America’s First Black Regiment Earned Their Freedom by Fighting Against the British
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment, widely regarded as the first Black battalion in U.S. military history, originated, in part, from George Washington’s desperation.
In late 1777 throughout the American Revolution, the Continental Army, led by General Washington, confronted extreme troop shortages in its battle with the British. “No less than 2,898 men now in camp [are] unfit because they are barefoot and otherwise naked,” Washington wrote to Congress, begging for materials help. Disease claimed almost 2,000 troopers throughout the military’s winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. When sufficient white males couldn’t be persuaded to enlist within the depleting military with bounties of land and cash, Congress resorted to the draft. Its mandate: Each state should fill a quota of militias, based mostly on its inhabitants.
Rhode Island, the smallest state with a inhabitants underneath 60,000 on the eve of the Revolution, wanted to fill two battalions. When the state couldn’t recruit sufficient white males, its leaders appealed to Washington to permit each free and enslaved Black males to enlist.
As each a slaveowner and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from its formation in 1775, Washington had lengthy opposed the usage of Black troopers, fearing that armed Black males would incite a insurrection amongst enslaved folks and alienate Southern slaveholders. But over time, the cruel realities of a failing battle effort referred to as for America’s founding fathers to make some pragmatic selections to protect their nation’s future.
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment, widely known because the America’s first Black army regiment, didn’t begin out that approach. From its inception in 1775 as part of the Rhode Island Army of Observation to its reorganization because the 1st Rhode Island in 1777 and its recruitment of Black troopers to their very own unit beginning in February 1778, the regiment was one of many few within the Continental Army to serve all seven years of battle. The unit distinguished itself in battles from the Siege of Boston to the Battle of Rhode Island and past to Yorktown.
The British Recruited Enslaved People First
For the Continental Army, the usage of Black troopers had proved one of many battle’s most controversial points. Lord Dunmore, Britain’s colonial governor of Virginia, infuriated that state’s slaveholding class when in 1775 he declared martial regulation and promised freedom to any enslaved one that deserted his proprietor and joined the British forces. Owners inspired their enslaved staff to withstand the temptation to “ruin your selves” and promised pardons to those that returned inside 10 days of their flight. Still, the promise of freedom impressed an estimated 20,000 enslaved males to flee and enlist with British forces. One of Washington’s enslaved staff, Henry Washington, escaped Mount Vernon to hitch Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment, a gaggle of 300 escaped Black males who had been the primary to answer the proclamation.
General Washington feared Lord Dunmore’s work and wished his efforts crushed. “Otherwise, like a snow ball in rolling, [Dunmore’s] army will get size,” the long run first president wrote to his aide-de-camp, Joseph Reed. So shortly after Lord Dunmore’s daring attraction, Washington requested Congress to permit free Black males to enlist within the Continental Army. Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation modified Washington’s serious about using African Americans within the Continental Army, in accordance with Philip Morgan, professor of early American historian at Johns Hopkins University. “Clearly Washington’s reversal on Black troops had much to do with his fears of what Dunmore might achieve,” he wrote. “Henceforth Washington commanded a racially integrated force.”
‘A Battalion of Negroes can easily be raised there.’
General James Mitchell Varnum, an lawyer and one in all Washington’s most trusted officers, turned probably the most ardent supporter of forming a Black regiment in Rhode Island. One of his most radical proposals to Washington was to counter the shortfall of white recruits with enslaved males, together with free Black and Indian males. “It is imagined that a battalion of Negroes can easily be raised there,” Varnum wrote to Washington, who forwarded the proposal—with out tacit approval or disapproval—to the Rhode Island General Assembly, the place it was given the go-ahead.
The Slave Enlistment Act, handed in February 1778, stipulated that any enslaved individual accepted to the 1st Rhode Island be “immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely free, as though he had never been encumbered without any kind of servitude or slavery.” It additionally mandated monetary compensation for house owners who misplaced their enslaved staff to the brand new regiment—as much as $400 every in colonial {dollars}. More than 130 enslaved males from everywhere in the state joined the Black regiment within the first a number of months after the act went into impact. They did so regardless of propaganda unfold by disgruntled slaveholders who, in attempting to quell an exodus of enslaved males, asserted that Black troopers could be positioned in probably the most frequent front-line hazard, and, if captured, could be offered into bondage within the West Indies.
The Battle of Rhode Island
Led by all-white officers, the Black regiment noticed its first fight expertise on the Battle of Rhode Island. On August 29, 1778, the regiment was on project at Aquidneck Island in Narragansett Bay close to Newport, the place they’d been tasked with guarding a defensive place anchoring the Continental Army’s proper wing. Over the course of the battle, the regiment drove again three Hessian (German) regiments of the British military. “It was in driving back these furious attacks that our Black regiment distinguished itself with deeds of great valor,” remembered a regiment member. “Yes, this was a regiment of Negroes, fighting for our liberty and independence.” Major General John Sullivan spoke for Washington’s satisfaction on the regiment’s efficiency when he stated, “by the best information the commander-in-chief thinks that the regiment will be entitled to a proper share of the honors of the day.”
The First Rhode Island’s Legacy
The 1st Rhode Island’s brave efficiency on the Battle of Rhode Island led to extra African Americans being enlisted to the Continental Army, however the Slave Enlistment Act was repealed by the Rhode Island legislature lower than half a yr later, which means that the majority subsequent volunteers to the regiment got here from the ranks of white or freed Black males.
According to Cameron Boutin, a scholar of the regiment, Congress and the army management by no means absolutely embraced the recruitment of enslaved folks. “Permitting enslaved African Americans to serve as soldiers in return for their freedom in units similar to the 1st Rhode Island would have alleviated the American forces’ manpower shortages, increasing their operational abilities and boosting their efficiency, especially in combat,” he wrote. “Despite the successful example set by the Rhode Island law of February 1778 and the combat performance of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, many civil leaders across the country maintained their opposition toward recruiting slaves and no large-scale legislation authorizing the enlistment of enslaved individuals was adopted.”
