African American

After the War of 1812, free men of color in the United States saw few of the rights they had hoped loyal service would bring, and many faced new legal restrictions. Several thousand Black people who escaped to British lines were evacuated as free settlers to Bermuda, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Trinidad, and Sierra Leone, while Article I of the Treaty of Ghent produced a British-American claims dispute over carried-away people that was not closed until 1828.

African American soldiers, sailors, and laborers played a significant but often overlooked role in the War of 1812 (1812–1815). Both free blacks and enslaved individuals served on the American and British sides, driven by promises of freedom, citizenship, or necessity. Their contributions were vital in battles from Lake Erie to New Orleans, yet their stories have been largely ignored in mainstream histories.