like conditions. He was liberated by a special
act passed in 1789, which declared he had rendered "essential serv¬
ice, both to the state and to the United States in time of war." Be-
44
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
* •sSdfe.thdse tWrc-Av^s Prime of Princeton. Pie was emanci-
« be&anse "Pie was entitled to special notice from the legisla-
v'ttjrje".Velf! reasons similar to those which gave Cato his liberty.
Pennsylvania.
As early as 1777, and perhaps sooner, Negroes of Pennsylvania
had enlisted in the struggle which freed the colonists from the rule
of Great Britain. In that year there were thirty-three blacks in the
2nd Regiment of Pennsylvania under Washington just after the
famous Battle of Monmouth, and state records prove conclusively
that all during the early period of the war bond servants, as slave:;
were here called, were enlisted even without their masters' consent,
although this was against the law. Freemen, without a doubt, were
taken into the army to aid the colonials during the entire period of
the war.
Maryland.
Maryland was not unlike her sister colonies in calling upon
Negroes to aid her in the struggle for independence. A field return,
of Negroes in the main army in August, 1778, shows that at that
time there were sixty blacks in the Second Maryland Brigade. By
an act passed in 1780 all males previously exempted (Negroes) werj
made liable to draft, and all able-bodied slaves were recruited, with
their own or their masters' consent. The following year, when 6nly
a part of a certain quota called for months before had been raised,
two extra battalions were ordered added to the army by the enlist¬
ment of free blacks (of whom there were not a few in this state), as
well as others, over the age of sixteen, if idle or without means of
support or family. This same year (1781) the legislature voted on
the motion of John Calwalader in order to raise two regiments of
a grant of unappropriated land be given every slave holder for each
able-bodied slave that he or she enlisted. This act relieved the mas¬
ter from further responsibility for the black who was to be free
at ,the end of thre£ years' service unless regularly discharged before
then. These men were to be incorporated with the rest of the army
and some of them were doubtless at the Battle of Camden. It was
in this engagement, occurring in South Carolina in 1780, that the
Maryland and Delaware troops displayed much valor, although the
enemy won the day. Baron De Kalb was mortally wounded at this
time. Among these men of Maryland was Thomas Holland, a
MISSING PAGES IN american history
45
•^eSr0> of Dorset County. He and his uncle served together in the
war and they were attached to the regiment of Col. Charles Gold¬
berg.
Virginia.
Almost at the very beginning of the Revolutionary War Lord
Dunmore, the Royalist Governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation
in which he invited slaves to enter the ministerial army. Very many
responded to his call. These people were inspired to leave their mas¬
ters by the hope of receiving their freedom, which was promised
them by the English. The enlistment of Negroes in the ranks of the
Tories caused great concern in the minds of the Federalists who, in
their turn, made an apeal to them to stand by their true friends.
This appeal was printed in a newspaper of Williamsburg, Virginia,
on November 23, in the year 1776, and read:
"CAUTION TO NEGROES."
I
"The second class of people for whose sake a few remarks upon
this proclamation seem necessary is the Negroes. They have been
flattered with their freedom if they be able to bear arms and will
speedily join Lord Dunmore's troops. To none of them is freedom
promised but to such as are able to do Lord Dunmore's service. The
aged, the infirm, the women, the children are still to remain the
property of their masters, who will be provoked to severity should
part of their slaves desert them. Lord Dunmore's declaration, then,
is a cruel declaration to the Negroes. He does not pretend to make
it out of any tenderness to them, but solely on his own account, and
should it meet with success it leaves by far the greater number at
the mercy of an enraged and injured people. But should there be
any among the Negroes weak enough to believe that Lord Dunmore
intends to do them a kindness and wicked enough to provoke the
fury of the Americans against their defenseless fathers and moth¬
ers their wives, their women, and their children, let them only con¬
sider the difficulty of effecting their escape and what they must ex-
s pect to suffer if they fall into the hands of the Americans. Let
them consider further what must be their fate if the English prove
conquerors. If we can judge the future from the past it will not
be much mended. Long have the Americans, moved by compassion
and actuated by sound policy, endeavored to stop the progress of
slavery. Our assemblies have repeatedly passed acts laying heavy
duties upon importing Negroes, by which they meant altogether to
„r„rpT1t the horrid traffic. But their humane intentions have been
46
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
as often frustrated by the cruelty and ^ovetousness of a set of Eng¬
lish merchants who prevailed upon the king to repeal our kind and
merciful act, little, indeed, to his credit or humanity. Can it "be
supposed that the Negroes will be better used by the English, who
have always encouraged and upheld this slavery, than by their pres¬
ent masters who pity their condition, who wish in general to make
it as easy and comfortable as possible, and who would, were it in
their power or were they permitted, not only prevent any more
Negroes from losing their freedom but restore i-t to such as have
lost it already? No, the ends of Lord Dunmore and his partv being
answered, they would either give up the offending Negroes to the
rigor of the law they have broken or sell them in the West Indies,
where every year they sell many thousands of their miserable
brethren, to perish either by the inclemency of the weather or
through the cruelty of barbarous masters. Be not then, ye Negroes,
tempted by this proclamation to ruin yourselves. I have given you
a faithful view of what you are to expect, and declare before'God
in doing it I have considered your welfare as welj' as that of the
Country. Whether you will profit by my advice I cannot tell, but
this I know, that whether we suffer or not, if you desert us you cer¬
tainly will."
For a time many slaves entered the British ranks, in spite of tlje"
warning at the end of this appeal. A number of them "acquitted
themselves like soldiers" in the Battle of Kemp's Landing, in the
fall of 1776. Indeed, so great was their desertion of their masters
that the latter saw fit to offer pardon to all who would return to
them within ten days, in the following terms:
"Wrhereas, Lord Dunmore. bv his proclamation dated on board
the ship William, off Norfolk, the seventh day of November, 1776,
hath offered freedom to such able-bodied slaves as are willing to
join him' and take up arms against the good people of this colony,
giving thereby encouragement to a general insurrection which may
induce the necessity of inflicting the severest punishment upon these
unhappy people, already deluded by his base and insiduous arts,
and whereas, by an act of the General Assembly, now in force in'
this colony, it is enacted that all Negro or other slaves conspiring
to rebel or make insurrection shall suffer death and be excluded of
all benefit of clergy, we think it proper to declare that all slaves who
have been or shall be seduced by his lordship's proclamation or other
jarts to desert their masters' service and take up arms against the in¬
habitants of this colony, shall be liable to such punishment as shall
hereafter be directed by general convention. And to that end, that
all such who have taken this unlawful and wicked step may return
in safety to their duty and escape the punishment due their crimes,
Missing pages in American history
47
we hereby promise pardon to them, they surrendering themselves to
Col. William Woodward or any other commander of our troops, and
not appearing in arms after the publication hereof. And we do fur¬
ther recommend it to all humane and benevolent persons in this
colony to explain and make known this, our offer of mercy to those
unfortunate people."
Shortly after this the exodus into the ranks of the English began
to decrease, for it developed that many of the blacks, instead of being
used as soldiers, were being sold into slavery in the West Indies by
the British.
Many free Negroes entered the ranks of the Colonial Army be¬
fore 1777. Slaves also went in as substitutes, and so many ran away
and pretended to be free, that they might enlist, that in this year an
act was passed by; which all Negroes were compelled to show cer¬
tificates of freedom before being taken into the army. A little later
those who were above the age of thirty-one, even though bondmen,
were regularly enlisted. A number of free mulattoes served as
drummers and fifers; and as time went on many slaves were offered
by their masters as substitutes.
For the reward of such men as were known to be slaves at the
time of their mustering into the service, an act was passed in 1783
giving them their freedom, and manumission was extended even to
those who had received only verbal promises of freedom from thei"
owners if serving as substitutes for the same. The act providing
for this emergency reads in this manner: ^
"1st. Whereas, it has been represented to the General Assembly
that during the course of the war many persons in this state have
caused their slaves to enlist in certain regiments or corps raised
within the same, having tendered such slaves to the officers ap¬
pointed to recruit forces within the state as substitutes for free per¬
sons whose lot or duty it was to serve in such regiments or corps,
at the same time representing to such recruiting officers that the
slavey so enlisted by their direction and concurrence were free men;
and it appearing further to this assemply that on the expiration of
the term of enlistment of such slaves that the former owners have
attempted again to force them to return to a state of servitude, con •
trary to the principles of justice and to their own solemn promise:
"2nd. And, whereas, it appears just and reasonable that all
persons so-enlisted, as aforesaid, who have faithfully served agree¬
able to the terms of enlistment and have thereby, of course, con¬
tributed toward the establishment of American liberty and independ¬
ence, should enjoy the blessings of freedom as a reward for their
toils and labors;
48
MISSING PAGES- ..IN AMERICAN HISTORY
: "Beat therefore enacted, that each and every slave who by the ap¬
pointment and direction of his master hath enlisted in any regiment
or corps raised within this state, either on continental or state estab¬
lishment, and hath been received as a substitute for any free person,
whose duty or lot it was to serve in such regiments or corps, and
who have served faithfully during the term of such enlistment or
hath been discharged from such service by some officer duly author¬
ized to grant such discharge, shall from and after the passing of this
act be fully and completely emancipated, shall be held and deemed
free in as full and as ample a manner as if each and every one of
them had been named in this act. And the Attorney General for
thfe Commonwealth is hereby authorized to commence an action in
forma pauperis in behalf of any person above described, who shall
after the passing of this act be detained in servitude by any person
whatsoever, and if, upon such prosecution, it shall appear that the
pauper is entitled to his freedom in consequence of this act, a jury
shall be empanelled to assess the damages for his detention.''
After the close of the war slaves rendering public service were
often set free by special laws for such cases, as the following pas¬
sage indicates:
"3. And whereas it has been represented to this General Assem¬
bly that Aberdeen, a Negro slave, hath labored a number of years
in the lead mines, and for his meritorious services is entitled to free¬
dom, be it therefore enacted that the said slave Abeideen shall be,
and is hereby emancipated and declared free, in all full and ample a
manner as if he had been born free."
For Negroes who had served as spies in the camps of Great Brit¬
ain the following statute was passed in October, 178G:
"1st. Whereas, it is represented that James, a Negro slave, the
property of William Armstead, gentleman of the County of New
Kent, did, with the permission of his master, in the year one thou¬
sand seven hundred eighty-one, enter into the service of" the Marquis
de Lafayette, and at the peril of his life found means to frequent
the British camp, and thereby faithfully executed important com¬
missions entrusted to him by the marquis, and the said James hath
made application to this assembly to set him free and to make his
said master adequate compensation for his value, which is judged
reasonable and right to do;
"2nd. Be it therefore enacted that the said James £hall from and
after the passing of this act enjoy as full freedom as if he had been
born free, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
49
3rd. And be it further enacted that the executive shall, as soon
as may be, appoint a proper person, and the said William Armstead
another, who shall ascertain and fix the value of the said James,
and to certify such valuation to the auditor of accounts, who shall
issue his warrant to the treasurer for the same, to be paid out of
the general fund."
For the benefit of another black man it was decreed in Novem¬
ber, 1792, that:
'1st. In consideration of many very essential services rendered
to this Commonwealth during the late war by a certain Negro named
Saul, now the property of George Kelley, of Norfolk;
, "Section 2. Be it enacted by the General Assembly that the execu¬
tive -shall forthwith, or as soon as may be, appoint one fit person
and George Kelley, owner of the said slave, one other person, who
shall jointly ascertain and fix the value of said slave and certify
such valuation to the auditor of public accounts, who shall there¬
upon issue to said George Kelley a warrant for the amount, payable
cut of the contingent fund.
"Section 3. And be it further enacted that from and after the
said valuation the said Saul shall have and enjoy full liberty and
freedom in like manner as if he had been born free.
"Section 4. This act shall commence and be in force from and
after the passing thereof."
