Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section068/John Messick

Biography

Early Life

John Messick was born in Pittsburgh in 1879. His family soon moved to Princess Anne County, Virginia, where he spent his childhood. His young life was difficult. His father drowned soon after the family moved to Virginia, in the sinking of the USS Huron on November 24^th, 1877. Messick had to fend for himself a good deal, some of which involved growing and hunting for much of his own food. He also sold potatoes to help the family get by. He was never formally educated but did teach himself to spell. His family did not have the resources to invest in him and at age 14, he left home and went to work at a grocer in New York. Shortly after moving to New York, he left for Indiana and started learning the glass blowing trade.

Mid Life

While Mr. Messick’s childhood was difficult, he made the most of his young adulthood. He worked learning the glass-blowing trade for several years. However, he was barely making enough to get by and grew weary of it quickly. At 18, he went down to San Antonio and joined up with the 1^st United States Volunteer Calvary, popularly known as the “Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.” He was one of the men who stormed San Juan Hill. He also befriended Theodore Roosevelt and served as a fireman aboard his boat, going 3,000 miles up the Nile River in Egypt. Messick and Roosevelt became good friends and Messick went to his Roosevelt’s Rhode Island home for meals if he was ever in the vicinity of the Roosevelt abode. After returning from Egypt, Messick worked several odd jobs before joining the circus. The circus traveled all over the East Coast before going to Europe. As a trapeze man, Messick was able to tour England, Ireland, and Scotland. Messick’s family had recently immigrated from Europe, so in Scotland, Messick quit the circus to see his grandmother. He stayed with his grandmother for 7 months until she died; at the remarkable age of 104 years, 3 months, and 9 days. After his grandmother passed, he joined the United States Navy. The USS Wyoming was stationed in Scotland at the time, so he toured with them for 3 years. Pre World War I geography was a little different, and he was able to see Judea, present-day Israel, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. As a devout Christian, one of his lasting memories of his Mediterranean tour was seeing the mountain that Christ was crucified on. When he returned to the States, he attempted to put the memories into practice by becoming a minister at Richmond College. However, for someone who had never gone to school a day in his life, he did not last too long. He dropped out and went down to Panama to work as a steam-shovel driver. He worked on the Panama Canal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

Late Life

After his return from Panama, he settled down. He was always a wanderer, but Panama was the end of his international travels. He became a miller and settled in North Carolina. He worked in mills throughout the state and eventually met his wife in a mill. During World War I, there was a shortage of laborers and he had to work long hours keeping books for one mill. He eventually had a nervous breakdown and had to leave. His wife finally persuaded him to move to Durham, NC, and they settled there with their only child, Lillian. Messick always liked working in mills, he enjoyed “dodging around from one job to another.” In Durham he worked in the Erwin textile mill for 35 days, when he suddenly went blind. Messick had 3 operations and stayed in the hospital of 19 weeks, but he was never able to see again. Strangely, Messick did not appear to have any bitterness about being blind, he just started having to walk more slowly and cautiously. As the main breadwinner for the family, the budget tightened. His wife worked in the mill, but never made as much as he did. Messick did everything he could, including going into the restaurant business for several years. Eventually, his age started catching up to him and he started to slow down and finally wound up only selling roasted peanuts.

Social Issues

The 1st United States Volunteer Calvary leaves Tampa, Florida bound for Cuba.

Spanish American War

The Spanish-American war was fought in the Spanish territory of Cuba in 1898. The war was fueled by a desire to free the Cubans. Americans had heard of the terrors imposed upon the Cubans after a failed revolution. The USS Maine, in Havana to protect American interests, exploded, mysteriously sinking. That spark led to a “splendid little” war as described by the Secretary of State. However, while the US military quickly won the war, it was an organizational disaster. The military was staffed at a minimal level before the war. This led to a call for volunteers to quickly increase the size of the American military. The 1^st United States Volunteer Calvary gathered and trained in San Antonio for a mere two weeks. They then loaded onto trains and went to Tampa FL, from which they would launch their invasion of Cuba. The arrival in Tampa was disastrous, there was no plan for their arrival, to feed them, or to sleep them. Roosevelt took charge quickly and was able to straighten some of it up. After a couple days, they took the train to the port and learned there were no navy transport vessels. The “transport ships had to be leased, and those readily available had just returned from South Africa, where they had delivered horses for the British army.” In the mess of departing, half of the rough riders and all the horses were left behind. It took 30 boats and 6 days for the group to sail to Cuba, arriving on June 19^th, 1898. They disembarked at Daquiri and rowed themselves in, as there was no port. By the time the Rough Riders began their invasion, the US Navy had essentially already won the war by defeating the Spanish fleet in Havana. The Rough Riders began their invasion through the Cuban jungle, easily pushing back the Spanish forces to the hills. The Spanish were heavily entrenched in the hills, shooting with devastating guns, but luckily for the Americans, “the bulk of the Spanish fire was practically unaimed.” There was a slight stalemate at the hill, before the men stormed San Juan Hill. “The Americans appear to be stymied - unwilling to move forward and unable to retreat. Suddenly, Theodore Roosevelt emerges on horseback from the surrounding woods and rallies the men to charge.” The war was short, bolstering the spirits and confidence of Americans, and beginning the legend of Theodore Roosevelt. While it was short, it still "cost the United States $250 million and 3,000 lives, of whom 90% had perished from infectious diseases.”

Memorial to those who died of Yellow Fever.

Public Health

The Spanish American War was a military success; however, it was a disaster in terms of public health. Yellow Fever is a terrible disease carried by mosquitoes and prominent in tropical areas. “In Cuba, our invasion of and occupation had been confronted with that terror of the tropics, yellow fever, which bad fair to kill more of our soldiers than had Spanish bullets.” This led to a breakthrough in sanitation standards to save the lives of Americans and to eradicate the disease. As the military campaign was so short, most of the forces were removed and medical officers and sick soldiers were all that remained. The invasion of Cuba allowed for medical officers to investigate the mosquito theory of yellow fever. This led to “Colonel Gorgas in freeing Havana of yellow fever and made possible the building of the Panama Canal with minimum loss of life, time, and money

“Dr. Gorgas, armed with knowledge, authority and money, three things absolutely requisite in successful sanitary work, made Havana as healthy as New York.” While the war had already been fought, another project in the tropics was nearing, the Panama Canal. If the yellow fever had not been stopped in Cuba, many thousands more men would have died in the construction of the canal. “When the United States took over the Canal Zone, in 1904, it was recognized as one of the most unhealthy spots on the globe.” For the United States to succeed, they had to clear 45 miles of the Canal Zone from all mosquitoes. All drainages and places that would hold water had to be drained, vegetation near the canal was cleared, and buildings occupied by Americans were encased by screens. This practice also led to the eradication of the disease in New Orleans. Today, Americans are no longer threatened by Yellow Fever, there is a vaccine, but no cure. Yellow Fever is still a problem in undeveloped nations in Africa and South America.

Panama Canal

One of the 7 wonders of the modern world, the Panama Canal was completed by the United States. After many failed attempts by other companies and countries, America bought the rights to the project. After the eradication of Yellow Fever, Americans and American machines could start to be shipped to Panama. The Panama Canal greatly increased the speed at which ships could move from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean around America. Instead of going down around South America, ships could now pass directly through the middle of North and South America. Its construction allowed America to control both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans more easily, important in wartime.