the screen. sign up for the ahtv newsletter today and watch american history tv every weekend or anything time online at cspan.org/history. >> this election night c-span delivers something different. not just the presidential race but the state races that will decide the balance of power in congress. no political pundits. no spin. no commercials. just the candidates, the results and you. >> good morning. welcome to the tenth annual

american revolutionary war conference. we are located in the historic valley region an hour west of albany, new york. thank you all for being here today. definitely with your support. we appreciate all of the events. we appreciate you think here. we have a good lineup of speakers. we have to stay on time. luckily we have c-span who will be recording today. please file in, have your cell phones on silent so that we can have an interrupt-free event. thank you. i want to thank the fulton community college for allowing us to use the space.

our event started off big in 2015. we had the covid pandemic which dropped our numbers. with you we are back up to our original numbers. i would like to thank bruce franklin. thank to you bruce franklin and all of his great books. our first speaker, shirley l. green earned a ph.d. in history from bowling state university in 2011 and a masters in history from the university of toledo in 2005. shirley was honored in 2012 and

emerging leader from the african-american legacy project of northwest ohio in 2010. currently an adjunct instructor with the university of toledo and bowling green university. shirley has been employed by the toledo police department and retiring as a lieutenant in 2003. currently shirley is director of the toledo police museum. it is also the subject of our talk today. big round of applause and let's welcome shirley to the stage.

all right. good morning everyone and thank you for coming out this morning. i am really happy to be the leadoff speaker today. i want to thank brian and their group for ing me to speak at the conference. this is my victory visit to new york state. fbi in ebruary i was invited to speak. i am here to talk about my book and my research. it is part family history and

part micro history. that is when you focus on a person, event or community on a small tloefl tell a bigger story about historical forces or events. most family historians start out trying to answer questions or histories about a certain ancestor or aspect of history. i was born and raised in toledo, ohio. when i first started my research as a family historian, i was trying to answer the question of how my maternal grandfather came to be born and raised in canada. as i addressed that, another question arose. how did the experiences of my ancestors inform us about the experiences and the actions of free blacks in revolutionary america.

this book is the culmination of my journey to answer those questions. eat-grandfather.th my maternal henry franklin. he was a landscaper one of the oldest ies in america. he was tingresearch for a book on the oldest gr innorth ica. they had a conversation that what is your name. he reonded that my nais y franklin. my grandfather camefrom africa.

he said i just turned 70. i am just turning 70 and i am explaining about my family history. thank you. thank you. henry franklin passed away shortly after the publication of the book in 1929. he just recited a small part of the oral history to historian morris. the entire tradition goes something like this. the first franklin ancestor came from the west coast of africa by way of haiti. two of his descendants fought in the revolutionary war. i believe the first ancestor in america was captured in five

different documents as living and working in colonial rhode island. by late 1690s this man was free and an active member of the providence, rhode island community that was known by the name of frank. he parcell of land and worked for the carpenter family. a large land holding family in providence, rhode island. there are pictoffour of the documents on the screen. as you can see, document 432 indicates the initial land purchase. red arrow pointi to the me of ank nigro servof

carpenter. he again referred to as frank niservt. he pays off the mortgage and regains control of the land and is listed in that document as frank nigro. i ask when frank nigro gained his freedom. they can figure out somewhere between 47 to 65. he is no longer listed as frank nigro servant of silas carpenter. the other is a court affidavit.

it summarizthe attack which ar to be provokbythe attack ken by frank. sprague declared he misbehaved mself and forgot how sprague did on the 19th th of this inse given to him by nigro frank to strike some blows. a breach of his majesty's law. sprague was charged and convicted and fined for the assault in the amount of two schillings. all of these documents is that frank understood how to navigate the system as a black man in colonial, rhode island. i believe frank was the direct ancestor of two brothers named andrew and rufus. i believe they filed a west african custom of adopting a

revered ancestor's first name as their last name. both served in the militia and were called to fight threats to their community. rufus became a memb of the providence lia. militia service was required of all able-boed men, but black men were required to perform other duties like road cleaning and repair. when great britain became involved in a war against france in the french and the indian

war. he was stationed in a region thatis present day new york state and served in three mpgns. you are looking at a picture of rome, nerk. when spain jumped in the conflict rhode island mustered troops to assist with the capture of cuba. the siege ended and they returned home. johnson, rhode island is a small

