American Revolution
U.S. Social and Ethnic Groups
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This page:
Africans |
Amerindians |
Irish |
Italians |
Loyalists |
Religious Sects |
Scots and "Scotch-Irish" |
Women
Other pages: Other European Ethnicities | France | Spain |
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Latest Changes: 07Dec07 - Italians / 08Jan30 - Charles County monument / 08Mar27 - Salem Poor / |
| Many U.S. ethnic and social groups helped win independence. This page also notes American Loyalists and those Amerindians who were hostile toward, or neutral to, or supportive of the cause of independence from Great Britain. |
Africans and Their Descendants
Black Americans in Defense of Our Nation (U.S. Dept. of Defense, 1990). In Part 2, Chapter I, the first section describes the participation of blacks in the American Revolution. PRINT RESOURCES: ---------------------------------------------------------- Forgotten Patriots -- African American and American Indian Patriots
of the Revolutionary War (Daughters of the American Revolution, May 2008,
Washington DC) --$35 (plus $8 S&H) -- identifies over 6,600 of these patriots by name.
Chapters include historical commentary, sources cited, miscellaneous naval
and military records, foreign allies, the West Indies, a bibliography for each state
and region of the country.
Black Soldiers, Black Sailors, Black Ink, by Thomas T. Moeba (Moebs Publishing, Williamsburg VA, 1994) lists black participants in many American wars by date of enlistment and also in their units (Rev War units are on pages 1122 - 1127). |
 Free African Americans
of the Colonial Period [Paul Heinegg] for North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland,
and Delaware. This has about 4,000 pages of family histories
and abstracted government files (colonial court order and minute books
census records, tax lists, wills, deeds, free Negro registers,
marriage bonds, parish registers, Revolutionary War pension files, etc.
The Liberty Fund D.C. has posted a
Patriots of Color, African Americans and Native Americans
at Battle Road & Bunker Hill, by George Quintal, Jr.
(Eastern National Press, 2004) is a 260 page report. The only part online is
State-specific Sites New Hampshire:
The Bucks of America was the only black military unit of the Revolutionary War
that was entirely made up of volunteer "freemen of color." This unit was likely present
at the 1781 Sep 06 battle of Groton Heights
(New London CT). Their commander, George Middleton, may have been the only commissionered
officer during the Revolution who was black.
The First Rhode Island Regiment
The 4th Connecticut Regiment
Individuals
Salem Poor was a free man (formerly a slave) who was credited with firing the shot that killed a British Lt Col at the battle of Breeds Hill on 1775 June 17. Six months later thirteen officers signed a petition to the General Court of Massachusetts citing Poor's bravery and leadership. [Ref. New England Ancestors Fall 2007 pp 40-41.] Oscar (Marion) was a member of the South Carolina militia as well as
being the slave shown preparing dinner in the painting
"General Marion Inviting a British Officer to Share His Meal"
by John Blake White (painted between 1815 and 1825).
Research by distant cousin Tina Jones found documents showing that
Oscar was General Francis Marion's personal slave and served with him
through seven years of military service. It was common practice
at the time for slaves to be given their master's surname.
Blacks in Loyalist Units
Print Resources: See Brannon and Grundset for a DAR listing of resources on people of African and Amerindian descent. African-American Patriots in the Southern Campaign of the American
Revolution, by Dr. Bobby Moss and Michael C. Scroggins (Scotia-Hibernia Press, 2004)
documents 800 African-American patriots.
African-American Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution,
by Dr. Bobby Moss and Michael C. Scroggins (Scotia-Hibernia Press, 2005)
documents 2,800 African-American patriots.
African American and American Indian Patriots of the Revolution (DAR, 2001) for each original state describes the enlistment situation, lists hundreds of names of African Americans and American Indians who can be documented as serving in the U.S. forces, and cites the sources used to create this list. Black Soldiers, Black Sailors, Black Ink, by Thomas T. Moeba (Moebs Publishing, Williamsburg VA, 1994) lists black participants in many American wars by date of enlistment and also in their units (Rev War units on pp 1122-7). |
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Amerindians (Native Americans)
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Religious Sectarians and Their DescendantsDenominations that had been suppressed by the Anglican church often supported the fight for independence and its promise of religious freedom, later implemented in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Colonial Williamsburg provides several views of Religion in Colonial Virginia Print Resources: Ethnic Heritage - American Jews, The SAR Magazine for Winter 2002, p 24, by Joseph L. Andrews, Jr. (Massachusetts Society SAR) |
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Other Europeans and Their DescendantsIrish and Their Descendants
A winning entry from the Knight essay contest The French Royal Army included two regiments whose leaders
and many soldiers were Irish or descendants of Irish who were born in France,
(like the three Dillons or their cousin Sheldon). Many Catholics families
fled Ireland after the Protestants amd English won the battle of the Boyne in 1690.
