The 1st Rhode Island Regiment

The wonderful thing about history is that there’s always more to learn. While researching another piece about Frederick Douglass’s famous Fourth of July speech, I came across the story of the first Black regiment in American history and the political backlash against those who established them.

In late 1777, General George Washington wrote to Brigadier General James Mitchell Varnum about the desperate need to support Fort Mifflin.

“I beg you will do all in your power to reconcile any differences that may have arisen, not by taking notice of them in a direct manner, but by recommending unanimity and demonstrating the manifest advantages of it. As the Commodore will have a considerable reinforcement after you arrive, I hope he will be able to afford more assistance than he has hitherto done. You will have an oppertunity of seeing and conversing with the Baron Arendt, and I must beg you will lay such plans as will most effectually contribute to the mutual support and defence of your posts; for you are to consider if one falls the other goes of course. As soon as you have looked about you and taken a survey of the Ground I shall be glad to hear your opinion of matters. I am Sir Yr most obt Servt Go: Washington”

“No less than 2,898 men now in camp [are] unfit because they are barefoot and otherwise naked,”

Washington had previously written to Congress about his shortages; nearly 2,000 men would die of disease that winter at Valley Forge. When the Continental Army was established in 1775, Washington forbade using Black soldiers. When unable to meet their needs with white volunteers. Congress would establish a draft, asking each state to fill a quota of men. Rhode Island was asked to form two battalions (1,000–1,200 men). Rhode Island was the smallest state, with less than 60,000 people. They were unable to meet their quota with white men, and leaders asked permission to include Black troops.

The British Army had proven quite successful in recruiting Black soldiers. Colonial Governor Lord Dunmore promised freedom to any slave who would abandon their owner and join British forces. One of Washington’s slaves, Henry Washington, escaped Mount Vernon to join Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment. Five hundred enslaved people would immediately join the British Army, and that number would swell to almost 20,000. Washington began to allow free Black men to join the Continental Army. Still, he drew the line at arming enslaved people, which would antagonize Southerners and possibly spark a revolution among enslaved people, who they feared as much as the British.

In Rhode Island, General Varnum appealed to the state legislature requesting Black troops before he received a firm response from General Washington. On February 14, 1778, Rhode Island passed the Slave Enlistment Act of 1778, granting freedom to enslaved people joining the Rhode Island Battalions and compensating slaveowners for their property loss.

“It is Voted and Resolved, that every able-bodied Negro, Mulatto, or Indian Man Slave, in this State, may enlist into either of the said two Battalions to serve during the Continuance of the present War with Great-Britain: That every Slave, so enlisting, shall be entitled to, and receive, all the Bounties, Wages, and Encouragements, allowed by the Continental Congress, to any Soldier enlisting into their Service.

It is further Voted and Resolved, that every Slave, so enlisting, shall, upon his passing Muster before Col. Christopher Greene, be immediately discharged from the Service of his Master or Mistress; and be absolutely FREE, as though he had never been encumbered with any Kind of Servitude or Slavery. And in Case such Slave shall, by Sickness or otherwise, be rendered unable to maintain himself, he shall not be chargeable to his Master or Mistress, but shall be supported at the Expense of the State.

And whereas Slaves have been, by the Laws, deemed the Property of their Owners; and therefore Compensation ought to be made to the Owners for the Loss of their Service: It is further Voted and Resolved, That there be allowed, and paid by this State, to the Owner, for every such Slave so enlisting, a Sum according to his Worth; at a Price not exceeding one Hundred and twenty Pounds for the most valuable Slave; and in Proportion for a Slave of less Value. Provided, The Owner of the said Slave shall deliver up to the Officer, who shall enlist him, the Clothes of the said Slave; or otherwise he shall not be entitled to said Sum. And for settling and ascertaining the Value of such Slaves,

It is further Voted and Resolved, That a Committee of Five be appointed, to wit: One from each County; any Three of whom to be a Quorum, to examine the Slaves who shall be so entitled, after they shall have passed Muster, and to set a Price upon each Slave according to his Value as aforesaid. It is further Voted and Resolved, That upon any able-bodied Negro, Mulatto, or Indian Slave, enlisting as aforesaid, the Officer who shall so enlist him, after he shall have passed Muster as aforesaid, shall deliver a Certificate thereof to the Master or Mistress of said Negro, Mulatto, or Indian Slave; which shall discharge him from the Service of his said Master or Mistress as aforesaid.”

Slaves from all over the state began joining the army despite propaganda from unwilling slaveowners who told slaves they would be placed on the front lines and, if captured by the British, sold back into slavery in the West Indies. The reality was nearly as bad; the Black soldiers were given little training and weren’t allowed the use of guns until they faced combat for the first time in the Battle of Rhode Island on August 29, 1778.

The Slave Enlistment Act of 1778 was short-lived; it was repealed four months after it initially passed. Over half the legislators who voted in favor of the law were voted out of office in the next election. I can picture Rhode Island slaveowners leading the charge to Make America Great Again. Free Black men were still welcome to exist, but slaves had the options of remaining enslaved, escaping, or joining the British Army.

In their first battle, the untrained and previously unarmed 1st Rhode Island Regiment turned back three Hessian units allied with the British before the war was ultimately lost. American commander General John Sullivan gave the Black unit a special mention of honor. When the Slave Enlistment Act was repealed, the number of Black soldiers was reduced (many were killed on the front lines). The remaining Black and Native American soldiers were fully integrated into the two battalions as the segregated units were disbanded. Some continued to serve until the end of the war.

In 1781, the two battalions merged to become the Rhode Island Regiment. They were involved in the Battle of Yorktown, which led to the British surrender and the end of the Revolutionary War. The unit was disbanded in 1783.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 Black troops fought for America during the Revolutionary War, though the 1st Rhode Island Regiment’s example was not emulated.

“Despite the successful example set by the Rhode Island law of February 1778 and the combat performance of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, many civil leaders across the country maintained their opposition toward recruiting slaves and no large-scale legislation authorizing the enlistment of enslaved individuals was adopted.” — Cameron Boutin

The American Revolution had Black heroes besides Crispus Attucks, known as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre. When I finish my new piece on what the Fourth of July means to Black people, I’ll surely mention the 1st Rhode Island Regiment.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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