Chapter I: The War of 1775 (1)

The history of the patriotic Negro Americans who swelled the ranks of the Colonial and Continental armies has never been written, nor was any attempt made by the historians of that day to record the deeds of those who dared to face death for the independence of the American Colonies. W. H. Day, in addressing a convention of negro men at Cleveland, O., in 1852, truly said: "Of the services and sufferings of the colored soldiers of the Revolution, no attempt has, to our knowledge, been made to preserve a record. Their history is not written; it lies upon the soil watered with their blood; who shall gather it? It rests with their bones in the charnel house; who shall exhume it?" Upon reading these lines, it occurred to me that somewhere among the archives of that period there must exist at least a clue to the record of the negro patriots of that war. If I cannot exclaim _Eureka_, after years of diligent search, I take pride in presenting what I _have_ found scattered throughout the pages of the early histories and literature, and from the correspondence of men who in that period discussed the topics of the day--who led and fashioned public opinion, many of whom commanded in the field. Not a few biographers have contributed to my fund of knowledge. To avoid as much as possible the charge of plagiarism I have aimed to give credit to my informants for what shall follow regarding the colored patriots in the war of the Revolution. I have reason to believe that I have gathered much that has been obscure; that I have exhumed the bones of that noble Phalanx who, at Bunker Hill and Yorktown, in various military employments, served their country. It is true they were few in number when compared to the host that entered the service in the late Rebellion, but it must be remembered that their number was small at that time in the country, and that the seat of war was at the North, and not, as in the late war, at the South, where their numbers have always been large.

Of the three hundred thousand troops in the Revolutionary war, it has been estimated that five thousand were colored, and these came principally from the North, whose colored population at that time was about 50,000, while the Southern colonies contained about 300,000. The interest felt in the two sections for the success of the cause of independence, if referred to the army, can easily be seen. The Northern colonies furnished two hundred and forty-nine thousand, five hundred and three, and the Southern colonies one hundred and forty-seven thousand, nine hundred and forty soldiers, though the whole population of each section was within a few hundred of being equal.

The love of liberty was no less strong with the Southern than with the Northern colored man, as their efforts for liberty show. At the North he gained his freedom by entering the American army; at the South, only by entering the British army, which was joined by more than fifteen thousand colored men. Jefferson says 30,000 negroes from Virginia alone went to the British army. I make the digression simply to assert that had the colored men at the South possessed the same opportunity as those at the North, of enlisting in the American army, a large force of colored men would have been in the field, fighting for America's independence. Of the services of the little band, scattered as they were throughout the army, two or three in a company composed of whites, a squad in a regiment, a few companies with an army, made it quite impossible for their record, beyond this, to be distinct from the organizations they were attached to. However, enough has been culled from the history of that conflict, to show that they bore a brave part in the struggle which wrested the colonies from the control of Great Britain, and won for themselves and offspring, freedom, which many of them never enjoyed. I have studiously avoided narrating the conduct of those who cast their fortune with the British, save those who went with Lord Dunmore, for reasons too obvious to make mention of.

The sentiments of a majority of the people of the colonies were in full accord with the declaration opposing slavery, and they sought to give it supremacy by their success in the conflict. Slavery, which barred the entrance to the army of the colored man at the South, had been denounced by the colonist before the adoption of the articles of confederation, and was maintained solely by local regulations. As early as 1774, all the colonies had agreed to, and their representatives to the congress had signed, the articles of the Continental Association, by which it was agreed, "that we will neither import nor purchase any slave imported after the first day of December next, (1774), after which we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactories to those who are concerned in it." Georgia not being represented in this Congress, consequently was not in the Association, but as soon as her Provincial Congress assembled in July, 1775, it passed the following resolutions:

"_I._--_Resolved_, That this Congress will adopt and carry
into execution all and singular the measures and
recommendations of the late Continental Congress.

"_IV._--_Resolved_, That we will neither import or purchase
any slave imported from Africa or elsewhere after this day,
(July, 6.")

The sincerity with which this agreement was entered into may be seen by the action of the colonists at Norfolk, Virginia, where, in March, 1775, a brig arrived from the coast of Guinea, via Jamaica, with a number of slaves on board consigned to a merchant of that town. To use a modern phrase the vessel was _boycotted_ by the committee, who published the following:

"TO THE FREEMEN OF VIRGINIA.
{ COMMITTEE CHAMBER,
{ NORFOLK, March 6th, 1775.

"Trusting to your sure resentment against the enemies of
your country, we, the committee, elected by ballot for the
Borough of Norfolk, hold up for your just indignation Mr.
John Brown, merchant, of this place.

"On Thursday, the 2nd of March, this committee were informed
of the arrival of the brig Fanny, Capt. Watson, with a
number of slaves for Mr. Brown; and, upon inquiry, it
appeared they were shipped from Jamaica as his property, and
on his account; that he had taken great pains to conceal
their arrival from the knowledge of the committee; and that
the shipper of the slaves, Mr. Brown's correspondent, and
the captain of the vessel, were all fully apprised of the
Continental prohibition against the article.

"From the whole of this transaction, therefore, we, the
committee for Norfolk Borough, do give it as our unanimous
opinion, that the said John Brown has wilfully and
perversely violated the Continental Association, to which he
had with his own hand subscribed obedience; and that,
agreeable to the eleventh article, we are bound, forthwith,
to publish the truth of the case, to the end that all such
foes to the rights of British America may be publicly known
and universally contemned as the enemies of American
liberty, and that every person may henceforth break off all
dealings with him."

