Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-07-12

1 ee-AAAy 4oA AAAE86 y5afB were euElblBQ 70
the same bounty as the whites. This
bounty their masters received, as the
price Of their liberty, and then delivered
/ up Lnelr bills of sale and gave them q
C5rUlIlca ave OF uanumissiOn. Several Of
enese pllls ana certificates were depOs-
lLed IN my hands, and those who sur
VlFe4 the three years service were free. !"
I in Vermont, August, I777. Gen Stark
/ with his Green Mountain Bows aided
by troops from New. Hampshire, and
/ Berkshire county, Massachusetts, cap
tured the left wing Of the British army
near Bennington. Ihe prisoners were
i tied to a rope, emo on each side; the rope
L not being long enough, Cen, Stark
called Tor more, when Mrs Robinson,
wife OfHon. Moses Robinson, said Gen
/ eral I will take down the last bedstead
in the house and, present 3t to you on
! one condition. When all the prison
ers are tied to the rope, you shall per-
| mt my negro man to harness up my
OLD mare, and hitch the rope to a whifi1e-
/ tree, mount the mare, and conduct the
British and tory prisoners out Of town. -
/ Inc proposition was accepted, and in
| this manner the left wing of the British
army was conducted into Massachusetts,.
The Hon. Tristan Burgess, in a speech
in Congress, in 1928, said: siAt the COM
mencement Of the Revolutionary war,
/ Rhode Island had number Of slaves.
/ A regiment Of them we're enlisted into
] the Continental service, and no Drawer
men met the enemy in hattles but not
| one of them was permitted to be a sold
ier until he had first been made a free
man."
In relation to this regiment, Gov. Eus-
! tis says; tHIhe gallant defense of Red
/ Bank, in which the black regiment
/ bore part, is among the proofs OF their
ValOr. In this contest four hundred
men met and repulsed, after a bloody
struggle, afbeen hundred Hessians,
headed by Count Dunlop" In the at
tack upon our lines near Croton river,
| Col ctreene, the commander Of the reg
I iment, was mOrtally wounded, "but the
sabres of the enemy only reached him
through the bodies of his faithful gaurd
of blacks, every one of whom was kill
ed" Lieut.. Col Barton planned the cap
ture of the British Major-Gen. Prescott.
Taking with him forty picked men,
with mufi1ed oars, they evaded the ships
/ Of war and arriving at the headquarters
| Of the General, secured the sentinel at
the door, without creating an alarm
l A negro man, named Prince, thrust his
head through the panel Of the door of
the Genera1's room, seized him while in
bed, ahd he was conveyed in safety to
our lines.
A Battalion Of colOred troops was
formed in Connecticut, and there was
some difficulty in finding suitable Off
GERS to take charge Of it. Capt. Hum
phreys, a member Of General Washing
TOMS staff, afterwards Gen. Humphreys,
distinguished as a patriot, a scholar,
and poet, volunteered to take COM
mand of company, after which there
was no trouble in finding officers for the
cOlored battalion.
1t is known to every one that when
the British army, under the traitor Ar
mold, stOrmed Fort GrisWOId, on Gro
ton heights, the first British officer who
who mounted the parapet demanded,
'WhO commands this fort ?" To which
the gallant Col. Iedyard replied, 81 did,
but you do new" at the same time de-
liverinE up his sword, when the infa-
NOUS Briton immediatly thrust that
sword through his body to its hilt but
it is not generally known that cOlored
soldier named Lambert, standing near
the Colonel, at once avenged his death
by thrusting his bayOnet through the
body Of the British officer and that
Lambert in turn fell, pierced by no less
than thirty-three bayonet wounds.
Tt is a matter Of history that many
coIOred men were enlisted or went as
substitutes in all Of the Connecticut
regiments, and fought side by side with
the whi e patriots Of the Revolution
This is proven by the fact that a large
number of names of cOlored soldiers
were on the pension rolls for many
years.
During the revolutionary war the
State Of New York passed an act, grant
ing freedom to all slaves who would en-
VI "
discharged. On the 23d Of January,
1927, Stephen Martindale said in Con-
gresss "Slaves, or those who had been
slaves, were enlisted in the war of the
revolution" 81 saw a battalion Of them
as fine, notwithstanding men as i ever
saw attached 90 the Northern army in
the last war, on its way from Plattsburg
to Saclzett's HarbOr."
In New jersey the names Of a large
number of coIored soldiers Of the revO-
LIT
many years after the close of the war.
Pennsylvania also furnishes many
names of cOlOred soldiers who distin-
guished themselves i'm the revolution.
1 have time to mention but one, James
FOrteu enlisted as a pOwder-boy on the
Roval I,ouis. commanded .bv stephen
Decatur, Sen. Falling ia soon with the
English ship Lawrence, q bloody en-
gagement ensued, in which every man
on board was wounded except young
Forten. They nevertheless succeeded
in capturing the ship, and brought her
safely into port amid the huEzas Of the
populaee-.
Young Forten soon embarked again
on board the same ship, but falling In
with three of the enefny's vessels, the
Emphyone, Nymph, and Pomona, was
unfortunately captured. Our young
captive soon became a favorite. Capt.
Bensley offered him a passage to Eng
land, and tempted him with allure
menus on wealth. u ne .Na0lAA NEaatLL hlAG
Of his country. No, mol was
the indignant reply, 81 am here a pris-
Oner for the liberties of NV country,
never, never, shall prove a traitor to
her interestsl % HeWas soon transferred
to the Old jersey prison ship, that re-
ceptacle of filth, and disease, and star
walton, equalIed or excelled only in hor-
ror by the prison. pens of AndersonvilIe
and Salisbury. 1t is said that over elev-
en- thousand prisoners perished while on
board that floating hell. After seven
months confinement young FOrten was
EXCHANGED and was permitted to visit
his widowed mother, who had long Civ
en- him up as dead. After the close Of
the war, he was apprenticed, with his
own consent, to Mr.. RObt Bridges sail
maker. Such was his skill and energy
and perseverance,, that he was soon pro
NOTED to be foreman of the shop and
on the retirement of his master in 179S,
became the proprietor of the establish
ment; where by his honesty, Skill and
industry he won the confidence and
of the public, and accumula-
ed a handsome property. He was dis
inguished during his whole life for acts
IF kindness and benoVOlence.
John Cadwalader, in letter to Wash
ugton dated Annapolis, Nd, June 5,
.78l, sayss ave have resolved to raise
seven hundred and fifty
legrOes to be Incorporated with the 9TH
n troops and the bill is now almCst
completed" In Virginia and North
Carolina many soldiers were put in the
ield. Many Shareholders put in able
Dodied slaves as substitutes for Them
elves or their sons, choosing rather to
islc their property than their own pre-
ious lives. IT is due to Virginia to
ay that through the influence of JefTer-
on, she enacted a law, providing that
III slaves who entered the war and
served in the ranks should on
eing discharged be free. South Caro-
a. H.
7hioh persistently refused Co permit
heir slaves to enter the patriot army,
nder the plea that it would render in
scure the Institution Of slavery. The
ruth Is, that a majority of the slave
olders Of South Carolina were not du-
ing the war OF the revolution. and have
ever since that time been at heart i'm
lvO- of "a free republican government;
nd nothing but the indefatigable labors
{ such men as PinCkney, and Rutledge
~ n