{"id":986,"date":"2024-10-24T18:22:16","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T18:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/s2.designcostaging.com\/clients\/mmm\/?post_type=monuments&p=986"},"modified":"2024-11-13T19:14:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T19:14:40","slug":"african-reservation-monument","status":"publish","type":"monuments","link":"https:\/\/s2.designcostaging.com\/clients\/mmm\/monuments\/african-reservation-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"African Reservation Monument"},"content":{"rendered":"

Located in Bedford\u2019s Old Burying Ground<\/a>, the African Reservation Monument recognizes three enslaved men who fought for the country\u2019s independence from Britain: Cambridge Moore, Caesar Prescott, and Caesar Jones. Erected in 1896, it may be one of the country\u2019s earliest monuments recognizing African Americans by name for their service in the American Revolutionary War.<\/p>\n

As recorded by Abram English Brown, Secretary of the Bedford Historical Society in the report of the Society to the Trustees of the Bedford Free Public Library Corporation within the Annual Report of the Officers for the Town of Bedford<\/a> for the Financial Year Ending in 1897, \u00a0\u201cthe graves of three of the African race, who fought to the credit of Bedford in the Revolution, have been marked by setting up a boulder in the African reservation of the Burying Ground, on which is seen a bronze plate suitably inscribed. The dedication of this memorial was an impressive feature of the public service of April 19th.\u201d<\/p>\n

The monument was dedicated to honor the three men on the same day as the Sons of the American Revolution marked the graves of the forty-four soldiers from Bedford who fought in the American Revolution.<\/p>\n

The monument became known as the African Reservation Monument reflecting its location marking the portion of the burying ground where Bedford\u2019s African Americans are buried in unmarked graves.<\/p>\n

A bronze plaque affixed to a granite boulder reads:<\/p>\n

CAMBRIDGE MOORE
\nCAESAR PRESCOTT
\nCAESAR JONES
\nNEGRO SLAVES.
\nSOLDIERS
\nIN THE REVOLUTION.
\n1775 \u00a0\u00a0 1783<\/p>\n

Unveiled on the third anniversary of Patriots\u2019 Day, the African Reservation Monument was featured in the Boston Globe<\/em> article \u201cTo Honor Slave Patriots\u201d published that day. Noting that Moore, Prescott, and Jones earned their freedom by serving in the Revolution, the article proclaimed that, \u201ctoday Bedford takes a step toward paying a debt of gratitude to the memory\u201d of the soldiers and, \u201c…the deeds of this race have been but sparsely told and few are the memorials that tell the rising generation that such people ever lived.\u201d The article also notes the service of Lexington\u2019s Prince Estabrook<\/a> and Framingham\u2019s Peter Salem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As well intentioned as this monument may be, it also reveals the bitter irony that Black Patriots who endured slavery were fighting for liberties that were not necessarily guaranteed to them. Some popular and academic histories assume that manumission\u2014that is, freedom from bondage\u2014was given to all servants and enslaved people who fought, but no such formal standard existed. In fact, the Continental Army was demonstrably reluctant to accept enslaved men into its ranks. General George Washington formally mandated in 1777 that only freemen could serve, though this instruction was not always followed. For some Massachusetts towns, promising emancipation was the only way to fill recruitment quotas without blatantly violating the Continental Army\u2019s prohibitions on recruiting enslaved persons.<\/p>\n

Such may have been the case for Moore, Prescott, and Jones. The men initially served (willingly or not) so that the town could meet its conscription quotas. Their subsequent tours in the Continental Army are believed to have been served as freemen where they received a paid bounty, though there is some evidence to suggest this may not be accurate. In Moore\u2019s case, for instance, the December 1780 resolve that recruited him for three additional years still referred to Moore as an African American \u201cservant\u201d belonging to Captain John Moore. The same John Moore was one of the town selectmen responsible for finding men to fill Bedford\u2019s conscription quotas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Possibly the first monument in the country to acknowledge African Americans who served in any war by name, the African Reservation Monument is dedicated on the first Patriots\u2019 Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-986","monuments","type-monuments","status-publish","hentry","city_town-bedford-ma"],"acf":{"banner_image":1166,"listing_thumbnail":1166,"listing_thumbnail_caption":"","year":"1896","location":"Old Burying Ground, Bedford, MA","address":"Old Burying Ground","time_period":"1875 - 1924","town":"Bedford, MA","state":"MA","gallery":[{"image":1166,"caption":"","image_layout":"Portrait","content":""}],"one_sentence_description":"","display_on_story_page":"Yes","status":"Active","latitude":"42.49264657156409","longitude":"-71.2784531813477","map_url":""},"yoast_head":"\nAfrican Reservation Monument - Monuments Memorials & Markers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"African Reservation Monument - 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