United States Naval Academy - Lucky Bag Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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-x- did not understand a word of French, arose and formally congratulated Girault upon his success in imparting the French language with such facile fluency and rapidity, A THREE MONTH VACATION was granted midshipmen from July 10 to October 10, 1846, during which time many needed repairs were made at the Academy. Bancroft persuaded Congress to give him another twenty-eight thousand dollars for the forthcoming year. The Academy received its first Congressional recognition when the Secretary ' s request was granted for repairs, improvements, and instruction at the Naval School in Annapolis. A new dining hall was constructed, the dormitories were refitted to accommodate one hundred students, a hospital foundation was laid, and the chaplain ' s quarters were enlarged. IN 1846 the Mexican War broke out. Midshipmen who had been to sea requested immediate active duty. Fifty-six were sent to the front at the end of the term. Even Commander Buchanan finally succeeded in getting into the war; he left the Academy on March 16, 1847 to command the frigate Germantown. His successor. Commander George P. Upshur was a congenial and quiet man, but midshipmen were midshipmen and hilarity and boisterousness continued to rule. They organized supper clubs which operated until all hours of the night. The nocturnal revels of the Owls and the Crickets stirred Annapolis to the very depths. Frequently evenings ended in pitched battles between the midshipmen, armed with pokers, and the usually amiable townspeople, who made use of assorted weapons. Liberty expired at ten p.m., but the Owls found Frenching out much more interesting. They surreptitiously scaled the walls and held their rendezvous at a popular saloon run by one Rosenthal a proverbial gentleman rivaling the Benny Havens oiWest Point. In fact, the military cadets sang a traditional song Benny Havens, Oh in his honor. The midshipmen not to be outdone, gave Rosey due recognition in the spirited lyric called Roseygo. This incident seems to be the first time a parallel was struck between the two academies. ' LIEUTENANT DAHLGREN attempted to give the Youngsters a few lessons on practical gunnery, but he soon gave the job up as a lost cause. Lockwood, the old reliable, already teaching mathematics and natural philosophy, delivering lectures on astronomy, and arranging the general program, immediately took over the gunnery department. He obtained several field pieces from the Army and started to drill the midshipmen in light artillery. However they didn ' t give in that easily. They stole the linch pins and threw them in the Severn; they dismantled the guns and hid the parts; they ignored the drills and heckled the instructor. Finally, on St. Patrick ' s day, the students hanged Lockwood in effigy from the Academy flagstaff. This was the last straw. The ring-leaders were ordered to court-martial for insulting a superior officer. The de- fense declared that the professors were not superior to the students since they weren ' t officers at all. Congress acted on the absurd situation in which the students were superior to their teachers by raising the instructors to the rank of officers and increasing their pay by $400 a year. The Youngsters claimed that for such an increase in pay Lockwood could afford to be hanged in effigy every year and they continued to harass and trouble the old gentleman in more subtle, but less serious ways, for several years thereafter. - .-• ' N—

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-ix- grounds they would frequently confiscate all the oil lamps on the city lamp-posts and pile them up in front of the Academy gate. They organized a theatrical group which presented its talent at one of the disused city theaters. The quality of the productions was such that the civilian populace had the playhouse demolished and erected a church on the premise. Thus was founded the Presbyterian Church on Duke of Gloucester Street. The same Edward Simpson, later Rear Admiral, concludes therefrom that the Academy was an instrumentality for the wholesome spread of religious influences in the life of the community, and shall be commended for its contribution. % ATTENDANCE OF MIDSHIPMEN at the Academy was irregular because only those on shore duty could be sent for instruction. Consequently some men came up for their final examinations with only six months of preparation. The schedule origi- nally called for a five year course, the first and last years to be spent at the Academy, while the intervening three years were to be at sea. Failure in seamanship or navigation automatically rejected a midshipman; deficiency in other subjects was often permitted; however, a failure for two successive years constituted grounds for dismissal. Any midshipman who had contracted a debt he could not pay was considered to have failed. At that time the yearly pay was $350, so debts were quite customary. The difficulties the instructors met in trying to teach the young midshipmen are j)erhaps most clearly illustrated by the following incident which occurred during the annual examinations. Professor Girault with great patience had prepared one Midshipman Nelson, so that he could speak something resembling French. Nelson, however, was well aware that he could do nothing of the kind, so he memorized a series of stock phrases out of the grammer. In due season, with a half a dozen commodores present, Girault began the conversation in French: Mr. Nelson, which is your native state? Thank you, I am very well, replied Nelson, enunciating one of his memorized phrases and not understanding a word of the query. Girault glared at him and continued. What course have you just finished? I am twenty-four years of age, replied Nelson in naive rejoinder not changing a muscle of his countenance. When the conversation had reached an impasse. Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who

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-XI- ANOTHER GRIEVANCE the midshipmen held against Lockwood was his sojer drills. They stuck to their slogan, A messmate before a shipmate, a shipmate before a stranger, a stranger before a dog, but a dog before a ' sojer. ' But Lockwood persisted, even though he did march an entire gun battery, complete with field piece, into the Severn before he could stammer out in desperation Halt! However, there were serious moments at the Academy. The remaining midshipmen in 1847 raised a fund to erect a monument commemorating those midshipmen who gave their lives in the Mexican War. The result of the drive was the Mexican Monument containing four names — Hynson, Clemsony Pillsiury, and Shubrick — alumni who nobly made the supreme sacrifice. Some midshipmen showed rare initiative in the war. After several other methods had failed, Foxhall Parker finally landed a 32 pound gun from the Potomac by running a small boat ashore, cutting out the bottom, and leaving the gun there. Midshipman Youngs a mounted messenger between the Army and the Navy, inad- vertently led a charge when his cavalry horse answered a bugle call. After the skirmish, he is reported to have received the commendation of the Colonel in command for his valorous leadership in the face of enemy fire. UNTIL 1849 the school had been operating under almost impossible conditions. Students entered and left at irregular intervals; discipline was extremely difficult to enforce; the midshipmen often were uncooperative, but in the long run the worth of the school had been tried and proven by those few midshipmen who had participated in the Mexican War. Friends of the Academy felt strong enough to initiate changes. The first step was an extension of the course to four years of actual training, two periods of two years each, interluded by three years sea duty. Examinations for entrance were held in October to insure simultaneous instructions for the new students. In 1850 the school was officially called the Naval Academy y and numerous changes were incorporated. The executive officer of the school became known as the Commandant of Midshipmen and in addition to his regular duties served as instructor in naval tactics and practical seamanship. A naval uniform wa s adopted for acting midshipmen. Along with the new changes, the marking scale of 4.0 was inaugurated and has continued in use since that time. A practice ship was attached to the Academy for summer cruises. Lieutenant Craven commanded the first practice cruise in the steamer John Hancock. So successful was this cruise that later, in 1851, the course was changed to four consecutive years at the Academy with summer cruises replacing the former sea duty required of midship- men. In fact, an entire re-organization of the Academy was approved on November 1, 1851. The act also provided that after four years the holder of a certificate of graduation was entitled to a midshipman ' s warrant, and that after two years of sea duty he could return for an examination for lieutenant. Only Annapolis graduates were to receive the warrants — the first step toward regulating the quality and quantity of the officers in the fleet; this standard was maintained until the present war. REGULAR INSTRUCTION by classes began in 1851. Oldsters represented those men who already held midshipmen ' s warrants and had returned to the Academy for only a year ' s instruction. Youngsters were all those acting midshipmen on probation NATAL ACADEMY ADOPTED AS OFFICIAl NAME OF SCHOOL .