This was the voice of a majority of the colonists, and those who dissented were regarded as Tories, and in favor of the crown as against the independence of the colonies, although there were many at the North and South who held slaves, and were yet loyal to the cause of the colonies; but the public sentiment was undoubtedly as strong against the institution as it was in 1864. But the Tories were numerous at the South, and by continually exciting the imagination of the whites by picturing massacre and insurrection on the part of the negros if they were armed, thwarted the effort of Col. Lauren's and of Congress to raise a "negro army" at the South. The leaders were favorable to it, but the colonists, for the reason cited, were distrustful of its practicability. Though a strong effort was made, as will be seen, the scare raised by the Tories prevented its success. Notwithstanding, hundreds of colored men, slave and free, at the South, not only followed the army but in every engagement took an active part on the side of the colonist. They were not enrolled and mustered into the army, it is true, but they rendered important service to the cause.

The caste prejudice now so strong in the country was then in its infancy. A white man at that time lived with a colored woman without fear of incurring the ostracism of his neighbors, and with the same impunity he lived with an Indian Squaw. So common was this practice, that in order to correct it laws were passed forbidding it. The treatment of the slaves was not what it came to be after the war, nor had the spirit of resentment been stifled in them as it was subsequently. Manifestations of their courage and manliness were not wanting when injustice was attempted to be practiced against them, consequently the spirit and courage with which they went into the conflict were quite equal to that of the whites, who were ever ready to applaud them for deeds of daring. It is only through this medium that we have discovered the meed of praise due the little Phalanx, which linked its fortune with the success of the American army, and of whom the following interesting facts can now be recorded.

It is well for the negro and for his descendants in America, cosmopolitan as it is, that his race retains its distinctive characteristics, color and features, otherwise they would not have, as now, a history to hand down to posterity so gloriously patriotic and interesting. His amalgamation with other races is attributable to the relation which it bore to them, although inter-marriage was not allowed. By the common consent of his enslavers, he was allowed to live clandestinely with the women of his own color; sometimes from humane considerations, sometimes from a standpoint of gain, but always as a slave or a subject of the slave code. Reduced from his natural state of freedom by his misfortune in tribal war, to that of a slave, and then transported by the consent of his captors and enemies to these shores, and sold into an unrequited bondage, the fire of his courage,--like that of other races similarly situated, without hope of liberty; doomed to toil,--slackened into an apathetic state, and seeming willing servitude, which produced a resignation to fate from 1619 to 1770, more than a century and a half. At the latter date, for the first time in the history of what is now the United States, the negro, inspired with the love of liberty, aimed a blow at the authority that held him in bondage. In numerous instances, when the Indians attacked the white settlers, particularly in the Northern colonies, negroes were summoned and took part in the defense of the settlements.

As early as 1652, the militia law of Massachusetts required negroes, Scotchmen and Indians,--the indentured slaves of Cromwell, who encountered his army at the battle of Dunbar,--to train in the militia. Nor was it an uncommon occurrence for them to be manumitted for meritorious and courageous action in defending their masters' families, often in the absence of the master, when attacked by the red men of the woods. It was not infrequent to find the negro as a sentinel at the meeting-house door; or serving as a barricade for the master's mansion. The Indian was more of a terror to him than the boa-constrictor; though slaves, they knew that if captured by the Indians their fate would be the same as that of the white man; consequently they fought with a desperation equal to that of the whites, against the common enemy. So accustomed did they become to the use of arms, that one of the first acts of the settlers after the Indians were driven from the forest, was to disarm and forbid negroes keeping or handling fire-arms and weapons of every sort. This was done from a sense of self-preservation and fear that the negroes might (and many did) attempt to revenge themselves when cruelly treated, or rise in mutiny and massacre the whites.

While leading an attack against British troops in Boston.]

But it was not until 1770, when the fervor of rebellion had influenced the people of the colonies, and Capt. Preston, with the King's soldiers, appeared in King Street, Boston, to enforce the decree of the British Parliament, that the people met the troops face to face. This lent force to the rebellious spirit against the Mother Country, which the people of the United Northern Colonies had felt called upon to manifest in public meetings and by written resolutions. The soldiers were regarded as invaders. And while the leading men of Boston were discussing and deliberating as to what steps should be taken to drive the British troops out of the town, Crispus Attucks, a negro runaway slave,[1] led a crowd against the soldiers, with brave words of encouragement. The soldiers fired upon them, killing the negro leader, Attucks, first, and then two white men, and mortally wounding two others. A writer says:

