Exposure Project 1

African Americans Contributions during the Revolutionary War

African American Military Role in Revolutionary War before 1775

Salem Poor

There were many black men who fought for both sides during the Revolutionary War. Some were slaves while others were free men and both had their own reasons for being part of the war. One such man was Salem Poor who not only was a free black man but became a Revolutionary War hero through his meritorious actions.

Salem Poor was born free around 1758 in Massachusetts. He started his military career early by leaving his family to enlist in the Massachusetts Militia in 1775. As war broke out he joined the Patriot forces in Boston. The distinguishing moment of his military career took place on June 17, 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Very few black men stood out during the Revolutionary War; Salem Poor not only fought during this war, but he did so with exceptional bravery and dedication to the Patriot cause. On December 5, 1775, fourteen Massachusetts officers signed a petition to the General Court recognizing Poor’s contributions to the war during the Battle of Bunker Hill and asked that a reward be given to him for such accomplishments which were too many to list. Salem Poor continued his military service through 1776 and served in a few other battles. While little is known about what became of Salem Poor, his heroic acts during the Revolutionary War have never been forgotten. In 1975 Salem Poor was honored when he appeared on a U.S. commemorative stamp.

Peter Salem

The Revolutionary War had many heroes as thousands of men fought for freedom. One of those men was a slave named Peter Salem who left a lasting imprint in our history.

Peter Salem was born a slave around 1750 in Framingham, Massachusetts. His owner was a historian named Jeremy Belknap who sold him to Maj. Lawson Buckminster. As the war broke out, Maj. Buckminster freed Peter so that he could enlist to serve in the Continental Army. Peter served at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 as part of the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment under Cpt. Thomas Drury’s command. It was during this particular battle that Peter earned his spotlight in American history. As the Patriots were retreating, British Major John Pitcairn was leading the way to victory when Peter Salem shot and killed him. Shortly after the Battle of Bunker Hill, Peter’s owners fully freed him so that he could continue to serve after General George Washington decreed that slaves could no longer serve in the militia. He continued his military career by fighting at Saratoga and Stony Point. After the war was over, Peter Salem settled down in Leicester, Massachusetts where he built a cabin and worked for a living. On August 16, 1816 Peter died in a poorhouse in Framingham. As a hero of the Revolutionary War, the people of Framingham honored him by erecting a monument in his honor to help preserve his contribution to our freedom.

African American Military Role with the British

Colonel Tye

Colonel Tye was known in his youth as Titus, a slave of John Corlis, a Quaker of Shrewsbury, New Jersey. In November 1775, he ran away and in the same month, Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation was issued emancipating any slaves or indentured persons who joined the British Loyalist forces. Titus, posing as a freedman, traveled to Virginia and joined Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment. He later changed his name to Tye.

Tye gained notoriety and respect for his strategic guerrilla tactics against the colonial militias. The British never formally bestowed black servicemen as commissioned officers; however, Tye was first given the honorary title first as Captain of the Ethiopian Regiment and then as Colonel of the Black Brigade.

Colonel Tye’s first action in battle was at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 where he captured a captain of the Patriot forces. He used his knowledge of the New Jersey area to attack and plunder the homes of patriot leaders and supporters.

By the winter of 1779, Colonel Tye and the Black Brigade led several successful raids against patriots capturing militia leaders, disrupting fuel and food supplies and freeing slaves. They later joined with the Queen’s Ranger to protect New York City. Colonel Tye’s actions inspired other blacks and struck fear among white patriots. Colonel Tye’s last battle was in September 1780 while leading a surprise attack against Captain Josiah Huddy’s home. During the standoff, Tye was shot in the wrist and he died shortly afterward as a result of infection from the wound.

Harry WashingtonHarry Washington (aka Henry) was born in Africa, captured and transported as a slave to America around 1760 or 1761. He was bought by George Washington in 1763 to help with work on the Dismal Swamp project. Around 1776 he was transferred to Mount Vernon to work as a groomsman.

