It seems like forever and a day since I have done one of these. But, over the weekend, I got thinking about famous American naval sayings. You know them: "Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!" or "I have barely begun to fight" or "You may fire when ready, Gridley". And I got to wondering, who the heck was Gridley?

Are you wondering? Probably not. But am I going to let that stop me? Heck, no.

On May 1, 1898, the United States Navy was engaged in combat operations in the Philippines. Specifically, we were fighting the Battle of Manila. a key naval battle during the Spanish-American War. There is an interesting website devoted to it. But, if you don't feel like clicking away, basically, the battle was a huge victory for the American fleet and established the US Navy as a major world force as the fleet, under the command of Commodore Dewey, the US fleet sailed in under the Spanish guns into Manila Bay and destroyed the vastly larger Spanish fleet with practically no loss of life for the Americans (although great loss of life for the Spanish).

Dewey was on the USS Olympia -- the third oldest surviving warship (after the Constellation and the Constitution). The Olympia, a National Historic Landmark (an odd thing to call something important that floats, don't you think?) is in Philadelphia at the Independence Seaport Museum:

It was on the Olympia that Commodore Dewey gave those famous instructions to Captain Gridley: "You may fire when ready, Gridley". He gave this command after enduring Spanish fire for about a half an hour, in order to position his fleet exactly where he wanted them to be able to best engage the Spanish fleet. Gridley was the Captain of the Olympia.

Gridley left his command shortly after the capture of Manila and died, as a result of illness, on May 25, 1898, on his way to Japan.

Gridley was a native of Indiana and a graduate of the US Naval Academy. He was involved in the Civil War, fighting for Farragut during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Gridley may have been forgotten by many, but not by the Navy, who has named an Arleigh Burke class destroyer for him, to be commissioned February 2007 in Florida. Here she is after her "float off":

-and the Christening-

-and her first sea trial-

The best on-line biography I've seen of Captain Gridley is here. He was buried in Erie, PA:

I hope you enjoyed this; I enjoyed researching and writing it.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 11:03 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 I did enjoy reading it, something that I probably wouldn't have looked up myself (too busy) but very interesting once you stuck it under my nose. I miss these pieces that you write from time to time.

Posted by: Hannah at December 12, 2006 02:55 PM (5w+E2)

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It has been a long time since I did a Behind the Curtain post, but that's just because nothing or no one caught my particular fancy for awhile now. I don't go out looking for these people, they sort of have to find me. Today, I was found by Mr. Soulé. A colleague of mine asked me if I had ever heard of him. He told me that Soulé served as President Pierce's ambassador to Spain in the 1850's and, while there, managed to grievously wound the French ambassador in a duel and give the Spanish government a 48 hour ultimatum over something (which they ignored) and, finally, consorted with ant-royalist activists and intriguers. Curiosity officially piqued.

All in all, seems like a perfect candidate for a Behind the Curtain portrait.

As always, the rest is in Extended Entry! more...

Posted by: Random Penseur at 03:09 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I was thumbing through a local guide book this weekend, waiting for inspiration to strike and help me pick a fun activity to do with the family, when I came across a reference to the "infamous outlaw, Claudius Smith" in Orange County, NY. Infamous? Really? I'd never heard of him and I'd never seen a reference to him before in any of the many books on local history I have the misfortune to own. Sounds like maybe someone history has forgotten about and I resolved to make him the next, Behind the Curtain profile. Turns out, he was the pretty fierce leader of a band of robbers during the Revolutionary War and a pretty interesting sounding guy, although I'm glad I never met him on a dark road in Orange County. Click Extended Entry below for the rest of it. more...

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:40 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Neat! I love these Behind the Curtains posts. This guy was quite the character. I wonder how accurately he is portrayed. If he was a true Crown Loyalist his activities take on an almost honorable tone, at least for his time. If, as conjectured, he was a simple opportunist he was immensely loathsome. With all of the crap coming out of Hollywood these days you'd think they could just open up a history book or two and find some gems like this. Smith is a ready to write blockbuster.

