The Washington herald., 1906-12-09

pedo all fixed, and 7 Vent down to the
/ landing with him He shook hands with
me in saying farewell. / knew that he
was going to certain death; | revoked
/ the order and forbade him to go
/ II is not generally known that Gen.
SaXtOn once thought ne was going 10 be
/ an admiral It was during the Port
Royal expedition under sherman. Here
again he was nearly wrecked on the
steamer Hatteras. They ran into a bad
storm and the ships got separated. Sax
ton was very anxious about the fate Of
a small river steamer, the Mayfower.
4 He says; we overhauled her about
dusk, braveiy battling against great
odds. Every wave swept completely over
/ her deck; as the waves would recede the
/ sailors would rush forward, put things 10
rights and scurry TO cover again TO avoid
/ the next wave. II was so desperate
game that 1 shouted 10 her captain TO
/ come aboard our stanch ship, the At
Iantic, and leave his tub TO her fate.
Above the roar of the tempest his cheer
/ fuI reply came back: Get along with
your old ark I'm going to share the fate
OF the Mayflower' We saw no more OF
/
/ arrival in Port Royal; they came in all
right and on my recommendation the cap
/ tain, Capt Phillips, was promoted to be
! bTevet commodore"
/ At the battle of Port Royal Gen. Sax
/ ton was on board the Wabash. He says
/ Commodore Dupont's flag ship looked
/ Ike prize fighter in superb training
/ with sleeves rolled up ready for round
| Commodore Rogers, considering me an
artillery expert, had kindly given me
| command of one of the guns on the
/ Wabash. and I was prepared to fight it,
/ but Gen. Sherman sascertaining the cause
OF my absence. requested me 10 return
at once to the Atlantic and" smilingly
adds the general that ended my chance
of becoming an admiral!'
While serving in the Quartermaster' s
Department, Gen. Saxton came into
pretty close relations with the elder Van
derblt. He had TO requisition a lot of
steamboats, for the transport of troops.
and he found the owners of the great
ocean lines-Colins. Roberts, Lowe
Brothers, and the Vanderbits-willing to
Go anything TO aid the government.
SaxtOn, when he got his ships, appointed
a board 20 examine them and see what
they needed. He found the Vanderbilt
ships needed a lot of things. Says the
general:
"One morning, when Vanderbilt was
speaking to me of his conquests on the
sea, I said to him: How is it. cOmmo-
dore that you, who aspire to be the
king Of the ocean, have the most eco
ncmcally furnished vessels that sail out
Of New York? He Indignantly denied the
charge. My comment was to hand him
the list of articles that were lacking and
which must be put into his ships before
L could accept them. Looking the paper
over carefully, he said: 1 won't do it
| Then said /, III not accept your ships .
He pondered the list again, and pres
entity put il in his pocket remarkinf..
Say no more about It, I'll put them in
He scruPulously supplied every article on
the list
Before I left New York Vanderbilt sent
for me and said: Captain, I have about
done with the ocean Ny future con-
quests will be on land I intend to pre-
sent my ship, the Vanderbilt. to the gov
ernment and am going to own the New
York Central and Hudson and Harlem
railroads. Uncle Sam will never do much
for you. Come with me- and I will do
better for you than he ever viii.
in that and other conversations he re-
ferred 10 the fact that I had brought
4 him to terms when he had resolved not
to be driven, and ne seemed to like me
for it. / have often thought since what
a change the chance he offered me wouJd
have made in my career"
At the close of the civil war Gen. sax
ton was made chief quartermaster of tba
Department Of the South. of the Lakes.
Of the Missouri, and of the military divi-
sion Of the Pacific. lie was brevetted