Militia Integrated in the War of Independence: The first integrated army in American history was the colonial militia that fought the early battles of the War of Independence. African American minutemen fought on the front lines in the first battles against British authority: African Americans assembled at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, to defend Boston against a threatened attack by His Majesty's regiments. One of the first to see combat was Prince Easterbrooks, a Lexington slave, who was a member of Captain John Parker's company and who was wounded at the battle of Concord. He survived, however, to fight in many other companies throughout the Revolutionary War. Another was Barzillai Lew, who joined the 27th Massachusetts Regiment, fought at Bunker Hill, and served in the army for seven years. Although the Continental Army tried to exclude African Americans at one time during the conflict, and some states raised all-Black units, free African Americans and slave militiamen served alongside of white militiamen in many battles from Bunker Hill to Yorktown.