Michael L. Lanning - The African American Soldier: From Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell
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- Book:The African American Soldier: From Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell
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The African American Soldier: From Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell: summary, description and annotation
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More than five thousand blacks joined the rebel Americans in the war as soldiers, sailors, and marines; many more supported the rebellion as laborers. Their service went largely unrecognized and unrecorded.
Few letters, journals, or other narratives by blacks about the Revolution exist because whites had denied most African Americans an education. White historians of the period, and for years after the war, ignored the contributions and impact of thousands of blacks participants for several reasons. First of all, prejudices were so deeply ingrained that it did not even occur to most whites of the time that blacks had played a significant role either as individuals who fought or labored or as a segment of the population that affected decisions. Prejudices also prevented some who did witness the contributions of African Americans from honestly reporting that blacks could perform equally with whites on the battlefield if given the opportunity. Others did not mention blacks because of the difficulty of explaining why the United States kept half a million men, women, and children enslaved while fighting for independence and liberty.
From Defenders of Liberty, by Lt. Col. Michael Lee Lanning (Ret.)
Few letters, journals, or other narratives by blacks about the Revolution exist because whites had denied most African Americans an education. White historians of the period, and for years after the war, ignored the contributions and impact of thousands of blacks participants for several reasons. First of all, prejudices were so deeply ingrained that it did not even occur to most whites of the time that blacks had played a significant role either as individuals who fought or labored or as a segment of the population that affected decisions. Prejudices also prevented some who did witness the contributions of African Americans from honestly reporting that blacks could perform equally with whites on the battlefield if given the opportunity. Others did not mention blacks because of the difficulty of explaining why the United States kept half a million men, women, and children enslaved while fighting for independence and liberty.
From Defenders of Liberty, by Lt. Col. Michael Lee Lanning (Ret.)
Michael L. Lanning: author's other books
Who wrote The African American Soldier: From Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.
Michael L. Lanning
William L. Van DeBurg
Taleeb Starkes
Jason E. Shelton
Werner Sollors (editor)
Bruce A. Glasrud (editor)
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael Lee Lanning
James E. Westheider
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Other books by Michael Lee Lanning
The Only War We Had: A Platoon Leaders Journal of Vietnam
Vietnam 19691970: A Company Commanders Journal
Inside the LRRPS: Rangers in Vietnam
Inside Force Recon: Recon Marines in Vietnam (with Ray Stubbe)
The Battles of Peace
Inside the VC and NVA (with Dan Cragg)
Vietnam at the Movies
Senseless Secrets: The Failures of U.S. Military Intelligence
The Military 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Military Leaders of All Time
Inside the Crosshairs: Snipers in Vietnam
Defenders of Liberty: African-Americans in the Revolutionary War
Blood Warriors: American Military Elites
The Battle 100: The Stories Behind Historys Most Influential Battles
THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN SOLDIER
From Crispus Attucks, to Colin Powell
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Michael Lee Lanning
CITADEL PRESS
Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
Kensington Publishing Corp.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
To
James Walter Lanning
and
Judy Edwards Lanning
James Walter Lanning
and
Judy Edwards Lanning
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Assisting in research for this book were the staffs of the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.; Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Army; Office of Information, U.S. Navy; Public Affairs Office, U.S. Marine Corps; Public Affairs Office, U.S. Air Force; and the Public Affairs Offices of the U.S. Military, Naval, and Air Force Academies.
Providing library resources were the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the Pentagon Library, Department of Defense; the Arizona State University Library, Tempe, Arizona; and the public libraries of Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe, Arizona.
Aiding in the acquisition of special reports were the staffs of Arizona congressman Ed Pastor, California congressman Ronald V Dellums, and the Department of Defense Office of Equal Opportunity.
Assisting in photographic research were JoAnna M. McDonald of Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Mary Beth Straight Kiss of the U.S. Naval Institute; and the staff of the Library of Congress.
Offering research support, advice, and encouragement on a regular basis was my good friend Dan Cragg of Springfield, Virginia.
Thanks to Hillel Black of the Carol Publishing Group and to my agent, Russell Galen, for bringing it together.
