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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1917)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, rORTLAXD, NOVEMBER 23; T3T7L " UNCLE SAM A WORLD FIGHTER SINCE HE WAS A BOY Sun Always Shining on Stars and Stripes Flag Carried Around the Globe in Afanv Enaaaements O T t T" 1 ' ' rnt x -V T . t T - -n- ' -x -r-i --- -- - omce uays oj revolution in;s is ioc cn rirst lime Jur forces nave fought "Over There r 2 BY EDGAR STANTON MA CLAY. Historian of the United States Navy. -T IS well known that the British I Empire is so vast that the sun does not sot on the English flag-, but it Is not so well known that the sun does not Bef. on the scenes of Uncle Sam's Ibattles In every Quarter of the globe. Our Uncle has had so many fights in foreign parts that we have almost forgotten about them. When the United States entered the present war on the side of the allies the general feeling among Americans was that for us to fight outside of our own terri tory was an innovation that would mark a new period in our National policies. Yet, when we come to re view the many battles that have been fought in distant parts of the world under the Stars and Stripes, we will realize that Uncle Sam long ago won distinction as a world-wide fighter. Our first effort in "looking for trou ble' outside of our own territory was made by Captain Ord, who. early In the Revolution, sailed from Philadel phia, captured Hamilton, Bermuda, and brought back a quantity of mili tary stores (so much needed by our troops at the time), which were used in furthering the cause of independence. Scarcely had this successful expedition returned when a larger naval expedi tion, under the command of Captain Ksek Hopkins, sailed from Philadel phia and captured Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas and brought back sev eral shiploads of war munitions. These expeditions, fitted out from Philadel phia, together with the fact that more of the new frigates ordered by Con gress as the nucleus of the Continental Navy were built in Pennsylvania than In any other one of the original 13 tates. gave Philadelphia its deserved title. "Cradle of the United States Havy." An TJncnronlcIed Battle. ' We know how our gallant sailors fought battle after battle in the West Indies; how they swept the British com merce from the sea. from the Gulf of EMexico to the Newfoundland Banks; tow they carried the war into the ene my's country (encircling the British Isles and even entering English, Scotch and Irish ports); how they fought bat tles in the mid-Atlantic and off the coasts of Holland and France. There was one battle, however, fought off the northwestern shoulder of Spain, December 12, 1782, which has escaped mention in our histories. In fact, it was only at a comparatively recent date that the records of this engagement nave been brought to light. As this naval battle Is almost unknown to the .American public, a brief detail of it will be given here. On December 17, 1782 (mors than a year after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown), a French-American squadron was attacked by the British dreadnought Mediator, of 41 guns. Cap tain James Luttrell. The Mediator was munnil hv 2ftQ mn ThA Alllri nnnaft. - : . r? - '4 ran consisted ox ine American z-gun privateer Alexander, Captain Gregory; the American 14-gun privateer Amiable Eunice; the French 36-gun frigate L'Eugene, Captain de Baudln; the French 28-gun corvette Royal Dauphin and the French transport Menagerie, Captain de Toligne having a total of 102 guns and 637 men. The Mediator carried, heavier guns than her oppon ents, which in some degree offset the greater number of guns in the allied squadron. Still Captain Luttrell was opposed to heavy odds. With true English pluck he made directly for the center of the allied line of battle, which was formed just off the Spanish port of FerroL Approach ing head-on, the Mediator was subject ed to a raking fire, which she returned by occasionally yawing and delivering a broadside. After half an hour of ex posure to this fire, the Mediator, at 10:30 A. M-, broke through the allied line of battle and delivered a raking fire from both her batteries. Luttrell then singled out the Alexander and fV the next half hour complimented the Americans with her undivided atten tlon. Evidently the Alexander was not well supported by her consortia, for, by 11 A. M., the "Mediator compelled her to strike; the other vessels fleeing" ma reads the English official report, which is the only account of this bat tle we have. At 12:30 P. 1L. Luttrell. having placed a prize crew aboard the Alexander, made sail in chase of the other vessels, iwhereupon they made off in different directions. Luttrell then singled out the Menagerie, which waa endeavoring to