Robert Blake was a Union Navy sailor during the American Civil War and a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.

About 400 slaves from the plantation, including Robert Blake, were taken as contraband onto Union ships and sent to North Island in Winyah Bay.

While on North Island, Robert Blake answered a call for twenty single men to serve on the USS Vermont.

[1][2] By December 25, 1863, Blake had been transferred to the gunboat USS Marblehead and was serving as a steward to Lieutenant Commander Richard Worsam Meade.

As Lieutenant Commander Meade jumped from his bed and ran onto the quarterdeck to give the order to return fire, Blake followed behind him, handed him his uniform, and urged him to change out of his night clothes.

Blake had no assigned combat role and could have retreated to relative safety below decks, but he instead chose to take over the powder boy's duties.