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HELLO, MY NAME IS NILES YEAGER AND I'M DELIGHTED TO WELCOME YOU TO THE SECOND LECTURE IN OUR SERIES, TALK ABOUT THE REVOLUTION, WHICH IS DESIGNED TO ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY IN OUR SEMI QUINCENTENNIAL, WHICH MOST OF YOU WILL KNOW AS OUR 250TH ANNIVERSARY AS A NATION.
THIS YEAR, I'M A VICE CHAIR OF REVOLUTIONARY HASTINGS, A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HASTINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND WE ARE BRINGING YOU TONIGHT'S LECTURE WITH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE VILLAGE OF HASTINGS.
AND BEFORE I INTRODUCE OUR SPECIAL GUEST, I WANNA ALERT YOU ALL TO TWO UPCOMING EVENTS ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 28TH AT 7:30 PM OUR OWN FRED CHARLES WINDOW, DARTER EXTRAORDINAIRE, AND HASTINGS FORMIDABLE HISTORY TEACHER GREG SMITH, WILL TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
THIS WILL BE A STIMULATING AND REVEALING CONVERSATION, AND IT IS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE FOLLOWING WEEKS.
EXCITING PRESENTATION, WHICH WE'RE CALLING DECLARATION LIVE.
DECLARATION LIVE WILL TAKE PLACE RIGHT HERE ON THE LIBRARY AND VILLAGE HALL CAMPUS ON FRIDAY, JUNE 5TH, BEGINNING AT 5:00 PM THERE WILL BE HISTORICAL CHARACTERS, PERIOD CRAFTS IN INTERPRETIVE DANCES AND PRESENTATIONS BY JONATHAN CROOK AS THOMAS JEFFERSON, WHO WILL TELL US HOW HE CAME TO WRITE THE DOCUMENT THAT FOUNDED OUR NATION.
JEFFERSON WILL THEN INTRODUCE A DRAMATIC READING OF THE DECLARATION ON THE STEPS OF OUR VILLAGE HALL WITH, UH, UH, BY A CAST OF LOCAL ACTORS, ELECTED OFFICIALS, AND TOWNSPEOPLE FROM THE VILLAGE.
SO LOOK FOR MORE INFORMATION SOON AND SAVE THE DATE FRIDAY, JUNE 5TH.
UH, EILEEN CHARLES CAN PROVIDE MORE DETAILS.
UH, AND NOW IT'S MY PLEASURE TO INTRODUCE TONIGHT'S SPEAKER, DR. SHIRLEY GREEN, AUTHOR OF REVOLUTIONARY BLACKS DISCOVERING THE FRANK BROTHERS FREEBORN, MEN OF COLOR, SOLDIERS OF INDEPENDENCE.
DR. GREEN RECEIVED HER PHD IN HISTORY FROM BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY IN OHIO AFTER A 26 YEAR CAREER IN LAW ENFORCEMENT.
SHE'S AN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE TOLEDO POLICE MUSEUM, WHICH I'M VERY CURIOUS TO VISIT.
HER BOOK TELLS A SURPRISING PERSONAL TALE AND PAINTS A PICTURE OF THE CHOICES FACED BY FREE AND ENSLAVED BLACK MEN DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN'T HEAR ME.
UM, I WANNA THANK NILES FOR IN THE REVOLUTIONARY HASTINGS GROUP FOR INVITING ME TO SPEAK THIS EVENING.
UM, THEY'VE BEEN A VERY GRACIOUS HOST.
UM, MY TRIP HERE, THIS IS THE SECOND TIME I'VE BEEN TO WESTCHESTER COUNTY AND HAD A WONDERFUL TIME, UH, TWO YEARS AGO.
UM, AND I THINK YOU WERE THE THIRD PRESENTATION THAT I MADE ABOUT, UH, THE BOOK REVOLUTIONARY BLACKS.
THE FIRST TWO WERE IN, IN MY HOME STATE OF OHIO.
SO, UH, YOU WERE THE FIRST GROUP THAT I TALKED TO OUTSIDE OF MY HOME STATE ABOUT THE BOOK, AND I HAD A WONDERFUL TIME THEN, AND I'M HAVING A GREAT TIME NOW.
UM, I THINK THAT'S ALL OF THE INTRODUCTORY THINGS I WANTED TO DO.
UM, SO I WANNA TALK ABOUT THE BOOK, AND MY BOOK IS PART FAMILY HISTORY AND PART MICRO HISTORY.
SO MICRO HISTORY IS WHEN YOU FOCUS ON A PERSON, AN EVENT, A COMMUNITY, AND OR A LOCATION ON A SMALL LEVEL TO TELL A BIGGER STORY ABOUT HISTORICAL FORCES OR EVENTS.
NOW, MOST FAMILY HISTORIANS AND MICRO HISTORIANS START OUT ON THEIR RESEARCH TRYING TO ANSWER QUESTIONS OR MYSTERIES ABOUT A CERTAIN ANCESTOR OR A CERTAIN ASPECT OF HISTORY.
SO I HAVE TO TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY BACKGROUND BEFORE I GET INTO MY FAMILY HISTORY HERE.
I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN TOLEDO, OHIO, SO WAS MY FATHER.
MY MOTHER, HOWEVER, WAS BORN AND RAISED IN EAST LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.
HER FATHER WAS BORN AND RAISED IN NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA.
NOW, WHEN I FIRST STARTED MY RESEARCH AS A FAMILY HISTORIAN, I WAS TRYING TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF HOW MY MATERNAL GRANDFATHER'S ANCESTORS CAME TO BE IN NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA, HOW MY GRANDFATHER CAME TO BE BORN AND RAISED IN CANADA.
AND AS I STARTED TO ADDRESS THAT QUESTION, ANOTHER QUESTION AROSE, HOW DO THE EXPERIENCES OF MY ANCESTORS INFORM US ABOUT THE EXPERIENCES AND ACTIONS OF FREE BLACKS IN REVOLUTIONARY AMERICA? AND THE BOOK IS A CULMINATION OF MY JOURNEY TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS.
SO THE GREAT THING ABOUT DOING THIS TYPE OF HISTORY, YOU GET TO USE YOUR OWN PERSONAL PHOTOS, RIGHT,
AND, BUT THIS PARTICULAR PHOTO WAS FOUND IN A BOOK, AND I'M GONNA START WITH MY MATERNAL GREAT-GRANDFATHER,
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A MAN BY THE NAME OF THOMAS HENRY FRANKLIN.HE WAS A LANDSCAPER AT ONE OF THE OLDEST CEMETERIES IN NORTH AMERICA, WHICH WAS LOCATED IN ANNAPOLIS ROYAL NOVA SCOTIA.
THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN BY A LOCAL HISTORIAN BY THE NAME OF WILLIAM INGLES MORSE, AND HE WAS CONDUCTING RESEARCH ON A BOOK ON THE OLDEST GRAVESTONES IN NORTH AMERICA.
THE TITLE OF THE BOOK IS GRAVESTONES OF ACA.
HE TOOK A PICTURE OF MY GRANDFATHER, MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER, ON THE DAY THAT THEY MET, AND HE ALSO CAPTURED PART OF THE CONVERSATION THAT HE AND MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER HAD.
AND PART OF THAT CONVERSATION IS ON THE SCREEN THERE, AND THE CONVERSATION WAS HELD IN THE LATE 1920S.
AND THE HISTORIAN ASKED MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER, WHAT IS YOUR NAME? AND HE REPLIED, MY NAME IS HENRY FRANKLIN, AN UNCOMMON NAME IN THESE PARTS.
MY GRANDFATHER CAME FROM AFRICA.
AND THEN HE ASKED HIM, HOW OLD ARE YOU? AND HE TOLD HIM, I JUST TURNED 70.
NOW THAT IS THE MOST DAPPER LOOKING LANDSCAPER I'VE EVER SEEN.
AND JUST REMEMBER HOW HE HAS THAT HAT COCKED.
WE'LL COME BACK TO THAT LATER.
BUT HENRY FRANKLIN PASSED AWAY SHORTLY BEFORE THE PUBLICATION OF THE BOOK IN 1929.
HE RECITED A SMALL PART OF THE FRANKLIN ORAL TRADITION TO THE LOCAL HISTORIAN.
THE ENTIRE FRANKLIN ORAL TRADITION WAS THAT THE FIRST FRANKLIN ANCESTOR CAME TO AMERICA FROM THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA BY WAY OF HAITI, BY WAY OF HE AND TWO OF HIS DESCENDANTS.
TWO BROTHERS WITH THE LAST NAME OF FRANK FOUGHT IN THE BLACK REGIMENT, A RHODE ISLAND IN THE COMMONWEALTH ARMY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
NOW, WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT ON THE SCREEN ARE REENACTORS FROM THE VALLEY FORDS NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK, AND THEY ARE REPRESENTING APPROXIMATELY 500,000 PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT, WHICH MADE UP 20% OF THE POPULATION ON THE EVE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
MOST OF THEM WERE ENSLAVED, AND OVER 320,000 OF THEM LIVED IN THE UPPER SOUTHERN COLONIES IN OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA.
OVER 47,000 ENSLAVED PERSONS LIVED IN THE NORTH.
MOST IN NEW YORK, A VERY SMALL PERCENTAGE OF BLACKS WERE FREE, BUT THEY LIVED UNDER VERY RESTRICTIVE CONDITIONS LIKE THE FRANK BROTHERS AND THEIR FAMILY.
AS THE WAR PROGRESSED, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND, AS THE WAR PROGRESSED, THE DESIRES OF THESE HALF A MILLION PEOPLE COULD BE SEPARATED INTO TWO CATEGORIES AS DEFINED BY HISTORIAN IRA BERLIN.
THE ENSLAVED WERE LOOKING FOR LIBERTY AND FREE BLACKS WERE LOOKING FOR EQUALITY.
AND THROUGHOUT THE DURATION OF THE WAR, THEY WOULD JUDGE WHO COULD AND WOULD GRANT THEIR DESIRES, THE BRITISH OR THE AMERICANS.
BUT BACK TO THE FRANK FAMILY, I BELIEVE THAT THE FIRST FRANK ANCESTOR IN AMERICA WAS CAPTURED IN FIVE DOCUMENTS LIVING AND WORKING IN COLONIAL RHODE ISLAND.
THREE OF THOSE DOCUMENTS ARE ON THE SCREEN.
BY THE LATE 1690S, THIS MAN WAS FREE AND AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE PROVIDENCE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY, AND HE WAS KNOWN BY THE NAME OF FRANK.
HE OWNED A PARCEL OF LAND AND HE WORKED AS A SERVANT, WHICH COULD BE ANOTHER WORD FOR SLAVE OF SILENCE.
THE CARPENTERS WERE A LARGE LAND OWNING FAMILY IN THE PROVIDENCE RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY.
NOW, THE PICTURES ON THE SCREEN ARE THREE OF THOSE DOCUMENTS THAT I WAS ABLE TO FIND, AND THEY'RE RELATED TO A LAND PURCHASE MADE BY FRANK FROM SILAS CARPENTER'S NEPHEW E FROM CARPENTER.
THE FIRST DOCUMENT DETAILS A LAND PURCHASE MADE BY FRANK FROM EAST FROM CAR CARPENTER.
AND AS YOU CAN SEE IN UH, THE DOCUMENT NUMBER 4 32, I HAVE AN ARROW POINTED TO THE LINE THAT LISTS FRANK AND IT SAYS FRANK NEGRO SERVANT OF SILAS CARPENTER.
AND THAT DOCUMENT IS DATED, UM, IN 1695.
THE SECOND DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT NUMBER 47, REALLY RELATES TO THE SAME LAND PURCHASE BECAUSE WHAT FRANK NEGRO SERVANT TO SILAS CARPENTER DOES IS HE MORTGAGES THAT LAND OFF TO A SECOND PERSON.
HE MUST HAVE NEED SOME EXTRA MONEY FOR SOMETHING.
ALL RIGHT, AND IN DOCUMENT NUMBER 65, THERE'S A CHANGE.
IT SAYS, WHEREAS FRANK NEGRO OF PROVIDENCE, AND IT'S STILL HE AT THIS POINT, HE IS REPAYING THE MORTGAGE AND HE HAS, UH, THE RIGHTS BACK TO THE LAND.
SO I KNOW THAT THIS IS THE SAME INDIVIDUAL IN THOSE THREE DOCUMENTS, BUT THERE'S A CHANGE FROM DOCUMENTS 44, 32, 47 AND 65.
AND I USUALLY ASK MY STUDENTS, WHAT IS THE CHANGE? WHERE WAS
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FRANK POSSIBLY FREED IN ALL OF THIS LAND TRANSACTION BUSINESS? AND AS YOU CAN SEE IN DOCUMENT 65, HE IS JUST LISTED AS FRANK NERO.HE'S NOT A SERVANT TO ANYONE AT THAT POINT.