"The presence of the British soldiers in King Street,
excited the patriotic indignation of the people. The whole
community was stirred, and sage counsellors were
deliberating and writing and talking about the public
grievances. But it was not for the 'wise and prudent' to be
first to _act_ against the encroachments of arbitrary power.
A motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes and mulattoes, Irish
Jeazues, and outlandish Jack tars, (as John Adams described
them in his plea in defence of the soldiers), could not
restrain their emotion, or stop to enquire if what they
_must_ do was according to the letter of the law. Led by
Crispus Attucks, the mulatto slave, and shouting, 'The way
to get rid of these soldiers is to attack the main guard;
strike at the root; this is the nest;' with more valor than
discretion they rushed to King Street, and were fired upon
by Capt. Preston's company. Crispus Attucks was the first to
fall; he and Samuel Gray and Jonas Caldwell were killed on
the spot. Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr were mortally
wounded. The excitement which followed was intense. The
bells of the town were rung. An impromptu town-meeting was
held, and an immense assembly was gathered. Three days
after, on the 17th, a public funeral of the martyr took
place. The shops in Boston were closed, and all the bells of
Boston and the neighboring towns were rung. It is said that
a greater number of persons assembled on this occasion, than
ever before gathered on this continent for a similar
purpose. The body of Crispus Attucks, the mulatto, had been
placed in Fanueil Hall with that of Caldwell; both being
strangers in the city. Maverick was buried from his
mother's house in Union Street, and Gray, from his
brother's, in Royal Exchange Lane. The four hearses formed a
junction in King Street, and then the procession marched in
columns six deep, with a long file of coaches belonging to
the most distinguished citizens, to the Middle Burying
Ground, where the four victims were deposited in one grave;
over which a stone was placed with the inscription:

'Long as in Freedom's cause the wise contend,
Dear to your country shall your fame extend;
While to the world the lettered stone shall tell
Where Caldwell, Attucks, Gray and Maverick fell.'

"The anniversary of this event was publicly commemorated in
Boston by an oration and other exercises every year until
our National Independence was achieved, when the Fourth of
July was substituted for the Fifth of March, as the more
proper day for a general celebration. Not only was the event
commemorated, but the martyrs who then gave up their lives
were remembered and honored."

Thus the first blood for liberty shed in the colonies was that of a real slave and a negro. As the news of the affray spread, the people became aroused throughout the land. Soon, in every town and village, meetings were held, and the colonists urged to resist the oppressive and aggressive measures which the British Parliament had passed, and for the enforcement of which troops had been stationed in Boston, and as we see, had shot down those who dared to oppose them. In all the colonies slavery was at this time tolerated, though the number of slaves was by no means large in the Northern Colonies, nor had there been a general ill treatment of them, as in after years in the Southern States. Their war-like courage, it is true, had been slackened, but their manhood had not been crushed.

Crispus Attucks was a fair representative of the colonial negro, as they evinced thereafter, during the prolonged struggle which resulted in the Independence of the United States. When the tocsin sounded "to arms, to arms, ye who would be free," the negro responded to the call, and side by side with the white patriots of the colonial militia, bled and died.

Mr. Bancroft in his history of the United States says:

"Nor should history forget to record, that as in the army at
Cambridge, so also in this gallant band, the free negroes of
the colony had their representatives. For the right of free
negroes to bear arms in the public defense was, at that day,
as little disputed in New England as other rights. They took
their place, not in a separate corps, but in the ranks with
the white men; and their names may be seen on the
pension-rolls of the country, side by side with those of
other soldiers of the Revolution."

It was not the free only who took up arms in defence of America's independence; not alone those who, in preceding wars,--Indian and French,--had gained their liberty, that swelled the ranks of the colonial militia; but slaves, inspired by the hope of freedom, went to the front, as Attucks had done when he cut the Gordian knot that held the colonies to Great Britain. "From that moment we may date the severance of the British Empire," said Daniel Webster, in his Bunker Hill oration, referring to the massacre on the 5th of March, 1770. The thirst for freedom was universal among the people of New England. With them liberty was not circumscribed by condition and now, since the slave Attucks had struck the first blow for America's independence, thereby electrifying the colonies and putting quite a different phase upon their grievances, the people were called upon to witness a real slave struggling with his oppressors for his freedom. It touched the people of the colonies as they had never been touched before, and they arrayed themselves for true freedom.

Dr. Joseph Warren thus heralds the sentiment of the colonist, in his oration delivered at Boston, March 5th, 1775:

"That personal freedom is the natural right of every man,
and that property, or an exclusive right to dispose of what
he has honestly acquired by his own labor, necessarily
arises therefrom, are truths which common sense has placed
beyond the reach of contradiction. And no man, or body of
men, can, without being guilty of flagrant injustice, claim
a right to dispose of the persons or acquisitions of any
other man or body of men, unless it can be proved that such
a right has arisen from some compact between the parties, in
which it has been explicitly and freely granted."

The year previous, John Hancock was the orator on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the shedding of the first blood for the Independence of America, and he thus presents the case to a Boston audience yet smarting under the insult and sting given them by the British soldiery:

