The enlistment of Negro troops in the Union Army beginning in late 1862 was one of the most significant events of the Civil War. But even before black men were enrolled in the army, indeed all through the war, Negroes made a variety of important contributions to the Union war effort. The six chapters following this one will deal with the Negro as a soldier in the Union Army. This chapter will describe the nonmilitary and semimilitary activities of Negroes during the war.
Nearly 200,000 freedmen served as laborers, teamsters, cooks, carpenters, nurses, scouts, etc. for the Union forces. The Washington correspondent of the Anglo-African described in 1861 the impact of the war on Negroes in the District of Columbia:
Your readers probably would like to know how the war affects the colored people of Washington. This being the seat of war all classes here are benefited by it. Five hundred men find employment each day in the Quartermaster's department…. Business of every kind for males has increased fully ten per cent. Numbers of our young men have taken officers' messes. Some have staff officers of various commands. Others attend exclusively to the horses of the army officers. Large numbers find employment in our hotels, boarding-houses, and restaurants. Barbers and hackmen are doing a thriving business, and the Northern Sutlers' establishments give work to any number as drivers, porters, assistant packers, and salesmen. Many are engaged at the railroad depot unloading and storing the immense amount of freight that daily arrives here from the North and West. Three or four thousand men are employed at cutting wood in Virginia around the different fortifications, and on the northern front of Washington. Laundresses are doing a fine business. They have the exclusive wash of entire regiments and the families of U.S. officers; also for the Hospital inmates. Many females are securing a comfortable livelihood by peddling little notions around the different camps. In a word, we are all doing well as far as employment is concerned. None need be idle.1
In the winter of 1861-62 the Federal forces captured and occupied several areas along the North Carolina coast. Vincent Colyer, an agent of the Brooklyn Y.M.C.A., was appointed “Superintendent of the Poor for the Department of North Carolina” on March 30, 1862. Colyer later described some of the activities of black men in his department:
In the four months that I had charge of them, the men built three first-class earth-work forts: Fort Totten, at Newbern—a large work; Fort Burnside, on the upper end of Roanoke Island; and Fort, at Washington, N.C. These three forts were our chief reliance for defence against the rebels, in case of an attack; and have since been successfully used for that purpose by our forces under Major-Generals Foster and Peck, in the two attempts which have been made by the rebels to retake Newbern.
The negroes loaded and discharged cargoes, for about three hundred vessels, served regularly as crews on about twenty steamers, and acted as permanent gangs of laborers in all the Quartermasters', Commissary and Ordinance Officers of the Department. A number of the men were good carpenters, blacksmiths, coopers, &c, and did effective work in their trades at bridge-building, ship-joining, &c. A number of the wooden cots in the hospital, and considerable of the blacksmith and wheelwright work was done by them…. The large rail-road bridge across the Trent was built chiefly by them, as were also the bridges across Batchelor's and other Creeks, and the docks at Roanoke Island and elsewhere. Upwards of fifty volunteers of the best and most courageous, were kept constantly employed on the perilous but important duty of spies, scouts, and guides. In this work they were invaluable and almost indispensable. They frequently went from thirty to three hundred miles within the enemy's lines; visiting his principal camps and most important posts, and bringing us back important and reliable information…. They were pursued on several occasions by blood-hounds, two or three of them were taken prisoners; one of these was known to have been shot, and the fate of the others was not ascertained. The pay they received for this work was small but satisfactory.2
Negro laborers were frequently exposed to danger and death. Major J. W. Wallis, commander of the Union post at Elizabeth City, North Carolina, reported in April 1863:
March 12 I sent a party of soldiers from the North Carolina company into the woods for wood with 12 negroes. After being there a short time they were attacked by about 40 guerrillas and 1 negro killed and 2 wounded and 3 of the soldiers taken and carried away prisoners….
