The Washington herald., 1909-05-03
Calls on History.
10 Washington Herald

! the Navy ed. 1880, as follows;
For the first regular cruiser that ever got 10 sea
/ under the new government We must refer to the
/ lexington The honor had long been claimed
for Capt Bary. a3d On close e1amination Of the
facts Olr means VII allow. We believe 70 be his
/ due. The LezngtC1 must have left the Caps u
The Delaware lAte II Jan-sry early II February,
I77G
/ To the contrary, Griffin, IN his History
I Of Commodore Barry: The Father of the
/ American Navy philadelphia. 1893.
says:
/ II vas long claimed for Barry that the Lexing-
] toa was the frst cruiser 10 display az ses the
I hTst Asg Of CE coGntTy. Cooper. II his earlier
I editions ot hiS History a the Nav gave Barry
the honor rrotsbIy because first conriissioned and
( ready for zrTice. Later INVESTIGATIONS by
I Cooper CEd- ls55j. by an examination Of BarTy's
pGpeTs. show he was employed shore In ths
Delaware after Commodore Hopkins had PIT to sea.
Griffin. page .. says that the Lexing-
I ton went 10 sea on April I. I776, 'as most
I authentic date" and authentic history
! CorrObOrates IL Just as II shows that Com
mender-in-chief Hopkins reached the
high sea February Il. 1776. on board his
4 flagship. Alfred, the nations first flag
ship. the first war ship commissioned
/ and Offered BY Continental Congress, and
I
Of Continental Congress to fly the Amer
lean flag at sea, as she was the first war
/ ship 70 unfurI It in America when run
up on New Years Day I776. BY the hand
I Of John Paul Jones. captain pro tempOre
As 10 the capture Of the Edward. on
I april :, I736. DR.. Meaney quotes from the
I American Encyclopedia edited by Dana
and Ripley. as follows:
/ Bauy IN February. I77e. was appointed
70 CIluZnd the Lexington. and sftGZ sharp acton
( took the tender Edward the Hrst var vessel cap
I tured hy CC1Ulissloned of1csr az the Amsrcan
uaTy-
Dr.. Meaney then quotes from Cooper
as 10 the capture OF the Edward. "as hav-
I ing been the first Of any vessel OF war
that WIS ever made by q regular Aneri-
I can cruiser ln battIe' and thereuPon Dr..
Meaney himself asserts that Barry made
the first capture IN battle OF a vessel OF
war"
Again. to the contrary, Grif1n says that
/ Commodore Hopkins. on his cruise 10 the
Bahama Islands. did capture. on March
( 3 I77s, New Providence, its governor,
I nearly 100 cannon. much ammunition
stores, and. on return, April 4. captured
/ British schooner Of eighteen guns. and.
/ April Q. captured a bomb brig OF eight
I guns. fOTty-eight men. stores. ammuni-
/ ton. and powder, and reached New Lon
/ don, Conn. with his prizes and hostages
on April 1.-the same day that Barry ar
rived al Philadelphia with HIS prize. cap
tured April :, IT76 Griffin further says:
Bsuy's arrival at Philadelphia, ss1t q TIE
..E.soei.. goTsTrTsEt before Tie -s2oT q HgD,
British fag o. ths OCEAN was s;ru,k % Barry"
Buell., IN MS Life of John Paul Jones"
( and Brady. IN MS Commodore Paul
1 Jones' say Hopkins arrived az New Lon
[ don April s. 1776. Cooper. in his History
/ OF the Navy" says Hopkins captured tie
! tender OF the Glasgow on April 6, I776
/ But Hopkins capture OF the Hawke and
/ the Bolton. and the tender OF the Glas-
] gov. April T. Z and s. respectively.
were not the first captures Of war vessels
/ under the new government On his way
! 20 the Bahama Islands. Hopkins captured
I two British sioops-of-war. Of which Alb
5ott, in his life OF John Paul Jones, says:
( On March 4. ths squadron anchored ~ Absco,
I one of the Bahama Islands On the passzEs the
. scusdron had CAPTURED two su,A1 sloops from NsE
/ PT0Tideuce whoss ceu gave vslusble in
formation q large Quantities Of military stores At
Mex Pr0Tldsnca- which we're sIbsecnsntly captured
Hence, the capture OF these two British
/ slOOps-of-vyar was more than a month be-
fore BarTys capture Of the tender Ed
ward. which capture was after that of
I the Hawke and the Bolton and the ten
! der Of the Glasgow.
/ DR.. Meaney makes a slight mistake n
I saying the British ship Glasgow escaped
/ from Commodore Tompkins The Glas-
I SOW escaped from Commsnder-ln-chief
/ Hopkins In the same paragraph he says
! the Edward was captured on April II She
I was captured on April :. He also refers
% the relief OF Capt Thompson from
command OF the Raleigh for the loss OF
{ the Alfred. and the command Of the
I Raleigh then being given to Barry. but he
I is silent as 20 Barrv's Immediately run
ming her ashore and losing her 20 the
/ British and the nations infant navy
Dr.. Meaney further says:
Here. then. zs have oouoborated hfsto-y frou
men of high csisbxity-Cooper. Dana. and RipIey-
who were al bJIt oou-GnDorznsous with Barry
Dana and Ripley are without standing
as historians. and, as compilers. quoted
no doubt. from early editions OF Cooper.
Who IS not considered an "IlustrioUs his
tOTian." Barry died IN 1903: and as to be-
ing his contemporaries. Cooper, Ripley.
and Dana were born in 17S9. 1902. and 1s19
respectively
( Dr. Meaney quotes Cooper, Dana. Rip
ley, and Rush as his authorities. l have
quoted from Griffin. because Grifin's is
the only history Of Barry in the Congress
sional Library OF in existence, and iss
pages cover every known source OF infor-
nation favOr1ng Barry's claim 70 the title
I Of father OF The navy, and Is exhaustive
I for the purposes for which It was writ
ten. and upon it rests the Catholic Ency-
{ ciopedta in its material fer Barry's biog-
raphy.
Dr. Meaney wants Congress 20 inscribe
on its Barry monument, to be placed in
Franklin Park, in Washington, the origi-
nal Barry epitaph, written by BENJAMIN
Rush. a signeT OF the Declaration Of In
dependence After nearly a csntury's
standing, the original tombstone, with the
Rush epitaph, was destroyed. and 8 new
one SET up with 2 new epitaph. about
which Griffin. in his history Of Barry,
says,
Il ls6 tbs original tomb having fallen into decav
rev toub-tbs present. one-vras erected t7v en-
tr101c-ons Of the members q ST 8Lary's Church
The epltaph having become ilezible TIE conuile-
q this record supplied CODY Of TIE eritsrh a. q
Eso BEEN c-t % the first store But ReT. william
T. Martin, tie pastor Of the church, had the
ep1tsph cut 50 as 70 Rad and now may be seen
as follows
Sacred 70 The ms-no-y Of John Barr. Fathe- Of
the american Nan. His schievenents In
battle and Al5 renowned naval tactics msritad foE
hin the position Of commodore ard 20 Be Justly
regarded as the Father Of the American Nav
It is no longer Rush's epitaph Of Barry:
II IS Martins The revision of the epitaph
destroys and brings 20 naught that Of
Benjamin Rush The description Is
changed by omissions and additions. one
addition being the title, Commodore
John Barry. Father Of the American
Navy"
The f2et Is, Barry never held the Off
cial title Of commodore n the navy; nor
vas he ever commander-in-chief OF the
navy. Barry's highest official rank was /