Americans of African descent in the Virginia Line Regiments: Who Were They?
Its an obvious question: Virginia had one of the largest enslaved populations in the British American colonies. Who were the men of African descent who enlisted in Virginia's continental army regiments? Why would they be motivated to do that? We don't know who all of them were or what their family histories are. But the Brown family of Charles City County provides a glimpse.
The Browns were descended from William Brown, born around 1670, sometimes referenced in Virginia court records as “William Brown Negro.” Arthur Bunyan Caldwell, in History of the American Negro and his Institutions, briefly refers to the family being traceable back to England, but provides no details. Abraham Brown, Jr. served as a private in the Virginia Line during the Revolutionary War, as did at least two of his brothers. Isaac Brown enlisted in the 4th Virginia Regiment in the fall of 1780, serving for 18 months. He fought in the battles of Guilford Court House (NC), Eutaw Springs (SC) and Ninety-six (SC). He applied for a pension in 1829 and received $96 a year.
The family owned enough property to be taxable when Abraham Brown, son of Abraham Brown, Jr., was born in 1769. Family members had at various times owned both slaves (African servants for life) and indentured servants (generally European, servants for a term of years, with an end date when they would be free). John Bell was indentured to Abraham Brown Jr. in 1771, just a few years before the Revolutionary War.
Many, probably a majority, of those sold into servitude in Virginia during the 17th century (1601-1700) were free by the early 18th century. The majority of those held as slaves at the time of the war for independence were transported between 1720 and 1780. So there was an entire class sometimes called "free people of color" by the 1770s. Many of them descended from both African and European ancestors. It wasn't until 1793 that they were required to register with the Clerk of Court and carry "free papers" with them at all times. At least 800 residents of Charles City were so registered.
Owning property and paying taxes were requirements to vote in every colony. People of African descent who met these requirements were often accepted members of the community in the 18th century, voted, and would have been routinely accepted for military service, even expected to enlist. When George Washington wrote about enlisting, or not enlisting, "Negroes," he may not even have meant to refer to people like the Browns who owned property, and paid taxes.
In the 19th century, as color lines hardened and the One Drop Rule defined anyone with a single African ancestor as interchangeably "black" or "colored" or "Negro" -- many of them moved west or north. Anna-Lisa Cox in The Bone and Sinew of the Land documents a family named Lyles with deep roots in Virginia who pioneered a new settlement in Tennessee in 1810, then moved to Indiana in the 1830s. Some of the younger Browns moved to Ohio between 1848 and 1860.
Abraham Brown Jr.'s son, also Abraham Brown, inherited about 78 acres from his father, and married a woman named Susanna. They were founders of Elam Baptist Church, donating the land where a permanent house of worship was built. All four of the trustees who received legal title to the land were Brown relatives. Dixon Brown Jr. was Abraham Brown's first cousin, John Brown was cousin to both men, and Cornelius Brown wasa nephew of Dixon Brown. Henry C. Harris was an in‐law, who had been coexecutor, with Dixon Brown, Jr., of Dixon Brown, Sr.'s estate. "John Brown the Barber" as he was known after moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1828, probably was related to the same family.
For those interested in further reading, Paul Heinegg has published several editions of books on Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware.