The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-10-07

. .h;, words "don't give up the
SNIP on a dark blue pennant
nown by Commodore Oliver II
ferry in the Battle of Lake Erie
now Adorn Memorial hall.
mere were 281 midshipmen|
auartered aboard the U. S. Frigate
Constitution,' doing duty as al
framing ship, in 1850, on the eve
OF the War Between the States.
with southern midshipmen leav-
ing, the Constitution sailed avail
WIN the northern middies to New
Ports R. l., where in June 1851
a class of 80 was graduated with
William T. Sampson holding first
rank.
Vice Admiral David Dixon Por-
ter became superintendent Of the
academy when it went back to An
napolis in 1865 and led a revolu.
ton in Naval tactics. Dewey and
sampson and Winfield S. Schley,
all later heroes of the Spanish
war, Joined the faculty as younger
men took the lead underPorter
o advance studies Of guns and
fuses and torpedoes, together with
engines and steam engineering.
Porter took great personal inter-
est in his charges - the midship-
men and demanded that each
take bath at least once a week.
He introduced athletics, now
major factor in academy training,
to make the school a smart
ship" Fencing and boxing and
baseball took their place and the
admiral himself squared off in the
ring with the students. Baseball
games were played against out
side teams and Porter made them
play to win.
eve don't want anyone to come
down here and beat US at any,
thing" he declared.
New-quarters were erected I'M
der his direction and the grounds
were expanded. Taking in even
the mansion and gardens of the
governor of Maryland and IS
acres of land.
For the first time, in 1868, the
midshipmen faced West Points
Cadets-in drill contests-excelling
in manual Of arms competition,
but losing to the Military academy
in marching.
In 1873 Paris exposition awarded
ed the Naval academy certifi-
cate for the "the best system of
education in the United States.''
The expansion of sports saw the
arrival of football with Navy win
ming its first game Nov. 80, 1882,
defeating Clifton football club, 8 to
0. That was three years after the
academy squad had invented the
first used the tightly-laced canvas
jackets described by Walter
Camp as the original football suit.
The Navy athletic association
came into being in 1890 and under
game was played on Thanksgiving
its auspices the first Army Navy
day with the Middies trouncing the
Cadets at West Point, "a to 0. This
was the beginning of the long SER
les that has made this annual bat
tie a classic of the nation, a game
expected to draw 100000 fans this
year in Philadelphia's municipal
stadium.
Blue, symbolic of dark sea
| waters, and gold, representing the
| Naval uniform ornaments and gold
braid, became the institutions Of
fetal colors in 1892.
Six years later, at noon meal
April 2, 1898, the first class of mid
dies were handed diplomas and
packed off to the fleet after con-
gress declared war on Spain. Rear
Admiral Don Pascual Cervera Y
Topete with As other Spanish Ma
val officers and their servants
| were brought here for imprison-
ment after the Spanish Armada
had fallen to Rear Admiral Will
liam T. Sampson, commander of
the us. Fleet, and George
Dewey had won his brilliant bat
tie at Manila bay - further
achievements for academy ira
dition.
Plans then were under way for
rebuilding the academy. Ernest
Flagg, New York architect, drew
up the plans for buildings in the
Italian renaissance style, Bancroft
Hall, named for the father of the