town northeast of providence. rufus married and he had three children and two sons. he had one daughter by the name of hannah. the frank household was one of three black households in johnson. the family is enumerated in the census on the far right side, an area of the census designated for blacks and native americans. rufus and his family were part of a growing black population before the revolutionary war. they made up 20% of the population on the eve of the american revolution. most were enslaved. a small percentage of blacks were freed. as the war progressed the desire of the half a million people

could be separated into two categories. the enslaved were looking for liberty and freedom and free blacks were looking for equality. the enslaved were looking for liberty and freedom and free blacks were looking for equality. they would judge who would and could grant their desires, the british or the americans. they would serve in their father's footsteps. but before they could serve there needed to it be a change in american military prls. one of the reasons is propertied by the royal governor of virginia. by 75 he was run out and conducting his official business on the ship in the chesapeake

bay. 1775 he issued a proclamation r british men willto fight for e crown. he thought that draining the reverses that would be a good way to do that. one of the many that fled is henry, known as harry washington. henry became a member of the regiment. he trained more than 800 men in formation marching and he had special uniforms made for them with the insignia "liberty to the slaves." the last battle was great bridge virginia, where they lost.

they lost both battles and lost lives to smallpox epidemic during this period of time. however dunmoore's proclamation created the first mass emancipation of blacks prior to the civil war and around 80,000 fled to the british lines during the war, women and children among them 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 were diverse. they had white, black and native american soldiers serving together. washington believed you couldn't have a professional army with

black soldiers and couldn't attract southern planners by arming blacks. in july 75 after taking control of the continental forces he instructed his recruiting ficers that you are not to enlist any desserter from army nor any stroller, negro or vagabond person suspected to be an enemy to the liberty of america. washington would continue this policy throughout the fall of 1775. george washington revised the policy towards black soldiers. washington was pressured by command officers and black community leaders like prince hall who would go on to be the leader of the black free mason movement in america. washington was pressured to allow the service of black

veterans, soldiers that had proven themselves in battle. washington changed the policy. in january of 1776 he allowed for the continued service and the enlistment of free black veterans and allowed for the enlistment of all free blacks. by war's end, and this is an ongoing debate about how many black soldiers served in the continental army. the accepted narrative is that 5,000 serves, but the d.a.r. in this expansive work titled "forgotten patriots" have calculated that maybe 6,000 black soldiers served in the continental army and other numbers push it up to 7,000. they are still working on what the true number is. but because of the change in the american military policy the frank brothers were now able to enlist because they were both

free. william signed up to serve with the brigade in rhode island in april of 1777. later that year he was enlisted into the second rhode island regiment. his younger brother, benjamin signed up to serve at providence in may of the same year. he was 15 years old. his father probably had to give permission for the young son to enlist. why did they enlist? mostly for economic concerns. they were listed as general laborers. their fathers did not own land. with enlistment they could look forward to earning a steady wage and receiving food and equipment. given the limited opportunities for free blacks military service was one of the few ways to better your life. congress approved enlistment

bonuses and promised land bonds at the end of the world. were soldiers of color treated differently than the white counterparted? they initially served ed in -- what were the frank brothers actually getting themselves in to? they became members of the second rhode island regiment which was commanded by colonel israel angel who at one point lived in the hometown of the frank brothers, johnson, rhode island. they were to provide two infan tree regiments. the regiments were integrated. the franks were not signing up for easy duty. continental soldiers lived tough life. limited treasure of the federal

government and the state government as well. they were issued equipment and muskets and bayonets and clothing consisting of honey shirts that were large enough to cover the other clothing and equipment. shoes were always in short supply. in the summer soldiers could go barefoot. in the winter sometimes they had to wrap their feet in cloth. soldiers resorted to forging in the country side for food and had to deal with diseases running rampant through their camps. on the screen is hocolonel angel described the tuation of the men that serv in the second rhode island regiment. wrote back to his bosses that the regiment is scandausin the view everyone. it has beusof this incurred from suouing regiments of the inhabitants of towns they

pass. >> such treatment, gentlemen, is discouraging, disparaging. it does unman the man. render them almost useless in the army. this is the reality of life in the continental army for the frank brothers in the second rhode island regiment. the first battle the brothers were engaged in occurred at red bank. the two regiments were dispatched along e delaware river between pennia d new jersey in octoof 1777. troops re stationed on one island where the yellow arrow is pointing and thrhode island troops mercer where the red arrow is po.

