public service by america's cable television companies and today we continue to take you to congress and other policy events in washington d.c. and around the country. c-span, powered by cable. listening to programs on c-span through c-span radio is easy. tell your smart speaker, play c-span radio and listen to washington journal daily at 7 a.m. eastern and public affairs throughout the day and weak days catch washington today and listen anytime. tell your smart speaker, play c-span, c-span, powered by cable. >> weekends on c-span2 are an intellectual feast. every saturday american history tv documents america's story. and on sundays, book tv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authorsment funding from c-span2 comes from these

television companies and more, including charter communication. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers, and we're just getting started. building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communications along with these television companies support c-span2 as a public service. >> good morning and welcome to the 10th annual american revolutionary war conference sponsored by the museum at the historical park and we're at the valley region about an hour west of albany, new york. thank you all for being here today. dooefl with -- definitely with your support we appreciate these events and appreciate being here. so, thank you. to get started today, we have a good lineup of speakers. everybody should have a schedule in their folder.

that will be today's lineup and we've got to stay on time. luckily, we have c-span who are going to be recording today so you'll feel the cameras, ask you to please file in and have your cell phones on silent and so we can have an interruption-free event. thank you. i'd like to thank jason, and the fulton montgomery community college for allowing us to use this space and each year they set us up here, provide us with the technology, audio and video and allows to hold our event. we started out in 2015, a crowd of 150 people and grew right through 2019 to over 200 and then unfortunately we had the covid pandemic, which then dropped our numbers, but we're back up to our beginning numbers, we have over 150 people signed up this weekend. so, thank you all. [applause] >> i'd like to thank bruce

franklin and west palm publishing. his books are the topic much the three books that will be appearing on c-span. so, thank you to bruce franklin and all of his great books and we'll see many of his published works out there. thank you. to get started, our first speaker, shirley greene earned a ph.d. in history from bowling green in 2011 and a masters in history from toledo in 2005. shirley was honored with a graduate college distinguished dissertation award from bowling green university in 2012 and emerging leader, excellent category from the african-american legacy project of northwest ohio in 2010. currently, shirley is adjunct instructor with university of toledo and bowling green university. prior to getting into history field, was employed by the toledo police department while

returning as a lieutenant, thank you for your service. shirley is director of the toledo police museum. shirley's recent book, revolutionary blacks, the frank brothers, free born men of color was published in 2003. also the subject of her talk today. >> let's give a big round of applause and welcome shirley to the stage. [applause] >> all right. good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> thank you for coming out this morning. i really am happy to be the leadoff speaker today. i want to thank brian mack and the fort plain museum and historic site in their group for inviting me here to speak

at the conference this year. this is my second visit to new york state this year. in february i was invited to speak at different venues by the westchester county 250 revolutionary consortium group and i had a wonderful time there, and i've been having a wonderful time here with you all. i'm here to talk about the book and a lot is based on family history. part family history, part microhistory, when you focus on a person, event, community or location on a small level to tell a bigger story about historical forces or events. most family historians and microhistorians start out answering questions or mysteries about a certain ancestor or aspect of history.

i was born in toledo, ohio, and so was my father. my mother was born in massachusetts and her father from nova scotia. and i was trying to answer the question how my maternal grandfather came to be born and raised in canada. as i answered at that question, another arose. how dt experiences of my ancestors inform us about the experiences and actions of free blacks in revolutionary america. this book is a culmination of my journey to answer those questions. so i want to start with my maternal great grandfather, a guye name of thomas hry franklin, a landscaper in one of the oldest cemeteries in north america, which is located in annapolis,royal, nova scotia. this p tha you see on the screen there w taken by a local historian by name of

william ingle morris. morr conducting research for a book on the oldest gravtones in north amera, the book entitled the gravestones of acadia. they had a conversation, morris and mygreat-grandfather and the conven wt something like this, on the screen there. what is yourname, morris asked my great-grandfather and he red my name is henry franklin, an uncommon name in these parts. my grandfather from africa. w o are you, morris asked hi just turned 70 and i is very ironic that he just turned 70 when he's explaining to historian morris about his history and i just turned 70 and i'm explaining about my family's history. [applause]. >> thank you, thank you, and henry franklin would pass away shortly after the publication of the book in 1929, but he just recited a small part of

the franklin oral history to historian morris. the entire tradition goes something like this, the first franklin ancestor came to the united states to from the west coast of africa, two brothers last name frank, fought in rhode island during the revolution war. i believe that the first frank ancestor in america was captured in five different documents as living and working in colonial rhode island. by the late 1690's this man was free and an active member of the providence, rhode island community and he was known by the name of frank. he owned a parcel of landnd he worked as a servant of silas carpenter, a member of the carpenter family, large land