In October, 1789, manumission was extended to two Negro sailors
of the revolution in this manner:
"Whereas, Jack Knight and William Boush, two Negro slaves be¬
longing to the Commonwealth, have faithfully served on board the
armed vessels thereof for some years past, and said armed vessels
are no longer continued on public establishment;
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that the said Jack Knight
and William Boush are hereby manumitted, set free and dischargee!
from servitude, to all intents and purposes, saving, however, that all
persons and bodies politic and corporate, other than those claiming
under the Commonwealth all legal or equitable rights, which they
might have asserted to the said slaves, if this act had never been
made." . .
William Lee, a Virginian, belonging to George Washington, was
granted his freedom by his master and offered an annuity, or a life
support as he preferred, for faithful services in the war. Benja¬
min Morris, the driver of a baggage, wagon, so well acquitted him¬
self that he was set free. Richard Venie served m the army of the
Americans enlisting with other slaves under his master's command
when given a promise of freedom. He fought in the Battles of
5°
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Camden, King's Mountain and Eutaw Springs, all occurring in the
southern campaign, near the close of the war. He was in the serv¬
ice at the time of Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown. Not realizing
his expectation of being liberated at the close of the struggle, he ran
away, but finally received his freedom through an act of the legisla¬
ture. There was also a Caesar , who, very early in the con¬
flict, entered the service of his country and piloted some of the
armed vessels of his native state. According to the following stat¬
ute he was set free at public expense:
"Whereas, it is represented that Mary Tarrant,/in the County
of Elizabeth City, hath a Negro named Caesar, who entered very
early into the service of his country and continued to pilot the armed
vessels of his country during the war, in consideration of which
meritorious service it is judged expedient to purchase the freedom
of said Caesar;
"Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly that the execu¬
tive shall appoint a proper person to contract with the said Mary
Tarrant for said Caesar, and if they should agree, the person so
appointed by the executive shall deliver to said Mary Tarrant a cer¬
tificate expressing such purchase and the sum, and upon producing
such certificate to the auditor of accounts he shall issue a warrant
for the same to the treasurer, to be paid by him out of the lighthouse
fund.
"And be it further enacted that from and after the execution of
the aforesaid certificate the said Caesar shall be manumitted and
set free to all intents ancl purposes."
North Carolina.
North Carolina was not unlike the other states at this period in
that there were quite a number of free colored people on her soil at
the outbreak of the revolution. Persons of this type were required
to bear arms and without doubt many of them fought in the struggle
for American independence, both in the state and in the continental
forces. In the general division of the army under Washington in
1778', there were fifty-eight black men in the North Carolina bri¬
gade.' Between 1777 and 1783 many acts are to be found on the
statute books which forbade the enlisting of slaves as substitutes in
the army, and yet they entered in this capacity as well as under
other conditions. A law of ]778 declares that they were not to be
deprived of their freedom, promised as a reward for enlisting, if
entering the army either in the service of the United States or in
that of North Carolina. Up to 1780 they were evidently received as
substitutes, for a law passed in that year orders military men no
longer to recruit them as such.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 51
During the latter part of the war, when the southern campaign
was 011 and food had grown scarce 111 this state, due partly to the
act that many of the masters of food-bearing vessels were un¬
acquainted with the rivers running through this section, Negroes
served as pilots. Such men were first examined, and if their mas¬
ters gave bond of good security for them they received a certificate
to act as the pilots of vessels running into such ports as Bathtown,
Roanoke, Beaufort and (Brunswick.
That they did not always receive their liberty for military service
without resort to legal aid is made manifest by the following act,
passed ifi 1787:
"Whereas, Ned Griffin, late the property of William Kitchin, of
Edgecomb County, North Carolina, was promised the full enjoy¬
ment of his liberty on condition that he, the said Ned Griffin, should
faithfully serve as a soldier in the continental lines of this state for
and during the term of twelve months, and whereas, the said Grif¬
fin did faithfully on his part perform the condition and, whereas,
it is just and reasonable the said Griffin sjiould receive the reward
promised for his service as performed;
"Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the State
of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the
same, that the said Ned Griffin, late the property of William
Kitchin, shall forever hereafter be, in every respect, declared to be
a free man, and he shall be and is hereafter enfranchised and for¬
ever delivered of the yoke of slavery. Any law, usage or custom
to the contrary thereof in any ways notwithstanding."
The Edenton Whig, published in 1849, gives an account of the
death of a colored soldier of the Revolution who died in that year at
one hundred and one years of age. This ®hian, whose name was
Jonathan Overton, served^ under Washington at YoTktown. This
last scene of the struggle tor American freedom was located on the
York River, in the State of yirginia. The English, having sur¬
rounded themselves with fortifications, were in possession of the
place. Very early in October the Americans made a furious attack
upon'them, which was of sufficient degree to force Cornwallis, who
was in charge, to send to Clinton, then in New York, for aid.
Some time elapsed before this could be secured. During this time
the English commander, although advised to do otherwise, remained
behind his Virginia fortification, believing that he could hold out
until help came In this he was very much mistaken, for the Amer¬
icans kept up the seige until October 19th, 1781. By this time, hard
oressed and uncertain as to the time of arrival of the forces from
the north Cornwallis held out a flag of truce to Washington, and a
52
MISSING fAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
little later surrendered his army of seven thousand men as prisoners
of war to the Amerian leader. It is said that one black patriot who
helped to bring about this victory and who was an eye witness to
the scene, remarked jocosely that "Cornwallis would be better called
Cobwallis in the.future, as the Americans had about knocked off all
the kernels (colonels)."
South Carolina.
For the defense and security of the state, South Carolina, in 1775,
provided, by a resolution of her General Assembly, for the use of
slaves in the army for one year. They might be employed by col¬
onels of regiments as pioneers, laborers and in any other capacity
required. Seven shillings and sixpence were allowed to be paid for
the services of each slave while actually employed. A little later a
resolution was adopted by the same body which forbade the use of
the slave in the war, in any capacity, under any condition. This
brought about the emancipation of many Negroes that they might
enter the service, where their conduct was such that they often re¬
ceived great praise.
The Defense of Fort Moultrie.
Early in 1776 it was decided to fortify Charleston against a prob¬
able attack from the enemy's guns. Negroes were drilled in ex¬
tinguishing fires, placing ladders and in meeting other emergencies
that would arise were the city to be shelled. They (Negroes) took
lead from the roofs of houses and churches and melted it into bul¬
lets that the supply of ammunition might be increased. As the city
is near the sea it was necessary to place.defenses about the harbor
by which it is approached. It was therefore decided to erect breast¬
works on Sullivan's Island, in Charleston Harbor. This piece of
land is a low, sandy bar on the right of the inlet. At the time of the
war it was covered with marshes, thickets and many trees. This
point was selected because it had a deeper channel than that made by
the other islands in the neighborhood, and because the British ships
were sure to pass that way if they made an effort to storm the city.
A fort put up here was laid out in four bastiles. A fascine battery
was also erected. Most of this work was done by Negroes, a large
force being called in from the outlying plantations. Under the di¬
rection of Col! Moultrie "these men ably assisted the whites." They
dovetailed the spongy palmetto, whose bullet resisting power is so
well known, into a number of pens, connected with each other.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
53
These were filled with sand, making a parapet sixteen feet thick and
nigh enough to shield the defenders and their guns. By April 26
one hundred guns were in operation.
On May 31st the expected British fleet,, after having made sev¬
eral unsuccessful attacks off the coast of Virginia and North Caro¬
lina, appeared twenty miles off the mouth of the Ashley River. This
was followed by some weeks of extra preparation on the part of the
Charlestonians. The defenses were attacked on the fifteen of June,
at which time a division of Clinton's force opened fire upon the fort,
where the Negroes were still at work even when the action began.
In the city the blacks, who had been previously trained, took charge
of the fire apparatus. So furious was the assault of the Americans
that at no time were Clinton's men able to land upon Sullivan or
Fort Moultrie, as the point was afterward called. An advance
guard of some eight hundred men of both races defended the island
at its lower extremity, while there was a force of four hundred and
thirty-five in the fort. It was Clinton's plan to proceed to Charles¬
ton from this point, but neither the first nor the second division of
the British fleet ever effected a landing. Badly crippled, they sailed
away up the coast toward New York, where a large force of George
III was concentrating. This victory brought security to South Car¬
olina and to Georgia for the next three years. "Much of it, if not
most of it, was due the efforts of Negroes."
An effort to Raise a Large Body of Negro Troops.
In March, 1779, Henry Laurens, of this state, wrote the following
letter to Washington on the subject of using black men in the army:
"Our affairs in the Southern Department are more favorable than
we had considered them a few days ago. Nevertheless, the country
is greatly distressed and will be more so unless reinforcements are
sent to its relief. Had we arms for three thousand black men such
as I could select from Carolina, I should have no doubt of success
in driving the British out of Georgia and subduing East Florida be¬
fore the end of July."
This was a request for the raising of a large body of Negro sol¬
diers. Secretary of Treasury Hamilton approved of this plan,
saying that he believed "that the Negroes would make excellent sol¬
diers with proper management." Congress, to whom the matter was
referred considered it of great importance, and appointed a special
committee to deliberate upon it. This body recommended that the
states of South Carolina and Georgia, if they shall think the same
expedient, take measures immediately for the raising of three thou-
54
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
sand able-bodied Negroes. These men, Congress further advised,
should be formed in a separate corps and battalion according to
the arrangements adopted for the main army which should
be commanded by white commissioned and noncommissioned
officers. It was also resolved that Congress should pay to the own¬
ers of such Negroes as should be enlisted full compensation for the
same, not exceeding one thousand dollars, for each able-bodied
Negro man of standard size and less than thirty-five years of age.
The Negroes were not to receive pay or bounty, but were to be
clothed and supported by the United States. Those who served
well to the end of the war were to return their arms, receive fifty
dollars and their emancipation. Col. George Laurens, a son of the
man whose request had called forth these resolutions, went home to
South Carolina as soon as they were made known, hoping that he
might arouse sentiment sufficient to bring about their materialization.
Meanwhile Cornwallis, Clinton and Provost were encouraging the
slaves to enter the ministerial ranks with the promise of freedom,
and they were responding in no small number.* In 1780 Gen. Lin-
Jefferson said the Americans lost twenty thousand of their slaves
to the British.
coin also asked that the, army of the Continentals be augmented by
black mkn, saying in a letter, "I think the measure of raising a black
corps a necessary one. I have great reason to believe if permission is
given for it that many men would soon be obtained. I have repeat¬
edly urged this matter not only because Congress has recommended
it and because it becomes my duty to attempt to have it executed,
but because my own mind suggests the utility and importance of the
measure as the safety of the town (Charleston) makes it necessary."
This letter was written after the reduction of Charleston by the Brit¬
ish under Clinton.
It was in January, 1782, that Gen. Greene wrote the following
communication to Washington anent the same matter: "I have rec¬
ommended to this state to raise some black regiments. To fill up
the regiments with whites is impracticable, and to get reinforcements
from the northward precarious and at least difficult from the prej¬
udices respecting the climate. Some are for it, but the greater part
of the people are opposed to it." To the governor of South Caro¬
lina he wrote in part: "The national strength of the country, in
point of numbers, it seems to me to consist much more in the blacks
than in the whites. Could they be incorporated and employed for
its defense it would double your security, That they wowld make
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
55
good soldiers I have not the least doubt, and I am persuaded
that the state has it not in its power to give sufficient reinforcements
without incorporating them either to secure the country, if the
enemy mean to act vigorously upon an offensive plan, or to furnish
a force sufficient to dispossess them at Charleston should it be de¬
fensive. The number of whites in this state is too small, and the
state of your finances too low, to raise a force in any other way.
