This is a guest blog post by Jenny Sullivan, MA in History, University of Rhode Island. Jenny is a 2024 Buchanan Burnham Fellow.
By the end of the Revolutionary War, Rhode Island raised twenty-two militia units to fight for American independence. [1] One such unit, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, also known as the “Black Regiment,” was comprised of 225 men. Uniquely, more than half of the regiment was made up of Black and Indigenous—both recently enslaved and free—individuals.[2] Included in this regiment were two men, named York (also known as Yorke) and Sharper (also known as Sharp, Sharpe, and Sharpo.) While their lives and experiences differ in many ways, York and Sharper share a commonality: a last name imposed upon them by their enslavers: Champlin.
By the 1760s, brothers Christopher, George, and Robert Champlin had established themselves as a fixture of Newport’s mercantile economy. The Champlin family had been settled in the colony of Rhode Island since its genesis, and Champlin patriarchs often filled high-ranking political, religious, and military positions. It was through one such opportunity during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) that Christopher Champlin, Jr., along with his brother George, had the means to officially embed themselves as major players in maritime commerce in Newport.[3] The brothers were extremely skilled at gaming the system as they traded both legally and illegally, never allowing conflict such as war, taxes, or regulations to stifle their business ventures. Although the Champlins were actively trading with Great Britain’s enemies (France and Spain) they still managed to secure provision contracts with the British Navy to furnish the royal fleet with food and supplies while they patrolled American shores to suppress smuggling.[4]
These contradictory employments are representative of the Champlins’ business acumen during this period and serve as the prelude to their success in the slave trade. Desperate to maximize profit, and drawn to the most financially promising business endeavors, Christopher and George abandoned trade in the West Indies because they saw too much supply and not enough demand inundating the markets there. Turning to the slave trade, the Champlins organized and completed four voyages between 1771-1775 to the coast of Ghana to purchase enslaved Africans to sell in the West Indies and the American colonies.[5]
This trading venture also saw a younger Champlin brother, Robert, take a more active role in the family business and join the crew of the Adventure, the chosen Champlin slaving vessel. Throughout a five-year period, the Champlin brothers accumulated considerable wealth through the sale of other human beings, and even enslaved some of these people in their own households. These are the stories of two such human beings.
York Champlin was born in Africa, c. 1758.[6] Though York’s exact birthplace is currently unknown, York’s enslaver, Robert Champlin, served first as mate, and later as captain, on the Adventure’s four voyages to Ghana. As mate, Robert sailed on a 1772-1773 slaving voyage to Anomabu, Ghana, where ninety-five enslaved people were purchased by the captain of the Adventure during that period.[7] Thirteen of the ninety-five individuals “represented shares or adventures of the captain and crew.”[8] As a high-ranking crew member, Robert may have been entitled to at least one enslaved person as his “share” or “adventure,” and it is possible that York’s enslavement by Robert fulfilled this allocation. It is also possible that York was taken from his home during the Adventure’s 1773-1774 voyage in which Robert was promoted to captain. Captives on this voyage were also taken from Ghana and sold in Grenada and St. Kitt’s before continuing on to Rhode Island.[9] Robert Champlin purchased “half a slave” from Baillie and Frasier of St. Kitts in the summer of 1774, and it is possible that York is the individual referenced in this sale.[10] Purchasing “half a slave” was equivalent to purchasing a share of a property, business, or other such investment. This kind of sale was a common occurrence, and it exemplifies the utter dehumanization of the people trafficked in the African slave trade. Whether York was captured and enslaved during the 1772-73 or 1773-74 voyage is uncertain, but what is certain is that Robert Champlin had one Black person, believed to be enslaved, in his household by 1774.[11]
While there is a plethora of contradictory information about the early years of York’s life, the opposite problem presents itself when considering Sharper’s story. No information about Sharper’s early years has been recovered yet. His first known appearance in the historical record is in the Rhode Island 1777 Military Census. Though white men were categorized by age in this record, Sharper is only listed as a “negro.” Assuming Sharper is 16 years of age or older in 1777 helps put other historical evidence in perspective. Sharper’s enslaver, Christopher Champlin, Jr., appears on a 1767 “List of Rateable [taxable] Estate” document that notes he had one enslaved person in his household at that time.[12] In the 1774 census, Champlin’s household included one unidentified Black female over 16 years old and one unidentified Black male under the age of 16, both likely enslaved.[13] Since Sharper was 16 years old or older in 1777, it is highly possible that he was the individual referenced as being under 16 three years prior in 1774. Considering what is known about Christopher and Robert Champlin’s participation in the slave trade and the knowledge that shareholders and crew members of the Adventure were entitled to an enslaved person as their “share” from the 1772-1773 voyage, it is likely that Sharper, like York, was born in Africa (probably Ghana) and brought to Rhode Island in the shackles of enslavement by the Champlins.
