Part 1 (2/2)

It seemed proper, also, that the memory of our forefathers should not be allowed to remain in longer obscurity; that it was fitting to recall _their_ deeds of heroism, that all might know the sacrifices they made for the freedom their descendants were so long denied from enjoying. In gathering together the scattered facts relating to the negroe's partic.i.p.ation in the wars of 1775 and 1812, difficulties well-nigh insurmountable have been overcome, and it has been only through patient and persistent effort that I have been able to prepare the chapters devoted to the early wars of the United States.

Descriptions of a number of the battles in which negro troops took part in the late war of the Rebellion, are given to call attention to the unsurpa.s.sed carnage which occurred, and to give them proper place in the war's history rather than to present a critical account of the battles.

My aim has been to write in the spirit which impelled the soldiers to go forth to battle, and to reverse the accounts given in the popular histories which ascribe to the generals and colonels who commanded, instead of the soldiers who did the fighting, victory or defeat. ”The troops who do what can neither be expected nor required, are the ones which are victorious. The men, who, tired and worn and hungry and exhausted, yet push into battle, are those who win. They who persist against odds, against obstacles, against hope, who proceed or hold out reasonably, are the conquerors,” says Gen. Grant's historian. With no desire of detracting from the commanders--if I were able--the honor due them, my aim is to credit the soldiers with whatever heroism they may have displayed.

I acknowledge it has been a labor of love to fight many of the battles of the war of the rebellion over again, not because of a relish for blood and the destruction of human life, but for the memories of the past; of the bondage of a race and its struggle for freedom, awakening as they do the intense love of country and liberty, such as one who has been without either feels, when both have been secured by heroic effort.

To those who have responded to my appeal for information regarding the negro soldier, I have aimed to give full credit; if any are omitted it is not intentionally done. To no one am I more indebted for a.s.sisting in collecting data, than to Lt. J. M. Trotter, of the 55th Ma.s.s. Reg't. nor am I unmindful of the kindness of Hon. Robert Lincoln, late Secretary of War, nor that of Col. James D. Brady, member of Congress from Virginia, for copies of public records; to Col. H. C. Corbin, for the record of the 14th Reg't.; and to Col. D. Torrance for that of the 29th Reg't.

Conn. I am also indebted to Maj. Gen. Wm. Mahone for a map of the defences of Petersburg, showing the crater; to the librarian of the Young Men's Mercantile Library, of Cincinnati, for the use of Col.

Albert's carved map of Fort Wagner, and to Col. G. M. Arnold and Hon.

Joseph Jergenson for copies of historical papers; also to Hon. Libbey.

J. T. W.

PART I.

THE WARS FOR INDEPENDENCE

1775-1812.

CHAPTER I.

THE WAR OF 1775.

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 fas.h.i.+oned 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 n.o.ble 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 princ.i.p.ally 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 a.s.sert 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 a.s.sociation, 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 a.s.sociation, but as soon as her Provincial Congress a.s.sembled in July, 1775, it pa.s.sed 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.

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