-
5 Revolutionary War Service, Path to Freedom
- Wesleyan University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
26 The largest battle fought in Connecticut during the American Revolution , the Battle of Groton Heights, took place in 1781 at Fort Griswold in Groton, which overlooked the entrance to the Thames River. Seeking to free up this obstacle, on September 6 a contingent of British soldiers attacked the fort, which was defended by local militia. Many of the Connecticut men died during this battle, including two African Americans defenders Lambert Latham and Jordan Freeman. One of the few markers installed to note the experiences of Connecticut’s African American Revolutionary War soldiers shows Freeman during the battle using a spear to kill the British officer Major William Montgomery. Both Latham and Freeman were enslaved at the time and likely did not have to accompany their owners to the fort, or at least did not have to participate in the battle. Yet, these two men represent several Connecticut blacks who fought for American freedom without any apparent promise that by doing so they would themselves be free afterward. Connecticut’s colonial records show that African Americans fought in most of the colony’s wars prior to the American Revolution . Some of these black soldiers were free and some owned by whites. An example of one man who was free is Prince Goodin, who lived in Canterbury. In 1757 he joined a company of men formed by Israel Putnam to fight in the French and Indian War (1754–1763). Rev. James Cogswell, Canterbury’s minister, urged Putnam’s unit to fight against the French forces threatening the British colonies “for our Properties, our Liberties, our Religion, our Lives.”1 During a battle at Lake George, Goodin was taken prisoner and sold as a slave in Montreal. Three years later he was freed by British led forces and returned to Connecticut. Goodin petitioned Connecticut for money to cover the three years he spent enslaved in Montreal, and the General Assembly agreed with his request. He was paid ten pounds.2 Goodin married in 1761 and bought a house and land in Canterbury, but for some reason he soon sold this propDavid O. White 5 Revolutionary War Service, Path to Freedom Revolutionary War . . . Path to Freedom / D. O. White 27 erty and disappeared from the town’s records.3 His experiences note that before 1770 an African American man could serve in the armed forces of the colony, marry, and own property. His case, however, does not reflect the experiences of most blacks living in Connecticut at that time. When the Revolutionary War began in 1775, blacks responded to the call for troops, and many of them were among the militiamen who converged on eastern Massachusetts. Lemuel Haynes of West Hartford, whose father was an African, was no longer living in Connecticut , but he did serve with Minutemen who fought in the first engagements at Lexington and Concord. Haynes later saw duty at Fort Ticonderoga. After the Revolution, he entered the ministry and served Congregational churches in Torrington, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York. Several of these churches were predominantly white.4 Timon Negro of Wethersfield was one of the few black soldiers from Connecticut to march to Massachusetts on April 20, when the Lexington alarm was given. Cash Affrica of Litchfield served with Connecticut’s First Regiment.5 Blacks were not re-enlisted in 1776 because the Continental Army and many state regiments closed their ranks to them. In the latter part of 1775, George Washington held several war councils which decided to exclude slaves from the army and “to reject negroes altogether.” Connecticut’s representatives to these councils agreed with the decisions.6 When they were announced in November , free blacks voiced such strong disapproval that Congress, fearful that they might join the British, ordered in January that those free blacks who had served at Boston could re-enlist, but no others.7 Cash Affrica did serve again from 1777 until the war ended in 1783. Enslaved men could have been motivated to enlist in the army for several reasons, but for many the major reason was that such service often meant that they would be free at the end of the war. Free blacks were motivated to serve for much the same reasons as were the whites: adventure, conviction, or for the bounty.8 Some African American soldiers from Connecticut were already free when they joined their countrymen in opposing the British during the war, though it is not easy to determine which men fit this category. When a black soldier...