Italians and Their DescendantsMany men from Italy states were soldiers in French regiments, three of which
were made up mostly of Italians: Royal Italien, Piedmont, and Perche.
While none of these fought in the U.S., they were part of the global allied effort
to secure the independence of the U.S. from Great Britain
Francis Vigo was born in Mondovi (Italy) and emigrated to New Orleans.
In 1772 he established a trading post at St.Louis. During the American Revolution
he loaned money to George Rogers Clark to pay for troops and supplies.
After the war he asked Congress for reimbursement, which was denied in spite of letters
from Gen. Anthony Wayne and others. The debt was finally paid in 1876
-- decades after Vigio died in 1836 -- to his wife's heirs.
A county in Indiana is named for him and a statue of Vigo graces
the George Rogers Clark Memorial Park in Vincennes IN.
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Thousands of peasants only recently freed from serfdom in the 1600s
were displaced from Scotland to Ireland starting in the early 1600s.
Social unrest and religious oppression by the British Anglicans
in Ireland during the 1700s led many Protestant Scot immigrants
(often called "Scotch-Irish") to emigrate to the American colonies,
where their anti-British sentiments inflamed and supported the movement
toward independence and freedom.
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Women participated actively in support of political, economic, and military activities
during the War for Independence. Communication of general information, studying about and
arguing for the cause of liberty, spying, serving as a courier, organizing boycotts,
making goods or alternatives that had previously been imported, making clothing
and gunpowder and musket balls, mending and cooking for the army, tending sick
or wounded soldiers, running farms and businesses, serving in home guard units, etc.
Some traveled with the patriot army and were provided rations of food for the work they did..
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Loyalists The On-line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies
(OIA Loyalist Studies) provides many on-line resources.
Muster Rolls for Loyalist Regiments [OIA Loyalist Studies]
Timeline of the Major Battles [OIA Loyalist Studies]
in which specific loyalist units are listed under each of the battles in which they participated,
along with a link to the history of that unit.
See also Blacks in Loyalist Units. Loyalist Officers
(including staff officers) who were serving in America in 1782,
are listed(arranged by regiments) on a ZIP file that can be downloaded from
ftp://ftp.xmission.com/pub/users/j/jayhall/britmil.zip [Jay Hall, copyright 1990]
This file includes British and Germanic officers on the British side.
The United Empire Loyalists of Canada (UELAC) is made up of descendants of those residents
of the thirteen colonies who remained loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution
and later settled in what is now Canada. At one time the UELAC had posted the names and service
of over 7,000 Loyalists.
Peter Wilson Coldham reviewed Loyalist claims submitted to the American Claims Commission
for compensation for loss of land and property by Loyalists due to the Revolutionary War.
Some 75% of the 15,000 individuals claimants emigrated from the U.S. after 1783.
Print Resources: Loyalists and Land Settlements in Nova Scotia lists 10,000 names, service, and land granted Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War, by M.J. Clark (Genealogical Publ., Baltimore MD) "Official Rolls of Loyalists Recruited from ... " documents the service of some 35,000 Loyalists. Vol I covers NC SC CA FL MS, LA; Vol II covers MD PA [DE] VA and all in the British Legion, Guides and Pioneers, Loyal Foresters, and Queen's Rangers; and Vol III covers NY NJ and Refugees. The Loyalists of Revolutionary Delaware, by Harold B. Hancock (Univ. of Delaware Press, Newark DE, 1977), tells how hundreds of colonists who remained loyal to rule by Great Britain resisted the move toward independence. Most were granted pardon and remained in Delaware. About thirty Loyalist families went into exile in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or Great Britain. At least seventeen of them submitted claims for compensation. The land confiscated from exiled Loyalists was sold by county commissions staffed by court officers; the proceeds (after expenses and debts) was used to pay compensation to the owners. The 1783 Treaty of Paris (see Documents page) includes several articles dealing with compensation. |
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