"But I forbear, and come reluctantly to the transactions of
that dismal night, when in such quick succession, we felt
the extremes of grief, astonishment and rage; when Heaven,
in anger, for a dreadful moment suffered Hell to take the
reins; when Satan with his chosen band opened the sluices of
New England's blood, and sacrilegiously polluted our land
with the dead bodies of her guiltless sons. Let this sad
tale of death never be told without a tear; let the heaving
bosom cause to burn with a manly indignation at the
barbarous story, through the long tracts of future time; let
every parent tell the shameful story to his listening
children 'til tears of pity glisten in their eyes, and
boiling passions shake their tender frames; and whilst the
anniversary of that ill-fated night is kept a jubilee in the
grim court of pandemonium, let all America join in one
common prayer to Heaven, that the inhuman, unprovoked
murders of the 5th of March, 1770, planned by Hillsborough
and a knot of treacherous knaves in Boston, and executed by
the cruel hand of Preston and his sanguinary coadjutors, may
ever stand in history without a parallel. But what, my
countrymen, withheld the ready arm of vengeance from
executing instant justice on the vile assassins? Perhaps you
feared promiscuous carnage might ensue, and that the
innocent might share the fate of those who had performed the
infernal deed. But were not all guilty? Were you not too
tender of the lives of those who came to fix a yoke on your
necks? But I must not too severely blame you for a fault
which great souls only can commit. May that magnificence of
spirit which scorns the low pursuit of malice; may that
generous compassion which often preserves from ruin, even a
guilty villain, forever actuate the noble bosoms of
Americans! But let not the miscreant host vainly imagine
that we feared their arms. No, those we despised; we dread
nothing but slavery. Death is the creature of a poltroon's
brains; 'tis immortality to sacrifice ourselves for the
salvation of our country. We fear not death. That gloomy
night, the pale-face moon, and the affrighted stars that
hurried through the sky, can witness that we fear not death.
Our hearts, which, at the recollection, glow with rage that
four revolving years have scarcely taught us to restrain,
can witness that we fear not death; and happy it is for
those who dared to insult us, that their naked bones are not
now piled up an ever-lasting monument of Massachusetts
bravery. But they retired; they fled, and in that flight
they found their only safety. We then expected that the hand
of public justice would soon inflict that punishment upon
the murderers, which, by the laws of God and man, they had
incurred. But let the unbiassed pen of a Robertson, or
perhaps of some equally famed American, conduct this trial
before the great tribunal of succeeding generations. And
though the murderers may escape the just resentment of an
enraged people; though drowsy justice, intoxicated by the
poisonous draft prepared for her cup, still nods upon her
rotten seat, yet be assured, such complicated crimes will
meet their due reward. Tell me, ye bloody butchers! ye
villains high and low! ye wretches who contrived, as well as
you who executed the inhuman deed! do you not feel the goads
and stings of conscious guilt pierce through your savage
bosoms? Though some of you may think yourselves exalted to a
height that bids defiance to human justice, and others
shroud yourselves beneath the mask of hypocrisy, and build
your hopes of safety on the low arts of cunning, chicanery
and falsehood; yet do you not sometimes feel the gnawings of
that worm which never dies; do not the injured shades of
Maverick, Gray, Cadwell, Attucks and Carr, attend you in
your solitary walks; arrest you in the midst of your
debaucheries and fill even your dreams with terror?"

The orators of New England poured out upon this once slave,--now hero and martyr,--their unstinted praise. We have but to recall the recollection of the earliest conflicts which the colonist had with the British, in order to see the negro occupying a place in the ranks of the patriot army. Their white fellow-citizens were only too glad to take ground to the left, in order that they could fall in on their colors. And they did good service whenever they fought, as the record shows.

The Committee of safety upon reviewing the situation and the army, before the first great battle of the Revolution had been fought, adopted the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That it is the opinion of this committee, that
as the contest now between Great Britain and the Colonies
respects the liberties and privileges of the latter, which
the Colonies are determined to maintain, that the admission
of any persons, as soldiers, into the army now raising, but
such as are Freeman, will be inconsistent with the
principals that are supported, and reflect dishonor on this
Colony; and that no Slaves be admitted into this army upon
any consideration whatever."

The exception was well taken, and this act of the Committee, excluding slaves from the army, placed the rebels upon the basis of patriots, fighting for freedom. This, however, did not detract from those who had already distinguished themselves, by their bravery at Bunker Hill a few weeks previous, where Peter Salem, once a slave, fought side by side in the ranks with the white soldiers. When the British Major Pitcairn mounted the redoubt, upon that memorable occasion, shouting, "The day is ours!" Peter Salem poured the contents of his gun into that officer's body, killing him instantly, and checking, temporarily, the advance of the British. Swett, in his "Sketches of Bunker Hill Battle," says:

"Major Pitcairn caused the first effusion of blood at
Lexington. In that battle, his horse was shot under him,
while he was separated from his troops. With presence of
mind he feigned himself slain; his pistols were taken from
his holsters, and he was left for dead, when he seized the
opportunity and escaped. He appeared at Bunker Hill, and,
says the historian, 'Among those who mounted the works was
the gallant Major Pitcairn, who exultingly cried out, 'The
day is ours!' when a black soldier, named Salem, shot him
through and he fell. His agonized son received him in his
arms, and tenderly bore him to the boats.' A contribution
was made in the army for the colored soldier, and he was
presented to Washington as having performed this feat."

