Massasoit Guards

Attorney Robert Morris repeatedly petitioned the Massachusetts legislature on their behalf, but the Massasoit Guards were never officially recognized or supported by the state.

[1] After Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Boston and other Northern cities were no longer safe havens for refugees from slavery.

Coburn was a member of the Boston Vigilance Committee and treasurer of the New England Freedom Association, both organizations dedicated to helping fugitive slaves.

[2] Morris and other advocates emphasized that blacks were native-born American citizens, unlike the immigrants who, at that time, were arriving in large numbers at the Port of Boston.

Morris once remarked before the legislature's militia committee, "Some of the petitioners whom I have the honor to represent, can trace back their ancestry to a time long before an Englishman or any white foreigner stood upon American ground."

Petition to the Massachusetts legislature to form a military company called the "Massasoit Guards." Signed by John P. Coburn , Robert Morris , John S. Rock , Lewis Hayden , and others.