32. Serving the British for Freedom
During the American Revolution, British Freedom and his black neighbors had risked their lives, and done exhausting, dirty, and dangerous work on behalf of King George III. They had fought for the British, with black partisans engaging the Patriots along the Hudson River, black dragoons serving in the Carolinas, and black guerrillas harrying the Crown’s enemies in New Jersey. They had dug trenches, recovered the wounded, and buried dead bodies blistering with smallpox.
They had guided Redcoats through southern swamps, piloted ships over treacherous sandbars, and worked as sappers on the ramparts as American and French shot and shell killed and maimed those around them. They had spied on their American slave masters, on behalf of the British who had offered them freedom from slavery. The women had cooked and cleaned and laundered for the British, and nursed the sick while trying to keep their children from harm. In return for their loyal service, their freedom and their acres in Nova Scotia were well earned.