country, unless such person had a wife and a family and
was a settled resident.[15]

This matter became one of such concern that the officials of the
Continental Army had to give it more serious consideration. Communications
relative thereto directed to the Continental Congress provoked a debate in
that body in September, 1775. On the occasion of drafting a letter to
Washington, reported by a committee consisting of Lynch, Lee and Adams, to
whom several of his communications had been referred, Rutledge, of South
Carolina, moved that the commander-in-chief be instructed to discharge from
the army all Negroes, whether slave or free.[16] It seems that Rutledge had
the support of the Southern delegates, but failed to secure a majority vote
in favor of this radical proposition.

The matter was not yet settled, however. On the eighth of the following
month there was held a council of war consisting of Washington, Ward, Lee,
Putnam, Thomas, Spencer, Heath, Sullivan, Greene and Gates, to consider the
question whether or not it would be advisable to enlist Negroes in the new
army or "whether there be any distinction between such as are slaves and
those who are free." It was unanimously agreed to reject all slaves and by
a large majority to refuse Negroes altogether.[17] Upon considering ten
days later the question of devising a method of renovating the army,
however, the question of enlisting Negroes came up again before a Committee
of Conference. The leaders in this council were Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin
Harrison, Thomas Lynch, the Deputy Governors of Connecticut and Rhode
Island, and the Committee of Council of Massachusetts Bay. They were asked
the question whether Negroes should be excluded from the new enlistment,
especially such as were slaves. This council also agreed that Negroes
should be rejected altogether.[18] Accordingly, the general orders from
Washington, dated November 12, 1775, declared that neither Negroes, boys
unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure fatigues of the campaign
should be enlisted.

The men who had taken this position had acted blindly. They had failed to
consider the various complications which might arise as a result of the
refusal to admit Negroes to the army. What would the Negroes think when
they saw their offering thrown away from the altar of their country? Were
the Revolutionary fathers so stupid as to think that the British would
adopt the same policy? They could not have beli