World War II at Fort Fisher This Past Weekend

On October 12, Saturday, Fort Fisher hosted  "World War II Experience Fort Fisher" on the grounds of the fort located in Kure Beach, North Carolina.

During World War II, the U.S. Army once again occupied the old fort as a part of Camp Davis, located a little ways to the north of it.  This was the main training base  for anti-aircraft gunners.  Several of the fort's mounds were torn down to construct an airstrip used by planes towing targets for the gunners.

Most of the planes were piloted by members of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).

All sorts of re-enactors were there with exhibits and visitors were able to learn soldier experiences.

--Old B-Runner

Ann Bradford Stokes-- Part 5: A Remarkable Black Woman

The pension office asked the Navy to review her case and the Navy certified that Ann Stokes had actually served 18 months as a "boy" in their service on the Red Rover and that she had a pensionable disability.  In 1890, she was granted a pension of $12 a month, which was the amount usually awarded those who had served as nurses at the time.

She continued to live in Belknap, Illinois, with her husband, one child, two step children until her death in 1903.

Ann Stokes is a remarkable woman for several reasons.  She is one of the first women to ever be enlisted in the Navy at the time and is the only known one to have applied for a pension.  She received that pension based on her own service, not her husbands'.

Quite a Woman.  --Old B-Runner

Ann Bradford Stokes-- Part 4: Two Marriages and Pension Applications

Shortly after leaving the Navy in 1864, Ann Stokes married Gilbert Stokes, a black man employed on the Red Rover.  They moved to Illinois where he died in 1866.  She remarried George Bowman in 1867 and lived on a farm in Illinois.

In the 1880s, she applied unsuccessfully for a pension based on her marriage to Stokes and Bowman.  The pension process was even more difficult because she could not read or write.

As her health grew worse, she reapplied again for a pension in 1890, stating that she had "piles and heart disease."    She had by then learned to read and write and put down her own arguments, emphasizing that she was basing her claim on her own military service, not a former husband.

--Old B-Runner

Ann Bradford Stokes-- Part 3: Born a Slave, Served As Nurse in U.S. Navy

From BlackPast.org.

Ann Bradford was born a slave in Rutherford County, Tennessee, in 1830.  Few other details are known of her young life.  She was taken aboard a Union ship in January 1863 as "contraband" (an escaped slave).  She volunteered to serve as a nurse that month.

The United States Navy enlisted several young black women into their service and gave the rank of "first class boy" and paid them accordingly.  She stayed on active duty on the USS Red Rover until October 1864 when she became totally exhausted and resigned her position.

--Old B-R'er

Ann Stokes, Black Navy Nurse on USS Red Rover-- Part 2: The First

Ann Stokes was taken aboard a Union Naval vessel as "contraband" in 1863.  She could not read or write as was common with slaves at the time.  She worked under the direction of the Holy Cross nuns on the hospital ship USS Red Rover, the first-ever U.S. Navy dedicated hospital ship.

She was also the first black woman to serve on a U.S. Navy vessel and among the first women to serve as nurses in the Navy.

The Red Rover was a converted Confederate paddle-wheel steamer and became the first U.S. Navy hospital ship.  During the war nearly 3,000 men were treated aboard the ship.

--Old B-Runner

Ann Stokes, Black Navy Nurse On the Hospital Ship Red Rover-- Part 1

Back on August 8 of this year, I wrote about Ann Stokes, believed to be the first black woman to serve on a U.S. Navy ship.  She was a former slave who became a volunteer nurse on the U.S. Navy's hospital ship, the USS Red Rover, stationed at Mound City, Illinois.

From Binding Wounds Pushing Boundaries:  African Americans in Civil War Medicine, Nursing the Wounded.

They wrote about two black women:  Susie King Taylor and Ann Stokes, both former slaves who gained their freedom.  I will write about Susie King Taylor in my Saw the Elephant blog.

Both served as care givers Taylor treated the wounded on battlefields but received no pay or compensation.

Stokes served several years on a hospital ship and was paid regular wages.  She became the only black woman to draw a Navy pension based on her service during the war.

More to Come.  --Old B-R'er