Nothing more occurred until the 6th of April. Captain Sanders, of the North Carolina company, with a detail of 7 soldiers and 10 negroes, was sent down the river in a schooner after wood; the wind blowing, they were not able to land that day; he returned home and left the men on board; in the evening they went on shore to see their families, and were all taken and carried away to Richmond prisoners, leaving that company now with only 14 men for duty.3
Noneombatant freedmen were occasionally called upon to take up arms to protect Union outposts from rebel attack. Captain James B. Talbot, Superintendent of Contrabands at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, described one such incident in October 1863:
When the skirmishing first commenced I received orders from you [Colonel Powell Clayton, commander of the Post] to furnish as many men as possible to roll out cotton-bales and form breastworks. I had 300 immediately brought from the camp, on double-quick, and from the short space of time in which every street opening was blockaded you may judge of their efficiency in that respect, especially when you consider that much of the work was accomplished under a heavy fire from the enemy's skirmishers.
By the time the breastworks were complete the fight had become general, and calls for water were urgent to supply the soldiers and quench the fire that had caught to the cotton-bales from our artillery. I immediately pressed every water-holding vessel within reach, and formed a chain of negroes with buckets from the top of the bank to the water's edge. At this time a galling fire that opened on them from the enemy killed 1, wounded 3, and for a moment threw them all into confusion; but they were soon rallied, and resumed their work with the most astonishing rapidity…. Fifteen of them had arms, and were ordered to hold the point along the river; which they did throughout the action, some of them firing as many as 30 rounds, and one actually ventured out and captured a prisoner. None of them had ever before seen a battle, and the facility with which they labored and the manly efforts put forth to aid in holding the place excelled my highest expectations, and deserves the applause of their country and the gratitude of the soldiers. Their total loss is five killed and twelve wounded.4
In his official report of November 3, 1864, Montgomery Meigs, Quartermaster General of the United States Army, wrote that this department has employed persons of African descent to perform the labor of teamsters, grooms, laborers upon docks and wharves, upon steam-boats, and generally in all the manual labor for which their previous training has fitted them. The supply has not been equal to the demand….
Much distress, doubtless, attends the sudden change of condition of these people from slavery, in which their wants were provided for by their masters, to freedom, in which they must abandon their former homes and support and provide for themselves. But the fact that employment is ready for them all shows that this great social revolution is being accomplished with much less suffering to the oppressed and liberated race than was to be feared….
In my annual report of 1862 this subject was referred to, and the experience of two years of war has confirmed the views then expressed. The negro is not an embarrassment, but a great aid, in the conduct of the war.5
Negroes also performed an important service as spies for the Union Army. Allan Pinkerton, the chief of the United States Secret Service during the first two years of the war, went to Memphis (posing as a Southerner) on a spying mission in 1861. He later stated:
Here, as in many other places, I found that my best source of information was the colored men, who were employed in various capacities of a military nature which entailed hard labor. The slaves, without reserve, were sent by their masters to perform the manual labor of building earthworks and fortifications, in driving the teams and in transporting cannon and ammunition … I mingled freely with them, and found them ever ready to answer questions and to furnish me with every fact which I desired to possess.6
One Negro, John Scobell, undertook several spying missions for Pinkerton in Virginia. Pinkerton described Scobell's work:
Among the many men thus employed, was a negro by the name of John Scobell, and the manner in which his duties were performed, was always a source of satisfaction to me and apparently of gratification to himself. From the commencement of the war, I had found the negroes of invaluable assistance, and I never hesitated to employ them when, after investigation, I found them to be intelligent and trustworthy. …
All refugees, deserters and contrabands coming through our lines were turned over to me for a thorough examination and for such future disposition as I should recommend. John Scobell came to me in this manner. One morning I was seated in my quarters, preparing for the business of the day, when the officer of the guard announced the appearance of a number of contrabands. Ordering them to be brought in, the pumping process was commenced, and before noon many stray pieces of information had been gathered, which, by accumulation of evidence, were highly valuable. Among the number I had especially noticed the young man who had given his name as John Scobell. He had a manly and intelligent bearing, and his straightforward answers to the many questions propounded to him, at once impressed me very favorably. He informed me that he had formerly been a slave in the State of Mississippi, but had journeyed to Virginia with his master, whose name he bore. His master was a Scotchman, and but a few weeks before had given him and his wife their freedom. The young woman had obtained employment in Richmond, while he had made his way to the Union lines, where, encountering the Federal pickets, he had been brought to headquarters, and thence to me….