holdamil in rhode island. there are ps o four documents on the screen. three documents are relate y a lamb purchase made frank from silas' nephew a guy by the name of efrahm carpenter. andan see document 432 indicates the mb, the initial lamb purchase there's a redow pointingo the name of frank negro servant of silas carpenter. thed document indicates that franktgag the land fmmediately after purchasing theland, a month later. and he's aga referred to as k negro servant. in document 65 he pays off that mortgage, regains control o at document as frank nigro. and i asked my students when did frank nigro gain his

independence and freedom and nine times out of 1047 and -- between 47 and 55, and the next document is a court affidavit, and an attack upon frank by an individual with the last name sprague. the affidavit, it is now magnified on the s there, attack and appears to have been provoked by the actions taken by k. the complaint reads this way, that sprague dlared against himself that he hadmisbaved f for that how the said sprae did on 1h of this instance maybe by reason of t provocation given him by

negro frank, blood from some blows, and sprague was fined convicted and fined for the assault two shillings and four pence. all of these indicate to me frank understood how to navigate the system was a black man in colonial rhode island. i believe that this indust trace frank was a direct ancestor of two brothers named andrew and rufus. i also believe that andrew rufus probably filed a west african custom of adopting a revered ancestor's first name as their last name. both worked in providence in the 1700's, both fought with the militia. andrew died in 1776, but brother rufus to have his own house old in the 1770's.

rufus was part of the militia. militia service was reqre for all obvioly bodied men, 16 to 60. d however, was not required by black men, for road cleaning and repair. but during times of warfare it was disregarded such as when great brynn were in war with france, the and present day new york state, he served in three separate campaigns, which you' looking at on the screen is a picture of fort sandwich located in rome, new york. and rufusas stationed there

for a period of time. spain jumped into the conflict on the side of france, they mustered troops to cuba, an important spanish colony at the time and rufus and others left new york and went to havanna, and the siege ended and refuss and fellow troops returned home. home for rufus was now johnston, rhode island. after the war, that's where he settled. johnson, rhode island is a town northeast of providence. rufus married, he had three children, two sons by the name of william and ben, he had one daughter by the name of hannah. the frank household was one of 10 free black house olds in johnsonment the family is enumerated in the rhode island census on the far right side designated for blacks and

native americans. rufus and his family were part of a growing black population before the revolutionary war. there were approximately 500,000 people of african descent, which made up 20% of the population on the event of american revolution. most were enslaved. a small percentage of blocks were free and lived under conditions like frank's. as the war progressed the desires of these half a million people could be separated into two categories as defined by historian ira berlin. the enslaved were looking for liberty and freedom. free blacks were looking for equality. the enslaved were looking for freedom. frae free blacks were looking for equality. and they would judge who would and could grant their desires. the british or americans. now, william and ben would

follow in their father's footsteps and serve in the military during the revolutionary war, but before they could serve there needed to be a change in american military policy. one of the reasons for the change was prompted by the actions of john murray, the earl of dunmore, and he was also appointed royal governor of virginia. by november of 1775, he had been run out of his quarters at williamsburg by patriot forces and he was conducting his official business on the ship in the chesapeake bay. on november 7th, 1775, he issued a proclamation that promised freedom to aved men who were willing to fight for thesh crown. dunmore was looking for a way to regain power and help great britain win war and he thought that by dg the resources from the patri cause like the enslaved labor force, that would be a good way to do that. one. many enslaved men and women who

fled to dunmore on the british lines was henry also known as harry washington, enslaved to george washington. became a member of lord dunmore's ethiopian regiment. he trained must ka tooning and had uniforms insignia, liberty to the slaves, unquote. and the regiment fought in two battles, in virginia they lost, they lost lives at both battles and lost lives to a smallpox epidemic at this time. however, dunmore's proclamation had one of the largest emancipation prior to the civil war and historicalions estimated around 80,000 enslaved people fled to the british lines during the war, women and children among them

and they were all seeking their freedom. so the frank brothers, william and ben, were able to enlist after a change in american military policy. at the beginning of the war, george washington banned the use of black soldiers in the continental army. the militia troops that fought at the initial battles at lexington and concord at bunker hill were diverse. they had white, black, native american soldiers together and washington did not believe you could have a professional army where black soldiers and he could not attract southern planters by arming blacks, free or enslaved. so in july of 1775 after he cook control of the couldn't ten forces, he recruited in the following manner and some of quote is on the screen, you're noto enlist any deserter from the ministerial armyor any negro soldier,

