Throughout American history, Afro-Americans have had to decide whether they belonged in
the United States or if they should go elsewhere. Slavery no doubtfully had a great impact
upon their decisions. However, despite their troubles African Americans have made a grand
contribution and a great impact on our armed forces since the Revolutionary War. The
Afro-American has fought against its country's wars, and they have also fought the war
within their country to gain the right to fight and freedom.
America's first war, its war for independence from Great Britain was a great
accomplishment. This achievement could not have been performed if not for the black
soldiers in the armies. "The first American to shed blood in the revolution that
freed America from British rule was Crispus Attucks, a Black seaman." (Mullen 9)
Attucks along with four white men were killed in the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770.
Even though Attucks was a fugitive slave running from his master, he was still willing to
fight against England along with other whites and give the ultimate sacrifice, his life,
for freedom. This wasn't the only incident of Blacks giving it all during the War for
Independence.
From the first battles of Concord and Lexington in 1775, Black soldiers "took up
arms against the mother country." (Mullen 11) Of the many Black men who fought in
those battles, the most famous are Peter Salem, Cato Stedman, Cuff Whittemore, Cato Wood,
Prince Estabrook, Caesar Ferritt, Samuel Craft, Lemuel Haynes, and Pomp Blackman. One of
the most distinguished heroes o the Battle of Bunker Hill was Peter Salem who, according
to some sources, fired the shot that killed Major John Pitcairn of the Royal Marines. But
Peter Salem wasn't the only Black hero during the Revolutionary War.
Another Black man, Salem Poor, also made a hero of himself at Bunker Hill. Because of
his bravery at the battle, he was commended by several officers to the Continental
Congress. "Equally gallant at Bunker Hill were Pomp Fisk, Grant Coope, Charleston
Eads, Seymour Burr, Titus Coburn, Cuff Hayes, and Caesar Dickenson." (Wilson 32) Of
these men, Caesar Brown and Cuff Hayes were killed during the battle. Even though the
Afro-American soldiers clearly distinguished themselves as soldiers, they were by no means
wanted in the army. "Shortly after General Washington took command of the Army, the
white colonists decided that not only should no Black slaves or freemen be enlisted, but
that those already serving in the Army should be dismissed." (Mullen 12)
The colonists would probably have kept Blacks out of the military during the war if not
for the proclamation by the Lord of Dunmore. He stated "I do hereby... declare all...
Negroes... free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining his Majesty's
troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this colony to a proper
dignity." This meant that any black soldiers willing to fight for the British would
be declared legally free. Therefore, the Americans couldn't afford to deny Black
Americans, free or not, from joining the army. Less than a month following Lord Dunmore's
proclamation, General George Washington officially reversed his policy about letting
"free Negroes to enlist." (Fowler 21)
"Of the 300,000 soldiers who served in the Continental Army during the War of
Independence, approximately five thousand were Black. Some volunteered. Others were
drafted. In addition to several all-Black companies, an all-Black regiment was recruited
from Rhode Island. This regiment distinguished itself in the Battle of Rhode Island on
August 29, 1778." (Wilson 22)
Between 1775 to 1781 there weren't any battles without Black participants. Black
soldiers fought for the colonies at Lexington, Concord, Ticonderoga, White Plains,
Benington, Brandywine, Saratoga, Savannah, and Yorktown. There were two Blacks, Prince
Whipple and Oliver Cromwell, with Washington when he crossed the Delaware River on
Christmas Day in 1776. "Some won recognition and a place in the history of the War of
Independence by their outstanding service, although most have remained anonymous."
(Craine 43) Unfortunately despite Afro-Americans' contributions to the war effort and the
large amount of dead Blacks, few had gained their freedom. The War for Independence was
just the first of a list of wars Afro-Americans would have a chance to participate in.
