[421] Negroes have always been favorites1 in our navy, and their names always entered on the ships' books without distinction. Commodore Chauncey thus speaks:— ‘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 1 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.’ In October, 1814, the State of New York passed an act to authorize the raising of two regiments of men of color.
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1 “ In referring to Mr. Wickliffe's remarks against Generals Butler and Hunter, he (Mr. Dunn) pointed to the fact that General Jackson employed colored soldiers in the defence of New Orleans and complimented them upon their gallantry and good order. Kentuckians were in that battle with black men. Commodore Perry fought his battles on Lake Erie with the help of black men; and black men, too, fought in the Revolutionary War. Commodores Stringham and Woodhull severally testify to the valuable services of the blacks in the navy, saying they are as brave as any who ever stood at the guns. They fought before Vicksburg, and elsewhere.
The rebels employ them wherever they can. When they cannot get them willingly, they force them, as they (lid at Yorktown, to take the front rank of danger. Why not now not only educate them to the use of arms, but prepare them to hold the Southern country wrested from rebels? He did not want the white man to go down and perish there. The negro population, armed, can hold the traitors in subjection. The gentleman from Kentucky was apprehensive if arms were placed in the hands of blacks that they would commit great barbarities. ‘What,’ he asked,—replying to that remark,— ‘had become of the Christian teachings which were said to prevail in the South?’ He said that General Meigs had informed him additional numbers of blacks were required to man the ships, this class of persons having proved highly valuable in the naval service.”
United States Publishing Company, 1874.
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