Part 2

Mr. Hall was among those Colored citizens who, in the war of 1812, repaired to Castle Island, in Boston harbor, to assist in building fortifications. (See Appendix.)

Joshua B. Smith narrated to me that he was present at a company of distinguished Massachusetts men, when the conversation turned upon the exploits of Revolutionary times; and that the late Judge Story related the instance of a Colored Artillerist, who, while having charge of a cannon with a white fellow soldier, was wounded in one arm. He immediately turned to his comrade and proposed changing his position, exclaiming that he had yet one arm left with which he could render some service to his country. The change proved fatal to the heroic soldier, for another shot from the enemy killed him on the spot. Judge Story furnished other incidents of the bravery and devotion of Colored Soldiers, adding, that he had often thought them and their descendants too much neglected, considering the part they had sustained in the Wars; and he regretted that he did not, in early life, gather the facts into a shape for general information.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, John Hancock presented the Colored Soldiers, called the "Bucks of America," an appropriate banner (bearing his initials) as a tribute to their courage and devotion in the cause of American Liberty, through a protracted and bloody struggle. This banner is now in the possession of Mrs. Kay, whose father was a member of the company.

When a boy, living in West Boston, I was familiar with the presence of "Big Dick," and of hearing the following history confirmed. It is not wholly out of place in this collection.

Big Dick--Richard Seavers, whose death in this city we lately mentioned, was a man of mighty mould. A short time previous to his death, he measured six feet five inches in height, and attracted much attention when seen in the street. He was born in Salem or vicinity and when about sixteen years old, went to England, where he entered the British navy. When the war of 1812 broke out, he would not fight against his country, gave himself up as an American citizen, and was made a prisoner of war.

A Surgeon on board of an American privateer, who experienced the tender mercies of the British Government in Darton prison, during the War of 1812, makes honorable mention of King Dick, as he was there called.

"There are about four hundred and fifty negroes in prison No. 4, and this assemblage of blacks affords many curious anecdotes, and much matter for speculation. These blacks have a ruler among them whom they call King Dick. He is by far the largest, and I suspect, the strongest man in the prison. He is six feet five inches in height, and proportionably large. This black Hercules commands respect, and his subjects tremble in his presence. He goes the rounds every day, and visits every berth to see if they are all kept clean. When he goes the rounds, he puts on a large bearskin cap, and carries in his hand a huge club. If any of his men are dirty, drunken or grossly negligent, he threatens them with a beating; and if they are saucy, they are sure to receive one. They have several times conspired against him, and attempted to dethrone him, but he has always conquered the rebels. One night several attacked him while asleep in his hammock, he sprang up and seized the smallest of them by his feet, and thumped another with him. The poor negro who had thus been made a beetle of, was carried next day to the hospital, sadly bruised, and provokingly laughed at. This ruler of the blacks, this King Richard IV, is a man of good understanding, and he exercises it to a good purpose. If any one of his color cheats, defrauds, or steals from his comrades, he is sure to be punished for it."--Boston Patriot.

RHODE ISLAND.

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 blacks formed an entire regiment, and they discharged their duty with zeal and fidelity. The gallant defence of Red Bank, in which the black regiment bore a part, is among the proofs of their valor." In this contest it will be recollected that four hundred men met and repulsed, after a terrible and sanguinary struggle, fifteen hundred Hessian troops, headed by Count Donop. The glory of the defence of Red Bank, which has been pronounced one of the most heroic actions of the war, belongs in reality to black men; yet who now hears them spoken of in connection with it? Among the traits which distinguished the black regiment, was devotion to their officers. In the attack made upon the American lines, near Croton river, on the 13th of Fifth month, 1781, Colonel Greene, the commander of the regiment, was cut down and mortally wounded; but the sabres of the enemy only reached him through the bodies of his faithful guard of blacks, who hovered over him to protect him, every one of whom was killed.

Lieutenant Colonel Barton, of the Rhode Island militia, planned a bold exploit for the purpose of surprising and taking Major-General Prescott, the commanding officer of the royal army at Newport. Taking with him in the night about forty men, in two boats, with oars muffled, he had the address to elude the vigilance of the ships of war and guard boats, and having arrived undiscovered at the General's quarters, they were taken for the sentinels, and the General was not alarmed until the captors were at the door of his lodging chamber, which was fast closed. A negro man named Prince instantly thrust his head through the panel door and seized the victim while in bed. The General's aid-de-camp leaped from a window undressed, and attempted to escape but was taken, and with the General brought off in safety.--Thatcher's Military Journal, August 3, 1777.

