Class Year
2017
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
Spring 5-24-2017
Department 1
Civil War Institute
Abstract
When the Civil War began, the United States Navy’s Atlantic Squadron, commanded by Commodore Silas H. Stringham, sought to blockade the entire Eastern Seaboard of the Confederacy. It faced two major problems: a shortage of manpower and an abundance of fugitive slaves flocking to the Union fleet. The commander of one vessel, Commander O.S. Glisson, had fifteen refugees on his ship, none of whom he intended to return to their owners. Glisson wrote to Commodore Stringham asking for advice, and Stringham wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles with an idea. Arguing that “if Negroes are to be used in this contest . . . they should be used to preserve the Government,” Stringham asked permission to recruit these fugitive slaves. Secretary Welles knew the Navy needed men, so he approved the request.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Christensen, Hannah M., "Black Servicemen on the Seas: African Americans in the Union Navy" (2017). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 227.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/227
Comments
This blog post originally appeared in The Gettysburg Compiler and was created by students at Gettysburg College.