Struck with the reasonableness and justice of this suggestion, General
Sullivan at once gave him his freedom.
The late Tristam Burgess, of Rhode Island, in a speech in Congress, first
month, 1828, said "At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, Rhode
Island had a number of slaves. A regiment of them were enlisted into the
Continental service, and no braver men met the enemy in battle; but not
one of them was permitted to be a soldier until he had first been made a
freeman."
The celebrated Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, in his speech on the
Missouri question, and in defence of the slave representation of the
South, made the following admissions:--
"They (the colored people) were in numerous instances the pioneers, and
in all the laborers, of our armies. To their hands were owing the
greatest part of the fortifications raised for the protection of the
country. Fort Moultrie gave, at an early period of the inexperienced and
untried valor of our citizens, immortality to the American arms; and in
the Northern States numerous bodies of them were enrolled, and fought
side by side with the whites at the battles of the Revolution.
Pages:
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130