American Revolution. Here is a Black drummer of the Hesse Hanau Artillery ( yes, a Hessian!) in Canada 1781-82. While there the Hanau Artillery picked up three black men as drummers . The uniform here is the white linen summer dress with a turban for parade. Other units had black drummers as well, Benedict Arnold presented 8 Black men for use as drummers to the Brunswick Dragoon Regiment around the same time. It appears they returned to Germany along with their Regiments.