He Turned Away Men Who Wanted to Fight for Freedom — Washington's Ban on Black Soldiers (1775)
In August 1775, Washington banned Black men from the Continental Army. Three months later, the British offered freedom to enslaved people who joined their side. Washington reversed course.
Men Who Wanted to Fight
In the summer of 1775, Black men were volunteering for the Continental Army. Some were free men. Others had slipped away from their enslaved lives. They believed that fighting in the Revolution might earn them freedom.
Washington's Decision
In August 1775, General Washington convened his officers. The decision: ban Black men and enslaved people from enlisting.
The reasoning was political. Southern planters in Virginia and South Carolina could not be alienated. If the slaveholding colonies broke from the independence movement, the war itself could collapse.
A war for liberty had just turned away men who wanted to fight for liberty.
Dunmore's Proclamation
On November 7, 1775, Lord Dunmore, Virginia's royal governor, issued a declaration:
"Any enslaved person who escapes and joins British forces shall be declared free."
Hundreds of Black men immediately crossed to the British side. Dunmore organized them into the Ethiopian Regiment.
For the Continental Army, it was both a military loss and a shock.
The Reversal
In January 1776, Washington allowed free Black men to re-enlist. As the war dragged on, manpower grew desperate. The practical reality overcame ideology.
Roughly 5,000 Black men served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. When the war ended, most did not receive the freedom they had fought for.
Timeline: August 1775 ban → November 7, 1775 Dunmore Proclamation → January 1776 reversal | Black soldiers who served: ~5,000
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