Should the measure be adopted it may prove a good means of pre¬
venting the enemy from further attempts upon this country when
they find they not only have the whites but the blacks also to con¬
tend with. And I believe it is generally agreed that if the national
strength of this country could havfe been employed in its defense
the enemy would have found it a little less impracticable to have
gotten a footing here, much more to have overrun the .country, by
which the inhabitants have suffered infinitely greater loss than
would have been sufficient to have given you perfect security, and I
am persuaded the incorporation of a part of the Negroes would
rather tend to secure the fidelity of others than excite discontent,
mutiny and desertion among them. The force I would ask for this
purpose, in addition to what we have and what may probably join
us from the northward, or from the militia of this state, would be
four regiments, two upon the Continental and two upon the state
establishment, a corp of pioneers and a corp of artificers, each to
consist of about eighty men. The last two may be either on a tem¬
porary or a permanent establishment, as may be the most agreeable
to this state. The others should have their freedom and be clothed
and treated in all respects as other soldiers, without which they
would be unfit for the duties expected of them."
Despite these requests on the part of military officers for the en¬
listment of a large force of blacks, and despite the endorsement and
approval of the same by such men as Washington, Hamilton and
Adams, and although Laurens worked for ,it most faithfully until
the year 1782, the time of his death, nothing was accomplished along
that line. In the legislature of South Carolina it was out-voted and
the chief promoter had passed away before it was settled in the
Georgia assembly, where he had hoped for a more satisfactory ter¬
mination of the matter. Thus ended the effort to organize separate
bodies of Negro troops in the South. They were, however, attached
to the southern army until the end of the struggle, land not a few
were spies and drummers. Numbers of them were engaged in
building breastworks, driving teams, and piloting the army through
dense woods and swamps and across rivers. In 1783 an act was
passed in this state enfranchasing the wife and child of a Negro who,
56
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
while in the employ of Gen. Rutledge, had served as a spy. The
emancipation of his wife and child were deemed a just and reason¬
able reward "because he had executed the commissions with which
he was entrusted with diligence and fidelity, and had at the risk of
his own life frequently secured important information from the
enemy's line."
San Domingo Negroes in the Revolution.
In December, 1778, Savannah was captured by a British force of
three thousand men under Col. Campbell. Following this Gen. Pro¬
vost set up a form of government in the State of Georgia with
Savannah as its capital. This place was at that time an unpaved
village, protected on the north by the Savannah River and exposed
on the eastern and the southern sides, where, after destroying all the
bridges entering the town, the British had constructed an unbroken
line of fortifications upon the broad field that extended from the
river to the swamp.
It was in, October of the year 1779 that the Continentals, aided
by their allies, the French, made an efifort to take Savannah out of
the hands of the foe. Dividing their forces they made several lines
of approach, hoping to weaken the strength of the enemy b> a di¬
vision of the centers of attention. The rear of the fortifications w^s
attacked by troops under Gen. Dillon. These men became en¬
tangled in a morass and were thereby exposed to the fire of the
British batteries from two. strong redoubts. Many of the forces
under Gen. Huger became trapped in low-lying rice fields in the
neighborhood, while two hundred cavalrymen under Count Pulaski
made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the lines of the enemy be¬
tween their fortifications. In the confusion which ensued \he brave
Pole himself received a mortal injury. So steady a fire was kept
up from the well-stocked garrison of the English that the main body
of the Americans under D'Estaing and Lincoln were forced into re¬
treat. Into the breach thus made the black men, slave and free, of
San Domingo, placed themselves, commanded by Vicount de Front¬
ages. They numbered about eight hundred blacks and mulattoes,
who had responded to the call of D'Estaing to enter the French di¬
vision of the American army. Rushing into the conflict "they saved
the Franco-American army from total disaster by heroically cov¬
ering its retreat," which had been very nearly cut off by the marines
and grenadiers under Lieut. Col. Maitland.
These forces did not remain in America very long after this en¬
gagement, but soon a part of the French fleet returned to Francg
MISSING PAGES IN" AMERICAN HISTORY
57
and the rest to the West Indies.
n this brave black battalion were men, some of whom afterward
^eCame heroes in the fight for the liberty of their own native soil.
Among these were Jean Baptiste Chavanne, who became one of the
principals in a slave uprising in Haiti in 1790. For this he was very
cruelly put to death on the road to the La Grande Rivere, opposite
the estate of Poisson, in the presence of the northern provincial
assemply of Haiti, which convened for the special purpose on Feb¬
ruary 25, 1791. Another of these soldiers was Andre Riguard, who
later refused a bribe of three million francs. This sum was offered
him by the English, who were operating in the isle of San Domingo
in /L794, and whose military bases had been more than once suc¬
cessfully stormed by the forces under Riguard. This made him, of
course, a very desirable ally, for all through the stormy period that
produced the Negro republic of Haiti he was extremely active. In
1799 he was elected a deputy to their Legislative Assembly. By
1800 he had secured the displeasure of Touissant, who feared him
as a rival. For that reason the former fled in a Danish ship to St.
Thomas. He reached France, the land for which he had set out, a
year later, in the meanwhile having been captured and imprisoned
on the Island of St. Christopher by the Americans, who were at that
time friendly to the first president of tpe black republic. He remained
in France for some years. In 1810 lie returned to Haiti and with¬
out bloodshed set up a government independent of the president's in
the southern part of the island. This concession came to an end
when he died, in Cayes, on September 17, 1811. Others of the vol¬
unteers who saved the day at Savannah for the Americans were
Beauvais, Martial Besse, Jaurdain, Lambert; Christophe, Morne,
Villet, Toureaux, Cange, Leveille, Monsieur Belley and Monsieur
Beauregard. On this occasion Beauregard received a severe wound
in the hip, which made him a cripple for life. In the engagement he
stood near Pulaski and saw him fall. His last days were spent in
South Carolina, where he died at an advanced age.
Georgia.
Like South Carolina, Georgia was a colony of plantations, on
which many Negroes rendered efficient service. Some of these, as
elsewhere, did pioneer work in the American Revolution. As earlv
as November, 177(>, the slaves of Gov. Wright were, by order of
the Council of Safety, directed to build a battery on the Tybee River.
These men are spoken of as "able ax men." On another occasion
Negroes of the same plantation erected a' strong fort and all of the
58
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
slaves and twenty white men were there armed in its defense.
About this time Negroes were employed to repair the causeway of
Great Ogechee Ferry. A resolution of the house of the assembly in
Savannah, Georgia, May, 1778, empowered the governor tc draft
from confiscated estates of Loyalists two hundred able-bodied slaves
for the use of the Continental army, to act as pioneers in the expe¬
dition against East Florida, and one hundred more for the use of
the militia and state forces in the same expedition. These men
were to do fatigue duty. Trustees were appointed to take charge
of the estates and to see that these slaves were furnished for duty.
Until these men were available divisions of the army marching into
Georgia to join the governor of the state from South Carolina had
the bad roads over -which they passed repaired by Negroes from
neighboring plantations. It became necessary to use force to sep¬
arate the slaves from their Loyalist masters, and a resolution of
the executive council ordered captains whose militia companies were
in districts in which there were confiscated estates to bring the re¬
quired blacks to Savannah. State records reveal the fact that until
the war closed these men saw service of various grades with the
military corps to which they were assigned.
Negroes in the: United States Navy During the Revolution.
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War the United States had
no navy. Therefore many vessels, previously used in trade or for
traffic, were fitted up for warfare on £he high seas. By these a large
number of British ships whose object it was to supply powder on
this side of the Atlantic were captured. Most of these improvised
war ships, as well as the regulars of the later period, were more, or
less manned by men of color. There were twenty Negroes on the
Royal Lewis, a boat of twenty-six guns, commanded by Capt.
Stephen Decatur. They were found in varying numbers on the
Trumble, the South Carolina, the Randolph, the Confederacy and
the Alliance. Among the crew of the latter vessel was the black
Joshua Tiffany. He afterwards served in the war of 812. Here
also was James Forten,* of Pennsylvania, who, with his mother's
consent, entered the navy at the early age of twelve, where he
served as a powder boy. On his second voyage Forten was made a
prisoner of war. He was placed on board the English ship Amphyon
where he was offered liberty and a life of ease in England by the
*This gentleman was the grandfather of the late Mrs. Francis
Grimke, of Washington, D. C.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 59
captain, with whose son he had become very friendly aboard ship,
but always when tempted by such prospects he would answer, "I am
a prisoner for the liberties of my country. I shall never prove traitor
to her interests." This he said in spite of the fact that he was well
aware he might any day be sold as a slave in the British West
Indies. He was finally sent to the Old Jersey prison ship, carrying a
letter of commendation from Capt. Beasley, of the Amphyon, and
asking for his exchange when possible. On this vessel he remained
seven months, watching always for a chance to escape. His gener¬
ous nature caused him to give up his first opportunity to a young
friend, who went off in a chest of old clpthes, in which Forten had
planned to leave. He was detained on the Old Jersey about fourteen
months. In after years when urged to request a pension he would
proudly say, "I was a volunteer, sir." On the Alliance was also
David Mitchell, a free Negro, who had been captured while on his
way from Bermuda to Nova Scotia in an English vessel. On being
carried into Newburyport, Massachusetts, he petitioned for his lib¬
erty, saying he wished to remain in this country. The petition was
granted and he enlisted in the navy of the United States. The
naval records show the names of Caesar , a mere boy, serving
on the Brig Hazard under Capt. Job Williams; Cato Blackney, a pri¬
vate, ^who did duty on the volunteer ship Deane; Cato , a
cooper, of Boston, who enlisted on the brig Prospect, commanded
by Capt. Joseph Vesey, and John Moore, a skipper, of Maryland, 011
the sloop Roebuck. This boat was captured by the English vessel
Dragon, and Moore and others of the crew were kept prisoners at
Newport for some time.
A Taui of this Frontier.
Sometime between 1780 and 1785 the Staton family moved from
North Carolina to a point near what is now known as Crab Orchard,
in the State of Kentucky. After building a log cabiti, the head of
the family returned to his native state with pack horses to bring-
back the property which could not be transported on the first trip,
leaving his wife and children with no other protection than that of
a faithful Negro slave named Pete. Two days after Mr. Staton
had gone away his wife and oldest son, Jack, were attacked by In¬
dians while the mother was doing the family washing in a spring not
far from the house. The redskins, after mutilating and murdering
the woman, left her dead body hanging in the bushes. The boy,
however, succeeded in escaping, and climbing the steep bank leading
to the house, he gave warning to Pete, who was minding the other
6o
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
children. In a short time the trusty black man had rushed into the
house, seized his master's gun and ammunition, and ordered the
children to proceed ahead of him to the forest. When about half a
mile away from the house he remembered he had left behind the
youngest, an infant in the cradle, and leaving the children he re¬
turned to the house, where he not only rescued the baby, but brought
along some provisions as well. He carried all to the hills, where
they lived safely in his care until the return of the father and mas¬
ter. Mr. Staton set Peter free and named the infant in his honor.
Since then one child in each generation of the family has been so
named for the same reason. Peter did not leave his master's roof
after securing his liberty, but spent much of his time in hunting ancf
killing Indians. He became one of the most noted Indian hunters
of that period. . ,. >'
(Note: The truthfulness of this story is vouched-for by W. R.
Jones, a banker of Yellville, Arkansas. Mr. Jones is a direct de-
s<~endent of the baby rescued by the Negro Peter". .Chief Justice
Harlan, late of the United States Supreme Court, was also a de-
scendent of the Staton family.)
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
WAR OF 1812.
Causes.
In spite of the Treaty of 1783, Great Britain was reluctant to rec¬
ognize the independence of America, and manifested her unwilling¬
ness in many ways that were unpleasant to the young republic. One
of these annoyances consisted in continuing to hold military posts
on the western frontier. These she refused to pass over to the
United States, and from them she supplied the Indians with arms,
and for years incited them to hostility. When the Napoleonic wars
were in progress she recruited her navy by press-gangs, whom she
disciplined by floggings. In order to escape from this severe treat¬
ment many men deserted. Often, to secure more liberal wages,
they entered the merchant marine of the United States, which at
thdt time seemed destined to rival that of England, to whom many
desirable ports were then closed and whose coasts were blockade;!
by the French. That she might secure her "men, Great Britain
ordered her captains to reclaim them on American boats. Succeed¬
ing in this, her next move was to declare that a British subject had
no right to enter into any military or marine service save that of
his own country, and that on this ground she could take English¬
men wherever she found them, be they deserters or not. Acting
upon this assumption, her warships stopped American merchant
vessels anywhere upon the high seas and sent their officers and men
aboard to look for and to secure British subjects. The ablest sea¬
men were, of course, selected, and any sailor unable on the spot to
prove that he was not a part of the British nation was carried to
serve on the decks of his captors. Some of these kidnapped per¬
sons were released upon the application of American consuls on
duty in the ports where they happened to be taken. When the case
was brought up the English always defended themselves by saying
that since both nations spoke the same lnaguage it was a difficult
natter to be sure as to the citizenship of those they had captured.
They overlooked the fact that beside Negroes they had taken many
Swedes Danes and Portuguese. It is estimated that through these
violations of the sovereignty of nations (for the chip's deck is the
territory of the country to which it belongs), fourteen thousand
men were forced to service in the navy of Great Britain. These im¬
pressments were made, not only on the high seas, but within the
three-mile limit, and coasting and fishing schooners, as well as all
other kinds of ships, were robbed of their men.
6 2
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Tniv Chesapeake; Aeeair.
In the year 180(i the American frigate Chesapeake was captufed
by the English man-of-war Leopard after the former's commander
had refused to allow her to be searched for deserters. In the fusi-
lade coincident with her capture some of the crew were killed itnd
several others were wounded'by the British. Four men were.taken
from the Chesapeake. One of these, David Martin, was a Negro
of Massachusetts. He was an American, but had been impressed at
an earlier date on the Melampus, in the service of England, from an
American boat in the Bay of Biscay. The captives were all carried
to Halifax, Nova Scotia. It developed that only one was an Eng¬
lishman. He was hanged on the charge of desertion. The rest were
reprieved, on the condition that they enter the British service. ' It
was not until June, 1812, that two of these men were restored to
their native land. At that time they were returned to the same ship
from which they had been taken. The boat was then lying in the
Boston harbor. At her gangway they were received by Lieut. Wil¬
kinson from Lieut. Simpson, a British officer. They were then es¬
corted to the deck, where they were presented to Commodore Bain-
bridge, who said, "My lads, I am glad to see you. From this deck
you were taken by a British outrage. For your return you owe
gratitude to your country. Your country now offers you an oppor¬
tunity to revenge your wrongs, and I cannot doubt you will be de¬
sirous of doing so on board this very ship. I trust this flag that
flies on board of her shall gloriously defend you in the future.
The affair between the Chesapeake and the Leopard caused gfeat
excitement in this country. Many international complications fol¬
lowed, and an apology was demanded, but the English refused' to
discontinue their search. Not wishing to declare war, the United
States fi,rst ordered British men-of-war to leave our waters, and a
little later laid an embargo on all shipping in American ports, thus
prohibiting the sending of exports therefrom. In 1809 the Embargo
Act was repealed and a system of non-intercourse and non-impotta-
tion was established in the cases of both Great Britain and France
until either or both would repeal the decrees that they had formerly
made against neutral commerce. While France seemed inclined'to
revoke her decree, England evaded meeting the issue. Such a state
of dissatisfaction followed that war was declared in June, 1812.
1 Our country had, by the census of 1810, a slave population of oVer
a million, while there were almost two hundred thousand free people
of color here. Most of the latter were to be found, of course, in the
North. The free Negro had, in spite of much opposition and prej-
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTOKY
63
udtce, become much Americanized. In some places he had even the
1 ight of suffrage. This was true in five of the original states. He
was the^ owner of property and the depositor in banks. He was
sending his children to school in Washington, Baltimore, Philadel¬
phia, New York and Boston, and he had organized one separate
church.* - His patriotism kept pace with his progress along other
lines, and when the war began he responded to the call to enlist, vol¬
unteering in large numbers, especially in the navy where, says one
writer, who lived in those days, "there seems to be an entire ab¬
sence of prejudice against black messmates among the crews of all
ships."
The battles of the various campaigns of this war were fought all
over that part of the United States lying east of the Mississippi
River, between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. Some of
large moment occurred on the high seas. Indeed, this war has not
been incorrectly called "a sailors' war." The first year of the con¬
flict was marked by several disasters on land, notably among them
being a defeat at Detroit and the loss of many men from the Ameri¬
can ranks in a battle fought in Michigan on the Raisin River.
\
Attacks on Washington, Baltimore: and Other Towns on
the: Coast.
In the spring of the years 1813-14 the scene shifted somewhat
from the northern border to the Middle Atlantic States. Many
depredations were made by the English on the coast at this period.
There were attacks at Havre de Grace, Maryland, and on the Dela¬
ware shore, which were made with the hope of drawing away the
American forces from Canada. At last the conduct of the enemy
made the Americans entertain great fear for the safety of the na¬
tional capital, for the forces of Great Britain had succeeded in en¬
tering the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Gen. Winder was then
it; charge of the military district which included Maryland and the
District of Columbia. Early in August it was reported that the
4 enemy had entered the Patuxent River, a tributary to the Chesa¬
peake. It was expected that the English would make a landing from
this stream and proceed overland to Washington. To prevent this
Gen Winder, with a force of several thousand men, awaited their
coming at Wood Yard, about twelve miles from the capital city.
♦The African Methodist Episcopal Church, established in Phila¬
delphia, Pa.
64 MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
This body of militia had been hastily gathered from Maryland and
Virginia. Black men were in its ranks. Among them were John
B. Vashon, who volunteered in Leesburg, Virginia, for land service,
when the colored men of the northern part of his state were called
upon to aid in the defense of the country, as soon as the alarm was
given that the British were nearing the capital. Another Negro who
entered the army of the United States at this time was Louis
Boulagh, a freeman of the State of Virginia. Later he was trans¬
ferred to the squadron of Commodore J. Shaw, and served in the
navy until the close of the war.
Effecting a landing on the Potomac River, the British marched
in the opposite direction to that which it had been expected they
would, and turned toward Washington by way of Bladensburg, a
small village about six miles to the northeast of the capital. Here
they met the men under Commodore Barney, whose flotilla load for
some weeks previous patrolled the tributaries of the Chesapeake
Bay, these men being now the only available force for defensive
service for Washington. The meeting, which occurred August 18,
1814, resulted only in a skirmish. The scene of the encounter was a
slope, upon which a slight earthwork had been thrown up by the
Americans. Black men helped in the erection of this fortification,
and served also as soldiers and teamsters. Six guns were mounted
at this place. The Americans were put to route in this fight and
the brave Barney was very badly wounded.
IV ashing to n, D.C.
The proximity of the British greatly' alarmed the citizens of Wash¬
ington, and yet there was little they could do to defend themselves.
Following the skirmish at Bladensburg the capital of the nation
was stormed. The White^House, the Capitol and many other pub¬
lic buildings, as well as a great deal of private property, were
burned. In the navy yard there were but a few officers and order¬
lies. Most of the latter were black men, and a few of the same race
were on duty about the city. The rest of the militia were still in
Maryland with Gen. Winder.
Baltimore, Md.
The trouble in Washington caused much excitement in Baltimore,
whose inhabitants felt it might be their turn next. Therefore,
through an order of the Vigilance Committee, issued on August 27,
the Monumental City was divided into four sections, as follows:
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 65
First Section: The eastern precinct and the eighth ward.
Second Section: Fifth, sixth and seventh wards,
hird Section: Second, third and fourth Wards,
ourth Section : First ward and western precinct,
reastworks were erected in all of these sections. Exempts and
free people of color of the first section were called out on Sunday
morning at six o clock to Hampstead Hill, where, with provisions
to last them through the day they went to work. This same class
of people was set to work at the same hour at Myer Garden in the
second section on Monday morning. On Tuesday, those residing in
the third district began throwing up breastworks in Washington
Square, while the black and the white inhabitants of the fourth dis¬
trict proceeded to the corner of Kutaw and Market streets on
Wednesday rftorning that they might do their share in preparing de¬
fences for the city. Owners of slaves were asked to send the same
to work on the days assigned to the several districts in which thev
lived. The masters complied with this request. No event is said to
have occurred on the part of the black and white compatriots "to
sully the character of an individual soldier." On the third of Sep¬
tember the Vigilance Committee resolved: "That all free people of
color be, and they are hereby ordered, to attend daily, commencing
with Wednesday, the fifth instant, at the different works erected
about the city for the purpose of laboring thereon, and for which
they shall receive an allowance of fifty cents a day, together with a
soldier's rations." Following these preparations Baltimore was at¬
tacked both by land and by sea. The battle on the sea was the
bombarding of Fort McHenry. It was at this time that the song,
"The Star Spangled Banner," was written. A land engagement
took place about two miles out of the city, near Bear Cieek, on the
road to North Point. Beside working at putting up fortifications,
colored men were employed in and about the city of Baltimore in
other capacities, for they manned the batteries and also carried mus¬
kets.
Philadelphia.
Alarmed by the conduct of the foe at Washington and Baltimore,
many of the other coast cities began to make preparation for their
own protection. In Philadelphia, the Vigilance Committee solicited
the aid of Absolem Jones, Richard Allen and James Forten,_ all
Negroes. It was desired that these men should secure the services
of members of their own race in erecting defences about the city.
Through their efforts twenty-five hundred black men were gathered
66
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
in the yard of the State House in August and marched to Grey's
Ferry, on the west side o the Schuylkill River, where for two days
they were employed in throwing up fortifications, for which they
received a vote of thanks, tendered them by the city. Mr. Forten
himself worked on these breastworks with twenty of his journey¬
men. A body of colored troops was organized here at this time and
placed under an officer of the United States Army.
New York, N. Y.
On October 24, 3 814, the state of New York, in its legislature,
provided for the raising of two regiments of free men for service
iii the army in this way:
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of New
York, represented in the senate and the assembly, that the governor
of this state be, and is hereby authorized to raise by voluntary en¬
listment, two regiments^of free men of color for the defense of the
state for three years, unless sooner discharged.
"Section 2. And be it further enacted, that the said regiments
shall consist of one thousand and eighty able-bodied men, and the
said regiment shall be formed into a brigade or be organized in such
manner and employed in such service as the governor of the state
shall deem best adapted to defend the said state.
"Section 3. And be it further enacted, that all the commissioned
officers of said regiments and brigades shall be white men, and the
governor of the state shall be, and is hereby, authorized to com¬
mission by brevet all the officers of the said regiments and brigades
wfio shall hold their, respective commission until the council of ap¬
pointment shall have appointed the officers of said regiments and
brigades in pursuance of the constitution and laws of said state.
"Section 4 * * *.
"Section 5 * * *.
"Section (5. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for
any able-bodied slave, with a written consent of a master or mistress
to enlist in such corps and the master or mistress of such
slaves, shall be entitled to the pay and bounty allowed him
for his service. And further, that the said slave, at the time of his
receiving his discharge, shall be deemed and adjudged to have .been
legally manumitted from that time, and his master or mistress shall
not thenceforward be liable for his .maintenance,"
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
6 7
VSivrviciv ON Tiiii HIGH SI-;AS.
Capt^TP°rtcr, who afterward became an admiral in the United
otates I\avy, sailed around Cape Horn in the year 1813. He made
t is trip into the Pacific Ocean on the Essex in order to meet the
Constitution and the Hornet, with both of which vessels he had
orders to co-operate. Failing to find either of these men-of-war, he
made attacks upon British whalers and largely destroyed their
activities in the Pacific, securing four thousand tons of British ship¬
ping and four hundred prisoners through his operations. Among
the engagements in which Porter took part on this trip was that be¬
tween his ship and the Phoebe and the Chemf. Black boys as well
as men were in the service on the Essex. When Lieut. Wilmer lost
his life through a shot which swept him overboard, so great was the
grief of Ruff,* a little Negro boy employed by the former, that he
committed suicide by jumping overboard. The Essex was finally
captured off the coast of Chile.
