An historical research respecting the opinions of the founders of the republic on negroes as slaves, as citizens, and as soldiers. Read before the Massachusetts historcal soceity, August 14, 1862.

Front matter

i illi:

^^iiiiiif iiliill illi

■ i(,li'ii|i:'l(ii;!l!.',:i!f'i(il!iiln

II. Opinions Of The Founders Of The Republic Respecting

NEGROES AS SOLDIERS.

The practical importance of this branch of the subject at the present time, 113, 114.

In Massachusetts, in the earlier stages of the Revolution, negroes appear as acting with white citizens against the British, 114, 132. — The "Boston Massacre" and Crispus Attucks, 115-118. — Peter Salem fights at the battle of Bunker Hill, and is commemorated by the artist, the historian, and the orator, 118-121. — Petition of Colonel Prescott and other officers to the General Court of Massachusetts for a reward to another " negro man," Salem Poor, as '• a brave and gallant soldier," who " behaved like an experienced officer" at Bunker Hill, 121, 122. — Major Lawi-ence commands " a company, whose rank and file are all negroes," and who " fight with the most determined bravery," 122-124. — Free negroes, and sometimes slaves, took their place in the ranks with white men ; afterwards, slaves must be manumitted before becoming soldiers, 124, 125.

Opinion of the Rev. Dr. Hopkins in 1776, on the employment of negroes as soldiers, 125, 126.

South Carolina, in 1775, enrols slaves in her militia as "pioneers and laborers," 126. —Belief, in South Carolina and Georgia, that the negroes would join the British regular troops, 128. — General Gates forbids the recruiting of negroes, 129. — Southern delegates to Congress move in vain the discharge of negroes from the army, 129, 130.

— The Committee of Conference determine to reject them in the new enlistment, 130. — Washington afterwards decides to license the enlistment of the free negroes who had served faithfully, 131. — His decision approved by Congress, 131. — General Thomas's praise of the negro soldiers in the Massachusetts regiments, 132,

Account of Lord Dunmore's celebrated Proclamation in Virginia in 1775, and its eff"ect, 132-140. — Public appeal to the negroes to stand by their masters, 136-138. — The Virginia Convention answer the Proclamation, and declare pardon to slaves who had taken up arms, 138, 139.

(1776.) The British form a negro regiment at Staten Island, 141.

— The Massachusetts Legislature forbid the sale of negroes taken prisoners from the British, 142.

Xll CONTENTS.

(1777.) Testimony of a Hessian officer, that there was "no regiment to be seen in which there were not negroes in abundance," 142, 143. — Capture of the British Major-General Prescott by Colonel Barton, with the help of the negro man Prince, 143, 144. Dr. Thacher's account of it, 144, 145.

(1777.) Account of the employment of negro soldiers by the State of Connecticut, 145-150.

(1778.) Account of their employment by the State of Rhode Island, 150-159. — Act for raising a negro regiment, 152-154. — Distinguished services rendered by Colonel Greene's black regiment in the battle of Rhode Island, 158. — Chastellux's account of this regiment in 1781, 159. — Its subsequent heroic defence of Colonel Greene, 159.

(1778.) Action of the State of Massachusetts on the subject, 159-162. — Precedent in her early legislation, negroes having been obliged to train in the militia with white men in 1652, 159. — Proposal of Thomas Ivench to raise a separate corps of negroes in the spring of 1778, 160-162. — Referred to a joint committee of the General Court, together with a copy of the Rhode-Island act, 162. — Their report favorable, embodying the draught of a law, 162. — The subject of a separate corps allowed to subside, and the usage continued of having negroes "intermixed with white men," 162.

Action of the State of Maryland on the subject, 163.

Action of the State of New York, 163.

(1779.) The employment of negroes as soldiers almost everywhere prevailed, except in the States of Georgia and South Carolina, 164. — Why they were exceptions, 164-167. — A vigorous effort in Congress to secure the enrolment of black troops in those States, 167. — The measure advocated by Colonel John Laurens, and by his father, Henry Laurens, 167. Henry Laurens's letter to Washington, 167, 168. — Washington, in reply, suggests doubts as to the policy of arming the slaves at the South, unless the enemy set the example ; but says he has never given much thought to the subject, 168.

(1779.) Alexander Hamilton heartily supports the measure, 168. — His strong letter to John Jay, President of Congress, 169, 170. — Congress refers the matter to a special committee ; afterwards passes resolutions, recommending to South Carolina and Georgia to raise a force of " three thousand able-bodied negroes ; " and commissions Colonel Laurens to repair to the South on this business, 170-173. — He writes to Washington that General Prevost, at Savannah, is "re-enforced by a corps of blacks," 174,

CONTENTS. Xlll

(1779.) Sir Henry Clinton's Proclamation in consequence of " the enemy's having adopted the practice of enrolling negroes among their troops," 175.

Lord CornM-allis issues a proclamation, encouraging slaves to join the British army, 175. — Mr. Jefferson's account of Cornwallis's cruelty to those who joined his army, 175, 176.

(1780.) General Lincoln seconds Colonel Laurens in urging the government of South Carolina to raise black troops, 177. — Mr. Madison advocates the policy of " liberating and making soldiers at once of the blacks themselves," instead of " making them instruments for enlisting white soldiers," 178.

(1781.) General Greene writes to Washington, that in South Carolina " the enemy have ordered two regiments of negroes to be immediately embodied," 178.

(1782.) Colonel Laurens, on his return from France, renews his efforts to induce South Carolina and Georgia to raise black troops, 178-181. — His letters to Washington on the subject, and Washington's reply, 179-181.

(1782.) Colonel Humphreys continued to the end of the war to be the nominal captain of a company of colored infantry, raised in Connecticut by his influence before he became aid-de-camp to Washington, 181.

(1782.) Letter to Lord Dunmore from Mr. Cruden, proposing a plan for raising ten thousand black troops, 182-186. — Letter of Lord Dunmore to Sir Henry Clinton, approving the scheme, vouching for the excellence of such troops, and declaring his perfect willingness " to hazard his reputation and person in the execution of the plan," 187-189.

(1782.) Lord Dunmore writes to England, that the raising of a brigade of negroes was negatived by a few voices in the Assembly of South Carolina, and would probably be carried at a future day, ,189, 190.

(1782.) General Greene proposes to the Governor of South Carolina a plan for raising black regiments, 190, 191. — Judge Johnson's remarks on this plan, and on negroes as soldiers, 192, 193. — Importance of the mature opinions of the preceding British and American military authorities, 193.

(1783.) Washington's scrupulous regard for the rights of his negro soldiers on their leaving the service, 194.

X]V CONTENTS.

(1783.) The State of Virginia passes an act securing the freedom of all slaves who had served in the army, 195, 196.

(1786.) Virginia passes a special act to pay for and emancipate a slave who had " faithfully executed important commissions intrusted to him by the Marquis Lafayette," 197.

Later testimonies to the competency of negroes to become good soldiers, 197-199. — Dr. Eustis, a surgeon throughout the war of the Revolution, 198, 199. — Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, 199.

Concluding remarks, 200.