make the port of FerroL. Owing to the light breeze it was 5 o'clock that afternoon before the Mediator came up with the fleeing Frenchman and a run ning fight was maintained until 10 o'clock that night, when the Menagerie urrended. During the night there was little wind, and on the following morning Luttrell discovered the Amiable Eunice and the Royal Dauphin in the offing, endeavoring to make FerroL Through manning his two prizes Luttrell now found that he had only 190 of his crew left, while be had 340 prisoners aboard the Mediator to guard, so he gave over the chase and made sail for England. Luttrell gave the Alexander's casualties as being six men killed and nine wounded, while that of the Menagerie was placed at four killed and eight wounded. No one in the Mediator was injured, he declared, "the enemy hav lng directed their fire chiefly at the masts and rigging of the Mediator." The Plot That Failed. When Captain Gregory was brought aboard the Mediator as a prisoner he quickly realized that the 340 French and American prisoners aboard had an admirable opportunity to overpower the 190 English members of the Mediator's crew and to capture that ship. That he WHAT A MODERN NAVAL GUN CAN DO. "A 12-inch naval gun," says Hudson Maxim, "throws a shell weigh ing half a ton at a velocity nearly three times the speed of sound. For a single charge it requires 375 pounds of smokeless powder, strong as dynamite. "The quantity of heat absorbed from the powder gases in the dis charge of such a projectile is sufficient to melt 75 pounds of cast iron, which is enough to heat the projectile white hot. "When the projectile strike a 12-inch armor plate its energy is reconverted into heat, and it literally fuses a hole through the plate, the hardened and toughened steel of the armor flowing like wax from its path." The projectile from a 14-inch gun travels at the rate of 2600 feet every second, or a mile every two seconds! f W flpiP erNSSS1; ' Ilandedhn North -v-i u mcK w&g&gs v ...... When Decatur Captured and Destroyed the Frigate Philadel phia in the Harbor of Tripoli, Nelson Declared It "the Boldest and Most Daring Act of the Age." acted with swiftness and decision in forming his plana is shown by the fact that he made an attempt to capture the Mediator on the second night of her passage to England. By some means not revealed in the records Gregory managed to get into communication with the American and French prisoners and arranged with them to rise on their captors on the night of December 14. Also he con trived to secure a pistol and some gun powder, which he concealed in his cot. With the gunpowder he loaded one of the Mediator's broadside guns, which was to be fired at midnight as a signal for the prisoners to rise, overpower the guards and capture the ship. This gun was to be fired "inboard," so the smoke would collect on the gun deck and lead the English to believe that a magazine had exploded and had set the ship on fire. How this desperate plan was tried is shown by the English record as fol lows: "On the night of December 14 Captain Luttrell was alarmed by' a vio lent explosion and the cry of fir. Gregory had fired one of the lower deck guns as a signal in a plot for the pris oners to rise and take the Mediator." The British commander immediately sent what remained of his crew to quarters and placed extra sentinels over the hatchways. It waa then found that the gratings had mysteriously dis appeared. To remedy this, capstan bars were hastily procured and were lashed over the hatchways, thus preventing the prisoners from gaining the deck. Evidently the old-time difficulty of getting American and French sailors to act In concert proved the stumbling lock, in this attempt to capture the Mediator. Captain Luttrell concludes his report as follows: "This desperate scheme was prevented without blood shed. Upon examination some powder and a pistol were found in Gregory's cot, which, with other corroborative circumstances, led to prove that he waa the principal concerned. Gregory and some others were confined in irons dur From cat Old Steel .Engraving and a French American Squadron, Fought Off the Spanish ing the remainder of the passage to England." It was -at the beginning of the 19th century, when Uncle Sam was a young man scarcely 25 years old, that he startled the world by. carrying his fighting proclivities into the Mediter ranean Sea and in the course of three years brought the States of Barbary to terms something that the nations of Europe had failed to do in the pre ceding century or two. It was in this war that Decatur captured and de stroyed the frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli, "the -boldest and most daring act of the age," as Nelson de clared. It was not an easy task that the Americans accomplished in this cam paign and