Joseph Albert Nash, at 5 feet, 3 ½ inches tall, was much smaller in stature in comparison to his aging ‘bluecoat’ peers. He was dwarfed by many of his taller comrades in the London Branch of American Civil War Veterans as they posed for photographs taken by curious press and public in the Capital City. However, Joseph played no small part in the story of the London Branch. As a young boy aged 10 he answered the call of the sea. In old age, he was one of sixty men in London who responded to the appeal of John Davis. John was a London missionary and former mariner who had served on the USS Tulip.
John Davis pictured below.
He wrote to 80 Civil War veterans in the capital city proposing they formed a society to support each other. The Londoners, often living in poverty, had been mostly forgotten by the nation they once served. John’s dream became a reality, the London Branch was founded in Bermondsey in September 1910, and Joseph became their 39th member. He became a proactive participant in the Branch activities, outliving many of the 147 men who joined its roll. By the time of his death at Orsett Lodge, Orsett, Essex, England on December 18th, 1929, aged 91 years, he was one of just eleven London Branch survivors left. Joseph was born on 20th December 1839 at Nutbourne, Sussex. His family were all connected with the sea, including his “fisherwoman” mother Rebecca who became a widow when Joseph was 8 years old. Several siblings were fishermen, his older brother John was a sailor. It was only natural that Joseph would answer the sea’s call too. He claimed that by the age of 10 he went to sea in the merchant service, however records show that he joined the Merchant Navy on June 27th, 1854, at Portsmouth. For 10 years he served as a mariner on merchant vessels. However, he desired more adventure. When he arrived in Boston he purposely ‘jumped ship’, abandoning the merchant service on August 19th, 1864 in favour of fighting for the Union Navy.
To evade detection he gave his name as John Nash, and went on board the receiving ship, “Ohio” as an Able Seaman. He was transferred to the USS Gem of the sea, and in due course was promoted to Boatswain’s mate. The Gem of the Sea was a sailing vessel tasked to identify blockade running vessels in Southern waters. The Gem’ spent some time patrolling off Charlotte Harbor, Florida. As Joseph recalled many years later, “I was transferred to the gem of the sea, in which vessel I took part in the blockade of Charlotte's harbour. We got underway for a short cruise and coming back to Charlotte Harbour, we got ashore on a sand bank. It was my proposal that was adopted in getting her off. As I was Boatswains Mate, I asked the captain to let me have a small boat to go around the ship and take soundings. And finding there was more water astern I suggested an anchor should be run out astern and haul her off, which proved successful”. It was during that inspection of the vessel that Joseph ‘ruptured’ himself. The injury would remain with him for the rest of his life. Despite his injuries he remained in the service of the sea. However the same could not be said for the vessel upon which her served.
According to Joseph, the Gem of the sea was “condemned”. She departed Charlotte Harbour on February 2nd, 1865, and entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard on the 22nd when Joseph transferred to the Magnolia keeping his Boatswains rating. It was on the Magnolia, that “We carried news the news of President Lincoln's death to the Florida station” Joseph later recalled. In June 1865 Joseph was honourably discharged at New York and returned to England where he served in the Royal Navy. He lived and married in Hampshire before settling in Essex, where he spent the remaining years of his life. It was in those twilight years that he became very involved with the London Branch. He was there to greet Pershing’s Doughboys at the Eagle Hut YMCA in 1917 and attended many memorial services. A year before his passing he joined the last few remaining London Branch Veterans at a memorial day service at Lincolns Monument at Parliament Square. As he rested beneath Lincolns Statue he was joined by Arthur WF Smith, (80th New York) James Schoble White (113th Ohio) and Charles Edward Loyola Wright (USS Vandalia).
It’s unlikely he ever saw his old friends again as his health slowly deteriorated until he passed away in December 1929.
Joseph’s niece Emma Eliza Reed recalled that before his passing Joseph expressed his desire to her that he wanted to be buried with an American Flag. That wish was respected, and when he was interred on December 24th, 1929, the flag was laid upon his polished elm coffin. It was then lowered into the grave and buried with him.
Josephs life, service and identity in old London Branch photographs could have almost been lost to history, had it not been for some research by #themonumentalproject team.
As co-founder Gina Denham recalled, “We knew about Joseph, and his service, but we did not know what he looked like. However we managed to join the dots by using newspaper articles and photographs. Eventually, by a process of elimination we identified him. A 1928 photograph with Joseph sat with three other known London Branch veterans was crucial in confirming who he was. That’s because I had found an associated press article that named the four attendees, three of whom I already knew”.
Joseph’s story did not end with that discovery, “Knowing that he was buried with a flag, I had hoped there might be a headstone too” said Gina . “So I made my way to the cemetery at Chadwell St Mary to pay my respects to the Mariner who had once lived in the Gem of the sea. Sadly, despite some great help from cemetery ground staff, we found there was no marker, which was a real shame. However we won’t give up that easily, it does not have to be the ending to Josephs story. Like other veterans we know we can seek to get a headstone, and that’s the next chapter. He deserves proactive remembrance, so watch this space. As we say in The Monumental Project, ‘To be continued’!”.
Picture Credit Gina Denham.
Comments