Next from American History tv from the u. S. Naval academy and annapolis, marginalized aspects of the american revolution. Includes covered africanamerican, disabled soldiers, and combat metal character does 90minute Program Includes many anecdotes and illustrations of what life was like during the revolutionary war for these marginalized groups. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the third panel today of the naval history symposium for 2015. My name is lee pennington. 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 margins, africanamericans, disabled soldiers, and combat medical care. We have three presenters today, topher mckee our first presentation will be Christopher Mckee, who is giving a presentation titled no arms, no problems, the surprising and somewhat scandalous life of a disabled 19thcentury sailor. Christopher mckee is the Professor Emeritus at Grinnell College and 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 corps, 17941815, which was published in 1991, and sailor lives in the royal navy, 19001945, which was published by Harvard University press in 2002. Chris also have a number of articles and essays, and his Current Research centers on the comparative study of enlisted men in the u. S. And british navies. Without further ado, Christopher Mckee. Prof. Mckee thank you so much. I will watch the clock at the back and 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 biographies of dubious , veracity, and great saila bility. I have been trying to track the expense of real enlisted men in the navy. Due to time constraints, i cant really explain what that naval home is. That would take us off on a side track. In any event, im very doubtful about all of those great autobiographies from the and all these adventures they relate and so forth. The story i am about to tell you, 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 when he enlisted at princeton he was given a fairly responsible job at the rank of seaman. So we know he was an experienced sailor already. An expatriate russian nobleman, count anatoly demidov, visited princeton, and the captain fired 13 men saluting his honor when he left the ship. On the 11th gun of the 13 gun salute, a misfire on the gun that dennis was manning and blew off his arms below the elbow. Ok, there is the princeton. That is a picture of count demidov up in the corner. Count demidov was upset and sent members of his entourage to try to have prosthetic arms created for dennis both in london and paris. They were heavy and awkward and did not work, and he was unhappy with them. Dennis kept trying to rejoin the princeton. He actually somehow seems to miss the next port, traveling with count demidov. Were living on count demidovs estate in italy. He did rejoin the princeton in time to return to the United States in 1847. Because he was disabled, he was admitted into the United States naval home, then called the United States naval home. Asylum. He did not stay there long because since he had no arms he , he had to have a fulltime attendant to feed him and he was moved to the hospital, the same building as the naval home in philadelphia. He lasted about two months there 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, demidov settled an annuity of 80 a year on him. I know this is meaningless to us in terms of their purchasing power, but it was an annual payment of 80 a year. He had his back pay and federal pension for his injury, and he had the money from count demidov, so he moved into a boarding house in philadelphia. The pension was 6 a month. He felt an armless man cant live on 6 a month. By january of 1850, dennis has relocated himself to washington, d. C. , where he petitions congress, he cites the president s of the war of 1812 the precedents of the war of 1812, to be given a pension of 30 a month. He says, i was by this act blasted in a moment of all future prospects, few can appreciate my gloomy feeling and despond to 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. Is he feeling sorry for himself . Not at all. By july of 1850, hes married to a woman from pennsylvania, and sarah from lehigh, pennsylvania and we assume they met in philadelphia at the boarding house where he was staying. We guess, we dont know. 1884, four years later, he has become naturalized as a u. S. Citizen because this is a prerequisite for being employed by the federal government. When the 1860 census taker comes around, he finds that sarah and, have two children, thomas is working as a watchman sorry, that is the naval home in philadelphia. He is working as a watchman in the Washington Navy yard. He still has his pension. He is getting paid to be a watchman, pension, money from count demidov. That is his only job. He also works with newspaper , he collects rent for Property Owners in the navy yard. He has a Livery Stable on 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 65 inches tall, blue eyes, light complexion. He has a great personality. He has a very outgoing, friendly personality. People like him. They think of them as an honest, hardworking man. He is a strong temperance advocate. He is really respected for having overcome a severe disability. Then, 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 speculate in gold. Eeanwhile, he is no fool h has already transfer the two houses on g street to some third party to 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 a washington star reporter. This guy gets a lot of media coverage. He says he has been in pennsylvania, but not the whole time. He does not say where else he has been ver. No problem about the debt, only 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 , and the Court Records show he actually owed 8,243, which was reduced to 6722. My lawyer daughter cant figure out why the drop. But anyway, he takes advantage of the bankruptcy act, that cleans off all his debts. He makes a fresh start in life. Between 1869 in 1877, he works as a watchman at the treasury department. He has got to be close to the money, right . He has an annual salary of 720 a year, plus his pension, less plus his 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. 