- [Narrator] How did a person of color live free in North Carolina during the Revolutionary War?

And why would he risk everything to fight for the American colonies?

For 250 years, it seems that nobody even knew to ask.

Then, a descendant discovered a document that began to reveal a soldier with a military career that should have been legendary.

His name was Zachariah Jacobs.

That discovery was just the beginning.

So we met with his family and retraced their steps.

- He believed in what America could be.

- Through swamps, obscure records, and Revolutionary battlefields.

And what we found was a remarkable patriot who should have been famous, and a family making sure he finally gets his due.

This is "Homegrown History."

Our story begins at the corner of two rural counties in Eastern North Carolina.

We are visiting the Graham family reunion, a gathering for the descendants of Zachariah Jacobs.

But many folks here are learning they're related to this patriot hero for the first time.

15 years ago, Kevin Graham began doing the genealogical research that would bring all these people together.

- Zachariah was a Revolutionary War veteran.

We talk about a war that happened to create this country.

- [Narrator] Back then, he could only trace his lineage through his paternal grandfather.

His first big discovery was Zachariah's pension application.

In 1832, around 79 years old, Zachariah gave sworn testimony bearing witness to his remarkable service in the war.

- All I knew as growing up, even through college, that black folks in America were slaves, all were slaves.

I didn't know that you had thousands of individuals, such as my ancestors, were free in this country.

And not just that, they served in the American Revolutionary War.

- [Narrator] Colonial records are often murky, but what we do know is that many people of color, free and enslaved, fought in the Revolutionary War, and on both sides of it.

An estimated 20,000 people of color fought for the British, who'd offered freedom to the enslaved people who joined their cause.

Fewer, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people of color, went to war for the Patriots.

Some fought as substitutes for their enslavers.

Some enlisted voluntarily.

Some were drafted, like Zachariah was for his first tour.

Zachariah was living in rural Eastern North Carolina when the legislature called his unit up for service in late 1778.

As a free, able-bodied man between 16 and 50, he was required to enroll in his county's militia if drafted.

At this point in the war, the British had just captured Savannah, and Patriot control of the region was being challenged.

So North Carolina sent reinforcements to Georgia to help their fellow revolutionaries.

Zachariah was one of them.

In late February 1779, the general commanding Zachariah's brigade led them into Georgia, and they encamped along the banks of the Savannah River at a place called Brier Creek.

They'd been chasing their enemy across Georgia, but the British had reached this creek first, crossed it, and burned the bridge behind them.

The Patriots were in a precarious position.

They were ill-equipped, and their campsite had a fatal flaw: no escape route.

Frigid water on both sides, no bridge, nowhere to retreat if an enemy attacked.

And a few days later, the British did.

Zachariah's unit tried to hold its ground, but the Patriot lines quickly collapsed.

Their choice: surrender or flee.

Those who fled had two options: the swamp or the river.

Between 50 and 100 soldiers drowned trying to swim across those frigid, treacherous waters.

We're not sure which option Zachariah chose, but we know he survived and walked more than 250 miles as the crow flies as a free man of color all the way home.

The British capitalized on this win by reestablishing the royal government in Georgia, the only colony they were able to officially take back during the war.

But two years later, Zachariah would fight again at a battle that tipped the scales in favor of the Patriots for good.

- It means a tremendous amount to actually be here on sacred ground, knowing that I'm a part of history, someone who helped build the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.

- [Narrator] Since discovering Zachariah's story, Kevin's made it his life's mission to share it with the world.

And today he's sharing it at the first ever symposium for descendants of the soldiers who fought at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

- Zachariah had descendants throughout the whole state of North Carolina.

His descendants, probably to this day, identify either as black, white, or Native American.

My presentation is not going to only be on Zachariah, it's gonna be on those patriots who the American history books do not speak of much.

- [Narrator] 245 years ago, over 4,000 Patriots faced just under 2,000 British soldiers here.

In the two years since the Battle of Brier Creek, the British had continued their campaign in the South.

They'd taken Charleston, then Camden in August 1780.

The Patriots were losing ground, but fresh soldiers took six to eight weeks and 3000 miles to resupply.

