"In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight." With those words Rev. John Muhlenberg stepped from his pulpit, removed his clerical robe, and revealed the uniform of a Colonial officer. He then marched off to war. These are stories about ministers that became chaplains in the American army during the Revolution. Most of these men were not content with just administering to the spiritual needs of the troops, but they also took up the musket for the cause of liberty. These ministers provided eyewitness accounts of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, life on a prison ship, the burning of New York City, the Battle of Rhode Island, the execution of Major Andre, and many more events. The dedication of these men can be summed up in the words of thirty nine year old Chaplain Caleb Barnum as he lay dying on his deathbed, "That if I had a thousand lives I would willing lay them down on my country's cause."

At the time of the Revolutionary War, a fifth of the Colonial population was African American. By 1779, 15 percent of the Continental Army were former slaves, while the Navy recruited both free men and slaves. More than 5000 black Americans fought for independence in an integrated military-it would be the last until the Korean War. The majority of Indian tribes sided with the British yet some Native Americans rallied to the American cause and suffered heavy losses. Of 26 Wampanoag enlistees from the small town of Mashpee on Cape Cod, only one came home. Half of the Pequots who went to war did not survive. Mohegans John and Samuel Ashbow fought at Bunker Hill. Samuel was killed there-the first Native American to die in the Revolution. This history recounts the sacrifices made by forgotten people of color to gain independence for the people who enslaved and extirpated them.