Wikipedia

Benjamin Jackson (sailor)

Benjamin Jackson (January 2, 1835 – August 20, 1915) was a Canadian sailor, farmer, and decorated American Civil War veteran. His parents escaped slavery in the US as refugees of the War of 1812 and raised him in a small community of Black Nova Scotians. He began his career as a commercial sailor at 16 years old in 1851 and started a farm shortly after getting married in 1859. He and his wife had five children, three of whom survived into adulthood.

Benjamin Jackson
Black and white photo of a black man in white shirt and vest
Benjamin Jackson c. 1910
Born(1835-01-02)January 2, 1835
Horton Township,
Colony of Nova Scotia,
British North America
DiedAugust 20, 1915(1915-08-20) (aged 80)
Lockhartville, Nova Scotia, Canada
Resting placeStoney Hill Cemetery, Lockhartville
Occupation(s)Sailor, farmer, peddler
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
BranchUnion Navy
Service years1864–1865
RoleGun captain
UnitWest Gulf Blockading Squadron
Commands heldGun #10, USS Richmond
Conflict
AwardsCivil War Campaign Medal

Jackson served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War between May 1864 and June 1865. Most of that time he was deployed in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America coastline along the Gulf of Mexico as part of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. As a gun captain aboard the USS Richmond, Jackson served in the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. He also disarmed multiple naval mines and once picked up a live grenade and threw it from the deck of the Richmond, an act that earned him a medal. He is credited with saving multiple lives during his service. He developed chronic bronchitis and suffered a serious hand injury and received an honourable discharge and a Civil War Campaign Medal. He likely earned at least US$300 (equivalent to $7,424 in 2023) by serving in the place of a drafted US citizen and US$900 prize money by capturing multiple blockade runners.

Jackson returned home to his family after the war and lived the rest of his life in Lockhartville, Nova Scotia. He retired from commercial sailing in 1875, but continued managing his 27-acre farm and selling fish, vegetables, and other goods. He developed and maintained relationships throughout Hants and Kings Counties, including a friendship with fellow navy veteran, William Hall. Jackson earned a Civil War pension for more than 50 years, though he had to navigate the intricacies of the US Pension Office system to maintain and increase payments as he became eligible.

His wife of 55 years preceded him in death by two years and his funeral "was the largest seen in Lockhartville for many years", according to his obituary. His grave remained unmarked until 2010, when a headstone was unveiled at an event attended by his great-great-granddaughter, Nova Scotia provincial government officials, and a Civil War reenactment regiment. As of 1999, one of the eight history markers on the Mathieu Da Costa African Heritage Trail is dedicated to his story. Ben Jackson Road in Hantsport, Nova Scotia, is also named in his honour.

Early life

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Benjamin Jackson was born January 2, 1835,[a] in a log house in a part of Horton Township later renamed Lockhartville, Nova Scotia.[2] His parents escaped slavery in the US to British North America as refugees of the War of 1812 and settled in Lower Horton. Jackson was one of 39 children in that community's ten Black Nova Scotian families; in 1850, their parents petitioned local leaders to build a school.[3] At 16 years old in 1851, he took his first commission as a mariner, shipping out of Horton on the brig Chalerodonia. He served on several voyages with its Horton-based captain, George King, who was also a shipowner.[2] He also sailed under Captains John Toy and Benjamin Nason.[4] In adulthood, Jackson was more than six feet tall.[3]

In January 1859, Jackson married Rachel Carter of nearby Windsor Plains, an area that was later divided into Three Mile Plains and Five Mile Plains. The couple founded a farm together in Lower Horton and Jackson stopped sailing for a few years.[5] They had daughters Louisa A. Jackson in 1863 and Georgina Jackson in 1864.[6]

American Civil War

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Enlistment

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USS Richmond pursuing blockade runners in 1864

In December 1863, Jackson left his farm to accept a position as ship's cook on the Saint John, New Brunswick-based Marlborough, sailing from Liverpool to New York City.[2] On May 21, 1864, while in New York, he enlisted in the Union Navy for a three-year commission in the American Civil War.[4] Jackson was assigned to the USS North Carolina,[3] a 74-gun receiving ship stationed at the New York Navy Yard.[7] Having enlisted as a substitute for a drafted American named Lewis Saunders, Jackson likely received a bounty of at least US$300 (equivalent to $7,424 in 2023).[b] For the duration of his commission, he served under Saunders's name. Jackson sent his enlistment money to his wife via a justice of the peace in Kings County, Nova Scotia.[8]

