View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto Disabled Revolutionary War Veterans and the Construction of Disability in the Early United States, c. 1776–1840 Daniel Blackie Academic Dissertation To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Helsinki, for public examination in the Small Festival Hall, University Main Building (Fabianinkatu 33, fourth floor), on the 12th of August, 2010 at 10 a.m. Helsinki 2010 © Daniel Blackie ISBN 978-952-10-6342-8 (Paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-6343-5 (PDF) PDF version available at: http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/ Helsinki University Print Helsinki, 2010 Cover design and illustration by Nicholas Young For Nanny Blackie iv ABSTRACT In this thesis, I address the following broad research question: what did it mean to be a disabled Revolutionary War veteran in the early United States during the period from 1776 to roughly 1840? I approach this question from two angles: a state-centred one and an experiential one. In both cases, my theoretical framework comes from disability studies. This means that I view disability as a sociocultural phenomenon rather than a medical condition. The state-centred approach of the study explores the meaning of disability and disabled veterans to the early American state through an examination of the major military pension laws of the period. Based on my analysis of this legislation, particularly the invalid pension acts of 1793 and 1806, I argue that the early United States represents a key period in the development of the modern disability category. The experiential approach, in contrast, shifts the focus of attention away from the state towards the lived experiences of disabled veterans. In doing so, it seeks to address the issue of whether or not the disabilities of disabled veterans had any significant material impact on their everyday lives. It does this through a comparison of the situation of 153 disabled veterans with that of an equivalent number of nondisabled veterans. The former group received invalid pensions while the latter did not. In comparing the material conditions of disabled and nondisabled veterans, I draw on a wide range of primary sources from military records to memoirs and letters. The most important sources in this regard, however, are the pension application papers submitted by veterans in the early nineteenth century. These provide us with a unique insight into the everyday lives of veterans. Looking at the issue of experience through the window of the pension files reveals that there was not much difference in the broad contours of disabled and nondisabled veteran life. This finding has implications for the theorisation of disability that are highlighted and discussed in my thesis. The main themes explored in the study are: the wartime experiences of injured American soldiers, the military pension establishment of the early United States and the legal construction of disability, and the post-war working and family lives of disabled veterans. Keywords: disability, early America, veterans, military pensions, disabled people, Revolutionary War, United States, disability theory. CONTENTS Abstract iv Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1. The Times that Tried Men’s Bodies: The Health Risks of Revolutionary War Service 35 2. Surviving the Revolution: The Care of Sick and Wounded American Soldiers during the War of Independence 50 3. Revolutionary War Pensions and the Disability Category in the Early United States 78 4. Working Life 109 5. Family Life 141 Conclusion 170 Bibliography 176 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It’s customary for authors to thank their nearest and dearest towards the end of a book’s acknowledgements section, but I’m going to break with convention and start by thanking my very own wonder woman: Katja Huumo. How else could I possibly begin? No one deserves my thanks more than she does. Katja is quite simply top of my list. Without her love and support, I would never have been able to complete this project. I really mean it! Writing this thesis has been difficult. On many occasions, it has made me grouchy and frustrated. It has also filled me with a lot of self-doubt. Whatever my mood, Katja has always been there to calm me down, pick me up, and make me feel special. What a lucky man I am. Thank you love. You’re the best! Staying on the theme of loved ones, I’d also like to thank my parents, Roger and Gill Blackie for all the love and encouragement they have given me over the years. I know they are proud of me and this makes me happy. My family here in Finland also warrants special mention. Matti ja Anja Huumolle haluan sanoa: kiitos ruoasta, seurasta ja tuesta. Anjan lihapullat ovat maailman parhaita ja Suomen kiinnostavin arkisto on ‘Matthew’s Archives’. In the academic world, I have benefitted from the help and kindness