Mr. Aaron White, of Thompson, Conn., in a letter to George Livermore, Esq., of the Massachusetts Historical Society, writes:

"With regard to the black Hero of Bunker Hill, I never knew
him personally, nor did I ever hear from his lips the story
of his achievements; but I have better authority. About the
year 1809, I heard a soldier of the Revolution, who was
present at the Bunker Hill Battle, relate to my father the
story of the death of Major Pitcairn. He said the Major had
passed the storm of fire without, and had mounted the
redoubt, when, waving his sword, he commanded, in a loud
voice, the 'rebels' to surrender. His sudden appearance, and
his commanding air, at first startled the men immediately
before him. They neither answered nor fired; probably not
being exactly certain what was next to be done. At this
critical moment, a negro soldier stepped forward, and,
aiming his musket directly at the Major's bosom, blew him
through. My informant declared that he was so near, that he
distinctly saw the act. The story made quite an impression
on my mind. I have frequently heard my father relate the
story, and have no doubt of its truth. My father on the day
of the battle was a mere child, and witnessed the battle and
burning of Charlestown from Roxbury Hill, sitting on the
shoulders of the Rev. Mr. Jackson, who said to him as he
placed him on the ground, 'Now, boy, do you remember this!'
Consequently, after such an injunction, he would necessarily
pay particular attention to anecdotes concerning the first
and only battle he ever witnessed."

Peter Salem shooting the British Major Pitcairn.]

Salem was undoubtedly one of the chief heroes of that ever memorable battle. Orator, historian, poet, all give this sable patriot credit for having been instrumental in checking the British advance and saving the day.

At the unveiling of the statue erected to the memory of Gen. Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, the orator of the occasion, Hon. Edward Everett, said:

"It is the monument of the day of the event, of the battle
of Bunker Hill; all of the brave men who shared its
perils,--alike of Prescott and Putnam and Warren, the chiefs
of the day, and the colored man, Salem, who, is reported to
have shot the gallant Pitcairn, as he mounted the parapet.
Cold as the clods on which it rests, still as the silent
Heaven to which it soars, it is yet vocal, eloquent, in
their individual praise."

The following is a copy of a petition now in the Archive Department of Massachusetts:

"TO THE HONORABLE GENERAL COURT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS' BAY.

"The subscribers beg leave to report to your Honorable
House, (which we do in justice to the character of so brave
a man), that under our own observation, we declare that a
negro man named Salem Poor, of Col. Frye's regiment, Capt.
Ame's company, in the late battle at Charleston, behaved
like an experienced officer, as well as an excellent
soldier. To set forth particulars of his conduct would be
tedious. We only beg leave to say, in the person of this
said negro, centers a brave and gallant soldier. The reward
due to so great and distinguished a character, we submit to
Congress.

"JONA. BREWER, Col.
THOMAS NIXON, Lt. Col.
WM. PRESCOTT, Col.
EPHM. COREY, Lieut.
JOSEPH BAKER, Lieut.
JOSHUA ROW, Lieut.
JONAS RICHARDSON, Capt
ELIPHALET BODWELL, SG'T.
THOMAS NIXON, Lt. Col.
WM. PRESCOTT, Col.
EPHM. COREY, Lieut.
JOSEPH BAKER, Lieut.
JOSHUA ROW, Lieut.
JONAS RICHARDSON, Capt.

CAMBRIDGE, Dec. 5, 1775.

"In Council Dec. 21, 1775.--Read, and sent down.
PEREZ MORTON, Dep'y Sec'y."

A biographical account of Peter Salem is given in the following newspaper extract:

"April, 1882, the town of Framingham voted to place a
memorial stone over the grave of Peter Salem, alias Salem
Middlesex, whose last resting place in the old burial ground
at Framingham Centre has been unmarked for years. For this
purpose $150 was appropriated by the town. The committee in
charge of the matter has placed a neat granite memorial over
his grave, and it bears the following inscription: "Peter
Salem, a soldier of the revolution, Died Aug. 16, 1816.
Concord, Bunker Hill, Saratoga. Erected by the town, 1882."
Peter Salem was the colored man who particularly
distinguished himself in the revolutionary war by shooting
down Major Pitcairn at the battle of Bunker Hill, as he was
mounting a redoubt and shouting, "The day is ours!" this
being the time when Pitcairn fell back into the arms of his
son. Peter Salem served faithfully in the war for seven
years in the companies of minute men under the command of
Capt. John Nixon and Capt. Simon Edgell of Framingham, and
came out of it unharmed. He was a slave, and was owned,
originally, by Capt. Jeremiah Belknap of Framingham, being
sold by him to Major Lawson Buckminster of that town, he
becoming a free man when he joined the army. Salem was born
in Framingham, and, in 1783, married Katie Benson, a
Granddaughter of Nero, living for a time near what is now
the State muster field. He removed to Leicester after the
close of the war, his last abode in that town being a cabin
on the road leading from Leicester to Auburn. He was removed
to Framingham, where he had gained a settlement in 1816 and
there he died."

Salem was not the only negro at the battle of Bunker Hill. Says an authority:

"Col. Trumbull in his celebrated historic picture of this
battle, introduces conspicuously the colored patriot. At the
time of the battle, the artist, then acting as adjutant, was
stationed with his regiment at Roxbury, and saw the action
from this point. The picture was painted in 1786 when the
event was fresh in his mind. It is a significant historical
fact, pertinent to our present research, that, among the
limited number of figures introduced on the canvas, more
than one negro soldier can be distinctly seen."

Of the others who participated in the battle we have knowledge of Salem Poor, whose bravery won for him favorable comment.