A special thanks goes to Dr. Dudley Taylor Cornish for introducing me to black military history.
Lastly, this book would not have been possible if not for the dedicated, long hours of editing and other assistance provided by Linda Ann Moore Lanning.
COLONIAL DAYS AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
The year was 1770. Although it was six years before the American Revolutionary War, Boston colonists were already chafing under the presence of the garrison of British soldiers stationed by the Crown in their port city. The lingering winter weather and the arrogance of the redcoat soldiers made tempers short and the desire for change strong.
Warming himself near a fire and listening to the litany of complaints from his companions on the early evening of March 5, Crispus Attucks, too, was ready for action. As a runaway slave who had eluded capture for twenty years, Attucks knew firsthand about the unfair treatment of which the colonists spoke and the acts of rebellion about which they dreamed. At forty-seven, he was a veteran of both, a man who had escaped bondage to find his freedom on the hazardous and arduous high seas. Awaiting a break in the weather before his ship could sail, Attucks understood the risks of defiance better than most of those who were, in the comfort of the fires warming radiance, recounting the British injustices against the Americans.
Suddenly, the group became aware of excited voices and the ringing of the towns alarm bell. Attucks was the first out the door to investigate the commotion. In the snow-covered streets he saw colonists clustered near the British garrison. In loud voices and with animated movements, the men seemed to be arguing among themselves, some pointing at the British, others trying to pull them away. As Attucks moved toward the center of the disturbance on King Street, some of the American colonists began to flee.
Attucks stopped the first man he met. In an agitated voice the colonist told Attucks that a British soldier had refused to pay a barber after receiving a haircut. The young man had pursued the soldier into the street, demanding his money. The soldier laughed and knocked the youth to the ground. Outraged witnesses came to the support of the barber, only to have more soldiers arrive and threaten to kill them all. Incensed at the audacity of the threat, the colonists had begun verbally attacking the soldiers as they marched back to their barracks. The jeering crowd had grown but was undecided as to what to do. As Attucks watched, the colonists began reluctantly to retreat.
Angered by the story and the attitude of the British, the short, stocky Attucks advanced toward the garrison, determinedly pushing his way through the hesitant crowd and urging them to stand against the soldiers. With a leader at their helm, the colonists turned once more and followed Attucks to the customhouse. The crowd swelled and began hurling snowballs and rocks at the sentinels, who, terrified by the crowds mood, called for reinforcements.
With the colonists behind him, Attucks led the confrontation, throwing snowballs and anything else he could find on the street at the concentrated redcoats. At one point, he picked up a stick, which he menacingly wielded like a club as he dared the British soldiers to fire. Spurred on by the bravery of the curly-haired African American, the colonists unleashed even more obscenities and missiles against the soldiers.
The disciplined customhouse guards endured the chaos, knowing they could shoot only on orders from their officers or from the civil magistrate. Even the arrival of their captain, Thomas Preston, who tried in vain to disperse the crowd, did not quell the flurry of thrown objects and verbal abuse. Lack of action by the British served only to inflame the Bostonians further.
With at least a dozen men behind him, Attucks confronted the soldiers by striking their muskets with his stick. When the British captain stepped forward, Attucks swung his club at the officers head. In warding off the blow, Preston bumped into one of his soldiers, causing him to drop his weapon.
Instantly, Attucks seized the musket. The soldier also grabbed for the gun, and the two struggled for control. In wresting the weapon from Attucks, the soldier stumbled and fell. While he was down, the colonists, now confident that the British would do nothing, turned their chants to Why dont you fire? Why dont you fire? Attucks, leaning on his stick, mockingly stared at the fallen redcoat. Humiliated, the British soldier regained his feet and fired directly into Attucks. Instantly, the other soldiers also opened fire.
When Attucks fell dead from two bullets in his chest, he became the first American to die in the course of events which would lead to independence for the United States. The colonists declared Crispus Attucks a hero, for he took action against the British when others were willing only to talk; he stood against subjugation when others were willing to submit; he sacrificed his life for freedom when others were willing to live under hellish conditions.
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