This little volume sets forth in compact form the achievements of the American Negro during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. It is compiled from valuable records, diaries, documents and articles in newspapers nearly contemporaneous with the times of which they treat, and it may, therefore, be considered a valuable compendium to the man who seeks information on a subject but scantily treated in the standard historical works to which reference is usually made. The matter herein contained

The following pages are an effort to stem the tide of prejudice against the Colored race. The white man despises the colored man, and has come to think him fit only for the menial drudgery to which the majority of the race has been so long doomed. "This prejudice was never reasoned up, and will never be reasoned down." It must be lived down. In a land where wealth is the basis of reputation, the colored man must prove his sagacity and enterprise by successful trade or speculation. To show his ca

In the month of July, 1847, the eloquent Bard of Freedom, John G. Whittier , contributed to the National Era a statement of facts relative to the Military Services of Colored Americans in the Revolution of 1776, and the War of 1812. Being a member of the Society of Friends, he disclaimed any eulogy upon the shedding of blood, even in the cause of acknowledged Justice, but, says he, "when we see a whole nation doing honor to the memories of one class of its defenders, to the total neglect of anot

On the fifth of March, 1851, a petition was presented to the Massachusetts Legislature, asking an appropriation of $1,500 for erecting a monument to the memory of Crispus Attucks, the first martyr in the Boston Massacre of March 5th, 1770. The matter was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, who granted a hearing of the petitioners, in whose behalf appeared Wendell Phillips, Esq., and Wm. C. Nell, but finally submitted an adverse report, on the ground that a boy, Christopher Snyder, was

The Hon. Tristam Burgess, of Rhode Island, in a speech to Congress first month, 1828, said: "At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, Rhode Island had a number of slaves. A regiment of them were enlisted into the Continental service, and no braver men met the enemy in battle; but not one of them was permitted to be a solider until he had first been made a freeman." "In Rhode Island," says Governor Eustis, in his able speech against slavery in Missouri, twelfth of Twelfth month, 1820, "the b

Hon. Calvin Goddard, of Connecticut, states that in the little circle of his residence, he was instrumental in securing, under the Act of 1818, the pensions of nineteen Colored Soldiers. "I cannot," he says, "refrain from mentioning one aged black man, Primus Babcock, who proudly presented to me an honorable discharge from service during the war, dated at the close of it, wholly in the handwriting of George Washington. Nor can I forget the expression of his feelings, when informed after his disc

The Rev. Dr. Harris, of Dumbarton, N. H., a Revolutionary veteran, stated in a speech at Francetown, N. H., some years ago, that on one occasion the regiment to which he was attached was commanded to defend an important position which the enemy thrice assailed, and from which they were as often repulsed. "There was," said the venerable speaker, "a regiment of blacks in the same situation—a regiment of negroes fighting for our liberty and independence, not a white man among them but the officers—

Barnet , May 20, 1851. Dear Sir : In August 16th, 1777, the Green Mountain Boys, aided by troops from New Hampshire, and some few from Berkshire County, Massachusetts, under the command of Gen. Starks, captured the left wing of the British Army near Bennington. Soon as arrangements could be made, after the prisoners were all collected, something more than seven hundred, they were tied to a rope, two and two, and one on each side. Gen. Starks called for more rope. Mrs. Robinson, wife of Hon. Mose

Dr. Clarke, in the Convention which revised the Constitution of New York, in 1821, speaking of the Colored inhabitants of the State, said: "My honorable colleague has told us that as the Colored People are not required to contribute to the protection or defence of the State they are not entitled to an equal participation in the privileges of its citizens. But, Sir, whose fault is this? Have they ever refused to do military duty when called upon? It is haughtily asked, who will stand in the ranks

The late James Forten, of Philadelphia, well known as a Colored man of wealth, intelligence and philanthropy, relates that he remembered well when Lord Cornwallis was overrunning the South, when thick gloom clouded the prospect. Then Washington hastily gathered what forces he was able and hurried to oppose him. "And I remember," said he, "for I saw them, when the regiments from Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts marched through Philadelphia, that one or two companies of Colored men wer

