Existing comment:
African Americans in the War of 1812:
African Americans made up at least fifteen percent of he US naval corps during the War of 1812. Although official US policy at the start of the war forbade the recruitment of black sailors, a chronic shortage of manpower compelled the navy to accept any able-bodied man. These black sailors had a reputation for fierceness in battle. When Captain Oliver Hazard Perry complained about having blacks on his ship, Commodore Isaac Chauncey replied, "I have nearly fifty blacks on this boat and many of them are among the best of my men." Perry later wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, praising the black seamen's courage.
Life at sea was, by necessity, an egalitarian existence. Living in small quarters, away from shore for months at a time, the men developed a comaraderie and mutual respect based on performance, not skin color. Black sailors made their mark on both official vessels and on the privateers where more than half of the crew might be black.
In March 1813, Congress passed "An act for the Regulation of Seamen on board the public and private vessels of the United States" allowing "persons of color" to enlist.
A few of the African-American Marylanders who are known to have served in the Chesapeake region during the War of 1812 include: ... |