I am an associate professor of history here the naval academy. My field of research is japanese history, but what i specifically write about is Japanese Military medicine and the experiences of japanese Wounded Soldiers and disabled veterans. Our panel today has two papers about medicine, another paper about experiences of African Americans in naval affairs, and the panels title is from the , africanamericans, disabled soldiers, and combat medical care. We have three presenters today, our first presentation will be christopher, who is giving a presentation titled no arms, no problem, the surprising and somewhat scandalous life of a disabled 19thcentury soldier a sailor. Emeritus andfessor since 2012 has been a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library located in chicago. He is the author of a number of books, including a naval biography, which first appeared in 1972, a gentlemanly and honorable profession, the creation of the u. S. Naval officer for, which was sailored in 1991, and lives in a row navy, 19001945, which was per list by Harvard University press and 2002 published by Harvard University press in 2002. On Current Research centers the comparative study of enlisted men in the u. S. And british navies. Without further or do, christopher mckee. Thank you. I will watch the clock at the back and tie myself. Time myself. As some of you know, i have been working on a project to find real sailors. A lot of history has been written about enlisted men in the navy in the 19th century based on autobiographic biographies of dubious and great salability could i have been ofing to track the expense real enlisted men in the navy. Cant time constraints, i explain what that naval home is good that would take us off on a side track. Event, im very doubtful about all of those great autobiographies from the and all these adventures they relate and so forth. You,tore am about to tell i read this, but i wouldnt have believed it. Everybody im going to tell you can be tied back to a document. Everything really happened. I can shake the document it is linked to. It concerns a young man born in london, dennis, 24 years old when he came to the United States in june of 1847. He was an experienced sailor, so enlisted at princeton he jobhad a fairly responsible at the rank of semen. So we know he was an experienced sailor already. Expatriate russian nobleman, visitedatoly demo. , firedton, and the captain 13 men saluting his honor when he left the ship. 11th done, the 13 gun on the gunisfire blewdennis was manning and off his arms below the elbow. , there is the princeton. Emidov up in the corner. He was upset and sent members of haventourage to try to prosthetic arms created for him in london and paris. They were heavy and awkward and needed work and he was unhappy with them. Dennis kept trying to rejoin the princeton. Seems to misshow the next port, traveling with count demidov. Indid rejoin the princeton time to return to the United States in 1847. Because he was disabled, he was thed into the land United States naval home. He did not stay there long because since he had no arms he had to have a fulltime attendant to feed him and he was , the samee Hospital Building as the naval home in philadelphia. Thereted about two months and then moved to a boarding house in philadelphia. I should have mentioned earlier that in addition to sending him around to find prosthetic arms, he settled an annuity of 80 a year on him. It was an annual payment of 80 a year. And federalack pay pension for his injury and had dov, soey from count demi he moved into a boarding house in philadelphia. The tension was six dollars a month. Pension was six dollars a month. He felt an armless man cant live on six dollars a month. , dennis hasf 1850 relocated himself to washington dc, where he Petitions Congress to begin given a pension of 30 a month. Was by this act blasted in a moment of all future prospects, few can appreciate my gloomy feeling and is fun and see. I quote this as evidence that you cant trust pension applications. They make it sound as helpless as this suggest. Commerce gives him a lifetime pension of 30 a month. In later years, thats raised to 50 a month, then 72 a month, then 1889 to 100 a month. Meanwhile, he still has his money from count demidov. Busy feeling sorry for himself . Not at all. Hes married to a woman from assume they, and we met in philadelphia at the boarding house where he was staying. We guess, we dont know. Later, he hasrs become naturalized as a u. S. Citizen because this is a prerequisite for being employed by the federal government. Census taker comes around, he finds that sarah and, have two children, is working omas istchman th working as a watchman sorry, that is the naval home in philadelphia. He still has his pension. Paid to be a watchman, pension, money from count demidov. That is his only job. He collects rent for Property Owners in the navy yard. Stable onivery capitol hill. And he owns two small frame houses near the navy yard. This is not bad. This is less than 10 years after he is injured. His neighbors know him as a goodlooking man, about blue eyes, light complexion. E has a great personality he has a very outgoing, friendly personality. He is an honest, hardworking man. He is a strong tempered advocate. He is really respected for having overcome a severe disability. On the fifth of october, his neighbors find out that he may be something more than this. He was a confidence man. The previous night, someone who knew him and run into dennis at the Washington Railway station, where dennis tells him hes going to take a train to new york. At this point, his creditors begin comparing notes and discover that he has borrowed upwards of 10,000 from different people over the last