CONNECTICUT.

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 discharge had been sent to the War Department, that it could not be returned. At his request it was written for, as he seemed inclined to spurn the pension and reclaim the discharge." There is a touching anecdote related of Baron Steuben, on the occasion of the disbandment of the American army. A black soldier, with his wounds unhealed, utterly destitute, stood on the wharf just as a vessel bound for a distant home was getting under way. The poor fellow gazed at the vessel with tears in his eyes, and gave himself up to despair. The warm hearted foreigner witnessed his emotion, and, inquiring into the cause of it, took his last dollar from his purse, and gave it to him with tears of sympathy trickling down his cheeks. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the poor wounded soldier hailed the sloop, and was received on board. As it moved out from the wharf, he cried back to his noble friend on shore, 'God Almighty bless you, master Baron.'"

During the Revolutionary War, and after the sufferings of a protracted contest had rendered it difficult to procure recruits for the army, the Colony of Connecticut adopted the expedient of forming a corps of colored soldiers. A battalion of blacks was soon enlisted, and throughout the war conducted themselves with fidelity and efficiency. The late General Humphreys, then a Captain, commanded a company of this corps. It is said that some objections were made on the part of officers, to accepting the command of the colored troops. In this exigency, Captain Humphreys, who was attached to the family of General Washington, volunteered his services. His patriotism was rewarded, and his fellow officers were afterwards as desirous to obtain appointments in that corps as they had previously been to avoid them.

The following extract, furnished by Charles Lennox Remond, from the pay rolls of the second company fourth regiment of the Connecticut line of the Revolutionary army may rescue many gallant names from oblivion.

CAPTAIN, DAVID HUMPHREYS.

PRIVATES.

Jack Arabus, John Cleveland, Phineas Strong, Ned Fields, Isaac Higgins, Lewis Martin, Caesar Chapman, Peter Mix, Philo Freeman, Hector Williams, Juba Freeman, Brister Baker, Caesar Bagdon, Gamaliel Terry, Lent Munson, Heman Rogers, Job Caesar, John Rogers, Ned Freedom, Ezekiel Tupham, Tom Freeman, Congo Zado, John Ball, John McLean, Jesse Vose, Daniel Bradley, Sharp Camp, Jo Otis, James Dinah, Solomon Sowtice, Peter Freeman, Cato Wilbrow, Cuff Freeman, Cato Robinson, Prince George, Prince Crosbee, Shuabel Johnson, Tim Caesar, Jack Little, Bill Sowers, Dick Violet, Peter Gibbs, Prince Johnson, Alex. Judd, Pomp Liberty, Cuff Liberty, Pomp Cyrus, Harry Williams, Sharp Rogers, Juba Dyer, Andrew Jack, Peter Morando, Peter Lion, Sampson Cuff, Dick Freedom, Bomp McCuff.

Boston, 24th April, 1851.

DEAR FRIEND NELL:

The names of the two brave men of Color who fell, with Ledyard, at the storming of Fort Griswold, were Sambo Latham and Jordan Freeman.

All the names of the slain, at that time, are inscribed on a marble tablet, wrought into the monument--the names of the Colored Soldiers last--and not only last, but a blank space is left between them and the whites--in genuine keeping with the "Negro Pew" distinction; setting them not only below all others, but by themselves--even after that.

And it is difficult to say why. They were not last in the fight. When Major Montgomery, one of the leaders of the expedition against the Americans, was lifted upon the walls of the fort by his soldiers, flourishing his sword and calling on them to follow him, Jordan Freeman received him on the point of a pike, and pinned him dead to the earth. (Vide Hist. Collections of Connecticut.) And the name of Jordan Freeman stands away down, last on the list of heroes, perhaps the greatest hero of them all.

Yours, with becoming indignation,

PARKER PILLSBURY.

Ebenezer Hills, died at Vienna, New York, August, 1849, aged 110. He was born a Slave, in Stonington, Conn., and became free when twenty-eight years of age. He served through the Revolutionary War, and was at the battles of Saratoga and Stillwater, and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne.

