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join the standards of the ministerial army, he had ordered
that they should be enlisted. In December, 1776, Prince Hall
was serving in Capt. Joshua Welbore's company, in Col. Eben-
ezer Francis's regiment. April 20, 1 778, the General Court
called for more troops, and among the men in Thacher's regi¬
ment was Prince Hall. In this enlistment for nine months,
he is credited to the town of Medford, thirty years old, height
five feet three inches. His name appears four or five times
on the Continental muster-roll. That he saw hard service, we
know by the record of the two regiments he served in, always
distinguished for steadiness and valor. Prince Hall was not
only a good soldier: he was a statesman. He was the author
of nearly all the petitions that the negroes of the colony sent
to the General Court. Jan. 13, 1777, while probably still in
the army, he wrote as follows concerning slaves whose free¬
dom he sought: " But they were unjustly dragged by the hand
of cruel power from their dearest friends, and some of them
even torn from the embrace of their tender parents." Speak¬
ing of the slaves he endeavored to aid, he said, "They can¬
not but express their astonishment that it has never been
considered, that every principle from which America has acted,
in the course of their unhappy difficulties with Great Britain,
pleads stronger than a thousand arguments in favor of your
petitioners." Prince Hall's name is mentioned a dozen times
in the Belknap papers, and frequent reference is made to him
in the council records. Jan. 25, 1788, Dr. Jeremy Belknap
writes : " Prince Hall votes constantly for governor and rep¬
resentatives." There were other colored men who voted, but
Prince Hall was always placed in the front. In a letter ad¬
dressed to Mr. Ebenezer Hazard of New York, Dr. Belknap
wrote on March 9, 1788: "I now enclose you the negroes'
petition. It is Prince Hall's own composition and handwriting,
given me by himself."
Education for the negro in the Colonies was next to impos¬
sible. And, although there were no schools for negroes until
1796, Prince Hall, by dint of industry, secured enough of
knowledge to read, write, and cipher with considerable ease
and accuracy.
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