AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
IN the month of July, 1847,
the eloquent Bard of Freedom, JOHN G. WHITTIER,
contributed to the National Era a statement of
facts relative to the Military Services of Colored
Americans in the Revolution of 1776, and the War of
1812. Being a member of the Society of Friends, he
disclaimed any eulogy upon the shedding of blood, even
in the cause of acknowledged justice, but, says he,
"when we see a whole nation doing honor to the memories
of one class of its defenders, to the total neglect of
another class, who had the misfortune to be of darker
complexion, we cannot forego the satisfaction of
inviting notice to certain historical fats, which, for
the last half century, have been quietly elbowed aside,
as no ore deserving of a place in patriotic
recollection, than the descendants of the men, to whom
the facts in question relate, have to a place in a
Fourth of July procession, [in the nation's estimation.]
Of the services and sufferings of the Colored Soldiers
of the Revolution, no attempt has, to our knowledge,
been made to preserve a record. They have had no
historian. With here and there an exception, they
have all passed away, and only some faint traditions
linger among their descendants. Yet enough is
known to show that the free colored men of the United
States bore their full proportion of the sacrifices and
trials of the Revolutionary War."
In my attempt, then, to rescue from oblivion the name
and fame of those who, though "tinged with the hated
stain," yet had warm hearts and active hands in the
"times that tried men's souls," I will first gratefully
tender him my thanks for the service his compilation has
afforded me, and my acknowledgments also to other
individuals who have kindly contributed facts for this
work. Imperfect as these pages may prove, to
prepare even these, journeys have been made to confer
with the living, and even pilgrimages to grave-yards, to
save all that may still be gleaned from their fast
dissappearing reords.
There is now an institution of learning in the State of
New York, (Central College,) where the chair of
Professorship in Belles Lettres has been filled by three
colored young men, CHARLES L. REASON, WILLIAM G.
ALLEN, and GEORGE B. VASHON, each of whom has
worn the Professor's mantle gracefully, giving proof of
good scholarship and manly character.
These men, as teachers, especially in Colleges open to
all, irrespective of accidental differences, are doing a
mighty work in uprooting prejudice. The influences
thus generated are already felt. Many a young
white man or woman who, in early life, has imbibed wrong
notions of the colored man's inferiority, is taught a
new lesson by the colored Professors at McGrawville; and
they leave its honored walls with thanksgiving in their
hearts for their conversion from pro-slavery heathenism
to the Gospel of Christian Freedom, and are thus
prepared to go forth as pioneers in the cause of Human
Brotherhood.
But the Orator's voice and Author's pen have both been
eloquent in detailing the merits of Colored Americans in
these various ramifications of society, while a
combination of circumstances has veiled from the public
eye a narration of those military services which are
generally conceded as passports to the honorable and
lasting notice of Americans.*
I was born on Beacon Hill, and from early
childhood, have loved to visit the Eastern wing of the
State House, and read the four stones taken from the
monument that once towered from its summit. One
contains the following inscription: -
"Americans, while from this
eminence scenes of luxuriant fertility, of flourishing
commerce, and the abodes of social happiness, meet your
view, forget not those who by their exertions have
secured to you these blessings.
These words became indelibly
impressed upon my mind, and have contributed their share
in the production of this book, which, like the labors
of "Old Mortality," rendered immortal by the genius of
Scott, I humbly trust will deepen in the heart and
conscience of this nation the sense of justice, that
will ere long manifest itself in deeds worthy a people
who, "free themselves," should be "foremost to make
free."
WILLIAM C. NELL.
BOSTON, October, 1855.
* In 1852, Dr. M. R. DELANY published a work with
special reference to the condition of the colored people
in the United States. |