It's been years since I've written in this blog. So much in my life has changed since I researched for the North Carolina Society Sons of the American Revolution for the Forgotten Patriots Project. In the past, I wrote about
- the Revolutionary War Pension Files,
- the SAR Grave Memorial Ceremony honoring the fourteen free Patriots of Color from Harlowe, Craven County, North Carolina who fought in the American Revolution (March 16, 2014), and
- the Chartering of the only SAR Chapter named for a Patriot of Color, the Patriot Isaac Carter Chapter, named for my late husband Cedric C. Carter 's 3rd great-grandfather (September 3, 2016).
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| Photo Courtesy of Regina Yvette Carter Garcia, 2016 |
In August 2023, my brother-in-law, H. David Carter emailed me about an opportunity to continue my work on the Harlowe Patriots. The Society of First African Families of English America took the mantle of the Forgotten Patriots Project and is applying a multi-faceted approach. Since September 2023, I've been actively researching and writing about the details of the Harlowe Patriots' service by focusing on their regiments' movements in a series of engagements through three theaters of war. This has proved to be an enlightening challenge!
We are discovering new things about the trials our ancestors endured as we focus our research on the commanding generals, colonels, and captains of the soldiers' regiments found in written accounts of the battle history. Our sources go beyond the Survivor and Widow's Pensions, service records, and muster rolls, now including letters, diaries, state records, and military and local histories. Some of the things we thought we knew already have been proven flawed and we are correcting that through a series of books we will be publishing.
I am honored to be collaborating with about fifty authors and scholars on this project and will use this blog to help sort out some of the research questions I address as I work toward our first big deadline of March 31, 2024.