vagabond, and washington would continue policy throughout the fall of 1775. but to counter dunmore's proclamation, george washington revised the policy toward black soldiers. washington has also pressured by command officers and by community leaders like prince hall would go on to be the leader of the black free mason movement in america. anyway, washington was pressured by these command officers and individual like prince hall to allow the service of black veterans, soldiers who had already proven themselves in battle. ... so washington changed his poy in january 1776, he allowed for the continued service and the enlistment of free black veterans, the following year, he allowed for the enlistment of all free blacks by war's end. and this is an ongoing debate among historians about how many black soldiers served in the continental army. they accepted traditional

narrative is the accepted traditional narrative is that 5000 served here but the dar and its expansive work of title for the patriots, native american and indigenous soldiers that serve during the war have calculated that maybe 6000 black soldiers serve in the continental army and there areil other suppressin of up to 7000. they are still working on what the true number is. but because of the change in americanan military policy the frank brothers were not able to enlist because they were for free. they were freeborn. william the older brother signed up tosith serve with the rhode island state brigade at tiverton, rhode island, in apri. later he was enlisted into the second regiment. his younger brother, benjamin, signed up to serve with the second rhode island regiment at providence in may of the same year. he was 15 years old. his father probably had to get his permission for his young son

to enlist. why did they enlist? for a variety of reasons, mostly for economic concern. they were members of the working class. they were listed as general laborers. their father did not own land. with enlistment they can look forwardea to, they thought, turning a steady wage and receiving food and equipment. even the limited opportunities for free blacks and other members of the working class, military service was one of the few ways to better your life congress had approved enlisted bonuses. congress and the state, different states had promised land bounties at the end of the war. were soldiers of calder treated differently than their white counterparts? they initially served an integrated regimentni in compans and receive the same pay and equipment. so as reborn men, freeborn black men, the frank brothers were receiving a sought after a quality that many free blacks were looking for.

but what were the frank brothers actually getting themselves into? they became members of the second rhode island regiment, which was commanded by colonel israel angel who at one point lived in hometown of the frank brothers, johnson rhode island. thepr state of rhode island was cast by codis to provide to make infantry regiments, the first in the second rhode island and the regiments were integrated. the franks were not sent up for easy duty. continental soldiers live tough lives.s. they was very sporadic. sporadic due to livee the treasure of the new federal government and the state government as well. they were issued equipment, issued muskets and bayonets, issued clothing that consisted mostly of hunting shirts similar to smocks that were large enough to cover their of the clothing and equipment. shoes were always in short supply. in summer soldiers could go barefoot and and in the wine heard the stories about continental army soldiers in the

winter sometimes they had to wrap their feet and cloth soldiers often resorted to forging any countryside for food. soldiers also had to deal with diseases that ran rampant through their camps. on the screen is out colonel angel describe the situation of the men who serve in the second rhodesld regiment. scandalous in its appearance, in the view of everyone and has because of ts curred from surrounding regiments, from the inhabitants of towns through which they have lately passed the disagreeable bill and provoking epithets of the wrath of them in their uniforms were covered with lice, naked regiment. suchrement, gentlemen, discouraging disparity in its tendencies. it does effeuay uanned the man unmanned the man and render them almost useless in the army. this was the reality of life in

the continental army. for the break, frank brothers in the second rhode island regiment, the first battle that the brothers were engaged in occurred at red bank. the two rhode island regimen were dispatched to defend the forts along the delaware river rsey in october, 1777 troops of maryland and connecticut were land.oned at fort mifflin, a mud that is where the yellow arrow is pointing. and the rhode island troops were statio for mercer at red that is where the red arr pointing at detachment of soldiers from the second rhode reinforce troops at fort mifflin. initially the rhode island troops were able to defend fort mercer and repel british and hessian troops. however, the british able to eventually capture fort mifflin, forcing the rhode island regiments to evacuate both forts as a result of the battle. 14 were killed, 21 were wounded. but they did receive praise and accommodations for the exploits, and the commander, the first

rhode island regiment, colonel christopher green, received a commendation sword from the rhode island assembly for his his work at fort mercer. what was their ultimate reward for their service at red bank? winter at valley fort, i just marched right over there. yeah, yeah. after the battle, the fnk brothers and their regiments marched to valley forge, pennsylvania, for the winter encampment of 1777 to 1778, while in camp there. oh, excuse me. american troops suffered major losses due to disease. illness and desertion. washington would describe the encampment as, quote, composed of men half starved, always in rags without pay and experiencing every species of distress, unquote. the food rations were in such short supply that many of the army regulars threatened to revolt. their slogan was no bread, no

