Show R irk C an ex joe OIL U D af ax in 4 1 15 Z W m V v tr 7 ax J IN 10 dav 10 fd A N aa N 0 r 1 the lieutenan richmon e son hobson N ak Z I 1 V K T 0 wa the medal of honor 4 morro cantle of the united states by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HE other day congress authorized the arese prese presentation of a medal of 0 honor to a roin man who as a lieutenant in the united states navy during the spanish american war had won world ide fame overnight lie ile was the he col lindbergh of his day lie ile was the leader of an expedition tile the story of 0 which thrilled the whole nation and put his name on the lips of 0 every american of him the author of an article in a boston magazine in september 1898 said the spartans spartano Spar tans who held the pass at ther may mav be forgotten the GOO englishmen who made the charge at balaklava Itala klava may go unsung SUD but in this land and 1 under the stars and stripes forever will linger the memory of the gritty christian gentleman richmond pearson hobson of alabama sic transit gloria mundi indeed for richmond pearson hobson had to walt wait nearly 35 years for the official recognition of his deed and when it finally carne came the newspapers which had once em blazoned his name in streaming headlines recorded the award of the medal of honor in a news story of only a few brief paragraphs hobson olison II was born at greensboro ala august 17 ISTO educated in the greensboro public schools and in tile the southern university lie he became interested in the navy during a visit to new orleans and won an appointment to the united states naval academy at annapolis Anni polis from which he was graduated in ISSO tit in tile the academy he had devoted himself to naval construction st and in 1891 lie he was made an assistant naval constructor with the rank of lieutenant which tic lie held at the outbreak of the span ish amerlean american war just jurt before deweys deleys memorable victory at manila bay in the philippines a spanish noel lee consisting of four armored cruisers and three torpedo boat destroyers led by admiral cerveri cervera left the cape verde islands for cuban waters cervera succeeded in eluding the flying squadron of the united states navy commanded by commodore schley echlov Sch lov tell lint set out to find the enemy and entered tile the harbor of santiago la in safety schley followed him to santiago and established a blockade of the enemy fleet while awaiting tile arrival of captain simpson sampson acting rear admiral and commander in chief of our na aces I brees who was aa hurrying to santiago with a fit led by his flagship the new nev york the story of how hobson got his chance for tame Is told tod by john it spears in his history of our navy as follows after reaching santiago and taking one look at tile the narrow entrance to the harbor the possibility lity of sinking a ship there to effectually close it and so prevent cederas Ce cen eras exit was apparent to many of the officers of the squadron sampson knowing tile the width of the channel had considered the plin plan of alli sinking hing a ship in it and in it dated may 27 had ordered schley to sink the collier sterling there but schley ignored the order on the very day lie reached santiago sampson began to carry out the plan there was wag the merrimac nc slit she had been sold to the government nt at a price twice her value slie she was n H load bad ship she could serve the na tion alon rodith letter better in it blocking the channel than in fit any other way arid preparations to sink her into the channel were immediately begun at t the eart earnest iest request of air pearson hobizon Hobi ion assistant naval constructor lie he was put in charge he had been placed on the new york to watch tier her wor workings Lings in actual war and write a report the thereon recin for the chief of ills his bureau ills knowledge of ships fitted him for the task and he had already showed his courage when be worked the range finder on the new york during the bombardment of san juan de porto rico nico about two hundred men were employed in stripping the merrimac Merrl mac for it aas as intended to send her in just before daylight next nest morning however after stripping her ter it ft was necessary to fit tier her with torpedoes that would sink her instantly when tile the time came find and this took so long that day had arrived on june 2 before she was ready hobson was anxious to go then but the admiral ordered him to wait w tit Ille meantime antime a crew of six men had teen been se lecter from among the hundreds that crowded aft to volunteer they were daniel montague tague chief master at arros arms of the new york george Cli charette arette gunners mate first class of the new york J E muphy coxswain on the iowa john P phillips a machinist oscar deagnan Del gnan coxswain coxs waln and francis kelly a water tender all of the merrimac Merrl mac to this crew of six men coxswain nu dolphy clausen of the ohp new york added himself by eluding the vigilance of the officers at 3 on the morning of june 3 these men headed away for tile the harbor A steam launch from the new york under naval cadet joseph W powell follo followed Ned to pick up the crew of the merrimac Merrl mac should they succeed in getting away from her after performing their work in either the roN rowboat boat or the that had been provided for them it was a cloudy night but because the channel was so narrow it was absolutely certain that the merrimac Merrl Aler mac would be discovered before she reached her destination and that a heavy fire from the batteries of all kinds would enfilade her while the sentinels and tile the troops encamped along the shore were likely to spatter her deck with mauser er bullets as a tropical rainstorm would pelt her with drops of water in short there was as not one chance in a thousand apparently for any of those these men to live through that adventure and yet they had eagerly volunteered for it and one had stowed himself awny away on board without permission nor was the chance of cadet powell and ills his men much better for it was his duty to follow the merrimac Merrico ac to the mouth of the harbor where he too ton