Robert Smalls, Pilot

Robert Smalls was born into slavery on a South Carolina plantation

in 1839. During the beginning years of the Civil War, Smalls became

BLACKS
the pilot of CSS Planter, a 300-ton dispatch vessel operating out of
Charleston. Smalls and a small group of African Americans, including
his family, escaped on Planter just before dawn on May 13, 1862 while
its three white officers went ashore for the night. Smalls successfully
guided the ship past several Confederate forts in the harbor, including
Fort Sumter. He continued on under a white flag until the blockade
ship Onward found the escaped slaves near the Federal fleet. For his capture of the Confederate
in
vessel, Smalls received his freedom and $1,500 in prize money. He later became the captain of
the Planter in 1863, for which Smalls earned $150 dollars a month in pay. He is credited as the
bl u e j ack e ts
first African American to captain a U.S. Navy ship. After the war, Smalls served on the South
Carolina state legislature and later, the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican. African Americans in the Civil War
Siah Carter, Contraband
Like many other African American slaves, Siah Carter sought
freedom and refuge in the Union Navy along the myriad waterways
of the southern interior. At the time he joined the Union Navy,
Carter was working at Shirley Plantation in Charles City, Virginia.
He became the first of eighteen slaves to escape from Shirley
Plantation in 1862. Twenty-two year old Carter fled down the
James River two months after the Battle of Hampton Roads, finding
USS Monitor laying at anchor. He enlisted aboard the ironclad as a
“first class boy,” serving as a coal heaver and cook’s assistant for the duration of the ship’s short
existence. Carter survived the sinking of the famed vessel in December 1862, going on to serve The Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial
on several other Union ships until the end of the war. He was discharged from the Union Navy in
May 1865 and returned to Shirley Plantation to wed former slave Eliza Tarrow. They eventually
settled in Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, and raised thirteen children. The Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial seeks to
disseminate information and activities concerning the
John Lawson, Landsman 150th anniversary of the Union and Confederate navies
during the American Civil War. The Civil War Navy
Born in Philadelphia into slavery, John Lawson entered the Union Navy
as a contraband sailor. During the Civil War, Lawson served as an Sesquicentennial is coordinated under the direction of the
ammunition handler on the berthing deck of USS Hartford, commanded by Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, D.C.
the intrepid Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. During the Battle of Mobile
Bay in August 1864, Lawson refused to leave the fight as shells exploded
around his gun crew. Lawson himself was thrown against the bulkhead For more information on the
of the Hartford from a shell explosion, which killed or wounded all of his Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial,
6-man crew. Both of Lawson’s legs were seriously injured. He quickly visit the official blog at:
gained his composure and returned to his station, refusing treatment and
finishing the fierce battle. For his gallantry in action, Lawson received the
Congressional Medal of Honor. He became one of twelve sailors to receive www.civilwarnavy150.blogspot.com
such honor that day, and additionally one of eight African Americans to win the United States’
highest military honor during the American Civil War. Lawson left the Navy following the war
and earned a living as a huckster in Philadelphia. He died in 1919 at the age of 81.

Robert Blake, Contraband

Born into slavery in Virginia, Robert Blake escaped to freedom and
joined the Union Navy as a contraband sailor in 1862. He enlisted
in Port Royal, Virginia, and served on the gunboat USS Marblehead
as a steward during the Civil War. Operating along the Stono River
in Legareville, South Carolina, on December 25, 1863, Marblehead
engaged a Confederate howitzer on nearby John’s Island. With no
formal training in combat, Blake nonetheless rushed to the gun deck
of the Marblehead to assist his comrades. He assumed the duties of www.history.navy.mil
a powder boy who was killed by a Confederate shell, running powder boxes to gun loaders.
The enemy eventually abandoned its position, leaving its munitions behind. For his heroic www.hrnm.navy.mil
contributions, Blake received the Congressional Medal of Honor in April 1864.
Printing courtesy of Lockheed Martin
 “The slaves must be with us or against us in the war.” Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles
A History of Service: The Contraband Question Proudly They Served

