Affidavits

These affidavits in this collection confirm the service of African American sailors during the Civil War. In them, white citizens of Massachusetts in good standing, swore under oath that the black person named in the document served aboard the U.S. ship listed in the capacity stated.

Three of the documents were issued on the same day, February 22, 1869, and two of these three relate to one sailor; that he served as an ordinary seaman aboard two different ships: the U.S. Potomac and the U. S. New London.