At this point in the Civil War, the West Gulf Blockading Squadron of the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America was restricting access to over 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) of Gulf of Mexico coastline between St. Andrews Bay, Florida, and the Texas–Mexico border.[9] Commanded by Rear Admiral David Farragut,[3] West Gulf was the most active of the four Union blockading squadrons.[10] In addition to their blockading assignments further from the coastline, the squadron engaged Confederate military in bays, rivers, and straits.[9] To correct consistent staffing shortages, the squadron began actively recruiting Black sailors.[11] Jackson soon left New York, advancing to a new post on the USS Potomac, an 88-gun frigate actively blockading off the coast of Veracruz, Mexico.[12]

Union Blockade and Battle of Mobile Bay

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Gun deck of the USS Richmond

Jackson was soon promoted, transferring to the USS Richmond,[3][4] a steam-powered, wooden sloop-of-war stationed off the heavily-fortified and Confederate-controlled Mobile Bay.[13] Jackson's position on the Richmond was captain of gun #10, a role he continued to serve during the Battle of Mobile Bay.[4] On August 5, 1864, Farragut commanded his fleet into the bay, with the Richmond lashed to the starboard side of the wooden steamship Port Royal. With the fleet under fire from Fort Morgan, the monitor Tecumseh struck a naval mine and sank in under one minute. To avoid the same fate, the sloop-of-war Brooklyn changed course and nearly struck the bow of the Richmond. Confusion cascaded to the rest of the fleet until Farragut ordered the ships forward through the field of mines. At the time, mines were called torpedoes. Following the command "Damn the torpedoes ... full speed ahead", the Richmond proceeded into the bay and fired upon four Confederate steamships, all of which were captured by the US fleet. At the end of the day, the Richmond reported no casualties and little damage.[14]

Following the main day of battle, the Richmond and other ships began the Siege of Fort Morgan by bombarding Fort Morgan throughout day and night as Union Army troops attacked on land. After the fort surrendered August 23, 1864, the Richmond continued operating in Mobile Bay and Pensacola Bay.[14] That September, Jackson served several days on a salvage crew working under difficult conditions on the wreck of a blockade runner. He developed bronchitis shortly thereafter and was admitted to a hospital for treatment.[c] A month after his hospitalization ended, Jackson sustained an injury to his right hand, which was likely serious.[16] He was sent to a navy hospital in Pensacola, then transferred to another in New York.[4] Documentation of the injury varies in both cause and severity. One report linked it to the Battle of Mobile Bay. Two reports claimed Jackson was injured while removing a mine from the Mississippi, one of them stating that the injury was caused by a mine explosion.[17] Jackson disarmed multiple mines while serving in the navy.[18]

Summary and discharge

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During his navy service, Jackson picked up a live grenade from the deck of his ship and threw it overboard, likely saving the vessel and multiple lives;[19] he later received a medal for this action.[18] Jackson is credited with saving several lives during multiple engagements with Confederate forces.[20] Although Jackson had enlisted for a three-year commission with the navy, he was honourably discharged after one year and twelve days on June 2, 1865, for "chronic bronchitis of uncertain duration", according to his discharge form.[17] He returned home to Nova Scotia with a Civil War Campaign Medal and US$900 (equivalent to $17,914 in 2023) prize money from blockade runners he and his fellow sailors seized in the Gulf of Mexico.[21]

Late life

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Employment and family

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Like most Black British North American Civil War Union Navy veterans,[d] Jackson returned to his home country.[22] Jackson came home to Lockhartville, resuming work as a mariner on multiple Nova Scotia-based vessels on trips out of nearby Hantsport to the UK and Mediterranean Sea.[23] Most of those ships were owned by either Shubael Dimock or Ezra Churchill.[24] Jackson wore a glove while in public to conceal his hand injury.[3] He developed and maintained relationships with many people throughout Hants and Kings Counties,[20] including William Hall,[3] a fellow navy veteran who was also raised in Horton by Black refugee parents.[25]