NOW, I BELIEVE THAT THIS INDUSTRIOUS FRANK, WAS THE ANCESTOR OF TWO MEN BY THE NAME OF ANDREW AND RUFUSS.
ANDREW AND RUFUSS PROBABLY FOLLOWED A WEST AFRICAN CUSTOM OF ADOPTING A REVERED ANCESTORS' FIRST NAME AS THEIR LAST NAME.
BOTH ANDREW AND RUFUSS FRANK LIVED AND WORKED IN PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND IN THE 17 HUNDREDS, BOTH SERVED IN THE MILITIA AND THEY WERE CALLED OUT TO FIGHT OFF THREATS TO THEIR COMMUNITY.
ANDREW DIED IN 1756, BUT RUFUSS LIVED ON TO HEAD HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD IN RHODE ISLAND IN THE 1770S.
RUFUSS, AS I SAID EARLIER, WAS A MEMBER OF THE PROVIDENCE MILITIA.
NOW MILITIA SERVICE WAS REQUIRED OF ALL ABLE-BODIED MEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 16 TO 60.
HOWEVER, THIS WAS NOT GENERALLY REQUIRED FOR BLACK MEN WHO WERE NORMALLY EXEMPTED FROM MALICIOUS SERVICE AND WERE INSTEAD REQUIRED TO PERFORM OTHER CIVIC DUTIES LIKE ROAD CLEANING AND ROAD REPAIR.
BUT DURING TIMES OF MAJOR WARFARE, THE EXEMPTIONS AGAINST BLACK SERVICE WAS DISREGARDED.
ONE OF THOSE TIMES WAS WHEN GREAT BRITAIN BECAME INVOLVED IN A WAR AGAINST FRANCE AND HIS NATIVE AMERICAN ALLIES, THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR AND RUFUSS FRANK SERVED IN THE PROVIDENCE MILITIA DURING THE WAR.
HE SERVED IN THREE SEPARATE CAMPAIGNS DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE SCREEN, YOU'RE LOOKING AT A PAYROLL FOR ONE OF THOSE CAMPAIGNS, AND I HAVE RUFUSS NAME HIGHLIGHTED AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT LIST IF HE'S RECEIVING PAY DIRECTLY.
THEN RUFUSS FRANK WAS A FREE PERSON.
HE ALSO SERVED IN COLONEL HARRIS'S REGIMEN OUT OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND AT FORT STANWIX.
AND THAT IS A PICTURE OF THAT, UH, FORT, WHICH IS LOCATED NEAR ROME, NEW YORK.
AFTER THE WAR, RUFUSS SETTLED IN JOHNSTON, RHODE ISLAND, A SMALL TOWN JUST NORTHWEST OF PROVIDENCE.
HE HAD THREE CHILDREN, TWO SONS, WILLIAM AND BEN, AND ONE DAUGHTER NAMED HANNAH.
THE FRANK HOUSEHOLD WAS ONE OF 10 FREE BLACK HOUSEHOLDS IN JOHNSTON, RHODE ISLAND.
THE FAMILY IS ENUMERATED IN THE 1774 COLONIAL RHODE ISLAND CENSUS ON THE FAR RIGHT SIDE OF THE CENSUS, WHICH WAS THE AREA OF THE CENSUS THAT WAS DESIGNATED FOR BLACKS AND NATIVE AMERICANS.
NOW, RUFUSS AND HIS FAMILY WERE PART OF A GROWING BLACK POPULATION BEFORE THE WAR.
I ALREADY MENTIONED HOW MANY OF THE INDIVIDUALS WERE LIVING, UM, IN AMERICA DURING THAT POINT IN TIME, FREE BLACKS COMPOSED 10% OF THE RHODE ISLAND POPULATION, AND AS YOU CAN SEE, I HAVE RUFUSS FRANK, UH, RUFUSS NAME HIGHLIGHTED ON THE SCREEN.
AND A RED ARROW POINTED TO THE INDIVIDUALS THAT WERE LEAVING LIVING IN THE HOUSEHOLD WITH THEM.
NOW, THERE ARE PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS OF THE RHODE ISLAND, UH, GENERAL CENSUS OF 1774.
AND IF YOU LOOK AT THOSE PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS, IT ONLY LISTS FOR NATIVE AMERICAN AND BLACK FAMILIES, HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IN THE HOUSEHOLD.
IT DOESN'T BREAK IT DOWN LIKE IT DOES FOR THE OTHER FAMILIES THAT ARE ENUMERATED IN THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT.
SO I HAD TO ACTUALLY GO TO THE ACTUAL DOCUMENT, WHICH YOU SEE A PICTURE OF ON THE SCREEN HERE AT THE RHODE ISLAND STATE ARCHIVES.
AND WHEN I WENT THERE, I WAS ABLE TO DETERMINE EXACTLY WHO WAS IN THE HOUSE.
AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE IS ONE ADULT MALE THAT'S RUFUSS FRANK.
AND THEN THE NUMBER TWO SIGNIFIES TWO YOUNG MEN UNDER THE AGE OF 16.
THE NEXT NUMBER ONE IS AN ADULT FEMALE, AND THE NEXT NUMBER IS IN A, UH, A FEMALE UNDER THE AGE OF 16.
AND THAT, UH, TOTALED FIVE PEOPLE LIVING IN THE HOUSEHOLD.
NOW, WILLIAM AND BEN FRANK WOULD FOLLOW IN THEIR FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS AND SERVE IN THE MILITARY DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
BUT BEFORE THEY COULD DO SO, THERE NEEDED TO BE A CHANGE IN AMERICAN MILITARY POLICY BECAUSE GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON DID NOT WANT TO ENLIST BLACK MEN AS SOLDIERS INTO THE CONTINENT ARMY.
BUT HE WOULD REVISE HIS INITIAL POLICY.
AND ONE OF THE REASONS FOR THAT REVISION WAS PROMPTED BY THE ACTIONS OF JOHN MURRAY, WHO WAS THE EARL OF DUNMORE, AND HE WAS THE APPOINTED ROYAL GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.
AND BY NOVEMBER OF 1775, HE HAD BEEN RUN OUT OF HIS QUARTERS AT WILLIAMSBURG BY PATRIOT FORCES, AND HE WAS CONDUCTING HIS OFFICIAL BUSINESS ON A SHIP IN THE, IN THE WATERS OUTSIDE
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OF VIRGINIA.ON NOVEMBER 7TH, 1775, HE ISSUED A PROCLAMATION THAT PROMISED FREEDOM TO ENSLAVED MEN WHO FOUGHT FOR GREAT BRITAIN.
NOW, DUNMORE WAS JUST LOOKING FOR A WAY TO REGAIN POWER AND HELP GREAT BRITAIN WIN THE WAR, OF COURSE, BY DRAINING RESOURCES FROM THE PATRIOT CAUSE.
AND SOME OF THAT RESOURCE WAS ENSLAVED LABOR.
NOW, ONE OF THE MANY ENSLAVED MEN AND WOMEN WHO FLED TO LORD DUNMORE IN THE BRITISH LINES WAS HENRY, ALSO KNOWN AS HARRY WASHINGTON, WHO WAS ENSLAVED TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.
HENRY BECAME A MEMBER OF LORD DUN MOORE'S ETHIOPIAN REGIMENT.
DUNMORE TRAINED OVER 800 FORMERLY ENSLAVED MEN IN THE BASICS OF SHOOTING AND FORMATION, MARCHING.
HE EVEN HAD SPECIAL UNIFORMS MADE FOR THEM WITH THE INSIGNIA ON THE FRONT OF THEIR UNIFORMS, IN QUOTES, LIBERTY TO THE SLAVES.
NOW, THE ETHIOPIAN REGIMENT FOUGHT IN TWO MAJOR BATTLES, THE LAST BATTLE BEING THE BATTLE AT GREAT BRIDGE IN VIRGINIA, WHERE THEY LOST.
THEY ALSO LOST LIVES, UM, DUE TO SMALLPOX, DUE TO SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME.
BUT DUN MORRIS'S PROCLAMATION CREATED ONE OF THE FIRST MASS EMANCIPATION OF ENSLAVED BLACKS.
PRIOR TO THE CIVIL WAR, HISTORIANS HAVE ESTIMATED THAT 80,000 TO A HUNDRED THOUSAND ENSLAVED PEOPLE FLED TO THE BRITISH LINES DURING THE WAR, WOMEN AND CHILDREN, AMONG THEM ALL SEEKING THEIR FREEDOM.
NOW, THE FRANK BROTHERS WERE ABLE TO ENLIST AFTER THE CHANGE IN AMERICAN MILITARY POLICY THAT WAS PROMPTED BY LORD DUN MOORE'S PROCLAMATION, BECAUSE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR, GENERAL WASHINGTON BANNED THE USE OF BLACK SOLDIERS IN THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.
THE MILITIA TROOPS THAT FOUGHT AT THE INITIAL BATTLES AT LEXINGTON AND CONCORD WERE DIVERSE.
THEY HAD WHITE, BLACK AND NATIVE AMERICAN SOLDIERS ALL SERVING TOGETHER, BUT WASHINGTON BELIEVED THAT YOU COULD NOT HAVE A PROFESSIONAL ARMY WITH BLACK SOLDIERS, AND HE COULD NOT ATTRACT SOUTHERN PLANTERS BY ARMING BLACKS FREE OR ENSLAVED.
SO IN JULY OF 1775, AFTER HE TOOK OVER CONTROL OF THE CONTINENTAL FORCES SURROUNDING BOSTON, HE INSTRUCTED HIS RECRUITING OFFICERS IN THE FOLLOWING MANNER.
PART OF THAT QUOTE IS ON THE SCREEN, QUOTE, YOU ARE NOT TO ENLIST ANY DESERTER FROM THE MINISTERIAL ARMY, NOR ANY STROLLER, NEGRO OR VAGABOND OR PERSON SUSPECTED OF BEING AN ENEMY TO THE LIBERTY OF AMERICA.
NOW, HE WOULD CONTINUE THAT POLICY THROUGH THE FALL OF 1775, BUT HE HAD TO COUNTER DUMB MOORE'S PROCLAMATION AND HE DID.
BUT HE WAS ALSO BEING PRESSURED BY COMMAND OFFICERS AND BLACK COMMUNITY LEADERS LIKE PRINCE HALL, WHO WOULD EVENTUALLY BECOME THE LEADER OF THE BLACK FREEMASON MOVEMENT IN AMERICA.
HE WAS BEING PRESSURED BY THESE INDIVIDUALS TO ALLOW THE SERVICE OF BLACK VETERANS SOLDIERS WHO HAD ALREADY PROVEN THEMSELVES IN BATTLE.
SO WASHINGTON CHANGED HIS POLICY IN JANUARY, 1776.
HE ALLOWED FOR THE REENLISTMENT OF FREE BLACK VETERANS.
THE FOLLOWING YEAR, HE ALLOWED FOR THE ENLISTMENT OF ALL FREE BLACKS BY WAR'S END, OVER 7,000 BLACK SOLDIERS WOULD SERVE IN THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.
AND THAT NUMBER KEEPS BEING ADJUSTED EVERY YEAR.
THE TRADITIONALLY ACCEPTED NUMBER USED TO BE 5,000, AND NOW THEY'RE PUSHING IT UP TO 7,000, ALMOST 8,000 SOLDIERS, BLACK SOLDIERS THAT SERVED.
NOW WILLIAM FRANK, THE OLDER OF THE TWO BROTHERS, SIGNED UP TO SERVE WITH THE RHODE ISLAND STATE BRIGADE AT TITON RHODE ISLAND AND APRIL OF 1777.
LATER THAT YEAR, HE WAS ENLISTED IN THE SECOND RHODE ISLAND.
HE WAS IN HIS LATE TEENS WHEN HE SIGNED UP HIS YOUNGER BROTHER, BENJAMIN SIGNED UP TO SERVE WITH THE SECOND RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT AT PROVIDENCE IN MAY, HE WAS AROUND 15 YEARS OLD.
HIS FATHER PROBABLY HAD TO GIVE HIS PERMISSION FOR HIS YOUNG SON TO ENLIST.
SO WHY DID THE FRANK BROTHERS AND OTHER MEN OF COLOR ENLIST? FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, MOSTLY FOR ECONOMIC REASONS.
BUT LIKE MOST YOUNG MEN, THEY WERE LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE AND EXCITEMENT FOR YOUNG MEN WHOSE EXPERIENCES WERE STUNNED BY EITHER ENSLAVEMENT IN THE STIFLING BLACK LEGAL CODES, WHICH REGULATED THEIR BEHAVIOR.
