Читать книгу Historical Moments: Military Contributions of African Americans - Роберт Харрис - Страница 13

Robert James

James was born in eastern Maryland in 1753 and was enslaved by Francis De Shields, who was a colonel in the Continental Army of George Washington. At the start of the Revolutionary War, James went with his owner to fight and remained with him for the entire length of the war. When the war ended, James went to Philadelphia with De Shields. While there, De Shields died, and James was sold to a William Ward. Ward then sold him to Calvin Smith, who owned a plantation in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the start of the second British invasions, the war of 1812, the American army had been depleted. British forces numbered 243,885 troops against an American force of 7000 and Gen. Andrew Jackson needed men to defend the city of New Orleans. He enlisted Tennessee militiamen, Kentucky riflemen, a band of pirates commanded by Capt. Jean Lafitte, free black men, Choctaw Indians, and slaves. Jackson enlisted 500 slaves from the plantation of Calvin Smith with the promise of freedom if the Americans won the war. This was the same promise made to the slaves during the Revolutionary War but was never kept. After the defeat of the British at New Orleans, the white citizens were concerned that there were so many armed black men in the city; they feared a slave revolt, so they appealed to Jackson to remove them from the city and disarmed them. Jackson not only removed and disarmed them, he also returned those who were slaves back to the plantation. When James heard this, he said, “If my gun had been loaded, I would have shot him,” which would have changed American history.

Blacks and Choctaw Indians at the Battle of New Orleans, 1814.