Sharper & York’s next known appearances in the historical record pertain to their service in the Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was in desperate need of more soldiers, yet reticent to enlist men of color to bolster its ranks. This was largely due to fears over potential uprisings and the implications of offering freedom in exchange for military service within a society that heavily depended on the continuation of unpaid slave labor and the slave trade.[14] In some colonies, white men were promised an enslaved person in exchange for their service, so the very idea of offering the enslaved their freedom for participation in the war was fundamentally at odds with the American colonial mindset.
Ultimately, General Washington’s hand was forced when he realized the British were successfully offering freedom to enslaved individuals if they defected and joined the loyalists. To make this legislation more palatable to enslavers, compensation payments were instituted for the enslavers’ “loss of labor” due to the enlistment of their enslaved as well as the government’s promise to assume responsibility for the formerly enslaved should they become injured or require financial support after the war.[15] The legislation permitting service in exchange for freedom was passed on February 14, 1778. Steadfast dissenters of the act passed an amendment just three months later to make the offer valid only through June, though it appears recruitment did not stop completely at that time.[16] York enlisted in the Continental Army on March 15, 1778. [17] This date is corroborated by the fact that Robert Champlin received a compensation payment of £120 on April 11, 1778.[18] The lapse of about a month between enlistment and payment to the enslavers also appears in Sharper’s records as he enlisted on May 14, 1778, but Christopher Champlin’s compensation payment did not go through until June 18, 1778.[19]
York’s enlistment record indicates that he was a 5ft 4 ¾in tall “negro” with black hair.[20] Unfortunately, the descriptive information has not yet been recovered for Sharper. York was assigned to serve in Captain Elijah Lewis’s 3rd Company of Foot, and Sharper served in John S. Dexter’s 4th Company as a drummer, which earned him a slightly higher salary throughout his service.[21] York and Sharper consistently appear in pay and muster rolls representing their years of service, though their exact movements are difficult to track except for a few key events. The 1st Rhode Island Regiment saw action in August of 1778, during the Battle of Rhode Island. Although victory ultimately went to the British, the presence of the regiment was undoubtedly critical to the defense mounted by the patriots.
On May 21, 1779, York and twelve other men were captured by the British at Quidnesset in Narragansett.[22] York remained a prisoner of war in Newport from June until September.[23] About a year later, York, Sharper, and the 1st Rhode Island Regiment made their way down to Virginia in the fall of 1781. The Battle of Yorktown (September 28 – October 19, 1781) was arduous and bloody, and though the battle went in favor of the patriots, the aftermath definitively worsened an already perilous situation. An extreme lack of food, clothing, and medicine plagued both the Continental and British armies and as a result, death, disease, and desertion were extremely common. The year prior, in August of 1780, York himself deserted, likely from a post in Newport, and was recaptured a month later.[24] Although his motives for deserting are unknown, a consistent lack of necessary resources might have been a contributing factor, if not the catalyst for his actions.
After the Battle of Yorktown, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment proceeded to Philadelphia to recoup, but infectious diseases such as smallpox ravaged the surviving troops. Some died on the way to the Philadelphia barracks, and dozens more died in the months that followed.[25] The contagion was showing no signs of stopping or slowing down as infection rates continued to skyrocket, and York himself was sick in Philadelphia through May of 1782.[26] Sharper likely fell victim to illness here as well and died on March 16, 1782.[27] It is possible that Sharper was buried with other Rhode Islanders in an unmarked grave in either Delaware or Philadelphia, though nothing definitive about his final resting place has been recovered yet.[28]
York continued to serve in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment until the fall of 1783, when he was honorably discharged.[29] He appears in the 1790 census for Providence, Rhode Island, as the head of a three-person household, all of which are listed as freed persons.[30] He next appears in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, where he applied for a war pension in 1818, though payments did not begin until September of 1820.[31] Appearing in front of a Boston judge, presumably to appeal the two-year lack of payment, York testified, “I have no family…I am a mariner by profession, but too infirm to earn my subsistence. I am sixty-two years of age.”[32] The inventory of his property contained only one object – a bag worth $0.25. York received his pension payments in Massachusetts for six years, until he died on November 12, 1826. His burial record lists his family/residence prior to death as “City Poor.” York Champlin is buried in the South End Burying Ground in Boston.[33]
Sharper and York, along with many others, were taken from their homes and brought to Rhode Island in the bonds of slavery. These same men bravely fought for the idea of a nation that made no promises to accept them as citizens once that nation was forged . Sharper sacrificed his life for American independence and was likely buried in an unmarked grave. The freedom granted to York following his service was marred by poverty and a lack of promised payments by the very government he fought to install. These men are not alone in their experiences, and their stories speak to a much larger pattern of discrimination and neglect of both veterans and vulnerable civilians in the postwar period. Sharper and York Champlin, legacies of the Newport slave trade, will forever be esteemed and remembered for their participation, both willing and unwilling, in monumental moments of history. We do not know how these men would choose to tell their own life stories, or how they might wish to be remembered, but we can honor their bravery and perseverance in the face of violence and oppression.
