Image: Letter Jesse Wilkinson to Sec Nav George Bancroft 6 Dec 1845 re composition of the shipyard ordinary "majority are slaves"

Description: This letter reveals enslaved workers at Norfolk Navy Yard were assigned as “Landsmen” and “Ordinary Seamen' on the payrolls of "the Ordinary”. On 6 December 1845 Commodore Jesse Wilkinson confirmed Norfolk Navy Yard long standing practice to the Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft“that a majority of them [blacks] are negro slaves, and that a large portion of those employed in the Ordinary for many years, have been of that description, but by what authority I am unable to say as nothing can be found in the records of my office on the subject – These men have been examined by the Surgeon of the Yard and regularly Shipped [enlisted] for twelve months"
Title: Letter Jesse Wilkinson to Sec Nav George Bancroft 6 Dec 1845 re composition of the shipyard ordinary "majority are slaves"
Credit: National Archives and Records Administration M125 RG 260, Department of the Navy, "Captains Letters" Volume 325, Letter number 84, dated 6 Dec 1845
Author: NARA
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No