Chapter III: Negroes in the Navy

NO PROSCRIPTION AGAINST NEGROES AS SAILORS.--THEY ARE CARRIED
UPON THE ROLLS IN THE NAVY WITHOUT REGARD TO THEIR
NATIONALITY.--THEIR TREATMENT AS SAILORS.--COMMODORE PERRY'S
LETTER TO COMMODORE CHAUNCEY IN REGARD TO THE MEN SENT
HIM.--COMMODORE CHAUNCEY'S SPIRITED REPLY.--THE HEROISM OF THE
NEGRO SET FORTH IN THE PICTURE OF PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE
ERIE.--EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM NATHANIEL SHALER, COMMANDER OF A
PRIVATE VESSEL.--HE CITES SEVERAL INSTANCES OF THE HEROIC CONDUCT
OF NEGRO SAILORS.

It is rather a remarkable fact of history that Negroes were carried upon the rolls of the navy without reference to their nationality. About one tenth of the crews of the fleet that sailed to the Upper Lakes to co-operate with Col. Croghan at Mackinac, in 1814, were Negroes. Dr. Parsons says:--

"In 1816, I was surgeon of the 'Java,' under Commodore Perry. The
white and colored seamen messed together. About one in six or
eight were colored.

"In 1819, I was surgeon of the 'Guerrière,' under Commodore
Macdonough; and the proportion of blacks was about the same in
her crew. There seemed to be an entire absence of prejudice
against the blacks as messmates among the crew. What I have said
applies to the crews of the other ships that sailed in
squadrons."[5]

This ample and reliable testimony as to the treatment of Negroes as sailors, puts to rest all doubts as to their status in the United States navy.

In the summer of 1813, Captain (afterwards Commodore) Perry wrote a letter to Commodore Chauncey in which he complained that an indifferent lot of men had been sent him. The following is the letter that he wrote.

"SIR:--I have this moment received, by express, the enclosed
letter from General Harrison. If I had officers and men--and I
have no doubt you will send them--I could fight the enemy, and
proceed up the lake; but, having no one to command the 'Niagara,'
and only one commissioned lieutenant and two acting lieutenants,
whatever my wishes may be, going out is out of the question. The
men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set--blacks, soldiers,
and boys. I cannot think you saw them after they were selected. I
am, however, pleased to see any thing in the shape of a man."[6]

Commodore Chauncey replied in the following sharp letter, in which he gave Captain Perry to understand that the color of the skin had nothing to do with a man's qualifications for the navy:

"SIR:--I have been duly honored with your letters of the
twenty-third and twenty-sixth ultimo, and notice your anxiety for
men and officers. I am equally anxious to furnish you; and no
time shall be lost in sending officers and men to you us soon as
the public service will allow me to send them from this lake. I
regret that you are not pleased with the men sent you by Messrs.
Champlin and Forrest; for, to my knowledge, a part of them are
not surpassed by any seamen we have in the fleet; and I have yet
to learn that the color of the skin, or the cut and trimmings of
the coat, can affect a man's qualifications or usefulness. I have
nearly fifty blacks on board of this ship, and many of them are
among my best men; and those people you call soldiers have been
to sea from two to seventeen years; and I presume that you will
find them as good and useful as any men on board of your vessel;
at least, if I can judge by comparison; for those which we have
on board of this ship are attentive and obedient, and, as far as
I can judge, many of them excellent seamen: at any rate, the men
sent to Lake Erie have been selected with a view of sending a
fair proportion of petty officers and seamen; and, I presume,
upon examination it will be found that they are equal to those
upon this lake."[7]

Perry was not long in discovering that the Negroes whom Commodore Chauncey had sent him were competent, faithful, and brave; and his former prejudice did not prevent him from speaking their praise.

"Perry speaks highly of the bravery and good conduct of the
negroes, who formed a considerable part of his crew. They seemed
to be absolutely insensible to danger. When Captain Barclay came
on board the 'Niagara,' and beheld the sickly and party-colored
beings around him, an expression of chagrin escaped him at
having been conquered by such men. The fresh-water service had
very much impaired the health of the sailors, and crowded the
sick-list with patients."[8]

These brave Negro sailors served faithfully through all the battles on the Lakes, and in the battle of Lake Erie rendered most effective service. Once more the artist has rescued from oblivion the heroism of the Negroes; for in the East Senate stairway of the Capitol at Washington, and in the rotunda of the Capitol at Columbus, in the celebrated picture of Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, a Negro sailor has a place among the immortalized crew.

The following testimony to the bravery of Colored sailors is of the highest character.

"EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM NATHANIEL SHALER, COMMANDER OF THE
PRIVATE-ARMED SCHOONER 'GOV. TOMPKINS,' TO HIS AGENT IN NEW YORK,
DATED--

"AT SEA, Jan. 1, 1813.

* * * * *

"Before I could get our light sails in, and almost before I could
turn round, I was under the guns, not of a transport, but of a
large _frigate_! and not more than a quarter of a mile from
her.... Her first broadside killed two men, and wounded six
others.... My officers conducted themselves in a way that would
have done honor to a more permanent service.... The name of one
of my poor fellows who was killed ought to be registered in the
book of fame, and remembered with reverence, as long as bravery
is considered a virtue. He was a black man, by the name of John
Johnson. A twenty-four-pound shot struck him in the hip, and took
away all the lower part of his body. In this state, the poor
brave fellow lay on the deck, and several times exclaimed to his
shipmates: '_Fire away, my boys; no haul a color down._' The
other was also a black man, by the name of John Davis, and was
struck in much the same way. He fell near me, and several times
requested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way
of others.

"When America has such tars, she has little to fear from the
tyrants of the ocean."[9]

After praise of such a nature and from such a source, eulogy is superfluous.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] Livermore, pp. 159, 160.

[6] Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. pp. 165, 166.

[7] Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. pp. 186, 187.

[8] Analectic Magazine, vol. iii. p. 255.

[9] Niles's Weekly Register, Saturday, Feb. 26, 1814.

PART 5.

_ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION._