African Americans and the American Revolution

By Edward Ayres
Historian, American Revolution Museum at Yorktown

Lafayette and James Armistead-1780s

James Lafayette, who supported the American cause every bit a spy, may have been the inspiration for the effigy on the right in the 18th-century engraving, in the Jamestown-Yorktown collection, depicting the Marquis de Lafayette at Yorktown.

But 50 years afterwards the defeat of the British at Yorktown, most Americans had already forgotten the all-encompassing function black people had played on both sides during the State of war for Independence. At the 1876 Centennial Celebration of the Revolution in Philadelphia, not a single speaker acknowledged the contributions of African Americans in establishing the nation. However by 1783, thousands of black Americans had become involved in the war. Many were active participants, some won their liberty and others were victims, only throughout the struggle blacks refused to be mere bystanders and gave their loyalty to the side that seemed to offering the best prospect for freedom.

By 1775 more a one-half-one thousand thousand African Americans, most of them enslaved, were living in the xiii colonies. Early in the 18th century a few New England ministers and careful Quakers, such as George Keith and John Woolman, had questioned the morality of slavery but they were largely ignored. By the 1760s, nevertheless, as the colonists began to speak out against British tyranny, more Americans pointed out the obvious contradiction betwixt advocating freedom and owning slaves. In 1774 Abigail Adams wrote, "it always appeared a most iniquitious scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have equally good a right to freedom equally we have."

Widespread talk of liberty gave thousands of slaves loftier expectations, and many were fix to fight for a autonomous revolution that might offering them liberty. In 1775 at least x to fifteen blackness soldiers, including some slaves, fought against the British at the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill. Two of these men, Salem Poor and Peter Salem, earned special distinction for their bravery. By 1776, all the same, it had become articulate that the revolutionary rhetoric of the founding fathers did non include enslaved blacks. The Proclamation of Independence promised liberty for all men simply failed to put an cease to slavery; and although they had proved themselves in boxing, the Continental Congress adopted a policy of excluding black soldiers from the army.

In spite of these discouragements, many free and enslaved African Americans in New England were willing to have up arms against the British. As before long states constitute it increasingly difficult to fill their enlistment quotas, they began to turn to this untapped puddle of manpower. Eventually every state higher up the Potomac River recruited slaves for military service, usually in exchange for their liberty. By the end of the state of war from 5,000 to 8,000 blacks had served the American cause in some capacity, either on the battlefield, behind the lines in noncombatant roles, or on the seas. By 1777 some states began enacting laws that encouraged white owners to give slaves for the regular army in return for their enlistment bounty, or allowing masters to employ slaves as substitutes when they or their sons were drafted. In the S the idea of arming slaves for military machine service met with such opposition that only free blacks were normally allowed to enlist in the army.

Nearly black soldiers were scattered throughout the Continental Army in integrated infantry regiments, where they were often assigned to back up roles as wagoners, cooks, waiters or artisans. Several all-blackness units, commanded by white officers, also were formed and saw action against the British. Rhode Island's Black Battalion was established in 1778 when that state was unable to run across its quota for the Continental Army. The legislature agreed to gear up free slaves who volunteered for the duration of the war, and compensated their owners for their value. This regiment performed bravely throughout the state of war and was present at Yorktown where an observer noted it was "the virtually neatly dressed, the best nether artillery, and the most precise in its maneuvers."

Although the Southern states were reluctant to recruit enslaved African Americans for the ground forces, they had no objections to using gratis and enslaved blacks as pilots and able-bodied seaman. In Virginia alone, as many as 150 black men, many of them slaves, served in the state navy. Afterward the war, the legislature granted several of these men their freedom equally a advantage for faithful service. African Americans likewise served as gunners, sailors on privateers and in the Continental Navy during the Revolution. While the majority of blacks who contributed to the struggle for independence performed routine jobs, a few, such as James Lafayette, gained renown serving as spies or orderlies for well-known military leaders.

Black participation in the Revolution, however, was not limited to supporting the American cause, and either voluntarily or under duress thousands also fought for the British. Enslaved blacks made their own assessment of the conflict and supported the side that offered the best opportunity to escape bondage. Most British officials were reluctant to arm blacks, but as early equally 1775, Virginia's majestic governor, Lord Dunmore, established an all-black "Ethiopian Regiment" composed of  runaway slaves. By promising them liberty, Dunmore enticed over 800 slaves to escape from "rebel" masters. Whenever they could, enslaved blacks continued to bring together him until he was defeated and forced to get out Virginia in 1776. Dunmore'south innovative strategy met with aversion in England, merely to many blacks the British army came to represent liberation.