Celebrate the Constitution : the Black Founders and the Continental Army
In keeping with this year’s theme is “Celebrate the Constitution” for the Ridgewood Fourth of July Celebration ,the Ridgewood blog will be running a series of post under the “Celebrate the Constitution” label ,featuring the founding fathers ,their stories and their ideas .
We are going to start with what may surprise many of you ;the Black founders and yes there were many of them . The Black Founders are reprinted with permission from The Founders, Religion and Government (Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Founders-Religion-and-Government/106677312693315
For many years the actions of black men, women, and children in our nation’s founding has been largely ignored. The enslavement of black Americans was prominent, not their contributions. We read about those slaves who joined the British Army to gain their freedom. But what of the thousands of blacks who served this country in her hour of need? Their deeds were no less important than those of their white neighbors. They fought and died on the battlefields. They road the countryside as couriers. They held office. The wrote in support of independence. The led their communities.
Today we are going to start with the Continental Army itself.
Many black men served as soldiers in the American Revolution. The number is between 12,000 and 15,000. Some were slaves fighting for the promise of freedom. Others were free blacks fighting for their country’s liberty. They served in an integrated army, the last one until the Korean War. By 1779, 15% of the Continental Army was black. These men fought in the very first Battles of Lexington and Concord all the way to the final major battle at Yorktown. They saw action in every major engagement including Ticonderoga, Monmouth, and Princeton. They suffered at Valley Forge and crossed the Delaware with Washington. Every colony except South Carolina and Georgia sent black men with the white men to fight.
In addition to the integrated units, there were also three all black units that served: the Rhode Island First regiment, who fought with distinction at Newport, Monmouth and Yorktown; the Black Bucks of America, a Massachusetts regiment whose banner is still on display at the Massachusetts Historical Society; and the Volunteer Chasseurs, a regiment from Haiti brought over by our French allies. The latter unit took the ideas of liberty back to Haiti with them. Those ideas were used to overthrow their French masters and create the second republic in the Americas.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Founders-Religion-and-Government/106677312693315
