BLACK REDCOATS: The Corps of Colonial Marines, 1814-1816

Examines the thousands of African Americans who fled slavery to serve in British forces during the War of 1812 in what became the largest emancipation of enslaved Americans until the abolition of slavery in the United States. British forces launched hundreds of amphibious raids, and thousands of enslaved African Americans took the opportunity to escape. From these refugees, the British built a force -- the Corps of Colonial Marines -- which turned Britain's campaign on America's coasts from harassment into an existential threat to the new nation. Also discusses the post-war history of the Colonial Marines and their continued survival as a unique ethnic group in the Caribbean today. Contains 15 mono illustrations.