JACOB’S LADDER
| Founding of the Division | April 29, 1896 |
| Duty on the U. S. S. Maine | July 10–16, 1897 |
| War Company Mustered In | June 15, 1898 |
| “Dewey Day” Parade | September 30, 1899 |
| First Battalion Field Day | May 23, 1900 |
| Salute to the New Century | January 1, 1901 |
| Personal Escort of President Roosevelt in Yale Bi-Centennial Parade | October 16, 1901 |
| First Annual Indoor Meet | February 21, 1902 |
| Camp Parker Dedicated | July 4, 1902 |
| In Army and Navy Maneuvers, August 30 to | September 6, 1902 |
| Beat Champions in Eleven-Inning Game of Indoor Baseball | March 11, 1903 |
| Duty at Camp Reynolds | August 22–29, 1903 |
| Re-stocking of the Library | November 18, 1903 |
| Elfrida in Hartford Waters | June 19–25, 1904 |
| On the U. S. S. Hartford | September 6–13, 1904 |
| Indoor Baseball Champions for Season | 1904–1905 |
| Hampton Roads | August 1–6, 1907 |
| In Bridge Parade | October 8, 1908 |
| Wall-Scaling Champions | April 29, 1909 |
| First Memorial Sunday | June 13, 1909 |
| Off Bermuda | July 26–29, 1910 |
FIRST COMMANDING OFFICER
LIEUTENANT FELTON PARKER
FOREWORD
That the Naval Division is worthy of a history in enduring form is undeniable: that it is worthy of a historian of more philosophy and patience is also undeniable. But if the principle is correct that “any weather is better than none,” as Mark Twain, who once produced a treatise on navigation which he called “Following the Equator,” summarized his opinion of the elements, then it may be correct to allege that this history is better than no attempt. From newspaper files which have long lain in unhallowed dust, from scrap-books long undisturbed, from orders and records and literature which has received no generic name and from the lips of survivors of a glorious but ancient day the historian has drawn the facts which follow. The research work has been difficult and a task of no mean proportion, as well, and the work of arrangement and assimilation has not been inconsiderable, and there is reasonable excuse for any errors which may appear in the printed result. For these the historian begs indulgence. He desires to add that the task has been a pleasant one in spite of the difficulty and that his only regret is that a history-more adequate is not the result.
In any case the trail has been blazed, or, to use a more appropriate metaphor, the channel has been buoyed for him who is destined to produce a suitable volume when the Second Division shall have arrived at its twenty-fifth anniversary. That the command may continue to prosper and that it may ever be as efficient and successful as in its most honorable days is the earnest wish of its chronicler.