The Colored inhabitants of Connecticut assembled in Convention in 1849, to devise means for their elective franchise; a gentleman present reports the following extract:--"A young man, Mr. West, of Bridgeport, spoke with a great deal of energy, and with a clear and pleasant tone of voice which many a lawyer, statesman, or clergyman might covet, nobly vindicating the rights of the brethren. He said that the bones of the Colored man had bleached on every battlefield where American valor had contended for national independence. Side by side with the white man, the black man stood and struggled to the last for the inheritance which the white men now enjoy, but deny to us. His father was a soldier Slave, and his master said to him when the liberty of the country was achieved, 'Stephen, we will do something for you.' But what have they ever done for Stephen, or for Stephen's posterity?" This orator is evidently a young man of high promise, and better capable of voting intelligently than half of the white men who would deny him a freeman's privilege.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

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--in the same dangerous and responsible position. Had they been unfaithful, or given way before the enemy, all would have been lost. Three times in succession were they attacked with most desperate fury by well-disciplined and veteran troops, and three times did they successfully repel the assault, and thus preserve an army. They fought thus through the war. They were brave and hardy troops."

The anecdote of the Slave of General Sullivan, of New Hampshire, is well-known. When his master told him that they were on the point of starting for the army, to fight for liberty, he shrewdly suggested that it would be a great satisfaction to know that he was indeed going to fight for his liberty. Struck by the reasonableness and justice of this suggestion, Gen. S. at once gave him his freedom.

VERMONT.

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. Moses Robinson, said to the General, I will take down the last bedstead in the house, and present the rope to you, with one condition. When the prisoners are all tied to the rope, you shall permit my negro man to harness up my old mare, and hitch the rope to the whippletree, mount the mare, and conduct the British and tory prisoners out of town. The General willingly accepted of Mrs. Robinson's proposition. The negro mounted the mare and thus conducted the left wing of the British Army into Massachusetts, on their way to Boston. * * * *

Gen. Schuyler writes from Saratoga, July 23, 1777, to the President of Massachusetts Bay, "That of the few continental troops we have had to the Northward, one third part is composed of men too far advanced in years for field service--of boys, or rather children, and mortifying barely to mention, of negroes."

The General also addressed a similar letter to John Hancock, and again to the provincial Congress, that the foregoing were facts which were altogether uncontrovertible. * * * * * *

Your Humble Servant,

HENRY STEVENS.

NEW YORK.

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 shoulder to shoulder with a negro? I answer, no one in time of peace; no one when your musters and trainings are looked upon as mere pastimes; no one when your militia will shoulder their muskets and march to their trainings with as much unconcern as they would go to a sumptuous entertainment or a splendid ball. But, Sir, when the hour of danger approaches, your 'white' militia are just as willing that the man of Color should be set up as a mark to be shot at by the enemy as to be set up themselves. In the War of the Revolution, these people helped to fight your battles by land and sea. Some of your States were glad to turn out corps of Colored men, and to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with them.

"In your late War they contributed largely towards some of your most splendid victories. On Lakes Erie and Champlain, where your fleets triumphed over a foe superior in numbers and engines of death, they were manned in a large proportion with men of Color. And in this very house, in the fall of 1814, a bill passed, receiving the approbation of all the branches of your Government, authorizing the Governor to accept the services of a corps of two thousand free people of Color. Sir, these were times which tried men's souls. In these times it was no sporting matter to bear arms. These were times when a man who shouldered a musket did not know but he bared his bosom to receive a death wound from the enemy ere he laid it aside; and in these times, these people were found as ready and as willing to volunteer in your service as any other. They were not compelled to go; they were not drafted. No; your pride had placed them beyond your compulsory power. But there was no necessity for its exercise; they were volunteers; yes, Sir, volunteers to defend that very country from the inroads and ravages of a ruthless and vindictive foe, which had treated them with insult, degradation and Slavery."

Volunteers are the best of soldiers; give me the men, whatever be their complexion, that willingly volunteer, and not those who are compelled to turn out. Such men do not fight from necessity, nor from mercenary motives, but from principle.

Said Martindale, of New York, in Congress, 22nd of first month, 1828: "Slaves, or negroes who had been Slaves, were enlisted as soldiers in the War of the Revolution; and I myself saw a battalion of them, as fine martial looking men as I ever saw, attached to the northern army in the last War, on the march from Plattsburg to Sackett's Harbor."