meat, no soldier. at the end of 1777, washington notified congress that over 2800 soldiers were unfit for duty because they were otherwise barefoot and naked. william frank one of these soldiers. a week later, an additional 1000 men were on sick roll. over 3000 soldiers deserted. the rhode island regiments were decimate it as well due to their losses, there were barely enough soldiers left to form one regiment. colonel angell wrote, quote, i am sorry to inform you that a very great sickness and mortality prevailed among the rhode island troops, which is just to proceed in some measure from the badness of their class, unquote, and the rate of desertion also concerned angell, he wrote, quote, desertion is what we may ever expect, so long as the soldiers see that the public faith is not to be depended upon, unquote. general james farnham, who had

overall command of the rhode island regiment, was also concerned about the state of. the rhode island troops. he wrote, quote, the two rhode island battalions have been sickly. they have lost a considerable number. this is owing to their immense fatigues in the summer pass, unquote. and he means fatigues means the extra duties that they perform in the summer passed. in 201 i had the privilege of visiting valley forge national historical park. that is me standing at the encampment site for the rhode island regiments, and that was kind of moving for me. to solve the problem of dwindling manpower. excuse me. general varnum made the recommendation to fill their dwindling ranks by recruiting and in enlisting enslaved me

from rhode island, ty were able to convince general washington and the rhode island neral assembly to allowhe enlistment of slave men in return for their freedom. the slave enlistment act was passed on february 14, 1778, in a stipulated tt y quote -- or mulatto or indian man, slave, unquote, cldow enlist with the rhode island regiments part of the act as on the screen there,he act went on to say quote that every slave. so enlisting shall be entitled to receive all the bonuses excuse me, bounties, wages and encouragements allowed bthe council congress to any soldier enlisting into their service. its furtheroted and resolved that every slave so enlisting shall upon his passing muster beforeolel christopher greene, be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely lutely free so colonel christopher greene of

the first rhode island regiment accompanied by his captains, was given the task of leaving valley forge encampment and returning to rhode island to recruit and enlist individuals to serve in the new regiment. however, the recruitment and enlistment of slave men did not last long in rhode island, rhode island slaveholders oppose the new law they fear the consequences of arming ex-slaves and how that would appear to those still in bondage. their opposition prevailed and in june, the rhode island assembly repealed the slave enlistment act. but in that four month period, over 100 free and formerly enslaved african-americans and native americans enlisted. among them were individual like africa. burke, a providence primus brown of, the french brothers, hometown johnson, rhode island and free blacks and native americans also enlisted during this period, and then included individual by the name of peter dailey of warwick, rhode island.

this may also have been the first case of sanctioned segregation in american military history. what military historian robert white. right. junior has called, quote, an experiment in segregation, unquote, because these new recruits were combined with over 70 documented veteran and black native american soldiers from the first and second rhode island regiments. the form the first rhode island regiment, the frank brothers and other soldiers of color were transferred from the second rhode island to the reconfigure first rhode island regiment. the reconfigured first rhode island regiment became known as the black regiment. onhecreen are copies of two documentth address that chge. the first document on the left de of the seeis part of a pension record from private lliam champlin. in it, he testifies that the white men and colonel green's gints wereransferred to

colonel israel angels regiment. and that is underlin othe re there. the second document in return, meaning a listing return of freemen enlisted foth war i believe this return listed some of the freeborn or eviously freed men of color who served th the first rhode island regimen a y can see right there, i have to magnify the names of the frank brothers, but they are listerit there that second document and that document lists over 35 individuals that were nsered eerior to the slave enlistment act. to william and ben's first battle in their new regiment occur on their home soil in island. their regiments were to partipate in the rhode island expedition. the main objective of the expedition waso drive british from aquidneck island in the important port city of newport,

which is down the at the bottom of aquidneck island, southern most point it was led by generalohn sullivan of new hampshire. it was theirst joint effort between american and french troops. so the rhode island trps had to be excited about the opportunity to kick the british completely out of rhode island, not that. but they were going to fight side by side with their new allies the french who had come to the aid of the americans after american victory at saratoga in new york in october 1777, the expedition failed when american troops were unable to overcome the british defenses at newport. on the screen is a graphic from the book titled the black regiment of the american revotion. and what it does is it step by steps. what happens durin the battle over rhode island that would happen during the rhode island expedition. french naval sps were prevented from participating in

