From the November 20, 2013, Orangeburg (S.C.) Times & Democrat "Ex-slave, Medal of Honor Recipient, remembered with naming of DMV" by Richard Walker.
When a Confederate shell during the Civil War hit his ship, Robert Blake helped man a gun and return fire even though he didn't have to do so.
The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) dedicated its Orangeburg field office to this South Carolinian. Blake was the first Black to be recognized with the Medal of Honor (out of just 26) and receive it during the war. William Carney of the 54th Massachusetts received his at the attack on Fort Wagner in South Carolina on July 18, 1863, but didn't get his medal until the 1890s.
I have already covered Mr. Blake's previous life which led him to be in the Navy in the last four posts (December 2020).
On Christmas Day, 1863, Blake's ship, the USS Marblehead and the USS Pawnee came under attack by a hidden Confederate battery on John's Island in the Stono River. A shell exploded on the Marblehead's deck bear where Blake was, knocking him to the deck and killing a nearby powder boy.
Without a supply of gunpowder, one of the ship's five guns would be out of action. Without orders, Blake jumped into action and began retrieving powder from the ship's magazine over and over.
The Marblehead sustained twenty hits in the action, but silenced the battery.
--Old B-Runner
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