it was accomplished so thoroughly that we have had no con siderable trouble from fhose piratical potentates since. r ' We have been accustomed to regard the landing of our troops in France as something unprecedented in. our his tory, but in the war against these States of Barbary a strong force of American sailors and marines was THE STARS AND STRIPES IN FOREIGN BATTLES. , Battle between French-American fleet and English dreadnought Mediator off Spanish coast in 1782. American-English squadron battles with French in Bay of Bengal, 1800. War with Barbary States, 1801-16. American naval force operates against Greek commerce raiders in 1827, capturing brig Comet Sailors and marines land on Sumatra in 1832, defeat natives of Quallo Battoo and avenge murder of American sailors. In 1856 American naval forces in China Sea attack and capture -forts at Canton after they fired on our fleet. Combined French-American-English fleets attack Peiho forts in North China in 1859. Rear-Admiral Henry H. Bell and American force land on Island of Formosa to avenge outrages on American traders. United States warship Wyoming attacks "Gibraltar of Japanese Mediterranean" in Shimonoseki Straits during our Civil War. Philippine insurrection in 1898. Boxer rebellion in 1900. American soil, and several thousand ra nd captured the city of Derne and compelled the Tripolitans to sue for peace. This was the first American "Army" to land on the soil of the Old World. While Uncle Sam was engaged In his War of 1812-1315 against Great Britain, the Dey of Algiers thought it an excel lent opportunity to renew his old-time depredations against American com merce, and he promptly captured our brig Edwin and sold her captain and crew into slavery. As soon as the War of 1812-1815 terminated, we sent a squadron against Algiers under the command of Captain Decatur. Algiers was the most strongly fortified city in all Barbary. When the English pre pared to attack it in 1816. the Admi ralty deemed that five ships of the line, five frigates, four bomb-ketches and five gun-brigs were insufficient, while, according to the "Life of Lord Ex mouth." Admiral Nelson, in a conversa tion with Captain Brisbane, mentioned 25 ships of the line as being necessary for its reduction. Decatur appeared be fore Algiers with only five frigates and five smaller craft and in record time brought the Dey to terms. At the ' time Greece was struggling with Turkey for her independence sev eral outrages were perpetrated on American commerce by irresponsible Greek cruisers. An American naval force was sent to the scene of trouble. f Depicting Engagement Between In 1827 Lieutenant Louis M. Goldsbor. ough (afterward Rear-Admiral). at the head of an American boat party, re captured, after a desperate struggle, the English brig Comet which had been taken by the Greeks. But long before this Uncle Sam had pushed his1 sea fighting far into east ern waters. We have noted how an allied American-French squadron was opposed to the British dreadnought in 1783. In 1800 this order was reversed when an allied American-English squadron repulsed a French warship in the Bay of Bengal. The American ships were the Philadelphia armed merchantmen Perseverance, Captain Williamson; Cleopatra. Captain Nay lor, and Grace, Captain Davis, besides the Sphinx. Captain Brantz, of Balti more, and the Herald, of Boston. Ptcktlna- tfco French. The entire American force was un der the cprnmaud of Captain Nathan iel Silsbee. of the Herald. Some years later Silsbee served in the United States Senate as a Senator from Mas sachusetts', having as his colleague the famous Daniel Webster. The English vessel was the 18-gun packet Corn wallis, which was being chased by the French privateer La Ololre. The American vessels came upon the scene In time to save the Cornwallis from capture. Silsbee- records: "When the smoke of our guns, caused by repeat ed broadsides from each of our ships. naa so passed off as to enable us to see her (I Gloire) distinctly, she was close upon the wind and going from us ... . The Cornwallis continued with us two days, in the course of which time the privateer approached us several times in the night, but. finding us awake, hauled off." In 1S15 our sloop of war Hornet was chased many hours in the Southern Indian Ocean by the British ship of the line Cornwallis, but finally es caped after many shots had been fired. Only a few weeks after this, or on June SO, our sloop of war Peacock, while in the Straits of Sunda. fought and captured the British cruiser Nau tilus. Of course, this was some months after peace had existed between the United States and Great Britain; but news traveled slowly in those days, and Captain Warrington, of the Pea cock, had not heard of the cessation of hostilities. When the "news" was confirmed he carefully repaired