And the cost of that was making it hard to maintain support back in London.

So, the commander of the Continental Army's Southern Department, General Nathanael Greene, took the British on a wild goose chase around North Carolina, biding his time and gathering troops.

Drafted again, Zachariah was one of them.

And by March 1781, Greene was ready to strike.

The North Carolina militia fired the first shots.

The fighting that followed was brutal.

Bayonets, musket fire at point blank range.

And while the British won on a technicality because General Greene retreated, they were about to lose the war.

British commander Cornwallis' forces were shattered.

27% of his army lay dead or wounded.

This battle alone didn't end the war, but it was one of a series of costly battles that exhausted the British Southern Campaign.

Six months later, the British surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown.

Zachariah found himself on the front lines of this historic engagement, and it cost him.

During the battle he was shot in the leg.

The wound was bad enough that he was hospitalized.

When he recovered, he started the long walk home, and this time he didn't make it home unscathed.

- And he was captured.

He was captured by the Tories.

They kept Zachariah tied up for two weeks.

- [Narrator] In his pension record, Zachariah said he was tied up and held captive by Loyalists for nearly two weeks.

And rather than be hung, he took parole, which typically meant you gave an oath vowing not to fight against the crown.

But after being freed, Zachariah enlisted in the Continental Line.

Piecing together records and accounts, it looks like the final big action that Zachariah saw in the war was a daring raid on the Ashley River in South Carolina just one year later.

And here's the thing.

This operation happened six months after the Battle of Yorktown, the final major one of the Revolution.

And it happened just a few days after the British Parliament had passed a bill authorizing their government to seek peace with America.

Zachariah saw the war through to the very end.

The Graham family reunion is held just a few miles from Zachariah's original home place.

And most everyone here today is a descendant of Zachariah.

This is by design.

- Genealogy is a wonderful tool, and I created a website, graham-reunion.com, and it helped thousands of family members to find one another.

- [Narrator] As a family man, Kevin was interested in what Zachariah's life looked like after his incredible service to our nation.

The census records and land deeds he surfaced show a man who owned property, who headed a household of many other free people of color, and who lived until he was 94 years old.

And as we researched this story, we realized that meant he lived to see North Carolina dramatically change the rules for people of color, free and enslaved.

You may be surprised to learn that during the country's early years, free people of color could vote in North Carolina.

Beginning in 1776, the new state constitution granted voting rights to all free men who paid taxes and owned 50 or more acres of land.

But half a century after Zachariah fought and bled for the nation, a new state constitution took that right away.

A few years later, his right to bear arms was also restricted when the General Assembly passed an act intended to tightly regulate free people of color's access to weapons.

Six years later, Zachariah died.

- I think he was somewhat confused after the war, saying, "Hey, I sacrificed myself, but my people are being mistreated."

- [Narrator] For 15 years, Kevin Graham's worked to get Zachariah's story out there.

It's a story and journey he shared with his family because he believes in legacy.

- Sense of pride.

Sense of pride.

And when I say a sense of pride, wouldn't even know that they came from someone great.

- [Narrator] His efforts to share Zachariah's story culminated this year in Wilmington, North Carolina, when the state unveiled a historic marker in honor of Zachariah.

It was a morning that saw descendants, Waccamaw Siouan and Lumbee tribal members, African American community leaders, and state officials gather because this family refused to let Zachariah's story stay buried.

- Today is a long-awaited event.

We're going to actually unveil the official North Carolina highway marker here in Wilmington, North Carolina, for my third great-grandfather, Zachariah Jacobs.

- It makes us incredibly proud to be able to honor one of our ancestors who fought so bravely for the independence of our country.

- Zachariah Jacobs demonstrated unwavering commitment to the cause of liberty through his service in the North Carolina Continental Line.

- 250 years ago, Zachariah Jacobs stood up against a king a ocean away.

[crowd claps] - [Crowd] Three, two, one.

[crowd cheers] Zachariah.

[mellow music] - It just acknowledges what people of color did for our country before it was really, really a big item, it was documented.

It was great to see that this historical marker will show what people of color, Native Americans, African American, all types of people of color did for the history of their country.

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