OF COURSE, THIS WAS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM TO ADVANCE THEIRSELVES REGARDING ECONOMIC COMPETENCY AND THE ABILITY TO PROVIDE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILIES.
FOR THE MOST PART, THEY WERE MEMBERS OF THE WORKING CLASS.
ALL THE LISTINGS THAT I HAVE OF THE FRANK BROTHERS IN TERMS OF THEIR OCCUPATION, THEY ALWAYS LIST THEM AS GENERAL LABORERS.
UM, WITH ENLISTMENT, THEY COULD LOOK FORWARD TO EARNING A STEADY WAGE RECEIVING THE WAY THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD, UH, EARN A STEADY WAGE, RECEIVE FOOD AND EQUIPMENT, AND GIVE 'EM THE LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES
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FOR FREE.BLACKS AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE WORKING CLASS MILITARY SERVICE WAS ONE OF THE FEW WAYS TO BETTER YOUR LIFE.
CONGRESS HAD APPROVED ENLISTMENT BONUSES OF $20, AND THEY ALSO PROMISED LAND AT THE END OF THE WAR, RANGING FROM 100 TO 500 ACRES DEPENDING UPON YOUR RANK IN THE SERVICE.
MILITARY SERVICE WAS ALSO WAY TO OBTAIN SOME FORM OF COMMUNITY STANDING.
SO THE ATTAINMENT OF COMMUNITY STANDING FOR THEMSELVES AND FOR THEIR FAMILY WAS ALSO AN IMPORTANT MOTIVATING FACTOR FOR BLACK MEN TO SERVE.
THE PUBLIC IMAGE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY BECAME VERY IMPORTANT TO BLACK LEADERSHIP IN THE PERIOD AFTER THE WAR.
AND BLACK LEADERS USED THE EXPLOITS OF BLACK REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS TO ILLUSTRATE BLACK MEN'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEW NATION AND TO PUSH FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
AND IT IS ALSO LIKELY THAT FREE BLACK MEN TIED THEIR SENSE OF MASCULINITY AND MANHOOD TO THE NOTION OF FREEDOM AND THE ABILITY TO FREELY EXPRESS THEIR OWN IDEAS AND TO MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS, ALONG WITH THE ABILITY TO EARN A LIVING RAISE AND SUPPORT A FAMILY AND TO LIVE IN THEIR OWN HOMES.
NOW, WERE SOLDIERS OF COLOR TREATED DIFFERENTLY THAN THEIR WHITE COUNTERPARTS.
FOR THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS, THEY INITIALLY SERVED AT INTEGRATED REGIMENTS AND COMPANIES.
SO FOR FREE MEN OF COLOR LIKE THE FRANKS, THEY WERE RECEIVING THE SOUGHT AFTER EQUALITY THAT MANY FREE BLACKS WERE LOOKING FOR.
AND FOR SOME MEN, THERE WAS A SENSE OF FAMILY TRADITION AND FOLLOWING IN THEIR FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS LIKE THE FRANK BROTHERS WERE DOING, FOLLOWING IN THEIR FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS, RUFUSS WHO FOUGHT OR SERVED IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
NOW THERE'S ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THAT.
THERE WAS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN IN PHILADELPHIA BY THE NAME OF CHARLES BLACK, WHO FOUGHT IN THE WAR OF 1812 WITH OTHER AMERICAN SAILORS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN.
HIS FATHER SERVED IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND FOUGHT AT THE BATTLE OF BREEDS HILL, WHICH WE CALL THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL.
AND CHARLES'S GRANDFATHER SERVED IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
SO FOR INDIVIDUALS LIKE CHARLES BLACK AND THE FRANKS, THEY WERE FOLLOWING ALREADY A FAMILY TRADITIONAL MILER MILITARY SERVICE VERY EARLY IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA.
NOW ON THE SCREEN, YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE PICTURE OF PICTURES OF A MANUMISSION BOND FOR AN INDIVIDUAL BY THE NAME OF FRANCIS TIFT.
AND THAT WAS ANOTHER REASON THAT SOME BLACK MEN ENLISTED TO GAIN THEIR FREEDOM FROM, UH, ENSLAVEMENT.
NOW THE MANUMISSION BOND FOR FRANCIS TIFF, UM, HE WAS ENSLAVED TO DANIEL TIFT, WHO WAS A BLACKSMITH IN PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.
DANIEL HAD TO PROVIDE A SECURITY BOND TO THE TOWN TO COVER ANY EXPENSES INCURRED BY THE FREED FRANCIS IN CASE HE WAS UNABLE TO SUPPORT HIMSELF.
AND I HAVE, UH, READ ARROWS POINTED TO FRANCIS'S NAME THERE ON THE MANUMISSION BOND.
THERE'S A LARGER COPY OF IT THERE.
SO IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR FRANCIS AND HIS FORMER OWNER THAT HE FIND VIABLE EMPLOYMENT AND MILITARY SERVICE SEEMED TO FIT THAT KNEE.
FRANCIS ENLISTED ONE DAY AFTER HE WAS FREE ONE DAY AFTER HIS MANUMISSION.
UNFORTUNATELY, FRANCIS TIFF DID NOT SURVIVE THE WAR.
HE DIED DURING THE, UH, CONTINENTAL ARMY'S WINTER ENCAMPMENT AT VALLEY FORGE.
SO WHAT WERE THE FRANK BROTHERS ACTUALLY GETTING THEMSELVES INTO NOW? CONGRESS REQUIRED THAT THE RHODE ISLAND, THAT THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND COMMIT TWO INFANTRY REGIMENTS TO THE CONTINENTAL ARMY, THE FIRST AND THE SECOND RHODE ISLAND.
THE FRANK BROTHERS UPON ENLISTMENT BECAME MEMBERS OF THE SECOND RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT.
IT WAS COMMANDED BY COLONEL ISRAEL ANGEL, WHO AT ONE POINT ACTUALLY LIVED IN THE HOMETOWN OF THE FRANK BROTHERS.
NOW, THEY WERE NOT SIGNING UP FOR EASY DUTY.
CONTINENTAL SOLDIERS LIVED VERY TOUGH LIVES.
LIVES PAY WAS VERY SPORADIC DUE TO THE LIMITED TREASURY OF THE NEW FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS.
WHEN THEY DID GET PAID, IT WAS AROUND $7 PER MONTH.
THEY WERE ISSUED MUSKETS, THEY WERE ISSUED BAYONETS.
CLOTHING CONSISTED OF HUNTING SHIRTS THAT WERE SIMILAR TO SMOCKS THAT WERE BIG ENOUGH TO COVER ALL THEIR OTHER CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT.
SHOES WERE ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS IN SHORT SUPPLY.
IN THE SUMMER, SOMETIMES THE SOLDIERS COULD GO BAREFOOT AND IN THE WINTER THEY WRAPPED THEIR FEET IN CLOTH.
THEY OFTEN RESORTED TO FORAGING IN THE COUNTRYSIDE FOR FOOD.
SOLDIERS ALSO HAD TO DEAL WITH DISEASES THAT RAN RAMPANT THROUGH THEIR CAMPS.
THERE WAS A SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC DURING THE WAR, AND SOLDIERS SUFFERED FROM THAT.
AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, YOU CAN TAKE THE WORD OF THEIR COLONEL, COLONEL ISRAEL ANGEL.
HE WROTE BACK TO THE RHODE ISLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY, WRITING ABOUT THE CONDITION OF HIS TROOPS.
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REGIMENT IS SCANDALOUS IN ITS APPEARANCE IN THE VIEW OF EVERYONE AND HAS BECOME OF THIS INCURRED FROM SURROUNDING REGIMENTS FROM THE INHABITANTS OF TOWNS THROUGH WHICH THEY HAVE LATELY PASSED THE DISAGREEABLE AND PROVOKING EPITHETS OF THE RAGGED LAING, MEANING THEIR CLOTHING AND UNIFORMS WERE FILLED WITH LICE NAKED REGIMEN.SUCH TREATMENT GENTLEMEN IS DISCOURAGING DISPIRITING IN ITS TENDENCIES.
IT DOES EFFECTUALLY UNMANNED THE MAN AND RENDER THEM ALMOST USELESS IN THE ARMY.
THAT IS WHAT THEY SIGNED UP FOR.
NOW IN THE FALL OF THEIR FIRST YEAR OF SERVICE IN OCTOBER OF 1777, GENERAL WASHINGTON DISPATCHED THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS AND THE FRANK BROTHERS TO DEFEND THE FORTS ALONG THE DELAWARE RIVER AT THAT TIME, ACCORDING TO REVOLUTIONARY WAR RESEARCHER JOHN REES, THE INTEGRATED RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS TOTALED 379 PRIVATES AND MUSICIANS.
AND OF THAT NUMBER 48 WERE SOLDIERS OF COLOR, INCLUDING, UH, 39 BLACKS, TWO OF THEM BEING THE FRANK BROTHERS, SEVEN NATIVE AMERICANS AND TWO OF MIXED RACE.
NOW, THIS FIRST MAJOR BATTLE THAT THEY FOUGHT IN WAS ENGAGED AT RED BANK, WHICH IS WHERE THE YELLOW ARROW WAS POINTING.
THE TWO RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS WERE DISPATCHED TO DEFEND THE FORTS ALONG THE DELAWARE RIVER BETWEEN PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY TO PREVENT BRITISH, UH, FLEET FROM, UM, SAILING INTO PHILADELPHIA.
TROOPS OF MARYLAND AND CONNECTICUT WERE STATIONED AT FORT MIFFLIN, WHICH IS WHERE THE RED ARROW IS POINTING, AND SOME RHODE ISLAND TROOPS WERE STATIONED WITH THEM AT FORT MIFFLIN TO HELP DEFEND THAT FORT.
INITIALLY, THE RHODE ISLAND TROOPS WERE ABLE TO DEFEND FORT MERCER AND REPEL BRITISH AND HESSIAN FORCES.
HOWEVER, THE BRITISH WERE ABLE TO ATTACK AND CAPTURE FORT MIFFLIN, FORCING ALL OF THOSE TROOPS TO FORT MERCER, AND THEN EVENTUALLY FORCING ALL OF THE CONTINENTAL TROOPS OUT OF BOTH FORTS, INCLUDING FORT MERCER AT RED BANK.
HOWEVER, THE FIRST RHODE ISLANDERS DID RECEIVE PRAISE AND ACCOMMODATIONS FOR THEIR INITIAL BATTLE AGAINST THE HESS AND THE BRITISH.
UM, AT, UH, FORT MERCER AND THEIR COMMANDER, A GUY BY THE NAME OF COLONEL CHRISTOPHER GREEN, WOULD RECEIVE A COMMENDATION SWORD FROM THE RHODE ISLAND ASSEMBLY FOR HIS ACTIONS AT THAT BATTLE.
SO THAT'S THEIR FIRST MAJOR BATTLE.
THEY PERFORMED WELL BUT HAD TO EVACUATE BECAUSE OF BRITISH REINFORCEMENTS.
AND WHAT WAS THEIR ULTIMATE REWARD FOR THEIR SERVICE AT RED BANK WINNER AT VALLEY FORGE? THAT WAS NOT FUN.
SO THE RHODE ISLAND RE, UH, REGIMENTS ALONG WITH THE RE THE REST OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY MARCHED TO VALLEY FORGE, PENNSYLVANIA FOR THE WINNER ENCAMPMENT OF 1777 TO 1778.
WHILE ENC CAMPED THERE, AMERICAN TROOPS SUFFERED MAJOR LOSSES DUE TO DISEASE, ILLNESS, AND DESERTION WASHINGTON DESCRIBED THE ENCAMPMENT AS QUOTE, COMPOSED OF MEN, HALF STARVED ALWAYS IN RAGS WITHOUT PEG AND EXPERIENCING EVERY SPECIES OF DISTRESS.
THE FOOD RATIONS WERE IN SUCH SHORT SUPPLY THAT MANY OF THE ARMY REGULARS THREATENED TO REVOTE.
THEIR SLOGAN WAS NO BREAD, NO MEAT, NO SOLDIER.
AT THE END OF 1777, WASHINGTON NOTIFIED CONGRESS AT OVER 2,800 SOLDIERS WERE UNFIT FOR DUTY BECAUSE THEY WERE EITHER BAREFOOT OR OTHERWISE NAKED, MEANING THEY DIDN'T HAVE PROPER CLOTHING.
WILLIAM FRANK, THE OLDER OF THE FRANK BROTHERS, WAS ONE OF THOSE SOLDIERS DEEMED UNFIT FOR DUTY.
A WEEK LATER, AN ADDITIONAL 1000 MEN WERE ON THE SICK ROLL.
THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS WERE DECIMATED AS WELL DUE THEIR LOSSES.
