Military Service Institution of the United States

In the last post, I wrote about John B. Montgomery's sword being in the collection of the Military Service Institution of the United States museum.  I had never heard of this organization so looked it up.

From Wikipedia.

It is a voluntary organization of officers of the Army for mutual improvement and was fostered by Generals Sherman and Sheridan.

It was organized September 28, 1878 in New York City.

The organizations museum was opened on Governor's Island in New York Harbor in 1884.  It has a collection of 10,000 books and manuscripts of interest.  It also contains relics and trophies from all wars and campaigns of which the United States has been involved.

Sadly, the museum was shut down in 1924 due to declining attendance.

I was unable to find out what happened to the museum's collection.  I hope it was kept intact.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Lewis & the N.Y. Flotilla: Problems with Manpower

From "Six Frigates:  The Epic Founding  of the U.S. Navy" by Ian W. Toll.

Even after New York City was in dire threat from the British, it proved to be entirely impossible to mobilize all the city's gunboats because Master Commandant Jacob Lewis could not recruit enough seamen to man them.

"Although invited not one appeared," he told Secretary Jones.  This failure "served to prove incontrovertibly that volunteers cannot be depended on."

And, it wasn't just a New York City thing.  Secretary Jones received similar reports from the flotillas at Baltimore, Norfolk and Delaware Bay.  Jones  informed Congress a few weeks later that the gunboats could not be manned because  of "the preference which Seamen naturally give to Vessels better adapted to their habits and Comfort."

Also, more likely to capture prizes which meant prize money all around.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Lewis & the N.Y. Flotilla-- Part 3: Lewis & Fulton on Torpedoes and Underwater Cannons

Congress  prompted experimentation to develop new weapons and methods of naval combat, passing what was called the Torpedo Act in March.  This granted one half the value of an enemy warship to an individual destroying it.

Robert Fulton and Commodore Jacob Lewis cooperated in developing torpedoes and underwater gunnery.  In the early 19th century, a torpedo was an explosive charge detonated against the side of a target.  Typically, a small vessel rammed the enemy ship below the waterline with a torpedo mounted on a forward spar.

Also, a submarine could attach the torpedo under the target underwater.

Fulton and Lewis demonstrated the potential of an underwater cannon.  They placed a hundred pounder columbiad  with a ten pound powder charge below the surface of the water.  The firing mechanism was dry inside the attacking boat while the muzzle extended into the water.  Upon firing, the cannon could drive a massive ball through three feet of solid oak at a range of six feet.

The British decision not to attack New York City precluded the use of this under actual combat conditions.

--Brock-Perry

Privateer Bunker Hill-- Part 2: HMS Belvidera

From the "The War of 1812:  A Complete Chronology with  Biographies

AUGUST 21, 1812

"The HMS Belvidera intercepts and seizes the privateer  Bunker Hill (Jacob Lewis, master), a 175-ton schooner that operates out of New York.  At the time of its capture, the Bunker Hill is carrying cargo that includes ammunition and guns, along with provisions."

*******************************

From "Publications of the Rhode Island Historical Society"

"Also arrived at New York, a British  brig from Quebec for Bermuda, a prize  to the Bunker Hill privateer of this port."

--Brock-Perry

Sandy Hook (Where Is It?)

I have been mentioning Sandy Hook a bit in regards to the New York Flotilla and had no idea where it was located.  Just somewhere near New York City.  Time to find out a little more about it.

From Wikipedia.

Actually, it is in New Jersey and is what is called a barrier spit, about six miles in length and varying from 0.1 mile to 1.0 mile in width.  It encloses the southern entrance of the Lower New York Bay south of New York City.  The name comes from the Dutch  "Sant Hoek."

The defunct Fort Hancock is at the northern end of Sandy Hook and was built in 1896.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Lewis & the NY Flotilla-- Part 2: Who Pays for More Gunboats and Their Crews?

In February, before the British announced their blockade of New York, Secretary of the Navy William Jones had  reduced the number of gunboats in the New York Flotilla to fifteen as a cost-cutting measure.  He stipulated that Lewis could  bring the excess gunboats back into service in an emergency and have them crewed by volunteers.

When the Royal Navy squadron appeared off Sandy Hook, Lewis returned the laid off gunboats to service and requested the Navy Department to pay for the crews.  This request brought a strong rebuke from  Jones, who reminded him that he was to find volunteer crews to man the gunboats and that Lewis could be held personally responsible for any costs his actions incurred. He then ordered Lewis to take the extra gunboats out of service unless the British were to attack.

(Don't you know that Lewis hit the ceiling when told this which was most likely the reason he tried to get Secretary of State James Monroe in on his side.)

