Black soldiers fought in the American Revolutionary War from the moment of the first shots at Lexington and Concord in 1775 to the decisive Battle of Yorktown in 1781. As it was difficult to recruit able-bodied men to join the Continental Army, enslaved men were sent to fight in place of their enslavers with the promise of their freedom after three years of service. The 1st Rhode Island Regiment was established on February 14, 1778. The unit was comprised of 140 men of color and was known as the Black Regiment.  The primary resistance that repelled three unsuccessful charges by British and Hessian forces at the Battle of Rhode Island, the Black Regiment was credited by the General Lafayette as having engaged in quote “the best fought action of the war.”

https://www.nps.gov/york/index.htm

The Unhidden Minute is part of the Unhidden Podcast Project supported through a National Geographic Explorer Grant from the National Geographic Society, with the cooperation of the National Park Service. This series celebrates the untold stories of Black American history.

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