Location: In park at Park Ave & Bull St, Savannah, GA 31401

Visited: August 13, 2009, 8:20am

Transcriptions of markers:

East face:

In grateful remembrance of
Stephen N. Harris
who served his country well
as a soldier and citizen
Private, Co. B 2nd Ga. Infantry
1898
Cdr. Worth Bagley Camp No. 10 Dept. Ga. U.S.W.V.
1932
Commander Dept. of Ga. U.S.W.V
1900       1931
Adj. Gen. United Spanish War Veterans
1928       1929
Chief of Staff, Council Of Adm. Ga. U.S.W.V.
1937       1938
His character and leadership inspired his
comrades and fellow citizens.

North face: [Spanish War Veterans’ insignia]

West face:

A tribute to that
Soldier · Comrade · Citizen
William L. Grayson
1870       1941
1st. Lieut. Co. “M” 1st Regt. Ga. Vols.
Spanish American War
Commander Department of Georgia U.S.W.V.
1925 — 1927
National Commander in Chief U.S.W.V.
1928 — 1929
His distinguished service has endeared him
to all veterans of all wars
1946

South face (front):

To those
Georgians who
volunteered and
served their
country in the
Spanish American
War

My impressions: This marker was high on my “want to visit” list for our trip to Savannah, because I found out about this through finding a Spanish-American War memorial in Portsmouth, VA and the linkage made by an editor of The Historical Marker Database to other markers that feature The Hiker, by sculptor Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson.

It is kind of amazing to see something familiar and apparently unique (until one learns the fuller story) in two different settings, nearly 500 miles apart. And that isn’t diminished too much by the fact that I knew I would see it and had planned the visit in Savannah.

I remember, early on in my days at Markeroni seeing somebody refer to “their marker,” a marker near their home with which they felt a strong affinity. At the time, before I’d started being intentional about snarfing (and before I’d logged any markers on the site), I didn’t really understand it. It clicked in for my last month, as I was in Portsmouth, VA for about the third time to find markers. That day I was “on a mission” to complete visiting a series of markers (for the city’s Path of History), but my walking route took me past several markers that I’d previously snarfed…and there was a familiarity that made it almost as though I was passing an old friend, because I had visited these markers, taken their photos, transcribed them, and written about them. So, standing in a park in Savannah, the first time I’d ever done more than drive through the state of Georgia, I felt at home…even though, I still know woefully little about the Spanish-American War.

Markeroni status: Not yet logged (and it appears I also did not log the similar monument in Portsmouth, VA yet).

Credit: Thanks to hmdb.org and their page on this monument for their transcriptions of this marker.

Schenectady, NY. Photo: Howard C. Ohlhous, 2007. Courtesy of hmdb.org

Yesterday, though, I learned through the expertise of one of their editors about links between a war memorial I had visited in Portsmouth, VA and others across the country. Almost two months ago, I saw a memorial commemorating those who served in the Spanish-American War. But through an editor’s links, I found that the depiction on that 1942 monument, dedicated to those who volunteered from Portsmouth and from Norfolk County, was actually somewhat famous.

Their database includes examples from three other places:

• Schenectady, NY, dedicated in 1921 (and rededicated in 1996) to honor those who served from Schenectady County;


Savannah, GA. Photo: Mike Stroud, 2008. Courtesy of hmdb.org

• Savannah, GA (a city my wife and I will be visiting next month), erected in 1931 to honor those who volunteered from Georgia; and


Arlington, VA. Photo: Richard E. Miller, 2008. Courtesy of hmdb.org

• Arlington, VA, where it has stood in Arlington National Cemetery (where my wife and I attended a burial earlier this year) since 1965.

According to Wikipedia, there are many more copies around the country, with estimates of 39 in an article on another example to roughly fifty, according to the article on the sculptor, Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson (1871–1932). Born in Brookline, MA, she was denied entry to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, because she was female. She started studying with sculptor Henry Hudson Kitson in 1886 and went on to marry him. Kitson was the first woman to be admitted to the National Sculpture Society.

So next month, when we go to Savannah, I think I’ll have to see if I can get to this marker. And I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes open online to see what else I can learn about history (and historical markers) from others!

It’s amazing what you can learn from the Internet these days!

On Monday, this blog will continue our trip towards Yorktown and later in the week, we’ll travel from there to Jamestown on the Colonial Parkway. I hope you’ll join us.

Path of History
Fort Nelson Park

Location: Fort Nelson Park, corner of Crawford Pkwy & Effingham St, Portsmouth, VA 23704.

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:55pm

On my last trip to Portsmouth, I came across Fort Nelson Park which contained roughly a dozen Path of History markers about Portsmouth Naval Hospital. I’m crossing my fingers, hoping that I managed to get all of them. (I’ll have to double-check next time I’m in Portsmouth.)

Given the large number of images and markers included in this post, I will spare the front page of this site and ask you to click the link to see the markers and their texts, but I’ll break with my traditional order and open this post with:

My impressions: I was impressed with the pleasant setting for these markers. That said, I was disappointed (on a hot June day) not to find more shade. Thinking back, I’m wondering what may have stood on that site before the park, which only opened three years ago.

