The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1906-11-13
THE NAVY TN
MORRISTOWN
Interesting Historical I1forma-
ton Presented at Meeting
Of Radford Section.
A PRIZE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL

The first meeting OF the Admiral
William Radford Section No. n of the
Navy League was held at Maccnlloch
Hall, the residence Of the president Of
the section, Captain Jacob W. Miller
last Monday evening. The meeting was
held in the large hall which was deco
rated with flags for the occasion.
Among those present were Admiral
Cooper, Admiral Mackenzie, Lieut..
Watts and Mrs. Watts, Mrs, F. W..
Merrell and Miss Merrell, Vice-Chan-
cellor Pitney, Vice. Chancellor Emery
Mr.. and Mrs. A. @. Keasbey, George
Macculloch Miller and Miss Miller, IA.
e. Revere, Justice Mahlon Pitney. j
Cummings Vail, Miss Laws, Mrs
COLES, w. B. Wood, J F. Maury, r..
o. Spedden, DR.. Henriques, F. Bandon
Humphreys, DR.. Erdman, z. f. Ran
dolph, Hobart Garfield, e. P. Frank
lin, Frank Marsh, H. X. Morgan, Jr.,
Mr.. and Mrs s. H. Little, Judge A..
d. Mills, Walter Ogden.
Captain Miller welcomed the mem
bers of the section to the house SO as
sociated with marine affairs.
H. G. Pitney, Jr., told Of the organ
ization of the section and read the
minutes of the meetings of the organ
izers
j. G. Vail offered resolution thank
ing the children of Admiral Radford
for information relative to their father
and suggesting that the section pub
lish life of the Admiral and another
resolution directing that another
meeting be held during the winter to
be addressed by General Horace Por-
ter, the president Of the society, If
possible.
Rev. #. L. Humphreys offered a
resolution Offering prize Of picture
Of one of the warships OF the Spanish
American War signed by the COM
manding officer to the pupil Of the
Morristown schools, who shall write
the best essay on the navy and its
achievements or heroes. These res0-
lutions were adopted
1t was reported that the member
ship is now sixty-seYen, Of whom six
were transferred from the New York
Section.
Captain Miller then spoke on the
Navy In Morristown, reading a
number ofsextracts from letters be-
longing to his father, the late Senator
Miller. He referred first to the occu-
pant of the house, George p. Maccul-
loch, who in 1913 secured the building
of the Morris Canal, which with the
Erie Canal, at about the same time,
had considerable influence in marine
affairs. Then he spoke Of the old
Speedwell Iron Works where the Walls
turned OUT most OF the machinery Of
the Savannah the first steamship to
cross the Atlantic because there was
no place in the country where iron
could be welded SO well as there. Then
iron was mined In the Morris hills.
spiegeleisen or mirror iron from which
was made the first armor Of the navy.
Such iron as that has been exhausted
and is now secured from Cuba or Nor
way.
There were in all as he remembered
forty-fiye naval officers who have lived
more or less in Morristown, or now
live within mile of MaccuIloch
Hall. First he recalled Commander
G. Fl. Bell, who enlisted in 1873 with
De Catur, serving until 1868. He
captured the last SLAYER with 1856
slaves on board and saw the COM
mander condemned to be hanged in
New York. He was opposed to slavery
and said in letter that one hundred
men could capture all the African
slave pens and deplored the supineness
of America and Great Britain in not
so doing.
Then there was Commodore Charles
Gaunt, who entered the navy in 1871
and served with Porter in 1928. Then
the widow Of Commodore Porter came
to this county and in lS46 a letter to
Senator Miller asks help for her son,
David D. Porter, afterward famous, ID
securing a claim of $4,000 due her hus-
band from piracy captures. Lieut.. g.
w. Harrison who was on the brig Con-
dor, commanded by Dupont, was an
other resident.
Admiral William Radford, who
served with distinction on some of
the cutting out expeditions on the
Mexican coast, married a daughter OF
J. S. Lowell in st. Peters Church in
1S48 and lived in the old Doughty
mansion. He was Virginian and
had to make the decision whether he
would staud by the flag or go with his
State. He chose the former course.
He was in the Merrimac and Cumber-
land engagement and served later as
the commander Of the first broadside
ironside. Ia 1869 be commanded the
European squadron and earlier was
on the ship which took Lafayette
home from his second "trip to the I'm
tied States.
In 1S4S there came to Morristown a
man who had straight forward way
OF saying things, John DeCamp. who
did valiant service. was MADE a eOn-
m0d0re In 1867 and married inf0 N =