THERE WERE BARELY ENOUGH SOLDIERS LEFT TO FORM ONE REGIMENT.
AND REMEMBER, THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO SUPPLY TWO COLONEL ANGEL.
HE'S ALWAYS WRITING BACK TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
I I WOULD IMAGINE THEY HATED TO SEE HIS LETTERS COME THEIR WAY.
HE WROTE, UM, BACK TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, I AM SORRY TO INFORM YOU THAT A VERY GREAT SICKNESS AND MORTALITY PREVAIL AMONG THE RHODE ISLAND TROOPS, WHICH IS JUDGED TO PROCEED IN SOME MEASURE BY THE BADNESS OF THEIR CLOTH.
AND THE RATE OF DESERTION ALSO CONCERNED ANGEL, HE WROTE BACK, HE SAYS, DESERTION IS WHAT WE MAY EVER EXPECT SO LONG AS THE SOLDIERS SEE THAT THE PUBLIC FAITH IS NOT TO BE DEPENDENT UPON.
NOW, GENERAL JAMES VERNON, HE HAD OVERALL COMMANDER OF THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT.
HE WAS ALSO REGIMENTS, I SHOULD SAY, WAS ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT THE STATE OF THE RHODE ISLAND TROOPS.
HE WROTE BACK, QUOTE, THE TWO RHODE ISLAND BATTALIONS HAVE BEEN SICKLY.
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HAVE LOST A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER.THIS IS OWING TO THEIR IMMENSE FATIGUES IN THE SUMMER PAST UNQUOTE, MEANING THE FACT THAT THEY WERE INVOLVED IN EARLIER THAT YEAR.
NOW I HAD THE PRIVILEGE IN 2019 TO VISIT VALLEY FORGE NATIONALS HISTORICAL PARK.
AND UM, I AM STANDING AT THE SITE WHERE THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS WERE ENCAMPED, UH, FOR THAT PARTICULAR WINTER.
AND THAT WAS JUST KIND OF A MOVING EXPERIENCE FOR ME TO BE THERE AT THAT LOCATION WHERE MY ANCESTORS WERE ACTUALLY, UM, LIVING FOR THAT PARTICULAR HORRENDOUS, UH, WINNER.
ON THE SCREEN THERE ON THE END, ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE IS A MUSTER ROLL OF CAPTAIN THOMAS ARNOLD'S DETACHMENT OF MEN.
AND THAT COMPANY WAS COMPOSED OF PRIMARILY AFRICAN AMERICANS AND NATIVE AMERICAN SOLDIERS AS PART OF THE START OR RECONFIGURATION OF THE RHODE ISLAND TROOPS.
AS THEY STARTED TO DEAL WITH THE LOSSES THAT THEY HAD HAD TO DEAL WITH DURING THE VALLEY FORGE ENCAMPMENT.
I HAVE WILLIAMS, UH, NAME HIGHLIGHTED HERE AMONG THE ENCAMPMENT WITH THE MAJORITY OF THE SOLDIERS WHO WERE STILL AT VALLEY FORGE.
BUT HIS BROTHER BENJAMIN, WHO'S ON THE FAR RIGHT HAND SIDE HERE, HE'S ALSO HIGHLIGHTED, HE WAS, UH, SERVING ON ASSIGNMENT.
HE WAS ASSIGNED TO A SURVEILLANCE POST, WHICH WAS A LITTLE NORTH OF WHERE THE MAIN ENCAMPMENT WAS AT BRADNER, PENNSYLVANIA.
AND THEY WERE KEEPING SURVEILLANCE ON, UH, BRITISH TROOPS IN THEIR MOVEMENTS DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME.
BUT WHY DID THEY DE DECIDE TO START TO CONSOLIDATE NATIVE AMERICAN AND BLACK SOLDIERS TOGETHER IN ONE DETACHMENT? BECAUSE GENERAL VARNUM, THE GENTLEMAN WHO'S IN CHARGE OF THE OVERALL COMMAND OF THE RHODE ISLAND TROOPS, CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA TO TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF THEIR DWELLING MANPOWER.
AND HIS IDEA WAS TO RECRUIT AND ENLIST ENSLAVED MEN FROM RHODE ISLAND.
THEY WERE ABLE TO CONVINCE GENERAL WASHINGTON WHO DIDN'T WANT BLACK SOLDIERS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR, BUT NOW HE HAS A MANPOWER PROBLEM.
SO THEY WERE ABLE TO CONVINCE GENERAL WASHINGTON AND THE RHODE ISLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO ALLOW THE ENLISTMENT OF ENSLAVED MEN IN RETURN FOR THEIR FREEDOM.
THE ENSLAVED, EXCUSE ME, THE SLAVE ENLISTMENT ACT WAS PASSED ON FEBRUARY 14TH, 1778.
AND I LIKE TO THINK THAT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF RHODE ISLAND HAD NO IDEA THAT THEY WERE PASSING THIS ACT DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH.
AND THE ACT STIPULATED THAT QUOTE, ANY NEGRO MULATTO OR INDIAN MAN SLAVE COULD NOW ENLIST WITH THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS.
AND ON THE SCREEN I HAVE, IT KIND OF HIGHLIGHTED SOME OF THE IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THAT PARTICULAR, UH, ENLISTMENT ACT.
IT SAYS THAT EVERY EVERYBODY NEGRO MULATTO OR INDIAN MAN SLAVE IN THE STATE MAY ENLIST UNTO EITHER OF THE SAID TO BATTALIONS TO SERVE DURING THE CONTINUANCE OF THE PRESIDENT WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
THEY ALSO GO ON TO SAY THAT IF SO ENLISTING SHALL BE ENTITLED TO AND RECEIVE ARE THE BOUNTIES WAGES AND ENCOURAGEMENT ALLOWED BY THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS TO ANY OTHER SOLDIER.
SO THESE FORMERLY ENSLAVED MEN WERE GONNA GET THE SAME PAY IN WAGES.
IT GOES ON TO SAY THAT EVERY SLAVE SO ENLISTING SHALL UPON PASSING MUSTER BEFORE COLONEL CHRISTOPHER GREEN BE IMMEDIATELY DISCHARGED FROM THE SERVICE OF HIS MASTER OR MISTRESS AND BE ABSOLUTELY FREE.
SO COLONEL CHRISTOPHER GREEN OF THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS CAPTAINS, WAS GIVEN THE TASK OF LEAVING THE VALLEY FORGE ENCAMPMENT, RETURNING HOME TO THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND TO RECRUIT AND ENLIST INDIVIDUALS TO SERVE WITH THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS.
NOW, THE RECRUITMENT AND ENLISTED, UH, ENLISTMENT OF ENSLAVED MEN DID NOT LAST LONG RHODE ISLAND, UH, ENSLAVERS OPPOSED THE NEW LAW FEARING THE CONSEQUENCES OF ARMING FORMERLY ENSLAVED MEN AND HOW THAT WOULD LOOK TO THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE STILL IN BONDAGE.
SO THEIR OPPOSITION TO THE BILL PREVAILED.
AND IN JUNE, THE RHODE ISLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY, UH, REPEALED THE LAW.
SO IT DIDN'T LAST VERY LONG, BUT IN THAT FOUR MONTH PERIOD, OVER 100 FREE AND FORMERLY ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS AND NATIVE AMERICANS, ENLISTED AMONG THEM WERE AFRICA BURKE, CATO GREEN OF PROVIDENCE, PRIMUS BROWN OF JOHNSTON, RHODE ISLAND, THE HOMETOWN OF THE FRANK BROTHERS AND FREE BLACKS AND NATIVE AMERICANS ALSO ENLISTED DURING THIS PERIOD, INCLUDING AN INDIVIDUAL BY THE NAME OF PETER DALEY OF WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND.
OKAY, BUT THIS MAY HAVE ALSO BEEN THE FIRST CASE OF SANCTIONED SEGREGATION IN AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY.
WHAT MILITARY HISTORIAN ROBERT WRIGHT JR.
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CALLED QUOTE AN EXPERIMENT IN SEGREGATION UNQUOTE, BECAUSE THESE NEW RECRUITS, THESE FORMERLY ENSLAVED MEN AND THE NEW, UM, AND FREEBORN MEN WHO ENLISTED RIGHT ALONG WITH THEM, THEY WERE COMBINED WITH OVER 70 DOCUMENTED VETERAN BLACK AND NATIVE AMERICAN SOLDIERS FROM BOTH THE FIRST AND SECOND RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS TO FORM THE NEW FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT.THE FRANK BROTHERS AND OTHER SOLDIERS OF COLOR WERE TRANSFERRED FROM THE SECOND RHODE ISLAND TO THE RECONFIGURED FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMEN.
AND THAT RECONFIGURED FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMEN BECAME KNOWN AS THE BLACK REGIMEN.
NOW ON THE SCREEN ARE COPIES OF TWO DOCUMENTS THAT ADDRESS THAT CHANGE.
THE FIRST DOCUMENT ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE SCREEN IS PART OF A PENSION RECORD OF PRIVATE WILLIAM CHAMPLIN.
IN IT, HE TESTIFIES THAT THE WHITE MEN AND COLONEL GREEN'S REGIMENT WERE TRANSFERRED TO COLONEL ISRAEL ANGEL'S REGIMENT.
THE SECOND DOCUMENT IS TITLED RETURN OF FREEMAN LISTED FOR THE WAR.
AND I BELIEVE THAT THIS RETURN LISTED SOME OF THE FREEBORN AND PREVIOUSLY FREED MEN OF COLOR WHO SERVED WITH THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMEN.
AND I HAVE A RED ARROW POINTING TO THE NAMES OF BENJAMIN FRANK AND WILLIAM FRANK AND IS HIGHLIGHTED ON THE SCREEN FOR YOU TO SEE.
AND I THINK THESE TWO DOCUMENTS KIND OF TELL THE TALE OF THERE'S THIS SEPARATION, THIS TRANSFER OF PERSONNEL FROM ONE REGIMENT TO ANOTHER AND FOR WHATEVER REASON, AND I'VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO FIND ANY DOCUMENTATION THAT EXPLAINS WHY THEY DID IT.
BUT, UH, THE MOVEMENT OF THE PERSONNEL IS ENOUGH TO, UH, CONVINCE ME THAT THERE WAS SOME SEGREGATION THAT WAS GOING ON AT THAT POINT IN TIME.
SO WILLIAM AND BEN'S FIRST BATTLE IN THEIR NEW REGIMENT, NOW THEY'RE, THEY'RE SERVING UNDER NEW CAPTAINS AND, AND EVERYTHING, UM, WOULD OCCUR ON THEIR HOME SOIL IN RHODE ISLAND.
THE REGIMENTS WERE ASSIGNED TO PARTICIPATE IN SOMETHING CALLED THE RHODE ISLAND EXPEDITION.
THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE EXPEDITION WAS TO DRIVE BRITISH TROOPS FROM AQUIDNECK ISLAND IN THE IMPORTANT PORT CITY OF NEWPORT.
IF YOU THINK OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AS THE UPSIDE DOWN, U RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MIDDLE SPACE OF THE U IS WHERE THE AQUIDNECK ISLAND WOULD BE LOCATED.
NOW THE RHODE ISLAND EXPEDITION WAS LED BY GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND IT WAS THE FIRST JOINT EFFORT BETWEEN AMERICAN AND FRENCH FORCES.
SO THE RHODE ISLAND TROOPS HAD TO BE CITED ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY TO KICK THE BRITISH COMPLETELY OUTTA RHODE ISLAND.
NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THEY WERE GONNA FIGHT SIDE BY SIDE WITH THEIR NEW ALLIES.
THE FRENCH WOULD COME TO THE AID OF AMERICANS AFTER THE AMERICAN VICTORY AT SARATOGA, NEW YORK IN OCTOBER OF 1777.
WHAT THEY DID WAS THEY MARCHED FROM THE MAINLAND, AS YOU CAN SEE RIGHT THERE AT THE TOP FORT BARTON, RHODE ISLAND MAINLAND.
THEY FERRIED OVER TO AQUIDNECK ISLAND, MARCHED DOWN MARCH SOUTH TO WHERE NEWPORT IS AND LAID SIEGE THERE.
AND THEY WERE GOING TO WAIT FOR THE FRENCH FLEET TO COME, UM, AND SERVE ALONGSIDE OF THEM.
THE EXPEDITION FAILED WHEN AMERICAN FORCES WERE UNABLE TO OVERCOME THE BRITISH DEFENSES AT NEWPORT.
ADDITIONALLY, FRENCH NAVAL SHIPS WERE PREVENTED FROM PARTICIPATING IN THE EXPEDITION DUE TO BAD STORMS AND DAMAGE UPON THE FLEET.
