ABSTRACT
The waging of the Revolutionary War, a conflict of liberty and independence fought primarily by white colonials, personified the struggle of African Americans seeking their own measure of freedom. 1 While colonials sought economic, political, and religious independence, blacks viewed it as a personal matter steeped in individual freedom from slavery and racial advancement. The war set precedents for whites and blacks alike that would continue for centuries. For blacks, service in the conflict provided a pathway to liberty and rights and the enhancement of opportunities. Unfortunately, the white majority also set a pattern for this and future wars-to call upon African Americans only in time of great need and then to ignore them and their contributions once peace resumed. 2
The first Africans to arrive in the English colonies in North America landed at Jamestown as slaves in 1619. Over the next several decades, their numbers remained so few that the colonists saw no threat of a slave rebellion and armed their slaves to fight the Native Americans. Black slave and white master stood side by side to defend their homes and farms against their domestic adversaries. 3 Freemen and slaves were welcomed into the local militias for the first several decades in the American colonies. The only reward for the black man was his self-survival albeit in continued slavery.
