There was a Black Marine named Isaac Walker who served during the American Revolutionary era, though—like many Black servicemen of the 1700s—his record is fragmentary and survives mostly through enlistment rolls and pay documents rather than full biographies.

Here’s what historians generally agree on:

Isaac Walker is listed among Black men who served in the Continental Marines in the late 1700s, during the same period as Jonathan Martin (Keto). Muster rolls from the Revolutionary War show that the Continental Marines were racially integrated in practice, even though slavery still existed. Walker’s name appears in surviving records as a Marine, indicating he was formally enlisted and paid, which distinguishes him from enslaved laborers pressed into service. Like many Black Marines of the era, his specific duties are not fully documented, but Continental Marines typically served aboard naval vessels as ship guards, fighters during boarding actions, and general crew support. His presence reinforces the historical reality that Black Americans were part of the Marine Corps from its very beginning—long before later policies erased or restricted that legacy.

Important context:

Records from the 1700s often omit age, birthplace, and personal background for Black servicemen. Many Black Marines were formerly enslaved, free Black men, or individuals seeking freedom through military service. After the Continental Marines disbanded in 1783, this early integration was reversed when the Marine Corps was reestablished in 1798 and barred people of color.

So while Isaac Walker doesn’t have a long surviving narrative like later figures, his documented enlistment alone matters—it places him among the earliest Black Marines whose service history was later buried by policy, not absence.