On this day 250 years ago on what was then referred to as Long Island, but we would now call Queens in New York City, almost 450 men signed this pledge of allegiance to the Patriot cause:

Whereas, we, the subscribers, inhabitants of Queen’ s County, on Long-Island, in the Province of New-York, have given great uneasiness to the good people of the neighbouring Provinces and the Continent in general, by our not choosing a Committee agreeable to the orders of the Continental Congress, by our not paying that attention to the directions of our Provincial Congress, which we ought to have done, and by our opposing the General Instructions of the Continental Congress in almost all our conduct and actions. Therefore, (in order to relieve the minds of the virtuous inhabitants of America, and those of this County in particular, engaged in the common cause,) we, the subscribers, do most solemnly and sincerely promise, that we will, hereafter, in all cases, implicitly obey all orders and instructions enjoined on us by our Provincial and Continental Congresses, that we will act in conjunction with the inhabitants of this and the neighbouring Provinces, in the defence of American liberty, that we never will take up arms against the Americans, and that we will not, directly or indirectly, countenance, aid, assist, or by any means join with, any of His Majesty’ s troops in the present contest between Great Britain and America.

Some, maybe most, of the men signing the pledge may have been serious, but Queens would be occupied by the British in August 1776 and remain under British control until the end of the War. During that period, Queens resumed its role as a base for Loyalists.

Sources: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nynassa2/History/refugees.htm; https://farmingdalelibrary.libguides.com/c.php?g=743536&p=10941114

As we commemorate Martin Luther King Day in 2026 we should remember the Patriots of Color who were fighting for American freedom in the Continental Army 250 years ago. Scholars estimate that more than 10% of the soldiers in the Continental Army were Black, and that not until the Korean War, would the United States Army be as integrated as it was in the Revolution.

Sources: https://www.army.mil/article/97705/Black_Soldiers_in_the_Revolutionary_War/; https://www.nps.gov/media/article-search.htm#q=%22Patriots+of+Color%22&sort=Date_Last_Modified+desc&fq%5B%5D=Type%3A%22Person%22

[note to readers — The Trump Administration has been removing from Government websites references to the contributions of minorities including African-Americans to the United States. Please alert me if these resources disappear]