Standing in Their Own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution (Campaigns and Commanders Book 59)

Campaigns and Commanders #59

by Judith L. Van Buskirk

The Revolutionary War encompassed at least two struggles: one for freedom from British rule, and another, quieter but no less significant fight for the liberty of African Americans, thousands of whom fought in the Continental Army. Because these veterans left few letters or diaries, their story has remained largely untold, and the significance of their service largely unappreciated. Standing in Their Own Light restores these African American patriots to their rightful place in the historical struggle for independence and the end of racial oppression.

Revolutionary era African Americans began their lives in a world that hardly questioned slavery; they finished their days in a world that increasingly contested the existence of the institution. Judith L. Van Buskirk traces this shift to the wartime experiences of African Americans. Mining firsthand sources that include black veterans’ pension files, Van Buskirk examines how the struggle for independence moved from the battlefield to the courthouse—and how personal conflicts contributed to the larger struggle against slavery and legal inequality. Black veterans claimed an American identity based on their willing sacrifice on behalf of American independence. And abolitionists, citing the contributions of black soldiers, adopted the tactics and rhetoric of revolution, personal autonomy, and freedom.

Van Buskirk deftly places her findings in the changing context of the time. She notes the varied conditions of slavery before the war, the different degrees of racial integration across the Continental Army, and the war’s divergent effects on both northern and southern states. Her efforts retrieve black patriots’ experiences from historical obscurity and reveal their importance in the fight for equal rights—even though it would take another war to end slavery in the United States.

Genres: History, American Revolution, Nonfiction, Adult

313 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 16, 2017

Reviews

[seanybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book but pretty sad at the same time. Some fought for empty promises and others were forced to enlist. A lot of these guys fought throughout the entire revolution only to be screwed out of their basic rights, pensions and other dues after the war by the same government they fought for.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The American War of Independence is often remembered as a blindingly.. well.. white conflict. Even the musical Hamilton is still ultimately about a bunch of dead white guys even if they're being played by people of color. Occasionally there will be nods to the diverse group of people who participated in the war and that only the white people ultimately got to see real benefit. Like the scene in The Patriot which depicts the very real practice of slave-owners giving an enslaved person to the continental army in place of serving themselves.

The book has a big task and while its notes are extensive it only has 235 pages to actually tell its story. Unfortunately, a lot of the records we have to draw from don't give us much of that story. The primary resource used by the book are the pension applications of AWI veterans given decades later and while they often peppered their applications with vivid war-stories, the scribe for the pension office usually cut those out as being extraneous. The pensions themselves were set up to help poor war veterans and like most social good programs they were often designed explicitly to exclude people of color. Still, a few BIPOC individuals did manage to get their pensions and even the rejected applications give us a glimpse into how much of a melting pot the continental line was.

Most of the more rich stories come from the white upper class who formed African American companies or regiments during the war. A lot of page space is given to these people and it's understandable. They left behind letters and plans and journals that have been preserved. I do dislike the mitigation for some figures like Jefferson. Much is made out of how much they personally abhorred slavery. Little is made out of the fact that they continued to own and sell enslaved people. For my money, you don't get any credit for calling slavery an evil institution if you're still keeping human beings in bondage. It may be that such a discussion could risk derailing the entire book and they wanted to keep the focus on the BIPOC soldiers as much as possible.

The book tells at length of the struggles suffered by these soldiers before, during, and after the war. Slavery was very much at the heart of the conflict as seen in one of the first acts by the British was to enlist runaway slaves in to their own Regiment and offer freedom to any enslaved person who fled their master to British lines. Many of the rebels realized they would need to respond in kind to avoid losing their massive free labor force in the south. Rhode Island formed an all-black Regiment though struggled to fill its ranks. The book does point out that this is likely because of all the measures the legislature put into the bill to ease the pain of the slavers as well as it being difficult to escape to enlist.

Standing in Their Own Light also ties this service to later emancipation efforts as AWI veterans and their children were quick to point out that BIPOC people had bled for the birth of the nation and deserved to partake of its profit. The book makes this service an active attempt by the enslaved to free themselves and better their lives rather than make it a thing that happened to them as such narratives are often made out to be.

The book closes with the accounts of several of these BIPOC soldiers including a muslim man named Achmet was kidnapped from his home and survived the middle passage to be enslaved in the Americas. He joined the continental army and won his freedom and eventually managed to get a pension for his service. During his time on sentry duty he found himself accosted by a British officer who attempted to take him prisoner. Achmet shot the officer, stole his horse, and rode away from pursuing British troops and was saved by a volley from his own lines that wounded him. That's fit for a Hollywood blockbuster and it would be better than The Patriot by a damn sight.

Overall the book does a very good job. The writing is accessible and easy to digest. The stories are great and my favorite part of history books are the stories that get told. And these stories, in particular, are long overdue. One of the soldiers chronicled in the book was eventually the subject of a dictated autobiography an abolitionist helped him compose to use as a treatise against slavery. The war details are light, as the focus was on condemning slavery. But I hope to read that biography as well.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In writing Standing in Their Own Light, Judith L. Van Buskirk has pooled together as much detail as anyone is likely to find on the topic of African American men who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Van Buskirk based much of her book on 500 pension applications of black soldiers, a motherlode of discovery she encountered by visiting the David Library of the American Revolution.

Although she often seems fascinated by the details she discovered, Van Buskirk does get the big picture, and that’s where her book absolutely shines:

Whereas the early street actions and encounters with British troops afforded black men a way to exert themselves beyond the bounds ordained by civilian life, the Revolutionary War itself provided them an institution whose goal was to strengthen its recruits: enhancing confidence, developing skills, and sanctioning targeted aggression even beyond the battlefield. Military service provided opportunity to the men, who then liberated family members from slavery and proved that they were capable humans who did not abuse the privilege of being armed. They found a way to connect to white men that was not so blatantly hierarchical. They even earned the grudging respect of some white soldiers, whose new appreciation of men of color required the whites to change their way of thinking, either identifying these soldiers of color as exceptions or occasionally allowing themselves to feel a sense of camaraderie that entailed affection and being in the debt of a black man.

Unfortunately, African Americans who fought for the British often fared better postwar than those who helped the colonists fight against Mother England; far too many black veterans were sold back into slavery and/or their war records forgotten but for an author like Judith L. Van Buskirk who has done her due diligence to bring their stories to light.

[Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Except for a couple of mistakes early on in the book (enslaved Africans in the South Carolina Lowcountry worked an 8 hour day, typically -- except for harvest, when it would be longer), I thought that this was an excellent book.

[Adam Gutschenritter]

I enjoyed learning more about the conditions and service of African American Patriot troops. This was a topic that I knew very little about beyond the bare-bone basics. Even more interesting was the use of veteran petitions as evidence, here is where Van Buskirk shines in her research.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off a little slow as the author scopes the topic but pulls you in after with short stories about soldiers’ service. Well researched and an important part of American history. These largely forgotten veterans had many obstacles to overcome.

[Em Biegler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. Depressing in the way you'd expect but with good things and hope throughout. Some sections did not feel as connected to black history as others, but the author was limited to surviving source material and otherwise did a good job of integrating many people's stories together

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important contribution to Revolutionary War History and American History in general, drawing upon key documents.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not everything assigned for an MA in history is going to be stellar but this is both great scholarship AND highly readable. One of the better books I’ve read for this program.