On this day in 1777, Agrippa Hull, a freeborn black man from the Berkshire County town of Stockbridge, signed on to serve in the Continental Army for the duration of the Revolutionary War. The 18-year-old was one of over 5,500 men of color — free and enslaved — to fight for American independence. Black men were eager to serve, despite the fact that official policy discouraged their recruitment. Hull gave more than six years of his life to the cause, serving as an orderly to two distinguished generals. After the war ended, Hull returned to Stockbridge and raised a large family. He was respected in his hometown as something of a philosopher, a man of intelligence and wit, and, above all, as a devoted Patriot.