Major Wm. Lawrence, who fought through the war for independence, from Concord, until the peace of 1783, participating in many of the severest battles of the war. Says a memoir:

"At Bunker Hill, where he was slightly wounded, his coat and
hat were pierced with the balls of the enemy, and were
preserved in the family for several years. At one time he
commanded a company whose rank and file were all negroes, of
whose courage, military discipline, and fidelity, he always
spoke with respect. On one occasion, being out
reconnoitering with his company, he got so far in advance of
his command, that he was surrounded, and on the point of
being made prisoner by the enemy. The men, soon discovering
his peril, rushed to his rescue, and fought with the most
determined bravery till that rescue was effectually
secured. He never forgot this circumstance, and ever took
special pains to show kindness and hospitality to any
individual of the colored race, who came near his dwelling."

The Committee of Safety having excluded slaves from the army, many were thereafter manumitted, that they might enlist. There was no law regulating enlistment in the army at the time which required the color of a soldier's skin to be recorded or regarded. A prejudice existed in the legislature that prompted that body to begin a series of special enactments, regarding negroes, which did not exclude them altogether from the army, but looked to their organization into exclusive companies, batallions and regiments.

Notwithstanding the record made by the negroes who had swollen the ranks of the American army a few weeks after the battle of Bunker Hill, General Gates, then at Cambridge, issued the following order to the officers, then recruiting for the service:

"You are not to enlist any deserter from the Ministerial
army, nor any stroller, negro, or vagabond, or persons
suspected of being an enemy to the liberty of America, nor
any under eighteen years of age. As the cause is the best
that can engage men of courage and principle to take up
arms, so it is expected that none but such will be accepted
by the recruiting officer. The pay, provision, &c., being so
ample, it is not doubted but that the officers sent upon
this service will, without delay, complete their respective
corps, and march the men forthwith to camp. You are not to
enlist any person that is not an American born, unless such
person has a wife and family, and is a settled resident in
this country. The persons you enlist must be provided with
good and complete arms."

This was in July, and on the 26th of the following September, Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, moved in the Colonial Congress that all negroes be discharged that were in the army. As might be expected, his proposition was strongly supported by the Southern delegates, but the Northern delegates being so much stronger, voted it down. The negroes were crowding so rapidly into the army, and the Northern colonists finding their Southern comrades so strongly opposing this element of strength, submitted the question of their enlistment to a conference committee in October, composed of such men as Dr. Franklin, Benjamin Harrison and Thomas Lynch, with the Deputy Governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island. This committee met at Cambridge, with a committee of the council of Massachusetts Bay. The object and duty of the meeting was to consider the condition of the army, and to devise means by which it could be improved.

General Washington was present at the meeting, and took part in the discussions. Among others, the following subject was considered and reported upon: "'Ought not negroes to be excluded from the new enlistment, especially those such as are slaves?' All were thought improper by the council of officers. '_Agreed_, That they may be rejected altogether.'"

In the organization of the new army, were many officers and men, who had served with negroes in the militia, and who had been re-enlisted in the colonial army. They protested against the exclusion of their old comrades, on account of color. So very strong were their protests that most of the rank and file of the Northern troops regarded the matter as of serious import to the colonies, and of danger to the wives and families of those in the field. There was quite a large number of free negroes in the Northern Colonies at this time, and the patriotism displayed by those who had the opportunity of serving in the militia during the early stages of the war, aroused a feeling which prompted a great many masters to offer to the commander of the army the services of their slaves, and to the slaves their freedom, if their services were accepted. So weighty were the arguments offered, and to soften the gloom which hung about the homes and the camps of the soldiers, Gen. Washington wrote to the President of Congress regarding the matter, from Cambridge, in December, 1775:

"It has been represented to me that the free negroes who
have served in this army are very much dissatisfied at being
discarded. As it is to be apprehended that they may seek
employment in the Ministerial army, I have presumed to
depart from the resolution respecting them, and have given
license for their being enlisted. If this is disapproved by
Congress, I will put a stop to it."[2]

The letter was submitted to Congress, and General Washington's action was sustained by the passage of the following resolution: "That the free negroes, who had served faithfully in the army at Cambridge, may be re-enlisted therein, but no others."

The question of color first entered the army by order of Washington's predecessor, Gen. Artemus Ward, who in his first general order required the "complexion" of the soldier to be entered upon the roll. In October, 1775, Gen. Thomas wrote the following letter to John Adams. The general was in every way competent to draw a true picture of the army, and had the opportunity of observation. He says:

"I am sorry to hear that any prejudices should take place in
any Southern Colony, with respect to the troops raised in
this. I am certain that the insinuations you mention are
injurious, if we consider with what precipitation we are
obliged to collect an army. In the regiments at Roxbury, the
privates are equal to any that I served with in the last
war; very few old men, and in the ranks very few boys. Our
fifes are many of them boys. We have some negroes; but I
look on them, in general, as equally serviceable with other
men for fatigue; and in action many of them have proved
themselves brave. I would avoid all reflection, or anything
that may tend to give umbrage; but there is in this army
from the southward, a number called riflemen, who are the
most indifferent men I ever served with. These privates are
mutinous, and often deserting to the enemy; unwilling for
duty of any kind; exceedingly vicious; and I think the army
here would be as well off without them. But to do justice to
their officers, they are, some of them, likely men."