I immediately decided to attach him to my headquarters, with the view of eventually using him in the capacity of a scout, should he prove equal to the task. … I resolved to send him into the South, and test his ability for active duty. Calling him into my quarters, I gave him the necessary directions, and dispatched him, in company with Timothy Webster, on a trip to Virginia. Their line of travel was laid out through Centreville, Manassas, Dumfries, and the Upper and Lower Accoquan.
John Scobell I found was a remarkably gifted man for one of his race. He could read and write, and was as full of music as the feathered songsters. … In addition to what seemed an almost inexhaustible stock of negro plantation melodies he had also a charming variety of Scotch ballads, which he sang with a voice of remarkable power and sweetness…. Possessing the talents which he did, I felt sure, that he had only to assume the character of the light-hearted, happy darky and no one would suspect the cool-headed, vigilant detective, in the rollicking negro whose only aim in life appeared to be to get enough to eat, and a comfortable place to toast his shins.
… Carefully noting everything that came in his way he traveled through Dumfries, Accoquan, Manassas and Centre ville, and after spending nearly ten days in those localities he finally made his way to Leesburg, and thence down the Potomac to Washington. His experiences on this trip were quite numerous and varied, and only a lack of space prevents their narration. Sometimes, as a vender of delicacies through the camps, a laborer on the earthworks at Manassas, or a cook at Centreville, he made his way uninterruptedly until he obtained the desired information and successfully accomplished the object of his mission.
His return to Washington was accomplished in safety and his full and concise report fully justified me in the selection I had made of a good, reliable and intelligent operative.7
Northern generals frequently obtained information on the location and size of enemy forces from “intelligent contrabands'* who had entered Union lines. General Abner Doubleday, Commander of the Military Defences North of the Potomac, ordered that fugitive slaves should be encouraged to enter Union lines because “they bring much valuable information, which cannot be obtained from any other source … make excellent guides … [and] frequently have exposed the haunts of secession spies and traitors, and the existence of rebel organization.” In 1864 the district attorney of Goochland County, Virginia, wrote that “it is a matter of notoriety in the sections of the Confederacy where raids are frequent that the guides of the enemy are nearly always free negroes and slaves. “8
The information brought by freedmen, however, was not always accurate or reliable. A Northern journalist wrote from South Carolina in 1863 that they have a habit or proneness to lying which is, I think, clearly one of the old effects of slavery. They can see no wrong in telling that story which shall seem in their judgment best calculated to produce any desired effect…. One of these blacks, fresh from slavery, will most adroitly tell you precisely what you want to hear. To cross-examine such a creature is a task of the most delicate nature; if you chance to put a leading question he will answer to its spirit as closely as the compass needle answers to the magnetic pole. Ask if the enemy had fifty thousand men, and he will be sure that they had at least that many; express your belief that they had not five thousand and he will laugh at the idea of their having more than forty-five hundred. “The intelligent and reliable contraband” is the dread of staff-officers, who pump him vainly for information on which they may depend.9
And George Hepworth, a labor superintendent in Louisiana, wrote of the freedmen that “we could trust them implicitly on all common points. They knew whether there were any rebels in that parish; and, if there were, where they were stationed. But we never could trust their estimate of distance or numbers. They do not seem to know the difference between one mile and six, and are as likely to say five hundred as fifty. “10
Nevertheless, the information or assistance of the “intelligent contraband” was more often useful than not. General O. M. Mitchel, commander of the Union forces occupying north Alabama, reported to the Secretary of War in 1862 that “the negroes are our only friends, and in two instances I owe my own safety to their faithfulness. I shall very soon have watchful guards among the slaves on the plantations bordering the river from Bridgeport to Florence, and all who communicate to me valuable information I have promised the protection of my Government. “ And Secretary of State William H. Seward stated, in an official dispatch to Minister Charles Francis Adams in London, that “everywhere the American General receives his most useful and reliable information from the negro, who hails his coming as the harbinger of Freedom.“11