the battle due to bad winds and damage upothe fleet. they had to flee to boston for repairs and did not return to give support. also british reinforcements we sent to repel the american attack after trying to lay siege for almost a month, the americans were forced to flee the island on august 29th and it was during the retreat that the battlef rhode island occurr. so initially they come across from fort barton march all the way down to lay siege here, and then when th know that british reinforcements coming and the french fleet is gone, they have to march bk up aquidneck island. and right at this point is where the battle of rhode island occurred. the british forcechased after the retreating troops, caught them at turkey. d but which is at points seven and eight theron the screen. william and ben, along with other members of the first and second rhode island regints, were assigned to protect the right wing of the american at duffy's hill during the afternoon hours in the heat, the

day they repelled a combined force of british and hessian troops on three separate occasions and they were also being bombarded with volleys from the british ships in the harbor since the french fleet had failed to return by the end of the day, american forces were, however, able to safely retreat from the island. the there were total casualties. 30 killed, 137 wounded, 44 came up missing casualties in the first rhode island regiment, where or 10% of the total americans killed, nine or 6% were wounded and 11 or 25% were missing. the franck brothers were among the survivors after the battle the first rhode island regiment was then assigned shore patrol duty in rhode island. and this when the younger brother did something that younger brothers do they don't think things out and was during

this period in january 1779 that ben frank got married he married a yog woman by the name of sarahilbu he was 18 yearsld. sarah was a mother of one. charles name was abraham bennacer or mary barrie elder john gorton of the six principal baptist church of east greenwich, rhode island. elder gordon had married ben's younger sister, hannah, to an individual by the name of solomon wanting solomon. one was also a member of the first rhode island regiment, but a year after his marriage, ben frank made a pivotal decision. so let's review his life up to this point. he's years old. he's married, with a family to support. he's serving with the army that could not to clothe or feed them at this point in time. he and his fellow soldiers are called the next lousy rag regiment. he survived a miserable winter. valley forge.

he fought in two major battles and on both his regiment had to retreat. he lost comrades at both battles. at this point, he have been convinced that the americans could not the war. so what did he do? he deserted in march of 1780. ben, frank deserted from the carmel army. it was not uncommon for revolution or war soldiers to leave their companies and regiments for home one fifth to one third deserted during the war. poor pay, poor equipment, lack of food and even home sickness drove. many soldiers to desert. for ben, there was the additional burden of marriage and to support a family with insufficient and unsteady military pay. the military records on screen cate that ben signed up for the duration of the war. however, older brother had signed up for three years, so that has always been kind of confusing me.

however,is point, ben may have believed that he signed up for three year enlistment and that his eng was almost completed. frank left,ng his brotherons ben and wife behind his wife sarah will return to her hometown of middlebury, massachusetts, taking her son abraham with her. william frank continued his service with the first rhode island regiment. the older brother stayed. the younger brother left. but i don't know how the segregation of the rhode island troops affected him and others. i have tracked over 50 soldiers of color, freeborn free before their enlistment. before the slave enlistment act and segregation. only three deserted after the act, 17 deserted, including ben, frank and his brother in law, solomon one solomon. however, was retaken and would later die of disease in camp ben

never retaken. his older brother william would to serve. why he may have felt responsible to uphold the family name after his younger brother. he may have felt a sense of loyalty to his fellow soldiers in the rhode island regiments. maybe he didn't want to jeopardize his chances of getting land or money for service, and maybe he that the americans would win and he would reap the benefits of being a veteran member of the army that liberated america forhatever his reasons. he re-enlisted on february the first, 1781, for the duratioof the war at this time. and he would continue to serve with the first rho iand regiment. on the screen is a listing of rhode island that was compiled in 1781, and tre is this work. there is william frank there is age. s occupation, his place of

where heasorn, i should say, his place of residence there. johnston is skin color and his hair. and where signed up for service. so william would continue his service in early february. 1781 the first and second rhode island regiments were consolidated into a single rhode island regiment. after the second round, island had taken heavy casualties in the battle of springfield. this consolidated unit was now being commanded by colonel christopher green. that spring, colonel green and his soldiers found themselves encamped in westchester county, new york, near kingsbridge, with the primary responsibility for guarding the continental lines. one of those soldiers, a sign to colonel green's regiment, was lieutenant jeremiah agreement. he was assigned to command the guard at pines bridge, one of the two bridges spanning the

croton river and the northern barrier of they called neutral ground a. westchester county, new york. but this neutral ground ground was an area of almost confrontation between loyalist and patriots it was also the area of warfare carried out by a loyalist group that was led by colonel de lancey. this group was known as the lances corps of refugees. this group composed of american born soldiers who resided in westchester county but had chosen to remain loyal to the britis cause at sunrison monday, may 14, 1781, de lancey prine's boya militia towards one group attacked colonel 's headquarters, which was located at the davenport house. we'll see that on the next sc a second party struck agreements ardidge and lieutenant grimm wrote about this in his memoir.

