African slaves often used Christian hymns to communicate. The slaves used these hymns in order to communicate coded messages to each other about their conditions, and possible avenues for escape. The slaves' overseers thought that the slaves were simply singing religious songs and were not able to recognize the messages hidden within these songs. These hymns had an influence on the later musical style of the African American spiritual.
Due simply to the fact that it was their native land they were fighting on. Whereas the colonist they were fighting were new to the lands and not yet fully acclimated.