B I
Before the War

A
By the spring of 1862, Gideon Welles grew increasingly aware of the issue of arming the It is important to note why
African Americans served in the United States Navy in country’s “peculiar institution.” Southern slaves fled in large numbers toward Union lines African Americans flocked to
many capacities dating back to the American Revolution. in the first year of the war, consuming valuable supplies and food needed for the military. the Union Navy. Many served
Faced with discrimination and conflict at home, African Writing from his headquarters in Port Royal, South Carolina, Charles Francis Adams, Jr. because whites did not desire the
American sailors showed great distinction and dignity wrote to his father, “We have now some 7,000 master-less slaves within our line and in less conditions, pay, and discipline of
through every American conflict. Their honor and than two months we shall have nearer 70,000, and what are we to do with them?” Although sea service. Yet for many black
courage in the face of adversity stand as a testimony this was a bitter pill to swallow for the Army, the question of escaped slaves, or contrabands, men in the 1860s, opportunities
to the principles upon which American was founded. joining the Union Navy was easy for Welles to answer. Welles could not let them sit unused. at sea far exceeded any offered
During the American Civil War, however, the cause of Both Welles and Lincoln agreed on the enlistment of African American sailors who were on land. Black sailors chose
freedom and liberty brought their proud tradition of free in the North from the outset of the conflict, but concern grew to the nature of handling to cede personal freedoms
Naval service to the forefront. slaves running across Federal lines. Slaves began to appear on Union vessels as early as for the restrictions of military
In the years leading up to the American Civil War, Fort Sumter’s attack, joining ships along the coast and rivers from Charleston to the Potomac. service. Every challenge faced
African Americans were allowed to enlist in the United On the heels of Lincoln’s radical racial and social legislation, Welles decided to make by white men on Union ships
States Navy, although their numbers were restricted. decisive changes in the structure of the Navy. In December 1862, Welles approved the would be equaled by their black
Despite South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun’s enlistment of former slaves as “landsmen,” unskilled sailors with no naval experience. counterparts. Even with evidence
insistence to relegate blacks to food service rates, Landsmen became the most common rank in the Navy, regardless of race. Union Navy of racial prejudice aboard Union
the Navy continued to recruit blacks. Officials in commanders sometimes returned fugitives back to their owners, but for the most part kept naval vessels, the institution
Washington also attempted to maintain the status quo of the white-dominated sea service, keeping them aboard. By March 1862, Welles made it illegal to return them. Welles’ gamble paid off. remained egalitarian by 19th
African Americans at a steady 4-5% of the entire force throughout the middle 19th century. This order He understood that free and formerly enslaved African Americans could aid the war effort dramatically, century standards.
came upon the insistence of Secretary of the Navy Abel P. Upshur in 1842, promising “not more than especially on offensives along the Mississippi River. A sailor’s pay was the greatest measure of egalitarian practice.
one-twentieth part of the crew of any vessel” would be men of color. Notwithstanding recruitment Historian Steven J. Ramold sums up these sentiments perfectly in a 2004 interview with The Journal of African American Compared to the Union Army, wage directly reflected ability,
restrictions dating back to the post-Revolutionary period, African Americans always appeared on History: “From the Navy Department’s perspective, Civil War sailors were just men to be recruited trained, employed, not race. The Navy rewarded skill with pay increases, allowing
American Naval vessels. Blacks in blue jackets numbered roughly 4.2% of all enlisted in and discharged no matter what their background.” Both the average black sailor an opportunity to increase in rank from
1850 and 5.6% in 1860. occupationally and geographically, African American sailors ship’s boy to ordinary seaman much faster than an Army private’s
When the newly-installed Republican President Abraham Lincoln entered the White had more in common with their white counterparts than ascendency to a non-commissioned officer. Status was not preset
House in March 1861, he inherited more than forty years of heightened racial and regional African American soldiers serving in the Union Army. The or static. Rather, it was earned.
tension dating back to the Missouri Compromise. At the time he entered his presidency, existence of contrabands in the Union Navy caused very little The enlistment of African Americans changed the makeup of
approximately 4,000,000 of the United States population was African American, the majority attention from a general public who already looked down on the Union Navy, even if it often split public opinion. Any attempt
of whom resided in the South as slaves. Only 182,000 blacks in the southern states claimed sea service as a military profession. to block African Americans from entering the service halted,
themselves to be free men. If the Union should completely collapse, how would Lincoln While some historians characterize a landsmen’s job as one allowing them to swell the ranks. One estimate placed roughly
effectively deal with the question of using African Americans as potential soldiers and filled with “menial tasks” for “unskilled men,” the opportunity 16% of the total enlisted force as black. “Rather than restrict black
sailors? Should African American men be allowed to take up arms for the cause of liberty for former slaves to ascend in rank and pay was key. Any enlisted men to special units,” historian James Harrod posited,
and equality under the banner of a unified nation? A war between kindred brethren would restrictions at face value did not obstruct the rate of African the Navy “placed the races side by side in the same vessels as
touch everyone, North and South; black and white. Indeed, the dilemma grew larger as American enlistments. Quite often, the percentage of African they had before the war.” In all, approximately 185,000 African
eleven southern states seceded from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America. Americans holding “skilled” positions of rank in the Union Navy Americans served the Union cause during the Civil War. Over
As the United States entered into open conflict with the Confederacy, the Union Navy took (petty officers, cooks, stewards, firemen, seamen) mirrored that 20,000 African Americans served in the Union Navy alone. Some
its pre-war familiarity with black sailors to the next level. Recruitment numbers would reach of white sailors. African Americans made the conscientious sources place the number closer to 29,000. Such numbers are
heights never before seen in American naval history. choice to fight for their freedom regardless of conditions still debated today, mostly due to the Union Navy’s lack of a
they faced. “These African American sailors were needed,” standardized racial classification during the war.
A Call to Arms Ramold remarked in the closing arguments of his 2004 African Americans fought in every campaign and battle in