Related to this: See Monday’s post for a state historical marker about Fort Nelson.

Transcriptions of markers:

[I entered the park from the south-east corner. When I reached the circle of markers, I moved from that point counter-clockwise until I got back to the start. Then, I looked at the markers moving towards the south-west corner. Markers are transcribed here in the order that I found them. (If there are any markers outside the circle in the north-west corner, I will have to return to find them. It was not clear from my photos if there were markers in that direction.)]

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Early Naval Medicine”

Naval regulations of 1798 state: “A convenient place be set apart for sick or hurt men, to which they are to be removed with their hammocks and bedding when the surgeon shall advise the same, and some of the crew appointed to attend them.” Aboard ship, the sick were usually cared for in an area on the main deck between two gun ports. This space became known as “Sick Bay.” The ship’s medical officer carried the title of Surgeon or Surgeon’s Mate. In those days, medicine was primitive. It consisted of “remedies,” dressing of burns and wounds, blood letting and amputations.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Fund”

The British had a custom of taxing its sailors for their health care. In 1798 Congress established the “Hospital Fund” based on the British system. 20 cents per month was deducted from the pay of each officer, sailor and marine to provide for his health care. At that time, shore-based medical treatment took place at the Gosport Shipyard. Patients were treated, not in hospitals, but in sail lofts, storerooms, or other work spaces. They had to contend with noise and the odors of the shipyard and the surgeon couldn’t provide proper care. Enough money had been collected by 1821 to build naval hospitals in key ports. In 1830, the Navy’s first hospital opened in Portsmouth.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Point”

The Naval Hospital faces a peninsula surrounded by the Elizabeth River. In 1636, Captain Thomas Willoughby received a land grant from the King of England that included this peninsula. The land was used as a plantation and changed owners several times. It has been known by various names: Mosquito Point, after the pesky critters that inhabited the adjoining swamp; Tucker’s Mill Point, after the family who operated a windmill on the site; Musket Point and Fort Point, after the revolutionary port of 1776 to 1824; and now Hospital Point, the site of the first U.S. Naval Hospital.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“The U.S. Navy’s First Hospital”

In 1826, Philadelphia architect John Haviland submitted construction plans for this hospital. This building, which houses offices is now known as Building 1, was made of granite and freestone. Its style is classical Greek Revival architecture, which was popular for public buildings at that time. Construction began on April 2, 1827. Workers removed more than 500,000 bricks from old Fort Nelson and re-used them in the foundation and inner walls. In July 1830, Surgeon Thomas Williamson, who was stationed at the shipyard, was ordered to make the hospital ready to receive patients. Dr. Williamson became Medical Director of the nation’s first naval hospital. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Naval Burying Ground 1838″

There are 840 graves of seamen and soldiers in the naval cemetery on the hospital grounds. They include the remains of seamen from the U.S., Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Denmark and Japan. The oldest known burial was a sailor who fell from the rigging of the USS CONSTITUTION (Old Ironsides). There are Union and Confederate graves, including those of soldiers, as well as victims of the 1855 Yellow Fever epidemic. The cemetery contains 113 graves marked unknown and three recipients of the Medal of Honor. Some headstones were erected by shipmates and include the names of famous ships.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Yellow Fever Epidemic”

In June 1855, the steamer Franklin put into Norfolk for repairs while sailing from the West Indies to New York. Mosquitoes carrying yellow fever escaped when the vessel docked. The Naval Hospital’s first yellow fever patients came from Gosport’s Marine barracks. As the mosquitoes spread, the local population quickly succumbed to the disease. By August, 20 to 70 citizens per day were stricken. In desperation, representatives of Portsmouth appealed to the Navy to treat townspeople. The hospital was then opened to the local population and 587 citizens were treated. In appreciation, the Common Council of Portsmouth presented gold medals to six naval surgeons.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“The Navy’s First Corps School 1902″

On June 17, 1898, President William McKinley signed a bill establishing the Navy Hospital Corps. Navy Corpsmen are trained in the science of health and nursing skills necessary to provide proper patient care at hospitals, ships at sea and to the U.S. Marine Corps. The first Navy Corps school graduation took place at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in December 1902 when 28 students completed the course. The outstanding lifesaving record of the Corps, while caring for the sick and wounded during battle and peacetime, has made it one of the most decorated among the military services.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Building 215, Tidewater’s First Skyscraper 1960″

Building 215 was constructed to provide a much needed modern hospital and to centralize the medical departments scattered around the base. The 500-bed hospital became the command’s second primary hospital facility when commissioned in April 1960. Towering 17 stories, it was the tallest all-welded steel-framed building from New York to Miami. Along with the latest medical equipment, it had a cobbler shop, tailor shop, entertainment auditorium, Navy Exchange and modern galley. In 1973, twelve American prisoners of war from Vietnam were received on the 12th floor, where they were reunited with family and given time to recuperate.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Hospital Renovation 1907–1910″

