ONEONTA, N.Y. – More than two centuries after some 5,000 African-American men put their lives on the line in the Revolutionary War, there is little historical information on many of these veterans who gained their emancipation from slavery through military service.

But, thanks to the work and dedication of two central New York historians, at least part of the journey of one of those veterans, Cato Freedom, has been documented.

Freedom’s life in the region has been documented with what is known having been gleaned from records filed in Otsego County, New York after he moved to the region following his service in the American Revolution.

Though he came to the area as a younger man, Freedom didn’t seek his patriot’s pension, however, until he was 84 years old, according to extant records that have been assembled under the guidance of Harry Bradshaw Matthews, a professor at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York and the president of the college’s U.S. Colored Troops Institute.

“The first major exodus from slavery occurred during the American Revolution,” Matthews said in an interview Tuesday. “We didn’t see another mass exodus out of slavery until the Civil War.”

Several hundred slaves were enticed to serve with the British forces with offers of earning their emancipation through military service, Matthews said. Those who were on the side of the loyalists left for England when the Continental Army prevailed.

To help enhance public familiarity with Freedom’s life and sacrifice, the county historical association, along with Matthews and others, is trying to acquire a historical marker that will be placed near Freedom’s family burial plot outside Garrattsville, New York, about 35 minutes away.

Freedom, according to historical findings, enlisted in the Continental Army from Connecticut. He was most likely born in West Africa, and after being enslaved was perhaps taken to Barbados, where the slave trade had a connection with the New England region, Matthews said.

Otsego County, at the time Freedom migrated to the area following his military discharge, was a region tucked amidst wilderness in what then represented the fledgling nation’s frontier land, Deb MacKenzie, the president of the county historical association in nearby Hartwick, New York, said.

The decision to buy a tract of land in the township of Burlington, New York, MacKenzie said, likely reflected Freedom’s sense of adventure and his desire to be self-sufficient as he provided for his wife and children.

“These are signs of a man who has a lot of personal integrity,” she said.

He also lived an unusually long life for his era — with his tombstone noting he was 96 years old at the time of his death. 

MacKenzie said that while the public generally understands that it was the Civil War that ended slavery, many people are unaware that the first significant emancipation of blacks occurred amid the American Revolution — and Cato Freedom provides a link to that time frame, she said.

“He was way ahead of the curve — by almost a full century,” she pointed out.

In a veteran’s affidavit filed locally in 1818, Freedom certified he received an honorable discharge from serving in the Third Regiment of the Connecticut Line through September 1783.

One of the public officials botched his name on the paperwork, however, referring to him as “Cato Freeman.” That is the name that ended up on his gravestone, said Matthews, explaining that researchers picked up on the error while examining the available documentation and records.

In a catalogue of historic sites put together last year, historical society volunteers included the Freedom family gravesite as one of the locations that should get a historical marker, MacKenzie said. The effort to acquire the actual marker is moving forward this year.

As for the surviving family of Cato Freedom, Matthews said he has no known descendants, but noted it is possible there are some, as one of his daughters did marry.

Gathering more information about Freedom’s life, and others, is important, he said, as each bit of data will help to tell not only his story but also help fill in the mosaic of how those African-American veterans of the Revolutionary War progressed once they gained their emancipation.

Meanwhile, Matthews said he and other local advocates of historic preservation are working to develop a “Freedom Journey Trail” that will chronicle sites of significance involving events and personalities from the earliest known people in the region of African descent.

Mahoney writes for the Oneonta, New York Daily Star.