PREFACE. FEELING anxious to preserve for future reference an account of the part which the Negro took in suppressing the Slaveholders' Rebellion, I have been induced to write this work. In doing so, it occurred to me that a sketch of the condition of the race previous to the commencement of the war would not be uninteresting to the reader. For the information concerning the services which the blacks rendered to the Government in the Revolutionary War, I am indebted to the late George Livermore, Esq., whose "Historical Research" is the ablest work ever published on the early history of the negroes of this country. In collecting facts connected with the Rebellion, I have availed myself of the most reliable information that could be obtained from newspaper correspondents, as well as from those who were on the battle-field. To officers and privates of several of the colored regiments I am under many obligations for detailed accounts of engagements. No doubt, errors in fact and in judgment will be discovered, which I shall be ready to acknowledge, and correct in subsequent editions. The work might have been swelled to double its present size; but I did not feel bound to introduce an account of every little skirmish in which colored men were engaged. I waited patiently, before beginning this work, with the hope that some one more competent would take the subject in hand; but, up to the present, it has not been done, although many books have been written upon the Rebellion. CAMBRIDGEPORT, MASS., Jan. 1, 1867. WILLIAM WELLS BROWN. CONTENTS. BLACKS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND IN 1812. The First Cargo of Slaves landed in the Colonies in 1620.- Slave Representation in Congress.- Opposition to the Slave-trade. — Crispus Attucks, the First Victim of the Revolutionary War. Bancroft's Testimony. - Capture of Gen. Prescott. - Colored Men in the War of 1812. Gen. Andrew Jackson on Negro Soldiers. 1 Introduction of the Cotton-gin. - Its Effect on Slavery. — Fugitive Slave Law. - Anthony Burns. - The Dred Scott Decision. - Im- John Brown. - His Religious Zeal. — His Hatred to Slavery. — Or- Attack on Harper's Ferry. His Exe- His Bravery. Rescue of his Wife and Children. He is sent out on Important Business. — He fights his Way back. He is admired by Gens. Hooker and Sickles. - Rhett's Servant. Heroism of Negroes. - William Tillman recaptures "The S. G. Wa- Recognition of Negro Soldiers with Officers of their own Color.- |