Black Patriots

Black Americans played a significant role in the founding of the United States. One of the first people to diein the struggle for American Independence was Crispus Attucks, a man of Indigenous and African heritage who died in 1770 protesting the British occupation of Boston. On January 19, 1776, The Continental Congress approved General Washington's order that all freemen were eligible to join the Revolutionary Army. Nicholas Johnson of Queen Anne's County Maryland enlisted on May 27, 1777 in the 5th Maryland Regiment. Johnson served for a 3 year term, and he received a pension for his service beginning in 1819. The reports below detail the lives, families, and service of Black Revolutionary War Soldiers.