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Under the Flags of Freedom: Slave Soldiers and the Wars of Independence in Spanish South America. By Peter Blanchard. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-822-95992-2. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. ix, 242. $26.95.
The recruitment of slave soldiers into the royalist and insurgent armies during the Independence epoch in South America mobilized a significant part of the slave population. Anxious to win their freedom, some slaves took advantage of the chaos to present themselves as free black volunteers. In Venezuela, fears among royalist slave owners that the blacks might join the insurgents caused many to donate or lease their slaves for military duty. Simón Bolívar expressed anger that many blacks and free pardos (mulattoes) preferred the royalist to the republican side. In 1815, General Pablo Morillo arrived in Venezuela from Spain with an expeditionary army of 10,000 troops. He offered citizenship to black soldiers who were willing to support the royalist cause - enraging white slave owners who wanted their property returned. Gradually, however, many slaves who originally supported the royalists transferred their allegiance to patriot leaders such as Manuel Piar.