CATHOLICS AND THE U.S. NAVY

New Zealand Tablet, 16 July 1914, Page 13

CATHOLICS AND THE U.S. NAVY

The unveiling of a national monument to John Barry has, to some extent, realised Washington’s desire that a ‘ suitable reward should always attend his bravery (writes the Rev. M. Kenny, S.J., in America). Henceforward his commanding statue in the Capital will recall to his countrymen, not only that this Catholic devoted his ‘ bravery ’ to the winning of our Independence, that he commanded the first ship and received the first commission under the Continental Congress in 1775, captured the first war-vessel in 1776, and was made the official ranking officer of the reorganised United States Navy in 1797, but also, that on sea and land, by voice and money and influence, he gave all his great skill and indefatigable energies to our country’s cause, and in the lowest ebb of its fortunes never lost hope. For a moment Washington saw defeat Barry, Moylan, Fitzgerald, Fitzsimmons, and the Carrolls never did, and this signalises their greatest service. The Roman Senate honored a defeated general because he despaired not of his country. John Barry Deserved that Honor and it is a greater even than his victories. He left no descendants, but his name has been honorably transmitted in our Navy. George and Patrick Barry and J. J. Barry 'of Maine, were distinguished engineers, the latter serving through the Civil and Spanish wars, and Commodore Garrett Barry, whose father’s faith forfeited him the Earldom of Barrymore, worked as a boy of sixteen in the Philadelphia trenches in 1812, was purser to a score of war vessels from 1817 to 1862, and from 1863-66 .Paymaster at the New York Navy Yard. His son, Edward 8., and several other officers, have perpetuated the, name. More than a dozen of Barry’s faith attained the rank of Admiral. The first in the order of service was Charles Boarman, who was brought up at Georgetown, D.C., in the house later occupied by the Catholic wife of Captain, Decatur, and now the property of the University. His father, who had been a Jesuit scholastic at the suppression of the Society, and his uncle, Rev. S. Boarman, S.J., were both professors at Georgetown when Charles left it to become a midshipman in 1811. On his death, in 1879, the Navy Department issued a General Order, stating that Rear-Admiral Boarman, in an honorable service of sixty-eight years, longer than that of any other officer on the Navy Register, was a participant in the War of 1812, held many important commands through his long career, and as a citizen of a seceding State, ‘ exhibited marked fidelity to the Union in adhering to the U.S. flag.’ Commanders Chatard of Maryland, and Semnies of Alabama, were the only Catholics among the many Southern officers who resigned in 1861 ; but Chatard’s immediate relatives, General Moale, Colonel McNally, and Major Dugan, of the Army, and Lieutenant Moale, of the Navy, adhered to the Flag. i A more distinguished Southerner, who remained loyal to the Union, was Rear-Admiral Benj. F. Sands. Appointed Midshipman from Kentucky, 1828, he served in the Mexican War and the Coast Survey, 1850-1858 ; commanded the blockading squadron at Fort Fisher and at Galveston, where he received the surrender of the Hast armed forces of the Confederacy, and as Superintendent of the Naval Observatory at Washington, raised that institution to the highest European standard. Marrying a Catholic, the sister of General W. H. French, U.S.A., he adopted her faith in 1850. His.son’s book, From Keefer to Admiral , tells the story of a man who not only served well his Faith and Flag, but founded a family for the service of both. Five ." have entered religion, and six the Army or Navy of \ the United States. His son, James Hoban Sands, left Georgetown University to enter the Naval Academy, whence he joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 1863-65, and in his tewntieth year was Twice Promoted for His Gallantry. He commanded the Scouting Squadron in the war with Spain, became Rear-Admiral in 1902, and Superinten-

