Samuel
Hawley is a writer of narrative nonfiction and fiction. His books are
highly eclectic. He has written about 16th-century East Asian history,
19th-century Korean-American relations, Olympic sprinting and land
speed racing and a circus elephant named Topsy who was electrocuted in 1903. He lives in Kingston, Ontario.
| PHOTOGRAPHS: AMERICA'S MAN IN KOREA (PART 4)
| | These are images from a
16-page photo spread I prepared for "America's Man in Korea" that the
publisher was unable to include in full in the book. |
 | | Another
of Foulk's photos, taken in April 1885 at Changdok Palace, shows Dr.
Horace Allen and his wife Frances (second and third from left). Foulk's
handwritten caption reads: "Lotus pond and ancestral shrine buildings
of East Palace (where fight occurred Dec. 84)." The uniformed men on
either end are identified as Lieutenants Milligan (left) and Rogers
(right). |
 | | Another
of Foulk's photos, taken in the Secret Gardens presumably at the same
time as the one above. Foulk's caption: "Pleasure grounds in E. Palace
of Seoul, Korea (Korean gentlemen)." Is that Dr. Horace Allen lurking
behind the mound in the background? |
 | | William Parker in better days, as a Confederate naval officer in the early 1860s.
He proved a disaster as US minister to Korea, a chronic drunk, when he
arrived in Seoul in June 1886 in response to Foulk's repeated requests
for relief. From the moment of Parker's arrival, Foulk wrote to his
parents, he remained "in a horribly drunken stupor, utterly foolish and
silly, falling around his room, breaking pottery and committing
nuisances on the floor." Foulk, by this time deeply disillusioned, was
obliged to send Parker home and stay on. |
 | | Admiral Robert Shufeldt,
who negotiated the treaty signed between the United States and Korea in
1882. Highly regarded by the Koreans for this, he was invited back
following his retirement from the navy to take up an unspecified
government post. "I don't trust him," Foulk wrote his parents, "and
have written him a point-blank letter showing plainly why he is not
cared for here...As the world goes it is perhaps foolish for me to
tackle men of such influence as his, but it is in me to kick against
shallowness and selfishness where it concerns my duty, and I don't know
how to do otherwise." (Library of Congress) |
 | | Owen
Nickerson Denny, employed by the Korean government as advisor to King
Kojong following von Mollendorff's dismissal. He sided with Foulk in
standing up to Chinese interference in Korean affairs. (Oregon
Historical Society, OrHi 53610) |
 | | Hugh
Dinsmore, the American minister to Korea who arrived in Seoul in April
1887. Foulk's assessment: "Mr. Dinsmore is clever and just, a
thoroughly good man, but the case at hand is one in which a knowledge
of diplomacy to be acquired by long experience out here can only be
effective. This Mr. Dinsmore does not have." (University of Arkansas
Libraries) |
 | | The
US legation in Seoul in the late 1880s. The Western man in the white
hat is Hugh Dinsmore. (University of Arkansas Libraries) |
 | | The USS Ossipee, which made regular visits to Korea during Foulk's time as charge d'affaires. (Naval Historical Center) |
 | | Foulk and his Japanese wife Murase Kane circa 1888. (Naval Historical Center) |
 | | George
Foulk's grave on a hillside just east of Kyoto. He died on August 6,
1893, not quite thirty-seven years old, a broken man after his time in
Korea. (Naval Historical Center) |
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