The Black Pioneers
In April of 1776, a British expedition into North Carolina under the command of general Henry Clinton was joined by 71 runaway slaves. Clinton took an immediate liking to the runaways, and formed them into a company that came to be known as the Black Pioneers. He placed a Royal Marine lieutenant in charge, assisted by white subalterns and black noncommissioned officers. The rank and file were comprised of runaway slaves, mostly from North and South Carolina, plus a few from Georgia.
Clinton ordered that the men be treated with respect and decency, and that they be adequately clothed and fed. He also promised the runaways emancipation at the end of the war. Clinton’s North Carolina expedition ended in failure, but he took the Black Pioneers with him when he sailed north, where they participated in that city’s fall to the British in 1776. Later that year, Clinton was tasked with taking Newport, Rhode Island, and the Black Pioneers were the only provincial unit that accompanied his British regulars. From Rhode Island, they were dispatched back to New York, and thence to Philadelphia, which fell to the British in 1777.
In 1777, Clinton’s runaways became the nucleus of the Black Loyalist Company – a noncombatant force to replace Lord Dunmore’s disbanded Ethiopian Regiment. In 1778, the company was merged into the Guides and Pioneers in New York, and given the name the Black Pioneers and Guides. As Pioneers, the new unit’s soldiers were put to performing military engineering, fortification, and construction tasks. As Guides, they served as scouts and raiders.
The Black Pioneers were not treated as a standard regiment, but were instead parceled out in small ad hoc units – typically companies of about 30 men each – that were attached to British armies. They served those armies by performing scouting, raiding, and military engineering missions. In their role as engineers, they were not a fighting unit, but they were often called upon to work under heavy fire, digging and shoring up entrenchments and fortifications.
In 1779, Clinton sailed to besiege Charleston, South Carolina, and took the Black Pioneers with him. They performed vital military engineering tasks that contributed to the city’s fall. The company then returned with Clinton to New York, where they remained until the end of the war. The Black Pioneers were one of the last provincial units remaining in New York, and accompanied the British when they evacuated the city in 1783.