jon_norstog
02-14-2022, 01:55
This is my post for Black History month. Who was the first African-American to command a U.S. warship? There may be other contenders, as the Navy was a lot looser on racial matters than the land forces or the general society. There was Robert Smalls who made off with the river steamer Planter in South Carolina and turned her over to the Union side. My candidate is Michael Healy, who commanded the Revenue Cutter Bear, patrolling Alaska and the Bering and Arctic Seas in the decades after the US purchased Alaska. They called him ?Hell Roaring Mike.? He was a hard-working captain who served from 1865 to 1904.
Healy was born a slave on his father?s plantation in Georgia. His parents were Michael Healy of Roscommon Ireland and Mary Eliza Smith, a woman Healy ?owned? as a slave. They presented themselves to their community as man and wife and had ten children, nine of whom lived to adulthood. Who knows what went on between the parents. They did what they could to get them out of slave country and the slave system, sending them all sent north for education, mostly to catholic boarding schools.
All those kids grew up to make something of themselves. All four of the oldest boys graduated from Holy Cross and went into the Church. The oldest, James, was ordained and eventually became the Bishop of Portland ME. Patrick became a Jesuit, got a PhD. And ended up in 1874 as President of Georgetown College. Sherwood also earned a PhD, was an expert in canon law and eventually became Rector at Boston Cathedral.
The three sisters took Holy Orders and two of them stuck with it, The oldest, Mary, dropped out and married an Irish guy. Luck of the Irish.
The parents, Michael and Mary, died within months of each other in 1850, leaving James as head of the family. James tried his best to get Michael Healy, who was ten years old at the time, to go to Holy Cross and join the church.
It didn?t work out that way. To say the least! Mike went to sea as a cabin boy when he was 16, sailing on the American Clipper Jumna in the east Indies trade. After nine years at sea he came back to see his family and along the way signed up with the Revenue Cutter Service. It was 1864 and the Civil War had created a demand for sailors, especially if they were officer material. He was commissioned as a ?Third Lieutenant? and was on ?several cutters? on the east coast. The record goes dark for a while. After the Alaska Purchase, the Revenue Marine was assigned to serve as the US presence in the new territory. Healy was detailed to the Reliance and the Reliance was detailed to Alaskan waters. The Reliance sailed ?round the Horn and homeported at Sitka by 1868. He was transferred to the Cutter Lincoln out of San Francisco, promoted and transferred to the Active out of New Bedford.
In 1875 he was sent to Alaska as Second Officer on the new cutter Rush. He got his first command, the cutter Chandler in 1877, then in 1880 was given the larger cutter Corwin and in 1883 was promoted to captain.
In 1885 Healy was given command of the Revenue Cutter Bear, a ship purpose-built as a sealer for Arctic waters, then acquired by the Revenue Marine for Alaskan service. He was Captain of the Bear for nine years, and by most accounts a good one. The Revenue Service was all the government presence the US had in Alaska and the Bear did it all. Law enforcement, protection of fisheries, medical services, US Mail delivery, floating federal courthouse, you name it. Captain Healy brought a herd of Russian reindeer to Alaska and distributed them among the Native villages as a response to widespread hunger one year; they took hold and there were half a million domesticated deer in Alaska by 1940
Healy lost his command in 1895 through a bogus court-martial and was on the beach for four years until the gold rush brought up a need for more cutters in Alaska. He served four more years in Alaska waters and then retired. He died soon after that.
Healy could more or less pass for white and nobody in the Revenue Service made much of an issue of his race. In the 1890s, when so many states were adopting ?black codes? Healy would have lost most of his rights, at least in the South. Under President Wilson, the US military made great strides in disbanding Black regiments, reducing the numbers of Black soldiers and sailors, and assigning those remaining to menial duty. And it was a long time before anyone who would now be considered ?African American? commanded a US warship. It was not until 1961 that Samuel L Graveley Jr. became CO of the USS Theodore E Chandler DD 717.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_A._Healy
https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Notable-People/All/Article/1848494/captain-michael-a-healy-usrcs/
jn
Healy was born a slave on his father?s plantation in Georgia. His parents were Michael Healy of Roscommon Ireland and Mary Eliza Smith, a woman Healy ?owned? as a slave. They presented themselves to their community as man and wife and had ten children, nine of whom lived to adulthood. Who knows what went on between the parents. They did what they could to get them out of slave country and the slave system, sending them all sent north for education, mostly to catholic boarding schools.
All those kids grew up to make something of themselves. All four of the oldest boys graduated from Holy Cross and went into the Church. The oldest, James, was ordained and eventually became the Bishop of Portland ME. Patrick became a Jesuit, got a PhD. And ended up in 1874 as President of Georgetown College. Sherwood also earned a PhD, was an expert in canon law and eventually became Rector at Boston Cathedral.
The three sisters took Holy Orders and two of them stuck with it, The oldest, Mary, dropped out and married an Irish guy. Luck of the Irish.
The parents, Michael and Mary, died within months of each other in 1850, leaving James as head of the family. James tried his best to get Michael Healy, who was ten years old at the time, to go to Holy Cross and join the church.
It didn?t work out that way. To say the least! Mike went to sea as a cabin boy when he was 16, sailing on the American Clipper Jumna in the east Indies trade. After nine years at sea he came back to see his family and along the way signed up with the Revenue Cutter Service. It was 1864 and the Civil War had created a demand for sailors, especially if they were officer material. He was commissioned as a ?Third Lieutenant? and was on ?several cutters? on the east coast. The record goes dark for a while. After the Alaska Purchase, the Revenue Marine was assigned to serve as the US presence in the new territory. Healy was detailed to the Reliance and the Reliance was detailed to Alaskan waters. The Reliance sailed ?round the Horn and homeported at Sitka by 1868. He was transferred to the Cutter Lincoln out of San Francisco, promoted and transferred to the Active out of New Bedford.
In 1875 he was sent to Alaska as Second Officer on the new cutter Rush. He got his first command, the cutter Chandler in 1877, then in 1880 was given the larger cutter Corwin and in 1883 was promoted to captain.
In 1885 Healy was given command of the Revenue Cutter Bear, a ship purpose-built as a sealer for Arctic waters, then acquired by the Revenue Marine for Alaskan service. He was Captain of the Bear for nine years, and by most accounts a good one. The Revenue Service was all the government presence the US had in Alaska and the Bear did it all. Law enforcement, protection of fisheries, medical services, US Mail delivery, floating federal courthouse, you name it. Captain Healy brought a herd of Russian reindeer to Alaska and distributed them among the Native villages as a response to widespread hunger one year; they took hold and there were half a million domesticated deer in Alaska by 1940
Healy lost his command in 1895 through a bogus court-martial and was on the beach for four years until the gold rush brought up a need for more cutters in Alaska. He served four more years in Alaska waters and then retired. He died soon after that.
Healy could more or less pass for white and nobody in the Revenue Service made much of an issue of his race. In the 1890s, when so many states were adopting ?black codes? Healy would have lost most of his rights, at least in the South. Under President Wilson, the US military made great strides in disbanding Black regiments, reducing the numbers of Black soldiers and sailors, and assigning those remaining to menial duty. And it was a long time before anyone who would now be considered ?African American? commanded a US warship. It was not until 1961 that Samuel L Graveley Jr. became CO of the USS Theodore E Chandler DD 717.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_A._Healy
https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Notable-People/All/Article/1848494/captain-michael-a-healy-usrcs/
jn