he qhis morning was party of calupported byce of a infantry, which proved to be de lances corps of refugees. they soon surrounded me and being vastly superior in force and having no pt of escape, i thought it most advisable to surrender myself guard prisoners of war. they informed that colonel green was mortally wounded, a major flag killed one of those individuals that was captured along lieutenant greenman was peter daly, that individual from warwick, rhode island, who signed up during he as a free signed up during the slave enlistment period. i am standing in front of what e davenport house looks like today and that where the most brutal fe fightinocrred that is where colonel green was awakened fm eep.

and he and small detachment of soldiers were ambushed. mar ebenezer flagg was shot in the head while reaching for his pistols in his bed. colonel green was wounded in the initial attack and his wounded and dying body was strapped to a horse and dragged about a mile towards british lines. eventually, the lances troop left the colonel's at the side of the road and he was later buried along with major flagg at a site near their headquarters at bridge. they are both buried at the first presbyterian church cemetery in yorktown, new york. i and other historians believe that the brutal violence perpetrated upon colonel green's body was unusually violent and probably because green was the leader of black soldiers along colonel green who were killed that day. individualprince, child were also killed.

africa burk, who signed up duri t slave enlistment time period. cato bannister and simon whipple were also and ei names are inscribed on the monument that you see on the screen there that monument is located in yorktown heights, new york, and it depicts colonel green like he's just sprung up out of bed with a in hand. a member o the first rhode island regiment, the regiment sg there. and on the other side is a portrait of a native soldier ngff the lances of refugees. william frank william frank survived. the attack at pines bridge as a member of the consolidated first and second rhode island regiment. he he served at pivotal battle of yorktown in october of 1781, at war's end in 1783, william served a total of six years. in 1784. william frank what he eventually

received back pay and the amount over $200. he would also a land bounty in 1795, which he promptly sold to a land speculator. william settled in his hometown, johnston. after the war and became a part of a growing population free blacks of over 3400 that were now living in the state of rhode island. another 1000 blacks remain enslaved. william is lted as a free head of household of two in that federal. the first federacensus and the red is pointing to william's name that census. his brother ben's life was little bit more complicated, just a little after ben left the cannon army, he signed up to serve with british troops. he alone in fleeing to the british. as i said earlier, thousands enslaved people fled to british lines during the war. at the end of the war, many of the defeated british troops and

loyalists, black loyalists among them, made their way to new york city, which is one of the last british strongholds in america. at the end of the war, they at new york until the final peace treaty was negotiated and a passage would be arranged for them to go to england or british colonies in the caribbean and. as part of the peace treaty promised the return all confiscated property by the british to its rightful america and owners. this included the formerly enslaved those thousands of enslaved people that ran the british lines. however, british officials refused to return many of the fugitive slaves that ran to the british seeking their freedom during the war. but the british were willing to make fair compensation to the owners of the slave persons, not return. i don't think they ever did in return to do so. in order to do so, i should say they compiled an inventory of

the blacks within british lines. this inventory became known as the book the --. ben frank, a free man his whole life and former continental soldier is listed i believe as ben franklin in the book along with 3000 other black loyalists. and there is a red arrow pointing to his name in the book and i have magnified his name. he's listed as ben franklin, 21 ordinary fellow, not ordinary. in october 83. ben franklin was a passenger on a ship taking. him and other loyalists from new york to nova scotia. they were part a large fleet of over 40,000 loyalists heading to nova scotia and other british colonies in north america. ben and others embarked on the brig. the brig. elijah deposited ben franklin and the rest of its passengers at fort mouton in late 1783, and

that is indite on thlor map with a red arrow by seven. by april of 1784, ben had relocated it to the settlement of bardstown, nova scotia, which was several mile northwest of the largest city of schober. beautiful city, shelburne, nova otia, at point in time, bardstown became the largest eelack settlement in north america, with a populioof over 1500 free blacks and. bardstown is just to the left of port mouton. there's shelburne and there's bardstown, many them lived in makeshift huts as you can see on the screen. that's what they look like that is one of the reconstructed makeshift huts that they lived in some black loyalists found the northern climate and frontier conditions in nova scotia difficult and were subject to discrimination by other loyalist, many of them slave holders. also, the land that was given to black loyalists was the most

