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The important battle of Guilford Courthouse (March 15, 1781), as well as
many other battles and events of the American Revolution, involved the
participation of African Americans. North Carolina's colonial militia
law of 1774, which governed its army of citizen-soldiers, allowed the
service of any free male citizen over the age of 16 to the age of 50.
This included free and indentured whites as well as free blacks. The
Continental Army, created at the beginning of the war in 1775, regularly
conscripted and enlisted "*Free Men of Color*" into its ranks, either
into all-black units or, especially in the final years of the war, into
the ranks of other units. Estimates of Continental Army strengths during
the war indicate that perhaps as many as 10% or more were African
American soldiers.

African Americans are known to have served on both sides during the
American Revolution. British policy aimed at rebel land owners enticed
slaves to escape into the British lines. Lord Cornwallis's army, in its
march through South and North Carolina in 1781, attracted large numbers
of excaped and freed slaves. Although few, if any, were freed by the
British, most were employed in military labor battalions. There are
indications that some blacks fought with regular British regiments or in
loyalist units. For the American cause, African American manpower was
equally sought to fill the ranks as soldiers, substitute soldiers, and
as laborers.

Although the Army commanded by Major General Nathanael Greene numbered
over 4,400 men, there are only a few known black soldiers within its
ranks. History, unfortunately, may hide the names and service of more
than the few mentioned below.

One of the best know African American soldiers in the battle of Guilford
Courthouse was Thomas Carney, a corporal serving with the veteran
Marlyland Line. In 1775 Carney enlisted in the Seventh Maryland Regiment
"*for the War*." He had already fought in many of the major battles of
the Revolution in the North under General George Washington when the
Maryland Line was sent to the Southern Theater in 1780. At the battle of
Guilford Courthouse, Carney and his reorganized unit, now the First
Maryland Regiment, was posted on Greene's third line of defense just
west of the courthouse. When the British attacked this line Carney's
regiment was

Thrown into the thick of the fighting. When he filed for a veteran's
pension in 1818, Carney stated that he had bayoneted seven redcoats at
Guilford and, later, saved the life of his company officer at the siege
of Ninety-Six, South Carolina. Carney continued with the Continental
Army for the rest of the war and was mustered out of service with the
rest of the maryland Line at Annapolis in 1783.

A free black, Zachariah Jacobs, from Brunswick County, served with the
North Carolina Militia at Guilford Courthouse and several other battles
of the Southern Campaign. Jacobs died in 1847 and as a veteran of the
Revolution, his widow, Sally Jacobs, was entitled to file for a pension
based on her husband's service.

Cyfax Brown was a black servant to Major St. George Tucker, a
Chesterfield County, Virginia staff officer serving in General Robert
Lawson's Virginia militia brigade. According to letters written by
Tucker to his wife, Brown was with him on the fild during the battle of
Guilford Courthouse.

Andrew Ferguson, self-described as a "*colored man*" according to his
1838 declaration for a veteran's pension, was born in Dinwiddie County,
Virginia. At the age of fifteen he and his father were imprisoned by the
British Army. When the opportunity presented itself, he and his father
ran away because *"they whipped us with the cat-of-nine-tails*". Without
a home or means, Ferguson enlisted in the American army in early 1780
and was placed in Captain William Harris' mounted Virgnia militia
company of Colonel McCormack's regiment. He fought with this unit at
Kings Mountain and Cowpens in South Carolina. At Guilford Courthoiuse
Furguson was wounded in the head during th "*battle with Corn Wallace*"
and spent a month recuperating at the American hospital established at
the Troublesome Creek Ironworks. Well enough to leave, he rejoined
Greene's army in South Carolina and fought at the battle of Eutaw
Springs. His head wound caused him further pain and he was sent back to
North Carolina. Here he was found by the son of his master and returned
to Virginia in late 1781. At the time of his pension application in 1838
he was living in Monroe County, Indiana where he died in 1855 at the age
of 90.

William Kitchen, a white North Carolina militiaman from Edgecombe
County, North Carolina deserted from the army prior to the battle of
Guilford Courthouse. Caught and rather than return to the army himself,
Kitchen purchased from William Griffen, Ned Griffen, a "*Man of mixed
Blood*", to serve in his place. Hiring a substitue was a common practice
for those who could afford it, but in this case Ned Griffin was given
the full promise from his new owner that if he would go in his place, he
would have his full freedom upon return. Griffin did return having
fulfilled his service (it is believed to have been at the battle of
Guilford Courthouse), but Kitchen failed to fulfill his promise and
instead sold him back again into slavery. In April 1784 Griffin
petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly for his freedom based on
Kitchen's "promise". The assembly acted quickly and enacted legislation
that greed and enfranchised Ned Griffin and declared him"*forever
delivered and discharged from the yoke of slavery*."

There were at least two African American soldiers among Nathanael
Greene's soldiers captured at Guilford Courthouse. Among the Cornwallis
papers presered by the Public Records Office in London is a document
listing captured rebels. On this list are "Negro George", a soldier of
the Second Maryland Regiment, and "Negro Richard Pendergrass", a
militiaman serving with General John Butler's North Carolina militia
brigrade.

Sadly for many African American the chance to fight for their own
freedom and for the independence of a new country was denied. Slavery
was very much a cruel part of the 18th century American life,
inexplicable at a time when rights and freedom were the words spoken on
most American lips. For those who did fight for the cause of
independence, their victory gave rise to a new nation where their dream
for freedom could come true, but the reality of real freedom for all
African Americans was still almost a century away.