several years. He used it to speculating gold. Meanwhile, he has already transfer the two houses on g toeet to some third party protect them from being seized. The rumor is that hes going to new york and taking a steamer to york. We dont know what he really did. 11 months later he turns up again in washington, where he is interviewed by washington star reporter. This guy gets a lot of media coverage. He says he has been in pennsylvania, but not the whole time. Onlyoblem about the debt, 6,000. I will repay every penny of it. He returns to his old job of selling newspaper advertising, but like a lot of promises, the promise to repay his creditors doesnt quite work out. He decides to take advantage of the bankruptcy act of 1867 and the Court Records show he 8,243, which was 6700to 6700 62 622. My lawyer daughter cant figure out why the drop. That cleans off all his debts. He makes a fresh start in life. 1869 in 1877 he works at the treasury department. He has an annual salary of 720 a year, plus his pension, less annuity from count demidov. They have added two more children to the family and have had a child who has died in between. Dennis stays out of trouble for about a decade. In 1878, the washington evening star has a story about a messy real estate transaction, which i wont attempt to unravel, involving the dennis Livery Stable on capitol hill on 3rd street. That is now operating by his son, anatolia. At the end of the story, there is an interesting note, the star reports that, dennis has left the city for fairview, maryland. The story of having his run away with a large amount of money and a woman not his wife it is believed is without foundation. Larget tell you about the sum of money, but i continued that the rest of the story about running away with the woman is all too true. In january, 1879, dennis arrives in my hometown of chicago, and then on the eighth of july a child, George Edward dennis, is born in chicago to, and a woman named Francis Dennis. There is no Francis Dennis legally at this point. This woman is a native of virginia, 34 years younger than thomas. She became pregnant in 1878, and then about this time, the real returns to, sarah, her hometown of allentown, pennsylvania, presumably to live with relatives, and she conveniently dies there about a year later. Thomas and sarah cannot get legal. They are in chicago. They hop the train to milwaukee, where they are married in the chapel of all saints the fiscal cathedral by the dean at the cathedral. 1893, theyntil continue to live in chicago, have no more children, George Edward is their only child. Tells the census taker that his occupation is speculated. Real fact is he watches works as a watchman and then later the federal Customs House in chicago. Federal courthouse and federal Customs House, we have a great tradition and chicago, beautiful and important building. That is not there anymore. It has been replaced by a steel skyscraper. Watchman in as a that building. In 1893, he gets caught in a downsizing in the Customs House skills, auy has great real survivor, great skills at getting to know the right people. It turns out that walter q get extra credit if you know who he is. Walter q gresham is a judge on the federal Circuit Court of illinois, but in the first cleveland administration, cleveland appoints him as secretary of state he dies after two years in office, so he does not have a major impact on her diplomatic history. Obviously, he has cultivated the judge, so when he gets appointed secretary of state, thomas is able to land a job as a watchman at the state were in Navy Building in washington, which he holds. ,his job pays 720 a year tension of 1200 a year, still have his money from count demidov. He and francis are certainly not already couple. Sorry, they, im have decided to move back to washington dc after all the now, everybodyws is forgot about it, 12 years later, and they moved back. Now, dennis has become something of a media personality in washington. The newspaper stories feature him as a federal employee who has overcome a severe disability. He has prostatic arms now that worked pretty well for him. He demonstrates his new prosthetic hands, picking up papers for his daily work, uses his elbow to call the elevator in the building. He picks up a glass of water with his teeth and drink it without spilling it. [laughter] name bye signs his holding a can in his teeth. Ive seen his signature. It is really Pretty Amazing. And the littleknown fact of ,merican history, by this time Theodore Roosevelt assistant secretary of the navy in the , nonley ministration problem, as an advocate of , he rides his bicycle to work every day in washington, c can imagine the number two person today riding his bike, so when he gets to the building, he gives the bike to dennis to put away for the day. So he and roosevelt get to know each other, and it turns out that such share the same birthday, the 27th of february, so once mckinley is fascinated , andeddy becomes president every year at the annual soiree for his birthday at the white is there is an honored guest. You might want to know what this guy looks like. Thats what teddy looked like, but there is dennis, one of the washington papers at the time. He is working until 1902, 81 years old, and then he decides to retire and live on his pension, and a pot of save money. Oney sticks to his hands , heher newspaper story plans to just live his retirement, and list of the 100. That the sad part of the story. He doesnt get to live to be 100. In 1904, he displays signs of dementia and declines slowly and dies on the 23rd of july, 1908, 85 years old. He is buried and washington congressional cemetery, drumroll please. There is his tomb. Is some moneyre somewhere goes this is not a cheap tombstone