some pretty extraordinary challenges, the least of which is 150 years separating living descendants, if they even exist, from these two men. what they've determined is that the first individual that was found, monitor 1, was a white individual, caucasian between the ages of 17 and 24. and he had a height estimated to be about 5'7". the second individual was also caucasian, aged 30 to 40 and had a mean height of 5'6 1/2" with some variations. and the report is pretty extensive, indicating a broken nose on one individual. change in leg length from one individual to another. what noaa has done working with the navy is begun to do the genealogy work and try to figure out how do we go back and find these men.

of the 16 men lost the night the monitor sank, three of them were african-americans. these two men were caucasian. four of them were officers. and these two men were found associated with enlisted clothing. but that does not mean that they necessarily were ete it's entirely possible that they were wet, they were cold. they put on the only clothing they could to keep warm. that may have been enlisted clothing. we go under the assumption for now that they are enlisted but we can't be certain of that. and we've tried very carefully -- we can address certain things with certainty that are scientifically based and others that we can make assumptions. but when it comes to a drama event like the sinking of a ship, many times, all bets are off. there's been much discussion about good order in discipline and who have been the last one off and who would have been the first one off. it's kind of wide open as to who

some of these guys may have been. but what we've done is working with jpac, we had digital scans done of the two sets of skulls and then working with actually dr. fran decoin who provided us assistance in working with a dental laboratory that could reproduce those skulls, we went -- and this is one of the casts. we went and sent them to louisiana state university, an organization called the faces laboratory. they work with crime labs around the country and have done some pretty amazing work. and we asked them to take those two cast and do facial reconstructions of the two individuals. this is the work. the work took about a month to do. the cast is made of resin with modeling clay. it's very much like you've seen on csi.

they were able to reconstruct both these men. the process started in late january and was finished up actually march 5th, the day before we went to washington to unveil the faces. and this is -- these are them. by show of hands, how many folks have not seen them up front? has everyone had a chance to look? excellent. we're right at the front of the monitor center. when we're done, please go forward. this is monitor 1, the younger man. he smoked a pipe, we believe. because some teeth were missing. the laboratory did a reconstruction out of clay and they did a digital version.

this is an initial look at what the faces laboratory thinks this gentleman may have looked like. the hairstyle is probably a little bit too contemporarconte. this is the second individual, an older man between the ages of 30 and 40. and this is what we believe he may have had looked like without any facial hair. it's this man and lisa will talk in more detail about this that we believe may possibly be a gentleman named robert williams who is this gentleman standing right here. and had we had more time, we would have put the mustache on him. but this is a photo taken in the summer of 1862 of the monitor's crew. that's a known photo of robert williams. so as we go forward, the purpose of the facial reconstruction, of

course, was to continue to maintain interest in the monitor's story. but there is a very practical purpose. that is that 150 years has all but erased any first-person, emotional connection with these men. it's also probably erased the ability for somebody to look at a photo and say, that's my grandfather, maybe great grandfather. but in ten years since the recovery of these men, no one has come forward. there have been a few. but no one's come forward and said, i have dna i'd like to offer up that has been a match. the trail has gone somewhat cold. the purpose of the reconstruction was to shake family trees, to get people around the world -- i say around the world because there's a very high likelihood, robert williams' family may be from wales and not from the united states. to get people to go back to their family trees, come forward if they believe that they may be a descendant of one of these two

men, if there are descendants, provide j-pac the information they need for a testing, with the ultimate goal of returning these men back to their families. and if that is not possible, we are working closely with the navy now to seek an appropriate way of honoring these men, hopefully this year, at an appropriate place. we've been quote add number of times as talking about arlington national cemetery or something like that. noaa has already put forward about $50,000 for a monument. there's a very specific process it's got to go through, a joint resolution lucian of congress to have anything done at arlington. a lot of steps ahead of us. but we're working towards that and hopefully maybe even this year we'll have an announcement about that and rear admiral jay deloach has been a terrific partner in that department. i'm going quickly. but i want to turn it over to lisa stansbury who is a genealogist that we contracted to help us go backwards and find

out who these men may have been. i'll let her talk. then we'll answer any questions you may have. thank you. [ applause ] >> hi, i'm lisa stansbury. we have a limited amount of time. so i will be skipping past some of the slides. i do want to begin by telling you that my instructions at the beginning of this project were to find any families who were already well-researched and do not delve into op who we do not anything about or have limited knowledge of.

