It might surprise some readers to find out that there were two confirmed (and perhaps some other unconfirmed) females who enlisted (yes, regularly enlisted, and not just employed by the Navy Department, as many other females were) in the Union Navy, both of whom were African Americans. Thanks to the work of Howard University researcher, Lisa Y. King, we know that these two, Ann Stokes and Lucy Berrington, are on the rolls as Navy enlistees, and not "contrabands." As a matter of fact Ann Stokes later received a Federal government pension for her Naval service.
Researcher King notes that the clerks at the Pension Department were unprepared for this unusual occurence, and assumed, originally that she was a male, but she informed them of her status by replying thus: "Sir, I am a woman drawing a pension on my own services as a nurse in a hospital. Ann Stokes."