Episode 2: The First African-American Medal of Honor Recipient is Missing

On Christmas day, 1863, a Union ship was attacked by Confederate artillery near Charleston, South Carolina. An hour-long artillery battle ensued. Within the first 15 minutes, three Union sailors were dead. But the crew soon turned the battle in their favor, as individual feats of heroism by sailors turned the tide. One of those sailors was an escaped slave who enlisted immediately after escaping. His name was Robert Blake. Robert was the powderman for one of the cannons. He valiantly moved between the ship's powder magazine and the gun crews, bringing exactly what powder they needed for their particular gun, and in so doing, enabled the ship to keep up its artillery barrage. He did this while he and the ship were under heavy fire. For his actions that day he received the Medal of Honor--the first African-American recipient of the nation's highest military award. His grave deserves to be honored, but no one knows what happened to him. A true American hero, lost in the fog of history. Also, check out this great article mentioned in the podcast by Professor Joseph Reidy: https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/fall/black-sailors-1.html