263. UPDATE: Pensacola's Long Forgotten WWI Veteran John Brown

This post began back in November 2018, when I visited the "Old Muscogee Cemetery" in Cantonment. The cemetery is so heavily overgrown that you could trip over the headstones without seeing them. One of the graves in this abandoned place belongs to a World War I veteran named John Brown. A 2016 project led by Walter McQueen cleared away the thick vegetation, but the underbrush has returned once again covering up all the graves, some dating back to the 1800's. John Brown was born in 1897 to George Brown and Jane Seawright from Lowndes County, Alabama. He was inducted into the US Army from Pensacola on April 25, 1918 and sent to Camp Johnston, Florida for processing and orientation. The base was built in 1907 where NAS Jacksonville is located today in Duval County. He was later assigned to Company "F" of the all black 810th Pioneer Infantry Regiment. The regiment was formed in September 1918 and disbanded in December 1918. The military definition of a Pioneer Regiment is "Pioneers march at the head of each battalion to clear a passage through woods or other obstructions, improve roads, make bridges and generally do any minor engineering or construction work that may be necessary." The Regiment was finally ordered overseas to join the war effort in November 1918. However, they were enroute at sea when they received word that peace had been declared and returned to Camp Green, NC. Following the war, Brown received an honorable discharge and returned to Muscogee to reenter the work force. By 1920, he was again a mill hand in one of the numerous sawmills in the area. He worked alongside George Calloway and even boarded with George and Rosa in their home. Life for the next decade centered around the timber business, where fortunes were being made and lost for the owners, but not by the workers in the mills and forests. In 1930, Brown was bitten by a local dog, but paid no attention to the slight wound. But by January 13th, he could no longer return to work as his conditioned worsened. However, soon he developed a raging fever along with severe pain that eventually spread to his central nervous system thus inflaming his brain and spinal cord. By this time he was diagnosed as having rabies also known as "hydrophobia" or "mad dog disease." Within six weeks, his wife Frances took him to the Pensacola Hospital on January 15, 1918. His condition quickly reached the critical level and he had to be strapped to the bed under police surveillance. He begged the doctor to put him "out of his misery." Finally, on January 16th he slipped into a coma and passed away. He was buried in the Old Muscogee Cemetery where his landlady, Rosa Calloway, saw to the delivery and erection of his tombstone. In the meantime, the police and Escambia County Health officials urged everyone to have their dog vaccinated to prevent another tragedy.