This little volume sets forth in compact form the achievements of the American Negro during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. It is compiled from valuable records, diaries, documents and articles in newspapers nearly contemporaneous with the times of which they treat, and it may, therefore, be considered a valuable compendium to the man who seeks information on a subject but scantily treated in the standard historical works to which reference is usually made.
The matter herein contained was first printed in a Canada edition called "Services of Colored Americans in the Wars of 1776 and 1812." It is now out of print, but matter of so great value in fixing the patriotic status of a people so long denied honorable place among the nation-makers of America must not be allowed to fade from view; especially at this time when archives and libraries are being ransacked by scholarly men of the Negro race for defensive data against the insidious attacks of wily foes upon the claims and merit of the colored race considered as soldiers and citizens.
A reference to the bibliography and authorities quoted by Mr. Nell, the author, is an addition to the original volume which will be appreciated by those inquirers who have access to good libraries and wish to verify the facts here given.
To have collected all these scattered and fugitive allusions involved no small labor, and deserves the thanks of all who want to see the material for a full and fair history of the United States so gathered into one convenient place that the future historian cannot fail to find it, if he be desirous; nor refuse to use it, if he be conscientious.
It should be mentioned that matter which has became untrue by the progress of events since the first edition of this book has been carefully exscinded.
H. T. KEALING.
Philadelphia, Pa., September 1, 1902.
INTRODUCTION.
The following pages are an effort to stem the tide of prejudice against the Colored race. The white man despises the colored man, and has come to think him fit only for the menial drudgery to which the majority of the race has been so long doomed. "This prejudice was never reasoned up, and will never be reasoned down." It must be lived down. In a land where wealth is the basis of reputation, the colored man must prove his sagacity and enterprise by successful trade or speculation. To show his capacity for mental culture he must BE, not merely claim the right to be, a scholar. Professional eminence is peculiarly the result of practice and long experience. The colored people, therefore, owe it to each other and to their race to extend liberal encouragement to colored lawyers, physicians and teachers, as well as to mechanics and artisans of all kinds. Let no individual despair. Not to name the living, let me hold up the example of one whose career deserves to be often spoken of, as complete proof that a colored man can rise to social respect and the highest employment and usefulness, in spite not only of the prejudice that crushes his race, but of the heaviest personal burdens. Dr. David Ruggles, poor, blind and an invalid, founded a well-known Water Cure Establishment in the town where I write, erected expensive buildings, won honorable distinction as a most successful and skilful practitioner, secured the warm regard and esteem of this community, and left a name embalmed in the hearts of many who feel that they owe life to his eminent skill and careful practice. Black though he was, his aid was sought sometimes by those numbered among the Pro-Slavery class. To be sure, his is but a single instance, and I know it required pre-eminent ability to make a way up to light through the overwhelming mass of prejudice and contempt. But it is these rare cases of strong will and eminent endowment,—always sure to make the world feel whether it will or no,—that will finally wring from a contemptuous community the reluctant confession of the colored man's equality.