of many people. I am especially grateful to Markku Henriksson, my supervisor at the University of Helsinki. Markku’s advice and assistance through the years has been invaluable. In an era when professors seem to be increasingly inundated with mundane administrative tasks, Markku has always found time to help me. As director of the Finnish Graduate School for North and Latin American Studies, moreover, Markku also deserves credit for securing a large part of the funding that has enabled me to complete this project. He really is a jolly good fellow. As well as providing funding, the Graduate School has also been a source of friendship, fun, and intellectual stimulation during my time as a doctoral student. Thank you then to all the teachers and students who have been viii involved in it, especially: Sami Lakomäki, Outi Hakola, Elina Valovirta, Rani- Henrik Andersson, Sarri Vuorisalo-Tiitinen, Phillips Brooks, Pirjo Ahokas, Michael Coleman, Asta Kuusinen, Pirjo Virtanen, Pekka Kilpeläinen, Katri Sieberg, Benita Heiskanen, Elina Vuola, Janne Immonen, Mikko Saikku, Matti Savolainen, Martti Pärssinen, Hanna Laako, and Jopi Nyman. As for the official examination of my thesis, I would like to thank my two pre-examiners, Kim E. Nielsen and Jutta Ahlbeck-Rehn, for their reports on my work. Their comments have undoubtedly helped me improve my manuscript. I am also very grateful to Susan Burch for agreeing to fly in all the way from the United States to act as my opponent at the public defence of my thesis. I’m honoured she’s interested enough in my work to make such an effort. Thanks are also due to all the other scholars who have commented on my study and offered words of encouragement. I would especially like to thank Heli Leppälä, Simo Vehmas, Anu Korhonen, and Elliott Gorn in this regard. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Ben Mutschler for his kindness in sharing his work and thoughts on early American disability with me. The footnotes in the pages that follow testify to the influence he has had on my thinking. I hope our paths cross again one of these days so that I can buy him a much deserved beer. Kari Saastamoinen is another scholar I really must thank and buy a beer.When the chips were down and I was without funding, Kari stepped in and offered me a much needed job. What a hero! Thanks also to Julie Winch and Lou Cohen for welcoming me into their home in Massachusetts. I am truly grateful for their hospitality and still amazed that they showed such generosity to a stranger. As a doctoral student at the University of Helsinki, I have been very fortunate to have a workspace at the marvellous Renvall Institute for Area and Cultural Studies (now part of the Department of World Cultures). It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work there. My fellow Renvallians have been excellent workmates: friendly, intelligent, humorous, and always willing to lend a hand whenever they could. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer group of colleagues. To all of them, I would like say a big thank you. I have undertaken research for this project in the following archives and libraries: the US National Archives, Newton History Museum, the British Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, Helsinki University Library, the ix New England Historic Genealogical Society, Massachusetts State Archives, the London Family History Centre, and Boston Public Library. I am grateful for all the help I have received from the staff of these institutions, particularly Susan Abele of Newton History Museum. Regarding my source material, Colin Brooks deserves special mention for alerting me to the existence of the Revolutionary War pension files. I would also like to thank the following organisations and funding bodies for their financial support: the Finnish Graduate School for North and Latin American Studies, the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation, the Centre for International Mobility (CIMO), the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, the Niilo Helander Foundation, and the University of Helsinki. Finally, many thanks to Nicholas Young for designing the cover of the printed version of this thesis. Good job Nick. I hope this is one book readers will choose to judge by its cover. Daniel Blackie Helsinki, June 2010 1 ~ Introduction ~ In the summer of 1820, Ebenezer Brown, an American veteran of the Revolutionary War, stood before a judge in open court. Brown had travelled from his home in Newton, Massachusetts to the nearby town of Concord, where the court was being held, to submit details of his personal circumstances. Given under oath, this information was written down by clerks and appears in the official records of the court as follows: SCHEDULE, containing his whole estate and income, his necessary clothing and bedding excepted, to wit, One bureau………………………………………………….....6.