BLACK MEN IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770, may be regarded as the first act in
the great drama of the American Revolution. “From that moment,” said
Daniel Webster, “we may date the severance of the British Empire.” 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 the first
to act against the encroachments of arbitrary power.
A motley rabble of men and boys, led by Crispus Attucks, a negro, 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 Captain
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 meeting was held, and an immense assembly was
gathered. Three days after, on the 8th, a public funeral of the martyrs
took place. The shops in Boston were closed; all the bells of Boston
and neighboring towns were rung. It was said that a greater number of
persons assembled on this occasion than were ever before gathered on
the continent for a similar purpose.
The body of Attucks, the negro slave, had been placed in Faneuil 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 there the procession marched on 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
following 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 after our national
independence was achieved, when the Fourth of July was substituted for
the fifth of March, as the more proper day for general celebration. Not
only was the occasion commemorated, but the martyrs who then gave up
their lives were remembered and honored. For half a century after the
close of the war, the name of Crispus Attucks was honorably mentioned
by the most noted men of the country, who were not blinded by foolish
prejudice, which, to say the most, was only skin-deep.
A single passage from Bancroft’s history will give a succinct and clear
account of the condition of the army in respect to colored soldiers, at
the time of the battle of Bunker Hill:--
“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 defence was, at that day, as little disputed in New
England as their other rights. They took their place not in a separate
corps, but in the ranks with the white man; and their names may be read
on the pension-rolls of the country, side by side with those of other
soldiers of the Revolution.”[48]
The capture of Major-General Prescott, of the British army, on the
9th of July, 1777, was an occasion of great rejoicing throughout the
country. Prince, the valiant negro who seized that officer, ought
always to be remembered with honor for his important service.
The battle of Red Bank, and the battle of Rhode Island, on the 29th of
August, 1778, entitle the blacks to perpetual honor.[49]
When Colonel Green was surprised and murdered, near Points Bridge, New
York, on 14th of May, 1781, his colored soldiers heroically defended
him till they were cut to pieces; and the enemy reached him over the
dead bodies of his faithful negroes. Of this last engagement, Arnold,
in his “History of Rhode Island,” says:--
“A third time the enemy, with desperate courage and increased strength,
attempted to assail the redoubt and would have carried it, but for the
timely aid of two continental battalions despatched by Sullivan to
support his almost exhausted troops. It was in repelling these furious
onsets, that the newly raised black regiment, under Colonel Greene,
distinguished itself by deeds of desperate valor. Posted behind a
thicket in the valley, they three times drove back the Hessians, who
charged repeatedly down the hill to dislodge them; and so determined
were the enemy in these successive charges, that, the day after the
battle, the Hessian colonel, upon whom this duty had devolved, applied
to exchange his command, and go to New York, because he dared not lead
his regiment again to battle, lest his men should shoot him for having
caused them so much loss.”
FOOTNOTES:
[48] Bancroft’s “History of the United States.” Vol. VII. p. 421.
[49] Moore’s “Diary of the American Revolution.” Vol. I. p. 468.