killed, nine wounded, and eleven missing. Like most of the Continental Army, the regiment saw little action over the next few years, as the focus of the war had shifted to the south. In 1781, Greene and several of his Black soldiers were killed in a skirmish with Loyalists. Greene's body was mutilated by the Loyalists, apparently as punishment for having led Black soldiers against them. Forty of the Black men in his unit were also killed. A Monument to the First Rhode Island Regiment memorializing the bravery of the Black soldiers that fought and died with Greene was erected in 1982 in Yorktown Heights, New York. Fate of Black Loyalists On July 21, 1781, as the final British ship left Savannah, more than 5,000 enslaved African Americans were transported with their Loyalist masters for Jamaica or St. Augustine. About 300 Black people in Savannah did not evacuate, fearing that they would be re-enslaved. They established a colony in the swamps of the Savannah River. By 1786, many were back in bondage. So many African Americans fled to the British Army under Lord Cornwallis, that he wrote they caused "a most serious distress to us." By liberating slaves of revolting colonists, Cornwallis hindered the southern economy. These refugees contributed significantly to the British, however, as soldiers, laborers, and guides in the Southern Campaign. Cornwallis declined to return slaves who served his forces unless "they are willing to go with" the owners who claimed them. Following the Siege of Yorktown, however, General Washington issued an order for all "Negroes or Molattoes" fighting for the British to be held until they could be returned to their former owners. The British evacuation of Charleston in December 1782 included many Loyalists and more than 5,000 Black men. More than half of these were enslaved by the Loyalists; they were taken by their masters for resettlement in the West Indies, where the Loyalists started or bought plantations. The British also settled freed African Americans in Jamaica and other West Indian islands, eventually granting them land. Another 500 enslaved people were taken alongside their Loyalist masters to East Florida, which remained under British control. The British promised freedom to enslaved people who left their Patriot masters to side with the British. In New York City, which the British occupied, thousands of refugee enslaved people migrated there to gain freedom. The British created a registry of people