Myth or Truth: Were Connecticut men of color conscripted as body servants under the 1780 quota act?

Based on the available evidence, this is a myth.

To learn more about the 1780 quota act, see a prior blog post. In short, the quota act required “classes” or subgroups of militia in each town to provide “a good able-bodied effective recruit” to serve on the Continental Line. The wording of the act strongly suggests it was intended to recruit soldiers.

A link between the quota act and body servants seems to have been made largely to explain a 19th century account of a man of color serving during the American Revolution. The original account, which can be read here, says that: “He was a servant to different officers in the Revolutionary War; had been sent on errands by General Washington, and said he had ‘straddled many a cannon when fired by the Americans at the British troops.'” This account dates from 1844, decades after the end of the War.

Yet, there’s strong evidence that body servants serving with Connecticut troops were held in slavery or paid by individual officers. See this blog post for my prior discussion on the subject. No evidence has been uncovered to date that an individual was hired or recruited to serve multiple officers, although this was common practice during the American Civil War (at least in the South).

Taking the strong evidence that the quota act was intended to recruit soldiers together with information on the known patterns for engaging body servants, it seems unlikely an individual was recruited under the 1780 quota act to serve as a body servant.