a detachment was sent to reinforce the troops. initially the rhode island troops were able to defend fort mercer and repel the british and haitian troops. the british were able to capture the fort and they had to evacuate both forts, 14 were killed and 21 wounded but they did receive praise for their exploits. the command of the first regiment, colonel christopher green received a comdition for his service. what was the reward for the service at red bank? volley forge. march right over there. yeah. yeah. after the battle the frank brothers and the regiments marched to valley forge, pennsylvania for the winter encampment of 1777 to 1778.

while in camp there american troops suffered major losses due to disease, illness and desertion. washington described the encampment as composed of men half-starved, always in rags without pay and experiencing every species of distress. the food rations were in such short supply many threatened to revolt. at the end of 1777 washington notified congress over 2,800 soldiers were unfit for duty because they were otherwise barefoot and naked and william frank was one of the soldiers. a week later an additional 1,000 men were on sick row. over 3,000 soldiers desserted. the rhode island regiments were decimated as well. there were barely enough left to form one regiment.

colonel angel wrote that i am sorry to inform you a very great sickness and mortality prevail among the rhode island troops which is judged from the badness of their cloth. the rate of desertion also concerned angel. he wrote "desertion is what we may expect so long that the soldiers see the public faith is not to be depended upon." the general of the rhode island regiments was concerned about the state of the rhode island troops. he wrote the two rhode island battalions have been sickly and lost a considerable number. this is owing to their immense fatigue in the summer past. he means the extra duties in the summer and in 2019 i had the privilege of visiting valley forge historical park. that is me standing at the

encampment site for the rhode island regiment. that is kind of moving in for me. to solve the problem of dwindling manpower. excuse me. general varnam made the recommendation to fill their dwindling ranks byrecruiting and enlisting enslaved men from rhode island. they will allow the enlistment of enslaved men in return for their freedom. 14, 1778, rhode island general assembly allow the enlistment enslavement in retu for their freedom. the slave enlistment act was passed in 1778 and stipulated that any, ote mulatto, or indian man slave,, can now

enlist the rhode land co regiments. that went on to y, quote, that every slavsoenlisting shall be entitled to receive all the bountieswas, and encouragements allowed by the continental congress to any soldier enlisting into their service. it was further voted and resolved that every slave so enlisting shall upon his passing be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress and be absolutely free. so colonel christopher green of the first rhode island regiment, accompanied by his he captains, was given the task of leaving valley forge and came in and returning to rhode island to recruit and enlist individuals to serve in the new regiment. however, the recruitment and ou enlistment of enslaved men did not last long and rhode island. rhode island slaveholders opposed the 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 individuals like africa burke of providence, primus brown of the frank brothers hometown of johnston, rhode island, and free blacks and native americans also enlisted during this period. that included an individual by the name of peter daly of warwick, rhode island. this may also have been the first case of sanctioned segregation in american military history. military historian robert wright junior has called an experiment in segregation, end quote. because these new recruits were combined with over 70 documented veteran and black

native american soldiers from the first and second rhode island regiments to form the new first rhode island regiment. the frank weathers and other soldiers of color were tranerd from the second rhode island to e reconfigured first rhe island regiment. threconfigured first rhode island regiment became known as the black regiment. on the screen are pi of two re documents ataddress that change. the first document on the le side of the screen is part ofa pension record from private william chaplin. in it, he teifies at the white man in colonel grne regiment were transferred to colonel iselangel's regiment, and that is underlined onthe screen. the seconddoment is entitled return, meeting a listing, return of fr n enlisted for thwar i believe this return listed meof the free born or previously fr n of color who served with the rsrhode island regiment. and yocasee right there, i

have magnify the meof the frank brothers, but they are listed right there on that second document, and that document list over 35 individuals that were considered free prior to the slave enlistment act. william and ben's firsbattle in their new regiment would occur their home soil in rhode island. there regiments were assigned to participe in the rhode island expedition. the main objective of the expedition was to dre british troops from aquidneck island in the important port city of newport, whh is down there at the ttom of aquidneck island, the southernmost point. it was led by general john sullivan of new hampshire. it was the first joint effort de between american and french troops, so the rhode island troops had to be excited about the opportunity to kick the british completely out of rhode island. not only that, but they were

