The daily gazette., 1877-02-27
THE DECEASED ADMIRALs.

The death of six admirals Of the
United States navy since the opening
OF this year is quite remarkable. Their
average age was 70, ard their naval
character was formed before the late
war, before the establishment of the
Naval Academy, and before steam in
ocean navigation was an established
fact. Admiral Goldsborough, of Mary
land, was in the service probably the
longest of any, having been registered
in the navy as midshipman In 1912,
when only seven years of age, and may
be truly said, in tho language of Scrip
ture, to have been "a man of war from
hie YOUTH" surprising even Won Mol
tke, who became cadet at nine, in
early devotion to martial pursuits. But
all of the six departed admirals were
an honor to the land that gave them
birth. Admiral Smith deserves spc-
cial mention. He was chief of the
bureau of yards and docks more than
thirty years, embracing the period of
the late civil wa, SO that the navy
then created grew up under his direc-
tion and supervision. Bat for his per-
sonal efforts with President Lincoln
the monitor would not have been ac>
cepted by the government. His son,
Capt. Joseph Smith, an officer of bril- :
liant promise, was in command OF the
United States frigate Congress as she
lay ia Hampton Roads, nearest OF all
the fleet to where the Merrinac was
being plated with iron for its deadly
work. Feeling the gravity of the
situation he visited Washington and
urged his father to hasten along the
monitor. The anxious father did all
he could to hasten the departure of the
new iron.clad. 1t was Sunday morn
ing, April 10, 1862, that day when, as
the intelligence of the first days dead.
ly devastations of the Merrimac was
spread by telegraph northward, it was
learned at Washington that the Merri-
mac came out the previous day, and
| that the Cumberland had been sunk
and the Congress struck her flag. The
commander of the Congress was Ad-
miral Smiths son Joseph, and the f1rst
broadside of the Merrimac had killed
the brave commander. The Monitor,
built because Admiral Smith believed
10 it, arrived that night, in time to save
the remainder of the fleet, but too late TO
save the life of his son. The Admiral
had one'other son, Captain Albert Smith
who was in command of one of the
vessels of Farragut's feet and went
through specially hard and perilous
service in the passage up the river to
the capture of the city OF New Or
leans. The hardships there encounter
ed broke down his health, so that he
died before the close of the war. The
home of the old Admiral has been for
the last thirty years in Washington.
The old men of the navy seem to have
achieved their full share of the honors
of the sea in the late war. Admiral
Buchanan, q native of Baltimore, who
commanded the Merrimac when she
sunk the Congress and Cumberland,
entered the United States navy as a
midshipman as long ago as 1915, and
had consequently been in the navy
nearly half century when this tire
mendous fight occurred. Yet al
though seamen have done as much to
elevate the warlike reputation of this
country as any other class of men, and
have encountered far more perils and
hardships, their fame is overshadowed
by that of the conspicuous characters
of the army. When not at sea thei'
} lives are usually passed in sight of the
ocean, though in privacy and retire
ment. AS a contemporary says, they
seem to graduate from the ocean di'
rectly into that other life,
when the fiery fight is heard ne
more,
/ And the storm has ceased to blow.