Slave and soldier
Subtitle: the military impact of Blacks in the colonial Americas
By: Peter M. Voelz.
Series: Studies in African American history and culture
Publisher: Garland
Published: 1993
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 521
Subjects: Soldiers, Black -- North America -- History.; Soldiers, Black -- South America -- History.; Slaves -- North America -- History.; Slaves -- South America -- History.
Description: "We shall examine how the Negro traveled from servant to full-time professional soldier. It is the last role that will interest us most. The British West India Regiments, composed of black soldiers, became the ideal of such forces in the nineteenth century. More than any other units, they were a microcosm of the factors surrounding armed blacks in the Americas. Their impact on the individual slave as soldier was greater, probably, than for any other military role he played. Their impact on the colonies and on slavery, and the issues that resulted, exemplified almost all the themes raised in this work ... They were significant to the military success of the British Empire, and that itself is worth studying as a chapter in the history of the Negro. But they were also important to the blacks in the Americas, to the institution of slavery, to the British colonies they garrisoned and the foreign countries they occupied, to race relations in the New World, and indeed to our common history"--Page 8-9.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 485-498) and index.
Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.--University of Michigan), 1978.