NICHOLAS COOKE
Washington and his staff had throughout the Revolution wanted to enlist Negroes but were thwarted by the Southern and conservative blocs of the Continental Congress when they tried it in the South. However, they finally succeeded in Rhode Island. Other states followed when it was clear that the Rhode Island experiment had been successful. See {614120} for the policy statement of the legislature and {614119} for the motto and a picture of the Negro regiment. This was however not the first Black military unit in North America. The Loyalist Governor of Virginia had formed a regiment comprised of slaves who he emancipated. See {636965}.
Nicholas Cooke was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations during the American Revolutionary War, and after Rhode Island became a state, he continued in this position to become the first Governor of the State of Rhode Island. Born in the maritime town of Providence, he early in life followed the sea, eventually becoming a Captain of ships. This occupation led him to become a slave merchant, becoming highly successful in this endeavor, and he ran a distillery and rope-making business as well. He is depicted as one of the affluent merchants in John Greenwood's satirical painting from the 1750s entitled Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam.
