![]() ![]() ![]() Both battles demonstrated the unique dangers that African American men faced when they participated in combat operations against the Confederacy. The majority of these black sailors were men who had been enslaved but seized naval service as a route to freedom.Ī few of the thousands of "contraband" slaves who became sailors were present at the battles of Galveston and Sabine Pass in 1863. By 1863, the Union navy was enlisting and actively recruiting runaway slaves as crewmembers or paid sailors, usually at the low rank of "landsman." By the end of the war nearly 20,000 black sailors had enlisted, a figure which represented nearly 20 percent of the navy's enlisted men. And as the war progressed, blockading squadrons and naval vessels also took on board numerous "contraband" slaves who managed to escape from land to sea. ![]() The Union Navy began to employ African American men on board ships as crew members and sailors very early in the war. While Confederate Texans built fortifications along the coast in 1863, federal policies were dramatically transforming the relationship between men of color and the United States Army and Navy. Unidentified African American Unioin Sailor ![]()
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