Robley Dunglison Evans.
Robley Dunglison Evans, better known as Fighting Bob Evans, was born at Floyd Courthouse, Virginia, August 18, 1847. His father was a physician and a farmer, his mother being the daughter of John Jackson, of Fairfax county, and sister of James Jackson, who shot Colonel Ellsworth for capturing a Confederate flag on the roof of his hotel. Robley was educated at a country school and Gonzaga classical school, Washington, D. C. On September 20, 1860, he was appointed to the United States naval academy by Congressman William R. Hooper, from the Utah Territory. He was made a midshipman in 1860, and promoted to ensign in 1863. In 1864 and 1865 he served with his ship in the North Atlantic blockade squadron. He saw considerable service in the West Indies, and, in the attack on Fort Fisher, in 1865, received rifle shot wounds which disabled him for a time. In 1866 he was commissioned lieutenant; in 1868 was made lieutenant commander, and was later assigned to duty at the navy yard, Washington, and still later at the naval academy, Annapolis. From 1877 to 1881 he was in command of the training ship Saratoga, and later was promoted to commander. In 1891-’92 he was in command of the United States naval force at the Behring Sea to suppress sealing. In 1893 he was promoted to captain. During the Spanish-American war Captain Evans was in command of the battleship Iowa, which achieved distinction during the battle of Santiago, when the fleet of Admiral Cervera made an attempt to run the blockade. He served all through the Spanish-American war, and, in 1898, by his own request, he was detached from the command of the Iowa and was assigned to duty as a member of the board of inspection and survey. He was married in 1860 to Charlotte, daughter of Frank Taylor, of Washington, District of Columbia.
Fred Funston.
Fred Funston was born in Ohio, November 9, 1865. His father was a prominent public man and one time a member of congress from Kansas. He was graduated in 1886 from the high school at Iola, Kansas, and later studied for two years in the state university at Lawrence, but was not graduated. In 1890 he was a reporter in Kansas City, and his first public work was done as botanist in the United States death valley expedition in 1891. Returning he was made a commissioner in the department of agriculture and was assigned to explore Alaska and report on its flora. In 1893 he floated down the Yukon alone in a canoe. He served eighteen months in the insurgent army in Cuba, and upon his return to the United States, in 1896, was commissioned a colonel in the Twentieth Kansas volunteers. In 1898 he went to the Philippines and took part in several battles. He crossed the Rio Grande river at Calumpit on a small bamboo raft under heavy fire and established a rope ferry by which the United States troops were enabled to cross and win the battle. For this deed of valor he was promoted to brigadier-general of the United States volunteers May 2, 1899. He remained in active service in the Philippines and organized the expedition which succeeded in the capture of Aguinaldo. For this he was promoted to brigadier-general United States army, March 20, 1901.
Richmond Pearson Hobson.
Many of our naval and army officers are of southern birth. Richmond Pearson Hobson is a case in point, since he was born at Greensboro, Alabama, August 17, 1870. His ancestors were English and many of them were members of the nobility. Young Hobson, after a course in the public schools and the Southern university at Greensboro, entered the United States naval academy at Annapolis in 1889. He was immediately appointed a midshipman on the Chicago, under command of Rear-Admiral Walker and ordered to the European station. Upon his return he received the compliment of an appointment as one of the United States officers permitted by the British government to receive a course of instructions at the Royal navy college, Woolwich, England. Here he remained three years, taking a special study in naval architecture. On returning home he received an appointment to the navy department at Washington, and discharged his duties with such fidelity and intelligence that he was given an appointment as assistant naval constructor. He was later ordered to the Brooklyn navy yard, where he remained one year. Next he went to Newport News to inspect the battleships Kearsarge and Kentucky, which were under construction there. He then became instructor in the post-graduate course in naval instruction, which he inaugurated at the naval academy in 1897. In 1898 he, with his pupils, was ordered to join Sampson’s fleet at Key West, with which he remained until the performance of the remarkable and historic feat of bottling up Cervera in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. He received a great deal of deserved honor for this achievement, and was nominated by President McKinley March 1, 1899, to be advanced ten numbers from number one from the list of naval constructors for extraordinary heroism. This is said to be the greatest possible promotion in the naval service for gallant conduct in the face of the enemy. Hobson has done subsequent excellent work and is the author of a number of works on subjects relative to his profession.
Winfield Scott Schley.
Winfield Scott Schley was born in Frederick, Maryland, October 9, 1839. After being educated in the public schools he entered the naval academy at Annapolis, September 20, 1856, and was graduated in 1860. During the Civil war he served in various capacities, and at its close he was commissioned lieutenant-commander and was made instructor in languages at the United States naval academy. In 1884 he volunteered for, and was placed in command of, the relief expedition sent to the arctic regions in search of Lieutenant Greely and his companions. Two other attempts to relieve Lieutenant Greely had been failures, but Commander Schley’s determination and intrepidity carried his expedition to success, and the seven survivors of the expedition were found and brought back, together with the bodies of those who had perished. In recognition of this achievement, the Maryland legislature presented him with a gold watch and a vote of thanks, and the Massachusetts Humane Society gave him a gold medal, and a territory west of Cape Sabine was named Schley land. He was also commissioned to carry, to Sweden, the remains of John Erickson, for which King Oscar awarded him a gold medal. In 1898 he was made commodore. Previous to the outbreak of the Spanish-American war he was given command of the “Flying Squadron.” On May 19 he was ordered by Sampson to blockade Cienfuegos. On May 29, he had been ordered to Santiago by the navy department and there he discovered the Spanish fleet in the harbor. At 8:45 of that day Sampson steamed eastward to Siboney, thus placing Schley in command. Scarcely an hour later the Spaniards emerged from the harbor, the Brooklyn, Schley’s ship, signalling, “clear ship for action,” “the enemy escaping to westward” and “close action,” and steamed forward to meet the advancing enemy. One after another the Teresa, Oquondo, Biscaya and Colon were run aground under a storm of American projectiles. The credit of this victory was claimed by Sampson, but as he was absent at the time, it became ultimately recognized by the American people that Schley had fought and won the victory. His ship was nearest to the Spanish squadron at the time of action and was the most badly injured of all the American fleet. At the close of the war he was placed on waiting orders. He was married in Annapolis, Maryland, September 10, 1863, to Anna Rebecca, daughter of George E. and Marie Caroline Franklin.
William Rufus Shafter.
William Rufus Shafter was born at Galesburg, Michigan, October 16, 1835. He was brought up on a farm and received a common school education. He entered the Union army as first lieutenant of the Seventh Michigan infantry. He rose in rank, and when mustered out of the volunteer service, in 1865, entered the regular army as lieutenant colonel. In 1867 he was breveted colonel and given congressional honor for gallant conduct at the battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia. He was made a brigadier-general May 3, 1897, in charge of the department of California and later a major-general of volunteers; May, 1898, he went to Tampa, Florida; afterward to Cuba, where he commanded the military operations which ended in the surrender of Santiago de Cuba in July, 1898, while at the close of the war he received his share of criticism for some incidents of the campaign, yet his personal gallantry and technical skill have never been questioned. His success in his chosen profession may be traced to his putting into practice the ruling axiom of his life, which he formulates thus: “I think that, when a man once finds the thing he likes, and for which he is best fitted, he is bound to like it always, and stick to it.”