Posted by: Jim at January 11, 2005 10:43 AM (tyQ8y)

2 Splendid! What a character!!! Never heard of him either, thanks for writing about him.

Posted by: Mick at January 11, 2005 10:52 AM (VhRca)

3 If you're interested in New Jersey history, you should definitely do a search on Amazon for Henry Charlton Beck. They can get his books used very reasonably. Beck does cover this fellow and a great deal else. For a time, New Jersey was sort of the California of the colonies and the early US, since it seems to have been a place where misfits went who were unhappy in other colonies/states, so you had various kinds of social innovation taking place there. Beck is very good on this kind of stuff.

Posted by: John Bruce at January 11, 2005 02:22 PM (t28xF)

4 Claudius is a GGGG for me. He has long fascinated me - most of our relations are not as controversial. I have done a lot of research on Claudius and would be happy to share. I have far more information collected than I have analysed. Nearly every family in the immediate area was somehow affected and most have included their experiences in their family tales. How accurate these stories are is questionable - suffice it to say there are too many to assume Claudius a sterling character. I believe, as does this author, it seems, that he was at best an opportunist. Please feel free to contact me.

Posted by: Lil heselton at February 07, 2005 02:26 AM (yVXTt)

5 My father's name was Claudis Smith. My Grandfather's name was Claudis Smith. His Grandfather was named William Claudis Smith. See a pattern? I am trying to find William Claudis's ancestors. When I "googled" him, it asked me if I meant "Claudius" and when I told it "yes", then I learned all about Claudius Smith and his misdeeds. I don't yet know if I'm his decendent or not. I don't see a parent naming their child (William C. was born 1781) after someone so imfamous unless it was a family name, and maybe that's why they dropped the "u"? Well, anyway, your research was wonderful. Thank you so much for educating me.

Posted by: Kristal at August 12, 2005 01:58 PM (/Jsts)

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Our newest “look behind the curtain” subject is Le Marquis de Mores, a Frenchman who came to America, married well, moved West in the late 1800's and broke his teeth trying to compete with the meat packers by introducing ranching and meat packing at the source, challenged (maybe) Theodore Roosevelt to a duel, and moved back to France. I will show you how we go from cattle ranching in the Badlands to the Dreyfus Affair in France. After all, that's why I initially found him interesting.

I also found this guy to be fascinating because, after doing a little research, it appears that his story has been sanitized in English sources, including on US Government websites. This is an example of historical revisionism at work where the unsavory bits of this guyÂ’s story have been swept under the rug so as not to scare the children or the animals. Seriously, this fellow may look normal enough for those times on the surface, but when you probe a little deeper, you find a real whack job, lacking only the certification from the professionals to be official and to compete for a world ranking. I elucidate below. more...

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:39 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Thanks to Jim, by the way, for suggesting the titles for these short biographical sketches.

Today's sketch is of Daniel Edgar Sickles. I came across his name while looking at the Hayes/Tilden election. Sickles was, in 1876, the fellow who realized that if the disputed states could declare for the Republicans, Hayes would win the electoral college. Sickles immediately sent telegrams to the governors of those four states, signing the name of the chairman of the Republican Party, who was too drunk to do it himself. When I read about this, I began to wonder, just who was this Sickles fellow anyway? Turns out, he was a pretty colorful character himself and worth a closer look. more...

Posted by: Random Penseur at 05:13 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I am sometimes intrigued by the people who populate the periphery of history. These are people who, while they may have been famous or notorious in their own era, have been relegated to the footnote of history in our time. These are people who may have been very accomplished in their own right, but who are known to us today primarily because of their association with someone who has greater historical gravitas or because they played what is now felt to be a minor role in an important event. Seriously, isn't this a fascinating concept? These "peripherals" led full lives and may have done astonishing things, some of them, yet they are eclipsed by their contemporaries by reason merely of their association. Who remembers the names of any of the men who went with Perry to Japan? Or climbed Everest with Hillary? Or was the second in command to William the Conqueror? Are they any less deserving of our attention?

Well, sometimes you find these peripherals as they put in an appearance in a history or a biography. Sometimes, if you look closely, you can see them in the corner of a book or peeking out from behind the drapes of history, as it were, where the author left them while he or she is writing about someone else.

I just observed one such elusive person. As I mentioned before, I am reading McCullough's biography of Theodore Roosevelt as a child and young man. Teddy was a world stage historical personage. His maternal uncle, James Bulloch, was a pretty compelling figure in his own right.

more...

Posted by: Random Penseur at 04:54 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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