It is believed that the debate on the military services of Colored men was a prominent feature in granting them the right of suffrage, though the ungenerous deed must also be recorded, that Colored citizens of the Empire States were made subject to a property qualification of two hundred and fifty dollars.

I am indebted to Rev. Theodore Parker, of Boston, for the following historical sketch of New York soldiery:

"Not long ago, while the excavations for the vaults of the great retail dry goods store of New York were going on in 1851, a gentleman from Boston noticed a large quantity of human bones thrown up by the workmen. Everybody knows the African countenance; the skulls also bore unmistakable marks of the race they belonged to. They were shovelled up with the earth which they had rested in, carried off and emptied into the sea to fill up a chasm, and make the foundation of a warehouse.

"On inquiry, the Bostonian learned that these were the bones of Colored American soldiers, who fell in the disastrous battles of Long Island, in 1776, and of such as died of the wounds then received. At that day as at this, spite of the declaration that 'all men are created equal,' the prejudice against the Colored man was intensely strong. The black and white had fought against the same enemy, under the same banner, contending for the same 'unalienable right' to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The same shot with promiscuous slaughter had mowed down Africans and Americans. But in the grave they must be divided. On the battle field the blacks and whites had mixed their bravery and their blood, but their ashes must not mingle in the bosom of their common mother. The white Saxon, exclusive and haughty even in his burial, must have his place of rest proudly apart from the grave of the African he had once enslaved.

"Now, after seventy-five years have passed by, the bones of these forgotten victims of the Revolution are shovelled up by Irish laborers, carted off, and shot into the sea, as the rubbish of the town. Had they been white men's relics, how would they have been honored with sumptuous burial anew, and the purchased prayers and preaching of Christian divines! Now they are the rubbish of the street!

"True, they were the bones of Revolutionary soldiers; but they were black men; and shall a city that kidnaps its citizens, honor a Negro with a grave? What boots it that he fought for our freedom; that he bled for our liberty; that he died for you and me! Does the 'Nigger' deserve a tomb? Ask the American state--The American Church!

"Three quarters of a century have passed by since the retreat from Long Island. What a change since then! From the Washington of that day to the world's Washington of this, what a change! In America what alterations! What a change in England! The Briton has emancipated every bondman; Slavery no longer burns his soil on either Continent, the East or West. America has a population of Slaves greater than the people of all England in the reign of Elizabeth. Under the pavement of Broadway; beneath the walls of the Bazaar, there still lie the bones of the Colored martyrs to American Independence. Dandies of either sex swarm gaily over the threshold, heedless of the dead African--contemptuous of the living. And while these faithful bones were getting shovelled up and carted to the sea, there was a great Slave-hunt in New York; a man was kidnapped and carried off to bondage, by the citizens, at the instigation of politicians, and to the sacramental delight of 'divines'.

"Happy are the dead Africans, whom British death mowed down! They did not live to see a man kidnapped in the city which their blood helped free."

PENNSYLVANIA.

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 were attached to each. The vessels of War of that period, were all, to a greater or less extent, manned with Colored men. On board the 'Royal Louis,' of twenty-six guns, commanded by Captain Stephen Decatur, senior, there were twenty Colored seamen. I had myself enlisted on this vessel, and on the second cruise was taken prisoner and shortly after was confined on board the old Jersey Prison Ship, where I remained a prisoner for seven months. The Alliance, of thirty-six guns, commanded by Commodore Barry; the Trumbull, of thirty-two guns, commanded by Captain Nicholson; and the ships South Carolina, Confederacy, and the Randolph, each were manned in part with Colored men."

The digression from military service to those rendered voluntarily during the pestilence, seemed to me warrantable in this connection.

In the autumn of 1793, the yellow fever broke out in Philadelphia, with peculiar malignity. The insolent and unnatural distinctions of caste were overturned and the people called Colored, were solicited in the public papers to come forward, and assist the perishing sick. The same mouth which had gloried against them in its prosperity, in its overwhelming adversity implored their assistance. The Colored People of Philadelphia nobly responded. The then Mayor, Matthew Clarkson, received their deputation with respect, and recommended their course. They appointed Absalom Jones and William Gray to superintend it, the Mayor advertising the public, that by applying to them, aid could be obtained. This took place about September.