Despite all prejudice, the negro, as in all conflicts since, sought every opportunity to show his patriotism, and his unquenchable thirst for liberty; and no matter in what capacity he entered the service, whether as body-servant, hostler or teamster, he always displayed the same characteristic courage. In November of the same year the Provincial Congress of South Carolina, by the passage of the following resolution, gave permission to her militia officers, to use slaves in the army for certain purposes:

"On motion, _Resolved_, That the colonels of the several
regiments of militia throughout the Colony have leave to
enroll such a number of able male slaves, to be employed as
pioneers and laborers, as public exegencies may require; and
that a daily pay of seven shillings and six-pence be allowed
for the service of each such slave while actually employed."

The foregoing resolution must not in any way be understood as sanctioning the employment of negroes as soldiers, notwithstanding some of the ablest men of the State advocated the enlistment of negroes in the army; the opposition was too strong to carry the measure through either Congress or the legislature. The feeling among the Northern colonists may be shown by citing the views of some of their leading men, and none perhaps was better calculated to give a clear expression of their views, than the Rev. Dr. Hopkins, of Newport, R. I., who wrote a "Dialogue Concerning the slavery of the Africans," published soon after the commencement of hostilities. Here is an extract from a note to the Dialogue:

"God is so ordering it in his providence, that it seems
absolutely necessary something should speedily be done with
respect to the slaves among us, in order to our safety, and
to prevent their turning against us in our present struggle,
in order to get their liberty. Our oppressors have planned
to gain the blacks, and induce them to take up arms against
us, by promising them liberty on this condition; and this
plan they are prosecuting to the utmost of their power, by
which means they have persuaded numbers to join them. And
should we attempt to restrain them by force and severity,
keeping a strict guard over them, and punishing them
severely who shall be detected in attempting to join our
oppressors, this will only be making bad worse, and serve to
render our inconsistence, oppression, and cruelty more
criminal, perspicuous, and shocking, and bring down the
righteous vengeance of Heaven on our heads. The only way
pointed out to prevent this threatening evil is to set the
blacks at liberty ourselves by some public acts and laws,
and then give them proper encouragement to labor, or take
arms in the defence of the American cause, as they shall
choose. This would at once be doing them some degree of
justice, and defeating our enemies in the scheme that they
are prosecuting."

Therefore it will be observed that public opinion regarding the arming of negroes in the North and South, was controlled by sectional interest in the one, and the love of liberty in the other. That both desired America's Independence, no one will doubt, but that one section was more willing than the other to sacrifice slavery for freedom, I think is equally as plain. While the colonists were debating with much anxiety the subject of what to do with the negroes, the New England States were endeavoring to draw the Southern States or Colonies into the war by electing George Washington as Commander of the army at Cambridge, and accepting the mis-interpretations of the declarations of war. The Punic faith with which the Southern States entered the war for liberty humiliated the army, and wrung from its commander the letter written to Congress, and its approval of his course in re-enlisting free negroes. Meanwhile the British were actively engaged in recruiting and organizing negroes into their army and navy.

In November, 1775, Lord Dunmore visited Norfolk, Virginia,[3] and, as Governor, finding his authority as such not regarded by the whites, issued a proclamation offering freedom to the slaves who would join the British army. A full description of the State of affairs at that time, is thus given by an English historian:

"In letters which had been laid before the English
Parliament, and published to the whole world, he (Lord
Dunmore) had represented the planters as ambitious, selfish
men, pursuing their own interest and advancement at the
expense of their poorer countrymen, and as being ready to
make every sacrifice of honesty and principle, and he had
said more privately, that, since they were so anxious for
liberty,--for more freedom than was consistent with the free
institutions of the Mother Country and the charter of the
Colony,--that since they were so eager to abolish a fanciful
slavery in a dependence on Great Britain, he would try how
they liked abolition of real slavery, by setting free all
their negroes and indentured servants, who were, in fact,
little better than _white_ slaves. This to the Virginians
was like passing a rasp over a gangrened place; it was
probing a wound that was incurable, or one which had not yet
been healed. Later in the year, when the battle of Bunker's
Hill had been fought, when our forts on Lake Champlain had
been taken from us, and when Montgomery and Arnold were
pressing on our possessions in Canada, Lord Dunmore carried
his threat into execution. Having established his
headquarters at Norfolk, he proclaimed freedom to all the
slaves who would repair to his standard and bear arms for
the King. The summons was readily obeyed by the most of the
negroes who had the means of escape to him. He, at the same
time, issued a proclamation, declaring martial law
throughout the colony of Virginia; and he collected a number
of armed vessels, which cut off the coasting trade, made
many prizes, and greatly distressed an important part of
that Province. If he could have opened a road to slaves in
the interior of the Province, his measures would have been
very fatal to the planters. In order to stop the alarming
desertion of the negroes, and to arrest his Lordship in his
career, the provincial Assembly detached against him a
strong force of more than a thousand men, who arrived in the
neighborhood of Norfolk in the month of December. Having
made a circuit, they came to a village called Great Bridge,
where the river Elizabeth was traversed by a bridge; but
before their arrival the bridge had been made impassable,
and some works, defended chiefly by negroes, had been thrown
up."

