The Massasoit Guards were an African-American
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
company active in 1850s Boston. Clothing retailer
John P. Coburn founded the group to police
Beacon Hill and protect residents from
slave catchers
In the United States a slave catcher was a person employed to track down and return escaped slaves to their enslavers. The first slave catchers in the Americas were active in European colonies in the West Indies during the sixteenth century. I ...
. Attorney
Robert Morris repeatedly petitioned the Massachusetts legislature on their behalf, but the Massasoit Guards were never officially recognized or supported by the state. The group was a precursor to the
54th Massachusetts Regiment
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry ...
.
History
Founding
After Congress passed the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers.
The Act was one of the most cont ...
, Boston and other Northern cities were no longer safe havens for refugees from slavery. Black communities began forming independent militias to protect residents from slave catchers: the Attucks Guards in New York City, the Hannibal Guards in Pittsburgh, the Detroit Military Guards, and many others. In Boston, the first black militia was called the Massasoit Guards.
The group was founded in 1854 by John Coburn, a Beacon Hill clothing retailer and co-owner of a profitable gaming house. Coburn was a member of the
Boston Vigilance Committee
The Boston Vigilance Committee (1841–1861) was an abolitionist organization formed in Boston, Massachusetts, to protect escaped slaves from being kidnapped and returned to slavery in the South. The Committee aided hundreds of escapees, most ...
and treasurer of the
New England Freedom Association
The New England Freedom Association (c.1842 – c.1848) was an organization founded by African Americans in Boston for the purpose of assisting fugitive slaves.
History
The New England Freedom Association was founded in 1842Quarles (1969), p. 15 ...
, both organizations dedicated to helping fugitive slaves. Coburn also personally served as captain of the Massasoit Guards.
The unit was named for
Massasoit
Massasoit Sachem () or Ousamequin (c. 15811661)"Native People" (page), "Massasoit (Ousamequin) Sachem" (section),''MayflowerFamilies.com'', web pag was the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag confederacy. ''Massasoit'' means ''Great Sachem''.
Mas ...
, a 17th-century
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 1 ...
leader. Abolitionist
William Cooper Nell
William Cooper Nell (December 16, 1816 – May 25, 1874) was an African-American abolitionist, journalist, publisher, author, and civil servant of Boston, Massachusetts, who worked for the integration of schools and public facilities in the s ...
remarked on the choice of name in 1855:
Perhaps, as the name of Attucks has already been appropriated by colored military companies in New York and Cincinnati, they accepted Massasoit as their patron saint. He was one of those Indian chiefs, who, in early colonial times, proved himself signally friendly to the interests of the Old Bay State.
That same year, the editor of the ''Boston Evening Telegraph'' questioned the wisdom of creating an all-black company:
And we are somewhat at a loss to see why our colored friends, who so reasonably objected to being set apart as a class in the schools, should now voluntarily set themselves apart as a class in the military.[ Reprinted from ''The Boston Telegraph''. ]
The group may have come together informally before 1854. According to historian
Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Mary Ellen Snodgrass (born February 29, 1944) is an American educator and writer of textbooks and general reference works.
Biography
Snodgrass was born on February 29, 1944 in Wilmington, North Carolina to William and Lucy Robinson. She atte ...
, several members of the Massasoit Guards were involved in the rescue of
Shadrach Minkins
Shadrach Minkins (c. 1814 – December 13, 1875) was an African-American fugitive slave from Virginia who escaped in 1850 and reached Boston. He also used the pseudonyms Frederick Wilkins and Frederick Jenkins.Collison (1998), p. 1. He is known fo ...
in 1851. Minkins had escaped slavery in Virginia and was working in Boston when he was arrested by federal marshals and imprisoned in the court house. A group of about 20 black activists led by
Lewis Hayden
Lewis Hayden (December 2, 1811 – April 7, 1889) escaped slavery in Kentucky with his family and escaped to Canada. He established a school for African Americans before moving to Boston, Massachusetts to aid in the abolition movement. There h ...
stormed the court house and rescued Minkins by force. John Coburn was among those arrested in connection with the rescue, but was acquitted of all charges.
Legal struggles
During the mid-1850s, attorney Robert Morris repeatedly petitioned to include the Massasoit Guards in the
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, and to have the word "white" stricken from the state's militia law. At the time, federal militia law as well as Massachusetts state law stipulated that only white men could serve. Many whites were threatened by the thought of black men being provided with weapons and military training.
Denied the use of state weapons, the Guards purchased their own gear and continued to operate outside the law for several years.
Morris and other advocates emphasized that blacks were native-born American citizens, unlike the immigrants who, at that time, were arriving in large numbers at the Port of Boston. Morris once remarked before the legislature's militia committee, "Some of the petitioners whom I have the honor to represent, can trace back their ancestry to a time long before an Englishman or any white foreigner stood upon American ground." William J. Watkins was more explicit: "All we ask is that you treat us as well as you do the Irish, German, Hungarian." Despite the appeal to
nativism, which was on the rise in Massachusetts, their petitions were denied.
Eventually the Massasoit Guards gave up in frustration and disbanded.
See also
*
54th Massachusetts Regiment
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry ...
*
Military history of African Americans
The military history of African Americans spans from the arrival of the first enslaved Africans during the colonial history of the United States to the present day. In every war fought by or within the United States, African Americans particip ...
*
History of African Americans in Boston
*
Montgomery Guards
The Montgomery Guards were an Irish-American militia company that formed in Boston in 1837 and were forced to disband the following year due to extreme nativist and anti-Catholic sentiment in the city.
On September 12, 1837, at the annual fall m ...
References
External links
Robert Morris petition to the Massachusetts legislature to strike the word "white" from the state militia law, c. 1853-1856
Further reading
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{{Boston African American community pre-Civil War
Military units and formations in Massachusetts
African-American history in Boston
Organizations based in Boston
History of Boston
19th century in Boston