The second American war fought with Afro-American help was the War of 1812. As Martin
Delany put it, the Afro-American were "as ready and as willing to volunteer in your
service as any other... and Blacks were not compelled to go; they were not draughted. They
were volunteers." (Wilson 47) Black Americans fought the British on land and sea, and
they "were particularly conspicuous in the various naval battles fought on the Great
Lakes under the command of Oliver H. Perry." (Mullen 16) At least one-tenth of the
crews of the fleet on the lake region were African American. Captain Perry, like
Washington, objected to the appointment of Blacks to his naval ships. But after the Battle
of Lake Erie, Captain Perry was "unstinting" in Afro-American praise as men who
"seemed insensible to danger." (Fowler 46)
After the Battle of Lake Erie the New York legislature authorized the forming of two
Black regiments. These regiments included slaves with their masters' permission, and two
battalions of Black soldiers were enlisted for New Orleans and its surrounding area.
The mobilization for New Orleans was particularly significant because it was there on
September 21,1814, three months before the Battle of New Orleans, that General Andrew
Jackson issued his proclamation "To the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana."
In that proclamation, Jackson, who needed to augment and strengthen his forces, called
upon the free Blacks of Louisiana, which of course was a slave state, to answer the appeal
of their country. In the appeal he confessed that "the policy of the United States in
barring Negroes from the service had been a mistaken one." (Mullen 16)
The United States won the War of 1812. The slaves who had been enlisted by their
masters in the American army found themselves re-enslaved after the war was over and the
United States had no further needs of their military services. The Afro-American thus
found himself as a servant to the White masters until the Civil War.
The third and most important war Black Americans fought in was the American Civil War.
Deven though this war eventually resulted in the ending of slavery it was began between
"Northern industrialists and Southern Slave owners to determine who would have
hegemony over the federal government and who would be able to expand into the new
territories of the West" (Mullen 18). The question of slavery would come later.
"When the Civil War began, blacks weren't allowed to fight in the Union army."
(Utley 18) Unfortunately, Abraham Lincoln was more concerned with political relations than
the treatment of Afro-American slaves.
The federal government and the Union army only began to "adopt a policy of
allowing and even encouraging the recruitment of Blacks when it became clear that the war
would be a long and drawn out conflict in which it was essential to mobilize all the
resources possible and to weaken the enemy as much as possible. (Mullen 19 Utley 47) Even
then Black troops weren't really used. In Muly 1862, Congress authorized the use of black
soldiers in the Civil War, but there "was no follow-up until January 1, 1863"
when Abraham Lincoln put the "Emancipation Proclamation into effect." (Mullen
23)
After the Emancipation Proclamation, the War Department moved rapidly to begin the
enlistment of Black Americans. During January 1863, the War Department authorized
Massachusetts to raise two Black regiments. Because of this nearly 200,000 Afro-American
soldiers were serving the army and an additional 300,000 were serving as laborers, spies,
servants or general helpers. Before the end of the war, there had been 154 Black regiments
formed in the army, of these 140 were infantry units. These regiments fought in
"battles and skirmishes and suffered 68,178 fatalities on the battlefield in the
course of the war." (Mullen 22)
By the war's end there had been barely a battle where Black soldiers had not fought.
The Afro-American soldiers' most outstanding achievement was the "charge of the Third
Brigade of the Eighteenth Division on the Confederate fortifications on New Market Height
near Richmond, Virginia." (Utley 48) Due to their heroic courage in that battle,
thirteen Black soldiers received Congressional Medals of Honor in one day. "In all,
twenty Negroes received the medal in recognition of gallantry and intrepidity in combat
during the Civil War." (Mullen 23)
"John Hope Franklin estimates that the Black mortality rate in the Army was nearly
40 percent higher than among white soldiers. This was partially due to unfavorable
conditions, poor equipment, bad medical care, and the rapidity with which the Blacks were
sent into battle." (Fowler 73) However as W.E.B. Du Bois pointed out that the Black
troops were "repeatedly and deliberately used as shock troops, when there was little
or no hope of success."(Mullen 23) The African-American soldier not only had success
on land but as seamen.