The Shannon Affair.
The battle between the Shannon and the American boat Chesa¬
peake occurred between Cape Cod and Cape Anne, about thirty
miles from Boston Light. It was so near the coast that it might
be seen from Salem Heights. It began shortly after six-thirty on the
morning of June first, 1813, at which tifne the boats became en¬
tangled. A little later an order was issued that the Chesapeake's
boarders be called out.f There were many Negroes on this ship, one
of them George Brown, a bugler, was told to give the necessary
signal which would summon these men (boarders). This duty was
usually performed by a drummer and the unfortunate bugler, not
clearly comprehending his task, sounded only a feeble blast. It
then became necessary to give all orders orally, most of which were
misunderstood. Much confusion and many blunders were the
sequence, and after a very short but hot engagement the Americans
were overwhelmed ancl the brave Lawrence and all his officers lost
their lives at this time.
*This boy was doubtless a powder boy. It was his duty to carry
powder for the gunner.
tSailing ships used to fight with their yard arms interlocked. The
"boarders'' were those who went aboard the enemy's ship to fight
.hint
68
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
The Battles of Lake Champlain and of Plattsburg.
During the fall of 1814 the Americans won some important vic¬
tories in northern New York. For several days in the month of
August a large force of some fourteen thousand picked men had
been encamped on Lake Saranac, under the British Gen. Macomb.
During a trip from Plattsburg to Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., the
Americans put these men into such rapid retreat that they left be¬
hind them great quantities of provisions and were forced to de¬
stroy a great deal of ammunition which they could not carry. "A
very fine martial-looking set of colored men were attached to the
American Army on this occasion." Among these was Robert Van
Vranken, of Albany. *
While the* conflict raged on land, another was being waged on
nearby Lake Champlain, September 11, 1814. When it began the
enemy's ships were about three hundred yards away from those of
the Americans. Starting at nine o'clock, a furious fire was kept up
for two hours, at the end of which time the British surrendered.
The fight was so terrific "there was not a mast left on either squad¬
ron that could stand to make a sail on." This battle was won by a
"superiority of gunnery," and a large proportion of the gunners
were men of color. Among these were John Day, who was a marine
on board the row galley Viper, and stood like a man at his post in
the thickest of the light, while the blood of his associates washed
the deck. Later he was drafted to go with Commodore Bainbridge's
relief squadron to the Mediterranean Sea. This expedition went
out to rescue American commerce. Day was discharged fro;n the
navy March 18, 181(>. The result of these two engagements was
that the Americans regained possession of northern New York.
Another Negro who helped to bring about this satisfactory condi¬
tion was Charles Black, who had been an impressed seaman. He
lost nine hundred dollars owed him by England when he refused to
serve that country at the outbreak of this war. For his refusal he
was placed in Dartmoor prison, along with many others of his fel¬
low-countrymen of the same race. This prison was located in a
lonely part of Devonshire County, England, about fifteen miles from
Plymouth, and was surrounded by a dreary, barren marshland.
It was enclosed bv circular walls, the outside one being a mile in cir¬
cumference. Jt was necessary to pass through five gates to get be¬
hind the prison walls, and a reservoir was built in front of the first
gate. The prison consisted of several stone buildings, each large
enough to hold fifteen hundred men. The guard consisted of two
thousand militia and two companies of artillery. During the time
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
69
at 'n^r a,lfl was seizing- seamen,, besides whites four hundred
■ e.^roes were here imprisoned. Their sufferings were terrible and
escape was almost impossible. 'In some manner, however, Black
got away, returned to his own country and entered the navy in
time to participate m the action 011 the lake. His father was at
L>linker Hill and his grandfather was in the French and Indian War.
Services of Negroes on Board Privateers.
Privateers fitted out in Baltimore, New York, Salem and several
other seaports played an important part in this war, for the Amer¬
ican Navy was at that time entirely too small to cope with the foe.
Several hundreds of these boats sailed the high seas, harrassing and
capturing merchant vessels as well as the smaller warboats of Eng¬
land. It seems that they went everywhere, to the North Cape, into
the British and the Irish Channels, on the coasts of Spain and of
Portugal, to the East and the West Indies, to Cape Good Hope and
Cape Horn, and on the Indian Ocean. They destroyed millions of
dollars' worth of property and took several thousand boats. Through
their use many American seamen were employed who would have
otherwise have had nothing to do, and black men very often sailed
on them as members of their crew.
The Governor Tompkins.
In December, 1812, a privateer, the Governor Tompkins, of New
York, gave chase to what appeared to be an English merchantman,
but which afterward proved to be a frigate in disguise. At last a
squall drove the Tompkins under the very guns of her antagonist.
In a losing fight, in favor of the enemy, the American escaped only
by lightening her cargo and throwing her ammunition overboard.
Her escape was not accomplished before the furious fire from the
enemy had killed two men and wounded six others. Writing of this
event to his agent in the city of New York, on January 1, 1813, the
captain Nathaniel Shaler, says: "The name of one of my poor fel¬
lows, who was killed outright, ought to be registered on the book
of fame and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is con¬
sidered a virtue. lie was a black man by the name of John John¬
son A twenty-four-pound shot struck him in the hip and took
iwav the lower part of,his body. In this state the poor brave fellow
1 n thc deck and several times exclaimed, 'Fire away, boys; never
1 mil the colors down.'- The other was a black man by the name of
j 1 Davis who was struck in much the same way. He fell near
7°
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
me, and several times requested to be thrown overboard, saying that
he was only in the way of the others. While America, has such
tars she has little to fear from the tyrants of the ocean."
The David Porter.
In March, 1814, the schooner David Porter, a privateer carrying
cotton to France from the United States, bore a government com¬
mission to take, burn, sink or destroy the enemy's boats. When in
the Bay of Biscay this vessel captured several merchant ships. One
of the guns of the David Porter was an eighteen-pounder, mounted
on a pivot in midships. This cannon, the only large gun used in the
capture of these ships, was commanded by a hugh black man about
six feet high and large in proportion. He was said to be the "best
natured fellow in the world," and was a general favorite with both
the officers and the men. His name was Phillip , and his
gun was the only dependable weapon on the ship, because the other
(there was only one more and that was a small one) could not be
used in rough weather. When the Porter made a landing at Lie
Dieu, of the west coast of France, Phillip accompanied his com¬
mander ashore and attracted very much attention from the natives,
many of whom had never seen a Negro before. Even the "gov¬
ernor's lady" asked to have a look at him, and he was carried to her
residence, where he was asked many questions concerning his birth
place, his traits of character and the like. Feeling he was being
used as a show he sought and obtained permission to return to the
boat.
The Battle of Lake Brie.
In 1813 the United States had good reasons for fearing tliat the
English forces stationed in Canada might enter the very heart of
our country through the lakes on its northern border. By these ap¬
proaches it would have been an easy matter to have seized Fori
Meigs, on the Maumee River, and thus decided the fate of that di¬
vision of the American Army under Gen. Harrison, then stationed
in this region. To secure the ascendency of these waters a cam¬
paign was planned and Capt. O. H. Perry, a young naval officer,
was appointed to conduct it. Young Perry had the twofold task
of creating his squadron as well as that of superintending the con¬
struction of his boats, for the brigs, schooners and gunboats Com¬
prising his fleet were all built under his eye and direction at
Presque Island, now Erie, Pennsylvania, during the winter of
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 71
1813-14. By the tenth of July all of the ships were armed and
equipped. There were ten vessels, carrying fifty-live guns. The
guns were manned by a force of four hundred men, "one-fourth of
vvhom were Negroes." Perry was much dissatisfied with the latter
class of seamen, who had been sent to him by Commodore Chaun-
cey, so much so that on July 26th he wrote to his superior officer,
saying, The men that came by Mr. Chaplin were a motley set,
blacks, soldiers and boys. I cannot think that you saw them after
they were selected. I am, however, pleased to see anything in the
shape of a man." A few days later to this letter the gallant Chaun-
cey replied, "I regret you were not pleased with the men sent you
by Messrs. Chaplin and Forrest, for to my knowledge a part of them
are not surpassed by any seamen we have in the fleet, and I have
yet to learn that the color of the skin or the cut and trimmings of
the coat can affect a man's "qualifications or usefulness. I have
nearly fifty blacks on this boat, and many of them are among the
best of my men, and those people you call soldiers have been 011 the
sea from two to seventeen years." Chauncey was about this time
os) board the Pike and engaged in the capture of Port George, in
the northern part of New York State. As he says, many blacks saw
service with him in that engagement.
When the cruise of Perry's fleet began, in its search for the enemy,
so hurried had been the preparations, that the work was not all com¬
pleted. There had been little time for training of guns and the like.
The winter had been a hard one and many of the men had been
sick. On September 13th the enemy was sighted in Put In Bay with
a fleet of six boats manned by sixty-five guns. The engagement
began a few minutes before twelve on the same day, the British fir¬
ing as soon as the Americans were half a mile away. As the boats
neared each other the guns of three or four of the largest of those
belonging to the foe were centered upon the Lawrence, Perry's
flagship. This caused her to lose many of her spars and soon ren¬
dered all of her guns, save one on the starboard side, unfit for serv¬
ice So fierce: was the attack upon this boat that she was finally
forced to drop out of the fight, and Perry's flag was transferred to
the Niagara. The passage was made in a small sailboat, in which
rode the commander/his young brother and several of the crew.
Among the latter was a black man, Cyrus Tiffany. It is he whose
TWenpss is seen in the painting representing the Battle of Lake Erie
haneine in the Capitol in Washington, D. C. This man was a res-
' ^nt of Taunton, Massachusetts. He was a noted musician, having
f fU I with the drummer, Simeon Crossman, for the Revolutionary
1 1'ers of his native town, and served on the warship, the Alliance,
72
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
in 1797. When passing from the frigate Lawrence to the Niagara,
through a storm of bullets and shot, Tiffany, acting on the impulse,
tried to pull Perry down into a seat out of danger. The painting
above referred to, shows him in this act, of which he was very proud,
and concerning which he often spoke on his return home after the
war was over.* Through Perry he was pensioned. He later lived
in Newport, Rhode Island, with that officer, and at last died in the
service on board the Java at the age of eighty, in 1815. While the
Lawrence took part in the conflict many of her men were fatally
wounded on her decks. Among them was John Brook, a captain
of the marines, who was terribly mangled in the hip by a cannon
ball. The death of this officer so affected the little mulatto boy of
twelve, employed in carrying cartridges on the ship, that he threw
himself on the deck, crying pitifully; indeed, so great was his ex¬
pression of grief that he was ordered carried below. Upon hearing
this order he immediately stopped crying and resumed his work at
carrying cartridges. This lad was a favorite of Brook as well as
his property, and just before he breathed his last he gave directions
into whose hands the boy should pass, asking that he be kindly
treated.
As soon as Perry had made his passage to the Niagara firing was
resumed on both sides. In a short time thereafter great confusion
reigned on the British line, due to the fouling of two of their ves¬
sels when an effort was being made to bring their uninjured broad¬
sides to bear. Taking advantage of this condition the commander
of the- Niagara sailed through tlie line, having two of the enemy's
boats on one side and three on the other, firing in both directions as
he went. This was done at close range and was followed by a rapid
fire in close action on the part of the other American vessels. In
twenty minutes a white handkerchief on the Queen Charlotte was
the signal that the English had struck colors.— In another hour the
entire fleet had surrendered. Each side lost a number of men at
this time. The battle on Lake Erie made it possible for American
troops to invade Canada, ancTthe brilliant campaign which followed
was due to the removal of the hostile fleet. The most momentous
event, the result of this, was the Battle of the Thames, through
which the British lost the territory of Michigan. It also came about
that the Indian tribes, allies to the English, were separated, and
Tecumseh, their great leader, lost his life. On his report of this bat-
*1}his fact was stated by Mr. Obed Parker, custodian of the Old
Colony Historical Association, of Taunton, Mass., to the writer.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTOKY 73
tie Perry spoke most highly of the conduct of the black men to
whose presence he had formerly objected, saying in a letter to the
oecretary of the Navy: ''They seemed to be absolutely insensible to
danger. Among the Negroes who played a large part in this vic-
toiy were Jessie Wall, a fifer on the Niagara, and Abraham Chase.