During the same month Edmund Pendleton wrote to Richard Henry Lee that many slaves had flocked to the British standard:

"The Governor, * * * * marched out with three hundred and
fifty soldiers, Tories and _slaves_, to Kemp's Landing; and
after setting up his standard, and issuing his proclamation,
declaring all persons rebels who took up arms for the
country, and inviting all slaves, servants and apprentices
to come to him and receive arms, he proceeded to intercept
Hutchings and his party, upon whom he came by surprise, but
received, it seems, so warm a fire, that the ragmuffins ran
away. They were, however, rallied on discovering that two
companies of our militia gave away; and left Hutchings and
Dr. Reid with a volunteer company, who maintained their
ground bravely till they were overcome by numbers, and took
shelter in a swamp. The slaves were sent in pursuit of them;
and one of Col. Hutching's, with another, found him. On
their approach, he discharged his pistol at his slave, but
missed him; and he was taken by them, after receiving a
wound in the face with a sword. The number taken or killed
on either side is not ascertained. It is said the Governor
went to Dr. Reid's shop, and after taking the medicines and
dressing necessary for his wounded men, broke all the others
to pieces. Letters mention that slaves flock to him in
abundance: but I hope it is magnified."

Five months after he issued the proclamation, Lord Dunmore thus writes, concerning his success:

[No. 1]

"_Lord Dunmore to the Secretary of State._
{SHIP 'DUNMORE,' IN ELIZABETH RIVER, VA.,
{ 30th March, 1776.

"Your Lordship will observe by my letter, No. 34, that I
have been endeavoring to raise two regiments here--one of
white people, the other of black. The former goes on very
slowly, but the latter very well, and would have been in
great forwardness, had not a fever crept in amongst them,
which carried off a great many very fine fellows."

* * * * *

[No. 3]

{"SHIP 'DUNMORE,' IN GWIN'S ISLAND HARBOR, VA.,
{ June 26, 1776.

"I am extremely sorry to inform your Lordship, that that
fever of which I informed you in my letter No. 1 has proved
a very malignant one, and has carried off an incredible
number of our people, especially the blacks. Had it not been
for this horrid disorder, I am satisfied I should have had
no doubt of penetrating into the heart of this colony."

The dread in which the colonists held the negro was equal to that with which they regarded the Indians. The incendiary torch, massacre, pillage, and revolt, was ever presenting a gloomy and disastrous picture to the colonists at the South. Their dreams at night; their thoughts by day; in the field and in the legislature hall, were how to keep the negro down. If one should be seen in a village with a gun, a half score of white men would rush and take it from him, while women in the street would take shelter in the nearest house. The wrongs which they continued to practice upon him was a terror to them through their conscience, though then, as in later years, many, and particularly the leaders, endeavored to impress others with their feigned belief of the natural inferiority of the negro to themselves. This doctrine served them, as the whistle did the boy in the woods; they talked in that way simply to keep their courage up, and their conscience down.

The commander of the American army regarded the action of Lord Dunmore as a serious blow to the national cause. To take the negroes out of the field from raising produce for the army, and place them in front of the patriots as opposing soldiers, he saw was a danger that should be averted. With this in view he wrote to Joseph Reed in December, saying:

"If the Virginians are wise, that arch-traitor to the rights
of humanity, Lord Dunmore, should be instantly crushed, if
it takes the whole army to do it; otherwise, like a snowball
in rolling, his army will get size, some through fear, some
through promises, and some through inclination, joining his
standard; but that which renders the measure indispensable
is the negroes; for, if he gets formidable, numbers of them
will be tempted to join, who will be afraid to do it
without."

Notwithstanding this, the Southern States still kept the negro out of the army. It was not until affairs became alarmingly dangerous, and a few weeks before the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, that the subject of arming the slaves came again before the people.

In May, 1777, the General Assembly of Connecticut postponed in one house and rejected in the other the report of a committee "that the effective negro and mulatto slaves be allowed to enlist with the Continental battallions now raising in this State." But under a law passed at the same session "white and black, bond and free, if 'able bodied,' went on the roll together, accepted as the representatives of their 'class,' or as substitutes for their employers." At the next session (October, 1777), the law was so amended as to authorize the selectmen of any town, on the application of the master--after 'inquiry into the age, abilities, circumstances, and character' of the servant or slave, and being satisfied 'that it was likely to be consistent with his real advantage, and that he would be able to support himself,'--to grant liberty for his emancipation, and to discharge the master 'from any charge or cost which may be occasioned by maintaining or supporting the servant or slave made free as aforesaid.' Mr. J. H. Trumbull, of Connecticut, in giving the foregoing facts, adds:

"The slave (or servant for term of years) might receive his
freedom; the master might receive exemption from draft, and
a discharge from future liabilities, to which he must
otherwise have been subjected. In point of fact, some
hundreds of blacks,--slaves and freemen,--were enlisted,
from time to time, in the regiments of State troops and of
the Connecticut line."

The British were determined, it seems, to utilize all the available strength they could command, by enlisting negroes at the North as well as at the South. They conceived the idea of forming regiments of them at the North, as the letter of Gen. Greene to Gen. Washington will show:

"CAMP ON LONG ISLAND, July 21, 1776, two o'clock.

"SIR:--Colonel Hand reports seven large ships are coming up
from the Hook to the Narrows.

"A negro belonging to one Strickler, at Gravesend, was taken
prisoner (as he says) last Sunday at Coney Island. Yesterday
he made his escape, and was taken prisoner by the rifle
guard. He reports eight hundred negroes collected on Staten
Island, this day to be formed into a regiment.

I am your Excellency's most obedient, humble servant,
N. GREENE.
"To His Excellency Gen. Washington, Headquarters, New York."