Putnam patriot., 1909-11-19
John AdoIph DahIgren
nY J. [. 1nowBRInE

2
 the earlier period of the American
 navy. There are names n tIIts branch Of our nations serYi ice which deserve
 the highest honor for what was
 achieved in the eaose of civilization
 and progress. Rear Admiral George
 l.. BeIknap in lecture delivered in January, 1897, before the Massachu-
 setts Military Historical society, called
 attention 10 the fact that our great na- l val commanders have been prominent in various lines of discovery and in. 1 vention. Thornton A. Jenkins Of the
 old navy k 10 be regarded as the father
 of our present lighthouse establish- ment. James NJ. Gilliss wss the most | learned astronomer who has ever
 adorned the line Of any navy. Lieut.. John NJ Brooke was the inventor of
 that submarine apparatus, now named | after himself, which detaehes the sink
 CT automatically and brings up spec. ] imen of the bottom soil in the deep sea soundings. Commodore kicha ard | Stockton, who saved Southern Caiifof. 1 mia 10 the Gnited States al the close of l the Mexican WAT, was the father of
 our steam navy, the original Prince. lon, built on his advice, being the first
 screw stip-of-waf constructed fer any
 navy Captain William \. Jefiers,
 who commanded the new Ironsides at
 the attack on Fort Wagner, established our torpedo school and experiment sta-
 ton at Newport, k. L., and John 4. Dahlgren, the subject of this sketch.
 was the inventor of the .Duhlgren gum lhe most powerful weapon of
 war which up 10 the close of tie Civil
 Mar had come Into existence.
 Admiral Dahlgfen, the centennial of whose birth occurred OH the thirteenth Of the present month, wis the son of Eetnard Ulfic DahIgfen, the Swedish consul to this country from the begin ming of the last century lill the time of his death In ls2I. The elder Dahlgren was very entefprlsing man and high Iy respected by all who knew him. He made his home while in America in Philadelphia, where his son was born and educated, and where circle of cultured people belonging to the Qua ker city often met Tor conversations The city then numbered nearly 100000 inhabitants, and was the second in population in the United States. Its commerce was exceeded only by that of New York and Boston, and large numbers of foreign vessels were always at its wharves. Early in his boyhood sire to go to sea, and the naval service held out special attractions for him. Through his fathers influence he re- ceived a midshipman's warrant when he was sixteen years of age. The doc umcnt bears date, February |, 1926, which was nine days before the birth Of General John A. Logan, who, like Admiral Dahlgren, held a conspicu- ous place in the history of the Civil War. His first cruises was in the ship Macedonian, which soon after was at- tsched to the Brazilian squadron. In 1929 he was transferred to the sioop Ontario, and went to the Mediterfane- an, where three years more were spent in naval training and in observation among foreign nations and their ship ping. In ls32 he returned to the Uni ted States and passed his examinations with efca. credit.
 Owing to Dahlgrenis ability in the mathematical courses of study he was now detailed for shore-duty and placed on sthe Coast Survey. This great branch of national service had mol then reached those enormous proportions, ,or risen to that distinction in the public eye that it has since attained, but Il was owing to the inventions and inves- tigations of such men as Dahigren that the chariing of the Atlantic coast.line was so well begun and rapidly exeeu- ted. His services therefore were in very great demand at the headquarters of the Bureau in Washington. He made, however, another cruise to the Mediterranean in isi3, and after that his chief life work was begun. IL con necied him with the ordnance depart mept of the navy. When he first en- tered the service as a youth of sixteen only solid shot and simple appliances and wooden gun carriages, such as are seen today on the remodeled tonsiitu- ton lying al her old wharf at Charles town navy yard were in use. There was then no ordnance establishment, with the exception of one small pyro- lechnic laboratory at Washington. The modern possibilities of the Monitor and the Dreadnaught had not become known. The French General, F, II. PaiNhans, had explained his system of shells before the naval boards ot his own country, but howitxers suitable to use with such projeetiles were vel to he invented The defects in artillery both on sea and land led Dahlgren 10 a long and careful course of study which finally resulted tn hts invention of that remarkable cannon which now bears his name. During the Civil War sew eral thousand of Inc nahlgren guns of different caliber were cast al the United states navy yards, and il Is claimed that pat pna ef thaf, axar hnrSl ar