20. Seeding Black Fighting Men
With British prospects in Virginia collapsing, Lord Dunmore disbanded the Ethiopian Regiment in 1776. The experiment had nonetheless demonstrated that black runaway slaves were of military value, both in combat and in support functions. Many of the Ethiopian Regiment’s alumni joined other units, particularly the Black Pioneers, in New York. A former member, an escaped New Jersey slave named Titus Cornelius, gained renown – or from a Patriot perspective, notoriety – as a Loyalist guerrilla leader nicknamed Colonel Tye.
The Ethiopian Regiment marked a significant step in British policy, as its members were the first of thousands of escaped slaves who fought for the British during the war. The recruitment of black soldiers by the British also led the Continental Congress to override George Washington’s wishes to keep blacks out of the Continental Army. In 1777, Congress restored the eligibility of blacks to serve in Continental forces – which Washington had rescinded in 1775.