Throughout the navy's history Blacks had not ever been barred or banned from enlisting.
Due to an intense shortage of seaman, the navy went farther than any other American armed
force and adopted a policy of signing up escaped slaves along with free Blacks. This
shortage of men benefited the Afro-American extremely because the navy treated Blacks
quite well. The navy was especially anxious to have its Black sailors re-enlist.
African-American sailors made up about one-quarter of the sailors in the Union fleet.
"Of the 118,044 enlistments during the Civil War, 29,511 were Blacks. Some of the
ships in the fleet were manned by predominantly Black crews, and there was scarcely a ship
without Afro-American crew members." (Utley 37)
The navy not only was the first armed force to accept fugitive slaves, it was also the
first armed force to fully integrate both Blacks and Whites. "Because of the close
quarters on warships, it was never practical to segregate the Negroes within the crews,
the same way the army did in all-Black units, and for that reason the navy was not only
integrated as a service, but also was integrated within each ship." (Mullen 31)
After the Civil War, the army was reorganized in 1886. Six Black regiments were for
formed by law to be a part of the regular army for their valor during the Civil War. In
1866, Congress passed an act creating four regiments: the Twenty fourth and Twenty-fifth
Infantry and the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry. These regiments were to be permanent army
regiments. Of these four regiments, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry distinguished themselves
during the Indian Wars in the West between 1870 and 1900. The Ninth and Tenth Cavalry were
nicknamed "Buffalo Soldiers" by the Cheyenne and Comanche, and these soldiers
were widely feared by the Indians. The Buffalo Soldiers constituted about 20 percent of
the armed forces in the West.
The 9th and 10th Cavalries' service in subduing Mexican
revolutionaries, hostile Native Americans, outlaws, comancheros, and rustlers was as
invaluable as it was unrecognized. It was also accomplished over some of the most rugged
and inhospitable country in North America. A list of their adversaries - Geronimo, Sitting
Bull, Victorio, Lone Wolf, Billy the Kid, and Pancho Villa - reads like a quote of 'Who's
Who' of the American West. (Academic Assistance Center)
The Buffalo Soldiers also explored and mapped large areas of the southwest and strung
thousands of miles of telegraph lines. The Black Soldiers built and fixed frontier
outposts where towns and even cities would begin. "Without the protection provided by
the 9th and 10th Cavalries, crews building the ever expanding
railroads were at the mercy of outlaws and hostile Indians." (Utley 62) The Buffalo
Soldiers, despite extreme prejudices and the worst assignments, did their duties to the
best of their abilities. Thus, they continued to receive more citations for valor than any
other group in the United States military.
The Spanish-American War gave them but another chance to prove their abilities.
African-American soldiers were involved in the war from the beginning. At least thirty
Blacks were stationed on the battleship Maine when it exploded in Havana harbor on
February 15, 1898. Of these men, twenty-two of them were killed. Thousands of
African-Americans volunteered to join the United States' deficient army. In the beginning,
the newly formed Black regiments had no Black officers. "But a widespread campaign
around the slogan 'No officers, no fight" succeeded in winning some concessions. In
all about one-hundred officers were commissioned i the volunteer units in the course of
the war." (Crane 52)
"In fact, Black troops played a conspicuous part in all three of the major Cuban
campaigns. Their performance was to be a source of pride to Afro-Americans for years
afterward." (Mullen 36) Most of the Buffalo soldiers fighting in Cuba won the
commendation of their "white officers." The distinguished Black Ninth and Tenth
Cavalry saved Roosevelt and his Rough Riders from being completely slaughtered. Theodore
Roosevelt bestowed great praise of the Afro-American soldiers at that time. The widespread
heroism displayed by the African-American soldiers ended up with six Buffalo soldiers
receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor.
