19. George Washington Purged Black Soldiers From the Continental Army
Blacks fought against the British in the war’s early battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. However, when George Washington took command of the Patriot forces, he was appalled to see black soldiers. With slave uprisings a constant fear of slaveholders, the sight of armed blacks was guaranteed to discomfit a plantation owner such as army’s new commander. So he halted the recruitment of black soldiers, and eventually purged them from the Continental Army. Later, after his forces were drastically reduced by desertions and diseases, Washington was forced to turn a blind eye to black soldiers in his army.
The British thought differently about arming blacks, and sought to turn the rebels’ slaves against them. In November, 1775, Virginia’s British governor, Lord Dunmore, offered slaves their freedom in exchange for service to the Crown. That struck slaveholders such as Thomas Jefferson as monstrous, and brought many undecided slave owners to the Patriots’ side. That context explains why, despite the Declaration of Independence’s “All men are created equal” part, it assails the British for offering slaves an opportunity to secure that equality.