The latter was alive in 18G0. He was ninety years of age at that
time and sat down to a dinner given in Cleveland to the survivors
of the battle when the statue to Perry was unveiled in that city.
Abraham Williams, of Pennsylvania, also took a very active part
in this engagement. He entered the navy in 1812, under Capt
Elliott, and held a position at one of the guns on the flagship Law ¬
rence. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and died in Lead-
ville, Pennsylvania, in 1834.
The Americans were very jjnuch harrassed by a series of diffi¬
culties with the Indians. These came principally through attacks
made by the Creeks, a powerful tribe living in what was then the
Mississippi Territory, the frontiers of Georgia, Florida and all of
Alabama. The redskins were supplied with arms by the English
agents at Pensacola, Florida, which was still a Spanish province.
They-attacked American settlers living in their neighborhood, and
were made more zealous and ferocious in that a premium was of¬
fered at the British agency for every American scalp that they
could bring in. At this time there was no American army in this
section, and the militia of Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama were
called upon to meet the aboriginies. Gen. Claiborne was in charge
of the force thus gotten together, and under his direction fortifica¬
tions were put up at various places in this sectioft of the country.
Many bloody fights took place between the Indians and the whites,
the most horrible of which occurred at Fort Mims, Alabama.
The Massacre at Fort Mims.
Fort Mims was located in the southern part of the State of Ala¬
bama at the conjunction of the Tombigbee and the Alabama, rivers.
On an acre of land, under the superintendence of a settler by the
name of Samuel Mims, an enclosure had been made of upright logs,
thereby making a stockade, in the center of which stood the large
one-story dwelling of this wealthy pioneer. For some time no In¬
dians were seen in this neighborhood. Finally the alarm was given
• the month of August, 1813, that the Indians were lurking about,
lr\cl the whites living along1 the river's banks, becoming much
74
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
alarmed for their safety, left their homes and carried their slaves
into the stockade. On August 30th there were five hundred and
fifty-three souls in the fortification, one hundred of whom were
white women. On the evening before the massacre Negro slaves
minding cows reported having seen the redskins not far from the
fort. Their word, however, was not taken, and the very next day,
at dinner time, the fort was surrounded by the enemy. The inhab¬
itants fought very bravely for three hours, but at the end of that
time the Indians set fire to the place and drove them into a small en¬
closed section of the stockade where they were butchered in a ter¬
rible manner, neither women, children nor old men being spared.
At sunset four hundred of their bloody corpses lay about the place.
One hundred Negroes lost their lives in this conflict. A Negro
woman, who bore the name of Hester (sometimes mentioned as
Esther), although wounded in the chest by a ball, in some way man¬
aged to escape through a hole in the fence and, in spite of her suf¬
ferings she reached the shores of Lake Tensaw, where, finding a
canoe, she paddled fifteen miles to Fort Stoddard, and was thus the
first to carry news of the attack to Gen. Claiborne, who v/as sta¬
tioned at that place.
All through the year 1813 Indian warfare continued. There were
battles at Talasahatche, Taledaga and Auttuse, all Alabama settle¬
ments. In these colored men assisted the settlers in many lines of
defense. One by the name of Evans, acting as a spy, went with sev¬
eral white men across the Alabama River, reconnoitering in an east¬
ern direction from Fort Madison. In a skirmish, which followed
their finding an Indian camp, Evans lost his life.
The Canoe Fight.
In a fixed determination to drive the Indians across the frontier
.many pioneers armed themselves, formed scouting parties, and
scoured the country far and wide. Gen. Dale, an early settler, was
foremost in this undertaking. He formed a small party of men to
march in an expedition to the northern part of Alabama in Novem¬
ber to look for Indians. Finding none there, he proceeded to the
southeast and reached Randon's Landing, on the Alabama River,
where a free Negro by the name of Caesar, a member of his party,
had concealed two canoes. In these boats the men;of the expedition
were to cross the stream. On a morning when all had been ferried
across but seven, who were eating a hastily prepared breakfast of
boiled beef and potatoes, shouts from the opposite side of the river
warned them that they were about to be attacked by Indians. It
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 75
turned out, however, that the redskins, who were skulking in the
^did n°^ SCe w^es' who were screened by a small bank,
and they soon left the scene, but were shortly followed by a small
party of eleven others of their race, this time all painted chiefs, who
Ccine down the river in a flatboat. Upon these men Dale opened
fire, calling upon his men, who were on the other bank, to aid him.
They did paddle out a short distance toward the middle of the
stream, but for some reason went back again, leaving him to man¬
age as best as he could. Their actions made Dale very angry and
he leaped into the smaller of the two boats, followed by two of the
seven men who were on his side of the river, and all were paddled
b) the brave Caesar straight toward the Indian canoe, in which now
stood nine red men ready for a fierce fight. (Two of the occupants
of the boat had leaped into the stream and swam to the shore.)
When within twenty yards of the enemy Dale again opened fire
and ordered Caesar to carry his boat directly to the side of that of
the foe, which the latter unhesitatingly did, and as he accomplished
this feat he held the two (boats) in a mighty grasp. This deed en¬
abled Dale to fight with one foot in his own boat and one in that of
the enemy. No word was spoken during the conflict save the or¬
ders given concerning the placing of the boat and a request made by
Caesar when the general was disarmed that he accept the use of the
former's bayonet and musket, both of which were accepted. This
fight resulted in a victory for the whites; all of the Indians were
killed. Among them were several powerful chiefs. It occurred at
what is now Claiborne, Alabama.
The Indian conflicts were not ended, however, until near the close
of the year 1814. Had the redskins not been subdued New Orleans
and Mobile could not have been defended.
A Negro Rally at Fort Boyer, Alabama.
Mobile Point commanded the end of the peninsula at the entrance
of the bay of the same name, as well as the navigation of the tribu¬
taries of this body of water, near, the city of Mobile. It also con¬
trolled the sea approaches to west Florida, and was sc near Pensa-
cola as to be within easy and swift communication with the same.
Lake Borgne occupied the larger part of this place, the rest of which,
consisting of ditches and ravines of sand, was partly covered with
vegetation On the northern extremity of this point was Fort Boyer,
1 redoubt formed on the water side by a semi-circular battery ex¬
tending four hundred feet. Here, as soon as report came m 1813
f British preparations being made at Pensacola, the garrison began
76 MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
to make reinforcements. An attack was made by the English in
September, The clay following Boyer was bombarded by the
enemy's ship H'ermes, and for several days a furious fire was kept
up on both sides. The engagement resulted in a victory for the
Americans. Before this was accomplished, however, a charge was
made by the latter, under Gen. Stump, and so furiously was it met
by the English that the Americans retreated in confusion. It is said
that even the leader took to flight. It was then that Jeffrey, a Negro,
leaping to the back of a horse, rallied the men by imploring them to
follow his lead and face the foe. This act had the desired result.
Fear was forgotten and the day was won after the assault had con¬
tinued incessantly until the 18th of the month. During this time
one thousand shells had been fired from English warships. Andrew
Jackson gave Jeffrey the title of "major" for his conduct on this oc¬
casion. This he was always called, even until the time of his death
in Nashville, Tennessee, many years later. Beside Jeffrey and other
men of color in this siege, there was the freeman, L. C. Flewellen,
of Georgia.
Closing Scenes of the War.
Realizing the serious state of affairs threatening because of the
depredations of the British on the southern coast of the United
States, Jackson sent from his headquarters in Mobile, Alabama, on
the 21st of September, 1814, a proclamation to the people of Louis¬
iana announcing that the general government relied upon them for
assistance in its defense in this quarter. This was' certainly true,
for a circular letter sent out from the War Department only a short
time before had invited the governors of what were then the south¬
ern states, namely, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and the Territory
of Mississippi, to organize and hold in readiness upwards of one
hundred thousand troops for immediate service in the second war
with England. Sometime before this it had been proposed to organ¬
ize some battalions of free colored men living in this section of the
country for service in the army, but so great was the objection
raised to this plan on the part of the planters that Jackson made no
effort to put it into operation. He now, however, felt that the con¬
ducting of such a scheme was unavoidable, and at the time he made
his appeal to the whites of Louisiana he also addressed the blacks
of the same place in the following words:
"Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been deprived
of a participation An the glorious struggle for national rights in
which this country! is engaged. This shall no longer exist. As sons
MISSING £>AGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
77
of freedom you are now called upon to defend our most inestimable
blessing. As Americans, our country looks upon her adopted chil¬
dren for a valorous support, as a faithful return for the advantages
enjoyed under her mild, equitable government. As fathers, hus¬
bands and brothers, you are summoned to rally 'round the standard
of the Eagle, to defend all of which is most dear in existence. Your
country, although calling for your exertions, does not wish you to
engage in her cause without remunerating you for the services ren¬
dered. Your intelligent minds are not to be lead away by false rep¬
resentations. Your love of honor would cause you to despise the
man who should attempt to deceive you. With the sincerity of a sol¬
dier I now address you. To every noble, true-hearted man of color
volunteering to serve through the present conflict with Great Britain,
and no longer, there will be paid the same bounty in land and money
now received by the white soldiers of the United States, namely,
one hundred and sixty acres of land. The non-commissioned offi¬
cers and privates will be entitled to the same monthly pay, daily
rations and clothes furnished to any American soldier. On enrolling
yourselves in companies the major general commanding will select
officers for your government from your white fellow-citizens. Your
non-commissioned officers may be appointed from among yourselves.
Due regard will be paid to the feelings of freemen and soldiers. You
will not, by being associated with white men in the same corps, be
exposed to improper comparisons or unjust sarcasm. As a distinct
battalion or regiment, pursuing the path of glory, you will undi¬
vided receive the applause and gratitude of your countrymen. To
assure you of the sincerity of my intention and my anxiety to en¬
gage your invaluable services to this country, I have communicated
my wishes to the Governor of Louisiana, who is fully informed as
to the manner of enrollment and will give you any necessary infor¬
mation on the subject of this address.
In response to this call a battalion of two hundred and eighty
freemen of color was quickly formed through a special act of the
Louisiana Legislature and placed under the command of Maj. La -
coste The equipment of these soldiers was purchased with funds
that came from the purse of Col. Fortier, a Creole. The men were
readv to enter the held a few hours after they entered the ranks.
In the year 1814 the cultivation of cotton and of sugar were both
A Vm industries in the state of infancy. Although this was true,
men j,i..1i<!;vd and fifty thousand bales of the former sta-
tlicrc \vcit nil. ■ 4
^ | ;,i Now Orleans, and there were ten thousand liogs-
P e s ! ^ ,,;,i die city. The cotton alone would have been worth
^ ( |1(, l -Lciling to the manufacturers of Manchester, Eng-
78
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
land. The Crescent City, then, became a coveted prize to the eyes
of the British soldiers, who felt it would be an easy matter to sub¬
due the city's mixed population of French Creoles, Spanish, Ameri¬
can whites, and people of color. A number of the latter were free,
educated and the owners of considerable wealth.
During this period one Lafitte, who lived on an island oft the
lower end of the state of Louisiana, sent a package of letters to the
legislature conveying information concerning a threatened invasion
on the part of the bnglish. This intelligence threw the city of New
Orleans into a state of confusion because it was feared that the
advent of the enemy would not only make Louisiana subject to a
toreign master, but would also prevent the navigation of the Missis¬
sippi River on the part of the settlers in the West, to which section
at that time this stream was a necessary and most reliable highway.
