For the soldier himself special provision had been made in
both Northern and Southern colonies, but it was not always hearty or
effective. In October, 1783, the Virginia Legislature passed an act
for the relief of certain slaves who had served in the army whose
"former owners were trying to force to return to a state of servitude,
contrary to the principles of justice and their solemn promise." The
act provided that each and every slave who had enlisted "by the
appointment and direction of his owner" and had "been received as a
substitute for any free person whose duty or lot it was to serve" and
who had served faithfully during the term of such enlistment, unless
lawfully discharged earlier, should be fully and completely
emancipated and should be held and deemed free in as full and ample
manner as if each and every one of them were specially named in the
act. The act, though apparently so fair on its face, and interlarded
as it is with patriotic and moral phrases, is nevertheless very narrow
and technical, liberating only those who enlisted by the appointment
and direction of their owners, and who were accepted as substitutes,
and who came out of the army with good discharges. It is not hard to
see that even under this act many an ex-soldier might end his days in
slavery.
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