going to fight side-by-side with their new allies, the e french, who had co to the aid of the americans after the american victory at saratoga in new york in october of 1777. the expedion failed when american troops weren't able to overcome the british defenses that newport. gone the screen is a graphic from the book titled "the blk regiment of the american revolution." whatit does is it lists step- by-step what happened during the battle of rhode island that would happen during the rhode island expedition. french naval ships were prevented from participating in the battle due to bad wind and damage un the fleet. to they had to flee to boston for repairs and did not return to give support. also british reinforcements were sent to repel the american atck. after trying, the americans were forced to fl the island on august 29.

was during the retreat at the battle of ode island occurred. so initially they comeacross from fort burton, merge all the way down, and then when they know that british reinforcements are coming and the ench fleet are gone, they have to what march backup aquidneck island, and at this point is where the battle of rhode island occurred. the british forces chased after the retreating troops, cut them at turkey and buck sale, which is at points seven and eight on the screen. h william and ben along with other members of the first and second rhode island regiments were assigned to protect the right-wing of the american line interface help. during the afternoon hours in the heat of the day, they repelled a confined force of british troops on three separate occasions, and they were also being bombarded with volleys from 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. there were total casualties of

30 killed, 137 wounded, 44 came up missing. casualties in the first rhode island regiment were three, 10% of the total americans killed, nine or 6% were wounded, and 11 to 25% were missing. the frank brothers were among misses survivors. after the battle, the first rhode island regiment was then assigned short patrol duty in rhode island. this is when the younger othedid something that yobrothers do. they do think things out. and it was during is period in january of 1779 that be frank rried. he married a young woman by the name of sarah wilbur. he was 18 years old. sarah was the mother of one child. the child's name was abraham. ben and serio were married by john gordon in east greenwich, rhode island. gordon had also married ben's

younger sister, hannah, to an individual by the name of solomon wotton. solomon wotton was also a member of the first rhode island regiment. but, one year after his marriage, then frank made a pivotal decision. let's review his life up to this point. n he is 18 years old. he is married with a family to support. he is serving with an army that could not afford to close or feed him at this point in time. he and his fellow soldiers are called the naked lousy ragged regiment. he survived the miserable winter at valley forge. he fought in two major battles and on both occasions is regiments had to retreat. he lost comrades at both battles. at this point, he may have been convinced that the americans could not win the war. so what did he do? he deserted. in march of 1780, ben frank deserted from the

continental army. it was not uncommon for revolutionaryen war soldiers to leave the regiments for home. 1/5 to 1/3 deserted during the war. poor pay, poor equipment, lack of food, and even homesickness drove many soldiers to desert for ben, there was the additionalen of marriage and having to support a family with insufficient and unsteady military pay . the mitary records on the screen indicate that ben signed up for the duration of the word. howes older brother had signed up for 3 years , so that has always been kind of confusing for me. however at this point, ben may have believed that he signed up for a three-year enlistment and that his enlistment was almost completed. but for whatever the reasons, ben frank left, leaving his brother and wife behind . his wife, sarah, would return to her hometown of middleborough, 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 their rhode island troops affected him or others. i have tracked over 50 soldiers of color, free born or 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 wotton. solomon however was retaken and would later die of disease in ol camp. ben was never retaken. his older brother, william, would continue to serve here quiet? he may have felt responsible to uphold the family name after his younger brother deserted. he may have felt a sense of loyalty to his fellow soldiers in the rhode island regiments. e maybe he didn nt to jeopardize his chances of tting land or money for his

service. and maybe he believed that the americans ulwin and he would reap thbenefits of being a ten member of the army that liberated amic for whatever his reasons, he reenlisted on february 1, 1781, for the duration of the war this time. he would continue to serve with the first rhode island regiment. on the screen is a listing of rhode island soldiers that were compedin 1781, and there is, there is william frank right there. his age, his occupation, his place of residence, where he was born i should say. his place of residence there, johnson, his skin color, and his hair color, and where he signed up for service. so, william would continue his service. in early february of 1781, the first and second rhode island regiments were

