African Americans in the American Revolution

Thousands of African Americans served in various capacities throughout the American Revolution. They served as cooks, teamsters, construction workers, seamstresses and laundresses, and even soldiers and sailors. Some joined the Patriot cause and others joined the British Crown.

Each who enlisted was promised a variety of incentives such as freedom, property, and bounties. Unfortunately, most never saw these promises come to reality.

Sadly, for their loyalty and sacrifice they were simply placed back into slavery where they remained for the rest of their lives. However, there were certain individuals who gained their freedom and even were given land, but this was the exception.

William Taburn (Taborn) 

Battle of Cowan’s Ford,
Huntersville, North Carolina

February 1, 1781 

Born in North Carolina circa 1758 in Northampton County, North Carolina, Taburn was a “man of colour” and was son of William Taburn (born in c. 1730) and Judy Allen. On January 2, 1778 he married Nelly Evans, and John Watson signed their marriage bond. 

“William Tabor, age 19, planter” Taburn who on 25 May 1778, enlisted as a private in Capt. Thomas Satterwhite’s company of the Granville County Militia Regiment “raised under the present Act of Assembly”. While residing in Granville County, North Carolina Taburn was drafted to serve, along with Drury Taburn (q.v.), as a private in the Granville County Militia Regiment under Captain James Saunders and Colonel William Taylor. His team of horses and wagon were requisitioned to serve the unit. He then entered service in the North Carolina Continental Line under Captain Saunders and Colonel Taylor for a 30-month tour.  

Taburn later served under Colonel Archibald Lytle and was in the Battle of Briar Creek, Georgia, on March 3, 1779. He served in another unit with Thomas Jordan and was under Brigadier General William Lee Davidson at the Battle of Cowan’s Ford when the British crossed the river Davidson was killed (February 1, 1781). Taburn was near enough to Davidson to hear his final words. That same day Taburn was at Widow Torrance’s Tavern when the British cavalry routed the Americans. He rode all day and all night to find that he was twelve miles from the site of the tavern and had been riding in a circle. He then rode toward Salisbury but as he neared the town he learned the British were already there.  

This prompted him to ride northward and cross the Yadkin River, and from there he passed through the Moravian town of Salem. At that point he became ill and failed to cross the Dan River. William Taburn was listed in a North Carolina State Census in the 1780’s as a “free Negro”. He was issued a comptroller’s office certificate for his army pay by the Board of Auditors for Wilmington District between 16 July 1783 and 19 March 1784. 

On 10 August 1832, while residing in Granville County, he applied for a Federal pension. At that time he was blind and an inmate of the County Poor House, and was unable to state the year in which he was born. He appeared as “William Taburn Sen’r.,” a North Carolina Revolutionary War pensioner, under the Acts of 1818 and 1832 as reported by the Secretary of State to Congress in 1835, and was listed as “William Taburn Sr.” an invalid pensioner in Granville County, North Carolina, on the 1835 U.S. War Department Report on Pensions. By 1835 he had received a total of $103.32 in benefits. Taburn died 4 February 1835, and on 26 May 1845 his widow applied for a pension while residing in Warren County, North Carolina. At that time she was 85 years old and referred to her husband as “William Taburn Sr.”  

Sources:
(FPA W18115: N.A. M804: Clark North Carolina State Records, XXII:88: Heinegg, A-A, NC/VA/SC, II:857-858: NC Soldiers, 434, 586, 600; Act of 1818; Act of 1832; Report 1835; Crow, 102; Greene, Black Courage, 32,43,82; MMS-NC, 8; White, Abstracts III:2666, 3412) 

African American Patriots in the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution
By Bobby G. Moss and Michael Scoggins
Published 2004
Page 227