On August 20, 1778, the Continental Army was ordered to make “Returns of all the Negroes in the several Regiments”– in other words, the “Negroes” were to be counted and the results tallied up. Four days later, the grand total of “Negroes” in Wayne’s 1st Pennsylvania Brigade (1st, 2nd, 7th, 10th Pennsylvania Regiments) was two, while the 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade (3rd, 5th, 6th, 9th Pennsylvania Regiments) recorded an astounding zero. Historians interpret the return as a census of African Americans in the Continental Army. If it was a census of African Americans, then of the 2,600 men of the two Pennsylvania brigades, there were only two African Americans. 

But in the ranks of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment in August 1778 was “Stacy Williams, a man of colour” who joined that regiment in the spring of 1777 and served “until the return of the Army from South Carolina (in 1783). His former company commander reported that Williams “always behaved as the Soldier”–and ought to receive the reward due for those that fought for and obtained our Independence.”  The 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade reported zero “Negroes”– yet Stacy Williams and dozens of other soldiers in that brigade at that time could be described as African Americans, so if “Negro” was synonymous with African American, then why wasn’t Stacy Williams included in the return?

Join Matt White, historian and Research Fellow for the Friends of Washington Crossing Park, for the October Learn at Lunchtime program as he discusses the purpose of the 1778 Return, why only two Pennsylvanians are noted in it, and the lives of several Pennsylvanian African American soldiers.

Presentations begin at 12:15 PM and are followed by a question-and-answer session. Registration is required to attend the free, virtual program. Click here to register now.