consolidated into a single rhode island regiment, after the second rhode island had taken heavy casualties in the battle of springfield. this new consolidated unit was now being commanded by colonel christopher greene . that spring, colonel greene and his soldiers found themselves encamped in westchester county, new york, near pines bridge with the primary responsibility for guarding the continental t lines. one of those soldiers assigned to colonel greene's regiment was lieutenant jeremiah greenman. he was assigned to command the guard at pines bridge, one of the two pages spanning the river in the northern barrier of what they called neutral ground of westchester county, new york. but this neutral ground was an area of almost daily confrontation between loyalist and patriots. it was also the area of guerrilla warfare carried out by a loyalist group that was led by colonel james delancey. this group known as

delancey's of her svgs. thisp was composed of resided in westchester county, but had chosen to remain yal to the british cause. at sunrise on monday, may 14, 1781, the land the let his loyalist militia towards pines bridge. grouattacked colonel greene's headquarters located at the davenport house. we will see that on the next screen. a second party struck agreements guard atbridge. lieutenant gre wrote about this in his memoir. he said, quote, this morning was alarmed the appearance of the party of calvary supported by infantry which proved to be delancey's core of refugees. they soon surrounded me and being vastly superior in force and having a prospect of escape , i thought it most advisable to surrender myself and guard prisoners of war. they informed me that colonel

greene was mortally wounded and major flag killed. one of those individuals that was captured along with lieutenant greenman was peter daily, an indidu from warwick, rhode island who signedupduring, as a free man sign during the slave enlistment act period. i am standing in front of what the davenport house looks like today, and th iwhere the most brutal fighngoccurred. that is where colonel greene was awakened from sleep, and he and his small detaching of soldiers were ambushed. major ebenezer flag was shot ine the head while reaching for his pistols and his bed. colonel greene was mooted in the initial attack, and his wounded and dying body was strapped to a horse and dragged about a mile towards british lines. eventually, delancey stroup

left the colonel's body at the side of the road and he was later buried along with major flag at a site near their headquarters at pines bridge. they are both buried at the first presbyterian church cemetery in yorktown, lynew yor i and other historians believe that the brutal violence perpetrated upon colonel greene's body was unusually violence, and probably because grne was the leader of black soldiers. along with colonel greene, o were killed that day, individuals prince chds were also killed , africa burk his side of during the slave enlistment time period , kato bannister, and simon whipple were also killed. their names are inscribed on the monument that you see on the screen. that monument is located in yorktown heights, lonel greene, like he has just spri out of bed with

a sword in a member of the first rhode island regiment, the black regiment, standing there, and on the other side is the betrayal -- portrayal of a native american soldier fighting off delancey's refugees . william frank, william frank survived the o attack at pines bridge. as a member of the consolidated first and second rhode island regiment, he served at the pivotal battle of yorktown in october of 1781, and words end in 1783 william had served a total of six years. in 1784, william frank eventually received back pay and the amount of over $200. he would also receive a land bounty in 1795 which he promptly sold to a land speculator. william settd in his hometown of johnston after the war, and became a part of a growing population of free blacks, of over 3400 that were now ling in the state of rhode island. another 1000 blacks remained

enslaved. william is listed as a free head of household of two in that first federal census, and the red arrow is pointing to william's name in that census. okay. his brother ben's life was a little bit more complicated. just a little bit. after ben left the continental army, he signed up to serve with british troops. he was not alone in fleeing to the british. as i said earlier, thousands ofc enslaved people fled to british lines during the war. at the end of the war, many of the defeated british troops and loyalists my black loyalists among them, made their way to new york city, which was one of the last british strongholds in america at the end of the war. they remained at new york until the final peace treaty was negotiated, and passage would be arranged for them to go to england , or british colonies located in the caribbean and canada. part of the peace

treaty promised the return of all confiscated property by the british to its rightful american owners. this included the formerly enslaved, those thousands of enslaved people that ran to british lines. however, british officials refused to return many of the fugitive slaves that ran to written seeking their freedom during the where, but the british were willing to make fair compensation to the owner of enslaved persons not return. i don't think they ever did. can return, to do so, in order to do so i should say, they can piled an inventory of the blacks within british lines. this inventory became known as the book of negro. ben frank, a free man his whole life in a former continental soldier, is listed as i believe as brent frank him in the book, and there is a red arrow pointing to his name in the