Jackson and his wife had three more children: Benjamin B. Jackson in 1868, Margaret M. Jackson in 1871, and James William Jackson in 1872.[6] Both Benjamin and James died in childhood.[3] Jackson retired from commercial sailing in 1875 when he was about 40 years old.[26] He continued working his 27-acre farm and started selling fish, vegetables, and other goods as a peddler, transporting them on a black horse named Jack.[27] He was still working as a peddler by 1907.[28]

Pension issues

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Benjamin Jackson with his horse, Jack c. 1910

To supplement his income, Jackson started receiving a military pension of US$4 (equivalent to $79.62 in 2023) a month upon discharge from the navy. This amount was calculated to compensate for losing half the function of one hand.[16] Because he served under the name Lewis Saunders, the payments came to him under that name.[4] On January 25, 1879, he applied for an additional pension for disability, as he was eligible for a lump sum of more than US$600 (equivalent to $19,620 in 2023). In order to prove to the US Pension Office that he was the same person who served under the Saunders name, in May he submitted a deposition from childhood friend and fellow sailor Daniel Crowell, who had visited Jackson aboard the USS Richmond and noted everyone on board knew him as Saunders. Jackson also paid US$10 to hire a pension agent in Washington, DC, to submit his application. The issue was not settled until 1887 when the Pension Office received corroborating letters from the US consul in Halifax that added Jackson was "a worthy man instead of a nuisance whenever he comes to town".[29]

Jackson kept track of legislation at the US Congress and applied for increases when eligible,[28] though the Pension Office raised the Saunders name issue almost every time.[29] The pension increased to US$8 a month in 1888, then $10 in 1890, then $14 in 1892.[28] He later increased it to $17 a month, then $20 circa 1910,[4] by which time he was partially blind.[28] Historian Richard M. Reid points out that Jackson's successive and successful applications indicate not only that Jackson was determined, but also that the war left him with real disabilities.[30] Reid also generalized Jackson's experience as illustrative of the risk and reward associated with Civil War military service. Jackson received more than US$5,000 over 50 years, but risked injury and death to be eligible. In his case, he was partially disabled for more than half his life.[28]

Second marriage and death

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Rachel Jackson died in May 1913 after 55 years of marriage. Jackson remarried in July 1914 to 49-year-old sailor's widow Mary Eliza Martin. It is possible that this union was like those of other aging Civil War veterans, many of whom married younger women who promised domestic care in exchange for the possibility of a Civil War widow's pension upon the veteran's death.[28] Benjamin Jackson died in Lockhartville on August 20, 1915,[20] and was buried according to his wishes beside Rachel Jackson in Stoney Hill Cemetery.[31] His obituary claimed that the funeral "was the largest seen in Lockhartville for many years".[4] The grave was left unmarked,[18] as was common for Civil War vets from Nova Scotia.[19] Mary's pension application was rejected on the grounds that they were not married prior to June 27, 1890, per the Dependent and Disability Pension Act.[28]

Legacy

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On June 12, 2010, a headstone at Jackson's grave was unveiled by one of his great-great-granddaughters at a Civil War-era funeral service.[20] Also present were members of the Royal Canadian Legion, Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor Mayann Francis, Premier Darrell Dexter, and Percy Paris, minister of African Nova Scotian affairs and minister tourism, culture and heritage.[32] The headstone was procured by the five-member Committee to Honour Ben Jackson, who felt that Jackson had long deserved one.[18] The service was performed in period costume by the 20th Maine Reenactment Infantry Regiment.[33] The group formed in New Brunswick to collaborate with the Maritime Civil War Living History Association in locating Civil War veteran graves in the Atlantic provinces. By June 7, 2010, the 20th Maine had performed about 20 funerals across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. On June 12, they planned to perform three more in Kings County. At each one, they fire volleys with replica muskets and adorn graves with Grand Army of the Republic plaques. A chaplain also speaks.[19]

