The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-06-04

a whole regiment of men were delayed
from moving to tho front not long 6 be-
cause the tentmakers could not furnish
shelter tents fast enough.
It is safe to assume that the members OF
tho board Of strategy arc fairly efficient
mon md are doing just Is well as they
know how. The board meets in the naval
library on the fourth door of the big gran
tie pile known as the war, navy and state
building. There the men who are running
the war gather every day and sometimes
at night.
The board as it 10Y exists Is composed
of Secretary of the Navy Long, Captain A.
r. Mahan, Captain A. S. Crowninshield,
Rear Admiral Sicard and Captain j. r.
Bartlett. Secretary Long does not pretend
to know much about naval affairs, but he
is a member of the board By virtue of his
position. His lack of naval knowledge is
more thar made up by Captain Nathan,
who, as every one knows, is the leading
authority of the world on such matters
Captain Mahan is no mere theorist. He
has never commanded a feet, but he saw
active service all through the civil war as
q midshipman on the Atlantic and west
gulf ~sqtladrons. He was q man of action
and daring in those days, as is shown by
q letter he wrote to Captain g.. v. Fox,
assistant secretary Of the navy. 1t was in
September, 1861, when the Sumter was
ravaging the seas. Midship1nan Mahan
was then on the U. S. S. James Adger.
He proposed to mount IN al ordinary sail
ing vessel a heavy pivot run, covered with
q lighthouse and decoy the Sumter to her
grave in the deep.
ssSuppese it faila'' wrote Mahan. "What
is lost? A useless ship, a m~idshipman and
100 men" He proposed himself to be that
midshipman. But no reply was sent to
the letter, and a few years ago, whom re-
minded of the incident, Mahan had for
gotten all about it.
Captain Crowninshield is another naval
heavyweight. He is an experton ordnance
and is familiar both with the theory and
practice of naval strategy. He was gradu-
ated from Annapolis in time to take an
active part during the last wv years of the
civil war. He was assigned to the north
Atlantic b~lockading squa9ron and was
present at both attacks on Fort Fisher.
His grandfather, Jacob Crowninshield,
was secretary of the navy under Jefferson,
and his granduncle filled the same place
in O later administration. When this war
came, Captain Crowninshield was chief Of
the bureau Of navigation. He applied for
sea duty, but Secretary Long deemed his
services in Washington too valuable, and,
partly by virtue of his Office, Captain
Crowinshield was placed on the strategy
board.
Captain Bartlett was a member of the
same class as Captain C~rowninshield. He,
too, was in at the taking Of New Orleans,
the attacks on Vicksburg and both assaults
on Fort Fisher. In the second attack on
Fisher he was on shore with the storming
party. Retired as captain in July, 1897,
he has been called into active duty, like
Captain NAHUM, to serve on this board.
Rear Admiral Sicard is the veteran
molnber Of the board. He is so years old
and will be retired q year from next Sep
tember. During tho civil war he was on
gagged in the taking of New Orleans, the
passage Of tho vicksburg batteries and tho
encounter with the ram Arkansas. Then
he was transferred to the north Atlantic
blockading squadron and was in both at
taeks upon Fort Fisher.
These are the men who are deciding
when and where the fleets shall strike
next. Strange to say, they are but little
affected by the civilian criticism hurled at
them, and they pay but little attention to
the advice SO lavishly offered through the
untrammeled press.