In honor of Black History Month We salute Crewmen like Benjamin H. Gray, enlisted at age twelve for service as a Seaman in the Confederate Navy, Wilmington Squadron. Wilmington was an important center of naval activity to defend the Cape Fear region, and where three ironclads were eventually built: CSS North Carolina, CSS Raleigh, and the unfinished CSS Wilmington.
Gray was assigned in the Spring of 1864 to the ironclad ram CSS Albemarle, constructed ...at Edwards Ferry, Near Scotland Neck. Under command of Captain John W. Cooke, he served as a powder boy carrying bags of gunpowder from the lower magazine to the gun deck. Gray was following a tradition of black Crewman aboard Confederate fighting vessels. Launched at Charleston South Carolina in August 1862, the CSS Chicora's crew included three enlisted Negroes. Dr. Edward Smith, Dean of American Studies at American University, estimated that by February, 1865, 1150 black Seamen were in service in the Confederate Navy which amounted to about 20% of total naval personnel.
According to the book: Black Confederates in the U.S. Civil War: A Compiled partial List of African-Americans Who Enlisted in the Confederate States Navy between 1861-1865 by Ricardo J. Rodriguez. C.S. Marine Corps and C.S. Navy William Berryman -Blockade Runner Eli Brown -CSS Patrick Henry William Bugg -CSS Isondiga, CSS Sampson Charles Cleaper -CSS Chicora Robert Cole -CSS Patrick Henry Moses Dallas -Savannah Squadron John Deveaux- Savannah Squadron *Benjamin H. Gray -CSS Albemarle David Green -James River Squadron, CSS Virginia II James Hicks (Heck) -CSS Chicora Joseph Johnson -CSS Chicora Henry Leonard -James River Squadron, CSS Virginia II W. S. Lewis -CSS Alabama James Duncan Moore-CSS Georgia Randall Polk -CSS Georgia James Price -James River Squadron Johnny Robinson -CSS Chicora George Snowden -CSS Macon Charles B. Stiles -CSS Macon Hampton Tate -Blockade Runner C. P. Terry -Commodore Tucker’s Brigade Edward W. Walden -CSS Savannah Edward Weeks -CSS Shenandoah David H. White -CSS Alabama Ely Williamson -Steamer at Battle of Roanoke Island Author: Dr. Edward Smith, Dean of American Studies at American University in Washington D.C., Staff Historian at the Smithsonian Institute.
