FIGHTING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

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The principal motivation for Black people to fight in the American
revolution was freedom. For some it may have been a desire for adventure, belief in the justice and goals of the Revolution, as well as, and more than likely, the possibility of receiving a bounty. Monetary payments were given or promised to those who joined, and they also would gain freedom. This applied to both men and women, as they were heavily recruited by the British and American forces.

The impetus behind recruitment was initiated by the British. It was only after the British started recruiting Black people to serve with the promise of freedom that Americans started. At first they recruited free Black people in New England and the East Coast to serve in the army. But as the shortage of manpower became more evident, the American recruiting effort became more localized and extended to slaves as well.

Black women, many who were slaves, served in the capacity of nurses, laundresses, and cooks. They also worked building roads and constructing fortifications. In other areas, the noted poet, Phillis Wheatley of Massachusetts, was a well-known voice for freedom during the Revolutionary era.

At the time of the Revolution, some Black men, had already enlisted as Minutemen. These select men provided a highly mobile and rapidly deployed unit that allowed the colonies to respond immediately to war threats. They were among the first to fight in the American Revolution.

Both free and slave also served in local militias, especially in the North, defending their villages against attacks by Native Americans. Peter Salem, for example, was freed by his master to join the militia, and served for seven years.

Black men fought at Lexington and Concord, and at the Battle of Bunker Hill. They not only served as soldiers, but guides, messengers, and spies.

Many other Black men served in the British and American navy as seamen piloting vessels.  While some Southeners worried about putting a gun into the hands of a Black man, they were well at ease about using them to pilot vessels and to handle the ammunition on ships. Throughout the war Black men served as seamen where they generally proved to be much more willing and able than their ship mates.

On land, the best known Black regiment was formed in Rhode Island. The 1st Rhode Island Regiment was a locally recruited and segregated unit. At the Siege of Newport, it was the only military regiment in action to include a racially segregated unit on the American side in the war.

They fought valiantly. They faced a well-defined and powerful British army. The British troops charged the regiment over and over again, but they held strong, drove them back and protected their fort.

It is worth noting here that both Black men and Black women gave their all to the Revolutionary cause, by land and by sea.