The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-08-16

@&AAO IA &@aINo %AA@@A AAAA VAIN III III
enthusiasm Of youth. Some of them
ever threw their caps higher than the
tops Of the trees in the campus because
as one Of his classmates told me 1.-The
high marks he got reflected credit to
the whole class" He was not the
the hero of his class that day and /
think Admiral Sampson was command
ant of cadets. 1t was ecaus he knew
Of what stuff Hobson was made that
Sampson sent him in command or the
unseaworthy old Merrimac. with a few
sturdy seamen of his own selection, to
peril his young life in trying an expert
ment to close the harbor of Santiago.
Sampson knew Cervera's fleet. He
knew hat If the Spanish men of war
got out and our men of war followed
them, one by one. the swift Spaniards
would be able to keep together, to out
run our vessels, n perhaps. to cap
ture or sink them singly. Hobson knew
this too for he had spent TWO years in
Europe studying his profession from
every point Of view. He proposed the
plan to his commanding officer and
took his life into his own hands to carry
it out He blew up the Merrimac and
was pulled out of the water by Admiral
Cevera whose warm friend he has been
ever since. He was put in prison in
Moro Castle and since his release has
done as much hard work for his coun-
try as any other officer of the United
States navy. He was promptly ordered
to raise the ships sunk in Santiago ar
Dor and when he had done SO he was
ordered to Manila Bay where he raised
the three Admiral Dewey sunk. These
three nave been added to the United
States navy. After his work was done
at Manila he asked for dangerous duty
in the Philippines. This was refused
because the glare of the tropic sun in
Manila a had seriously injured his
eyes, and he was soon afterwards
seized with a severe attack of typhoid
fever, during which he was for several
days in imminent danger of death.
Since his he a made a
number of notable speeches. One in
Boston on the Fourth of July, one in
Detroit, Michigan, at the invitation Of
the Grand Army of the Republic, in
which he advocated the closest union
between the sections of his country.
He was the orator of the navy, Flag
Day-celebrated in the Temple of
Observation-Disclosures exposition. under
the auspices of. the Daughters of the
American Revolution. The last speech
he made was an especial compliment
to the press. He was introduced by
Mark Bennitt, Esq the chief of the
Pan-American Press Department, who
has jus been elected 10 a similar r.,
sition at st. Louis. Captain HobSon
knows whereof he speaks when he
pleads for an American nav and an
American merchant marine with a big
A. His people have always been we'll
to the front in the creation and defense
of the United States Of America.
The grandfather of Captain Rich
mond Pearson Hobson was the Hon.
Richmond Pearson. chief Justice of
North Carolina. This gentleman was
noted as being one of the best lawyers
who ever presided over the supreme
/ NJ of fhnt ctoTn I-hncn fnfhnr x-o >
also Richmond Pearson whose career in
the revolutionary war accounts for
some of Captain Hobson's warlike in
stincts. Early in 1775 a company Of
men were drilling in Surry county,
North Carolina. The British Captain
gave an order in an manner
to his young subordinate, Richmond
Pearson. Pearson Immediately stepped
out of the ranks, defied his command
er, appealed to his comrades to follow
him as their captain and with him
| join the army just being formed in the
cause of liberty. The company almost
TO a man followed the courageous
youth who served from that day until
the close of the revolutionary war as
an officer in the continental line. The
fact can be substituted by a volume
now in he library of congress-, but
long since out of print, and by the his
| torians of Surry county where the in
4 ClloHI OCCuIItd. Sdpldlh I1opSol .
great grandfather was Colonel John
| Williams, of Knoxville. Tennessee. Col
| onel Williams was eight years United
| States senator from Tennessee and held
a foreign mission under President John
| Quincy Adams. He was n of the
most heroic OF the commanders under
Andrew Jackson in the war of 1872
1915, and next to Jackson the most pop-
ular statesman and soldier of Tennes-
see of his generation. At the close OF
the famous battle of the Horseshoe "Old
Hickory Jackson grasped his hand
and said: Colonel Williams. L am I'M
der a debt of everlasting gratitude to
you. You, sir, have put me on the high
road to military fame" Thomas Ben
ton was lieutenant colonel in his COM
mand and Sam Houston OF Texas,
though a mere boy. was n of his lieu
tenants. The maternal great-grand-
mother of Naval Constructor Hobson
was a sister % the distinguished SOL
der. jurist and statesman, Hugh Law
son White of Tennessee. AS a boy SOL
der White distinguished himself by
killing the Indian chief "Kingfsher."
He was chief justice of Tennessee.
Subsequently was rendered by Presi-
lent Jackson an appointment as asso-
ciate Justice Of the supreme court OF
the United States and attorney gener-
al in his cabinet. both of which he de-
clined because he preferred service in
the United States senate, in which body
he served with great distinction for
sixteen years. and of which he was
made president when John C. Calhoun
resigned the office of vice president.
In 1886. Judge White was a candidate
for president o. the United States, re-
Ceiving the electoral votes of Tennessee
and three other states Both Williams
and White were from North Carolina,
1t is not surprising h a a man with
such heredity should have become the
the hero of his class as well as OF the
Merrimac. The sinking of that ship Il
not the most difficult thing he mas
done. He was kept silent when false
reports about him have been widely
| circulated, perhaps. because the verac'
ity of the other sex would have beer
impeached if he had told the truth OF
allowed mis- friends to do so. L know
of no severer test of a mans ch1valry
His has stood that test to everybody
hut his mother However, this m1gn,