The Black Company of Pioneers, also known as the Black Pioneers and Clinton's Black Pioneers, were a British Provincial military unit raised for Loyalist service during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. The

Black Loyalist Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot (American Revolution), Pat ...

company was raised by General Sir Henry as a non-combatant replacement force for the disbanded

Ethiopian Regiment The Ethiopian Regiment, better known as Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment, was a British colonial military unit organized during the American Revolution by the Earl of Dunmore, last Royal Governor of Virginia. Composed of formerly enslaved peopl ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in late 1777 or early 1778. Pioneers were soldiers employed to perform engineering and construction tasks. In 1778, the Pioneers merged into the Guides and Pioneers, led by Colonel

Beverley Robinson Beverley Robinson (11 January 1721 – 9 April 1792), was a Virginia-born soldier who became a wealthy colonist of the Province of New York and is best known as a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War. Robinson married Susanna Philips ...

in New York. Its company commanders were Captain Allen Stewart and Captain Donald McPherson. In 1783, the company was disbanded in Port Roseway, Canada, now

Shelburne, Nova Scotia Shelburne is a town located in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. History Shelburne lies at the southwest corner of Nova Scotia, at roughly the same latitude as Portland, Maine in the United States. The Mi'kmaq call the large and well-sheltered h ...

Company formed

The Black Pioneers were an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

military unit, established, in May 1776, out of

Lord Dunmore Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. History The title was created in 1686 for Lord Charles Murray, second son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. He was made Lord Murray of Blair, Moulin and Tillimet (or Tullimet) and V ...

's disbanded Loyalist unit, the Ethiopian Regiment. The Pioneers retained the Ethiopian regimental motto, which was embroidered on their uniforms: "Liberty to Slaves."

Duties of service

During the American Revolution, the Black Pioneers would "Assist in Cleaning the Streets & Removing all Nuisances being thrown into the Streets."Lepore, Jill The company followed the British troops, under the command of General Clinton, as they moved from New York to Philadelphia, to Charleston, and, after the fall of Charleston, back to New York once again.

Commanders

The Black Pioneers were commanded, for a time, by Major

James Moncrief James Moncrief (1741 in Scotland – 1793 in Ostend, Belgium, Ostend, Flanders) was a trained engineer and military officer of Scottish people, Scottish Scottish Highlands, Highlander descent in the British Royal Engineers. Education Moncri ...

of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. Moncrief had great faith in the ability of African-American slaves to fight. In a letter to Clinton, at the close of the war, he offered to continue the war with a brigade of African-American troops. He also advocated for their freedom, in light of their service in the British Army. One of the most famous commanders of the Company of Black Pioneers was Colonel

Stephen Blucke Stephen Blucke or Stephen Bluck (born –after 1796) was a Black Loyalist, in the American Revolutionary War, and one the commanding officers, of the British Loyalist provincial unit, the Black Company of Pioneers. He was one of 3,000 people who ...

, who commanded them for a number of years. In 1780, Blucke would go on to command the small Loyalist military unit known as the Black Brigade, after their leader, Colonel Tye, died of lockjaw. Blucke received the honorary rank of "Colonel".

Uniforms and weapons

The Pioneers wore black, wool, tricorn hats, trimmed with white bunting, black spatterdashes, and originally blue, wool, short coats later replaced with provincial green wool that retained the former Ethiopian Regimental motto, which embroidered on their uniforms: "Liberty to Slaves". The Black Company of Pioneers may have been trained to use the standard British Army-issue

Brown Bess "Brown Bess" is a nickname of uncertain origin for the British Army's muzzle-loading smoothbore flintlock Land Pattern Musket and its derivatives. The musket design remained in use for over a hundred years with many incremental changes in its ...

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

Military recruitment, evacuation, and resettlement of escaped American Loyalist slaves

After Lord Dumore's proclamation of freedom to escaped slaves that helped the British Army,

Harry Washington Harry Washington () was a Black Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War, and enslaved by Virginia planter George Washington, later the first President of the United States. When the war was lost the British then evacuated him to Nova Scotia. ...

, a slave, ran away from General George Washington's

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

to join the Black Pioneers in 1776. After the Pioneers arrived in New York in 1783, many former slaves escaped from the harbor, in fear of being repossessed by their former masters. It is still unknown how many former slaves escaped from New York during this period. Tens of thousands of slaves, up to one hundred thousand, escaped during the war and joined the British military; others simply moved off during the chaos. In South Carolina, nearly 25,000 slaves, being 30% of the enslaved population, fled, migrated, or died from the disruption of the war. When the British withdrew their forces from Savannah and Charleston they also evacuated 10,000 slaves belonging to Loyalists. The British evacuated nearly 20,000 blacks at the end of the war. More than 3,000 of them were freedmen and resettled in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, many under the leadership of

, a prominent Black leader of the battalion.

References

External links

Index to Black Pioneers History - The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies
* ttp://blackloyalist.com/cdc/story/revolution/pioneers.htm Uniform of Black Pioneers Regimentbr>Black Company of Pioneers in Military Miniatures
African Americans in the American Revolution Black Loyalists Loyalist military units in the American Revolution Military units of Virginia in the American Revolution Military units and formations established in 1776 {{AmericanRevolutionaryWar-stub