Nicholas Fish, the Federalist chairman of New York City's Committee of Defense, asked Jones to authorize the addition gunboats for which the city would pay for the crews.  Jones agreed to this compromise and told Lewis to bring up to  fifteen additional gunboats into service.

This situation was a successful example of sharing defense responsibilities between the federal and state governments.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Lewis & the New York Flotilla-- Part 1

From the "Naval War of 1812:  A Documentary History" by William S. Dudley.

Jacob Lewis & the New York Flotilla.

Jacob Lewis was the commander of the privateer Bunker Hill early in the war and was appointed master commandant in the U.S. Navy in 1812.  Given command of all the  gunboats and fire ships stationed at New York, Lewis accepted this new challenge and set out to immediately assess the status of his flotilla.

One of his new ships was probably Gunboat No. 47, Richard Hill's ship.

He found his new command to be undermanned and "in a pitiable State owing to the prejudice against it."  Lewis knew that he had local support because the committee for harbor defense, fearful of a swarm of British ships in the spring, exhorted the state legislature for money for defense.

Unsure of Navy Secretary Jones' support, he enlisted the support of Secretary of State James Monroe in convincing the Navy Department that gunboats used in  coastal defense freed frigates for sea duty.

Brock-Perry

Interviews with First Responders Told the Story of 9/11

From the September 10, 2021, Chicago Tribune.

Karen Lamanna was a paramedic on an EMS unit summoned from the Bronx.  She and her partner got separated amid the confusion of Manhattan's unfamiliar streets.  But she made her way to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal where she heard pleasure craft and tugs were arriving.

She bandaged civilian victims before they were ferried to hospitals on Staten Island or New Jersey.

"A lot of firefighters wanted to be treated, and they went right back to the scene," Lamanna recalled.  "There was just no way of keeping them out."

When things slowed down, Lamanna was able to phone a friend and try to locate her partner.  Two days later, they met and exchanged hugs.

Fort Worth's Namesake-- Part 4: His Death and All Those Namesakes

Ten forts were planned  between Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande River and the Trinity River, though only seven were built, including Forts Graham, Duncan and Lincoln.

In the spring of 1849, as William Worth's career continued to ascend,  San Antonio was struck by a deadly cholera epidemic.  Worth contracted the disease and died at the age of 55.  General William Harney then ordered the last fort , near the Trinity River, be named in honor of the fallen hero, Fort Worth.

Worth  was later buried in a tomb in what is now Worth Square in New York City, where a street is also named for him.

Several other cities and counties across the nation are also named for him.  Lake Worth, a small suburb next to Fort Worth, Texas, is also named for the general.  It now has a population of 5,000.

William Worth's most famous  namesake, Fort Worth, is now the fifth largest city in Texas with more than 900,000 residents.

--Brock-Perry

Did You Ever Wonder About Fort Worth, Texas?

On 1941, New York City restored the monument.  In 1995, the monument again underwent  an extensive restoration funded mainly by the Paul and Klara Porzelt Foundation and  U.S. Navy Commander (ret)  James A. Woodruff Jr.. Worth's great-great grandson.

He and his family have endowed  the maintenance of the monument and surrounding planting bed, through the Municipal Art Society's Adopt-A-Monument program.

********************************

The cities of Fort Worth and Lake Worth in Texas are named after him.  Also the villages of Worth in Illinois and Worth in Kentucky.

Worth County in Georgia and Iowa are named after him.

The famed Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Florida, is named for the general as well.

Enough Said.  --Brock-Perry

William J. Worth-- Part 6: Worth Square, Manhattan

William Worth's remains were reinterred in a 51-foot granite monument on Worth Square on a traffic island between Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 25th Street  in New York City's borough of Manhattan.  It is the second oldest monument in New York City (the oldest is Cleopatra's Needle).

It was designed and built by James G. Batterson in 1857.

The monument's decorative bands are inscribed with the names of Worth's battles and attached to the front of it is a bronze equestrian relief of Worth.  The top of each spike of the cast iron fence surrounding the monument is topped with a plumed helmet he is wearing on the memorial plaque.  The main part of each spike is modeled after Worth's Congressional sword.

The American artist Thomas Hart Benton depicted the monument in his "New York: Early Twenties" painting  Worth Street (Manhattan) at the southern end of Little Italy, is named in his honor.

Quite an Important Early American Hero You Probably Have Never Heard Of Before.  --Brock-Perry

William J. Worth-- Part 5: The Havana Club Plan and Death

In 1848, William Worth was approached by  a group of Cuban Freemasons known as the Havana Club, composed of  sugar plantation owners and aristocrats, who wanted the overthrow of the island's Spanish government.  They sent a college professor named Ambrosio  Jose Gonzales to ask Worth to lead an invasion of Cuba at the head of American Mexican War veterans.