Throughout the war Southern Negroes rendered valuable assistance to Northern soldiers who had escaped from Confederate prisons and were trying to find their way back to Union lines. One such escaped prisoner later said that “it would have been impossible for our men, held as prisoners in the South, to make an escape without the aid of Negroes. “12 The prison literature of the Civil War is full of stories about slaves who helped escaping Yankee soldiers. The following account by Lieutenant Hannibal Johnson of the Third Maine Infantry is typical of the genre. Johnson was captured during the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia, on May 5, 1864. He was sent to a prison camp near Columbia, South Carolina, from which he and three other Union officers escaped on the night of November 20-21, 1864, by overpowering
the guard and running into the woods under cover of darkness. The four men struck out for the Union lines near Knoocville, Tennessee, more than two hundred miles away. Johnson chronicled the story of his escape in a diary:
Nov. 23. Struck the river again this morning, but have not found the proper road yet, or one that leads in the right direction. Came very near being captured by running on some white men, but saw them first, concealed ourselves, and escaped. For the past twenty-four hours have had nothing to eat but dry corn which we found in the fields. Must find some trusty negro who will feed us and put us on the right road. At night we approached a negro cabin for the first time; we did it with fear and trembling, but we must have food and help. Found a family of trusty negroes belonging to Colonel Boozier, who gave us a good supper, such as we had not had for many long months…. Here we remained till nearly morning, when we were taken to the woods and hid there to wait for a guide which these negroes say they would furnish at dark. …
Nov. 24. Still in the woods, the women coming to us twice during the day to bring us food and inform us that a guide will be ready at dark. God bless the poor slaves. At dark Frank took us seven miles, flanking Lexington Court House, striking the Augusta road five miles above. Traveled all night, making about twenty-two miles.
Nov. 25. Lay in the woods all day, and at night went to William Ford's plantation to get food. Here the negroes could not do enough for us, supplying us with edibles of a nice character.
Nov. 26. Remained in a corn house during the day, the blacks bringing us plenty of food. At night our guide informed us that he could not take the road with us until the following night, so we were obliged to wait one day longer….
Nov. 28. Still at Ford's…. About midnight we got a guide by the name of Bob to take us seven miles on the Edgefield road, as the Augusta state road is too public to travel, and some of our officers were captured on that road to-day. Turned over by Bob to a guide by the name of George, who hid us in the woods.
Nov. 29. George has brought us food during the day, and will try to get us a guide to-night. At dark went to the negro quarters, where a nice chicken supper was waiting us….
Dec. 1. Just comfortable for a winter's day. At night after eating the usual diet of chicken, Peter, our guide, told us he was ready for the road. Went about twelve miles when Joe took us in charge and Peter started for home again. Were then hidden in the woods for the day.
Dec. 2. As soon as daylight the negroes on this place commenced coming to where we were hidden, all having something for us in the way of food; they also promise us a guide for the night. If such kindness will not make one an Abolitionist then his heart must be made of stone. This is on the Mathews place. At dark were taken to the Widow Hardy's plantation, where chickens, etc., were served for our supper. Here Jim took us eight miles, and gave us into the care of Arthur, who, after going with us fifteen miles, gave us to Vance who hid us in the woods. At dark Vance brought us more chickens for our evening meal, then started on the road with us going eight miles, then Charles took us, he going five miles; then David took us four miles, he giving us into the care of Hanson who took us a short distance and left us at the Preston Brooks' plantation (late United States Congressman from South Carolina)….
Dec. 4. Early this morning the slaves brought us a nice breakfast, for everything is in first-class condition on this place; do not seem to have felt the effects of the war as the rest of the country we have passed through….
