Salem Poor Salem Poor ( 1747 – 1802 ) was an African - American slave who purchased his freedom , became a soldier , and rose to fame as a war hero during the American Revolutionary War . Early life . Poor was born in 1747 into slavery on a farm in Andover , Massachusetts owned by John Poor and his son John Poor Jr . He bought his freedom on July 10 , 1769 from John Poor Jr . for £27 , a year ' s salary for an average working man at the time . Military career . In May 1775 , Poor enlisted in the militia , serving under Captain Benjamin Ames in Colonel James Frye ' s regiment , opposing the British troops occupying besieged Boston . He is best remembered today for his actions during the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17 , 1775 , where he is credited with mortally wounding British Lieutenant Colonel James Abercrombie . Poor ' s valor and gallantry at the Battle of Bunker Hill prompted 14 officers , including Colonel William Prescott , to cite him for heroism and petition the General Court of Massachusetts with the following statement : The Reward due to so great and Distinguished a Character . The Subscribers beg leave to Report to your Honorable . House ( Which We do in justice to the Character of so Brave a man ) that under Our Own observation , we declare that A Negro Man Called Salem Poor of Col . Fryes Regiment , Capt . Ames . Company in the late Battle of Charleston , behaved like an Experienced Officer , as Well as an Excellent Soldier , to Set forth Particulars of his Conduct would be Tedious , We Would Only beg leave to say in the Person of this Negro Centers a Brave & gallant Soldier . On July 10 , 1775 , George Washington ended the recruitment of African Americans . On November 12 , he issued orders prohibiting all black men from serving in the Continental Army . ( Despite the ban on recruitment , those who had already been serving for some time were allowed to stay until this point . ) On hearing of this , Lord Dunmore , who at the time was Governor of Virginia , offered freedom to all slaves willing to serve with the British . Washington , sensing the disaster that would almost surely result , immediately changed his position , at once ordering all recruiters to enlist any black men who wanted to fight . Poor immediately re - enlisted in the militia and fought with the Patriot forces until March 20 , 1780 , when he was apparently discharged . He is known to have retreated to the winter camp at Valley Forge and fought in the Battle of White Plains . Personal life . In August 1771 , Poor married Nancy Parker , " a half breed Indian servant in the family of Capt . James Parker " , according to papers in the Charlotte Helen Abbot Collection of the Andover Historical Society ; they had a son , Jonas , who was baptized on September 29 , 1776 . In 1780 , he married his second wife , Mary Twing , a free African American . The couple moved to Providence ; however , they were ordered to leave that city , presumably because they could not support themselves . In 1785 , he placed an advertisement in the " Boston Gazette " to disown Mary ' s debts and " forewarn all Persons from trusting MARY , the Wife of the Subscriber " . Poor then married Sarah Stevens , a white woman , in 1787 , and in 1793 he spent several weeks in the Boston Almshouse . He was briefly jailed for " breach of peace " in 1799 , married for the fourth and final time in 1801 , and died in 1802 . Details of his life after the Revolutionary War were not known until research by genealogist David Lambert , a descendant of Poor ' s former owners ; an article about this research appeared in " The Boston Globe " in 2007 . Honors . Poor was honored with a stamp in the " Contributors to the Cause " series commemorating the United States Bicentennial in 1975 .