the “King of England Soldiers” kept attacking on
both sides of the Savannah River even after the
Revolution and many feared a general insurrection of slaves.
The colonists soon began to change their attitude. Late in 1775, Washington reversed his decision and ordered his recruiting officers to accept free Negroes who had already served in the army and laid the matter before the Continental Congress. The Committee recommended that these Negroes be reenlisted but no others. Various leaders advised that it would be better to enlist the slaves, among them Samuel Hopkins, Alexander Hamilton, General Greene, James Madison. Even John Laurens of South Carolina tried to make the South accept the proposition.[1]
Thus Negroes again were received into the American army and from that time on they played important roles. They had already distinguished themselves in individual cases at Bunker Hill. For instance, fourteen white officers sent the following statement to the Massachusetts Legislature on December 5, 1775: “The subscribers beg leave to report to your Honorable House (which we do in justice to the character of so brave a man) that under our own observation we declare
- ↑ Cf. Livermore and Moore as above; also Journal of Negro History, Vol. 1, pp. 114-20.
