Primus Goodale was paid a bounty by the Town of Wells to serve in the Continental Army.

Shelley (p. 281) includes "Goodale, Primus" in the list of "Revolutionary War Soldiers, Sailors and Patriots." She does not note that he was Negro, as she does for the other Negro soldiers.

Per the entry on p.557 in Volume 6 of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, Primus Goodale was paid a bounty by the Wells Selectmen im 1781 to serve in the Continental Army for a 3 year term. He had been born in "Guinea" in 1745. His occupation was mariner or sailor. Guinea was a term referring to Africa south of the Senegal River, which is now the northern border of Senegal.

Primus was presumably part of a Goodale household in Wells, possibly that of John Goodale who enslaved Phillis and others. On the card for Primus entitled "Descriptive List of Enlisted Men," the name Joseph Goodale is written across the bottom, but additional information about a Joseph Goodale in Wells has not been located.

Bibliography:

My Name is Wells - by Hope M. Shelley (2002)

Massachusetts soldiers and sailors of the Revolutionary War - Office of the Secretary of State (1896)

Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index Cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783 - FamilySearch.org