Dec. 5. At dark we were taken four miles, when we found we were going in the wrong direction, retraced our steps, got another guide who took us to Colonel Frazier's. Distance in right direction about ten miles. During the night crossed the railroad above 96, and here Ned took us in charge. The boys on this place were good foragers, for while with them we lived on the fat of the land. At dark December 6th, two of the Frazier servants took us eighteen miles and then gave us into the hands of Ben and Harrison, who took us to Henry Jones' place. Just before we arrived at this plantation it commenced raining and we got as wet as if thrown into the Saluda River. Here we were put into a negro cabin with a fire and bed at our disposal, and took advantage of both….
Dec. 9. We were hiding in the woods when it commenced snowing, the first of the season; soon a guide came for us and hid us for the day in a negro cabin. At night some negroes came six miles through the storm to bring us food. We were gaining in strength and weight, for we are eating most of the time when we are not on the road tramping. The snow being so deep it is not safe to travel to-night, so we are hidden in a fodder barn.13After traveling and hiding for nearly four more weeks, Johnson's party finally reached the Union lines near Knoocville on January 5, 1865. Without the assistance, shelter, and food given them by scores of Negroes along the way, these Union soldiers and many others could not have made good their escape.
A Negro steward aboard the Yankee schooner S. J. Waring was one of the first authentic Northern war heroes. The following account, accurate in nearly all respects, is from the pen of William Wells Brown:
In the month of June, 1861, the schooner “S. J. Waring,” from New York, bound to South America, was captured on the passage by the rebel privateer “Jeff. Davis,” a prize-crew put on board, consisting of a captain, mate, and four seamen; and the vessel set sail for the port of Charleston, S.C. Three of the original crew were retained on board, a German as steersman, a Yankee who was put in irons, and a black man named William Tillman, the steward and cook of the schooner. The latter was put to work at his usual business, and told that he was henceforth the property of the Confederate States, and would be sold, on his arrival at Charleston, as a slave. Night comes on; darkness covers the sea; the vessel is gliding swiftly towards the South; the rebels, one after another, retire to their berths; the hour of midnight approaches; all is silent in the cabin; the captain is asleep; the mate, who has charge of the watch, takes his brandy toddy, and reclines upon the quarter-deck. The negro thinks of home and all its endearments: he sees in the dim future chains and slavery.
He resolves, and determines to put the resolution into practice upon the instant. Armed with a heavy club [hatchet], he proceeds to the captain's room. He strikes the fatal blow: he feels the pulse, and all is still. He next goes to the adjoining room: another blow is struck, and the black man is master of the cabin. Cautiously he ascends to the deck, strikes the mate: the officer is wounded but not killed. He draws his revolver, and calls for help. The crew are aroused: they are hastening to aid their commander. The negro repeats his blows with the heavy club: the rebel falls dead at Tillman's feet. The African seizes the revolver, drives the crew below deck, orders the release of the Yankee, puts the enemy in irons, and proclaims himself master of the vessel.
"The Waring's” head is turned towards New York, with the stars and stripes flying, a fair wind, and she rapidly retraces her steps…. Five days more, and “The S. J. Waring” arrives in the port of New York, under the command of William Tillman, the negro patriot.
"The New-York Tribune” said of this event,—
"To this colored man was the nation indebted for the first vindication of its honor on the sea.” Another public journal spoke of that achievement alone as an offset to the defeat of the Federal arms at Bull Run. Unstinted praise from all parties, even those who are usually awkward in any other vernacular than derision of the colored man, has been awarded to this colored man…. The Federal Government awarded to Tillman the sum of six thousand dollars as prize-money for the capture of the schooner.14
Another spectacular naval exploit was performed in May 1862 by Robert Smalls, a slave living in Charleston, South Carolina. The following account is taken from a book about the Negro in the Civil War, Camp-Fires of the Afro-American, published in 1889:
When Fort Sumter was attacked, [Smalls] and his brother John, with their families, resided in Charleston, and saw with sorrow the lowering of its flag, but they were wise enough to think much, while saying little, except among themselves, and hoped for a time to come when they might again live under its Government.
