The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-09
CUSHING THE HERO OF 1904.
He Received the Thanks Of Congress When He Was Only
D Years Old.

In the laudatiOn of new favorites let
US not forget one of the most daring
naval fighters the world has ever
known-William Barker Cushing.
Cushing's fighting history. says the
Chicago News. reads very much like
an Archibald Gunter-br brand novel, with
added wonderfulness on account of its
truth. AS Admiral David Porter once
said of Gushing, he was always ready
to undertake any duty, no matter how
desperate, and generally succeeded
from the fact that the enemy supposed
no man would be foolhardy enough to
embark in such hazardous enterprises
with so little chance of success.
Delafeld, Wis, was Cushing's birth
place. but he had lived several years
in New York state before he became
a page in the house of representatives
at Washington in 1853. Five years later
he entered the naval academy az An
napolis. He resigned March 81, 1861.
and almost Immediately volunteered in
the navy. 1t was as master mate that
on the very day of his arrival at Hamp-
ton Roads he captured and brought
into port the first prize of the civil war
"a tobacco schooner. In July, 1852
Gushing was made a lieutenant, and
the chronicles of the subsequent three
years of the war record many feats
Of bravery in which he was a partici-
pant and generally the leader At Fort
Fisher, for instance, he spent six
hours in a light skiff, under a most Sc
we're fire, buoying out the channel, per-
forming his task seemingly without the
slightest regard of the shower of shot
and Shell to which he was exposed.
Later he led a force of marines over a
100-yard stretch OF. sand against the
fort, facing a fire which played fearful
havoc with the ranks of his command.
The charge was the beginning OF the
end, and in a few hours the fort which
had made such sturdy resistance was
Heating the stars and stripes.
Probably the most daring and GER
tainly the most famous of Cushfng's
exploits was his destruction of the con
federate ram Albermarle on the night
of Oct. q, 1854. This project was con-
Ceived by him. and to him belongs al
most the entire credit for putting an
end to the usefulness to the confeder-
ates OF this most formidable craft,
which had put to route the federal ma
val forces in and about the North Car
DINA sounds. In addition to an abso-
lutte disregard, even defiance, of death,
the young lieutenant Che was only 22)
in this enterprise made cool use of
great professional skill at the crucial
time and under a deadly fire.
Inc AlDeIndrlc naQ become great
annoyance to the federal forces in the
sounds. into which we had no iron
clads that could enter over the sand
bars. 1t had beaten the fleet of small
steamers in Albemarle sound and the
Roanoke river. and made possible the
reoccupation of that region by con-
federate land troops. Cushing proposed
two plans for the capture or destruc-
ton of the ram. There was some doubt
at the navy department at first as to
the practicability of the scheme, but
Cushing's skill and bravery had al
ready been so well demonstrated, that
one of his plans was approved and fin
ally he was sent to New York to secure
his outfit.
Coming down Chesapeake bay the lit
tie flotilla of launches had a hard time
of it. One ran aground. the crew be-
ing captured and sent to Libby prison,
and Lieutenant Gushing himself was
so worn and gaunt with privatiOn-
there had been stormy weather and q
scarcity of food-when he reported to
Admiral Porter, at Norfolk, that the
latter was inclined to doubt his ability
to proceed farther.
When the expedition had been refit-
ted and was just ready to start, an