By 1900, time and use had taken its toll on the hospital building. In October 1907, the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery ordered hospital personnel to remove patients to tent-covered wooden platforms constructed several hundred yards away from the building. Patient care took place in these tents for nearly a year and a half while the hospital was renovated. During this period, two new wings and the Jeffersonian dome were added. The hospital reopened in February 1909. From 1910 to 1940, surgeries were performed under the dome by skylight. The dome is now a Hampton Roads landmark for locals and mariners who travel the Inland Waterway.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“World War II and Korea 1937–1953″

World War II created the need to rapidly expand the hospital in 1941. The $1.5 million program increased the number of hospital beds to 3,441. A dental clinic, ships service, library and a bank were added. The staff — medical officers, nurses, corpsmen, marines and civilians — swelled to 3,055. On a single day in August 1944, there were 2,997 patients. Between 1937 and 1948, residency and intern programs were established through the Graduate Medical Education system. The sprawling facility escaped post-war downsizing from the expansion of two world wars and went on to serve during the Korean War.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“World War I 1917–1918″

When the United States entered World War I, immediate steps were taken to expand the hospital. Several temporary wood-framed buildings were constructed to accommodate the ever-growing number of patients. These buildings included 34 patient pavilions and four Hospital Corps barracks. In the course of one month during 1917, the patients increased from 200 to 1,405. The largest monthly admissions were in October 1918 when the number of patients reached 2,257. Treatment of measles and mumps accounted for half of the patients. The hospital also treated large numbers of patients during the Great Influenza Outbreak of 1918.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Navy Nurse Corps 1908″

The Navy Nurse Corps was created by Congress in 1908, allowing women to perform duties that previously had been done by men. They held no rank and were titled “Nurse.” The first 20 to graduate were known as the “Sacred Twenty,” and of them, three reported for duty at Portsmouth in April 1909. Among them was Lenah Higbee, who became Chief Nurse at Portsmouth, and later became the second Superintendent of Nurses for the U.S. Navy. In 1964, the Secretary of the Navy signed his approval to allow male nurses in the Corps.

* * * * *

[The sunlight reflecting off my photo of the next marker made some words difficult to decipher. Square brackets below indicate uncertainty in transcription.]

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Spanish — American War 1898″

After the Spanish defeat at the battle of Santiago, Cuba, in July 1858, the sick and injured needed treatment. The newly converted hospital ship USS Solace transported 55 sick U.S. Navy and 48 wounded [sailors] to the hospital. The Spanish prisoners suffered mostly from burns and were placed in the North [Wing. The] hospital staff treated these patients, not as enemies, but as fellow seamen in distress. After the war, [Admiral] Pascual Cevera and Captain Victor M. Concas of the Spanish Navy praised the compassion and [humanitari-]an acts of kindness extended to them and their countrymen by Portsmouth Naval Hospital.

* * * * *

PORTSMOUTH NAVAL HOSPITAL
“Civil War 1861–1865″

Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861. On April 20, the Governor ordered the 3rd Virginia regiment to occupy and fortify the Naval Hospital grounds. A battery of earthen works was hastily erected on the point and renamed Fort Nelson, after the revolutionary fort of 1776 to 1824. During the Confederate occupation, the hospital served as a medical facility and a fort. The Union retook the area on May 10, 1862, and until the end of the war, the hospital cared for Union soldiers and sailors. In 1865, the hospital treated nearly 1,300 patients.

And there, we have more than I expected to find on historical markers about the naval hospital at Portsmouth.

Have a great Fourth of July weekend, and I’ll be back with more historic sites and markers beginning Monday!

Spanish-American War statue

Location: Crawford Pkwy at North St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 1, 2009, 2:10pm

Transcription of marker:

Spanish-American War
1898–1902

Erected by the citizens of Portsmouth and Norfolk County. Sponsored by the Austin R. Davis Camp No 4 — United Spanish War Veterans and Auxiliary to commemorate the valor and patriotism of those who voluntarily served in the war with Spain, the Phillipine insurrection and the China relief expedition.

Dedicated May 23, 1942

My impressions: The statue looks interesting, but it is intriguing how the text was placed. The marker I transcribed above is to the back of the man it portrays. The front of the pedestal has a crest of the Spanish American War Veterans. I find it interesting how many markers and monuments in Portsmouth are in the middles of streets: there were the first two state historical markers I saw there, as well as the Confederate Monument, and now this one. Though this one doesn’t have the fence of the Confederate Monument, its setting is nicer, with more grass, and I could actually get to it without worrying that I was going to be struck by a car.

I wonder whether the logo/crest was instantly recognizable in the era when this statue was placed. And the timing is curious: 1942, four decades after the war ended (using the date there). Was it simply a matter of funds? Did World War II have anything to do with it? I don’t know the answers, but they are certainly interesting questions. Maybe someday I’ll do some reading and see what I can find to answer them.

Notes for snarfers: This is very close to the North Street ferry landing.

Markeroni status: This site has not yet been submitted for inclusion in the Markeroni database.

After this, I took the ferry, and there was one more snarf in Norfolk before I returned home, and you’ll read about that in my next post.