The high-pressure side-wheel steamer Planter, on board which they were employed, Robert as an assistant pilot, and John as a sailor and assistant engineer, was a light-draught vessel, drawing only five feet when heavily ladened, and was very useful to the Confederates in plying around the harbor and among the islands near Charleston….
On Monday evening, May 12, 1862, the Planter was lying at her wharf, the Southern, and her officers having finished their duties for the day, went ashore, first giving the usual instructions to Robert Smalls, to see that everything should be in readiness for their trip next morning. They had a valuable lot of freight for Fort Ripley and Fort Sumter, which was to be delivered the next day, but Robert thought to himself that perhaps these forts would not receive the articles after all, except as some of them might be delivered by the propulsion of powder out of Union guns. He did not betray his thoughts by his demeanor, and when the officers left the vessel he appeared to be in his usual respectful, attentive, efficient and obedient state of mind. He busied himself immediately to have the fires banked, and everything put shipshape for the night, according to orders.
A little after eight o'clock the wives and children of Robert and John Smalls came on board. As they had sometimes visited the vessel, carrying meals, nothing was thought of this circumstance by the wharf guard, who saw them. Somewhat later a Colored man from the steamer Etowah stepped past him, and joined the crew.
Robert Smalls, for some time, had been contemplating the move which he was now about to make. He had heard that Colored men were being enlisted in the United States service at his old home [Beaufort], and that General Hunter was foreshadowing the emancipatory policy, giving kindly treatment to all contraband refugees. Now he was more anxious to get within the Union lines, and to join its forces. He had seen from the pilot-house, at a long distance, the blockading vessels, and had thought over a plan to reach them with the Planter, and his desire was to run her away from the Confederates when she would have a valuable cargo. He had to proceed cautiously in the unfolding of his designs. First his brother was taken into confidence, and he at once approved the project. He, of course, could be trusted to keep the secret. Then the others were approached, gradually, after sounding with various lines the depths of their patriotism….
The brave men knew what would be their fate in the event of failure, and so, in talking over the matter together, just before cutting loose, they decided not to be captured alive, but to go down with the ship if the batteries of Castle Pinckney, Forts Moultrie and Sumter, and other guns should be opened upon them. They also determined to use the Planter's guns to repel pursuit and attack, if necessary….
After midnight, when the officers ashore were in their soundest and sweetest slumbers, the fires were stirred up and steam raised to a high pressure, and between 3 and 4 o'clock Robert Smalls, the conceiver, leader and manager of this daring scheme, gave orders to “cast off,” which was done quietly. To guard against a suspicion of anything being wrong in the movements of the Planter, he backed slowly from the wharf, blew her signal whistles, and seemed to be in no hurry to get away. He proceeded down the harbor, as if making towards Fort Sumter, and about quarter past 4 o'clock passed the frowning fortress, saluting it with loud signals, and then putting on all steam. Her appearance was duly reported to the officer of the day, but as her plying around the harbor, often at early hours, was not a strange occurrence, and she had become a familiar floating figure to the forts, she was not molested; and the heavy guns that easily could have sunk her, remained silent. Passing the lower batteries, also, without molestation, the happy crew, with the greater part of the strain removed from their minds, now jubilantly rigged a white flag that they had prepared for the next emergency, and steered straight on to the Union ships. They were yet in great danger, this time from the hands of friends, who, not knowing anything concerning their escape, and on the lookout to sink at sight torpedo-boats and “rebel-rams,” might blow them out of the water before discovering their peaceful flag.
