Month: August 2025

Black Sailors on The USS Kenwood

Posted on August 28, 2025November 30, 2025 | by Alvin Blakes | 5 Comments

After the surrender of Vicksburg and Port Hudson in July 1863, the Union Navy moved quickly to split the confederacy by cutting off Texas, Arkansas, and parts of Louisiana. Using squadrons of gunboats, the Navy blockaded the Mississippi River and divided it into operational districts, each protecting key ports such… Read More

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Boss Carpenter

Posted on August 8, 2025August 8, 2025 | by Alvin Blakes | 12 Comments

The testimony of family and friends in Noland Veal’s 1908 Civil War Navy pension file centered around establishing his birth year as 1845, thus allowing him to receive his pension. Other testimonies within the pension file give us more insight into his life, his family, and the enslaved communities in… Read More

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