That they might consider the information contained in the letters
the lawmakers convened on the fifth of October, and after six weeks
of deliberation they failed to arrange any definite plan for the safety
or the protection of the citizens and their property. Finally Andrew
Jackson, who was then at Fort St. John, some seven miles below the.
city of New Orleans, was requested by the legislative body to come
to its aid. Woupded and tired, and accompanied by only a few of
his officers, he arrived in the Crescent City on the second of Decem¬
ber. Immediately upon being given the right of way by the legisla¬
tors he began to make plans for the defense of the city "which had
neither means nor men, fleet nor forts." At a meeting of the gov¬
ernor and other state officials, held soon after his coming, he pledged
to protect the city or to die in the attempt, and he appealed to the
citizens to forget their differences, which were many, and to unite
with him in this effort. Defensive work was at once begun. All
the bayous connecting the city with the river were ordered ob¬
structed by earth and sunken logs, and guards were placed at their
entrance. Planters in the surrounding country were asked to facil¬
itate this undertaking through the services of their slaves, which
they did. Jackson personally inspected the lower part of the river.
There he found out that an old fort, located at Baize, was unavail¬
able for the defense of the lower part of the Mississippi, and Fort
St. Phillip, at a higher point up the stream, he ordered put into read-,,
iness. Back of New Orleans lay Lake Ponchartrain and Lake
Borgne. Both of these bodies of water were considered as probably
approaches for the enemy. On the latter was stationed Lieut. Jones
with six gunboats and several of such vessels were also placed on
Lake Ponchartrain.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTOBY
79
A part of the time, during which these preparations were going
forward, the English fleet was stationed in the waters of Negril Bay,
at the western end of the island of Jamaica. In the fleet were twenty
thousand red coat soldiers, among them being two regiments of
Negro troops from the West'Indies. These men were all animated
with the hope of not only taking New Orleans but occupying it, and
they were so sure of success that several gentlemen among them had
already been selected to hold offices of civil authority. Leaving the
Jamaican seas the English came in sight of the American shore early
in December. The main body of the flotilla was left at Prue Island,
while a small division sailed on and entered Lake Borgne. Here a
deadly fight took place between the English and the Americans in
the gunboats stationed on the lake. This resulted in- a victory for
the enemy. Following this engagement more of ths foe landed in
a wild section twelve miles below the city and surprised a guard sta¬
tioned at Lake Ponchartrain. This guard consisted only of a picket
of eight white men and three mulattoes, who had been located in the
village of Bien Benue, not far from the lake, by Gen. Villere, a plan¬
ter residing in the neighborhood. Through these encroachments the
foe now controlled the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This fact
was of course made known to Jackson on his return from a tour of
inspection on the 14th of December. He immediately sent orders
to Gen. Winchester to look out for the protection of Mobile Point.
He urged Gen. Carrol, who was known to be approaching with aid
from the north, to hasten, and he made a request to the Secretary
of War for a quick supply of arms. On or about the 16th of Decem¬
ber the battalion of freemen of color, with a body of dragoons un¬
der Felice, he ordered to proceed to the conjunction of Bayou Sau-
vage and the River Chef Menten, from which place they might
watch a road which led into the city on that side of the bayou bear¬
ing the same name as the river. This bayou runs near the rear of
New Orleans and from its head the Gentilly road enters that city.
It (the bayou) also empties into Lake Borgne, which body of water,
it will be remembered, was then in the possession of the enemy.
Without a strong guard at this point, then, it is easy to imagine with
what facility the Crescent City might be invaded by the foe. It was
at this time that a second battalion of colored men was raised. Al¬
most all of these men were from San Domingo. They had a few
years before sought refuge in Louisiana while it was a province of
France durin<>- the reign of Dessalines in Haiti. They had left the
island 'after having unsuccessfully fought this dark-skinned ruler
rather than be ruled by him. These men received their equipment
through the generosity of the friendly Fortier, and were placed un-
8o
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN klSTORY
cler the command of Maj. Dauquin. In the meantime panic of the
wildest sort prevailed in New Orleans. There were rumors of trea¬
son and of slave insurrections. Reports of all events were greatly
exaggerated. To restore the confidence of the citizens, Andrew
Jackson published a proclamation, proclaimed martial law, and or¬
dered that all able-bodied men, of whatever rank or station, race or
color, to serve Us soldiers or sailors. So great was the faith of the
people in Jackson that his conduct had a very salutary effect upon
them. There was a review of the troops on Sunday, December
18th, near the old Spanish cathedral in the public square. The en¬
tire population went out to see it. The troops performed military
evolutions, at whose close each section of the army, whites, Creoles
and men of color, were separately addressed by Edward Living¬
stone in proclamations coming from the commander-in-chief. To
the freemen of color he said: "When from the shores of,the Mo¬
bile I collected you to take arms, inviting you to share the peril and
glory of your white fellow-citizens, I expected much from you, for
1 was not ignorant that you pdssessed qualities formidable to an in¬
vading army. I knew with what fortitude you could endure hunger
and thirst and all the fatigues of a campaign. I knew well how you
loved your native country and how you, like ourselves, had to defend
what man holds most dear, his parents, wife, children and property.
You have done more than I expected. In addition to the previous
qualifications a. before knew you to possess, I find among you a
noble enthusiasm, which leads to the performance of great things.
Soldiers, the President of the United States shall hear how praise¬
worthy was your conduct in the hour of danger, and the representa¬
tives of the American people will give you the praise your exploit
x entitles you. Your general anticipates them in applauding your
noble ardor. The enemy approaches. His vessels cover our lakes.
Our brave citizens are united and all contention has ceased among
them. Their only dispute is, who shall win the prize or who the
most glory, its noblest reward."
Following the review of troops, orders were given for the ob¬
struction of the several canals around the city or of those leading
into it. Much of this work was, of course, done by slaves. On De¬
cember 21st, a detachment consisting of three regulars, eight other
white men, two mulattoes, and a Negro were sent out from Maj.
yillere's plantation to reconnoiter in the neighborhood of Lake Bien
Venue with the hope of discovering from which direction the British
were likely to approach. This scouting party went as far as Fish¬
erman's Village, where on the left bank of the lake (Bien Venue)
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY 81
through the kindness of the planters of Louisiana lived some three
lundred Spanish and Portuguese people. It was found that the
-British, piloted by^ some of the latter, had landed from a bayou on
the Villere plantation, about six miles below New Orleans.
The Battle of Clialmette Plains.
News reached Jackson on the 23rd of the month that the foe oc¬
cupied the Plains of Chalmette and he decided to fight that night.
Ordering all their corps to break rank at once, shortly after three
o'clock that afternoon, he was on the march with a force of some
four thousand men. Among them was one battalion of freemen of
color, those of San Domingo; the other battalion was left on duty
guarding the approach to the city from. Gentilly road. It was the
plan of the commander-in-chief to corner the foe. This he did by
making a circuitous march, keeping "close to the river, until the plan¬
tation was reached. After placing his artillery and some marines on
high ground he began battle about half past seven in the evening.
His land forces were aided by a deadly fire from the broadsides of
the Carolina, the one gunboat remaining on the water. A fierce
fight was waged, partly in darkness and partly in the light of a full
moon. Most of it was done, at close range, and often sharp knives
were the only weapons used by the Americans. The battle occurred
in plain sight of the plantation houses. By ten o'clock the engage¬
ment was over. The Americans were victorious, having lost only
twenty-four from their ranks. Jackson was proud of his mixed
army and in a dispatch to the Secretary of War spoke of the mani¬
festations of great bravery made by the colored men. while a gen¬
tleman who chronicled the events of that period as they were oc¬
curring wrote, referring to these men of color, "they behaved well
manv being men of property, and all accustomed to labor, pos¬
sessing national pride and constitutional bravery and scorning to be
outdone by the whites. They were accordingly valuable troSps in
our line."
December 24—January 1.
Very early the next day Jackson began the fortification of the
river bank leading to the city. To do this he secured spades, shov¬
els pickaxes, wheelbarrows and carts from New Orleans. All of
his' men worked, for each company of troops had its own embank¬
ment to throw up. They made a line of defenses & mile long, and
in some places five feet high. By night the works were partly com-
82 MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
pleted and two small cannon were placed in position on the high¬
road. The operations went on through Christmas Day, while the
enemy still lurked behind the plantation bouses of Chalmette. On
the twenty-sixth of December the battalion of native colored men,
under Lacoste, were withdrawn from Gentilly road and stationed
at Camp Jackson. The next day the Carolina was blown up by the
English. Meanwhile small bodies of American troops in ambush
embarrassed the English with intermittent sharpshooting. On the
morning of the 28th the British began their advance towards New
Orleans. The American forces lay between them and the city and
stopped their progress by a deadly fire. On December twenty-
eighth or twenty-ninth a portion of the right bank of the river was
fortified. One hundred and fifty Negroes laid a parapet there.
These black men also erected a closed redoubt in this neighborhood
and surrounded it by a foose or, ditch. This work was done under
the direction of Eatour by Gen. Jackson's orders. Every effort was
made to strengthen the protections of the river in the. neighborhood
of the city.
The Battle of the Batteries.
The position of each army had been so advanced through the
work of fortifications that by January 1st they were within three
hundred yards of each other and on a broad plain not very far from
the city of New Orleans. On that day, shortly after ten o'clock in
the morning, a battle occurred in which fifty pieces of cannon were
discharged at intervals of from one to three times a minute. Often
a half dozen gcms were fired simultaneously. On this occasion the
battalion of native freemen of color occupied the position between
Batteries three and four, while from between four and five the San
Domingans, under Maj. Dauquin, directed their fire against the
enemy. In this engagement four hundred Britons were wounded.
The Battle of New Orleans.
On January 8th came the Battle of New Orleans. It occurred
very early in the morning and but a short distance from the city line.
It was not long before Packingham's great army began to show the
effect of the telling fire directed from the American batteries in this
engagement. Both battalions of colored men were on the field at
this time. They occupied no insignificant place, being quite near
Andrew Jackson himself and operating the guns in Batteries three
and four. From the beginning events were in favor of the Ameri-
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
83
cans. I hc British commander, making an effort to rally his men,
ae a horse killed under him. Later, while leading in a second ef-
ort to 1 ally his troops, he was shot as he raised his hat to hurrah.
He received a wound and fell. As his men were lifting him
to bear him from the field he received a third shot which proved
fatal. His death occurred a few minutes later under a live oak in
the rear of the scene. Writing of this event, Andrew Jackson said
to President Munroe, who was then the Secretary of War, "I have
always believed he (I^ackingham) fell from the bullet of a freeman
of color, a famous rifle shot of the Attakapas District." One or
two of his aides fell at t\ie same time that Packingham did. The
death of these men resulted in panic and confusion for the enemy.
Troeps lost their courage and fled in wild dismay. In a short time,
save for the wounded, dying or dead, the immediate field was clear.
In a faraway ditch were the English forces under Gen. Lambert,
who had escaped by lying upon the ground on their faces. For a
quarter of a mile the field was covered with the dying or the dead.
When the conflict was over the Americans were much stirred by the
sight of their melancholy victory, and without asking leave began
to render first-aid service, even carrying the wounded on their backs
into their camps. Many of the English, not understanding the lan¬
guage of the blacks who came from the American lines, unarmed, to
assist in relieving the injured, fired upon them, thus killing a large
number. Four hundred of the enemy were wounded at this time.
Many were carried into New Orleans and nursed. A few officers
were cared for by the whites, and many privates by the quadroon
women, who were already famous as nurses in time of pestilence,
and who offered their services for this work most freely. For this
they received no compensation of any kind whatever, although they
faithfully watched by the wounded Britons day and night. Among
the freemen of color in this battle was Jordan Noble, the "match¬
less drummer." In his corps were Adolph Brooks and William Sav¬
age He appeared in the celebration of the'Battle of New Orleans
at the St. Charles Theater in 1854, in the city of the same name.
