26. George Washington Disdained Black Patriots
Many black Americans fought for independence in the Patriots’ ranks, risking their lives and shedding their blood in the war’s early battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. However, when George Washington took command of the Independence forces, he was appalled to see blacks bearing arms. With slave uprisings being a constant fear of slaveholders, the sight of armed blacks was guaranteed to discomfit a plantation owner such as the army’s new commander.
So Washington prohibited the recruitment of black soldiers, and eventually purged the ones already in the Continental Army from its ranks. It was only later after his forces were drastically reduced by desertions and diseases, that Washington was forced to turn a blind eye to black soldiers in his army. The British thought differently about arming blacks, and sought to turn the rebels’ slaves against them. In November 1775, Virginia’s British governor, Lord Dunmore, offered slaves their freedom in exchange for service to the Crown.