and so norman outwater, robinson, jacob nicholas and wells wince who worked under the alias john stocking, who is said to have cut the tow line and saved the members of the crew who could be saved so that the rhode island could come back to rescue were all well-researched in their family. i was able to determine that as the internet rumor said, wells wince did indeed name his alias after a reverend who lived close to his family. and there will be more information on those families on the noaa website. william allen, william eagan and thomas joyce did not have satisfactory documentation at national archives. i also looked at library of

congress. and the daughters of the american revolutionary library which has a lot of genealogical findings. george littlefield, there are several people named george littlefield who may or may not be him from saco, maine. there's always the wild card of the use of an alias. so that continues to -- in the process of trying to find these people. so here are a selection of gleanings from what i was able to determine. the widow offenwick was mary duffy fenwick. she was said to be pregnant in her pension application. she was living with her cyster in 1865 with a child named james. james died in 1870. and mary fenwick unfortunately

died from cholera in 1871. we see there the marriage record -- her name was mary duffy at the time. and here are some hospital records. she went on to become a domestic. she died at boston city hospital in 1871. she was indigent at the time. you'll see there were four cholera victims the week she died. here's her sister -- her sister was katherine brown, at the end of her life. george fredrickson's family. george fredrickson was a border and where he met his life, magdalana. their children, george and katherine, did not live long lives. we see here, katherine fre frickson, the daughter, died of

tetanus at age 22. i looked at her husband's census records and there was no child from the first marriage living with he and his second wife. george fredrickson was working as a postal carrier and died in an accident. from "the philadelphia enquirer" we see a newspaper account of his death. i checked to see if there were any pensions at the time. and unfortunately pensions were not issued to postal carriers killed in the line of duty at that point. we see his widow, anna, listed as his widow. magdalana fredrickson had a pension for the rest of her life. she worked as a tailoress. samuel lewis' identity was a mystery.

we had several problems with his line. first, it was said he was from baltimore. his middle name was spelled incorrectly. and we also had the issue with the common name. i was able to find through a wonderful website called paroots.com that he actually was from westchester county, pennsylvania. and volunteerism is the backbone of genealogy. several volunteers posted several things that enabled me to find information on this wonderful family. i learned that his brother, caleb, was working for the railroad as an executive and his brother was criticized for hiring practices in 1860. that criticism may have led him to not choose a nepotistic

reason in hiring his brother. he was in charge of troop movement during the civil war and lincoln's funeral train. a volunteer from findagrave.com photographed sam lewis' mother, hannah mendenhall's grave. if they wanted to exhume, that would be their determination. daniel moore was the son of henry and sarah moore. he was from prince william county, virginia. his siblings were taken to washington, d.c. and owned by mildred ewell. she was able to sell them to the union government. the union did pay upon emancipation money for slaves determined at the value of their owners. this is the only time that the

federal government bought out slaves from their owners. on charity smith and evelyna moore were the sisters of daniel moore. they were witnesses on the pension for their mother, sarah moore. this is a picture of edgehill farm where daniel moore and his family lived and served the ewell family. i particularly like this picture of the fireplace because that is a fire that they would have undoubtedly tended. this is an outbuilding on the farm. it no longer exists. this is general richard ewell. and he plays a major role in the history of robert cooke, another sailor aboard the monitor. at the end of the war, he knew that gloucester county, virginia, was falling to the union and he ordered that the courthouse be burned.

robert cooke of gloucester county's family would have undoubtably documented in court records with various slavery or freedom papers. but unfortunately the courthouse burned and all those records were destroyed. the friedman's bureau's records are being digitized. so it could be that more information will be found on the african-american soldiers -- i'm sorry, sailors of the "uss monitor" at some point. but i find it very poignant and sad that the ewell family has such control over the family of daniel moore and the legacy of robert cooke. i did have a finding on william eagan found in the medical journal of the washington navy yard. nothing too terribly exciting. but you have to look at the records in order to find the records that could lead you someplace.

we see that william eagan was treated for some sort of skin condition and given blackwash, which was a common topical solution that was given for fungal infections or whatever, have you. and there's also robert williamson treated with powders. we don't know -- there's no way to tell whether that is the robert williamson. it was simply misspelled. we see another slide here with william eagan being treated.boi in new york where our robert williams may have worked. it appears in the new york directory on 21st street for the years 1853 and 1854. he is not present in 1855. there is one who appears in 1856, but i don't believe he appears in 1857.

so there's no way to prove that that's our robert williams. but it is some evidence. now, this is our robert williams enlistme enlistment. when he enlisted, as a comparison, all of the enlistment records rendezvous reports that i examined showed a robert williams, born in wales, who was a boilermaker by trade who signed up in new york for three-year terms. this is the non-robert williams of the "uss monitor." he enlisted on february 15th, 1862, as a first class fireman with seven years previous naval experience, born about 1832. hazel eyes, black hair, swarthy skin, 5'8 1/2".

that's the possibility of the older man found in the turret. i'm not saying that is him. but that is the mean range, being 5'6 1/2". in 1855, we have a fireman who enlisted with no experience in the navy. he was born about 1829, had hazel eyes, dark brown hair and dark skin. 5'8" 1/4. on new year's eve of 1858, which the robert williams of the "uss monitor" would now have four years to live, there was a second class fireman with three years of experience who was 27 years old, dark hair, dark skin who was 5'8 1/2".

when you subtract 1855 from 1862, you get seven years. that would be literally three years -- i'm sorry, six years of naval experience, but if you simply subtracted, that's what you get. the deck log shows that the original enlistment papers were incorrect, that robert williams was indeed a fireman aboard the san jacinto. that's also a william bryan who is aboard the ship, but we don't know that that's our william bryan. if that was william bryan,he was a very healthy man. he was take ton the assistant surgeon for a throat infection and for boils. other than that, he was well and hardy.

