Chasing Ned Hector: Uncovering the Life and Legacy of a Black Revolutionary War Bombardier and Teamster

A profile of a Black artillery bombardier reveals diverse colonial African-American contributions to the American Revolution and their enduring impact on local communities.

A young white boy comes home from watching a reenactment battle at the Brandywine battlefield, imagining what it must have been like to be George Washington. His Black friend returns with no such thoughts. From what he could see, people like him played no part in the fight for American independence. In Chasing Ned Hector, Noah Lewis battles the too-common assumption that all colonial Black people were poor and enslaved and played only the part of manual labor in America’s fight for independence. On the contrary, it can be argued that without the contribution of the Black soldier, America might not have won the American Revolution at all.

Edward “Ned” Hector was a Black soldier serving as a bombardier and a teamster, in Proctor’s Pennsylvania Artillery. As a bombardier, he was part of a cannon team in an elite military unit, the artillery. As an artillery teamster, Ned transported gunpowder, ammunition, and cannons, placing him in battle. He fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown and was considered a hero for courageously saving his horses, wagons, and supplies at Brandywine despite being overrun by the Redcoats and ordered to abandon them and retreat. Despite his service, he was denied a pension on all three occasions he submitted an application. Eventually, the Pennsylvania Congress granted him a one-time payment of $40. Edward Hector was so well regarded in his home community of Conshohocken that, 16 years after his death, they named a street after him, an amazing honor given attitudes towards Black people in the mid-19th century.

Through the eyes of Edward Hector, Noah Lewis explores how diverse colonial Black people were and how they were affected and shaped by their culture, politics, familial relationships, and environment, and invites all Americans to embrace colonial African-American history as their own.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
A Proper Introduction—Ned and Me
Chronology of African American Involvement in the American Revolution
Starting at the End—An Obituary
Ned Who?
Ned’s Times
Ned’s Origins
Ned’s Neighborhood
Ned the Teamster
Joining Washington’s Army
The War Comes to Valley Forge
Ned the Artillerist
Ned, a Man of Action
Family Life
Robbed by the Government
Looking Back at Ned
The Search for Ned’s Grave
Edward Hector’s Genealogy Tree
Selected Bibliography