Hi Sharon: Thanks for the feedback.
My obective was to point out to that there were thousands of Black troops who fought for the Continental Army, Militias and Blacks who provided support services. If the provision of enhanced research was more readily available, combined with the provision of names of Black soldiers, that would be a starting point for descendents and reseachers . I am fully aware of the difficulty of the name problem, muster rolls and the fact that there is no racial designation on records. I have a copy of the "Catalogue of Revolutionary Soldiers and Sailors of the Commonwealth of Virginia To Whom Land Bounty Warrants Were Granted by Virginia for Service in the War For Independence." It has no race designations, yet I found 4 Chavers and 1 Chavious from Mecklenburg County, Virginia, which I had found in a previous publication.

I don't believe I have discounted any efforts of free blacks, since my focus was on the Rev. Soldiers. In an earlier posting I mentioned ; that in New York City, the American Commander, William Alexander, Lord Sterling, ordered that all able-bodied black men be issued picks and shovels, so that they could work along side Continental troops in preparing for the defense of the city, which had to be abandoned to the enemy later in 1776. No names were given.

The point is if you have some names and information, please post it,in order to give others leads in their research. There should be some graduate students who may want to focus their thesis on this effort. In the Civil War, there were thousands of Free Blacks and escaped slaves who were teamsters, foragers, scouts, cooks, construction crews, etc. We have few records on them.

Thanks again.