Order of the Secretary of the Navy to Flag-Officer Du
Pont, U. S. Navy, authorizing the employment of contrabands on board ships of
war.
Navy Department, September 25, 1861.
Sir: The
Department finds it necessary to adopt a regulation with respect to the large
and increasing number of persons of color, commonly known as
"contraband," now subsisted at the navy yards and on board of ships
of war. They can neither be expelled from the service to which they have
resorted nor can they be maintained unemployed; and it is not proper that they
should be compelled to render necessary and regular services without a stated
compensation. You are therefore authorized, when their services can be made
useful, to enlist them for the naval service under the same forms and
regulations as apply to other enlistments. They will be allowed, however, no
higher rating than boys, at a compensation of $10 per month and one ration a
day.
I am, respectfully,
your obedient servant,
Gideon Welles.
Flag Officer S. F. Du
Pont,
Appointed to Command Southern Atlantic Squadron,
Wilmington, Del.
SOURCE: Official
Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion,
Series I, Volume 12, p. 210
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