alternatehistory.com

The taking of Reed Farm had happened quickly in the night. The redcoats had arrived, truth be told, to take quarter in the farmhouse, but Old Man Reed, good patriot that he was, opened fire on the approaching soldiers.
A skirmish ensued, and the Reed family fled in the night, leaving most of their property and all of their slaves.

"Lil' Jim" had been born on the Reed plantation some twenty years before the Revolution started. He had lived and worked as a slave here his whole life, without any acknowledgement from his master beyond the bestowal of his name.
Even this gave Lil Jim no pleasure, for all the slaves on the plantation were called Jim or Sally of some variety by the master.
Lil Jim was therefore only distinguished by the moniker "Lil", which would be insulting enough if his younger, much taller brother, hadn't developed the epithet "Big Jim".
As a youth, Lil Jim had often cursed his existence - a slave named Lil with a younger brother named Big. It seemed too cruel that this could be his fate, and he had wished that something could change the situation, until...

Well, there was no love lost when the Reeds had fled. In fact, Lil Jim and the other slaves, all Jim's and Sally's, found that for the first time in their life they werent being compelled to work.
One of the redcoats even read a fancy speech in some high-falutin language. Afterward, he explained that any slaves who joined the redcoats would be freed after the war.
"Really?" Lil Jim asked Old Jim. "Do you thinks it's true?"
"Youd have to leave the farm. Travel all over. Fight."
"See somewhere other than here, you mean"
"You tryna find Big Jim, ain't ya?"
Lil Jim nodded. Big Jim had been his only family growing up. They were inseparable. And it wasnt his fault the master called them how he did. Lil Jim felt crushing guilt when Big Jim was sold south a few years back. After all, he said he didnt want this life anymore.
So Lil Jim had visions of glory as a redcoat, maybe. Visions of a different life, for sure. But mostly, he held out hope for finding his brother. He would be a redcoat.