The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-15

From the September Review of Re
views. RepubIished by Permis-
sion.
Soft You; word or two before you go.
have done the state some service, and
they know't -Othello.
In the great sea fight off Santiago, but
one man on the vessels of the United
States was killed. He stood bravely
out on the Brooklyn's forecastle measur-
ing fundamentally the distance of the
nearest Spanish ship x moment before,
the commodore, almost beside him, had
expressed belief that the Viscaya was
gaining on her pursuers. and in re-
Spouse to a repeated expression of
doubt, the instrument was leveled.
No, sir said Ellis, quietly glancing
along the sights. "she is not further off
than eighteen hundred yards
Again he adjusted his telescope, looked
long and carefully, lowered it from his
eye, and began;
''NO.-I-'
Then came mighty whir-a fierce rush
of wind speewing by and staggering ev-
eryone-And the headless body of the
sole victim fell to the deck.
They picked it up and carried it to the
side, as If to give it to the ocean. Then
spake the commodore:
No, boys-no-not that-not that-put
him there beside the turret-and cover
him. God knows, We owe him Christian
hurial!'
And so they spread a tarpaulin over
the sad sight. and the guns of victory
Numbered a knell for him.
If the Spanish shot had laid low, not
that gallant young seaman, but the vet
eran commodore who had served his
country for more than forty years, this
is the life story of the latter which
would have been told
Winfield Scott schley, aged seventeen.
came to the United States Naval acad-
envy from Maryland in 1856 AS an
acting midshipman he completed the four
years course creditably, though not
conspicuously; for he was one of those
popular, good-natured youngsters who
had taken to the sea because he loved it.
whose bent for the blue water was far
stronger than for books, and therefore
among those who seldom secure the pre-
ferment of cadet rank, so that he began
and ended his career in the battalion
Juggling a musket as a high private
1t was at this time that the first en-
bassy sent by Japan to the civilized
world visited lis country, and It's mis-
sion being completed, the government, as
q NOAL k'AkAAASAtl OIucIeu the Hne IG1SdC6
Niagara to convey its members home
The ship was lying in New York harbor
and there Midshipman Schley joined her
in June, 1850 just after his graduation
from Annapolis. She went to Japan
by way of the Cape of Good Hope. and
old not get back to the United States
until April, 1861. and then in the midst
of the excitement following the attack on
Fort Sumter. The navy was largely a
nSfl ion coll
ton of its best officers had been appoint
ed from the disaffected states They
We're reSlSntng daily and their action
was being precipitated by the peremp-
tory demand from Washington that the
oath of allegiance to the Union should
at once be taken by every person in the
naval service
Hardly had the Niagara anchored in
the harbor of Boston when printed
forms of the oath We're sent on board.
distributed, and instant signatures re-
quired The midshipmen's mess mainly
complied Immediately. Schley, a Mary
lander, had no knowledge as to what
course his relatives and friends had
adopted but after thinking it all out
boy-fashion. as we'll as he could, he de-,
cided for himself. This made a little
delay. At last he brought the signed paper
to Capt. Mexican, in his cabin, ana
handed it to him in silence
God bless YOU exclaimed the old Of
fcer, as he glanced at it; 81 cannot tell
you how anXiously 1 have waited for
this. But I knew. you'd do it, my boy
knew you'd do it, and he threw mis-
arms around the youngster with the
tears rolling down his cheeks. Thus
Midshipman Schley. of Maryland made
his decision for the old flag.
The Niagara was rapidly hurried south
ward, and a few days later was cruising
- off Charleston beginning the long block
ade. Almost Immediately she captured
large steamer, the General Parkhill,
one of the first prizes of the war. Al
though there were many officers of SUI
periOr rank on the Niagara, Capt Nc
Kean, remembering the circumstances
of the young midshipman's choice, Sc
Iected him as the prize master, gave him
ten men as a prize crew, and ordered
him to take the ship to Philadelphia II
was a sudden and great responsibility tC
impose on boy barely twenty-one years
old; but it was his first command and
his pride rose to it. He celebrated his
new authority by at once clapping the
vessels officers into irons, and as it
was necessary to use sail as well as
steam to help progress, ne ordered her
crew aloft and mainly kept them there,
retaining his own people at the helm
and about the decks. Then he set the
watches, man-of-war style. with two
able seamen from the Niagara as deck
officers, and, after an eight-day voyage
delivered his charge safely to Admiral
Dupont in Delaware bay.
The vacancies in the navy left by the
departed SOutherners now had to be filIeC
and Midshipman Schley found himself
quickly advanced to the grade of mas
ter and assigned as navigating officer tt
the frigate Potomac, then cruising in the
(01on do of+ Al,
ading vessels chased schooner ashor,
near Mobile bar, and sent her boat Il
take possession running close in herself
Hardly had the prize been reached wher
it was discovered that she was pract1
cally decoy, and the boat as it ap
preached the heavy surf, encountered E
severe fire from the Confederate coas
guards hidden behind the sand hills. Tc
make matters worse the steamers screw
fculed in the broken and floating rig
glng of the schooner, so that she coulC
not render help. The Huntsville of thu
blCckading fleet, with two cutters from
the Potomac in tow, soon came to thu
relief, the vessel opening on the sane
hills, and the cutters, under the com
mand of Master Schley, at once dashine
into the schooner under volley afte1
Voliey from the shore Two men were
shot down beside Schley; more wer.
wounded. The master Of the Potomac,
says the official report of the affair
pulled CALAMITY in toward the beach
with the cutters of that ship and rescued
our crippled boat. which, with tn,
wounded men, was fast drifting into tn,
surf
IN July, 1862, came the reorganization
OF the navy personnel, and Schley wa!
promoted to lieutenant and soon aftel
ordered as executive officer of the little
gonboat Winona on the Mississippi river
FROM that time until the fall of pnr