The National tribune., 1906-01-04
THE FLYING SQUADRON
OF NAVAL VETERANS.

ALAGz 0A4AN~ 0~EOhOENNSN
OF NAVAL VETERANS.
Organized for Reuaion Purposes to Meet
Annually With Our GAR. Comrades
nj Their National Encampments, and
PIE In LEGAL, State and National Leg
islation.
Editor National Tribune: The gIor-
ious deeds performed by the officers
and men of the u. S. Navy. whose cour-
age and daring having been told in his
told too often, as they have astonished
the world in the most stupendous series
of triumphs ever known to civilized
man. The Navy has made itself feared
and respected wherever an American
man-o-war has penetrated.
A brief survey of it's record shows
that while still i'm it's infancy it knocked
cut England, the Queen of the Sea-" in
Is out of Is pitched battles, harassed
and demOraliZed her commerce, hum
bled French pride on the ocean, made
the Barbary States come to terms.
wiped out the pirates of the Spanish
Main, helped to break UP the African
slave trade, defended the Monroe Doc
door of the Orient to our Merchant Ma
rine, defeated Corea, Japan and China
III numerous engagements assisted in
cOnquering Mexico by reducing it's for
tjfications, planted "Old Glory in the
far north. drove the Confederate flag
from the high seas, dealt staggering
blow to the Confederacy by gaining
control Of the Mississippi and the cap
ture of New Orleans, won the first fight
to a finish between armor-clad vessels at
the battle of Mobile Bay, from which
the Nations of the earth have evolved
their existing naval ornaments. gave
lessons in STACEY to the naval schools
of the world and showed Spain that
there was something doing" after she
sunk the Maine by smashing her fleets
at Manila and Santiago in an unprece-
denied chorus of thunder which will
rc-echo through the pages of history
for ages to come.
In the civil war we blockaded coast
Of over 1000 miles. and the value of
our captures exceeded $40.OO0,O00. In
addition to which we collected from
Great Britain through the Alabama
Claims Commission SIS, 100000 for in
jury to our commerce.
We put the privateer Sumter out Of
commission at Gibraltar, destroyed the
Manassas at New Orleans, the Arkan-
sas at Baton Rouge, and compelled the
suicide of the Merrimac at Norfolk;
captured the Atlanta at Warsaw Sound,
the Tennessee in Mobile Bay, the
Stonewall at Havana, and on the coast
Of France we sent the Pirate Alabama
to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Our gunboats ascending the James
River compelled the evacuation of Rich
mond, April, 1865.
This Squadron is organized to pre-
serve the memory of these inspiring
events and bind closer together the
bonds of friendship formed amid scenes
of trial and danger. We meet annually
for Reunion and dog-watch with our
GAR. comrades at their National En-
campments.
To meet legitimate expenses for sta
tionery badges and dog-watch, the
membership fee is 81 annually. A
handsome, neat and appropriate GER
tificate will be furnished to all who
join us. No muster fee, dues, per cap
tia tax or salaried officials. All naval
veterans are eligible to membership
and all attending our Reunion will be
considered delegates and vote in the
selection of officers.
From the foundation of our Navy it's
officers have not only done their duty
in war, but have in times of peace
added largely to the geographical
knowledge of the world, opened up
commerce with the remotest countries,
and by careful surveys made clear to
our merchant-vessels the pathway
across the ocean.
Compare their explorations with
tors of former times, and our officers
will not suffer by the comparison.
Many of the old voyagers left but mea-
ger accounts of their discoveries, while
our explorations have always been con-
Quoted in such a manner as to benefit
the whole human race.
Whatever romance may attach to the
early navigators, they were in truth
bold adventures, pushing their frail
barks into stormy seas, and in many
cases leaving scarce a clew to the
points they visited.
Our officers, with the hardihood Of
their predecessors, possess knowledge
that has enabled them to determine
with exactitude the position Of every
coast and hidden danger, and our
charts are now in use by all CONNER
cial nations.
Everybody remembers the expedf-
ton under command of Lieut.. Wilkes,
which visited all parts of the world,
and made charts of every place 1T Wis
tied
The expedition performed an
amount of labor almost herculean, of
which our merchandising are reaping
the benefit at this day.
Commodore Perry, at the head of
naval squadron, opened to the world
the commerce of Japan. which had
been lost to it for centuries. The bene-
fit Of his action is seen by the increase
of our commerce in that quarter of the
globe and by the multiplication of
American mail steamships to China
and Japan, which will finally be an as
sistance to us, though a small one, in
time of war.
Our Navy has been active in the ex-
ploration of the Arctic and Antarctic
Oceans and the vast waters of the Pa
off IN n nrDnnrfi0n
done more toward extending a knowl-
edge Of the physical geography of the