Update—Daughters of the American Revolution: Patriots of Color, 1712–1888

Jean Baptiste Antoine de Verger (1762-1851), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; American and French soldiers at the siege of Yorktown, by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine DeVerger, watercolor, 1781. The watercolor depicts the variety of soldiers fighting for American independence, depicting, from left to right, a Black soldier from the First Rhode Island Regiment, a New England militiaman, a Western Frontier rifleman, and a French officer. An estimated 5,000 African American soldiers participated in the Revolutionary War.

We have added a significant update to Daughters of the American Revolution: Patriots of Color, 1712–1888. This update includes 593 new names, pension numbers, ancestor numbers, and links to AncestTREES, bringing the total number of names in this database to 7,707 for the 10 Million Names initiative.

This database was made possible through a collaboration with Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and comes from decades of DAR research that culminated in the creation of their Patriots of Color Database in 2021. The database is part of the DAR E Pluribus Unum Educational Initiative, which seeks to highlight the stories of underrepresented Patriots and increase access to historical and genealogical resources surrounding the lives of people of color and women in the American Revolution. The DAR Patriots of Color Database can be found here.

This database encompasses a less-examined aspect of the American Revolution: the Black, Native American, and mixed-descent participants. For the patriots that can be found here, the information available is extremely varied and comes from many diverse sources. There were both free Black and enslaved Patriots, and these entries sometimes only include a first name, or a first name and their enslaver’s last name as parenthetical information. Native American participants may be listed under their indigenous names and their tribal affiliation will be provided when known. These entries cover the original thirteen colonies as well as some of the frontier areas, such as the “Old Northwest,” which encompasses most of the Great Lakes region.

This database is part of the 10 Million Names Project, which aims to recover and restore the names of the estimated 10 million women, men, and children of African descent who were enslaved in the U.S. prior to 1865.

This database is available to all American Ancestors members, including Guest members, at no cost. Consider membership.

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