Harry ran away in 1771. George Washington ran an ad for the Harry’s capture and return. He was captured and return a few weeks later. Harry listened to Washington talk about freedom, liberty and not being slave of King George.

In 1776, he decided to run away again to gain his freedom through the British. He joined Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment in Virginia. He later traveled with Lord Dunmore to New York.

Harry served under General Clinton when the British invaded South Carolina. He remained in South Carolina with the company of Black Pioneers attached to the Royal Artillery Department in Charleston in 1781. The British gave him the honorary title of Corporal and made him commander of the Black Pioneers.

In 1782, the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the war with the British recognizing America’s independence. Harry Washington is listed in the Book of Negros along with 3000 other former slaves who were granted their freedom and relocated to Nova Scotia in 1783. Harry and his family later relocate to the British colony Sierra Leona in 1791.

African American Military Role with the Colonists

Prince Whipple

Prince Whipple was born c.1750 in Amabou, Africa (present day Ghana) into an affluent family. Prince was captured and transported to Baltimore, Maryland at age ten where he was sold into slavery and renamed “Prince.” Whipple was sold at auction to William Whipple; A General during the American Revolution and later a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Prince accompanied his owner everywhere. They even fought together during the American Revolution at the battle at Saratoga, New York of 1777 and the battle at Rhode Island in 1778.

After the war, William emancipated Prince for his service and allowed him to begin a family on his land. Prince later married Dinah Chase and fathered seven children where they lived on William Whipple’s estate in Portsmouth, New Hampshire until Prince’s death in 1797 at the supposed age of 46. Prince was later depicted in a painting called Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851); this was painted by German artist Emanuel Leutze 75 years after the war. It is believed that on the night Washington crossed the Delaware River, Prince and William Whipple were in Baltimore, Maryland. For this reason, it has been debated for over 150 years whether or not that is actually Prince Whipple painted in the famous portrait rowing to the right of George Washington’s knee.

Lemuel Haynes

Lemuel Haynes was born in 1753 in West Hartford, Connecticut. He was born to a white mother and an African father who abandoned him in infancy. His mother offered him into indentured servitude to a white deacon by the name of David Rose in Middle Granville, Massachusetts. Haynes was home-schooled and taught the Bible from a very young age. In his studying, he grew very passionate for the Bible, religious books and theology altogether. As a teen he gained experience in ministry by reading his sermons in the town parish.

At the end of his indentured servitude in 1774, Haynes enlisted in the local militia, the Minutemen. Haynes fought in battle at the siege of Boston and Ticonderoga. Though he did not serve at the battle of Lexington, he did write a ballad about it; however, it was not published until 1985. After his service in the Minutemen he studied Latin and Greek in Connecticut. In 1785 he became the first African American to be ordained by the Protestant Church. Haynes led a congregation in Torrington, Connecticut for two years and then another in Rutland, Vermont for over thirty years. Haynes later died in 1833 at eighty years of age.

African Americans during the Great Awakening and Enlightenment

Jupiter Hammon

Jupiter Hammon was a poet, and an exhorter. He was born in 1711 at the Lloyd Manor, where he served the Lloyd family of Long Island, New York. Unlike many others of his time, Hammon was extremely privileged to be educated, and was well taken care of by the Lloyd family.

Jupiter Hammon was highly accomplished. A man born without a future, he ended up earning a place in both literary and social history. Jupiter was considered to be the first published African American poet. While in compliance to his master, Jupiter’s most famous speech “An Address to the Negroes in New York State” expresses the importance of educating African-Americans so that they can read the Bible. He died c. 1806.

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley was born in West Africa c. 1754. In 1761, she was kidnapped and brought to Boston on a slave ship named Phillis. There, she was purchased by John Wheatley to serve as slave to his wife Susannah Wheatley. At a very young age, Wheatley learned to speak English and read the Bible.

Wheatley is best known for being the first African-American slave to publish a book in the United States. Although a slave, she realized the potential of language and religion to bring into existence a social reality of liberation for African people in British North America. She was guided by the Enlightenment philosophy and revolutionary theology. She died in 1784.

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