CATO MEAD

Cato Mead (1761-1846)

Cato Mead (1761-1846) is the only known Black Patriot. Mead fought in the American Revolutionary War and was the only Black Patriot known to be buried west of the Mississippi River. Cato Mead joined the 4th Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Army in Norwich, Connecticut in 1776 or 1777 at sixteen years old. 

He served at Valley Forge from December 1777 through June 1778, where he got smallpox and spent two months in a Pennsylvania hospital. Early military records show Mead received solder's pay of $10.04 for service his in the Continental Army in July 1783.