Author Interview: John Rees on “They Were Good Soldiers: African Americans Serving in the Continental Army, 1775-1783”

Dear Reader,

Today we have the pleasure of being joined by John Rees, an author and historian of the American War of Independence. Though not a professional historian by training, John has dedicated his life to the study of the American Revolution, and has more detailed knowledge on the life of American common soldiers in this era than any writers I have encountered. I think John's work is an inspiration to all of us, as it shows what can be achieved when people "do history" well. 

His new book, “They Were Good Soldiers: African Americans Serving in the Continental Army, 1775-1783” was published by Helion and Company Press in the United Kingdom earlier this year. John has graciously agreed to answer some questions regarding his book. Without further adieu, let us go to the interview.

Alex Burns: John- you have just published a book regarding the African-American soldiers fighting in the Continental Army. Could you tell us a little about your book? 

John Rees:    ‘They Were Good Soldiers’ examines the subject in some detail, including black soldiers’ personal experiences before, during, and after the war (gleaned largely from nineteenth century pension depositions). The book begins by discussing the treatment of black Americans by Crown commanders and their inclusion in British, Loyalist, and German military units. The narrative then moves into an overview of African American soldiers in the Continental Army, before examining their service state by state. Each state chapter looks first at the Continental regiments in that state’s contingent throughout the war, and then adds interesting black soldiers’ pension narratives or portions thereof. The premise is to introduce the reader to the men’s wartime duties and experiences, within the context of the changing and contracting state lines they served in. The book’s concluding chapters examine veterans’ post-war fortunes in a changing society and the effect of increasing racial bias in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

    My intent from the start was to make extensive use of black veterans’ pension narratives. For those unfamiliar with the Revolutionary War pension applications (deemed by one historian, ‘one of the largest oral history projects ever undertaken’), they are the best way to hear the men’s stories in as close to their own words as is possible – to almost hear them speak. Add to that, personal details, available nowhere else, are revealed by the veterans themselves or people close to them. In essence, my wish was to present their experiences as soldiers, as citizens, and as individuals, and pension narratives are the best way to accomplish that.

AB: Although the experiences of these soldiers have not been totally ignored, this is one of the few book-length treatments of African-Americans in the Continental Army in the past fifty years. How has this story been told or neglected by other historians writing before you? 

John Rees portraying a soldier during the
American War of Indepedence

JR:   Funny enough, after being approached to write a book on African American Continental soldiers, but before I submitted my proposal, I received notice of an about-to-be-published book on much the same subject. I’d known my friend Judy Van Buskirk was working on that book, but the matter utterly slipped my mind. After discussing it with my soon-to-be editor and corresponding with Judy, I decided to go ahead with my project. 

    Even now I’ve not read Judy’s book (Standing in Their Own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution - University of Oklahoma Press, 2017), the reason being that I did not want to be influenced by or inadvertently plagiarize her work. A friend who has read Standing in Their Own Light tells me that while Judy and I reach many of the same conclusions concerning African Americans’ wartime and post-war experiences, my book more adeptly discusses their service in the context of the Continental army as a military organization, and uses a number of additional primary accounts. I also look further into the veterans’ pension claims, trying to sort facts from faulty memory or deliberate obfuscation. That said, Ms. Van Buskirk is an excellent historian, and I feel confident in recommending her work to anyone interested in the subject. (One of these days I’ll read Standing in Their Own Light myself, and am sure it will educate me, as well as point out the shortfalls in my own work.)

     To get back to the gist of your question, many of the previous accounts of African American Revolutionary soldiers (none, until recently, book-length) have been plagued with misinformation and myths, particularly concerning the “black” 1st Rhode Island Regiment, and have not placed their service within a proper military context. I hope I’ve made some advances in rectifying those deficiencies.     

AB: What first drew you to this particular part of the revolutionary past? It has become very common to focus on the African-Americans serving with British forces during the War of Independence: the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia even has a section dedicated to this story. What caused you to examine the American side of this issue? 

JR:    As a child I knew of Crispus Attucks’ death in the 1770 Boston Massacre, but likely didn’t know of African Americans fighting for American independence until a March 1975 U.S. postal stamp series titled “Contributors to the Cause”; one of those stamps honored Massachusetts soldier Salem Poor.  Two things really piqued my interest. The first was Benjamin Quarles’ book, The Negro in the American Revolution. First published in 1962, I read it in the mid to late 1980s, and was treated to the full scope of African Americans’ roles and experiences during the war. (I still highly recommend Mr. Quarles’ work.) The second was a passage from a post-war memoir by Henry Hallowell, formerly of the 5th Massachusetts Regiment; he wrote, simply, “In my … company [there] was 4 negroes named Jeptha Ward, Job Upton, Douglas Middleton, and Pomp Simmons … part of them called on me after their time was out. They were good soldiers.”

