Many acts of espionage or information gathering we owe to unnamed agents-enslaved African Americans who had opportunities to see and hear, but who were not deemed a threat by their very status as an enslaved person. Those Black Americans who spied during the war often did so-at great personal risk-for little reward.Īfrican American Patriots Monument at Kings Mountain. Sometimes, though, enslaved and free African Americans received no compensation or reward for their service. Often, their choice hinged on supporting the side that offered their best chance at freedom from enslavement. Some chose to support the British, while others fought with or supported patriot armies. Regardless, African Americans-both free and enslaved-had difficult choices to make during the era of the Revolution. Nell’s The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, published in Boston in 1855, fails to mention activities of espionage in its pages. Even the earliest source of information about the activities of African Americans during the war, William C. Much more is known about the activities of free, white spies during the American Revolution-little is known about the enslaved and free Black spies who acted during the war. Share to Google Classroom Added by 28 EducatorsĮven 250 years after the events of the American Revolution, there is much that historians are still piecing together about the activities of spies during the war-including the identities of the men and women who risked their lives for the British and patriot armies. Saved Land Browse Interactive Map View active campaigns.
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