Peter Salem was born a slave in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1760. At the start of the American Revolution he was owned by the Buckminster family. His owners allowed him to join the Continental army. He was a solider in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment and fought in several battles including the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. Many people in that battle said they saw Salem fire the shot that killed British Major John Pitcairn. The colonial army fought so well against the British that they were inspired to continue the war.
How do we know it was Peter Salem who killed the British officer? In 1787 Jeremy Belknap, Salem’s first slave-owner, wrote in his diary that a person at the battle told him that "A negro man … took aim at Major Pitcairn, as he was rallying the dispersed British troops and shot him." Another author, Samuel Swett, named Salem as Pitcairn's killer: "Among the foremost of the leaders was the gallant Maj. Pitcairn, who exultingly cried 'the day is ours,' when Salem, a black soldier, and a number of others, shot him through and he fell." The legend of Peter Salem at Bunker Hill was made famous by John Trumbull's 1786 painting The Battle of Bunker's Hill, which shows a black soldier, believed to be Salem, holding a musket while Pitcairn lies on the ground, wounded and dying.
Shortly after the Battle of Bunker Hill Salem was almost released from the army because of Gen. George Washington's new rule that slaves could not be soldiers. But Salem's owners freed him from slavery so that he could continue fighting.
After the war Salem built a cabin in Leicester, Massachusetts. He died in a poor-house in Framingham in 1816. To honor him as a soldier of the American Revolution, the citizens of Framingham made a monument to his memory. On it they wrote: Peter Salem / A Soldier of the Revolution / Concord / Bunker Hill / Saratoga / Died, August 16th, 1816.
Bibliography:
Russell, Thaddeus. "Peter Salem." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. Biography In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K3444701117/BIC?u=va_s_007_0162&sid=BIC&xid=944ebb21. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019.
How do we know it was Peter Salem who killed the British officer? In 1787 Jeremy Belknap, Salem’s first slave-owner, wrote in his diary that a person at the battle told him that "A negro man … took aim at Major Pitcairn, as he was rallying the dispersed British troops and shot him." Another author, Samuel Swett, named Salem as Pitcairn's killer: "Among the foremost of the leaders was the gallant Maj. Pitcairn, who exultingly cried 'the day is ours,' when Salem, a black soldier, and a number of others, shot him through and he fell." The legend of Peter Salem at Bunker Hill was made famous by John Trumbull's 1786 painting The Battle of Bunker's Hill, which shows a black soldier, believed to be Salem, holding a musket while Pitcairn lies on the ground, wounded and dying.
Shortly after the Battle of Bunker Hill Salem was almost released from the army because of Gen. George Washington's new rule that slaves could not be soldiers. But Salem's owners freed him from slavery so that he could continue fighting.
After the war Salem built a cabin in Leicester, Massachusetts. He died in a poor-house in Framingham in 1816. To honor him as a soldier of the American Revolution, the citizens of Framingham made a monument to his memory. On it they wrote: Peter Salem / A Soldier of the Revolution / Concord / Bunker Hill / Saratoga / Died, August 16th, 1816.
Bibliography:
Russell, Thaddeus. "Peter Salem." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. Biography In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K3444701117/BIC?u=va_s_007_0162&sid=BIC&xid=944ebb21. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019.