THEY FLED TO BOSTON FOR REPAIRS AND DID NOT RETURN TO GIVE SUPPORT.
AND THEN ALSO GENERAL WASHINGTON SENT WORD TO THE COMMANDER GENERAL SULLIVAN THAT BRITISH REINFORCEMENTS ARE NOW BEING SENT TO REPEL THE AMERICAN ATTACK.
SO THE AMERICANS WERE FORCED TO FLEE AQUIDNECK ISLAND ON AUGUST 29TH.
AND IT WAS DURING THEIR RETREAT THAT THE BATTLE OF RHODE ISLAND OCCURRED.
NOW, THE BRITISH FORCES CHASED AFTER THEM AS THEY'RE HEADING NORTHWARD, AND THEY WERE ABLE TO CATCH UP TO THEM AT TWO HILLS, TURKEY AND BUTTS HILL.
AND THAT'S WHERE THE MAJOR PART OF THE BATTLE TOOK PLACE.
WILLIAM AND BEN FRANK, ALONG WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE FIRST AND SECOND ROAD ISLAND REGIMENTS WERE ASSIGNED TO PROTECT THE RIGHT WING OF THE AMERICAN LINE AT DURESS HILL.
UM, AND THE TWO ARROWS ARE POINTING.
TWO RED ARROWS ARE POINTING TO WHERE MOST OF THE BATTLE TOOK PLACE DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY.
THEY REPELLED COMBINED BRITISH AND HESSIAN FORCES AGAIN ON THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS WHILE BEING BOMBARDED WITH VOLLEY FROM WITH VALLEYS FROM BRITISH SHIPS IN THE HARBOR.
SINCE THE FRENCH FLEET HAD STILL FAILED TO RETURN BY THE END OF THE DAY, AMERICAN FORCES WERE ABLE TO SAFELY RETREAT FROM THE ISLAND, BUT THEY DID HAVE SOME CASUALTIES, TOTAL CASUALTIES OF 30 KILLED 137 WOUNDED AND 44 MISSING AMONG ALL OF THE CONTINENTAL TROOPS.
THE FRANK BROTHERS WERE AMONG THE SURVIVORS.
AND AFTER THE BATTLE, THE RHODE ISLAND, THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT WAS THEN ASSIGNED SHORE PATROL DUTY IN RHODE ISLAND.
[00:40:04]
AND THIS IS WHERE THE YOUNGER BROTHER DID YOUNGER BROTHER THINGS.HE GOT MARRIED, HE GOT MARRIED AND
SO IT WAS DURING THIS PERIOD IN JANUARY, 1779 THAT BEN FRANK GOT MARRIED.
HE MARRIED A YOUNG WOMAN BY THE NAME OF SARAH WILBUR.
SARAH WAS THE MOTHER OF ONE CHILD BY THE NAME OF ABRAHAM.
BEN AND SARAH WERE MARRIED BY ELDER JOHN GORDON OF THE SIXTH PRINCIPAL BAPTIST CHURCH OF EAST GREENWICH, RHODE ISLAND.
THERE IS HIS SIGNATURE THERE ON THE FORM.
AND HERE'S THE DEAL, HE ALSO MARRIED
HE ALSO MARRIED BEN'S YOUNGER SISTER, HANNAH FRANK.
HER NAME IS HIGHLIGHTED THERE TO ANOTHER SOLDIER, A GUY BY THE NAME OF SOLOMON WONTON.
SO THAT IS KIND OF UNUSUAL THAT THE TWO YOUNGER MEMBERS, THE YOUNGEST MEMBERS IN THAT HOUSEHOLD THAT I SHOWED YOU IN 1774, THOSE WERE THE TWO INDIVIDUALS THAT GOT MARRIED DURING A TIME OF WAR.
NOW, A YEAR AFTER, IN SOLOMON WALTON, I THINK I MENTIONED THIS, SOLOMON WALTON ALSO SERVED IN THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT ALONGSIDE WILLIAM AND BEN FRANK AS WELL.
NOW A YEAR AFTER HIS MARRIAGE, BEN FRANK MADE A PIVOTAL DECISION.
SO LES'S REVIEW HIS LIFE UP TO THIS POINT, HE'S AROUND 18 YEARS OLD.
HE'S MARRIED WITH A FAMILY TO SUPPORT.
HE'S SERVING WITH AN ARMY THAT COULDN'T AFFORD TO CLOTHE OR FEED HIM.
HE AND FELLOW SOLDIERS ARE CALLED THE NAKED RAGGED LOUSY REGIMENT.
HE HAD SURVIVED THE MISERABLE WINNER AT VALLEY FORGE.
HE FOUGHT IN TWO MAJOR BATTLES AND ON BOTH OCCASIONS HIS REGIMENTS HAD TO RETREAT.
HE HAD LOST COMRADES AT BOTH OF THOSE BATTLES.
AND AT THIS POINT HE MAY HAVE BECOME CONVINCED THAT THE AMERICANS COULD NOT WIN THE WAR.
SO WHAT DID HE DO? WELL, HE DESERTED IN MARCH OF 1780, BEN FRANK, DESERTED FROM THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.
IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON FOR REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS TO LEAVE THEIR COMPANIES AND REGIMENTS FOR HOME ONE FIFTH TO ONE THIRD DESERTED DURING THE WAR.
AS I STATED EARLIER, POOR PAY EQUIPMENT, LACK OF FOOD AND EVEN HOMESICKNESS, DROVE MANY SOLDIERS TO DESERT FORBID THERE WAS THE ADDITIONAL BURDEN OF MARRIAGE AND HAVING TO SUPPORT A FAMILY WITH INSUFFICIENT AND UNSTEADY MILITARY PAY.
THE MILITARY RECORDS ON THE SCREEN INDICATE THAT BEN SIGNED UP FOR THE DURATION OF THE WAR.
AND THAT'S THIS RECORD OVER HERE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE UM, SCREEN.
THERE IT SAYS, TIME OF SERVICE FOR THE DURATION OF THE WAR.
HOWEVER, BEN MAY HAVE BELIEVED LIKE HIS BROTHER, THAT HE HAD ONLY SIGNED UP FOR THREE YEARS AND WHEN HE LEFT, HIS THREE YEAR TIME PERIOD WAS ALMOST UP.
BUT FOR WHATEVER THE REASONS BEN FRANK LEFT, LEAVING HIS BROTHER AND HIS WIFE BEHIND HIS WIFE, SARAH WOULD RETURN TO HER HOMETOWN OF MIDDLEBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS, TAKING HER SON WITH HER, WILLIAM FRANK CONTINUED HIS SERVICE WITH THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMEN.
NOW ON THE SCREEN ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE IS A MUSTER LISTING OF INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE SERVING WITH SOME WHO WERE SERVING WITH THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMEN.
AND THE FIRST RED ARROW AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN IS THE COLUMN LISTED, UH, FOR THE DESERTERS.
AND YOU CAN SEE THE NUMBER OF NAMES THAT ARE LISTED UNDER THAT DESERTION COLUMN.
AND BEN FRANK'S, THE SECOND UH, RED ARROW THERE IS LISTED TOWARDS THE BOTTOM AND I'VE HIGHLIGHTED HERE ON THE SCREEN.
SO HE WASN'T THE ONLY ONE THAT LEFT.
I DON'T KNOW HOW SEGREGATION OF THE RHODE ISLAND TROOPS AFFECTED HIM AND OTHERS.
I HAVE TRACKED OVER 70 SOLDIERS OF COLOR FREEBORN OR FREE BEFORE THEIR ENLISTMENT, BEFORE THE SLAVE ENLISTMENT ACT AND SEGREGATION ONLY THREE DESERTED AFTER THE ACT 17 DESERTED, INCLUDING BEN FRANK AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW, SOLOMON WATT SOLOMON WAS RETAKEN AND HE WOULD LATER DIE OF DISEASE IN CAMP, LEAVING BEN'S SISTER A WIDOW.
BEN WAS NEVER RETAKEN, BUT THE OLDER BROTHER WILLIAM CONTINUED TO SERVE.
WHY HE MAY HAVE FELT RESPONSIBLE TO UP TOLD THE FAMILY NAME AFTER HIS BROTHER DESERTED, HE MAY HAVE FELT A SENSE OF LOYALTY TO HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS IN THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT.
MAYBE HE DIDN'T WANNA JEOPARDIZE HIS CHANCES OF GETTING LAND OR MONEY FOR HIS SERVICE.
MAYBE HE BELIEVED THAT THE AMERICANS WOULD WIN AND HE WOULD REAP THE BENEFITS OF BEING A VETERAN MEMBER OF THE ARMY THAT LIBERATED AMERICA.
BUT FOR WHATEVER THE REASONS HE REENLISTED ON FEBRUARY 1ST, 1781 FOR THE DURATION OF THE WAR AT THIS POINT, AND HE WOULD CONTINUE TO SERVE WITH THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMEN.
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NOW ON THE SCREEN IS A LISTING OF RHODE ISLAND SOLDIERS THAT WAS COMPILED IN 1781.AND I HAVE WILLIAM FRANK'S NAME HIGHLIGHTED THERE.
AND IT TELLS YOU HIS AGE, HIS HEIGHT.
AND YOU CAN SEE MOST OF THEM WERE RIGHT 5, 5, 5 6.
THEY WEREN'T VERY TALL INDIVIDUALS AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
IT ALSO LISTS WHERE HE WAS BORN.
IT ALSO LISTED HIS PLACE OF RESIDENCE WHEN HE, UM, SIGNED UP TO SERVE IT ALSO LISTED WHERE HE WAS, UH, WHERE HE ACTUALLY ENLISTED IN TITON AND ALSO LISTED HIS SKIN COLOR AND HIS HAIR COLOR AS WELL.
AND THIS IS WHERE WE GET CLOSE TO HOME HERE.
IN EARLY FEBRUARY, 1781, THE FIRST AND SECOND RHODE ISLAND REGIMENTS WERE CONSOLIDATED INTO A SINGLE RHODE ISLAND REGIMEN.
AFTER THE SECOND RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT HAD TAKEN HEAVY CASUALTIES IN THE BATTLE OF SPRINGFIELD AND THEY WERE NOW BEING COMMANDED BY COLONEL CHRISTOPHER GREEN.
SO THERE IS NO LONGER A SECOND RHODE ISLAND OR FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMEN.
NOW THEY ARE JUST A SINGULAR RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT.
NOW THIS REORGANIZED UNIT CONTAINED TWO COMPANIES OF BLACK SOLDIERS THAT SPRING COLONEL CHRISTOPHER GREEN, WHO IS NOW IN CHARGE OF THIS SINGULAR RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT.
AND HIS SOLDIERS FOUND THEMSELVES ENC CAMPED IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK NEAR PINES BRIDGE, WITH THE PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY OF GUARDING THE CONTINENTAL LINES.
ONE OF THOSE SOLDIERS WAS LIEUTENANT JEREMIAH GREENMAN.
HE WAS ASSIGNED TO COMMAND THE GUARD AT PINES BRIDGE, ONE OF THE TWO BRIDGES SPANNING THE CROTON RIVER IN THE NORTHERN BERRY BARRIER OF NEUTRAL.
I DON'T KNOW WHY Y'ALL CALLED IT NEUTRAL GROUND.
THERE WAS NOTHING NEUTRAL ABOUT IT.
THERE'S CONSTANT FIGHTING ALL THE TIME.
BUT ANYWAY, UH, IT WAS THE NORTHERN AREA OF QUOTE UNQUOTE NEUTRAL GROUND OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.
THIS WAS AN AREA OF ALMOST DAILY CONFRONTATION BETWEEN LOYALISTS AND PATRIOTS.
ALSO THE AREA OF GORILLA WARFARE CARRIED OUT BY A LOYALIST GROUP LED BY COLONEL JAMES DELANCEY.
THIS GROUP WAS KNOWN AS DELANCEY CORPS OF REFUGEES, COMPOSED OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO RESIDED IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY AND HAD CHOSEN TO REMAIN LOYAL TO THE BRITISH CAUSE.
AT SUNRISE ON MONDAY, MAY 14TH, 1781, DELANCEY LED HIS LOYALIST MILITIA TOWARDS PINE RIDGE.
ONE GROUP ATTACKED COLONEL GREEN'S HEADQUARTERS, WHICH WAS LOCATED AT THE DAVENPORT HOUSE.
WE'LL SEE THAT ON THE NEXT SLIDE.
A SECOND PARTY STRUCK GREEN GREENMAN'S GUARD AT THE BRIDGE.
AND, UH, LIEUTENANT GREENMAN CAPTURED THAT ACCOUNT IN HIS MEMOIRS.
AND PART OF THAT IS ON THE SCREEN THERE HE SAYS, THIS MORNING WAS ALARMED BY THE APPEARANCE OF A PARTY OF CALVARY SUPPORTED BY INFANTRY, WHICH PROVED TO BE DE LANCE'S CORPS OF REFUGEES.