T
interview; “They were Americans who didn’t hesitate to the American Civil War, from the blockading squadrons of the
The outbreak of hostilities at Fort Sumter allowed the slow pre-war trickle of African fight for their country.” Atlantic and Gulf to the brown water tributaries of the southern
American enlistments before the war to steadily gain speed. The prospect of fresh, able- Union Naval officer Admiral David Dixon Porter offered states. Black women also played a role in the naval war, offering
bodied recruits enticed top officials in Washington, including Secretary of the Navy Gideon a sobering comment to Assistant Secretary Fox on his their services as nurses aboard the hospital ship USS Red Rover
Welles and his competent assistant, Gustavus Vasa Fox. personal opinions of contraband sailors working among on the Mississippi River. By war’s end, eight African American
An increase in the number of men in the Union Navy was warranted. Lincoln’s call for an additional their white counterparts on the Arkansas River in sailors won the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest
18,000 sailors to complement the 7,600 seasoned Navy veterans following Fort Sumter did little to meet the 1863. Porter declared black sailors “better than the military medal offered in the United States.
necessities of war. The Navy needed adequately manned crews for countless ships, which had been either white people here, who I look upon as brutes, and Restrictions to African American enlistment resumed when
newly constructed or acquired for wartime use. Union Naval officers reported as early as July 1861 that their half savages.” While others in the squadron were less the war ended in 1865, flowing into the socially and racially
ships were “undermanned, poorly repaired, and inadequately armed.” The role of Union sailors patrolling the enthusiastic about the idea of an increased presence troubled era of Jim Crow. African Americans still remained a
3,000 mile Southern Blockade outlined by the “Anaconda Plan” could prove to be a deciding factor in bringing of contrabands, Porter was progressive enough to fixture of the peacetime Navy in the thirty years after the war,
about an early end to the war. There was no possibility of formally training new recruits due to the immediate realize their value to take the fight to the enemy, averaging between 10 and 14% of the total enlisted force. The
need for the sailors, so the Navy chose to tap into a familiar resource. often in patriotic fashion. It was no surprise necessity of manpower and fresh recruits waned in the late
The pressure for Welles and Fox to satisfy the manpower issue in the early months of the war was instantly then that the influx of sailors on the western 19th century, as society turned a blind eye to continued service
answered with the enlistment of African Americans. The Union Navy expanded black enlistment, integrating offensive allowed officers and squadron of the African American sailor. It is the service and dedication
them with their white counterparts. African Americans were not officially allowed to join the Union Army. commanders like Porter to assist in combined during the greatest American crisis, however, that is ultimately
Welles waived the 5% monthly pre-war limit of African American enlistment established in 1839 because it Army-Navy forces against the Confederate remembered and honored today. Their honor, courage, and

attracted little attention from the outside world. Indeed, Welles mastered the delicate balance between manpower, bastion at Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last commitment provided the necessary stepping stones to the
necessity, and political assertiveness. Issues of necessity and political correctness reached fever pitch for the remaining obstacle to splitting the southern official desegregation of armed forces in 1948.
newly-installed Navy Secretary by the second year of the war, forcing him to make tough decisions that would states in half.
forever shape the face of the United States Navy.