the Nautilus and returned her to the English. In 1833 ' another American forpe landed on foreign soil and fought a full-fledged battle. Early in 1831 the natives of Qualla Battoo, on the Island of. Sumatra, murdered some sailors from the American merchant vessel Friendship. A year later the Ameri can frigate Potomac, Captain John Downes, appeared on the scene of trouble and landed several hundred sailors and marines. No delay was allowed in beginning the march. The fcrce was divided into several di visions, the native fort was surrounded and, after some desperate fighting, was captured. We have had no trouble with the Qualla Battooans since. In Chinese Waters. Then- in the China Seas the Ameri can Navy has had occasion to engage in real battles. In 1SS6 the American sloop of war Portsmouth, Commander Andrew Hull Foote. was fired on from the forts at Canton. Foote demanded an apology, and. being refused, he PROSPECT OF INTELLECTUAL ALLIANCE BRINGS MUCH JOY BY CORTLANDT MARSDEN. SENTIMENTALLY. France and the United States have always been united; militarily, they are now united; in the future they are to be more closely united by the civilizing bond of intellectuality. The alleged German kultur. with which the far reaching Kaiser endeavored to Infest this country as well as - others, will fortunately be firmly stamped out. French Intellectual and spiritual com panionship will take Its place in the future. That land whose culture Is too scantily recognized internationally, but which Is now completely glorified by her wonderful fighters and astute gen erals. Is now, even through the throe of war, mentally reaching out her fair hand to us In an aonl for it vrntur : British Dreadnought Mediator Coast December 17, 1782, mutual Interest and understanding in tellectually and spiritually. For years France has been striving to achieve some-such relations with this country, the freedom of which she ma terially helped to bring into being and the love of which she has always re talned. Her gentle efforts, however, were eclipsed by the mailed-fist meth ods of the Teutonic, which element suc ceeded in forcing their alleged kultur Into quarters that mentally were ex panding; so rapidly that they Inevit ably absorbed considerable which was not culture. Now that the veil has been torn aside, that "made-ln-Ger-many" culture reveals all the earmarks of nefarious propaganda designed pri marily and essentially for ulterior ends. The very attitude of the professors and students of the French and Ger man universities towards the Ameri cans that had studied there markedly revealed the end they sought to accom plish. .The writer studied at Lelpsic and at the Sorbonne. in Paris. In the German institution the professorial and academlo attitude toward the American was one of veiledly polite but nevertheless Insistent domination. In their lofty estimation of themselves america had nothing to give nor im part to them; it lacked culture and deep understanding; basically, our in fantile art and literature were shal low and all wrong; It required Teutonic correction and influence: the thought and spirit of the Germania kultur must oe infused, not with It. but Into it There is a subtle difference. They en deavored through the youthful, eager enlnd to inject the poison that was per niciously designed ultimately to para lyse the Independently constructive thinking of Individuals and nations, in evitably bringing them into subjection to the Teutonic domination. Such a far-reaching programme fired the Ger man Imagination. In the French Institutions the atti tude and thought were vastly different. There was no seeking to dominate there. The spirit was one of mutual helpfulness; the thought one of reci procity. France had a wealth "of in tellectuality and culture which she wished to share with her sister across the waters. Spiritually, she longed to give us her best and hoped that America would share with her the in tellectual, artistic and cultural results of the wonderfully fertile American Imagination, with its national youth, hopefulness, vigorous romanticism and I landed a force of 287 sailors and ma rines, charged the fort and drove the Chinamen out. the latter having about 50 killed. Three years later, when the allied English and French forces made an attack on the Peiho forts, in North China, Captain Josiah Tattnail (who was present in the steam frigate Pow hatan to represent American interests) permitted an American gun crew to take part in the fight. One of the Americans was killed and Lieutenant- Commander Stephen Decatur Trenchard, or the Powhatan, was wounded. It was on this occasion that Tattnall gave in ternational significance to the expres sion. "Blood is thicker than water." On June 13, 1S67. Rear-Adminal Henry H. Bell landed 1S1 men on the Island of Formosa to