THEY SOON SURROUNDED ME AND BEING VASTLY SUPERIOR, ENFORCED AND HAVING NO PROSPECT OF ESCAPE, I THOUGHT AT MOST ADVISABLE TO SURRENDER MYSELF AND GUARD PRISONERS OF WAR.
THEY INFORMED ME THAT COLONEL GREEN WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED AND MAJOR FLAG KILLED.
NOW, ALONG WITH UM, LIEUTENANT GREENMAN, PETER DALEY WAS ALSO CAPTURED.
HE HAD ORIGINALLY ENLISTED IN FEBRUARY, 1778.
I MENTIONED HIS NAME EARLIER WHEN I TALKED ABOUT THOSE FREE INDIVIDUALS THAT SIGNED UP DURING THE SAME PERIOD OF TIME OF THE SLAVE ENLISTMENT ACT.
AND HE WOULD, HE AND GREENMAN WOULD REMAIN PRISONERS OF WAR UNTIL SEPTEMBER OF THAT YEAR.
ALSO LISTED ON THE SCREEN ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE KILLED DURING THAT ATTACK.
UM, PRINCE CHILES, AFRICA BURKE, CATO BANISTER AND SIMON WHIPPLE WERE ALSO KILLED DURING, UM, THAT EVENT AS WELL.
NOW, THE MOST BRUTAL FIRE, UH, OCCURRED AT THE DAVENPORT HOUSE WERE COLONEL GREEN AND MAJOR EBENEZER FLAG AND A SMALL DETACHMENT OF SOLDIERS WERE AMBUSHED.
MAJOR EBENEZER GREEN WAS SHOT IN HIS HEAD WHILE REACHING FOR HIS PISTOLS 'CAUSE IT WAS DURING THE NIGHT AND THEY WERE AWOKEN NOT ASLEEP.
COLONEL GREEN WAS WOUNDED IN THE INITIAL ATTACK AND IS WOUNDED AND DYING.
BODY WAS STRAPPED TO A HORSE AND DRAGGED ABOUT A MILE TOWARDS BRITISH LINES.
EVENTUALLY, DELANCEY TROOPS LEFT THE COLONEL'S BODY AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND HE WAS LATER BURIED ALONG WITH FLAG AT A SITE NEAR THEIR HEADQUARTERS AT PINE BRIDGE AT FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN YORKTOWN.
NOW, I AND OTHER HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT THE BRUTAL VIOLENCE PERPETRATED UPON COLONEL GREEN'S BODY WAS UNUSUALLY VIOLENT AND PROBABLY BECAUSE GREEN WAS THE LEADER OF BLACK SOLDIERS.
AND I MENTIONED SOME OF THE SOLDIERS THAT WERE KILLED, UM, DURING DELANEY'S, UH, AMBUSH OF THESE SOLDIERS.
AND THAT WAS ON THE PREVIOUS SCREEN.
BUT THOSE INDIVIDUALS, THOSE NAMES ARE ALSO LISTED ON THE MONUMENT THAT IS ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE SCREEN.
AND WHAT IS REALLY AMAZING ABOUT THIS MONUMENT AND THE LAST TIME I WAS HERE, I HAD THE, THE CHANCE TO GO
[00:50:01]
VISIT THAT MONUMENT.WHAT IS SO UNUSUAL ABOUT THAT MONUMENT? IT IS ONE OF THE FEW MONUMENTS THAT DEPICTS THE DIVERSITY OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.
YOU HAVE COLONEL GREEN SHOELESS FIGHTING OFF HIS ATTACKERS.
YOU HAVE A NATIVE AMERICAN SOLDIER BEHIND HIM FIGHTING OFF THE ATTACK, HIS ATTACKERS AND ONE OF THE BLACK SOLDIERS FROM THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT ALSO BEING PORTRAYED ON THAT MONUMENT.
I AM STANDING IN FRONT OF THE DAVENPORT HOUSE.
AT MY LAST VISIT AT WESTCHESTER COUNTY, I GOT A TOUR AND UH, WE HAD A CHANCE TO GO TO THE DAVENPORT HOUSE AND I HAD MY PICTURE TAKEN IN FRONT OF IT.
SO IN 1781 WASHINGTON ORDERED THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT SOUTH TO YORKTOWN WITH THE MAIN ARMY.
AND HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE BECAUSE HE STARTED TO BELIEVE THAT THOSE SOLDIERS IN THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT, INCLUDING THOSE BLACK SOLDIERS, WERE PART OF A REALLY GOOD FIGHTING FORCE.
AND HE WANTED THEM TO COME WITH HIM TO YORKTOWN TO LAY SIEGE THERE IN 1781.
WHILE THEY WERE THERE, UM, MEN OF THE RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT WERE PART OF AN ASSAULT FORCE THAT CAPTURED BRITISH READOUTS NINE AND 10, WHICH LED TO THE ABILITY OF AMERICAN ARTILLERY TO FIRE DIRECTLY INTO YORKTOWN AND LED TO THE EVENTUAL DEFEAT OF GENERAL CORN WALLACE'S BRITISH FORCES.
THE CAPTURE OF THOSE READOUTS WAS A KEY TURNING POINT IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
AND OF COURSE, A KEY TURNING POINT IN THE WAR.
CO WALLACE WOULD SURRENDER HIS TROOPS THERE, WHICH MADE UP ONE THIRD OF ALL BRITISH FORCES IN THE COLON TO GEORGE WASHINGTON IN THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.
NOW YOU ARE LOOKING AT A, A SKETCH THAT WAS CREATED BY FRENCH ARTIST JEAN BAPTIST ANTOINE VERGE.
AND HE MADE THIS SKETCH OF FOUR SOLDIERS WHO WERE THERE ACTUALLY THERE AT THE SIEGE OF YORKTOWN IN 1781.
AND ONE OF THOSE SOLDIERS IS A MEMBER OF THE BLACK REGIMENT THERE ON THE FAR HAND, LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE SCREEN.
NOW, WILLIAM FRANK SURVIVED THE ATTACK AT PINES BRIDGE.
HE SURVIVED THE SIEGE AT YORKTOWN AND AT WARS END, HE HAD IN 1783, HE SERVED A TOTAL OF SIX YEARS.
HE WAS IN HIS MID TWENTIES AT THIS POINT.
A YEAR LATER IN 1784, HE WOULD EVENTUALLY RECEIVE BACK PAY IN THE AMOUNT OF OVER $200.
AND HE ALSO RECEIVED HIS LAND BOUNTY, WHICH HE PROMPTLY SOWED TO A LAND SPECULATOR.
YEAH, HE SETTLED IN HIS HOMETOWN OF JOHNSTON, RHODE ISLAND.
AFTER THE WAR, HE BECAME PART OF A GROWING POPULATION OF FREE BLACKS OF OVER 3,400 IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND.
ANOTHER 1000 BLACKS REMAINED ENSLAVED.
HE IS LISTED IN THE 1790 FIRST FEDERAL CENSUS AS A FREE HEAD OF A HOUSEHOLD OF THREE.
AND THAT IS A RED ARROW POINTING TO HIS NAME THERE ON THE SCREEN, INDICATING PROBABLY THAT HE GOT MARRIED AFTER THE WAR.
THERE IS ALSO ANOTHER FRANK THAT'S LISTED IN THE, THE RHODE ISLAND CENSUS FOR JOHNSTON AS WELL.
AND HIS NAME WAS ANDREW FRANK.
HE'S LIVING SOLO BY HIMSELF AND THERE'S A YELLOW, UH, ARROW POINTED TO HIS NAME.
I THINK HE MAY HAVE BEEN A COUSIN OR SOME SORT OF RELATIVE OF THE FRANK BROTHERS.
BEN'S LIFE WAS A LITTLE BIT MORE COMPLICATED.
AFTER BEN FRANK LEFT THE CONTINENTAL ARMY, HE SIGNED UP WITH BRITISH TROOPS.
NOW HE WASN'T ALONE IN FLEEING TO BRITISH CAUSE.
THOUSANDS OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE FLED TO THE BRITISH LINES DURING THE WAR.
AT THE END OF THE WAR, MANY OF THE DEFEATED BRITISH TROOPS AND LOYALISTS, BLACK LOYALISTS AMONG THEM, MADE THEIR WAY TO NEW YORK CITY, THE LAST BRITISH STRONGHOLD IN AMERICA.
THESE LOYALISTS REMAINED AT NEW YORK UNTIL THE FINAL PEACE TREATY WAS NEGOTIATED AND PASSAGE WAS ARRANGED FOR THEM TO ENGLAND OR BRITISH COLONIES LOCATED IN THE CARIBBEAN AND CANADA.
PART OF THE PEACE TREATY NEGOTIATED BETWEEN AMERICANS AND BRITISH OFFICIALS PROMISED THE RETURN OF ALL CONFISCATED PROPERTY BY THE BRITISH TO ITS RIFLE AMERICAN OWNERS.
THIS INCLUDED THE FORMERLY ENSLAVED.
HOWEVER, BRITISH OFFICIALS REFUSED TO RETURN MANY OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVES THAT HAD RUN TO THE BRITISH SEEKING THEIR FREEDOM DURING THE WAR.
BUT THE BRITISH WERE WILLING TO MAKE FAIR COMPENSATION TO THE OWNERS OF ENSLAVED PERSONS NOT RETURN.
IN ORDER TO DO SO, THEY COMPILED AN INVENTORY OF THE BLACKS BEHIND BRITISH LINES.
THIS INVENTORY BECAME KNOWN AS THE BOOK OF NEGROES, BEN FRANK, A FREEMAN HIS WHOLE LIFE AND FORMER CONTINENTAL SOLDIER, I BELIEVE IS LISTED IN THE BOOK OF NEGROES AS BEN FRANKHAM.
AND HE IS LISTED THERE ALONG WITH OVER 3000 OTHER BLACK LOYALISTS
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AND I HAVE KIND OF HIGHLIGHTED HIS NAME THERE.AND THERE'S AN ARROW POINTED TO HIS NAME IN THE BOOK OF NEGROES.
IN OCTOBER OF 1783, BEN FRANKHAM WAS A PRISONER, EXCUSE ME, WAS A PASSENGER ON A SHIP TAKING HIM AND OTHER LOYALISTS FROM NEW YORK TO NOVA SCOTIA.
THEY WERE A PART OF A FLEET OF OVER 80 SHIPS AND 40,000 LOYALISTS HEADING TO NOVA SCOTIA AND OTHER BRITISH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA.
THE SHIP CARRYING, UH, BEN FRANKHAM AND OTHERS WAS THE BRI ELIJAH AND IT, UH, DISEMBARKED ITS PASSENGERS AT PORT MO MOUTON.
THERE IS A RED ARROW POINTING TO WHERE THAT IS ON NOVA SCOTIA PENINSULA.
THE FIRST WINTER AT PORT MUTAN WAS VERY BLEAK.
LUMBER NEEDED TO BUILD SHELTERS, ARRIVED TOO LATE TO PROTECT MANY FROM THE HARSH ELEMENTS OF WINTER.
A FIRE IN THE FOLLOWING SPRING DESTROYED SHELTERS AND FORCED MANY TO OTHER SETTLEMENTS.
BY APRIL, 1784, BEN FRANKHAM HAD RELOCATED TO THE SETTLEMENT OF BIRCH TOWN, WHICH WAS JUST WEST OF PORT MUAN.
UH, BIRCH TOWN WAS SEVERAL MILES TO THE NORTHWEST OF A LARGER CITY OF SHELBURNE, NOVA SCOTIA AND BIRCH TOWN BECAME THE LARGEST BLACK SETTLEMENT IN NORTH AMERICA WITH A POPULATION OF OVER 1500.
NOW ON THE SCREEN IS A LISTING OF THE MUSTER ROLE FROM THAT BIRCH TOWN SETTLEMENT.
AND YOU CAN SEE I HAVE HIGHLIGHTED WHERE THERE'S BEN FRANKUM, WHO IS NOW 22 YEARS OLD AND HE IS LISTED AS A LABORER AS HIS FORM OF OCCUPATION.
ON THE BOTTOM HERE, THIS PICTURE IS OF A RECREATED HUT THAT SOME OF THE BLACK LOYALISTS WOULD HAVE LIVED IN, UM, DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME IN, UM, BIRCH TOWN, NOVA SCOTIA.
NOW BEN FRANK, NOW STARTING TO CALL HIMSELF BEN FRANKLIN EVENTUALLY MARRIED.
HE'S A BIGAMIST NOW, EVENTUALLY MARRIED MARGARET JACKSON, THE DAUGHTER OF ANOTHER, OF ANOTHER BLACK LOYALIST.
