Patriots of Color

When Caesar Robbins marched to war in 1776, enslaved and free people of African descent had been fighting in New England’s armies for generations. Throughout the 18th century, Black and white Yankees served shoulder-to-shoulder in the colonial wars that forged Britain’s North American empire. Patriots of color such as Caesar Robbins, the earliest proprietor of the Robbins farm, along with about 1,000 other Massachusetts men of color, capitalized on these circumstances and waged their own battles for independence.

After dismissing soldiers of African descent from the army at the end of 1775, George Washington was faced with strong protests from white officers and Black soldiers in New England, and he eventually reopened military service to free men of color. By the end of the first year of the Revolutionary War, New England’s Black soldiers had cemented their place in a system of fully racially integrated regiments. In March of 1776, Caesar Robbins, thirty-one years old at the time, served with a company of Acton men commanded by Israel Heald. Heald’s company marched from Acton to Roxbury during the American fortification of Dorchester Heights. Heald’s company also served at the North Bridge on April 19th, 1775 and it’s likely Robbins served with him there. In the summer of 1776, Robbins enlisted in a regiment that marched to Ticonderoga.

A few years later, Washington authorized the Rhode Island government to recruit a regiment of enslaved men, with a promise of freedom for all who enlisted. The regiment saw the enlistment of over two hundred formerly enslaved soldiers. During the war, New England regiments mobilized a larger proportion of Black soldiers than did all other states. By the time Caesar Robbins served his final tour of duty in 1779, nearly six percent of Massachusetts soldiers serving in the army were Black1.

John Oliver, who was Fatima Robbins (the daughter-in-law of Caesar Robbins)’s father, was a Patriot of Color born in Concord. The Acton Historical Society tells us that “John Oliver stated that around April 1778, he enlisted at Acton for three months…

[Later,] he went to serve in Cambridge”

Finally, in 1780, John Oliver enlisted at Acton for six [months of] service in and around West Point.  In Oliver’s pension application, Charles Handly of Acton testified that Oliver enlisted into the continental service for six months in 1780 and first marched to West Point, from there to New Jersey, and then to West Point, and then was discharged in Patterson’s Brigade2.

Enslaved people found their way into the army for different reasons. It’s true that some had no choice; their white enslavers would send them off only so they could take the enlistment bounties for themselves. However, many Black men were able to join the army to exchange their pay for freedom. Others ran away from captivity to join the army as their own declaration of freedom, often marking their new status by changing their names, like Concord’s Brister Freeman.

Whatever their path to service, these patriots were extraordinarily loyal to their cause, but they are rarely awarded the honor they deserve. In total, more than three thousand enslaved and free New Englanders of color served in the American army by the war’s end1.

Thank you for educating yourself about Concord’s African-American and anti-slavery history.

Works Cited

 1 John Hannigan, The Robbins House, “Patriots of Color in Revolutionary New England (1775-1790),” Brochure.

2 “John Oliver of Acton, Revolutionary Soldier.” Acton Historical Society, 2018, www.actonhistoricalsociety.org/blog/john-oliver-of-acton-revolutionary-soldier. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.