Colonial Militia

Blue Coat or Powdered Wig: Free People of Color in Pre-Revolutionary Saint-Domingue shows that militia service was never just technical military labor. It was a route into patronage, credit, visibility, and public honor. Before the mid-1760s reforms, some free-colored men even held commissions. The later whitening of the officer corps did not erase the memory of that earlier status. It sharpened resentment.