History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 Volume I Part 49

[540] Force's American Archives, 4th Series, vol. iv. pp. 84, 85.

[541] Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, vol. i. p. 135.

[542] Force's American Archives, 5th Series, vol. ii. pp 160, 162.

[543] Force's American Archives, 5th Series, vol. i p. 486.

[544] During a few months of study in New-York City, I came across the above in the library of the N.Y. Hist. Soc.

[545] Schloezer's Briefwechsel, vol. iv. p. 365.

[546] An Historical Research (Livermore), pp. 114-116.

[547] R.I. Col. Recs., vol. viii. p. 640.

[548] R.I. Col. Recs., vol. viii. p. 641.

[549] Ibid., vol. viii. p. 524.

[550] R.I. Col. Recs., vol viii. pp. 358-360.

[551] R.I. Col. Recs., vol. viii. p. 361.

[552] This is evidently a mistake, as Was.h.i.+ngton's letter was dated Jan. 2, as the reader will see.

[553] R.I. Col. Recs., vol. viii. p. 526.

[554] Ibid., p. 376.

[555] Ibid., p. 465.

[556] MSS. Archives of Ma.s.s., vol. cxcix. pp. 80, 84.

[557] Hening, vol. ix. 280.

[558] Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p.

331.

[559] Laws of the State of New York, chap. x.x.xiii. (March 20, 1781, 4th Session).

[560] The American Loyalist, p. 30, second edition.

[561] Sparks's Was.h.i.+ngton, vol. vi p. 204, note.

[562] Ibid., vol. vi. p. 204.

[563] Life of John Jay, by William Jay, vol. II. pp. 31, 32.

[564] Ramsay, the historian of South Carolina says, "It has been computed by good judges, that, between 1775 and 1783, the State of South Carolina lost twenty-five thousand negroes."

[565] Secret Journals of Congress, vol. i. pp. 107-110.

[566] Journals of Congress, vol. v. p. 123.

[567] Works of Hamilton, vol. i. pp. 114, 115.

[568] Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, vol. ii. p.

402.

[569] Jefferson's Works, vol ii. p. 426.

[570] Madison Papers, p. 68.

[571] Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p.

246.

[572] Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p.

506.

[573] Ibid., p. 515.

[574] Sparks's Was.h.i.+ngton, vol. viii. pp. 322, 323.

[575] Biographical Sketch in "The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans."

[576] Colored Patriots of the Revolution, p. 134.

[577] This return was discovered by the indefatigable Dr. George H.

Moore. It is the only doc.u.ment of the kind in existence.

CHAPTER XXVII.

NEGROES AS SOLDIERS.

1775-1783.

THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER.--BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.--GALLANTRY OF NEGRO SOLDIERS.--PETER SALEM, THE INTREPID BLACK SOLDIER.--BUNKER-HILL MONUMENT.--THE NEGRO SALEM POOR DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF BY DEEDS OF DESPERATE VALOR.--CAPTURE OF GEN. LEE.--CAPTURE OF GEN. PRESCOTT.--BATTLE OF RHODE ISLAND.--COL. GREENE COMMANDS A NEGRO REGIMENT.--MURDER OF COL. GREENE IN 1781.--THE VALOR OF THE NEGRO SOLDIERS.

As soldiers the Negroes went far beyond the most liberal expectations of their stanchest friends. a.s.sociated with white men, many of whom were superior gentlemen, and nearly all of whom were brave and enthusiastic, the Negro soldiers of the American army became worthy of the cause they fought to sustain. Col. Alexander Hamilton had said, "_their natural faculties are as good as ours_;" and the a.s.sertion was supported by their splendid behavior on all the battle-fields of the Revolution. Endowed by nature with a poetic element, faithful to trusts, abiding in friends.h.i.+ps, bound by the golden threads of attachment to places and persons, enthusiastic in personal endeavor, sentimental and chivalric, they made hardy and intrepid soldiers. The daring, boisterous enthusiasm with which they sprang to arms disarmed racial prejudice of its sting, and made friends of foes.

Their cheerfulness in camp, their celerity in the performance of fatigue-duty, their patient endurance of heat and cold, hunger and thirst, and their bold efficiency in battle, made them welcome companions everywhere they went. The officers who frowned at their presence in the army at first, early learned, from experience, that they were the equals of any troops in the army for severe service in camp, and excellent fighting in the field.

The battle of Bunker Hill was one of the earliest and most important of the Revolution. Negro soldiers were in the action of the 17th of June, 1775, and n.o.bly did their duty. Speaking of this engagement, Bancroft 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."[578]