To consider the other side of the coin, or maybe a midpoint, I have been
  researching for some year the Corps of Colonial Marines, raised by the
British from among the younger men of the large number of African
Americans that took their freedom during the War of 1812.

I should welcome contact with anyone whose ancestors in Virginia lost
slaves at that time, as I am documenting not only the Colonial Marines
but the whole of the Black refugee body of that war. In the case of
runaways for whom a compensation claim was submitted, I have examined
all the extant claims papers in the US National Archives (RG76,
International Claims: E185 etc, War of 1812) but any additional data,
perhaps from family archives, would be most useful in filling out the
picture of the lives the refugees fled from. Over the years I have had
very interesting pieces from archivists who, knowing of my project, sent
me copies of relevant letters they came across in indexing archives.

There will be a book on the Colonial Marines some day, some year; though
meanwhile there is a small booklet, about to be reprinted, with a potted
history and a list of the Marines with brief mention of their origins,
their service, and their settlement (and later lives for some) in
Trinidad where they were long known as the "Merikens". I'll send details
to anyone interested.

For a summary of the story, follow the history link on
www.mcnish-weiss.co.uk, and a slightly different version is now in the
Schomburg Center's web project on the African American Migration
Experience: www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/resources.cfm?type=text,
searching on the term "Merikens"; and there are maps there also, though
not mine.

John Weiss
Independent scholar, London

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