would be as easy a target as the men on the ship and there to wait until after daylight getting his bearings by the outlines of the morro against the sky hobson drove tile the oil old ship into the center of the narrow channel A hell bell or of flame leaped out on both sides as she passed the morro lorro Il while tile the vizcaya that was on guard just around the bend began firing with her broadside battery the spaniards thought ae e were coming with our squadron to force the harbor and all the guns big and little that would bear and ninny many that would not were fired with feverish rapidity the shots began to reach the ship but no vital damage was lone done then the time to sink her had bad come and hobson pressed the electric button three of the torpedoes that were placed place at tier her waterline exploded tearing open her sides the man tit nt the anchor cut it loose bringing up tier her head just opposite the point while her stern swung slowly around with tit the tide it seemed for a moment that she must sink as they wished right across tile the channel but she filled so slowly that the she lay lengthwise of tile the channel rail anil vell nr II at one side before she finally struck bottom spears then quotes hobsons narrative of the rest of the action as follows we were all aft 15 ing on tile the deck shells and bullets whistled around six inch shells from the camo came in king of the collier merrimac tt broms OMO tearing into the crashing clear through while the plunging shots from botn the fort broke through her decks not a man must movel I 1 said anait and it was only owing to the splendid discipline of 0 the men that we were not all killed we must lie ile there till daylight I 1 told them now and again one or the other of the men lying with his face glued to the deck and wondering whether the tha next shell would not come our way would say aty we better drop oft off now sir but I 1 said wait till daylight it would have been impossible to get the catamaran anywhere but on to ta the shore where the soldiers stood shooting and I 1 hoped that by daylight we might be lecog nihed and saved it was splendid the way those men behaved the fire of the soldiers the batteries and the vizcaya was awful when alien the water came up on t the he Merrl INferri macs maes decks the catamaran floated amid the wreckage but she was still made rest fast to the boom and we caught hold bold of the edges and clung on our heads only being above water at daylight the fire ceased and a spanish launch came toward the wreck we agreed to try capturing her and ir tinning for the open sea but as she drew near a dozen spanish marines aimed their mausert at us and I 1 saw that in western parlance they had the drop on us Is there any officer in that boat to receive a surrender of prisoners of war I 1 shouted an old man leaned out under the awning and waved his hand it was admiral cervera the marines lowered their rifles and we were helped into the launch then we were put in cells in morro castle it was a grand sight a few days later to see the bombardment the shells striking oid bursting around el morro then we were taken aken into santiago I 1 had the court martial room in the barracks my aly men were kept prisoners in the hospital in his prison hobson was visited by spanish officers who villo asked permission to shake his hand and congratulate him for his courage at his request a message hassent was sent to admiral sampson telling the commander that he and his men were safe and except tor for minor wounds of two kelly and murphy urphy Il that they had come coma through their terrible experience esper lence unscathed at first the spanish authorities refused to exchange the prisoners but at last on july 0 6 hobson and his men were marched blindfolded through the spanish lines to a place halfway bee between een the spanish trenches and the american lines and the formalities of exchange were completed by spanish and american officers under a big celba ceiba tree even before hobsons release from prison tile the news of his deed had made him the man of the tha hour in america so when he was sent up to new york with instructions to report to tho the secretary of the navy at washington on the condition of the spanish ships wrecked in the battle of santiago which followed soon after his exploit lie he was given such fin an ovation as no man mail since his time except colonel lindbergh has known next nest followed the kissing bee which made him almost as famous as his deed in santiago harbor at long beach in august 1808 a st louis girl asked permission to klas the merremae Merr imae hero and he blushingly gave permission after that the deluge I 1 wherever he went hundreds of women mobbed him tor for the privilege of paying their respects other honors came to him rapidly alabama his native state was the first to propose giving him a jeweled sword lie was raised ten numbers in the ranks of naval constructors and was mas made a captain for more than a year he enjoyed the hero worship of the nation then the fickle public began to forget him when tile the newspapers ceased to chronicle his every movement ue ile was put in charge charce of raising the tha wrecks of spanish ships and in the course of this duty he be went to china to superintend the repairing of the spanish ships sunk by dewey at manila while there he be began having trouble with his eyesight and lie he asked to be retired from active sen ice by this time the newspapers and the public had definitely turned agaj ilist him ills his heroism at santiago was either forgotten or minimized ills request to be retired was dented denied and in fit 1103 lie he resigned his bis commission after his retirement he be began making speeches throughout tile the country advocating a large navy and as early as 1002 he predicted the world war which came 12 years later in lie he was wai elected to congress from ills his home district in alabama an and luring during ills his eight years in congress he served on the committee on naval affairs since liis its retirement from congress he has devoted his time to the cause of prohibition and to fighting the spread of the use of narcotics 0 by western newspaper News union i |