book and i have magnified his name. he is listed as ben frankham , 21, ordinary fellow. not so ordinary. in 1783 he was a passenger on a ship taking him and other loyalists from new york to nova scotia. they were part of a large fleet of over 40,000 loyalists heading to nova scotia and otr british colonies in north americ ben and others embarked on the break elisha. the big elisha deposited frankhamanthe rest of the passengers at fort co in late 1783 and that is incad on the lower map with a red arrow. i april of 1784, ben had relocated to the settlement of dutchtown, nova scotia which was several miles northwest of the larger city of shelburne. a beautiful city my shelburne, no scotia. at that point in time, bridto became the largest free black settlement in north

america th a population of over 1500 free blacks. and byrdstown is ju to the left. there is shbue and there is byrdstown. many of them live in makeshift huts as you can see on the screen. as one of the reconstructed makeshift huts that they lived in. some black loyalists in the northern hyman and frontier conditions in nova scotia difficult and were subject to discrimination by other loyalist settlers, many of them slave holders. rn some of the land was the most rocky and hard to cultivate eo compare to that that was given to some of the white loyalists. in 1792 , prompted by the request of lack loyalists, the british government offered a black loyalists the chance to resettle in a new colony in sierra leone, africa. more than half, almost 2/3 of the black lolis been living in nova scotia, around 1200 of

them, the part of the country and moved permanently to sierra leone, including henry washington, formerly enslaved to george washington. ben now calling himself and franklin eventually married margaret jackson, the daughter of another black loyalist, and he settled in granville ferry, nova scotia, indicated by the yellow arrow on the screen am i in the annapolis region. i don't know if ben is a bigamist at this point in time, but he did get remarried. he and his wife had nine children who survived into adulthood. all of them were baptized in the anglican church, churchof england. he passed away sometime after 1838. my, excuse me, my maternal great-grdfher is a direct descde of ben anin. he passed along his family history to the next generation.

on the screen you e pictures na in the middle of peter franklin . that is my great uncle. that istholder brother of my grandfather,whwe called pa, and his na was john william franklin. he maternal grandfather. he is sitting in a chr in the bayard of his home in masshutts, petting hi favorite dog, penny. as you can see, he followed the dressing style of his father by the way he has his hat cocked at the same angle on his head, which always amazed me. can my great uncle peter has a hat in his hand right 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 people in nova scotia if you were a young man got is working on wailers. he got hurt on one of the

whaling expeditions in the whaling ship dropped him off in new york city and he decided to stay there. all right? he stayed there and got work. but following the frank/franklin tradition, both peter and john served in world war i. peter served with 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 eastland, massachusetts. he passed away there in 1966. he never gave up his canadian citizenship. he always had a n canadian flag hanging in his home on the wall in the dining room, and i always asked him, why do we have a canadian flag in the house, pa? and he would say that is where i am from. he passed along the story of the frank brothers to his two nt sons. i called them the frank

brothers part two. check out their names. my uncles john william franklin junior, and ben franklin. they would also continue the service of the frank tradition of military service. with of them served in world war ii. my uncle, we called him buster john william franklin junior served in the philippines, served in the pacific i should say. my uncle ben served in europe. my uncle ben is the individual e who passed the story along to me, but both of them served in world war ii, and they also served in the korean conflict as well. so, i want to end by reading a section from the epilogue of the book. okay. learning about the franklin family packrat and origins has been a fascinating personal journey. their

struggle to gain standing in their communities and the fight on equal footing with their white counterparts in the continental army has helped me put my own life and career choices and perspective. like the frank others, i followed in my own father's footsteps when i became a police officer in toledo, ohio in 1976, one of the first female officers in the department. my father, a well-respected police investigator and civil war history buff instilled a love of history in me, and my father was an aspiring figure in my life. but there is still an unconventional streak in me that allowed me to envision myself is equal in a male- dominated work horse. it is possible that this nonconforming trade came from the frank/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 decisions provide a better framework to understand my own predilection to take the road

less traveled, as the older sibling in 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 actions and decisions. to the contrary. the combination of these two dichotomous personalities has found a home in this author and motivated me to not only continue their history of public service, but also to write their story. i will end their. >> okay, we do have time for questions. fabulous talk. thank you. william frank. did he ever apply for a pension? >> that is very -- yes. yes.

