The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-14
PRAISE FOR NAVAL RESERVES,
Letter from Lieutenant John II.

Letter from Lieutenant John H.. Weeks of the Minnesota. The adjutant general has received the following letter from Lieutenant John H. Weeks of the United States steam ship Minnesota, which bestows great credit on the Connecticut Naval mili- tia: Sir: The 10th day of last June there was received on board this ship one hundred and eighty men, in charge of four officers. Between the 1st of July and the 25th of August one hundred and three of these men were transfer red to other ships. The remaining eighty-five have been discharged from the service from this ship,
 It gives me much pleasure to report the willingness, readiness for any duty and excellent conduct of these men. I believe there has not been case of wilful infraction of any regulation of this ship or of any unbecoming conduct when ashore.
 Their service has been particularly trying, as they entered the service late, and after the first two or three weeks there was little possibility of their see- ing service at the front, and since the 1st of August very little possibility of serving on any other ship than this.
 A recruiting ship at best is simply an abiding place to keep men, until they are needed on service ships. This very fact would prevent men from talk ing any special interest in the Minneso- ta, but their performance of duty here did not in anyway indicate that this was not the ship of all they preferred to serve on.
 When the men came aboard the Min nesota was tied up to a wharf The second day of July fire destroyed the storage warehouse on this wharf and very nearly destroyed the ship. Dur ing this fire the militiamen quickly showed tbeir fighting qualities and what could be expected of them at the front. Twenty men were overcome by smoke and heat, so they had to be re- moved to the sick bay or hospitals, and I did not see single case where man failed to do his duty.
 The 25th of August I received orders to discharge all men belonging to the
 
 ship would have been left without a crew sufficient to have cared for her, authority was given to retain fifteen men. The@following, although entitled to their discharges, volunteered for this duty and continued to serve until they could be discharged without injury to the ship or to the service: Chief master at arms Charles Hutchinson of New Haven; chief yoeman, Henry F. Pun derson of New Haven seaman, Cliff ford M Peck of Milford; seaman, Fran cis S. Hum of New Haven; seaman, L.. F. L. Pynchon of Philadelphia, Pa.; seaman, Albert J. Kenyon of Bran ford; seaman, Fred E. Bosworth of Hartford; seaman, Lorenzo E. Kenyon of Hartford seaman, Charles s. Lee of Guilford ordinary seaman, Theo- dore P. Judson of New Haven; ordina- " seaman, Ernest R. Kelsey of Glil- ford; ordinary seaman, Henry W. l Drury of Springfield, Mass; landsman, William R. Lee of Guilford; fireman, first class, Dennis Mahoney of New Haven.
 Any state should be proud of such men and do everything possible to keep them in it's service. Very respectfully your obedient servant,
 JOHN H. WEEKS, Lieutenant U. S. S.. Assistant Chief
 Auxiliary Naval Force, Command
 ing Second District.