“Black Redcoats” is a study of the hundreds of American Blacks, mostly run-away slaves, who served in the British Colonial Marines in the Southern theatres during the War of 1812.  Drawn from plantations around Chesapeake Bay, the Georgia Sea Islands and the Gulf Coast they supplemented British forces in raids and tested American unity and will.

Though a short book, this highlights the war aims and plans of both sides, the disunity among Americans and the role enslavement and emancipation in this martial contest.

American strategy is presented as to swiftly overwhelm defenses in Canada, leading to its abandonment as the British turned toward Napoleon’s challenge in Europe.  British forces, incapable of holding significant American territory, chose series of attacks and raids intending to demoralize the Americans and drain their enthusiasm for continued resistance.

American resolve was not resolute.  Support for the war in New England was lukewarm, at best, a fact which prevented an American attack on Halifax which, if successful, could have played a major role in the conquest of Canada.  Rather than presenting united opposition, many civilians, through necessity or quest for profits, provided supplies to invading forces.

Colonial Marines saw action in three theatres.  From British headquarters on Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay, they participated in the burning of Washington, the attack on Baltimore, home to many menacing privateers, and hit and run raids that spread terror and extorted supplies for the raiders.  Cumberland Island provided a base from which raids on coastal Georgia and Florida shattered regional tranquility and, through the acceptance of black refugees, drained local labor pools.  Colonial Marines engaged in the attack on Fort Bowyer near Mobile, but did not move on to New Orleans.  Many withdrew with the British for new lives in the Caribbean or Canada, while some remained, along with Native Americans, to man the “Negro Fort” or “castle” in Spanish Florida until its destruction by American land and naval forces in 1816. 

War History Network readers are likely to appreciate this work on several levels.  In its 238 pages, including notes, bibliography and index, it delves into details of military strategy and interrelatedness of various theatres often overlooked in more general histories.  The need to wait for official notification of peace before ceasing hostilities contrasts with contemporary instant communications.  The issues of race and economic warfare are woven through American history, but rarely so clearly as in the case of the Colonial Marines whose recruitment raised the specter of a slave revolt and the competition tor laborers in home and field.  Experienced readers will note parallels with later wars.  Surges of fugitive slaves would be repeated during the Civil War.  American dreams of quick victory sweeping enemies from Canada would be echoed by Japanese hopes for victory in the Pacific.

I take issue with some “what ifs” in this narrative.  In my understanding, its suggestion that return of the United States to the British Empire was a possibility is contrary to currently generally accepted historical opinion.  Similarly, the posit that a Native American or Black state in the American South was a potential outcome of fighting in the Gulf seems implausible in the long run.  Reservations notwithstanding, author Mathew Taylor has crafted a worthwhile addition to War of 1812 literature.