(From the Burlington (N. J.) Gazette.) " I am One Hundred Years Old To-day. " The attention of many of our citizens has doubtless been arrested by the appearance of an old Colored man, who might have been seen sitting in front of his residence, in East Union Street, respectfully raising his hat to those who might be passing by. His attenuated frame, his silvered head, his feeble movements, combine to prove that he is very aged; and yet comparatively few are aware that he is among the survivors o

Even in the Slaveholding States did Colored people magnanimously "brave the battle field," developing a heroism indeed as though their own liberty was to be a recompense. But we found no proof that the boasted chivalry of the Palmetto State extended the boon demanded by simple justice. The celebrated Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, in his speech on the Missouri question, and in defiance of the Slave representation of the South, made the following admission: "They (the Colored people) were i

THE LAST OF BRADDOCK'S MEN. The Lancaster (Ohio) Gazette, February, 1849, announces the death at that place, of Samuel Jenkins, a Colored man, aged 115 years. He was a Slave of Captain Breadwater, in Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1771, and participated in the memorable campaign of Gen. Braddock. Testimony of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, from his speech in Congress on the imprisonment of Colored Seamen, Sept. 1850:— * * * "I have an impression, however, that, not indeed in these piping times of peace,

In 1814, when New Orleans was in danger, and the proud and criminal distinctions of caste were again demolished by one of those emergencies in which nature puts to silence for the moment the base partialities of art, the free Colored people were called into the field in common with the whites; and the importance of their services was thus acknowledged by Gen. Jackson:— "Headquarters Seventh Military District, Mobile, September 21, 1874. "To the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana: Through a mi

The colored citizens of Ohio held a Mass Convention at Cleveland, Sept. 8th, 1852. From their proceedings I cull the following incidents and tributes as peculiarly appropriate to a military history of colored Americans. Rev. Dr. J. W. C. Pennington delivered a speech, of which Mr. Howland, a colored phonographic reporter, furnishes this sketch:— "The Doctor took the stand and delighted the convention with a short, brilliant and instructive address on the history of the past, and the part which t

Among the Europeans who left their homes and rallied in defence of American Independence, history records no more illustrious names than Lafayette and Kosciusko. Not being tainted with American Colorphobia they each expressed regret that their services had been made a partial instead of a general boon. Read the extract from Lafayette's letter to Clarkson:— "I would never have drawn my sword in the cause of America, if I could have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of Slavery." During

Kosciusko, the gallant Pole, was young when the news reached his ear that America was endeavoring to release her neck from Britain's yoke. He promptly devoted himself to the service, and dis played a heroism which won universal respect. Washington loved and honored him, and the soldiers idolized his bravery; but his manly heart was saddened to learn that the Colored man was not to be a recipient of those rights—rights, too, which many a sable soldier had fought to obtain, and Kosciusko naturally

A TRIBUTE FROM THE EMANCIPATION, BY WASHINGTON'S FREED MEN. Upon a recent visit to the tomb of Washington, I was much gratified by the alterations and improvements around it. Eleven colored men were industriously employed in leveling the earth and turf around the sepulchre. There was an earnest expression of feeling about them that induced me to inquire if they belonged to the respected lady of the mansion. They stated they were a few of the many Slaves freed by George Washington and they had of

[From Godey's Lady's Book, June, 1849.] ANECDOTES OF WASHINGTON. By Rev. Henry F. Harrington. Primus Hall.—Throughout the Revolutionary war he was the body servant of Col. Pickering, of Massachusetts. He was free and communicative and delighted to sit down with an interested listener and pour out those stories of absorbing and exciting anecdotes with which his memory was stored. It is well known that there was no officer in the whole American army whose friendship was dearer to Washington, and w