rocky and hard to cultivate compared to that, it was given to some of the white loyalists. in 1792, prompted by the request black loyalists, the british government, black loyalists, the chance to resettle in a new colony in sierra leone. more than half, two thirds of the black loyalists then living in nova scotia, around 1200 of them the part of the country, and moved permanently to sierra, including henry washington, formerly enslaved to george washington then now calling himself ben franklin, eventually married margaret, the daughter of anotherla loyalist, and he settled in granville ferry, nova scotia, whi iindicated by the yellow on the screen there in the annapolis region. i don't know if ben is a bigamist at this point in time, but he did get remarried ben and wife had nine children who survived adulthood.

all of them were baptized in the anglican church, church of england. he passed away sometime. after 1838. my, my, excuse me. my maternal great is a dict descendant of ben franklin. he passed onhis family history to the next generation. on the screen you sepiures of in thmile of peter franklin. that's my great and that is the older brother of gndfather who we call pa and his name was john franklin. and h's my maternal grandfather and he is sitting in an the backyard of his home in lynn, massachusetts petting his favorite dog, penny. as you canee, he followed the style of his father. by the way, he has his hat cocked at the same angle on his head, which alwayamed me and my great uncle peter has a hat

in his hand. there that he took off for the picture in the early 1900s. my grandfather left nova scotia for new york city looking for work. okay, so this is what really happened. my grandfather was working on a whaling ship, one of the first jobs that young people in nova. if you were a young man got, was working on whalers. all right. he got hurt. one of the whaling expeditions and, the whaling ship dropped him off in new york city and he decided to stay there. all right. he stayed and got work, but the frank slash franklin tradition, both peter and john in world war one, peter served a battalion from canada. john william, my grandfather, served as part of a new york regiment. he married late in life. he eventually settled in iceland. he passed away in lynn in 1966. he never gave up his canadian citizenship. he also he always had a canadian flag hanging in his home on a

wall in the dining room and. i always ask them why, do we have a canadian flag in in the house part? and he would say, that is where i am from. he passed along the story of the frank brothers to his two sons. i call him the frank brothers. part two. check out the names my uncles, john, william franklin jr and ben franklin. and they would also continue the service, the frank of military service. both of them served in world war. my uncle. we call them buster john, william franklin junior, served in the philippines, served in the pacific, i should say. and my uncle ben served in europe. and my uncle ben was the individual who passed the story along to me. but both of them served in world war two and they also served in the korean conflict as well.

so i want to end by a section from the epilog of the book. okay, learning about franklin family background in origins has been a fascinating personal journey there struggled to gain standing in their communities and to fight on equal footing with their white counterparts in the canada army has helped me to put my own life and career choices in perspective. like the frank brothers, i followed in my own father's footsteps. when i became police officer in toledo, ohio, in 1976, one of the first female officers on the department my father a wells respected police investigator and civil war history buff, instilled a a history in me. and like rufus to his own sons. my father an inspiring figure in my life, but did the heritage from my maternal line and still an unconventional streak in me

that allowed me to envision myself someone equal in a male dominated. it is possible that this nonconforming trait came from the frank slash franklin line. throughout my research, i have often asked myself which of the brothers i identify with the most. and even though ben's life and decision to provide a better framework to understand my own public predilection to take the road less traveled as the oldest sibling of my family, i tend to identify with william, the older brother who was persistent and steadfast in his service. but i am not judgmental or unsympathetic to ben's and decisions to the contrary, the common combination of these two dichotomous personalities has found a home in this author and motiva motivated me to not only continue their history of public service, but also to write their story. and i'll, in their questions.

okay. we do have time for questions. do. fabulous talk. thank you. thank you. william frank? yes. did he ever apply for a pension? that is very. yes yes. but his application and record is not in the pension files. i have not been able to find them. i do know that he did apply for his land bonus and he did receive it. and as i said earlier, he promptly sold it to. a land speculator. there's another part of the franklin oral tradition that i didn't mention earlier is that there is an understanding that william frank after the 1790 census, would eventually to the state of louisiana. and if you look in louisiana census there are a bunch of francs. i don't know how they are related to us, but they are a bunch of francs are listed in

