Many of the flotillamen were black, as the navy had no restrictions barring their service, unlike the army and militia. Among them was Charles Ball, who, after escaping from slavery in Georgia and returning to his native Maryland, had joined the flotilla in the Patuxent, working as a seaman and cook. Madison asked Barney if the blacks “would not run on the approach of the British?” After four months on the river and in the woods with his men, Barney gave a sure reply. “No sir,” the commodore said. “They don’t know how to run; they will die by their guns first.”
— Steve Vogel, Through the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks That Saved the Nation
Illustration of a War of 1812 Chesapeake flotillaman by Keith Rocco, commissioned by the National Park Service. I have seen this picture represented as Charles Ball himself, whose likeness is unknown. Ball's memoir and autobiography is available on Internet Archive.
