The petition singles out Poor’s leadership abilities: he “behaved like an experienced officer as well as an excellent soldier.” Implicit is a contrast with the many white New England officers at Bunker Hill who emerged with accusations of incompetence or cowardice.
As the army besieging Boston is reconstituted for the New Year, Washington and the Continental Congress have ordered that black men be forbidden from enlisting, including those who have already served in it since it formed spontaneously after the Battles of Lexington and Concord.