The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-09-05
ADMIRAL EvANS'S BOOK.
Judge Cowley Has Something to Say Of a
Volume Which Has Recently Been Attract
ing Attention.

| 1ub AskSabAuns
At a recent meeting of B. f. Butler
Post, Lowell, Mass, Commander Chas.
! Cowley discussed "a Sailors Log by
Rear-Admiral Robley d. Evans, a book
which has attracted attention on account
of the quarrel between its author and ex-
Secretary Chandler.
Referring to the death of Past Assist
ant Surgeon William LOngshaw, erro-
enously called Longstreet in Evans's book,
Commander COwley said that DR.. Long
shaw for some time was a shipmate of his
on the Monitor Lehigh on picket duty off
| Charleston, S. c., and was promoted for
gallantry in twice carrying a hawser from
the Lehigh to another monitor when the
Lehigh was aground off Cummings Point
and under the fire of all the Confederate
forts in that vicinity. DR.. Longshaw was
born in Manchester, England and brought
to Lowell in his infancy by his parents,
who afterwards settled in Cambridge.
Evans says that while he CEvans) was
| lying on the beach at Fort Fisher, after
he had been shot in both legs, just as the
sun went down, Longshaw approached
him, and that he begged Longshaw to lie
down, as the bullets were singing around
| his head, but that LOngshaw did not do
this. He took Il canteen off a dead ma
| rine, and gave me Evans a swallow of
! sand and water, and did the same for
| another wounded man. Then turning his
face toward me Evans he said, I'VE
will have you all off the beach tonight"
and was moving on to the fort when a
bullet struck him in the forehead. He
sprang several feet in the air, fell at full
length on his back, and lay quite still
and dead His resignation had been ac-
ccpted a week before, and as soon as this
fight was done, he was going to Norfolk
to be married.
Commander Cowley said that after the
capture of Fort Fisher the body of DIR.
! LOi.gshaw was brought to Boston by the
steam frfgate Wabash, and was buried
in Cambridge with military and naval
| hOnors, but has since been reburied in
| WoOdlawn Cemetery in Everett. AS he
entered the navy from the University
City, his name appears on the monument
to the soldiers and sailors of Cambridge.
He was one of the bravest, brightest and
best of the many young men who laid
down their lives in the war for the Union,
and was held in the greatest respect by
all the officers and men with whom he
served.
Another naval medical officer, DIR. John
Blackmer, like DIR. Longshaw, vOlun-
teered to go with the assaulting column
to take care of the wounded, and fell and
died in the same way as LOngshaw; but
| did not know him. No other officer of
the Minnesota, LOngshaw's ship, fell at
| Fort Fisher; but an Acting Master, James
| Birtwhistle, who was also born in Eng
land, and once lived in Lowell, was
wounded there.
There are errors and omissions in
! Evans's book which are remarkable. For
example, he calls the powder boat the
Georgiana, when we all know she was the
Louisiana. OF all the sailors and marines,
| nearly 2OOO in number, who were en-
gagged in that terrible assault on Fort
| Fisher, according to Rear-Admiral Evans,
| only eight, seven besides himself, sue
ceeded in getting beyond the stOckade.
Admiral Porter, at one time, put the
| number at 20 and at another time at 30.
Evans here is nearer right than Porter,
but he is mistaken in saying that they
were all shot. Acting Ensign George L.
| Davis, of the Wabash, now a Captain
| in the permanent navy, advanced farther
than Evans, and, l think, escaped I'M
| hurt, and there were others. l knew
Davis personally, but Evans does not men
ton him. Neither does he mention an
other gallant young officer who partici-
| pated in that assault-Acting Ensign
Francis z. r. Sands, son Of Admiral
Sands. Boldly risking his own life, Mr..
Sands, now Capt. Sands, with the aid
of others, carried Evans off the beach to
boat, and then did the same with Act
ing Ensign John f. Merry, of the Osce-
ola, took both of them to the ship, and
then returned to the assault. OF course,
when a man has been badly wounded he
cannot be expected to remember every
thing around him; and Evans might say
| that his book is devoted to himself. But
there would have been no minimizing of
himself in paying a tribute to his COM
rades, especially to those who laid down
fhaIr EVnG If ic hifEipult m 70.
Evans's absolute silence with respect to
Flag Lieut.. S. w. Preston and Lieut. B.
Ii. Porter. Preston was then on Admiral
Porter's staff, and he had previously been
on Admiral Dahlgrens staff. Lieut.. Por-
ter was in command of Admiral Porter's
flagship. Both were held in the highest
respect by both those Admirals and by
all who knew them. Both had been cap
tured in the boat attack on Fort Sumter,
and after some l3 months confinement in
Jail at Charleston and Columbia, had been
exchanged and sent to Admiral Porter to
help capture Fort Fisher Both fell in
that assault not far from Evans. Porter
was killed instantly, Preston survived for
few minutes only. Had they lived they
would now, with Evans, be Rear-Ad- |
mirals. Preston and Porter were loved
and admired by all; the mere mention of
their names has often started tears |
What dreams Porter had l do not know, |
ldlhth VIII III HIS CdDlU !
on board the Malvern shortly before the |
final assault. Preston hoped that, with |
the capture of Wilmington, the war |
would soon close, that long leave of alb |
sence would be given to him, that he |
would marry a lady to whom he had been |
engaged, and take a bridal tour through |
Europe. But, alas, for Preston, there was |
to be no happy marriage or bridal tour
for him. Before that days sun had set, |
he had followed Porter to the land of
shades. 1t is hard to reconcile the abso-
lutte silence of Admiral Evans over the
deaths of such comrades, with that spirit
of generous comradeship which every
naval officer is supposed to cherish.
Evans pays high compliments to Gen.
Terry, to whom Gen. Grant gave the COM
mand of the land forces, but does not
mention Gen. AmeS, though he does men
ton Amess Division, and applauds Gen.
Curtiss. According to Gen. Terry's final
report, Gen. Ames had the immediate
command of all the troops engaged in the
assault, and in the Indian Summer of his
life the silence of Admiral Evans will not
worry him.
On the tablets in this hall the name of
John Mccarthy appears. He was a petty
officer of the Santiago de Cuba, was
wounded in the assault on Fort Fisher,
and died from loss of blood before the
Surgeons reached him. His real name
was Patrick Mccarthy, and before the
war he had followed the sea for wears