There was also John Julius, sometimes called Julius Bennoit, who
while engaged on the breastworks of Chalmette was wounded in the
neck by a bayonet, and there, too, was Anthony Gill. Jackson, in
speaking of the battle, said, "The two corps of colored volunteers
hiw not disappointed the hopes that were formed of their courage
^nd perseverence in the performance of duty.
s4
MISSING i>AG£S IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Negroes at Fort St. Phillips.
Close upon the Battle of New Orleans came the storming Fort
St. Phillips. This point was very important, as it commanded an
entrance into the Mississippi River. The Americans had made
every effort to strengthen its defenses in the summer of 1814.
Negroes in great numbers were there employed at that time. On
the 8th of January the place was attacked by British gunboats, that
kept up their siege intermittently for a period of ten days. The gar¬
rison of three hundred and sixty-six held out successfully during this
engagement. Its defensive force were thirty freemen of color, un¬
der Listeau. The engagement ended victoriously for the Americans
on the eighteenth of January. Meanwhile, peace between this coun¬
try and Great Britain had already been declared.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
85
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
*'1C ^°^°)v'nS l'st of books may be found an account of the services
01 .Negroes as chronicled in the foregoing pages.)
Defensive Services of Negroes in Coeoniai, Wars.
New York.
1. New York State Library Bulletin, 1898-1902.
2. American Colonies of 17th Century. Vol. II. Osgood.
Massachusetts.
1. History of New England. Vol. II. Palfrey.
2. History of Slavery in Massachusetts. Moore, George.
North Carolina.
1. Colonial Records of North Carolina. Vol. I.
2. History of North Carolina. Raper.
South Carolina.
1. Statutes at Large—South Carolina. Vol. VII.
2. Early History of Virginia. Hawks, F. C.
3. History of South Carolina. Simms.
4. History of the United States. Eggleston.
Rhode Island.
1. Rhode Island Colonial Records. Vol. IV.
V irginia.
1. Slavery in Virginia. Ballagh.
2. Statutes of Virginia. Vols. I, IV. Henning.
Georgia.
1. The Early History of Virginia and other
Southern States. Hawks. (
Negroes in the French and Indian War.
Braddock's Campaign.
' 1. Massachusetts Archives—Muster Rolls. Vols. 91-94.
2* "The Gazette," published in Lancaster, Ohio, February, 1843.
3' History of Cumberland, Md. Lowdermilk.
A. History of Washington County (Md.). Hager.
5* Washington and Braddock Expedition, The. Haddock.
(j. History of Buck County, Pa.
7. Virginia. Campbell^ Suf^endcr 0f port DuQucsne.
1 Provincial History of Pennsylvania Balch.
Raids.
1 Historv of Cumberland (Md.). Lowdermilk.
Northern Campaign.
, Tt, ind Indian War—Muster Rolls of Massachusetts. Vols. 97, 98.
•>' Mans "nTheir Wars with White People.
5 Patriots of American Revolution. N.ell, We
4 Slavery in New Jersey. Cooley. .
K TK. T'Vench ami Imhan War. Johnson.
5. The r Story of Crispus Attucks.
TT- , ill,. United States. Botta.
S,ist0!y ir .' . intioi, Hawks.
2- The A'n^- (!l , , : iicd States. Vol. VI. Bancroft.
3. | ly.-.^irch, Livermore.
4- - n X.x'\" : \ uierican Revolution. Nell,
r. Patriot;- 1 TT
a « -,-,v W'oiki. Vol, II,
£ A<- lU ' "
86
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Massachusetts.
1. Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution. Vols. II, III, IX.
2. Groton During the Revolution. S. A. Green.
3. Massachusetts Archives. Vol. XXX.
4. "Objects of Interest" (a catalog of Old Colony Hist Asso.).
Vermont.
Slavery in Massachusetts. Moore.
New Hampshire.
3. Patriots of the American Revolution. Nell
2. Muster Rolls of New Hampshire.
Rhode Island.
1. The Defence of Fort Mercer.
2. Revolutionary Papers. Vol. 199, Mass. Archives.
3. History of Rhode Island. Vol. I. Arnold.
4. An Historical Research. Livermore.
5. American Patriots. Nell, W. C.
6. An Historical Inquiry. Ryder.
7. Military Journal. Thatcher.
8. American Revolution—Frank Moore's Diary of.
Connecticut.
1. Slavery in Connecticut. Steiner.
2. Patriots of the American Revolution. Nell, W. C.
New York.
1. Field Book of the American Revolution. Lossing.
2. Our Country. Lossing.
3. American Archives. 5th Series, Vol. I. Force.
4. New York in the Revolution. Fernow.
5. Camp Fires of Afro-Americans. Wilson.
6. American Patriots of the Revolution. Nell, W. C.
New Jersey.
1. History of the United States. Vol. V. Bancroft.
2. Assembly Journal (N. J.). 8th Sess., 2d Sit., Aug. 3-Sept. 1, 1784.
3. Slavery in New Jersey in Johns Hopkins' Historic Studies. Vol. XIV.
Pennsylvania.
Minutes of Supreme Executive Council. Vol. II.
Maryland.
1. An Historical Research. Moore, George.
2. Slavery in Maryland. Bracket.
Virginia.
1. American Archives. 4th Series, Vol. III. Force.
2. Statutes of Virginia. Vols. IX, XI, XIII. Hening.
3. Slavery in Virginia. Ballagh.
North Carolina.
1. Laws of North Carolina. Vol. XXIV.
2. Slavery in North Carolina. Bassett.
3. American Patriots of the Revolution. W. C. Nell.
South Carolina.
1. American Archives. Series 4, Vol. IV. Force.
2. American Revolution, The. Book 6. Botta.
3. History of South Carolina. Simms.
4. American Revolution, The. Leeky.
5. Speech of Pinkney in U. S. Congress.
6. Life of Washington. Vol. I. Sparks.
7. Correspondence of the American Revolution. Vol. II. Sparks.
8. Life of Green. Vol. II. Johnson.
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
87
Negroes in the American Revolution.
Georgia.
1. Revolutionary Papers of Georgia. Vols. I, II.
Negroes in the Navy.
1. The Black Phalanx.
2. Revolutionary Council Papers in Massachusetts State House. Vol. 169.
3. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution. Vol. III.
The War oe 1812.
Causes.
1. The War of 1812. Lossing.
Attacks at Blade-nburg, Washington and Baltimore. '
1. Naval History. Vol. II. Cooper.
2. Loyalty and Devotion of the Colored American in the War of 1812.
/ Nell. W. C.
3. Niles' Weekly Register. Vol. VII.
4. Citizen Soldiers of Baltimore. Sallafell.
The Shannon.
1. Naval History. Vol. II. Cooper.
Privateers.
Niles' Weekly Register. Vol. V. 1
History of the War of 1812, The. Johnson, R. ,
History of American Privateers. Coggeshall.
The Battle of Lake Brie.
Niles' Weekly Register. Vol. VII.
The War of 1812. Lossing. . n
The Catalog of the Old Colony Historical Association.
Fort Mims.
Niles' Weekly Register. Vol. V.
History of Alabama. Vol. II. Picket.
Life of Jackson. Vol. I. Parton.
Fort Boyer.
1. Loyalty and Devotion of the Colored American in the War of 1812.
Nell, W. C.
The Battles of Chalmette Plains, The Batteries and of New Orleans.
1. Niles' Weekly Register. Vol. VII.
2. Historical Memoir. Latour.
3. Life of Jackson. Vol. II. Parton.
4. Diary of a Louisiana Gentleman. Walker.
5. Louisiana Historical Publications.
C>. American People. Sharp. ^
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
89
INDEX.
A
Allen, Richard 65
Acts to Liberate Negroes of :
Georgia 58
North Carolina 51
Virginia 48
Army Return, Washington's •. 43
Atakapas, a Hero from 83
Attucks, Crispus 23
B
Banner, The Bucks of America ■ 32
Barnstable, Negro Soldiers from the County of 31
Battle, The of, Bemis Heights 41
Bennington 41
Bunker Hill 26
Batteries 82
Camden 44
Chalmette Plains > 81
Lexington 26
Long Island «. 4°
Monmouth 41
New Orleans •
Red Bank 34
Rhode Island - 35
Saratoga 41
Trenton 4\
Yorktown
C
Caesar a Hero in the Canoe Fight 74
Caesar, Many in the French and Indian War 22
Caesar, Many in the Revolution 2° (
5i
Caesar of Virginia Manumitted 50
Canoe Fight, The 74
Castle Island, Defences of 30
Caution to Negroes, A 45
Chalmette Plains, The Battle of 81
Charlton, Samuel 43
Chase, Abraham 73
Chavanne, Jean 57
Chelmsford * Z
Concord, The Battle of
Cromwell, Oliver ^ ••••
Davis, John ' 69
Dorchester, Fortification of 30
Dunmore, His Proclamation to Negroes 45
E
Eads, Charlestown 27
Esther, a Negro Heroine 74
Essex, The Voyage of the.
9°
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
F
Freedom of Slaves (Soldiers), Petitions for, in Connecticut...
New Jersey
North Carolina '.
Virginia .(
Free Negroes in Colonial Wars
15
The Revolutionary War
47
The War of 1812
Fifers, Negroes Who Served as
7i
Fortification, The, of Charleston...
I52
Dorchester
Fort Boyer
Fort Mims
Fort Moultrie
Fort St. Phillips ,
Forten, James
Frontier, A Tale of
G
Gilmore, Tobias
Governor Tompkins
Groton Heights
Gunner, A Negro
Gunnery, Superiority of Negro
H
Hall, Primus
Hall, Faneuil *.
Hancock, John
Hester, a Negro Heroine
J
Jack, Susquehanna or Black .
Jackson, Andrew, His Proclamation to Negroes
From Mobile ».
In Alabama
Jones, Absolom
Johnson, John
K
Kemp's Landing, The Battle
Kench, Thomas, His Letters Concerning Negro Soldiers
L
Lamb, Pompey
Lathon or Lambert Pompey
Laws Concerning the Enlistment of Negroes in Colonial Wars
9, 10, 11, 12, 1
The French and Indian War *
The Revolutionary War
35) 37
The War of 1812
66
38
51
43
50
10
29
66
67
11
30
75
73
52
84
58
59
32
69
38
70
68
3°
25
32
74
19
76
80
65
69
30
3i
39
38
8
22
33
65
MISSING PAGES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
91
Letters of Chauncey 71
Greene 54
Jackson >. 81
83
Kench 31
Laurens 53
Lincoln .... 54
Perry 73
Lew, Barzaillai < 27
M
Mich, Old 34
Mims, The Attack 011 Fort 73
Monmouth, The Battle of 42
Morris, Benjamin > 49
N
Negro Mountain ••... 2I
Negro Troops, Separate Bodies of ^
35, 37, 44
Negroes, in the Battle of Bladensburg 64
Building Defences in Baltimore ./• gc
■ In the Battle of Bunker Hill 27
In Colonial Wars 8
9, 10, 11
In the French and Indian War 1g
20, 21
P
Poor, Salem 28
Pilots, Negro in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia 51
. 55, 50
Prison, Dartmore 68
Ponts Bridge 35
Prescott, Gen., The Capture of 36
Q
Quadroon Women, Nursing of 83
R
Rigaud, Andre 57
Ruff, A Negro Powder Boy 67
Ryckert, The Story of 8
S
Salem, Peter 27
Separate Bodies of Negro Troops '
35, 37, 44
Sisson, Jack V"V"i' ..........
Shannon, The Battle of the ^
Spies, Negroes as ' 39
Staton, Peter, The Story of 5Q
Story, a Boarder ••••••■•; 8
Stony Point, 1 he L;lttl(^ of • • • 39
Sullivan's Island, I he Battle of ». 52