At least five thousand blacks served with the colonial American forces. Most had no choice. They were slaves, and their owners took them to war or sent them instead of the owners' sons.

Other slaves felt that a nation built on freedom might share some of that freedom with them.

In the South, many slave owners kept their slaves at home rather than send them to fight. Later in the war, when every man was needed, many slaves drove wagons and carried supplies. Those who served in the colonial army and navy were not separated from whites. They fought side by side with whites during the American Revolution.

But historians say most slaves spent the war as they always had: working on their owners' farms.

The American rebels called themselves patriots. Those who supported the British were known as Tories. Patriots often seized the property of Tories to help pay for the war. They also kidnapped the slaves of Tories to use as laborers for the army. Many Tories were forced from towns in which they had lived all their lives. Some were tortured or hanged.

In New Jersey, Tories and patriots fought one another with guns, and sometimes burned each other's houses and farms.

Some historians say the American Revolution was really the nation's first civil war. The revolution divided many families.

Jayne Gordon at the Massachusetts Historical Society tells of a woman named Phoebe. Phoebe was married to a patriot. But her brother was a Tory.

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