Crispus Attucks

The first casualty of the American Revolutionary War was a man of African and Wampanong descent, Cutspus Attucks (e. 1723 - March 5, 1770), who was killed in the Boston Massacre. Attucks was bom a slave in Framingham, Massachusetts, Ie became a whaler, sailor, and stevedore and spent much of his life at sea of working around the docks along the Atlantic seaboard. Slavery was abolished in Massachusetts in 1781, mostly out of gratitude for Black participation in the Revolutionary War. Subsequently, a sizable community of free Blacks and escaped slaves developed in Boston. Black Bostonians who fought in the Revolutionary War Include Primus Hall, son of the founder of the Prince Hall Freemasony, Barsillai Lew, a scidier, fter and drummer who fought at the Battle of Bunker Will on lune 17, 1775; and George Middleton, a violinist, a horse breaker, and coachman who was recagnized for his accomplishments as a constant advocate for the rights of Blacks, among others. The Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown marks the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill, in which a number of Blacks fought, including Patie Salem, who also fought at the Battle of Lexington, the Battle of Saratoga, and the Battle of Stoney Point, Salem Poor, and Seymour Bur.