Civil War Bluejackets: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the United States Navy

内战蓝夹克：美国海军的种族、阶级和民族

• 批准号: AH/W002744/1
• 负责人: David Gleeson
• 金额: $ 88.55万
• 依托单位: Northumbria University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FW002744%2F1
• 关键词: Civil; War; Bluejackets; Race; Class

The story of common sailors in the United States 'Union' Navy (USN), the 'Bluejackets' (so named for their distinctive shell-jacket uniform) has been understudied in the history of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The 118,000 or so Bluejackets, over 30 percent of whom were British or Irish, and c.15 percent were African American, waged war against the Confederate States, through the maintenance of a blockade along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and support of the land war effort through control of the rivers of the American interior. The Civil War Bluejackets project (CWB) uses publicly available digitised ship muster rolls, which included information such as name, age, and place of birth, in innovative ways to provide a new history of these sailors in the US 'Union' Navy by focusing on the experiences of British, Irish, and African American sailors to tell us more about race, ethnicity and class in mid-nineteenth century America. Working with project partner the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean & Ecosystem Studies (CICOES), who have used USN records through crowdsourced citizen-supported research to analyse climate-change data, CWB brings together historians and information scientists to produce a new crowdsourced Civil War Sailor Internet Resource, publicly accessible through an informational website (www.civilwarbluejackets.com). It promotes research in the history of sailors, the Civil War, and the social history of the 19th century. It is also useful for those interested in family history, particularly African American genealogists, because many of the formerly enslaved first appeared in their own right with full names on ship musters as they sought to make their black lives matter claiming equality through naval service. CWB provides a mass analysis of digitised data, opening research avenues that simply are not possible through traditional direct archival research.Through this exploitation of big data, CWB's analysis helps us understand better the dynamics of racial, ethnic, and class identities in mid-19th century America. The USN recruited in port cities, thus attracting predominantly urban working class, often immigrant, crews. As the war progressed to become one for emancipation after 1 January 1863, recruitment of African Americans grew substantially. Naval vessels became increasingly multiracial as well as multiethnic. In contrast, African Americans who served in the US Union Army did so in racially segregated regiments with white officers. Unlike Union soldiers, Bluejackets of all races and ethnicities lived together in close quarters over long periods of time. Their experiences provide an excellent case study to examine race relations among working-class Americans in the mid-19th century. The muster rolls alone provide the opportunity to measure fully how integrated the navy was, but linking the sailors on them to other records, particularly pension files, provides for deeper analysis of racial, ethnic, and class identities and, most significantly, if and how much they changed over time. Also, from the mid-17th century, ships were often hotbeds of radical ideas and practices. Despite a hierarchical structure, with the captain being the virtual dictator of life onboard, there remained elements of equality among the crew. Skills often trumped traditional class and racial boundaries. Black sailors could have higher ranks than white ones and could order white men to complete certain tasks and chores. CWB will also examine how traditions of seafaring work in the USN, as it expanded its size and its racial diversity, changed over the duration the war, and how Bluejackets' experience compares or contrasts with other national navies in the long 19th century (1787-1914). Thus, the project will include other scholars of common navy sailors in a conference, held in collaboration with project partner the US Naval Academy Museum, to explore similarities and differences with the US experience.

美国“联盟”海军（USN）中普通水手的故事，“蓝夹克”（因其独特的贝壳夹克制服而得名）在美国内战（1861-1865）的历史中得到了充分的研究。大约118，000名蓝衫军，其中超过30%是英国人或爱尔兰人，约15%是非洲裔美国人，通过保持对大西洋和海湾沿岸沿着的封锁以及通过控制美国内陆的河流来支持陆地战争，对南部联盟国发动了战争。内战蓝夹克项目（CWB）使用公开的数字化船舶集合名册，其中包括姓名，年龄和出生地等信息，以创新的方式提供这些水手在美国“联盟”海军的新历史，重点是英国，爱尔兰和非洲裔美国水手的经验，告诉我们更多关于种族，民族和阶级在19世纪中期美国。与项目合作伙伴气候，海洋和生态系统研究合作研究所（CICOES）合作，通过众包公民支持的研究使用USN记录来分析气候变化数据，CWB汇集了历史学家和信息科学家，以制作一个新的众包内战水手互联网资源，可通过信息网站（www.civilwarbluejackets.com）公开访问。它促进水手，内战和19世纪世纪的社会史的历史研究。它也是有用的那些感兴趣的家族史，特别是非洲裔美国人系谱学家，因为许多以前被奴役的第一次出现在自己的权利与全名的船舶集合，因为他们试图使他们的黑人生命的问题，要求平等，通过海军服务。CWB提供了大量的数字化数据分析，开辟了传统的直接档案研究无法实现的研究途径。通过对大数据的利用，CWB的分析有助于我们更好地了解世纪中期美国种族，民族和阶级身份的动态。美国海军在港口城市招募，因此吸引了主要是城市工人阶级，通常是移民，船员。随着战争在1863年1月1日之后发展成为解放战争，非裔美国人的招募大幅增加。海军舰艇变得越来越多种族和多民族。相比之下，在美国联邦军队服役的非洲裔美国人是在种族隔离的军团中服役的，军官是白色。与联邦士兵不同，所有种族和民族的蓝衫军长期以来都生活在一起。他们的经历为研究19世纪中期美国工人阶级的种族关系提供了一个很好的案例。仅凭征兵名册就可以全面衡量海军的融合程度，但将名册上的水手与其他记录（特别是养老金档案）联系起来，可以更深入地分析种族、民族和阶级身份，最重要的是，可以分析他们是否随时间发生了变化，以及变化的程度。此外，从世纪中期开始，船只往往是激进思想和实践的温床。尽管有等级结构，船长实际上是船上生活的独裁者，但船员之间仍然存在平等的因素。技能常常超越传统的阶级和种族界限。黑人水手可以拥有比白色水手更高的军衔，可以命令白色人完成某些任务和杂务。CWB还将研究如何在美国海军的航海工作的传统，因为它扩大了其规模和种族多样性，在战争期间改变，以及如何蓝夹克的经验比较或对比与其他国家的海军在漫长的19世纪（1787-1914）。因此，该项目将包括与项目合作伙伴美国海军学院博物馆合作举行的会议上的其他普通海军水手的学者，以探讨与美国经验的相似之处和不同之处。