https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/the-recruitment-of-african-americans-in-the-us-navy-1839.html

This is the actual census of African Americans, both free and slave, in the U.S. Navy in 1839. This is amazing information considering this was antebellum and a large number were in the southern ports. The USS Bradywine had in it's crew forty-eight African Americans in 1839.

It proves that is was not unusual for African Americans to serve in the military prior to the Civil War.