When I read of the heroic deeds of colonial-era black troops in defeating British troops, I am moved to wonder, in light of later events in our history, whether they gullibly and credulously killed their true deliverers, unawares?
For example, John Wesley Cromwell, Esq., an early Howard University Law School graduate, writes in his great book, the one that inspired the iconic Carter G. Woodson, THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY; MEN AND WOMEN EMINENT IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN OF AFRICAN DESCENT (1913), the following :
"Salem Poor was the subject of a memorial to the General Court of Massachusetts for his soldierly bearing and bravery. To Peter Salem belongs the distinction of killing Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill, and Jordan Freeman killed Major Montgomery at the storming of Ft. Griswold. At the battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778, a battalion of 400 Negroes withstood three separate charges from 1,500 Hessians under Count Donop. In his description of the battle, Arnold says: 'It was in repelling the furious onslaught, that the newly raised black regiment under Colonel Green distinguished itself by deeds of desperate valor. Posted behind a thicket in the valley, three times they drove back the Hessians who charged repeatedly down the hill to dislodge them; and so determined were the enemy in these successive charges, that the day after the battle the Hessian Colonel who had led the attack, applied to exchange his command and go to New York, because he dared not lead his regiment again to battle lest his men should shoot him for having caused so much loss."
P.51
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Friday, February 20, 2015
KILL THEIR DELIVERERS UNAWARES?
KILL THE DELIVERERS UNAWARES?
When I read of the heroic deeds of colonial-era black troops in defeating British troops, I am moved to wonder, in light of later events in our history, whether they gullibly and credulously killed their true deliverers, unawares?
For example, John Wesley Cromwell, Esq., an early Howard University Law School graduate, writes in his great book, the one that inspired the iconic Carter G. Woodson, THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY; MEN AND WOMEN EMINENT IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN OF AFRICAN DESCENT (1913), the following :
"Salem Poor was the subject of a memorial to the General Court of Massachusetts for his soldierly bearing and bravery. To Peter Salem belongs the distinction of killing Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill, and Jordan Freeman killed Major Montgomery at the storming of Ft. Griswold. At the battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778, a battalion of 400 Negroes withstood three separate charges from 1,500 Hessians under Count Donop. In his description of the battle, Arnold says: 'It was in repelling the furious onslaught, that the newly raised black regiment under Colonel Green distinguished itself by deeds of desperate valor. Posted behind a thicket in the valley, three times they drove back the Hessians who charged repeatedly down the hill to dislodge them; and so determined were the enemy in these successive charges, that the day after the battle the Hessian Colonel who had led the attack, applied to exchange his command and go to New York, because he dared not lead his regiment again to battle lest his men should shoot him for having caused so much loss."
P.51
"
When I read of the heroic deeds of colonial-era black troops in defeating British troops, I am moved to wonder, in light of later events in our history, whether they gullibly and credulously killed their true deliverers, unawares?
For example, John Wesley Cromwell, Esq., an early Howard University Law School graduate, writes in his great book, the one that inspired the iconic Carter G. Woodson, THE NEGRO IN AMERICAN HISTORY; MEN AND WOMEN EMINENT IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN OF AFRICAN DESCENT (1913), the following :
"Salem Poor was the subject of a memorial to the General Court of Massachusetts for his soldierly bearing and bravery. To Peter Salem belongs the distinction of killing Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill, and Jordan Freeman killed Major Montgomery at the storming of Ft. Griswold. At the battle of Rhode Island, August 29, 1778, a battalion of 400 Negroes withstood three separate charges from 1,500 Hessians under Count Donop. In his description of the battle, Arnold says: 'It was in repelling the furious onslaught, that the newly raised black regiment under Colonel Green distinguished itself by deeds of desperate valor. Posted behind a thicket in the valley, three times they drove back the Hessians who charged repeatedly down the hill to dislodge them; and so determined were the enemy in these successive charges, that the day after the battle the Hessian Colonel who had led the attack, applied to exchange his command and go to New York, because he dared not lead his regiment again to battle lest his men should shoot him for having caused so much loss."
P.51
"