[1] “American Revolution Facts,” American Battlefield Trust, last modified November 16, 2023, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/american-revolution-faqs#:~:text=Library%20of%20Congress-,How%20many%20soldiers%20served%20in%20the%20war%3F,numbered%20upwards%20of%20145%2C000%20men.; “Our History,” Rhode Island National Guard, accessed August 9, 2024, https://ri.ng.mil/History/.
[2] “1st Rhode Island Regiment,” Hudson Highlands Land Trust, accessed August 1, 2024, http://www.hhlt.org/1st-rhode-island-regiment/.
[3] George Joseph Lough, Jr., “The Champlins of Newport: A Commercial History,” (PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut, 1977), 28-38.
[4] Ibid, 84-88.
[5] Ibid, 119-120.
[6] York’s Revolutionary War enlistment record indicates he was 17 when he enlisted in 1778, which would make his birth year c.1761. However, in an 1820 pension application, York declares that he is 62 years old, making his birth year c.1758. Compounding the confusion is his burial record, which indicates he died on November 12, 1826, at age 70, making his birth year in this instance c.1756. As the 1820 testimony is the only source in which York speaks for himself, the most credence is awarded to that timeline.
[7] “Letter from Samuel Tuell to Christopher and George Champlin,” September 26, 1772, NHS Box 43A, Folder 26, Item 53, p. 1, EV00412; “Purchase of 12 Enslaved People,” 1772, NHS Box 43A, Folder 26, Item 54, EV00415; “Letter from Samuel Tuell to Christopher and George Champlin,” November 4, 1772, NHS Box 43A, Folder 26, Item 54, EV00416, Newport Historical Society.
[8] George Joseph Lough, Jr., “The Champlins of Newport: A Commercial History,” (PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut, 1977), 122.
[9] Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, accessed July 26, 2024, https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/database.
[10] “Sale of an Unidentified Enslaved Person,” August 24, 1774, NHS Box 43A, Folder 26, Item 26, p. 1, EV00279, Newport Historical Society.
[11] Rhode Island Census, 1774.
[12] “List of Rateable Estate for the Household of Christopher Champlin,” June 1767, FIC.2022.101 p. 2, Collection of the Newport Historical Society.
[13] “Census Record for the Household of Christopher Champlin,” 1774, Census of the Inhabitants of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 1774, HA201 1774 B1858, Newport Historical Society Library.
[14] Robert Geake and Lorén Spears, From Slaves to Soldiers: The 1st Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution (Pennsylvania: Westholme Publishing, LLC, 2016), 29-46; Cameron Boutin, “The 1st Rhode Island Regiment and Revolutionary America’s Lost Opportunity,” Journal of the American Revolution, January 17, 2018, https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/01/1st-rhode-island-regiment-revolutionary-americas-lost-opportunity/#google_vignette.
[15] Boutin, “The 1st Rhode Island Regiment and Revolutionary America’s Lost Opportunity.”
[16] Boutin, “The 1st Rhode Island Regiment and Revolutionary America’s Lost Opportunity;” Geake and Spears, From Slaves to Soldiers, Appendix C.
[17] US, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783; Revolutionary War Record Book, First Rhode Island Regiment, 1781-1783.
[18] “The Treasurer’s Account of the Negro Slaves Enlisted into the Continental Battalions, to whom did they belong, and the valuation of each slave with notes concerning them, 1778,” in Sidney Rider’s Rhode Island Historical Tracts no. 10: An historical inquiry concerning the attempt to raise a regiment of slaves by Rhode Island during the War of the Revolution, (Providence Press Company, 1880); Geake and Spears, From Slaves to Soldiers, Appendix C.
[19] Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. A Compilation from the Archives (Massachusetts: Office of the Secretary of State, 1896), volume 3, page 277; “The Treasurer’s Account of the Negro Slaves Enlisted into the Continental Battalions,” Rhode Island Historical Tracts no. 10, (Providence Press Company, 1880).
[20] Revolutionary War Record Book, First Rhode Island Regiment, 1781-1783.
[21] US, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783; Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. A Compilation from the Archives, volume 3, page 277; US, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900.
[22] Robert Geake, “Timeline of the Formation and Service of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment,” The Battle of Rhode Island Association, https://battleofrhodeisland.org/timeline-of-the-1st-rhode-island-regiment-landing-page/.
[23] US, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783; Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. A Compilation from the Archives, Massachusetts, volume 3, page 277.
[24] Revolutionary War Record Book, First Rhode Island Regiment, 1781-1783.
[25] Robert Geake, “Timeline of the Formation and Service of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment.”
[26] US, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783; US, Revolutionary War Service Records, 1775-1783.
[27] Revolutionary War Record Book, First Rhode Island Regiment, 1781-1783.
[28] Robert Geake, “Timeline of the Formation and Service of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment.”
[29] U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrants Application Files, 1800-1900.
[30] 1790 United States Federal Census, Providence, RI.
[31] US Revolutionary War Pensioners, 1801-1815, 181-1872.
[32] U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrants Application Files, 1800-1900.
[33] Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988.