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

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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 .

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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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YOUNGSTER PRANKS TAX INSTRUCTORS ' PATIENCE who were admitted directly from civilian life under the new system. This latter group formed the First Class and remained as such until graduation. With each suc- ceeding year new students became the Second, Third, and Fourth classes. Thus was born the present class system of the Naval Academy. Another change radically affected the method of appointing midshipmen. Formerly, students came almost exclusively from the Middle Atlantic states, through the benevolence of some relative or friend who had influence in the Navy Department. With the advent of the Naval Academy, midshipmen were to be appointed in proportion to the members of the House of Representatives, and finally in 1852 they were required to receive the recommendation of their Congressmen. The program of the Naval Academy soon became apparent as the school became master, and the students shaped themselves to the courses. New and harder subjects were introduced, the Department of Foreign Languages was estabhshed, and a stricter discipline was enforced. Still the authorities found the pranks of the Youngsters an even match for their ingenuity. The students tormented the instructors by blowing vigorously into their gas burners, thus extinguishing all their lights during study hour. The morning gun was so often loaded with bricks that only the bravest would fire it. The academic department drew its share of troubles — many an ofiicer entering a classroom was greeted by a deluge of water from buckets concealed on the door tops which he inadvertently brought down on himself by crossing the threshold. Disciplinary power for instructors later ended such pranks. A GENUINE SALUTE was always feared at the Academy. One day the Oldsters were detailed to prepare the guns of the fort for a salute to a French frigate. The con- spiring Oldsters piled up window panes underneath the muzzles of the guns. When the authorities fired the first gun of the salute there was a fearful crashing of glass. The salute could not be interrupted, so the perpetrators had the unprecedented delight of watching the officials helplessly blow all their own windows to bits — one hundred and thirty-six in all, as a rear-admiral who had a hand in the transaction confessed many years later at a class reunion. IN 1853 the course of instruction was handled by nine departments; Professor Chauvenet was at the head of the most important one. Astronomy and Navigation. More land was again needed, so Superintendent Stribling purchased the land which the Chapel, administration building, and officers ' club now occupy. The land was used for officers ' quarters at that time and the road was called Blake Row. Another purchase added the land lying along the Severn on the opposite side of Maryland Avenue. Today Isherwood Hall stands on part of the added acreage. Some of the buildings constructed around this time were quite worthless. In fact, an entire side of one of the midshipmen ' s quarters was blown down in a storm. But the Academy still held out; it was young, and it was striving. In 1855 the original Fourth Class entered; almost simul- taneously the my Plebe tradition sprang up. New Third Classmen selected particular members of the incoming class over whom they kept a watchful eye. Eventually this practice developed into a First Class privilege, and today, strange as it may seem, the closest relationship at the Naval Academy is between the First Class and the Plebes. T '