NORFOLK TO BROOKLYN, AND BACK Tracy Clark 10-30-14 Yesterday I decided to take a morning walk at Norfolk Botanical Garden. I do that pretty regularly, combining exercise, connection with nature, and a mini-vacation in the middle of my city. A short distance into my walk, just past the rose garden, is where I first encountered John (not his real name) on a bridge. I had stopped to take pictures of a monarch butterfly that had landed on a flower display that hangs from the rails of the bridge, and John commented from a few feet away how beautiful the flowers were. A few minutes later we were admiring a different plant at the foot of the bridge, and because we were going in the same direction we met yet again and stopped to look at a beautiful view of Lake Whitehurst. I would guess John is about my parents age, and at some point after exchanging names he began asking questions; “Where are you from?”, “What school did you go to?”, and a few others, and he was surprised that I’m a Norfolk native. With the large military population here, we seem to be in the minority sometimes. He shared that he was from the Ft. Greene area of Brooklyn. Shortly thereafter we just decided to walk together for a bit and talk, and to my surprise he began telling me a story about a part of Brooklyn history related to the Revolutionary War. Huh? Yeah. How often does that happen? How about never, unless you’re in a room full of history buffs, maybe. I have yet to be in that position. A bit into his war story, I interrupted and let him know about Don’t Duck History, and asked if I could interview him at some other time, as I knew I wouldnt remember everything he was telling me. He politely declined, but we continued to walk together and he continued to share. I was happy with that. He shared that he was amazed to find out well after leaving Brooklyn that many soldiers had died in ships off the waters near there during the Revolutionary War. Not amazed so much in the event I don’t think, but more that he had lived there for so long and had no idea of the history. He told me about captured American soldiers being held in ships (there were too many to house elsewhere), dying there pretty much from neglect (he mentioned 5,000), at the hands of the British Army. Did I mention he’s married to a lady from England? Yeah. A bit of politics and religion entered the conversation as well (his choice) and I shared with him that I was raised in the Episcopal Church. “Catholic without the guilt” laughed John, “Catholic Light” I laughed back. He also mentioned the interesting situation of Africans being promised freedom in exchange for fighting in the war. Curiosity piqued, I came home and later looked up Ft. Greene and related history. The Ft. Greene neighborhood was named after General Nathanael Greene. Ft. Greene Park is Brooklyns first park, and was originally named Washington Park, likely due to Greene aiding George Washington in the Battle of Long Island in 1776. John was possibly mistaken about the number of soldiers who died. He mentioned 5,000 but I read that it was more like 11,500, possibly up to 18,000. It is said that more Americans died in the prisons and ships there in Wallabout Bay than in all of the battles of that war. There is now a Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument located in Ft. Greene Park, and an accompanying crypt containing remains of soldiers that were collected from various sites-many that had been carelessly and unceremoniously thrown overboard, later being uncovered and given a more proper burial. The monument can be seen in the Spike Lee movie “She’s Gotta Have It”, as well as the HBO series, “Bored to Death”. John also mentioned the interesting situation of Africans being promised freedom in exchange for fighting in the war, and I read that the northern Continental Army contained about one fifth Africans. In fact, both free and enslaved Africans fought in the war on both sides. l would like to do more reading on the subject and write about it later, to include people of other nationalities who fought in the war as well. If you beat me to it, I won’t mind. I will mention now, in order to bring it back to Norfolk, that it is said that Crispus Attacks (of African descent), is thought to be the first casualty in the Revolutionary War, at the Boston Massacre. Ironically, there is a venue in Norfolk VA, the Attucks Theater, named after him. It’s also known as the Crispus Attucks Cultural Center and “The Apollo Theater of the South”. I participated in fundraising for it’s renovation years ago (it reopened in 2004), and have performed there a total of four times. The Wednesday prior to meeting John, I was in a Yorktown VA museum, viewing Revolutionary War displays. The following Wednesday I meet a stranger who tells me a Revolutionary War story. Go figure. Norfolk to Brooklyn, and back. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Greene,_Brooklyn en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_Ship_Martyrs%27_Monument en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_of_war_in_the_American_Revolutionary_War en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Army en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_Revolutionary_War More on Crispus Attucks here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispus_Attucks More on the Attucks Theater here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attucks_Theatre Crispus Attucks Cultural Center website: cacc-inc.org/
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 01:18:34 +0000
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