Negro soldiers emancipated. ington and Jefferson and Madison among her living patriots, -this wrong to the negro soldiers was not overlooked, nor permitted to continue. The General Assembly of that State, in 1783, enacted the following law :— "An Act directing the Emancipation of certain Slaves who have served as Soldiers in this State, and for the Emancipation of the Slave Aberdeen. "I. Whereas it hath been represented to the present General Assembly, that, during the course of the war, many persons in this State had caused their slaves to enlist in certain regiments or corps raised within the same, having tendered such slaves to the officers appointed to recruit forces within the State, as substitutes for free persons whose lot or duty it was to serve in such regiments or corps, at the same time representing to such recruiting officers that the slaves, so enlisted by their direction and concurrence, were freemen; and it appearing further to this Assembly, that on the expiration of the term of enlistment of such slaves, that the former owners have attempted again to force them to return to a state of servitude, contrary to the principles of justice, and to their own solemn promise; "II. And whereas it appears just and reasonable, that all persons enlisted as aforesaid, who have faithfully served agreeable to the terms of their enlistment, and have thereby of course contributed towards the establishment of American liberty and independence, should enjoy the blessings of freedom as a reward for their toils and labors ; "Be it therefore enacted, That each and every slave who, by the appointment and direction of his owner, hath enlisted in any regiment or corps raised within this State, either on Continental or State establishment, and hath been received as a substitute for any free person whose duty or lot it was to serve in such regiment or corps, and hath served faithfully during the term of such enlistment, or hath been discharged from such service by some officer duly authorized to grant such discharge, shall, from and after the passing of this act, be fully and completely emancipated, and shall be held and deemed free, in as full and ample a manner as if each and every of them were specially named in this act; and the Attorney-general for the Commonwealth is hereby required to commence an action, in forma pauperis, in behalf of any of the persons above described who shall, after the passing of this act, be detained in servitude by any person whatsoever; and if, upon such prosecution, it shall appear that the pauper is entitled to his freedom in consequence of this act, a jury shall be empanelled to assess Negro the damages for his detention. soldiers emanci "III. And whereas it has been represented to this General Assem- pated. bly, that Aberdeen, a negro man slave, hath labored a number of years in the public service at the lead mines, and for his meritorious services is entitled to freedom; Be it therefore enacted, That the said slave Aberdeen shall be, and he is hereby, emancipated and declared free in as full and ample a manner as if he had been born free.” Statutes at Large of Virginia, vol. xi. pp. 308, 309. Hening's Three years after the close of the war, in October, 1786, the following special act was passed, by the General Assembly of Virginia, for the liberation of a faithful slave who had rendered valuable service to General Lafayette: 'An Act to emancipate JAMES, a Negro Slave, the property of William Armistead, Gentleman. services 1 acknowl edged by "I. Whereas it is represented that James, a negro slave, the A slave's property of William Armistead, gentleman, of the county of New Kent, Lafayette did, with the permission of his master, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, enter into the service of the Marquis la Virginia. Fayette, and at the peril of his life found means to frequent the British camp, and thereby faithfully executed important commissions entrusted to him by the Marquis; and the said James hath made application to this Assembly to set him free, and to make his said master adequate compensation for his value, which it is judged reasonable and right to do; "II. Be it therefore enacted, That the said James shall, from and after the passing of this act, enjoy as full freedom as if he had been born free; any law to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. "III. And be it further enacted, That the Executive shall, as soon as may be, appoint a proper person, and the said William Armistead another, who shall ascertain and fix the value of the said James, and to certify such valuation to the Auditor of Accounts, who shall issue his warrant to the Treasurer for the same, to be paid out of the general fund."- Hening's Statutes at Large of Virginia, vol. xii. pp. 380, 381. With two or three later authoritative testimonies, showing that it was a general practice among the Founders of the William Republic to employ negroes, both slaves and freemen, as soldiers regularly enrolled in the army, I bring to a close this paper, which has already much exceeded the limits of my original plan. The Hon. William Eustis, who served throughout the war of the Revolution as a surgeon, and was afterwards Governor of Massachusetts, in a speech in the United-States House of Representatives, December 12, 1820, said: "At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, there were found, in the Middle and Northern States, many blacks, and other people of color, capable of bearing arms; a part of them free, the greater part slaves. The freemen entered our ranks with the whites. The time of those who were slaves was purchased by the States; and they were induced to enter the service in consequence of a law, by which, on condition of their serving in the ranks during the war, they were made freemen. In Rhode Island, where their numbers were more considerable, they were formed, under the same considerations, into a regiment commanded by white officers; and it is required, in justice to them, to add, that they discharged their duty with zeal and fidelity. The gallant defence of Red Bank, in which this black regiment bore a part, is among the proofs of their valor. "Among the traits which distinguished this regiment was their devotion to their officers: when their brave Col. Greene was afterwards cut down and mortally wounded, the sabres of the enemy reached his body only through the limbs of his faithful guard of blacks, who hovered over him and protected him, every one of whom was killed, and whom he was not ashamed to call his children. The services of this description of men in the navy are also well known. I should not have mentioned either, but for the information of the gentleman from Delaware, whom I understood to say that he did not know that they had served in any considerable numbers. "The war over, and peace restored, these men returned to their respective States; and who could have said to them, on their return to civil life, after having shed their blood in common with the whites in the defence of the liberties of the country, 'You are not to participate in the rights secured by the struggle, or in the liberty for which you have been fighting'? Certainly no white man in Massachusetts.” Annals of Congress. Sixteenth Congress, Second Session, p. 636. The Hon. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, in a previous part of the same debate, said: "It is a most remarkable fact, that notwithstanding, in the Charles Pinckney. course of the Revolution, the Southern States were continually overrun by the British, and that every negro in them had an opportunity of leaving their owners, few did; proving thereby not only a most remarkable attachment to their owners, but the mildness of the treatment, from whence their affection sprang. They then were, as they still are, as valuable a part of our population to the Union as any other equal number of inhabitants. They were in numerous instances the pioneers, and, in all, the laborers, of your armies. To their hands were owing the erection of the greatest part of the fortifications raised for the protection of our country; some of which, particularly Fort Moultrie, gave, at that early period of the inexperience and untried valor of our citizens, immortality to American arms: and, in the Northern States, numerous bodies of them were enrolled into and fought, by the sides of the whites, the battles of the Revolution." Annals of Congress. Sixteenth Congress, First Session, p. 1312. That large numbers of negroes were enrolled in the army, and served faithfully as soldiers during the whole period of the War of the Revolution, may be regarded as a well-established historical fact. And it should be borne in mind, that the enlistment was not confined, by any means, to those who had before enjoyed the privileges of free citizens. Very many slaves were offered to, and received by, the army, on the condition that they were to be emancipated, either at the time of enlisting, or when they had served out the term of their enlistment. The inconsistency of keeping in slavery any person who had taken up arms for the defence of our national liberty, had led to the passing of an order, forbidding "slaves," as such, to be received as soldiers. The documents which I have cited will give a general idea of the opinions and the practice of the leading patriots in the civil and military service of the country, at the time of the Revolution, on the employment of negroes as soldiers. Much more documentary evidence, of a similar character, might be |