we see on march 6th of 1856, in the medical journal, robert williams was treated for exhaustion or dehydration. we see he was treated again -- we have a robert williams who was 26 years old and born in wales and if you go to the previous slide, he was 27. so his age bounces around considerably. in hong kong, he was treated for lymphositis, soreness. on november 2nd of 1857, we see rheumatismis in the calf of the leg. we know that he had arthritis. on march 30th, 1857, he is noted

as being 36 years old. there was no other robert williams on this ship, much less a fireman born in wales. it's tempting to think that the man was in so much maine pain that he would have shouted out his true, correct age. it's a little too much speculation, interesting, though. finally after reports of flu, he had abscesses in the groin area. he was diagnosed as having syphilis. november 18th, he has flu-like symptoms. and then we move on to the records of the "uss brooklyn." the question is, is this the same robert williams?

he had abscesses. notice in the earlier reports of the san jacinto, the robert williams there had abscesses. on march 9th, 1860, robert williams was treated for chronic rheumatism. if you notice other firemen on the page here, they were also treated for chronic rheumatism. it was an occupational hazard. and finally in december 19th of 1860, he had paralysis of his wrist. it did resolve itself. there are many, many entries on this. and it was generally thought that he was much better by the end of that tour.

george ritter of the "uss brooklyn" was murdered on november 7th, 1859. robert williams may have been a witness. there were 12 witnesses to this murder. some of them were actually chained to stop them from testifying. and it could be that because of this murder, the deck log of the "uss brooklyn" was held by the u.s. marshal's office. it is not available at national archives. so the theory, the remains of the older man found in the turret matched the age and approximate measurements of robert williams. the remains were of the man with arthritis and asymmetrical legs. robert williams of the "uss brooklyn" had abscesses which can be a sign of syphilis as seen in the medical log. the age is consistent in the 1858 and 1862 enlistment but not in the 1855.

if the 1855 enlistment was correct and this was the same man, he should have been about 33. but as we see in the medical records, the age jumps around. there was no pension or application found in connection with the three enlistments. the thing to note there is that the original pension applications went through the state courts. there could have been a pension application that was kicked out through the state courts and never made it -- that's possible. the other possibility is that pensions were given only on a need basis and any survivors of robert williams could have been in good financial state and not needed the money. of course, this is presented as a theory with evidence and is not meant to declare the identity of the man whose remains were found in the turret. and i and my project supervisors

do not claim to be medical experts. and the last -- just so that we don't leave on a sad note here, clark rowe applied for a pension for his "uss monitor" service. he said that he enlisted on march of 1863 and was discharged in march of 1865. now f you're going to commit a federal crime, i will advise that you go to the library first. he failed. thank you. [ applause ] >> we are consistent with the day over on time. but if you have any questions, we'll take two or three real quick. we're back on schedule. hey, thank you all very much. [ applause ]

as commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the civil war continues, join us every saturday at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. and sundays at 11:00 a.m. for programs featuring the civil war. for more information about american history tv on c-span3, including our complete schedule, go to c-span.org/history. and to keep up with us during the week or to send us your questions and comments, follow us on twitter. we're at twitter.com/cspanhistory. we're now standing at the madison family cemetery. this is where members of the madison family have been buried since james madison's grandfather first settled this land in the 1720s.

in fact, it was madison's grandfather, ambrose madison, who was the first individual to be buried here. in the 1720s, he patented this land. he sent a crew of slaves out to comply with the legal requirements, which were that he seat and plant the property. seat means build a residence. plant means start farming. he followed in 1732 with his family. within six months, he was dead. interestingly enough, it has been only in the past ten years that we have discovered ancient court records that indicate that three slaves were tried and convicted for murdering ambrose madison. we know one of them was executed, according to the court records. and two were punished and returned to their owners. it's interesting how we look at this evidence and how we interpret it.

all it tells us is that three slaves were tried and convicted. we don't really know who did it. we know the court system found them guilty. it does tell us, though, that even an enslaved african-american on a plantation was regarded as an individual who was legally responsible for their actions and could be held accountable. now, again, we need to look at this record and realize there are many different interpretations and meanings that could be read into it. there are over 100 members of the madison family buried here. but you would never know that by looking at it because, in fact, there are only about 40 tombstones in this cemetery. we know from these records, in fact, that madison's grandparents, ambrose and his wife, are buried in unmarked graves. we know that madison's parents are buried in unmarked graves. in fact, the marker on james madison's grave was not put in

place until some 20 years after he passed away. this pathway leads to the slaves' cemetery here at montpelier. and it really communicates a very important aspect of the montpelier plantation. which is that there were many, many african-americans living here, many more than members of the madison family, and that this was their home as well. they formed a community. they had relations with each other, with slaves in neighboring plantations. so this was a thriving, self-sufficient community -- plantation community. they, too, needed a burial spot. it is markedly different from the madison family burial. it's not enclosed by a brick wall. it's here in an area where trees have subsequently grown up. so it has received less attention by subsequent owners.