Researchers can positively identify eight men of African American descent in the USS Monitor’s crew, although there were likely more, based on correspondence and letters. Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, the first sanctuary to be designated, honors the crew of the USS Monitor and particularly the sailors who tragically lost their lives in the sinking of the Monitor on December 31, 1862. There was nothing prohibiting freed African Americans from joining the Union forces, and the Union Navy integrated these sailors into their ship’s crews. In 1861, the Confiscation Act was passed by Congress to allow the seizure of Confederate military property (including formerly enslaved people). Since at the time, enslaved people were considered “property” under the law, Union leaders were able to use the term to deem them “contraband of war” (contraband being property attained or confiscated by a foreign/warring entity) and refuse to return them. That number likely would have been much higher if it weren't for the brave efforts of the five men who secured the ship's move to freedom.When the Civil War began, many enslaved African Americans wanted to join the Union forces. Seven men on the Lehigh were wounded during the assault. Within about an hour, the line the men took to the Nahant pulled the Lehigh off the sandbar, getting it out of its precarious position. That's when three more sailors stepped up to make a third attempt: Young, an 18-year-old from Calais, Maine Williams, an Irishman living in Pennsylvania and Gile, a 16-year-old from North Andover, Massachusetts. They twice succeeded in passing the hawsers under heavy fire, but both times, enemy guns cut the lines.Įventually, casualties were reported on the Lehigh, so Longshaw had to go to the aid of the wounded. Leland and Irving rowed as cannon and mortar shells whizzed past them meanwhile, Longshaw carried and handed to the Nahant's crew members the lines of the thick ropes, known as hawsers, that would be used to tow the ship. Navy assistant surgeon William Longshaw went with them. Leland, a Savannah, Georgia, native and Irving, a young man who had immigrated to New York from England, were tasked with taking a small boat to the Nahant to pass a line over to begin the towing process.
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