louisiana census and the two starting in the 1800s. thank you for the question, dr. greene. thank you for very enlightening present nation. thank you. i'd like to know, i mean, you said your uncle related a lot of the story to you. yes. but your grandfather while he was alive, did he speak much about it? and did he kind of spark an interest in you and learning more about what king came before him? i think what did was he sparked an interest in the fact that he was not from america, that he was from a place called nova scotia. and none of my friends knew where that was. and i used to like to about that. i come from those. i have people from nova scotia, and they were like, where's that at? so that was what intrigue me the most. i got the information, though, about their military service in the military tradition from my uncle ben. my uncle ben was one that afforded me and gave me all of that information. he he was amazing about giving

me, the information and he was always right. he was always right. sometimes i would question what he was saying. for instance, said that the first frank came to the americas by way, haiti. i'm like, how do you know that? how do you. that's in the oral tradition? yes. so i said, okay, give me a dna sample. and he was a match for young man that lived in the dominican republic. oh, yeah. yeah. so he was always right. always. yes, sir. yes, ma'am. i'm sorry. wonderful talk. insightful. and how wonderful to be born into this fine family. yeah. thank you. thank you for that. all right. anyone else. do you have family reunions now that you have all this

information? not very many. i've been to a. nova scotia on several occasions. primarily for research. most of the family that originally lived nova scotia has as my made it to different parts of canada. some of them live in toronto, some live as far is alberta, canada. so it's very difficult to get everyone together and then the older generation is now passed. so it is to get all of our generation together because everyone is so flung and living throughout the country. anyone else. thanks for the talk. when? after they were ejected from virginia general howard, a very similar ban. the enlistment of -- into, the

british army as well. do you know what happened to the ethiopian regiment? most of them. and i haven't done extensive research on the ethiopian regiment, but quite a few of them died of smallpox. and then they were disbanded after that. but you were absolutely right. the british weren't of. they didn't treat their black soldiers. and if you want to call them black soldiers, most of them served in support units like the black pioneers. so they allowed to serve in auxiliary kind of positions, but really not as soldiers. so you're absolutely right. and the ethiopian regiment just kind of dissolved away mostly, primarily due to the death by disease. thank you for the question. thank you. thank you. i have one question or comment in pine bridge interaction. mm hmm. the lieutenant greenman? yes. was he part of that defensive group or that which killed?

i mean, the. the green and and flag or was he part of a different group. i'm sorry if i didn't make that clear. lieutenant greenman was part of a detachment that was actually guarding the bridge. and so they had to separate points of attack. one was at the headquarters at the davenport house, where colonel green and major flag were. and the other was at that detachment with lieutenant green men and others and peter dailey, and they were captured and they were in. do you get that information? green man's diary? yes yes. okay. thank you. which is a fascinating read, by the way, about. 30 miles to the west of here. there was an action in 1777 where elements i think the second rhode island were involved with the capture of some stories. okay. do you know anything about that?

not right off the top of my head, no. all right. thank you. i remember reading cotton mather, famous preacher up in massachusetts during the salem witch trials. relates that one of the first systems for trying to prevent smallpox was given to him by some of his slaves who had brought it over from africa, which they finally adopted here before they had the real cure, which was to take a small infection and. did any of you mentioned smallpox twice. and i'm curious if if there was any connection with some of the some of the survivors or some of the children of those slaves, also used that system or introduced that system? well, that was a procedure that was used on the west coast of africa. and you're right, it was it was brought over by, i think, the slaves, the persons name was so seamless who was enslaved to

cotton mather during that period of time. and cotton mather passed along that procedure. one of the doctors in his town and in washington at several points in the war had his troops inoculated against smallpox. yes. so he did try to prevent the second spread of it. second question, quick. i think i know the answer. but tell me, did the black troops ever have black officers or were they all led by caucasians? they were all led by white officers, just like world w >> they were all led by whiteye officers. >> just like world war i. >> yes. and world war ii. >> i don't know world war ii for certain. >> i was a world war ii in my position as the historian for the toledo police department and director of the toledo police museum going back to world war ii, we had an individual by the namece of jacob chandler who enlisted for service. he was a toledo police officer and he enlisted for service to world war ii. he was a college graduate, and during his military career he

would be among other black soldiers with college educations, some of them would be elevated to command positions. for jacob chandler started his career in the american military as ana private, eventually would become of the tenet, and he lost his life serving in italy, right outside of florence, italy. [inaudible] >> yes, absolutely. [applause] >> thank you. >> weekends on c-span2 or an intellectual feast. every saturday american history tv documents america's stories, and on sundays booktv brings you the latest in nonfiction books and authors. funding for c-span2 comes on the television companies and more including wow. >> the world has changed. today a fast level internet connection is something no one

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