dent of the Naval Academy, 1905-7. A Southerner by birth and associations, he remained true to the Flag when most of his fellow-students joined the Confederacy. As devoted a Catholic as patriot, he gave two daughters to the Religious of the Sacred Heart, and two sons to the public service. His marriage to Mary Meade linked him with another Catholic family of patriotic traditions. * ■* An order was posted on every ship of the South Atlantic Squadron in 1863, commending the skill and valor of Richard Meade, Commander of the Marblehead, about the time that his uncle, General Meade, had turned the tide at Gettysburg. As Commander of the Navy Yard at New York and Washington, Rear-Ad-miral, and President of the Board of Inventory, he revolutionised the internal administration of the Navy. His father, Captain Richard Meade, U.S.N., had served in the Mexican and Civil Wars, and was the brother of the victor of Gettysburg, who was the only member of the family estranged from the Church ; being too young for instruction before his father’s death, he was brought up by his Protestant mother in her faith. George Meade and Thomas Fitzsimmons, both leading Catholics and Revolutionary patriots of Philadelphia, who served in war and Congress and contributed largo sums to Washington at Valley Forge, were ancestors of Admiral Meade. Admiral Wm. C. Febiger (1841-1887), a hero of two wars, was a convert to the faith. He married the widow of Lieutenant Reily, U.S.N., whose son, Lieutenant Wm. Reily, U.S.A., fell with Custer, 1876. Admiral Ainmen (1836-78), one of the most active and successful commanders in the Civil War, entered the Church in 1853, and was noted for his zeal and generosity. He wrote much on naval matters, and Invented the Life-Raft Now in General Use. His son, Ulysses Grant Am men, was Paymaster of the Navy, 1902-6. Admiral Beaumont (1838-1882), was at the capture of Vera Cruz, 1847, commanded the Monitor Nantucket, and, among other exploits, captured Fort Wagner. Admiral Franklin (1825-1887), who was chosen President of the International Marine Conference, 1889, was also a convert, and married tho daughter of Admiral B. F. Sands. Admiral Kirkland 1850-1898), of North Carolina, was another distinguished Southern Catholic who remained true to the Union, and rendered it valuable service. With them may be mentioned Brigadier-General Harrington, of the" Marine Corps, whose Requiem at Washington, in 1906, was sung by his son, Father George Harrington. A thrilling story could be woven about Admiral Kilty (1821-1879), son of General Kilty of Maryland, of distinguished Catholic and Revolutionary stock. He, too, stood by the Flag, and when a mob demanded that it be hauled. down at Baltimore, he said he would shoot the first man who touched it. It was not touched. Admiral Lucien Young, of Kentucky,' who was commended for ‘ extraordinary heroism ’ in 1875, and advanced three numbers for conspicuous conduct at Manzanillo and Havana, 1898, died in the Catholic Faith in 1912. Among distinguished Catholic officers of lesser rank may be mentioned Commander P. C. Wederstrandt, the. second student of Georgetown ; Commodore John Cassiu, a hero of the Revolution, and of 1812; Commander J. Harman Ward, the first naval officer killed in action in the Civil War ; Lieutenant J. T. Sullivan, who fought for the Union in the Navy, while his .father, Captain Sullivan, defended-it in the Army Commanders Ryan, Colohan, Watters, Danels, and Carmody ; Captains Brasher, Fagan, Bates, Young, and D. D. and Francis Baker, father and son; Commodore Bissell, in active service (1825-1872), and Commodore Barrett, also distinguished in two wars, and who, though a Louisianian, stood by the Flag. We have seen that Professor Boarman, who left the Jesuit scholasticate and taught at Georgetown, gave an Admiral to the Navy. Midshipman Ord, father of Major-General Ord, had also taught as a scholastic at Georgetown. But the Navy more than compensated the Society, and even Georgetown. One of its recent Presidents, Rev. J. D. Whitney. S.J., had been a

naval instructor, as had been Father James Major, S.J. ; and Father Monroe, S.J., nephew of President Monroe, had been acting lieutenant in the Vincennes when he entered the Society, 1854. An accurate but not exhaustive list of Catholic officers by Pay Inspector Furey, U.S.N., ‘shows the vast extent of Catholic service on the quarterdeck ; on the lower deck it was incomparably larger. Since Barry sailed the Lexington Catholics have been prominent wherever American decks have been stripped for action, and his fine declaration: ‘I have devoted myself to the cause, of my adopted country, and not the value and command of the whole British fleet could seduce me from it,’ is not inapplicable to them.