AND HE SETTLED IN GRANDVILLE FERRY NOVA SCOTIA, WHICH IS WHERE THE YELLOW ARROW IS POINTING.
BEN FRANKLIN AND HIS WIFE HAD NINE CHILDREN WHO SURVIVED UNTIL ADULTHOOD, ALL WERE BAPTIZED IN THE ANGLICAN CHURCH, AND HE PASSED AWAY SOMETIME AFTER 1838.
THOMAS HENRY FRANKLIN, THE LANDSCAPER IS A DIRECT DESCENDANT OF BEN FRANKLIN AND HE PASSED ALONG HIS FAMILY HISTORY TO THE NEXT GENERATION BEFORE HIS DEATH, HE PASSED THE STORY ON TO HIS SONS PETER AND JOHN WILLIAM FRANKLIN, WHO IS MY MATERNAL GRANDFATHER.
CHECK OUT THE HATS THAT ARE BOTH COCKED IN THE SAME DIRECTION.
IN THE EARLY 19 HUNDREDS, JOHN FRANKLIN LEFT NOVA SCOTIA AND HE DECIDED TO SETTLE IN NEW YORK.
NOW, ONE OF THE FIRST JOBS THAT YOUNG MEN IN NOVA SCOTIA WOULD GET WAS ON WHALING SHIPS.
AND MY GRANDFATHER WAS, UH, EMPLOYED ON A WHALING SHIP.
HE GOT HURT ON ONE OF THEIR WHALING EXPEDITIONS AND THEY DROPPED HIM OFF IN NEW YORK CITY FOR, UH, FIRST AID AND HE DECIDED TO STAY.
NOW FOLLOWING THE FRANK SLASH FRANKLIN TRADITION, BOTH MY GREAT UNCLE PETER AND MY GRANDFATHER, WE CALLED HIM PA, SERVED IN WORLD WAR I.
PETER SERVED WITH A BATTALION FROM CANADA.
JOHN WILLIAMS SERVES AS PART OF A NEW YORK REGIMENT, AND THEY ALLOWED IMMIGRANTS TO SERVE IN THE US MILITARY IN WORLD WAR I BECAUSE MY GRANDFATHER NEVER GAVE UP HIS CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP.
HE MARRIED LATE IN LIFE, HE SETTLED IN EASTLAND, MASSACHUSETTS.
HE PASSED AWAY IN EASTLAND IN 1966, AND HE ALWAYS HAD A CANADIAN FLAG IN HIS HOUSE.
I ASKED HIM ABOUT US, WHY DO WE HAVE A CANADIAN FLAG HANGING ON THE WALL, PA? HE SAID, THAT IS WHERE I AM FROM.
HE PASSED ALONG THE STORY TO HIS SONS.
I LIKE TO CALL THEM THE FRANK BROTHERS PART TWO, CHECK OUT THE NAMES JOHN WILLIAM FRANKLIN JR.
AND BEN FRANKLIN, WHO CONTINUE THE MILITARY TRADITION OF THE FRANKLIN MEN BOTH SERVED IN WORLD WAR II AND BOTH SERVED IN THE KOREAN CONFLICT.
AND THE STORY THAT MY MOTHER TELLS ABOUT THEIR SERVICE IN THE KOREAN CONFLICT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
THEY'RE ALL SITTING AROUND THE DINNER TABLE.
THEY BOTH SURVIVE WORLD WAR II.
AND THE OLDER BROTHER JOHN WILLIAMS SAYS, HEY, LISTEN, WHY DON'T WE ALL JOIN UP FOR THE NATIONAL GUARD? IT'LL BE REAL EASY WORK.
WE ONLY HAVE TO SHOW UP ONCE A MONTH AND WE HAVE TO GO TO CAMP IN THE SUMMER.
THEY ALL GOT CALLED UP TO GO TO KOREA.
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WORLD WAR II, MY UNCLE BUSTER SERVED IN THE PACIFIC.MY UNCLE BEN SERVED IN EUROPE DURING THE KOREAN CONFLICT.
THEY SERVED TOGETHER AND I WAS TOLD THEY ARGUED THE WHOLE TIME THAT THEY WERE IN KOREA.
SO I WANT TO END BY READING A SECTION FROM THE EPILOGUE OF THE BOOK.
SO LEARNING ABOUT THE FRANKLIN FAMILY BACKGROUND AND ORIGINS HAS BEEN A FASCINATING PERSONAL JOURNEY.
THEIR STRUGGLE TO GAIN STANDING IN THEIR COMMUNITIES TO AND TO FIGHT ON EQUAL FOOTING WITH THEIR WHITE COUNTERPARTS IN THE COUNTER ARMY HAS HELPED ME TO PUT MY OWN LIFE AND CAREER CHOICES IN PERSPECTIVE LIKE THE FRANK BROTHERS.
I FOLLOWED IN MY OWN FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS WHEN I BECAME A POLICE OFFICER IN TOLEDO, OHIO IN 19 76, 1 OF THE FIRST FEMALE OFFICERS ON THE DEPARTMENT, MY FATHER, A WELL-RESPECTED POLICE INVESTIGATOR AND CIVIL WAR HISTORY BUFF, INSTILLED A LOVE OF HISTORY IN ME AND LIKE RUFUSS FRANK TO HIS OWN SONS.
UM, HE WAS AN INSPIRING FIGURE IN MY LIFE, BUT DID THE HERITAGE FROM MY MATERNAL LINE AND STILL AN UNCONVENTIONAL STREAK IN ME THAT ALLOWED ME TO ENVISION MYSELF AS SOMEONE EQUAL IN A MALE-DOMINATED WORKFORCE.
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THIS NON-CONFORMING TRAIT CAME FROM THE FRANK SLASH FRANKLIN LINE.
THROUGHOUT MY RESEARCH, I HAVE OFTEN ASKED MYSELF, WHICH OF THE BROTHERS I IDENTIFIED WITH THE MOST.
AND EVEN THOUGH BEN'S LIFE AND DECISION PROVIDE A BETTER FRAMEWORK TO UNDERSTAND MY OWN PREDILECTION, TO TAKE THE ROLE LESS TRAVELED AS THE OLDEST SIBLING IN MY FAMILY, I TEND TO IDENTIFY WITH WILLIAM, THE OLDER BROTHER, WHO WAS PERSISTENT AND STEADFAST IN THE SERVICE.
BUT I AM NOT JUDGEMENTAL OR UNSYMPATHETIC TO BEN'S ACTIONS AND DECISIONS.
TO THE CONTRARY, THE COMBINATION OF THESE TWO DICHOTOMOUS PERSONALITIES HAS FOUND A HOME IN THIS AUTHOR AND MOTIVATED ME TO NOT ONLY CONTINUE THEIR HISTORY OF PUBLIC SERVICE, BUT ALSO TO WRITE THEIR STORY.
AND I'LL END THERE AND TAKE QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE ANY.
AND I SHOULD MENTION THAT WE HAVE HER BOOK IN THE BACK.
AND SO, UH, IF YOU WANT TO PICK THAT UP, UH, LET ME, UH, SEE WHO'S GOT A QUESTION.
THANK YOU MS. GREEN FOR FABULOUS PRESENTATION.
UM, ONE OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS TO ABOLITION, UH, THAT GEORGE WASHINGTON DID IS THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE.
DURING HIS ADMINISTRATION, WHEN HE MADE THE ENTIRE MIDWEST, HE PROHIBITED SLAVERY AND THE ENTIRE MIDWEST.
AND I AND I, AS YOU POINTED OUT, THE UM, THE, THE, UH, SERVICE OF THE BLACK TROOPS IN THE REVOLUTION SORT OF OPENED HIS EYES TO THE, UM, THE, THE STRENGTH AND THE, UM, WISDOM OF BLACK SOLDIERS.
AND I WAS WONDERING IF YOU KNOW OF ANY DIRECT RELATIONSHIP TO HIS APPRECIATION OF THE BLACK TROOPS UNDER HIS COMMAND IN THE REVOLUTION AND HIS DETERMINATION TO PROHIBIT SLAVERY IN THE MIDWEST AFTERWARDS IN THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE? OH, I DON'T KNOW.
I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S A CONNECTION THERE.
I KNOW THAT, UM, WHEN THEY OPENED UP THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, WHICH IS WHERE I'M FROM,
HOWEVER, I ALSO DO KNOW THAT, UH, SOME, UM, FOLKS DID BRING THEIR ENSLAVED POPULATION WITH THEM AND BASICALLY SAID THEY WERE INDENTURED SERVANTS FOR LIFE.
I MEAN, SO THEY TRIED TO GET AROUND SOME OF THAT AS WELL.
UM, GEORGE, GEORGE WASHINGTON IS A COMPLICATED FIGURE IN ALL OF THIS.
HE, UM, UM, HAD AN ENSLAVED POPULATION WORKING ON, ON HIS PLANTATION IN MOUNT VERNON, AND HE DID COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT BLACK SOLDIERS WERE, UM, AN ASSET TO THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.
AND, UM, HE KNEW THAT HE HAD TO DEAL WITH THE MANPOWER UH, SHORTAGES AMONG HIS RANKS.
AND THAT WAS ONE WAY TO DO SO, WAS TO ALLOW BLACK MEN AND THEN ENSLAVED BLACK MEN TO SERVE.
SO HE'S KIND OF WALKING THIS FINE LINE OF, ON ONE HAND, HAVING, UM, AN OWNER OF SLAVES WHEN, ON THE OTHER HAND, FINALLY ALLOWING WHEN PRACTICALITY CAME, UM, INTO FOCUS HERE TO ALLOW THEM TO SERVE.
AND THEN HE DID, UH, PICK THE RHODE ISLANDERS, UM, TO GO AND MARCH ON YORKTOWN, WHICH WAS
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VERY IMPORTANT.HE KNEW HE NEEDED THEM TO, TO WIN THERE, AND THEY DID.
THEY HELPED OUT QUITE A BIT THERE.
WELL, I'M BACK HERE, SO I AM GONNA ROLL BACK TO THE VERY BEGINNING OF YOUR TALK AND, UM, ASK, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE FACT THAT THERE WERE, WHETHER THEY WERE SLAVES OR WHETHER THEY WERE SERVANTS, THE FACT THAT AFRICAN AMER OR AFRICANS WERE ALLOWED TO OWN LAND MM-HMM
SUGGESTS A VERY COMPLICATED, UH, SITUATION.
THE ENSLAVED POPULATION IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES HAD, UH, SOME RIGHTS, NOT A LOT, BUT THEY DID HAVE SOME RIGHTS.
AND ONE OF THOSE RIGHTS WAS THEIR ABILITY TO OWN LAND AND PROPERTY.
NOW YOU HAVE TO, UH, REMEMBER THEY WERE PAYING MONEY FOR THE PROPERTY, SO THE FOLKS SELLING THE LAND TO THEM WERE NOT OUT ANYTHING.
BUT YOU'RE RIGHT, THAT I FOUND THAT WAS REALLY SURPRISING TO ME WHEN I DISCOVERED ALL OF THESE DOCUMENTS WITH FRANK BUYING THESE LAND AND MORTGAGING THE LAND OFF, AND THEN PAYING THE MORTGAGE BACK AND GETTING, UH, CONTROL OF THAT LAND AGAIN, I WAS REALLY SURPRISED.
BUT I LOOKED IN THE COLONIAL, UH, LEGAL RECORDS, AND THEY WERE ALLOWED, THEY WERE ALLOWED TO, TO PURCHASE PROPERTY.
WHAT IT SUGGESTS TOO, THOUGH, THAT THERE'S A, I MEAN, IS A SERVANT ALWAYS IN AN INDENTURED SERVANT? OR IS IT SOMEBODY WHO'S SIMPLY YEAH.
SEE, THOSE NEW ENGLANDERS, THEY'RE A TRICKY BUNCH
SO THEY WOULD SAY, SERVANT TO, AND NINE TIMES OUTTA 10, IF THAT SERVANT WAS A BLACK PERSON OR A NATIVE AMERICAN PERSON AS WELL, THEY WERE PROBABLY ENSLAVED TO THAT FAMILY.
THEY DID NOT LIKE TO USE THE WORD SLAVE.
SO IT MAKES IT A LITTLE DIFFICULT WHEN YOU'RE DOING THE RESEARCH TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE INDENTURED SERVANT.
AND IN THE BOOK, I, I KIND OF, YOU KNOW, LEAVE THAT UP.
UM, I DON'T REALLY LAND ONE WAY OR THE OTHER ON IT, BUT NINE TIMES OUTTA 10, UH, FRANK WAS PROBABLY ENSLAVED TO THEM BECAUSE THEY WERE INDENTURED SERVANTS.
