Delaware Civil War Bluejackets:

The Delaware Genealogical Society (DGS) and the Delaware African American Historical and Genealogical Society (DEAAHGS) have partnered with the United Kingdom (UK) Northumbria University and the University of Sheffield research project titled Bluejackets: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the United States Navy, 1861-1865.

Our local researchers, Ken Finlayson and Mark Weinberg, from DGS, and Rosalyn Green from DEAAHGS, have now published Delaware Civil War Bluejackets: Race, Punishment, and Post-War Lives, a report that examines the patterns of recruitment, post-war genealogy, and punishment onboard one specific ship, the USS Juniata, and how those punishments affected African American and White sailors.

The Delaware project adds critical new insights by providing genealogical research on Delaware African-American Civil War sailors to determine the extent of underlying discrimination, treatment, and post-war genealogy outcomes. 

Surprisingly, the analysis confirmed that while there was no systemic discrimination in the recruitment process, the 29 Black sailors in Juniata’s 161-man crew were punished more than white sailors. Deep research on the details of the underlying type and trends of offenses provides fascinating insights and surprises into racial differences on this one vessel during the Civil War.

This standalone report is available now in PDF format and includes a list of the 307 sailors. Listen to the podcast to learn more. Two of the tables in the report have been transformed into searchable data tables, to make research and analysis easier. The report’s methodology also provides genealogical tips on researching Civil War sailor records. Use the links to the right to access all of these resources.

The primary goal of the UK project is to transcribe and produce publicly available data on all 118,000 U.S. currently digitized Civil War sailors’ records. It seeks to create a searchable Civil War Sailor public database of sailor data with links to other records such as enlistment, pension, and other wartime data.

DGS and DEAAHGS are privileged to be part of this important project. Additional information is available at the UK Civil War Bluejackets website at https://civilwarbluejackets.com/ and the project’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CivilWarBluejackets/.

Delaware Civil War Bluejackets: Race, Punishment, and Post-War Lives: Report and Podcast

Delaware African American Full Name List (searchable data table)

USS Juniata Muster Roll, 16 July 1864 (searchable data table)

USS Juniata Punishment by Sailor (searchable data table)

Resources for further research