Robert Blake, Black Medal of Honor Recipient-- Part 4: Sadly, Not Much is Known on the Rest of His Life

Blake was later promoted to seaman and re-enlisted in the Navy for another term.    During his second  enlistment, he served  again on the USS Vermont.

Sadly, nothing more is known about his life.

I looked him up on the Find A Grave site and they have an entry on him which says that his birth date, date of death and place of burial are all unknown.

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His Medal of Honor citation reads:  "On board the U.S. Steam Gunboat Marblehead off Legareville, Stono River, 25 December 1863, in an engagement with  the enemy on John's Island.  Serving the rifle gun, Blake, an escaped slave, carried out his duties bravely throughout the whole engagement which resulted in the enemy's  abandonment of positions, leaving  a caisson and one gun behind."

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--Old B-Runner

Robert Blake, Black Medal of Honor Recipient-- Part 2: A Surprise on the Stono

Robert Blake was born into slavery  in Virginia.  He somehow ended up South Carolina.  In June 1862, his owner's plantation was burned during  a Union expedition  up the Santee River.  About 400 slaves from his plantation were taken aboard a Union ship as contraband.  They were sent to North Island in Winyah Bay, S.C..

While on North Island Blake answered the call for twenty single men to serve on the USS Vermont, an old U.S. ship of the line serving as a receiving ship at Port Royal, South Carolina.

By December 1863, he had been transferred to the USS Marblehead and was serving as a steward to Lt.Cmdr.  Richard Worsam Meade.  Early in the morning of December 25, while the Marblehead was cruising in the Stono River, the ship came under fire of a Confederate howitzer at Legareville on Johns Island.

Meade jumped from his bed and ran onto the quarterdeck to give the order to return fire, Blake followed him, handed him his uniform, and urged him to change out of his night clothes.

--Old B-Runner

"A Pretty Severe Initiation to Salt Water": A Voyage to Port Royal-- Part 3

A schooner was spotted and it went to shore to report the USS Vermont's plight.  Four vessels went looking for her and found it on March 7th.  The ship was repaired and able to sail to Port Royal under its own power and arrived April 12, 1862.

There it remained anchored until 1864, serving the SABS as an ordnance, hospital, receiving and store ship.

Said Fenn, "The majority of our crew were landsmen and were sick enough so they could scarcely move.  It was pretty severe initiation to salt water for them, I assure you...."

From Wikipedia.

The schooner that went for help was the Flying Mist.  The Vermont served at Port Royal until July 25, 1864, when it was sent to New York City and replaced by its sister ship-of-the-line USS New Hampshire.  It remained as a receiving/store ship in New York City for 37 years.  It was condemned and struck 19 December 1901 and sold in 1902.

After All, How Seasick Can You Really Get?  --Old B-Runner

"A Pretty Severe Initiation to Salt Water": A Voyage to Port Royal-- Part 2

Sailors from Rochester were spread Ito vessels all over the Union fleet.  Most entered as landsmen, meaning they had no experience as sailors.

The USS Vermont was built in 1825 and mounted 74 cannons, but spent its whole career in "ordinary" at Boston Navy Yard.  In other words, it was mothballed.

However, since Port Royal was being turned into a major Naval base for operations in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron,a need was there for a receiving/supply ship to be on station and the old Vermont was the perfect ship for the task.

It was commissioned again Jan. 30, 1862, and quickly put into shape to sail and be towed to Port Royal.  It left Boston under tow of the steamer Kensington.  A major northwest gale struck off Cape Cod Light and brought snow along with it.  By 8 PM, all the Vermont's sails were gone.  The cable between the two ships was cut.

The next day, fear went through the ship when it was thought it was sinking, but it didn't.  The ports on the berth deck broke open and water poured into the ship, but they were able to close them.  Then, the rudder was lost and the ship drifted aimlessly with the wind and current.  By the 26th, it was drifting eastward.

More to Come.  --Old B-R'er

"A Pretty Severe Initiation to Salt Water": A Voyage to Port Royal-- Part 1

From the Feb. 6th Rochester (NY) Democrat Chronicle "A Rochester sailor's near-fatal ordeal" by Bob Marcotte.

"We left Boston on the 24th of February (1862).  That night I shall never forget, " wrote Edward Fenn in a letter home.

That night, he and his crew nearly drowned when his ship, the old Ship-of-the-Line USS Vermont encountered a sever gale on its way to Port Royal, South Carolina where it was to serve as a receiving and store ship  The Vermont was battered for two days and left drifting helplessly.

Fenn was a surgeon's assistant on the ship.


THE US NAVY AT START OF THE WAR

The US Navy was clearly not up to the task of enforcing a blockade of 3,549 miles of Confederate shoreline, including some 189 harbors and inlets.  However, by the end of the war, the Navy had grown to a force of 641 ships.  And, as Confederate port and positions continued to fall, the blockade gained in intensity.

In the Army, regiments were recruited from the same area.  Thus, the 13th, 108th and 140th New York  Infantry regiments consisted primarily of men from Monroe County.

The Navy, however, assigned recruits at random to ships, usually at receiving ships where new enlistees entered service.

More to Come.  --Old B-Runner