Figure someone is or will be interested in this information. Take care and happy hunting. walt -----Original Message----- >>Subject: 18,000 African American Civil War Sailors Identified >>Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 17:05:01 -0500 >> >>= N E W S R E L E A S E >>= >>= OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE >>= (PUBLIC AFFAIRS) >>= WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301 >>= >>= PLEASE NOTE DATE >>==================================================== >> >>No. 694-00 >>(703)695-0192(media) >>IMMEDIATE RELEASE >>November 14, 2000 >>(703)697-5737(public/industry) >>18,000 AFRICAN AMERICAN CIVIL WAR SAILORS IDENTIFIED >>Approximately 18,000 African American sailors who served in the Civil War >>have been identified and will be commemorated in a ceremony at the U.S. >>Navy Memorial, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C., at 1 p.m. EST on >>Friday, Nov. 17, 2000. >>Vice Adm. Edward Moore Jr., the Navy's senior African American flag >>officer, currently serving as commander, Naval Surface Force Pacific, and >>National Park Service (NPS) Director Robert Stanton, will join Dr. William >>Dudley, director of the Naval Historical Center, to mark the formal >>announcement Friday. >>This is nearly twice the number of African American sailors researchers >>expected to find when their search began. Authorities originally assumed >>that about 10,000 had participated in the Civil War, but the Naval >>Historical Center, in conjunction with a Howard University study and the >>National Park Service, documented an additional 8,000 African American >>participants. >>Over the course of the Civil War, 18,000 African American men, and more >>than a dozen African American women, served in the U.S. Navy, about 15 >>percent of the total enlisted force. These sailors served on almost every >>one of the nearly 700 Navy vessels. Eight African American sailors earned >>the Medal of Honor for their heroism in battle. >>A team of researchers from Howard University's Department of History, >>headed by Joseph P. Reidy, professor of history and associate dean of the >>Graduate School, examined hundreds of thousands of pages of naval records >>housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., for evidence about >>African American sailors. Advised by a committee of experts in Civil War >>naval history from the Naval Historical Center, the NPS, the National >>Archives and the Smithsonian Institution, the researchers systematically >>pieced together the history of the African American sailors in the Civil >>War Navy. >>The database was compiled from surviving personnel records, rendezvous >>reports and ship's muster rolls, and then compared with the Navy's Index to >>Service Histories prepared by the Navy Department during the World War II >>era. The research continues today as the partners examine pension files in >>order to supplement this list of names with a more complete record of >>information about the experience of the naval enlistees and their families >>throughout the Civil War era. >>The sailors' names and military history will be incorporated into the Civil >>War Soldiers and Sailors System Database (CWSS). Personal information, >>naval service and muster records included in the database are accessible >>through the Internet at http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/. CWSS is the product >>of a partnership formed among the Navy, the NPS, and Howard University in >>1993. >>The CWSS is a cooperative effort by the NPS and several other public and >>private partners, to computerize information about the Civil War into a >>database containing basic facts about servicemen who served on both sides >>during the Civil War. The goal of the CWSS is to increase the American >>people's understanding of this decisive era in American history by making >>this information widely accessible. The CWSS will enable the public to >>make a personal link between themselves and history. >>For more information contact Navy Lt. Steven T. Gibson, public affairs >>officer, Naval Historical Center at (202) 433-0412. For more information >>on CWSS, visit <a >>href="http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss">http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss</a> . For >>more information on Naval History, visit <a >>href="http://www.history.navy.mil">http://www.history.navy.mil</a> . >>-END- >>