    I began researching the wartime period about 1985, at first focusing on a single Pennsylvania regiment. As I pored through books, and later, manuscripts and microfilm, I began copying and setting aside interesting tidbits that had little or nothing to do with the unit I was studying. That habit continued, and eventually I had miscellaneous information on a number of subjects, including African American soldiers. Over the years I amassed a good store of research, which was added to by my penchant for sharing information, which led to friends and acquaintances sharing their research with me. Around 2005 I decided I had enough material to write a small overview article on black Continentals. That was first published in 2010 in Military Collector & Historian. A few years later I embarked on a monograph focusing on black soldiers in Southern regiments, a project made easier by the discovery of Will Graves’ and C. Leon Harris’s Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension website containing thousands of fully searchable, transcribed pensions. When approached by Helion & Company to do the book, I determined to go further with the subject.

  

AB: What about writing this work surprised you the most? Was there a particular discovery which you were not expecting? 

JR:    Some of the personal details revealed in pension depositions by veterans and those who knew them really floored me. In some cases it was a one-off statement, such as that by a friend of Jacob Francis, a native of Amwell Township, New Jersey, who was taken to Massachusetts as an indentured servant. Francis ended up joining a Massachusetts Continental regiment in late 1775, eventually marched back to New Jersey, and took part in the First Battle of Trenton. In a deposition by one of his old comrades in the New Jersey militia, we learn about an archaic term still used in Massachusetts early in the war, “at that time [1775 and 1776] … Jacob had been out in the New England service among the Yankeys as we then called them. Jacob called his, nap-sack ‘snap-sac’, we told him it was ‘nap sack’ he said that they called it snapsack in the New England troops that he had been with.” A larger story was the number of formerly enslaved men who had several name changes during the lives. For example, former 4th Connecticut soldier David Gardner noted concerning Caesar Clark, “He believes he [Clark] was on the Rolls by the Name of Caesar Negro …” Gardner recalled, too, “There was a Number of Blacks belonging to the [4th] Regiment – most if not all of whom had been Slaves and obtained their Emancipation by Enlistment – Some retained the Names of their former Masters – Some assumed new Names for themselves – and some had Names imposed on them by their Officers …” (Involuntary name change for black men and women was a symbol of servitude or inferiority; for newly-freed African Americans the ability to choose for themselves was a small but overt symbol of liberty.) Several men told origin stories. Cezar Shelton stated, “He was born at sea as he has always been told when his mother was being brought from Africa”; Richard Leet, “a man of Colour … [was] a native of Guinea … brought to the United States when he was about five years old & sold as a slave …” Finally, it was heartbreaking to read a number of veterans tell post-war of their enslaved family members. Philip Savoy, “a man of Collour,” who had served in the 4th Maryland Regiment, noted in his 1818 pension application, “I have a family but they are all slaves. I am myself free and ever have been.” Another former Maryland Continental, Michael Curtis, testified in 1821, “I have no wife and the children born by my wife dec’d. are slaves.”

AB: Although this is your first book, you are not new to researching the American War of Independence. Your various papers on the life of common soldiers are vital reading for anyone attempting to retrace the footsteps of the Continental Army. Was there anything different or challenging about writing a book for the first time? 

JR:   I am used to writing articles, and even large monographs, but a book is another beast altogether. I contracted for the book with Helion in late 2016, with a delivery date at the end of 2017. To say I was daunted and a bit overwhelmed is an understatement. I thought continually about how I would proceed, but procrastinated, trying to advance the manuscript, but instead working on various articles that had nothing to do with the book. By autumn 2017 I had to tell my editor there was no way I would meet deadline and needed an extension. He was very good and told me it was fine, they had other works in the pipeline ready to go and would take the place of my project. Over the next months, into 2018, through a much-needed operation on my back, and during recovery, I continued to work desultorily. About halfway through the year I finally took the leap, tore myself away from other projects and immersed myself in working on “Good Soldiers.”

    I had long thought I would never do a book, realizing I would need to immerse myself in that enterprise, and was concerned I wouldn’t have the time, energy, or discipline. Ultimately, I surprised myself, kept plugging away, and succeeded in finishing the manuscript. Adding to the workload, the Helion series the book was slated for is image intensive, and while busy writing I also had to figure out what illustrations I would to use. As per early discussions and our original agreement, Helion was responsible only for a two-page color painting, part of which would be used for the book’s cover. That left me to provide six more color images, plus a number of black and white pictures. With the kind assistance of Bryant White, who painted three works especially for the book, and the generosity of Don Troiani, the Museum of the American Revolution, and other institutions and individuals, that aspect of the project also came together.

     I do know that, in the end, advancing the submission deadline a year benefitted the final published work product. During the extra time, I gained important additional information and several images not available earlier, and was able to hone the book’s structure.       

AB: John-Can I ask: what might be the next project you take on? Do you think we can expect more books on the revolutionary era? 

JR:    When I completed the book, I really felt as if I’d never do another. Since then I’ve reconsidered and begun to contemplate the possibility. I’ve even mulled over a subject, which, if it ever comes to pass, will likely cover women with the armies of the Revolution, with a focus on the Continental army. 

AB: Thanks so much for agreeing to do this interview!

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Thanks for Reading,

Alex Burns