The Heroic Service of African Americans in the American Revolution

The Heroic Service of African Americans in the American Revolution. . , Fort Mercer, October 1777 , At least 4% of Continental Army soldiers comprised men of African, Native American, or mixed ancestry. In the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island regiments, persons of color amounted to almost 15% of the men. In October 1777, these two regiments fought heroically at forts Mercer and Mifflin, Delaware River forts that prevented the British Army in Philadelphia from receiving supplies by water., "Loose No Time" , At the beginning of October 1777, only militia manned Fort Mercer. On October 9, Col. Christopher Greene, commander of the 1st Rhode Island, received orders from General George Washington to "Loose no Time" in moving his regiment to Fort Mercer. Over the next two days, his 250 men marched 48 miles without sleep., October 18, the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment arrived at Fort Mercer. The two regiments alternated between duty at Fort Mifflin, digging and carpentering at Mercer, and training to defend the ramparts. October 21, their work at Mercer intensified after learning that 1,600 Hessians were coming to attack the fort., A Bloody Victory , October 22, the Hessian attack began about 4:00 P.M. with a twenty-minute cannonade, followed by a thousand Hessians assaulting the fort. Some Rhode Islanders fired blindly while others remained calm, methodically shooting the attacking Germans. The Hessian assault was brave but doomed. Lashed by artillery and musketry, the Hessians struggled through the abatis, filled-in sections of the ditch with bundles of brush, and attempted to climb the ramparts. The vertical ramparts, however, proved too high to scale without ladders. Forty-five minutes after it began, the attack collapsed, and the Hessians began their retreat, returning to Philadelphia. They suffered over 380 officers and men killed, wounded, and captured. The Rhode Islanders had 14 officers and men killed and at least 23 wounded, including "Tom Reynolds, Negro." Fort Mercer was a Continental victory, one of the most complete of the American Revolution., New Jersey African American soldiers in the American Revolution included Oliver Cromwell, born in Black Horse (now Columbus), Burlington County, as a freeman. Cromwell participated in almost every major battle of the war's northern campaign and endured the same depredations as other soldiers in Jockey Hollow during winters there. He expressed great pride in George Washington signing his discharge after having served for six years in New Jersey's Second Regiment., In his famous 1851 painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware, artist Emanuel Leutze included a Black man handling an oar to propel the Durham boat to the Jersey shore. Some have claimed this depicts Oliver Cromwell., Titus, a 22-year old enslaved man escaped his bonds in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, during 1775 and traveled to Norfolk with other Monmouth County men of color to join Virginia Governor Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment. The British offered freedom at war's end to any enslaved man who fought for them, and many took them at their word. Dunmore disbanded his regiment in 1776. Titus then remained unknown until the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778. Leader of the Black Brigade, Titus became known as Colonel Tye, and he rode with the Queen's Rangers. Tye's brigade gained notoriety in 1780 from a series of raids, including one against Joshua Huddy. Tye suffered a wound there that caused his demise from gangrene within weeks.