1878, ninth of september, 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 anatoli. Nnis son, that is out of the reach of Thomas Dennis creditors. 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. I cant tell you about the large sum of money, but i continued can tell you 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 probably in october or november of 1878, and then about this time, the real mrs. Dennis, sarah, returns to her hometown of allentown, pennsylvania, presumably to live with relatives, and she conveniently dies there about a year later. That means that thomas and sarah can now get legal. They are in chicago. They do not want to much attention drawn to this, so they hop the train to milwaukee, where they are married in the chapel of all saints episcopal cathedral by the dean at the cathedral. From 1879 until 1893, thomas and francis continue to live in chicago, have no more children, George Edward is their only child. And thomas tells the census taker in 1880 that his occupation is a speculator. The real fact is he works as a watchman and then later the federal Customs House in chicago. Federal courthouse and federal Customs House, we have a great tradition in chicago, if it is a beautiful and important building, we tear it down. That is not there anymore. It has been replaced by a steel skyscraper. He has a job as a watchman in that building. In 1893, he gets caught in a downsizing in the Customs House, and this gives him another chance. This guy has great skills, he is a real survivor, great skills at getting to know the right people. It turns out that walter q. Gresham, you 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 our diplomatic history. Obviously, Thomas Dennis has cultivated the judge, so when he the judge gets appointed secretary of state, thomas is able to land a job as a watchman at the state war and Navy Building in washington, which he continues to hold. This job pays 720 a year, his pension is now 1200 a year, he has still got his money from count demidov. They are not rich, but they are certainly not a poverty couple. By this time, im sorry, they have decided to move back to washington, d. C. After all the scandal, old news now, everybody has forgotten about it, it is 12 years later, and they moved back. In fact, by 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. The newspaper reporters like 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 drinks it without spilling it. [laughter] and he signs his name by holding a pen in his teeth. Ive seen his signature. It is really Pretty Amazing. And a littleknown fact of American History, by this time, Theodore Roosevelt is assistant secretary of the navy in the mckinley administration, as an advocate of strenuous life, he rides his bicycle to work every day in washington, so you can imagine the number two person in the Department Today writing his bike to work. But anyway, 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 assassinated and teddy becomes president , and every year at the annual soiree for his birthday at the white house, thomas is there is an honored guest. I should say at this point, you might want to know what this guy looks like. Thats what teddy looked like, when he was secretary in the navy, but there is Thomas Dennis in one of the washington papers at the time. That is quite exciting. He is working until 1902, 81 years old, and then he decides to retire and live on his pension and a pot of saved money. Money sticks to his hands. Where does he get . He always manages to collect it somehow. He tells the evening star, in another newspaper story, he plans to just live his retirement and live to be 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. A little more than 85 86 or 87 years old. He is buried and washington congressional cemetery, drumroll please. There is his tomb. Obviously, there is some money somewhere because this is not a cheap tombstone and the final touch he had not forgotten the naval origins of his life. This is the anchor on top of the tomb. That is his story. It was a Pretty Amazing story of one real sailor, and if i could not document it, i wouldnt believe it. Thank you all very much. [applause] we can get me out of my email later. Pennington thank you very much, chris. Let me just close this. Switch to our next speaker. We will have questions for all three of the speakers at the end of the panel. We will wait for just a little bit. Our second speaker is deborah jackson, who will speak on a black sailors prospects on board the uss mount vernon. Deborah jackson is an independent scholar 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 africanamerican national biography. Her Current Research explores how inland waterway systems in the south supported slavery 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. We will hand you the magic wand. Ms. Jackson thank you. Thank you, professor pennington, for that very nice intro. It is great to be back at annapolis. My talk this afternoon will be on this young seaman 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. Black bostonian William Cooper from an 1855 publication, the colored patriots of the revolution, was another reminder of 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 military readiness of black men, and although the u. S. Army allowed largescale black enlisted in segregated units by 1863, 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. I show you here the image from the uss miami, circa 1864, these are views of the servicemen of ssippe. Also e. Ossipee. 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, and other service roles. One naval historian has observed that the proportion of blacks enlisted as 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 the face of adversity. Those achievements were reported in a publication titled the American Negro in the world war. Scotts book was published in 1919, and it reproduced correspondence from top officials of the American Expeditionary forces and wa