In researching the history of the Navy Yard, I really wanted to find a connection between it and the oldest and arguably most famous ship in the Navy: Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution. While several other ships of the Constitution’s vintage were parked at the Navy Yard for a number of years in the early […]
As I slowly make my way through the history of the Navy Yard, I have come across many firsts for that establishment – including the first proper ship to be built there. Although the Washington Navy Yard was started to build one of the frigates that had been authorized in 1799, the end of the […]
As I delve ever more deeply into the history of the Navy Yard and its neighborhood, there are a lot of firsts to be worked out. Some will require more research, but I think I’ve found the first person actually to live there, long before there was a Navy Yard – or even the thought […]
I have begun the research for a book on the history of the Washington Navy Yard and its neighborhood in earnest. As always, I have come across some piece of arcana which, while not being a great turning point in history (especially as the thing in question was never built) does give some insight into […]
Last time, I wrote about Albert King, who was present at Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This week, we observe the sesquicentennial of that terrible day in American history. King was not the only Capitol Hill doctor who assisted the dying President through his last night. Today, I look at another MD, one who later was involved in […]