Edward D . Taussig Edward David Taussig ( November 20 , 1847 – January 29 , 1921 ) was a decorated Rear Admiral in the United States Navy . He is best remembered for being the officer to claim Wake Island after the Spanish - American War , as well as accepting the physical relinquishment of Guam by its indigenous governor following the Treaty of Paris in which Spain ceded Guam to the U . S . following nearly 300 years of colonial rule . Taussig briefly served as Governor of Guam . He was the first of a three - generational family of United States Naval Academy graduates that served from 1863 to 1954 including his son , Vice Admiral Joseph K . Taussig ( 1877 - 1947 ) , and grandson Captain Joseph K . Taussig , Jr . ( 1920 - 1999 ) . Biography and early sea - service . Taussig was born in St . Louis , Missouri , the son of a wool broker , Charles and his wife , Anna ( Abeles ) , who had emigrated from Austria in 1840 . He was appointed to the U . S . Naval Academy during the Civil War and entered on July 23 , 1863 . His education over the next four years included service on the . Graduating in June 1867 he served on the steam frigate from July to December 1867 and thereafter variously on the , , and from January 1868 to April 1870 . He was commissioned an ensign on 18 December 1868 . His early sea service was perhaps most remarkable for his time as a passed midshipman on the gunboat when a tidal wave washed her far inland at Arica ( then part of Peru ) , on 13 August 1868 . He was decorated for his actions during this event . 1870 ' s - 1890 ' s service . Promoted to master on 21 March 1870 and to lieutenant on 1 January 1872 , during the 1870s and 1880s , Taussig was stationed at a number of shore stations and ships : , Pacific Squadron ( October 1870 – September 1873 ) ; Newport Torpedo Station , ( June – October 1874 ) ; Hydrographic Office , Washington , D . C . ( October – December 1874 ) ; Panama Survey Expedition ( January - April 1875 ) ; special duty , Bureau of Navigation , Washington , D . C . ( May – October 1875 ) ; commander , receiving ship , Washington , D . C . ( September 1875 ) ; Temporary duty assignment Washington Navy Yard ( October 1875 – April 1876 ) ; , Baltimore and Norfolk Navy Yard ( April – September 1876 ) ; training ship ( September 1876 - February 1877 ) ; , flagship of the European Squadron , and , special service European Station ( February 1877 – January 1880 ) ; U . S . Naval Academy ( June 1880 - April 1883 ) ; coast survey duty , commanding the survey steamers " McArthur " and " Hassler " ( May 1883 - August 1886 ) ; training ship ( September 1886 – December 1887 ) ; and Bureau of Navigation , Washington , D . C . ( December 1887 - December 1890 ) . During special duty , Navy Department , Washington D . C . ( December 1890 - April 1894 ) Taussig was involved in managing the navy ’ s exhibit at the Columbian Exposition , including the full size mock - up battleship " Illinois " , where he was executive officer , following his promotion to lieutenant commander on 19 June 1892 . Thereafter , his assignments were executive officer , , North Atlantic Squadron ( April 1894 - September 1895 ) ; executive officer , receiving ship , Philadelphia Navy Yard ( October 1895 - February 1896 ) ; executive officer , , Pacific Squadron ( February – September 1896 ) ; Hydrographic Office , Washington , D . C . ( September – December 1896 ) ; hydrographic inspector , U . S . Coast and Geodetic Survey , Washington , D . C . ( December 1896 - August 1897 ) ; coast survey steamer " Blake " ( August 1897 – May 1898 ) ; and Norfolk Navy Yard ( June – July 1898 ) . Wake Island , Guam and the Philippine - American War . Promoted to the rank of commander on 10 August 1898 , his first command was the gunboat , which departed San Francisco on 18 September bound for Hawaii , Guam and duty with the Asiatic Squadron , in the aftermath of the 12 August 1898 Spanish - American War armistice . arrived in Hawaii on 27 September 1898 and spent the next three months operating in local waters and conducting surveys , including Pearl Harbor . In December of that year , Taussig was given orders to proceed to Wake Island and claim it for the United States . After ten days passage from Honolulu , he arrived to formally claim the island on 17 January 1899 . At one p . m . a flag staff was placed , and with sailors in dress whites forming two ranks , Taussig called all to witness that the island was not in the possession of any other nation and declared it in possession of the United States . Taussig ordered the American flag raised by Ensign Wettengell and gave a 21 gun salute when the flag reached the truck . At the time President William McKinley ordering that Wake Island be claimed as a U . S . possession was seen as questionable ; however , no other nation had claimed the island and there was no native population . Wake Island was primarily taken for its strategic value as a cable station , midway between Hawaii and the Philippines . Departing from Wake Island at 5 : 35 p . m . on 17 January 1899 , arrived at Guam on 23 January 1899 . The island previously had been captured on 21 June 1898 by Captain Henry Glass of the who had left Francisco Portusach Martínez , an American civilian , in charge of the territory . Captain Glass is reported to have told Martinez , the only American on Guam , to “ take care of the island until some other officers or man - of - war might reach Guam . ” Although this has never been confirmed by the U . S . Navy , it was widely believed to be true . Martinez had been deposed in favor of non - American leadership under José Sisto and then Venancio Roberto , each laying competing claims to governance . Venancio Roberto ’ s claim was rebuked in favor of Sisto by Lieutenant Commander Vincendon L . Cottman , commander of the U . S . Navy collier that had arrived at Guam on New Year ’ s Day 1899 en route back to the U . S from the Spanish American War . However Sisto ' s authority was short - lived . On February 1 , Sisto officially relinquished control of the governmental and administrative affairs of Guam to Taussig and Cottman . The American flag was raised over the Governor ’ s Palace in a ceremony that ended with a 21 - gun salute from the , formally ending nearly 300 years of Guam being part of the Spanish colonial empire . In his short time on Guam , Commander Taussig set up a local council system of temporary government which lasted until the arrival of Lieutenant Louis A . Kaiser in July 1899 under orders to conduct navy surveillance of affairs of Guam . Taussig also supervised the establishment of signal stations and a port survey . On April 15 , 1899 , Admiral George Dewey cabled the Navy Department in Washington , " arrived six days from Guam . Quiet and order there . Most friendly to Americans . Native Government established by Taussig working well . Native soldiers fine body of men . ( United States Naval Transport ) in Guam . " Departing Guam in mid - February 1899 , Commander Taussig and continued on to Manila , where the ship arrived on 22 February 1899 with the mission of supporting the Army ' s campaign s during the Philippine – American War primarily with patrol and escort duty . In August 1899 , Taussig was summarily relieved of command of the and ordered home by Rear Admiral John C . Watson , commander of the Asiatic Station , following Taussig ’ s dissent from the latter ’ s views concerning campaign plans that were voiced at a staff conference in Manila . According to press reports , Watson resented Taussig ’ s verbal opposition , and a heated argument between the two ensued . Following his return to San Francisco on the hospital ship , , Commander Taussig requested an investigation . He was assigned to duty with the United States Lighthouse Board as 13th District Inspector in Portland , OR from October 1899 – April 1900 . However , Commander Taussig did not have to wait long for vindication , when in March 1900 , public accounts surfaced of Watson ’ s friction with officers under his command and with the Bureau of Navigation over Watson ’ s choice of Commander C . C . Cornwall as his executive officer , which the Bureau disapproved . Due to health reasons , Watson was himself privately relieved of command months before the public announcement in March 1900 that he was to be relieved by Rear Admiral George C . Remey . Watson returned home on his flagship in April 1900 , the same month that Commander Taussig ’ s duty as lighthouse inspector ended . The China Relief Expedition ( Boxer Rebellion ) . In the spring of 1900 , Chinese xenophobia fueled by increasing foreign political and