but his application 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 bounty, and he did receive it. as i said earlier, he promptly sold it to a land speculator. there is another part of the y franklin oral tradition that i did not mention earlier, is that there is an understanding that william frank, after the 1790 census would eventually move to the state of louisiana, and if you look in the louisiana census, there are a bunch of franks. i don't know how they are related to us, but there are a bunch of franks listed in the louisiana census starting in the 1800s. thank you for your question. >> dr. greene , think you for a very enlightening presentation. i would like to know, i mean, you said your uncle related a lot of the story to you, but your grandfather, while he was alive, did he speak much about it, and did he kind of spark an interest in you in learning more

about what came before him? >> i think what he did as he sparked an interest in the fact that he was not from america. but he was from a place called nova scotia and none of my friends do and that was and i used to like to brag about that. i have people from nova scotia, and they were like where is that at. that is what intrigued me the most. i got the information, though, about their military service and the military tradition from my uncle ben. my uncle ben was the one that afforded me and gave me all of that information. 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 he said that the first frank came to the americas by way of haiti. i'm like, how do you know that. that is in the oral tradition, yes. i said okay, give me a dnas sample, and he was a match for a young man that lived in the

dominican republic. yeah. so, he was always right. always right. yes, sir. yes, ma'am, i'm sorry. >> wonderful talk. insightful research. how wonderful to be born into this fine family. >> thank you. thank you for that. >> anyone else? no? >> do you have family reunions now that you have all of this information? >> not very many. i have been to nova scotia on several occasions, primarily for research. most of the family that originally lived in nova scotia has migrated to different parts of canada. some of them live in toronto. some of them live as far as alberta, canada.

it is very difficult to get them together, and now the older generation has now passed on. so it is difficult to get all of our generation together, because everyone is so far- flung and living throughout the country. >> anyone else? thank you for the talk. >> when, after they are ejected from virginia, they had a similar ban on the enlistment of african americans and the british army as well. you know what happened to the ethiopian regiment? >> most of them, and i haven't done extensive research in the ethiopian regiment, but quite a few of them died of smallpox, and then they were disbanded after that. but you are absolutely right. the british, they didn't treat their black soldiers, if you want to call them black

soldiers. most of them served in support units like the black pioneers. so they allowed them to serve in auxiliary kind of positions but really not as soldiers. you are absolutely right. in the ethiopian regiment just kind of dissolved away, mostly primarily due to death by disease. thank you for the question. >> thank you. i have one question or comment. in the pine ridge interaction, the lieutenant greenman, was he part of that defensive group that was killed? i mean, with green and flag, or was he part of a different group? >> i'm sorry if i did not make that clear. lieutenant greenman was part of a detachment that was actually guarding the bridge, so they had two separate points of attack. one was at the headquarters of the davenport house where

colonel prince childs and major flag work, and the other was at the detachment with lieutenant greenman and others , and peter dailey. they were captured. >> did you get that information from greenman's diary? >> yes. which is a fascinating read, by the way. >> about 30 miles to the west of here, there was an action in 1777 where elements from i think the second rhode island were involved with the capture of some tories. do you know anything about that? >> not right off the top of my head, no. thank you, though. >> i remember meeting, a 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 had brought it over from africa, which they

finally adopted here before they had the real cure, which was to take a small infection -- did any of you -- 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 are introduced that system? >> that was a procedure used on the west coast of africa, and you are right, it was brought over by, the enslaved persons name was in cmis, who is enslaved to cotton mather and that period of time and cotton mather passed along the procedure to one of the doctors in his town. washington at several points in the war had his troops ia inoculated against smallpox. yes. he did try to prevent the spread of it. >> second question really quick, but tell me. did the black troops ever have black officers at or were they

all led by caucasians? >> they were all led by white officers. >> just by world war i. >> and world war ii. >> i don't know world war ii. >> in world war ii, i must say in my position as a historian for the toledo police department and the director of the toledo police museum, going back to world war ii, we had an individual by the name of jacob chandler who enlisted for service. he was a toledo police officer and he enlisted for service during 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. so jacob chandler started his career in the american military is a private and eventually would become a lieutenant, and he lost his life serving in italy, right outside of florence, italy. yes. absolutely.

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