General George Washington chapter member Ed Carter, along with SAR member Guy Higgins, is in the process of forming the first African American-majority SAR chapter in the nation! Watch the video news story here.

The new chapter, to be chartered hopefully in September 2016, will consist of 10 men who have proven their ancestry to black men who served and fought in the Revolutionary War. It’s estimated that 5,000 black soldiers served on the Patriot side during the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War.

Fourteen free men of color from the Harlowe community of Havelock fought in key battles of the war, with General George Washington leading the fight for independence.

They fought in the Battle of White Plains, New York, the Battle of Charleston, and defended Fort Hancock at Cape Lookout, to name a few. Like his ancestors, Carter also served in the Army and received the Bronze Star and Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry for his service in Vietnam. He went on to become a Greenville School Board member, city councilman and the city’s first black mayor.