THEY WERE INDENTURED SERVANTS AND THEY WERE ENSLAVED POPULATION.
AND, AND NATIVE AMERICANS WERE ALSO ENSLAVED DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME AS WELL.
SO IT'S REALLY DIFFICULT TO TELL, BUT FOR THE MOST PART, IF YOU FIND DOCUMENTS, UH, WITH A BLACK PERSON LISTED AS A SERVANT IN A HOUSEHOLD, THEY ARE ENSLAVED TO THAT HOUSEHOLD.
I'M FROM YOUR NEIGHBORING STATE OF INDIANA.
BUT I LIVE NOW HERE IN HASTINGS, AND I'M WONDERING IF YOU COULD TELL US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE COEXISTENCE OF SLAVES AND FREEDMEN, UH, DURING THE PERIOD IN WHICH YOU DID ALL OF YOUR RESEARCH.
THAT HAD TO BE A VERY INTERESTING, UM, DIFFERENCE AND A CHANGE IN, IN THE SERVICE FOR FREE MEN AND FREEBORN MEN LIKE WILLIAM AND BEN FRANK, WHEN THEY WERE, UH, SEGREGATED INTO THE FIRST RHODE ISLAND REGIMENT, THE BLACK REGIMENT, BECAUSE, UM, THEY DECIDED TO ENLIST THIS BATTALION OF FORMERLY ENSLAVED MEN.
IT APPEARS THAT FOR THE MOST PART, THEY GOT ALONG, THEY FOUGHT HARD, UM, AND THEY TRIED TO DO RIGHT BY EACH OTHER.
BUT THAT WAS A REAL CHANGE IN THEIR, UH, THEIR SERVICE.
BECAUSE REMEMBER AT THE BEGINNING I SAID THAT ENSLAVED PEOPLE WERE LOOKING FOR FOLKS WHO WERE GONNA GIVE THEM THEIR LIBERTY AND FREE, UH, PEOPLE WERE LOOKING FOR THE SIDE THAT WAS GONNA GIVE 'EM THEIR EQUALITY.
AND AS, AS LONG AS THE FRANK BROTHERS AND OTHER FREE MEN WHO HAD ENLISTED BEFORE, UM, THE SLAVE ENLISTMENT ACT, AS LONG AS THEY WERE BEING TREATED EQUALLY AND FAIRLY THE SAME AS THEIR WHITE COUNTERPARTS, THEY WERE ALL RIGHT.
BUT WHAT STARTED TO OCCUR, AND I REALLY DIDN'T GET INTO THIS, IT'S IN THE BOOK, BUT IT'S NOT AS PART OF THIS PRESENTATION, WHAT STARTED TO OCCUR, REMEMBER I SAID AFTER THE BATTLE RHODE ISLAND, THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO SHORE PATROL.
THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO SHORE PATROL IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, AWAY FROM THE MAIN ARMY.
AND WHILE ON SHORE PATROL, THEY WERE GIVEN SUPPORT DUTIES AND AUXILIARY FUNCTIONS, LIKE MAKING STUFF.
AND THAT WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THAN THE TYPE OF SERVICE THEY HAD BEFORE THEY SEGREGATED THE REGIMEN.
SO THERE WAS A CHANGE IN THEIR CONDITIONS OF SERVICE.
UM, COULD YOU SPECULATE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT BEN'S DECISION TO JOIN THE BRITISH TROOPS? WAS THAT YOU, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY HE DOESN'T, HAS A, DOESN'T HAVE A DIARY.
BUT, BUT WAS THAT JUST, DO YOU THINK AN ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, OBVIOUSLY IT'S SUCH A PHILOSOPHICAL CHANGE AND MIGHT IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH, UH, PERCEPTIONS OF RACISM
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IN THIS COUNTRY THAT HE WAS REBELLING AGAINST?I, I, IN, I HAVE A WHOLE CHAPTER IN THE BOOK THAT'S DEDICATED TO HIS DESERTION TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHY HE DESERTED AND WHY THE OTHER 17 INDIVIDUALS WHO SERVED ALONGSIDE HIM AND DECIDED TO DESERT AT THE SAME TIME, OR DURING THAT PERIOD OF WINTER OF, I CALL IT THE WINTER OF DISCONTENT.
UM, I THINK THERE WERE A NUMBER OF REASONS.
HE COULDN'T AFFORD TO TAKE CARE OF THE WIFE.
UM, AND HER CHILD, HE WAS BEING ASSIGNED TO DIFFERENT TYPES OF FUNCTIONS NOW IN THE ARMY, BECAUSE THEY'RE SEGREGATED AWAY FROM, FROM THE MAIN ARMY.
UM, HE, IT MAY HAVE BEEN A SPONTANEOUS DECISION ON HIS PART IF HE THOUGHT HIS THREE YEARS WERE UP AND HE SAYS, I'M DONE.
I MEAN, HE'S, HE'S BEEN INVOLVED IN TWO LOSING BATTLES AND MAYBE IT WAS A SPONTANEOUS DECISION ON HIS PART, BUT IF HE THOUGHT ABOUT COMING BACK OR IF HE THOUGHT ABOUT GOING HOME, WHAT WAS HE GONNA DO? IS HE GONNA GO HOME TO RUFUSS IN JOHNSON, RHODE ISLAND? AND WHAT WOULD BE THE FIRST THING THAT RUFUSS WOULD ASK HIM WHEN HE KNOCKED ON THE DOOR? WHERE'S YOUR BROTHER? WHERE'S YOUR BROTHER WILLIAM? SO HE COULDN'T GO HOME.
SO, UM, MAYBE THAT WAS THE ONLY THING THAT WAS LEFT FOR HIM TO DO, IS GO TO THE BRITISH SIDE.
IT IS VERY HARD TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HECK HE WAS THINKING.
THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION, THOUGH.
I THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION, UH, DR. GREEN.
AND, AND LENDS A LOT TO THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY.
I'M SURE, TO THE HISTORY OF PERSONALLY TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
AND I KNOW YOU JUST SPOKE EARLIER ABOUT THE FINE LINE THAT GEORGE WASHINGTON HAD TO, UH,
IS IT 250 YEARS? TWO 50 YEARS, LIKE QUINCENTENNIAL OKAY.
BEING A LITTLE FACETIOUS HERE,
BUT IT ALWAYS SEEMS AS THOUGH THAT, UM, WHEN THERE'S A NEED YES.
IN THIS COUNTRY FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR TO BECOME OF SERVICE.
UH, IT, IT'S, IT'S THE HISTORY THAT'S THERE.
DIDN'T ABRAHAM LINCOLN DO THE SAME THING? YEAH.
UM, AND, AND EVEN WHEN WE FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II YEAH.
THE KOREAN WAR, IT ALWAYS SEEMS AS THOUGH, OKAY, I I THINK WE NEED A FEW MORE MEN.
SO THEREFORE, MY QUESTION TO YOU IS THAT, AND REALIZING THAT GEORGE WASHINGTON NEEDED THESE EXTRA MEN OF COLOR YEAH.
IN ORDER TO WIN SOME BATTLES, UM, WAS IT PRIMARILY LOOKING AT THE NORTH VERSUS THE SOUTH, OR WAS HE TRYING TO INCORPORATE ALL MEN OF COLOR REGARDLESS OF WHERE THEY HAPPENED TO BE RESIDING? AT THE TIME? THE MAJORITY OF BLACK SOLDIERS, UM, CAME FROM THE NEW ENGLAND STATES.
AND I THINK THERE WAS, AT ONE POINT IN TIME, UH, LAURENS TRIED TO, UH, RECRUIT AND ENLIST A, UH, A GROUP OF BLACK MEN FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, UH, TO SERVE IN THE COMMON ARMY.
AND THAT WAS THE ONLY OTHER INSTANCE THAT I CAN THINK OF WHERE THEY WENT INTO THE SOUTH TO TRY TO GET BLACK MEN TO SERVE IN THE COMMON ARMY.
BUT WHAT IS REALLY UNUSUAL, AND YOU REMINDED ME OF THIS WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT NEED.
SO FROM THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE WAR, AND I MENTIONED THIS EARLIER, AT THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD AND BUNKER HILL, THERE WERE BLACK, WHITE AND NATIVE AMERICAN SOLDIERS FIGHTING IN ALL OF THOSE, UH, THOSE BATTLES.
UM, AND THEN THROUGHOUT THE WAR, AFTER THE WAR, THE FIRST FEDERAL MILITIA ACT THAT WAS ENACTED BY CONGRESS STIPULATED THAT ONLY WHITE MEN WOULD BE ALLOWED TO SERVE IN THE MILITIA.
AND THAT WAS IN 1796, I BELIEVE, THAT THEY PASSED THE FEDERAL MILITIA ACT.
SO YOU ARE, UM, REFUSING AGAIN TO ALLOW BLACK MEN TO SERVE IN, IN THE MILITARY.
AND OF COURSE, THAT WOULD ALL CHANGE DURING THE WAR OF 1812, BECAUSE THEY NEEDED THE BODIES TO, TO FIGHT.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? I'D LIKE TO TAKE A MOMENT TO, UH, SAY THAT WE TALKED ABOUT THE, UH, BATTLE OF PINES BRIDGE AND THAT TERRIBLE THING THAT HAPPENED AT THE DAVENPORT HOUSE AND THE SOLDIERS THAT WERE KILLED THERE.
WELL, SATURDAY, ALL DAY AT YORKTOWN, THERE'S GONNA BE A BIG COMMEMORATION FOR
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THE BLACK REGIMENT AND FOR THE, THE SOLDIERS WHO DIED THERE AND ALL ABOUT THE BATTLE OF PINES BRIDGE.SO IT'S GONNA BE A BIG AFFAIR.
UM, IT'D BE FUN IF YOU CAN GET UP NORTH THERE.
I THOUGHT IT, THERE'S A, IT'S THAT STATUE, THAT GREAT STATUE OF THE THREE, I THINK THAT'S IN YORKTOWN.
AND THAT STATUE, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, IT'S, IT'S THE MOST, IT'S AMAZING, IMPRESSIVE, UH, STATUE IN WESTCHESTER.
AND PROBABLY IN A LOT OF PLACES.
UH, AND THAT, THAT MULTIRACIAL ASPECT OF IT IS TOTALLY UNUSUAL.
CAN YOU COMMENT ON THE HOUSE ITSELF? IS THAT, WAS THAT HEADQUARTERS FOR SOMEBODY, OR, I THINK IT STARTS AT 10, WHICH THE DAVIN YEAH.
I THINK WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS IS WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS AT ONE POINT.
AND, AND THEN COLONEL GREEN WAS USING IT.
IT'S, IT'S A PRIVATE FAMILY THAT LIVED THERE, BUT, UH, WE JUST HAD A TAVERN NIGHT THAT EILEEN ORGANIZED IT REVOLUTIONARY WESTCHESTER TWO 50 ORGANIZED EVERY MONTH WE'RE HAVING TAVERN NIGHTS.
AND THE NEXT ONE IS WHAT? EILEEN? OH, EASTCHESTER EAST
MAY 8TH, UH, EAST EAST CHESTER FROM FIVE TO NINE.
AND THESE HAVE BEEN REALLY FUN.
WE HAD WHAT AT PETER PRATT'S RESTAURANT, AND WHICH IS ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE DAVENPORT HOUSE.
AND THEY HAVE A GREAT TRIVIA CONTEST THEY DO AT THE END OF THE EVENT, BUT IT'S A LOT OF FUN.
THE FIFTH NEW YORK COMES AND SHOOTS RIFLES AND ALL KINDS OF STUFF GOES ON THERE.
MIGHT FEW MORE QUESTIONS AFTER SHIRLEY'S FINISHED, IF YOU CAN REMEMBER.
WHAT WAS THE DOUBLE F IN FRANK FOR? OKAY.
WHEN YOU SEE THAT IN COLONIAL YEAH.
WHEN YOU SEE THAT IN COLONIAL WRITING, THAT MEANS CAPITAL F YEAH.
AND THERE'S ANOTHER, UH, UH, SORT OF STRANGE THING IN COLONIAL WRITING, AND I DON'T KNOW IF YOU NOTICED IT IN THE, UH,
YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE AN F BUT NOT QUITE AN F THAT STANDS FOR AN S.
Y'S THE, WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
OH, YOU HAVE ONE MORE QUESTION HERE.
AND I LIKE THE, I LIKE THE LAST PRESENTATION, BUT I REALLY LIKE OH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH,
WELL, LET'S HAVE ANOTHER PEN FOR DR. GREEN AND SHE CAN SIGN BOOKS IF YOU WANT TO GET HER BOOK IN THE BACK.
UM, AND SHE'LL BE APPEARING IN, IN, UH, YORKTOWN TO MAKE SOME REMARKS AS WELL.