In 1999, Parks Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage recognized the Mathieu Da Costa African Heritage Trail in western Nova Scotia as a point of historical significance, making it Canada's first Black history trail.[34] One of its eight history markers is dedicated to Jackson's story. It is located at the Hantsport School in Hantsport.[3] Ben Jackson Road in that community is named in Jackson's honour.[35]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ There is some uncertainty about the exact date of Jackson's birth.[1]
  2. ^ Jackson's obituary claims that he was pressed into service aboard a battleship while on shore in New York. Historian Richard M. Reid dismisses the claim, citing Jackson's own account from his pension form and other post-war documentation with the US Pension Office.[8]
  3. ^ Bronchitis was more common among sailors than soldiers during the American Civil War.[15]
  4. ^ About half of the Black British North American Civil War Union Army veterans stayed in the US.[22]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Reid 2014, p. 264n88.
  2. ^ a b c Reid 2014, p. 197.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i VANSDA.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Kings County Advertiser 2010.
  5. ^ Reid 2014, p. 197; VANSDA.
  6. ^ a b Lythgoe 2021.
  7. ^ Bowen-Hassell et al. 1970, p. 107.
  8. ^ a b Reid 2014, pp. 197–198.
  9. ^ a b Beeler 2016, p. 2.
  10. ^ Beeler 2016, p. 1.
  11. ^ Beeler 2016, p. 3.
  12. ^ Bowen-Hassell et al. 1970, pp. 362–363; VANSDA.
  13. ^ Kennerly et al. 1976, pp. 102, 104; VANSDA.
  14. ^ a b Kennerly et al. 1976, p. 104.
  15. ^ Reid 2014, p. 265n99.
  16. ^ a b Reid 2014, pp. 198–199.
  17. ^ a b Reid 2014, p. 198.
  18. ^ a b c d Thompson 2010.
  19. ^ a b c Coleman 2010.
  20. ^ a b c d CBC News 2010.
  21. ^ Reid 2014, p. 69; Kings County Advertiser 2010.
  22. ^ a b Reid 2014, p. 211.
  23. ^ Reid 2014, p. 99; Kings County Advertiser 2010.
  24. ^ Reid 2014, p. 265n102; Kings County Advertiser 2010.
  25. ^ Boileau & de Bruin 2024.
  26. ^ Reid 2014, p. 199; VANSDA.
  27. ^ Reid 2014, p. 199; Kings County Advertiser 2010; VANSDA.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g Reid 2014, p. 201.
  29. ^ a b Reid 2014, pp. 199–200.
  30. ^ Reid 2014, p. 199.
  31. ^ Reid 2014, p. 201; VANSDA.
  32. ^ CBC News 2010; Thompson 2010.
  33. ^ CBC News 2010; Coleman 2010.
  34. ^ Smith 2018.
  35. ^ CBC News 2010; VANSDA.

Sources

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  • Beeler, John (Winter 2016). "Lincoln's Trident: The West Gulf Blockading Squadron During the Civil War". Civil War Review. 18 (1). Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  • "Ben Jackson Played a Part in Civil War". The Kings County Advertiser / The Kings County Register. June 7, 2010. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  • Boileau, John; de Bruin, Tabitha (February 20, 2024) [Different version originally published September 21, 2008]. "William Neilson Hall". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  • Bowen-Hassell, E. Gordon; Devlin, Robert J.; Loughlin, Mary F.; Morison, Samuel L.; Patton, John M. (1970). Mooney, James L. (ed.). The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Vol. 5. Washington, DC: Naval History Division. OCLC 1343200608.
  • "Civil War Sailor Honoured". CBC News. June 12, 2010. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  • Coleman, Ed (June 7, 2010). "20th Maine to Honour Our Civil War Contributions". The Kings County Advertiser / The Kings County Register. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  • Kennerly, Roland S.; Mann, Raymond A.; Loughlin, Mary F.; Reilly, Jr., John C.; Townsend, Christopher (1976). Mooney, James L. (ed.). The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Vol. 6. Washington, DC: Naval History Division. OCLC 1343200608.
  • Lythgoe, Darrin (March 2, 2021). "Benjamin Jackson". Hantsport Families. Hantsport & Area Historical Society. Archived from the original on February 15, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  • "Panel Locations". VANSDA. Valley African Nova Scotian Development Association. Archived from the original on January 17, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  • Reid, Richard M. (2014). African Canadians in Union Blue: Volunteering for the Cause in the Civil War. Vancouver, British Columbia: UBC Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-2745-4.
  • Smith, Alex (February 7, 2018). "African Nova Scotian Community Developing Heritage Resources" (Press release). Gibson Woods, Nova Scotia. Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  • Thompson, Ashley (June 23, 2010). "Ben Jackson's Recognition Long Overdue". NovaNewsNow.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
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