Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

42

TheIslamicateContext

ploymilitaryslaves,asystem

of

militaryslavery

astheMuslims

knewitdidnot

exist,

sz

TheBarbadosmilitiawascloseintimeand

space

tothe

West

India

Regimentsyet entirely

different

in

spirit.

In the

early

nineteenth century,

freedBarbadosslaves"were

expected

to

servein theisland’smilitia.

’’s3

Theyusually

formed separate

black
corps

but

provided

fewor noneof

thecommissioned

officers,

s4

Inall,

theyprovided

loyal

andusefulserviceandcon-

stitutedaconsiderable
portion

oftheentire

militia,

s5

Although

proportionately

more

important

to Barbados than the West

India

Regiments

weretotheBritishEmpire,

thesefreedmen

servedinamilitia,sothey

werenot

professional

soldiersand

hencenotmilitary

slaves.

TheAmerican
Confederacy.

Itcomesas

no

surprise

tolearnthat

many

soldiersofslave

origins

fought

fortheUnitedStates

army

against

the

Confederacy,

s6

forin so

doingthey

were

fighting

slavesinEastAfricafor

militarypurposes

(ibid.,p.95);also,

theDutch

brought

WestAfricanslavestotheCaribbeanforwarfare(ibid.,p.134).

82.Referringtoanearlier

versionofthis

study(my

dissertation)onibid.,

p.

ix,Mr.Buckleystatesthat

"itisreasonabletoassumethat[Islamicate

military

slavery]

served model"fortheWestIndia

Regiments.

Whilethis

may

beso,

am

skeptical

becauseofthe

profound

dissimilaritiesbetweenthetwoinstitutions

andtheabsenceof

anyapparent

connectionbetweenthem.

83. Handler,p.

110.

84.

Ibid.,pp.

111-12.

85. Ibid.,
    pp.

114-15.

86.Theabundanceofbooks

dealing

withthis

single

minortopictestifiesto

theextraordinaryfullness

of

U.S.

historicalstudies.Besidesthe used

here,

notethese:

1.W.W.Brown,The

Negro

intheAmericanRebellion(Boston,1880).

2.P.H.Clark,TheBlack

Brigade

of

Cincinnati(Cincinnati,1894).

3.

J.

M.McPherson,Marchingtoward

Freedom:The

Negro

intheCivilWar,

1861-1865(NewYork,1965).

4.Iden,TheNegro’sCivil

War."HowAmerican

Negroes

FeltandActed

during

the

War

for

theUnion

(New

York,

1965).

5.C.H.

Wesley,

Ohio

Negroes

intheCivilWar(Columbus,Ohio,1962).

6.G.W.Williams,A

History

of

theNegroTroopsinthe

War

of

the

Rebellion,

1861-1865(NewYork,1888).

7.

J.

T.Wilson,TheBlack

Phalanx:A

History

of

the

Negro

Soldiers

of

theUnited

States(Hartford,Conn.,1888).