On a cold Christmas night in 1776, General George Washington and his small army are about to cross the Delaware River at McConkey's Ferry, in Bucks County Pennsylvania.
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His goal is the British garrison in the New Jersey town of Trenton.
The Trenton garrison is well armed and fortified while Washington's men are near both mental and physical exhaustion.
Legend has it that among the 60 free African Americans who had joined the rebel cause was a man called Tom Graves.
Graves had a 12-year-old son named Jocko who wanted to join the fight alongside his father, but he was of course too young.
He decided to go anyway.
As Washington was preparing to cross the Delaware he realised he would need to leave his horses.
Young Jocko volunteered to hold the horses until Washington returned.
So cold was the night that the young Jocko was found frozen to death, still holding the tethered horses.
The legend continues that the boy's sacrifice and heroism restored the hope and valour of the troops, inspiring them to victory over the fortified Trenton garrison.
Only four rebels died that night, two killed in battle and two who froze to death, the young Jocko among the latter.
After the War, and upon becoming the first President of the United States, George Washington is reputed to have ordered that two sculptures be erected on his Mount Vernon (Virginia) estate.
The first was a 'Dove of Peace', the second a young African American boy named Jocko, stepping bravely forward to hold the horses.
It is from this story that the now controversial 'Lawn Jockey' statues evolved, our 'Black Boy' among them.
He was brought to Maitland by Friend and Co as a gift to MacDonald's Tobacconist on High Street and has graced the streetscape for the majority of the time since.
Today he is on the corner of High and Church streets.
The little 'Black Boy' has been featured on many tourism brochures and pamphlets, Maitland City Council letterheads and any number of company advertisements.
There was a time when anything to do with Maitland would have been thought incomplete without an image of the little 'Black Boy'.
Who he was is misunderstood and often misrepresented.
Our 'Black Boy' was an immigrant; the son of an emancipated African American slave who joined George Washington in the fight for independence against tyranny.
Jocko is not a symbol of the oppressed but rather a symbol to inspire the oppressed to rise up and be heard.
Jocko's presence on High Street in a subservient role allows the casual observer to believe he represents inequality and racism.
Perhaps it's time Maitland City Council added a plaque to explain the 'real' story of Jocko so that he can be recognised for the hero he was.
There is no racism involved.
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, and the appropriateness of certain statues around the world being questioned - and in some cases, torn down - some see the Little Black Boy as racist.
In June last year the issue found its way onto ABC Radio which prompted a call to Maitland and District Historical Society member Kevin Short.
Mr Short, an occasional columnist for The Mercury, said while he understands the anger over the Black Lives Matter protests, he feels the Little Black Boy is being wrongly portrayed.
"I certainly look at it with some sort of affection and I don't see it as a figure of racism," he said at the time.
The current statue is not the original.
The original Black Boy was knocked down in a traffic accident as its replacement that is on the street today is made of fibreglass.