economic influence , including the expanding presence of foreign missionaries increased until it culminated in the Boxer Rebellion . Some Chinese Imperial troops , supporting the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists ( the Boxers ) besieged the foreign legations at Peking and at Tientsin . An international relief force from eight nations was sent to relieve the siege . As part of the United States Navy ' s force assigned to the campaign , the gunboat , sister - ship of the , was withdrawn from her patrol duties in the northern Philippines to provide assistance to the operations off the coast of North China . departed Manila on 3 April 1900 , bound for China . Upon reaching the mainland , her landing force served ashore at Taku . In June 1900 , Taussig assumed command of . That same month , assisted to back off a reef near Taku . In August 1900 , with stationed off Chefoo , China , Taussig cabled dispatches of the decisive Battle of Beicang ( Peitsang ) from which the Chinese military forces never recovered . The gunboat departed Shanghai on 10 September 1900 and reached Cavite on the 17th . In the Philippines , resumed her cooperation with Army forces , engaged in pacification efforts and continued these duties over the next two years . Commander Taussig was detached from in June 1901 and was ordered home to await orders ( June – October 1901 ) . Later Years . Thereafter , Taussig ' s assignments were to the Washington Navy Yard ( November 1901 - January 1902 ) ; ordinance office , Boston Navy Yard ( January – May 1902 ) ; and commander , training ship , ( May - October 1902 ) . Promoted to captain on 7 November 1902 , he served as yard captain , Pensacola Navy Yard ( January – October 1903 ) ; commander , receiving ship , Mare Island , California ( October 1903 - October 1904 ) ; and commander , , North Atlantic Squadron ( November 1904 - January 1906 ) . On July 24 , 1905 , along with Rear Admiral s Charles D . Sigsbee , James H . Sands , Charles H . Davis , Jr . , Captains Benjamin F . Tilley , William H . Reeder , and Gervais of the French naval cruiser , " Jurien de la Graviere " , Taussig had the honor of being an honorary pall bearer when Admiral John Paul Jones body was returned from France on the to be interred at the U . S . Naval Academy . Following his command of " Massachusetts " , he was commander , training ship ( January – December 1906 ) ; yard captain , New York Navy Yard ( March – May 1907 ) ; general court martial duty , League Island Navy Yard ( Pennsylvania ) ( May – December 1907 ) ; commandant , Norfolk Navy Yard and Fifth Naval District ( December 1907 - November 1909 ) . While at Norfolk he was promoted to rear admiral on 15 May 1908 . Rear Admiral Taussig was placed on the U . S . Navy retired list on 20 November 1909 . World War I . During World War I , Taussig was recalled to active duty as commandant of the Naval Unit at Columbia University . ( September – December 1918 ) . Service Medals . United States awards . The original service criteria for the Spanish Campaign Medal promulgated in Navy Department Special Order No . 81 of June 27 , 1908 required service on specific vessels and time periods for which Taussig ' s service during the Spanish - American War did not qualify . However , in the early 1920s , the award criteria was relaxed to provide for award of the medal to all those who served in the U . S . Navy or Marine Corps during the Spanish - American War . The first government contract to supply campaign medals to the expanded recipient base with the Bastian Brothers Company was not until 1922 . Rear Admiral Taussig died in January 1921 prior to the expanded eligibility period for the Spanish Campaign and so never received the Spanish Campaign Medal . Personal life . Edward D . Taussig married Ellen Knefler on 9 November 1873 . They had five sons , including vice admiral Joseph K . Taussig , who like his father , served for 46 years on the active list of naval officers . Another son , Charles , was a prominent New York attorney . A third son , Paul , died of appendicitis in July 1894 , while a cadet at the U . S . Naval Academy . Edward D . Taussig died at Newport , Rhode Island , on 29 January 1921 and is buried at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery along with his wife and son , Paul .