The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-12-14
LOYAL LEGION.

LOYAL LEGION.
Meeting of Maine Commandery at the
| Columbia. Paper by Capt. ]. o. John
son on a Forgotten Camden Hero of the
War.
The commandery of the State of
Maine, Military Order Of the Loyal
| Legion of the United States, held a
stated meeting at the Columbia hotel,
| Portland, Wednesday evening Dec. 9th.
Among those present were John ..
johnson of Liberty, Hon. A. E. Nick
erson of Swanville, A. Eugene Nicker-
son of Portland and Gen. G. W. Tilden
of Hollowell. Elisha Hopkins of Sears
port, who was elected in September,
was admitted to membership. Since
the first of September the following
members of the commandery nave died
Capt. Hiram C. Vaughan Of Foxcroft,
Lieut.. Joseph Otis Smith of Skowhe-
, gan, Col. Samuel Henderson Allen of
Togus, Lieut. Charles VeaZie Lord of
Bangor, Lieut.. Col. Augustus Choate
Hamlin of Bangor. A banquet follow
ed the business meeting.
A FORGOTTEN HERO.
| The paper of the evening was given
by Capt. J. q. johnson of Liberty, who
served as an officer in the navy during
the Civil war. 1t was a story of the
| first surrender of the United States
navy in the rebellion and a tribute to
the patriotism and courage of William
| Conway, of Camden, Maine, who re-
fused to.haul down the Stars and Stripes
when ordered to do so by the traitrous
| officers who had surrendered the sta
J ton.
| The story concerned the surrender of
the L. S. navy yard ut Warrington,
near Pensacola, Fla, Jan. IL, 1861.
At that time the commandment of the
yard was Capt. James Armstrong, an
officer who had been i'll the service
/ from the days of the War of 1912 and
was weighted with years and broken in
health. His executive officer was Com
mander Farrand and the next in rank
was Lieut.. Renshaw. The latter were
| northern-b born but southern married
and their sympathies were all with the
secessonists. There were three forts
in the vicinity of the navy yard,
/ McRea, Barrancas and Pickens, the
first two being situated Oh the MAIN
I land and the latter on Santa Rosa
island As the result of the rebel ten
denotes of the secretary Of war, Floyd,
there were but 46 men to man these
forts, when orders reached Lieut.. Sem
mer, the ranking army officer, Jan.
9th, instructlng him to take measures to
i prevent their capture. He was ordered
to first consult the commandment OF the
navy yard, who would probably have
c]a tn 90 with him rho
, lieutenant decided to abandon both
land forts and retire to the remaining
fort on Santa Rosa island. In accord
ance with his instructions, he C allied
upon the commandant at the yard. and
Capt. Armstrong promised every assist
ance, including the services OF the gun
boat Wyandotte and the store ship Sup
ply, then at the yard. He promised to
be ready to move with his command at
l. 80 that afternoon But no sooner
was the army officer out of the way
than the old captains under officers got
to work with such effectiveness that
when the time came to move to Fort
Pickens the navy contingent was not
ready. Lieut.. Slemmer called again
and demonstrated with the captain for
breaking his promise. Capt. Armstrong
promised anew and ordered the Wyan-
dotte to be ready to take the men and
supplies of the navy on board at four
D. m. But once more the under officers
at the yard had their way and the navy
contingent did not move that day nor
the next.
This was exasperating to the army
officer and to the officers on board the
gunboat and the supply ship. Believ-
ing that the under officers at the navy
yard were disloyal to the union, the
officers of the vessels co-operated with
Lieut.. Slemmer, taking provisions and
ammunition from the land forts to the
island fort. This work was done under
the direction of Lieut.. John Irwin of
the Wyandotte and Lieut.. NOW Rear
AdmiraD Erben of the Supply. The
ammunition which could not be con-
veniently transported to the island
fort was destroyed to prevent its fall
ing into the possession OF the Florida
state troops which were at Pensacola,
nine miles away.
After having destroyed 1000 pounds
of ammunition at Fort McRea, Lieut..
Erben went on shore and reported to
Capt. Armstrong, telling him what he
had done and offering to dispose in like
manner of the powder in the navy mag
azine just outside the yard.
The old captain sent for his under
officers and Farrand imm ediately ad-
vised the arrest of Erben. The captain
refused to do this and Farrand left the
room in high temper. He lay in wait
outside and, with RenshaW's aid, at
tempted an assault as Erben was leav-
ing the house. This was frustrated
through the arrival of brother officer
from the ship who went to Erben's
assistance. From that time the officers
of the two vessels had no question of
the disloyalty of Farrand and Renshaw
and they planned to take Farrand
prisoner, but, suspecting their design,
he wisely kept out of their way.
On the 10Th of January the yard was
surrendered to Victor M. Randolph,
acting as the commissioner of the gov
ernor of Florida. Farrand kept the old
captain in ignorance of events till the
rebels were at the gate and then per-
sonally conducted the surrender.
The rebels: were having very much
their own way till it came to hauling
down the colors. William Conway OF
| Camden, Maine, a quartermaster, old
| in the service, was ordered to stand by
the halliards. He obeyed. Then came
the order to haul down the cOlors as a
final sign of capitulation. And he re-
| fused saving: