Crew

Siah Carter

Siah Carter was an African American slave who was born in Charles City, Virginia. Before running away and being enlisted aboard the USS Monitor, he was working on a Shirley plantation in Virginia which was owned by a Confederate Army colonel. Once he came aboard, he was given a job as a coal heaver and an assistant to the cook.

Siah Carter. Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Mariners’ Museum

While working in the close quarters and intense heat, he stated that the work on the ship was often as difficult as when he was on the plantation and that the white crew around him did not treat him much better than his old master. However, Carter worked on other Union vessels after the sinking of the Monitor and has been recorded as speaking of the utter feeling of freedom and peace that he felt being away from his master and working for the Union.