The Washington times., 1901-11-03
BUNCE AND CRowNINsHIELD.
Why the Navigation Bureau Opened
Fire on Schiey.
(From The Hartford Times. !

fire on Schteys
(From the Hartford rimes)
Rear Admiral Francis N. Bunee is dead.
| 1t is time 10 make known some facts that
| will belong TO American history. Else
where we give the service record Of this
| distinguished naval officer. Our purpose
here is to enable the public to understand
how it happened that in the Spanish war
| the United States Navy did not produce
/ two Deweys instead of one. and why It
| happened that in Asiatc waters our navy
| Won nothing but honor, while in dealing
! with the far more powerful Spanish fleet
| In the West Indies whatever honor was
/ won seems to have been almost buried
out of sight by the subsequent raveia-
tions Of petty and contemptfbie jealousies
and animosities among our naval men;
which have proved as disgusting when
| placed on exhibition before the American
people as they are demoraIizing to the
navy itself
| That these jealousies and animositles
| originated not among the officers Of the
fleets. but in the Navy Department Itself
that John ID. Longs preposterous STRAIT
| egy Board, consisting of Crowninshield.
Sicard and Mahan. was at the bottom OF
| the whole mischief that we now know
| as the Sampson -Schiey conference.-the
| fact the Hartford Times has dweIt
| upon before. But it is proper now to
make the whole miserable business clear
ly understood oy the American people.
on June z. 1895. Rear Admiral Francis
| NJ. Bunce. then near the head Of the list
OF rear admirals OF che United States
Navy, was given command of the North
Atlantic squadron. and no American fleet
ever had more efficient and capable
commander. 1t would have been fortu-
Yaus
which gained such a high degree of pro-
| ficiency in naval tactics and gunpery un-
der his command could have been so con-
tinued during four years instead Of two.
Rear Admiral BuHce's feet captain. let
1t be first mentioned. was Winfield Scott
| Schley. There were twenty vessels In the
fleet, among them the United States bat
tleship Maine, commanded from Septen1-
Der. 1885. until April. 1897, by Aren't
Schuyler CTowninshield-a naval officer,
said by the books to have been born in
New York. but bearing a Massachusetts
name. Among all the twenty captains Of
the North Atlantic Squadron, under the
command OF Rear Admiral Bunce. and
subordinate In rank to Winfield Scott
Schley, the only one to whom 1t was ever
necessary for the rear admiral to ad-
minister reprimand. with a threat OF
court-martial, was Capt. Aren't Schuyler
Crownirshield. of the battIeship Maine.
This may be called fact No. l.
Fact number two is the arrival In tha
Secretarys office OF the Navy Department
Of the Hon. John D. Long, of Massachu-
setts, in March. 1897 and the Immediate
detail to the head of the Bureau of Nayi-
CATION in the Navy Department OF this
same Aren't Schuyler Crowninshield. with
ms hot grudge against Rear Admiral
Francis NJ Bunce and Winfield Scott
Schley. On May l, 1897. three weeks after
the placing of Crowninshield in charge OF
the details of officers at Washington. we
lind the commander of the North Atlantic
Squadron relieved from the duty He had
applied for the command of the Boston
Navy Yard He was given the command
of the New York yard instead Rear Ad-
miral Sfcard succeeded Fin in Command
of the North Atlantic Squadron and
when Sicard's health made it impossible
for him to continue on that duty in 1885,
Bunce was the man who should have been
restored to that command. and who would
have been if personal influence had not
prevailed against him.
Now see all the mischief and failure
that followed from this same sOurce-tha
foolish attempt of Aren't Schuyler Crown
inshieid, acting as the Board Of Strategy.
with two pliable pedantS-Sicard and Ma
han-as his associates. selected by him
self; the foolish attempt of this captain
of the line who had narrowly eSca ped a
court-martial at the hands of Admiral
Bunce. to run the whole war with
Spain on its naval side: the detail of
Sampson (another desk man like Sicard,
Mahan. and Crowninshield) to the COM
mand of the North Atlantic squadron af-
ter the war broke out with Spain: the per-
sistent attempt to suppress and discredit
Schley. who had been Bunce's feet COM
mander during the fuss with Crownin-
shield the year before; the timid and old
womanish nature of all the operation of
the feet against the Spaniards. as showg
IN the orders from the Strategy Board &c
Schley mot to expose his ships" at San
tiago before Sampson arrived and by
SIMPSONS fear to go into Santiago Har-
Dor after the Spanish ships had come
out
We have no space to review the history
OF the naval war with Spain in detail
Enough Il We have shown the influence
which is at the bottom of the Sampson
Schley- controversy. and which deprived
the gallant and accomplished Francis NJ
Bunce Of the opportunity that belonged tt
him by seniority and by accomplishment
to lead in the operations of the nayJ
against Spain in the West Indies
We will add one fact more. If John
Long had been much stronger candi-
date for Vice President at Philadelphia IL
1900 than he proved to be- he would still
have failed TO receive the twelve votes Oi
the Republican delegation from Connect.
cut-a fact explained solely by his shar,
in the shelving of Rear Admiral Francis