Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Life-Saving Station

Born in 1842 on Roanoke Island, Richard Etheridge spent much of his early life enslaved along North Carolina’s eastern shore. 

It was here Etheridge learned how to read and write, possibly as a student of his enslaver, John B. Etheridge. Richard remained here until the Civil War, when U.S. Army troops liberated Roanoke Island and established a colony for freed people of the region.  

By the autumn of 1863, Black men from Roanoke Island had already begun enlisting in the army. Their units were designated as the 1st and 2nd North Carolina Infantry regiments. Among the enlistees was Etheridge, who joined the 2nd. In 1864, his unit was re-designated as the 36th United States Colored Troops (USCT) and sent to the warfront in Virginia. Etheridge served through the rest of the conflict until he mustered out in 1866.    

Upon his return to North Carolina, Etheridge found work in agriculture, fishing and, eventually, as a boat pilot. In 1875, he joined the United States Life Saving Service (USLSS), which became his final career. It was in this role that Etheridge demonstrated his bravery and intelligence to senior officers. Within five years of joining the USLSS, he rose to the position of Keeper of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station, becoming the first African American to do so. His command consisted of an all-Black crew as the station’s white crewmen left in protest, refusing to serve as subordinates to an African American officer.  

Years later, in 1896, Etheridge led his crew through the rescue of the crew of the grounded E.S. Newman, which was on its way to Norfolk, Virginia, when it sailed into a hurricane. For this act, Etheridge was posthumously awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal by the United States Coast Guard in 1996.