![]() ![]() Certain military leaders questioned the hypothetical effectiveness of Black soldiers in combat, while abolitionist leaders such as Frederick Douglass considered it hypocritical for a nation to demand manpower to fight, but not from a population as willing and able as African-Americans fighting to free their brethren from slavery. Recruiting African-Americans to fight against the secessionist Confederate States of America was met with divided reception and controversy in both the government and military. The American Civil War was the first conflict in the nation’s history that saw massive numbers of African-Americans serve in the military. The War of 1812 saw a significant increase of African-American sailors in the United States Navy, including under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie. In the United States’ wars and conflicts between 17, African-Americans continued to serve in limited numbers in specific circumstances. (Library of Congress) Photograph of I Company of the 36th Colored Regiment from the United States Colored Troops, c. A lithograph by “Kurz and Allison” depicting the 54th Massachusetts charging against the defending Confederates at the Battle of Fort Wagner in 1863, 1890. This doctrine of irregular warfare against the British, implemented by both White and African soldiers in battle during the Revolution, were widely-recognized for their effectiveness in military circles, and are still taught today by the U.S. As the African soldiers proved to be more resistant to tropical illnesses such as malaria and yellow fever – and some would have better knowledge of navigating the local areas – these American regiments made use of guerilla tactics to consistently attack and evade the patrolling British military forces in the southern wilderness. Francis Marion – commonly nicknamed “the Swamp Fox” – was one of the many generals in the Continental Army who made strategic use of African soldiers in the southern theater of war in the Revolution. Although African enlistment was significantly more restricted in the southern colonies, they still saw recruitment for both the Continental Army and British Army. Dressed in white uniforms and composed primarily of African and Native American soldiers, the regiment saw combat in numerous engagements from the Siege of Boston to the Battle of Yorktown. The most well-known of these was the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, which is now recognized as the very first official military unit of African-American soldiers in the history of the U.S. In the northern colonies, the new African regiments were largely centered around the New England colonies. The new regiments of American-allied African soldiers were founded with the similar promises of emancipation in exchange for military service. Due to the increasing numbers of Africans turning to the British – as well as to address their own recruitment shortages – Commander-in-Chief George Washington eliminated the ban on African enlistment in the Continental Army in January 1776. The most notable of the British Army’s African units was the Black Company of Pioneers, working primarily in construction and sanitary services. Over 100,000 African slaves fled to British lines during the war, but very few of them saw actual combat in service to the British Empire. ![]() In the first year of the American Revolutionary War, leading figures in the British Army – as well as loyalist leaders in the colonies – made formal announcements to African slaves that if they were willing to enlist and fight for the Crown, then they would be promised complete emancipation after their term of service was completed. (Public Domain)Īs far back as the American Revolutionary War, African-Americans have served and fought in the nation’s conflicts through the centuries. Some scholars have argued that Peter Salem – a free African who fought with the Continental Army – is depicted in the right bottom section of the painting right behind another soldier. (Library of Congress) “The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, June 17, 1775” painting by John Trumbull, 1834. The African soldier on the far left side is from the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. An illustration by Jean Baptiste Antoine de Verger showing the uniforms of soldiers from different regiments in the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, 1781. ![]()
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