avenge outrages perpetrated by the natives on American traders. The assailants drove the na tives to the interior and destroyed their village. In this attack Lieutenant Commander Alexander Slidell Macken zie was killed. While the United States was in the throes of the Civil War. our warship Wyoming, Captain David Stockton itc Dougal, was fired on by the Japanese batteries in Shimonoseki straits, the "Gibraltar of the Japanese Mediter ranean." McDougal opened a heavy fire on the batteries and destroyed the native naval force. In this spirited ac tion of more than an hour the Ameri cans had six men killed and four wounded. The action between the American frigate Essex against the British cruis ers Phoebe and Cherub off the coast of Chile in 1814, and the more extensive operations of our naval forces in Cali fornia and in the Gulf of California during our war with Mexico, show that Uncle Sam fought in the Western as well as in the Eastern Pacific. It is not necessary to mention the more recent landings of American Army and Navy forces during the Boxer rebellion in China and in the Philippines during the Spanish war and subse quently. A sufficient number of in stances has been cited here to show that In this good year of 1917 the sun never sets on the scene of American world-wide naval and military actions. boundless energy. France recognized In us and sought the very things that Germany specifically ignored; or if they did demand any consideration was per verted by malicious mental processes resultlngly detrimental to the mind of young America. Through the channels of intellectual ity France longed to reach the soul of the American people, to share with them, think with them, expand artis tically with them. She longed for something more than mere sentiment, fearing that it was perhaps more tra ditional gratitude than affection. She hoped for a stronger bond with this country, not one only of the commer cial, but an understanding that would result In the thought of the two coun tries mutually co-operalng harmoni ously for the greater artistlo glory of America and France. At last her dream of a spiritual, intellectual alli ance is to be realized. Germany's hideous nightmare of domination by ruin, if necessary, has been decisively shattered. While France has been simply a sen timentally regarded nation by us. Gr many. on the other hand, has long been held up as an ideal of advanced learn ing. In this respect some Americans, many of whom are quite prominent and should have exercised better judgment. had become Idiotic in their devotion to this belief. Admittedly, Germany has made some surprising strides along scientific and military lines; but there Is nettling In the recent Teutonic scheme of things designed to culti vate the spiritual or elevate the spiritu ality of mankind. Although we have filled our univer sities with German professors, not be ing content with having the young American mind poisoned by undue pro fessorial and academic influences in that country, and have Invited few French professors to our shores and lent fewer students to their universi ties, yet side by aide with the dis tinguished General that France has sent to this country to aid us in mili tary matters by the fruits of her cam paign experiences, she now personi fies her wish for an Intellectual alli ance with this country by sending to us her Minister of Public Instruction, Emile Hovelacaue, one of her most celebrated educators. "The major part of my mission," he Bald, "is to indicate to the American people that France wishes an intel lectual alliance with you. That has al ways been her wish. There has been an unbreakable bond of sympathy and sentiment between America and France which has existed since Lafayette for sook his fortune and his country to fight for your Ideals. But little atten tion has been paid to the spiritual and Intellectual side of our aliance. You have much to teach us; we have some things to teach you." That last sentence typifies what has always been the French attitude toward this country. It has been her attitude to all nations for that matter. Out particularly to America It Is "hands across the sea" now; it will be "minds across the sea" In the future. The Franco-American bond of friendship will be unshakably strength ened In the brlirhter davs to come. f Tells IIoio to Stop a Bad Cough Bui Wising reeolta from thlm ttem X nutde wrap. Easily prepare f and costa little. Z t If you have a severe cough or chesft fcold accompanied with soreness, throa tickle, hoarseness, or difficult breathinsr or if your child wakes up during tha Tiicrht with croup and you want quick: help, just try this pleasant tastinr; liome-made cough remedy. Any drujr- fist can supply you with. 2Vj ounces oC iner (60 crots worth). 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