and, the final forgotten theot naval origins of his life. This is the anchor on top of the tomb. That is his story. It was Pretty Amazing story of one real sailor, and if i could not document it, i wouldnt believe it. Thank you all very much. [applause] thank you very much, chris. Let me just close this. Switch to our next speaker. We how will have speaker questions at the end of the panel. Our second speaker is deborah jackson, who will speak on a black sailors prospects on board the uss mount vernon. And in many tenants color and administrator at the metropolitan museum of art in new york city and has published her scholarship in a number of venues, including the virginia magazine of history and biography, new york history and African American national biography. Her Current Research explores how inland waterway systems in the south supporting slavery and in antebellum america. She has an essay on this topic that will be appearing in the published volume of papers from the previous mcmullen naval history symposium from 2013. Deborah jackson. Will hand you the magic wand. Thank you. Its great to be back at annapolis. Betalk this afternoon will man who served on board the uss mount vernon. Blacks have a long, proud history in the military. This is a headline from a florida newspaper in february, 2001. Indeed, black military participation predated the forming of the nation, a neglected fact of u. S. History that was repeatedly reclaimed and asserted by africanamericans from the earliest days of the republic. Wilmer cooper, the colored patriots of the revolution was another reminder of the bayou the black military presence and its consistent and vital role in the nations development. At the outbreak of the civil war, the nation required another reminder of the lee terry readiness of black men, and army allowedu. S. Largescale black enlisted in segregated units, the u. S. Navy had no such an racial restrictions. As they had done since the days of the continental navy, black sailors during the civil war, some 25 of the union naval force, black sailors served along side their white counterparts in defeating the confederacy. Here the image from the uss miami, circa 1864, these are views of the servicemen of the uss also be, eight black men served the union and were awarded the medal of honor during the civil war. Despite the record of service, as the 19th century waned, they were increasingly obliged to assume positions of stewards, this man, and other service roles. One naval historian has observed that the proportion of blacks enlisted as you listed mariner as their occupation decreased to 5. 9 in 1890. Among those who enlisted in the navy. The time that began with the First World War saw the negro as a member of the navy wrote another scholar at the end of world war ii. Even with their opportunities in the service restricted at the time of the great war, black men in this did and excelled in in the face of adversity. Those achievements were reported the publication titled American Negro in the world war. His book was published in 1919, and it reproduced correspondence from top officials of the American Expeditionary forces and was generously illustrated to document the successes of black military personnel, and as a special adjunct to newton baker, scott was uniquely positioned to collect the raw whichor such by them, included a wealth of statistics on the strength of the Ready Response of negro draftees to the Selective Service calls as scott put it. This bottom slide shows dr. Scott with members of his staff and his washington dc office. Scott made a point of noting in his preface that or hundred thousand or more black men entered active military service. One of those 400,000 men was Edward Donahue pearson junior, a 19yearold who served aboard the uss mount vernon, which was a troop transport that regularly cross the atlantic and did duty in the waters between the list channel and the day of this guy. Bay of biscay. She was repeated by a german viewpoint uboat on the fifth of september, 1918, the french government awarded pearson the war cross for his actions on behalf of his ship following the explosion. This paper will explore some aspects of the life and times of Edward Pearson and the world he knew at home and houston and aboard the mount vernon. Edward donahue pearson junior was born in 1899, the youngest edwardthree children of donahue pearson of louisiana, edward senior, and elizabeth of south carolina. Edward senior was an educated man with a degree from Bishop College and marshall, texas. At the time of Young Edwards enlistment, his father was a teacher at the high school in houston a newspaper editor, an officer for the western Star Publishing company. Heres an senior would have enjoyed a fair amount of influence in houstons black community as a member of the knights of pythias, one of the wealthiest fraternal orders of the time. And as a deacon of the antioch baptist church. Pearson senior was also a Property Owner and president of the houston chapter of that , the Business LeagueNational Organization of booker t. Washington. Pearsons association with washingtons organizations meant he was likely a registered voter. This is significant as the disenfranchisement of black men had been proceeding systemically throughout the south since the , and here istury washington second from left with the members of his executive committee. So pearson senior and his family enjoyed the kind of respectable, prosperous life that washington had espoused in his ideology of lack of left, which favored engagement and professional activities that offered examples to White America of negro prosperity. So why does any of this matter . I would argue that this family background tells as several things about t