Robert Blake was a Union sailor and the second African American to perform a Medal of Honor action; William Carney was the first. Blake was the first African American to actually receive the Medal- it was presented to him in 1864, while Carney did not receive his medal until 1900.
Citation of the Medal of Honor: Rank and organization: Contraband, U.S. Navy. Entered service at: Virginia. G.O. No.: 32, 16 April 1864. Accredited to: Virginia. 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 throughout the engagement which resulted in the enemy’s abandonment of positions, leaving a caisson and one gun behind.
Strangely, after the war Blake completely disappeared and there are no records of him, the location of his medal, or his grave. What I could find on the internet about him is described below.
The two Robert Blakes
Robert Blake was reported to be born into slavery in Virginia. To date I can find no direct evidence of where Blake was born. The Union Navy was very active along the coast of South Carolina in June of 1862 in the North and South Santee River area. During this period there were two slaves each named Robert Blake from the Arthur Blake Plantation who escaped slavery to the Federal Navy. On June 5th the bark U.S.S. Gem of the Sea, off the North Santee River under the command of Acting Lieutenant Irvin B. Baxter, picked up five contrabands in a small boat at 6:30 in the morning. The small boat belonged to the blockade runner Mary Stuart, which had been captured 2 days earlier. The entire 7 man crew of the Mary Stuart had abandoned ship and taken the boat, landed at the Blake Plantation, and headed to Charleston. Five slaves found the boat and used it to sail toward the Union ship. They were “Captain”, Robert, Prince, John and Michael. Prince, John and Michael were described as boys. Captain had served on the Confederate steamer Chesterfield for nine months and described himself as a good pilot. They were taken to Georgetown and enlisted in the Navy on June 15th serving on the Gem of the Sea.
Later that same month on June 25th three Union ships sailed on a mission to destroy the railroad bridge at Saint Stephen’s over the South Santee River, they were the Western World, Andrew, and E.B. Hale. The river proved too difficult for the ships to navigate so they turned around and headed back. As they passed the Blake Plantation they were fired on by Confederate artillery, riflemen and cavalry. The plantation was the headquarters of a Confederate regiment stationed there to protect blockade runners commanded by Captain Thomas Pinckney. Lieutenant Lowry was sent ashore with 60 marines and a party of seamen. They burned a mill, dwellings that harbored the Rebels, and 100,000 (?10,000) bushels of rice. A skirmish ensued, which lasted about an hour, in which two marines were wounded. During the fight about 400 slaves escaped from the plantation and boarded the steamers. After the war the plantation owner, Arthur Middleton Blake, filed a request to be compensated for the 402 slaves he lost. One of them was a 28 year old male named Robert who lived on the Oak Grove Plantation. On June 28th the contrabands were brought to North Island, the location of a contraband camp, at the mouth of Winyah Bay. On July 3rd, 60 volunteer contrabands were sent to Port Royal for duty on the U.S.S. Vermont. One of these 60 was likely Robert Blake.
Which of these two Robert Blakes is the Medal of Honor recipient?
The first Blake was probably Robert Singleton Blake. His naval service record has him on the Gem of the Sea from 6/15/62-9/27/62, and he then served on the Norwich, and the New Hampshire until March of 1865. He did not serve on the Vermont or Marblehead. After the war he married his second wife Maria Mitchell on May 11, 1892 in Beaufort, SC, and died on May 1, 1893. He would have been in his late 30s during the war. His widow filed a pension application and one of the people who submitted an affidavit for that was Michael Blake, one of the group of 5 who escaped to the Gem of the Sea, where they also served with John Blake (also one of the 5 men in the boat). He does not mention ever serving on the Marblehead or receiving the Medal of Honor. This Robert Blake was likely not the Medal of Honor recipient.
The Robert Blake who was one of the 400 Arthur Blake Plantation slaves liberated on June 25th transferred from the USS Vermont to the USS Marblehead at the end of September 1862. In the spring and fall of 1863 he was on the muster rolls of the USS Marblehead. The attack on the USS Marblehead for which Robert Blake received the Medal of Honor occurred on Christmas morning 1863 (see below). Robert would later reenlist and was on the USS Vermont on January 19, 1864, where he would also be listed on the muster roles in the spring and summer later that year. His height is listed as five feet and five inches. The USS Vermont left Port Royal on August 2, 1864 for the Brooklyn Navy Yard. This is likely the Robert Blake awarded the Medal of Honor.
The attack on the USS Marblehead (The Battle of Legareville)-
The Marblehead was a small wooden steamer that could travel at a top speed of ten and one-half knots per hour. It had two masts and was schooner rigged. The battery consisted of one 11-inch Dahlgren gun (pivot), one 20-pounder Parrott rifle (pivot) on the topgallant forecastle (exposed on the front deck of the boat), and 4 brass 24-pounders (Dahlgrens) in broadside. The ship was under command of Lieutenant Commander Richard W. Meade III and attached to the South Atlantic blockading fleet commanded by Rear Admiral John Dahlgren. She was stationed in the Stono River on picket duty with the Pawnee and the C.P. Williams operating on the left wing of the General Gilmore’s force besieging Charleston. A small contingent of about 100-150 men from Schimmelfennig’s brigade of Gordon’s division occupied a little village on the right bank of the Stono River about four miles from the inlet. The Marblehead was near Legareville in mid stream. A little before daylight at 6:00 AM on Christmas Day 1863 an attack was made on the Marblehead by artillery led by Lieutenant Colonel Delaware Kemper. The Confederates had secretly built earthworks in the woods near the village at a range of less than 1000 yards. The guns in each location are described below (positions shown on the map below). The 1st Upper Battery was commanded by Captain Benjamin Webb of Company A, South Carolina Siege Train with two 30-pound Parrot Guns. The 2nd Upper Battery was commanded by 1st Lieutenant Ralph Nesbit of Company B, South Carolina Siege Train with two 8-inch Siege Howitzers. The Lower Battery was commanded by Captain Frederick Schultz of Company F, 3rd SC Artillery Battalion with two 3.5-inch Blakely rifles, one 10-pounder Parrott, and an 8-inch howitzer. The Legareville Road Battery was commanded by 1st Lieutenant John Strohecker of the Marion Light Artillery with two 12-pound napoleons. Charles’ Battery (Inglis Light Artillery) commanded by Captain William Charles with two 3.5-inch Blakley Rifles and two 12-pound howitzers. The Confederate infantry was commanded by Colonel Powhatan Page of the 26th VA who had two companies of his own regiment and five of the 59th VA.
