The Forgotten Patriots of the Revolution: Black Patriots Monument, Washington, GA

The Black Patriots Monument in Washington, Georgia honors Black Revolutionary War patriots from the Kettle Creek area — notably Austin Dabney, an enslaved man who fought with Georgia patriots and later received a pension and land. It highlights African American contributions to the Revolution in Georgia.

Austin Dabney (c. 1765–1830) was an enslaved African American who fought against the British in the Revolutionary War. He was a mixed-race individual born in North Carolina sometime in the 1760s. He moved with his enslaver, Richard Aycock, to Wilkes County, Georgia in the late 1770s. When the Georgia Militia was called up for the war, Aycock permitted Dabney to fight, even though enslaved individuals were legally prohibited from doing so.

Dabney became a soldier in Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke’s unit and was wounded and crippled for life. After Aycock’s death, the Georgia legislature officially emancipated Dabney and awarded him a state pension, an extremely unusual and unprecedented act at the time.