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• Introduction
• Units
  • Becoming Free and Independent States
  • • Disagreement and Disillusion
  • • The Revolution Begins
  • • Fighting the Revolution
  • Forming a More Perfect Union
  • Securing the Blessings of Liberty
  • The Thirteenth Amendment
  • • A Number of Valuable Slaves
  • • Death or Liberty
  • • Forever Free
  • The Fourteenth Amendment
  • • The Law
  • • Drawing the Color Line
  • • Education
  • • Protest
  • The Fifteenth Amendment
  • The Nineteenth Amendment
  • • In Most Humble Manner
  • • All Men and Women Are Created Equal
  • • Far-reaching Changes
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Fighting the Revolution—
Virginians in the Battle

Whether they picked up a weapon or watched from the sidelines, every person in the Commonwealth was affected by the fighting of the Revolutionary War. One segment of the population, the free and enslaved African Americans, had a particularly hard choice. By the end of the war, both the Americans and the British were offering freedom to slaves who would join the fight on their respective sides. The rhetoric and ideals of the American Revolution were definitely known to enslaved people as were the promises made by both the Americans and the British. Essentially individuals like James and Billy, two enslaved men who ended up on opposite sides of the war, had to decide which side constituted the safest choice for their own security and ultimate freedom.

People Featured in This Unit:

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