The Marblehead was operating with 70 men, down from its usual 100 crew members. In addition, the starboard boiler was under repair. The battle began in the early morning darkness just after the crew had pivoted the 11-inch gun out of position to wash down the deck. The attack was a complete surprise. Ensign Harriman had the deck and he quickly arroused Captain Meade. The Captain closed the range to 700-800 yards and opened fire on the Rebels. The battle lasted for about 2 hours with the Confederates fleeing and leaving behind two 8-inch sea-coast howitzers in their earthworks. The Marblehead was hit over 20 times. The Union lost 3 men killed and 4-6 wounded. Three days later Meade went ashore with a little over 80 men and carried off the two guns. It was the first Union naval victory since the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861.
Four of the crew were awarded the Medal of Honor. William Farley the boatswain’s mate and Captain of the 11-inch gun never received the medal as when the ship went ashore in New York he disappeared and never returned. James Miller the quartermaster was at the wheel of the ship and for his courage under fire was promoted to master’s mate. He was honorably discharged in August 1864. Charles Moore was a landsman stationed at the broadside gun and was severely wounded. His scalp was stripped by a pine splinter. His wound was dressed and he returned to his gun before he fainted from blood loss. Robert Blake was the fourth medal recipient receiving the medal in April 1864, along with one-hundred dollars. In his after action report Lieutenant Commander Richard W. Meade said “Blake, a contraband, excited my admiration by the cool and brave manner in which he served the rifle gun.” Years later in a book chapter he described Blake as a bright intelligent fellow of about 20 years of age and very dark skinned who always had a cheery laugh and pleasant, happy face. He was the powder-man of the 20-pounder rifle on the forecastle. Captain Richard W. Meade stated “No man ever deserved a Medal of Honor more truly than this gallant young negro. From the Captain down everyman on the Marblehead honored the ex-slave Robert Blake.” Meade went on to say “Whatever became of him does not appear, as there is no record of him on the books at the Navy Department. But if he is still alive he is doubtless somewhere in the sunny South as cheery as ever.” Admiral Dahlgren promoted him to seaman. Some accounts have described Robert Blake as Meade’s servant or steward but that was likely Charles Taylor. Based on Meade’s description Blake was the powder-man for the 20-pounder Parrott (rifled gun) that was in an exposed position on the deck at the front of the ship.
The pictures below are from the Sol Legare Public Boat Landing overlooking the Stono River in the area where the USS Marblehead was located (32.6683485, -79.9972272).
The USS Vermont– served as an ordinance, hospital, receiving and storage ship. It left Boston for Port Royal on February 24, 1862. It returned north from Port Royal to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on August 2, 1864 and was replaced by the USS New Hampshire.
The Blake Plantation– In 1784 John Middleton bought a 4,630 acre plantation from the Sampson Neyle estate. In 1843 Arthur Middleton Blake bought several plantations from the estate of John Middleton (his cousin). In 1859 Arthur Blake owned 9,100 acres in St. James Santee Parish, which were known as Blake’s Reserve consisting of three separate plantations: Washo; Cape; and Oak Grove, as well as a house called Ormond Hall, and Little Murphy Island. Arthur Blake left for England one week after the fall of Fort Sumter. The overseer was a Scotchman named John McGinnis. In 1898 Hugh R. Garden purchased the property to make it part of the Santee Gun Club, which eventually consisted of 12 former rice plantations. In the early 1970s the gun club donated all of its 23,000 acres to the South Carolina Nature Conservacy. The property became part of the Santee Coastal Reserve Wildlife Management Area (220 Santee Gun Club Road, McClellanville) managed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The Washo Reserve, is still owned and co-managed by The Nature Conservancy.
Once hunting season ends I plan to walk the Cape Trail (yellow loop), the site of the Cape and Oak Grove plantations where Robert lived, and will post pictures in a separate post. I also plan to take a trip to the Medal of Honor Museum in Mount Pleasant, SC to see if they have any additional information and will post those pictures here as well.
Sources
Report of the June 5th Rescue of Contrabands. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies. Report of Acting Lieutenant Volunteer Baxter. Series I, Volume 12, pages 732-737.
The June 25th Skirmish Along the South Santee River. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies. Report of Commander Prentiss. Series I, Volume 13, pages 121-123
A list of the Blake Plantations Slaves. Raid on Arthur Blake’s Santee Plantations, 1862.
Senate Report 124- United States Congress, Senate. Senate Documents, Volume 1; Volume 283, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1876, Petition of Arthur Blake
The Attack on the Marblehead in Stono River is referenced by two sources.
The reports of Rear Admiral Dahlgren, Lieutenant Commander Richard W. Meade Jr. and others appear in- Report on the Secretary of the Navy with Appendix Containing Reports of Officers. December 1864, pages 261-267.
The Story of American Heroism: Thrilling Naratives of Personal Adventures During the Great Civil War as told by The Medal Winners and Roll of Honor Men. Chapter 79 by Captain Richard W. Meade, U.S.N.