Victory Town dinner to recognize Trenton and Black soldiers in the Revolutionary War
Nearly 10,000 American and French troops passed through Trenton 245 years ago on their way to win the American Revolution. A significant number of the Americans were soldiers of color, a fact that is not well known locally or nationally. On Friday, August 28, a dinner will be held at Cooper’s Riverview restaurant to tell the story of the march to Yorktown through Trenton with an emphasis on soldiers of color. Tickets are available at w3r-us.org/event/trenton-victory-dinner/.
The dinner is co-hosted by the Trenton Housing Authority and the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association (W3R-US), who are working together to tell the story of the march to victory and the soldiers of color who engaged in hand-to-hand combat at the Siege of Yorktown.
The keynote speaker will be Kevin Chapman, a local reenactor of African descent who appeared in the recent Netflix documentary, The American Experiment, produced by Tom Hanks. Quoted extensively about the Battle of Trenton and the African American contribution to the victory at Yorktown, in the documentary Chapman says: “More African Americans served on the British side than on the Patriot side…. anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 versus on the Patriot side maybe 5,000 to 9,000.”
Chapman also is one of three reenactors, including the late Algernon Ward of Trenton, who appear in a proposed monument to the most diverse regiment in the Continental Army, which W3R-US and the Trenton Housing Authority are working to install in Trenton’s North Ward.
“Trenton is one of more than 200 cities and towns that witnessed the march of a French Army as well as a highly diverse American Army through nine states to Yorktown, Virginia, where American independence was effectively won,” said Brad Fay, Executive Director – Outreach, for W3R-US and a resident of Central New Jersey. “Telling this fuller story helps more American communities feel connected to our founding, and to the values our nation was built upon.”
“Trentonians should be proud of the fact that our city played a key role in the American Revolution, not only at the Battles of Trenton in 1776 and 1777, but also on the march to victory in 1781, ” said Clifford Godfrey, Executive Director of the Trenton Housing Authority. “Our aim with this project is to increase awareness of the fact that many of the soldiers in the Continental Army were Black and Indigenous.”
The dinner at Cooper’s Riverview will happen near the site where thousands of soldiers and their horses, oxen, and equipment ferried and forded across the Delaware River on the last days of August 1781, 245 years ago. The event will also feature reenactors of Generals Washington and Rochambeau, who commanded the troops. The following day will bring events organized by the William Trent House in Trenton, where the two generals slept just before the crossing.
