Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell (May 24, 1752 – January 1853) was an African-American soldier, who served in the American Revolutionary War. He was born a free black man in Black Horse (now the Columbus section of Mansfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey), on the farm of tavernkeeper John Hutchin and was raised as a farmer. War service Private Cromwell served in several companies of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment between 1777 and 1783, seeing action at the battles of Trenton (1776), Princeton (1777), Short Hills (1777), Brandywine (1777), Monmouth (1778), and at the final siege of Yorktown (1781). After Yorktown, Cromwell left the army. Commander-in-Chief George Washington personally signed Cromwell's discharge papers and also awarding him with Badge of Merit not to be confused with the Badge of Military Merit. Some years after retirement, Cromwell applied for a veteran's pension. Although he was unable to read or write, local lawyers, judges, and politicians came to his aid, and he was granted a pension of $96 a year. He purchased a 100-acre farm outside Burlington, fathered 15 children, then spent his later years at his home at 114 East Union Street in Burlington.