An eye-witness of the Planter's arrival, a member of the On-ward's crew, and a war correspondent, gave a good account of it; and with some alterations it is here introduced: “We have been anchored in the ship channel for some days, and have frequently seen a secesh steamer plying in and around the harbor. Well, this morning, about sunrise, I was awakened by the cry of ‘All hands to quarters!' and before I could get out, the steward knocked vigorously on my door and called: ‘All hands to quarter, sah! de ram am a comin', sah!' I don't recollect of ever dressing myself any quicker, and got out on deck in a hurry. Sure enough, we could see, through the mist and fog, a great black object moving rapidly, and steadily, right at our port quarter…. Springs were bent on, and the Onward was rapidly warping around so as to bring her broadside to bear on the steamer that was still rapidly approaching us; and when the guns were brought to bear, some of the men looked at the Stars and
Stripes, and then at the steamer, and muttered ‘You! if you run into us we will go down with colors flying!' Just as No. 3 port gun was being elevated, some one cried out, I see something that looks like a white flag;' and true enough there was something flying on the steamer that would have been white by application of soap and water. As she neared us, we looked in vain for the face of a white man. When they discovered that we would not fire on them, there was a rush of contrabands out on her deck, some dancing, some singing, whistling, jumping; and others stood looking towards Fort Sumter, and muttering all sorts of maledictions against it, and ‘de heart of de Souf' generally. As the steamer came near, and under the stern of the Onward, one of the Colored men stepped forward, and taking off his hat, shouted, ‘Good morning, sir! I've brought you some of the old United States guns, sir!' “15
Congress granted half of the prize money for the Planter to Smalls and his men. Smalls became one of the most valuable assets of the Union blockade fleet in the South Atlantic. He brought much significant information to Union authorities, and during the rest of the war he served as pilot on the Planter and other vessels operating along the South Carolina coastline. Smalls later played a prominent role in South Carolina's Reconstruction politics. Because of their intimate knowledge of the tortuous waterways of the South Atlantic coastline, several freedmen rendered important service as pilots for the navy.16 In fact, Negroes had enlisted in the Union Navy from the beginning of the war. Unlike the army, the United States Navy had never followed a Jim Crow policy, and there were many black sailors in the prewar navy. It has been estimated that during the Civil War as many as 29,000 Negroes (one-fourth of the entire naval enrollment) served in the Union Navy. Four black sailors were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for outstanding bravery.17
Some Negro mariners fought on land as well as on sea. The following account is from the pen of George W. Reed, a black sailor serving on the United States gunboat Commodore Reed, Potomac Flotilla, and was dated May 4, 1864:
Sir, having been engaged in the naval service nearly six years, I have never before witnessed what I now see on board this ship. Our crew are principally colored; and a braver set of men never trod the deck of an American ship. We have been on several expeditions recently. On the 15th of April our ship and other gunboats proceeded up the Rappahannock river for some distance, and finding no rebel batteries to oppose us, we concluded to land the men from the different boats, and make a raid. I was ordered by the Commodore to beat the call for all parties to go on shore. No sooner had I executed the order, than every man was at his post, our own color being the first to land. At first, there was a little prejudice against our colored men going on shore, but it soon died away. We succeeded in capturing 3 fine horses, 6 cows, 5 hogs, 6 sheep, 3 calves, an abundance of chickens, 600 pounds of pork, 300 bushels of corn, and succeeded in liberating from the horrible pit of bondage 10 men, 6 women, and 8 children. The principal part of the men have enlisted on this ship. The next day we started further up the river, when the gunboats in advance struck on a torpedo, but did no material damage. We landed our men again, and repulsed a band of rebels handsomely, and captured three prisoners. Going on a little further, we were surprised by 300 rebel cavalry, and repulsed, but retreated in good order, the gunboats covering our retreat. I regret to say we had the misfortune to lose Samuel Turner (colored) in our retreat. He was instantly killed, and his body remains in the rebel hands. He being the fifer, I miss him very much as a friend and companion, as he was beloved by all on board. We also had four slightly wounded.18
Black sailors played an important part in Northern victory, but the greatest amount of controversy, publicity, and glory was reserved for the black soldiers in the Union Army. The large-scale enlistment of Negro troops was one of the central issues of the Civil War, and it is to this issue that we turn next.