Knowing that Worth was also a Freemason, Gonzales greeted the war hero with the Masonic secret handshake, and offered him $3 million.  Worth accepted the offer, but before anything could come of it, he was transferred by the War Department to Texas.

He was in command of the Department of Texas  when he died of cholera in 1849 in San Antonio.

The general's body is buried at Worth Square in New York City.

--Brock-Perry

Privateer General Armstrong (I)

Actually, there were two privateers using this name.  One operating out of Charleston, S.C., and the other out of New York City.

By far, the more famous of the two was the one from New York

This is the other one.

GENERAL ARMSTRONG

Captain:  John Sinclair

Commissioned:  23 November 1812

Operated out of Charleston, S.C.

Owners:  Rensalaer Havens, Thomas Formar, Thomas Jenkins, John Sinclair, John Everingham Smith (New York owned)

Ship:  205 tons

Crew:  120 to 100

16 guns

Prizes:  3 (0)

--Brock-Perry

Privateer Governor Thompkins

GOVERNOR THOMKINS  (named for New York governor during the war and future U.S. vice president)

Captain:  Joseph Skinner, Lewis Smith, Nathaniel Shaler

Commissioned:  8 November 1813

Captured

Out of New York, N.Y.

Owners:  Charles Bulkeley, then Frederick Jenkins and lastly Nathaniel Shaler, Peter Schenck, Martin Brett and Christopher Deshon.

Schooner, 250 tons

Crew:  120  Later 140

14 and then 15 guns

21 Prizes  (5)

--Brock-Perry

New York City's Blockhouse No. 1 in Central Park-- Part 3: Completed Two Days Before Treaty of Ghent Signed

 The fort consists of a two-story bunker surrounding a small area, inside which, a wooden platform would have originally stood. The wooden platform was sunken with a revolving turret for a cannon (not quite sure what this means).

The sides of it held small gunports.  The structure was likely connected to the ground by a small staircase.

Construction on the tower was completed December 22, 1814, , two days before the Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the war.

The second phase of its history involved it being used as an ammunition and storage building.  During this time, the top two feet of stone-work was completed.  The fort/blockhouse is noticeably different in color, composition and stonework.

Later at the turn of the 20th century, the current entrance and staircase were added, as was the tall flagpole at the center of the fort.

In 1905, it was described as standing 19 feet tall at the western wall and  having a base of 34 feet square.

Blockhouse No. 1 stands in North Woods at the northwest corner of Central Park, at a location that is still rugged, high and difficult to reach.  It is located south of North Crive and north of Huddlestone Arch.  It overlooks Harlem Meer (lake) and the Lasker Rink to the east.

Interesting Site to Visit.  --Brock-Perry

New York City's Blockhouse in Central Park-- Part 2: Originally Built By the British in the American Revolution

The Blockhouse was likely built on the foundation of a structure dating back to a much earlier date.  In 1776, during the American Revolution, British and Hessian troops  sealed off lower Manhattan from colonial armies by controlling the pass and defending it through a series of fortifications.

From trial excavations performed in 1995, it has been determined that the foundation of Blockhouse No. 1 date back to this time of British occupation of New York.

The current fort was constructed in three phases.

In the first phase, under the direction of General Joseph Gardner Swift, the fort was hastily constructed by New Yorkers during the War of 1812 in anticipation of a British invasion.  It was assembled by volunteers who brought the building materials with them, hence the red sandstone blocks included with the Manhattan schist.

--Brock-Perry

New York City's Blockhouse in Central Park-- Part 1: A Picturesque Ruin

Continued from August 30.

From Wikipedia.

The Blockhouse is the second oldest structure in New York City's Central Park after Cleopatra's Needle.  It is a small fort in the northern part of the fort and is located on a overlook of the Manhattan schist. (Manhattan schist is the bedrock that enables the tall buildings to stand. I didn't know that and had to look kit up.)  It has a clear view of the flat surrounding areas north of Central Park.

Finished in 1814, the fort was part of a series of fortifications in northern Manhattan, which originally included three fortifications in what was then Harlem Heights, now known as Morningside Heights.  The fortifications were built in fear of a British attack during the War of 1812 which never came.

The Blockhouse is the last surviving fortification from those defenses.

Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, designers of Central Park, decided Blockhouse No. 1 was a picturesque ruin, romantically overgrown with  vines and Alpine shrubbery.

--Brock-Perry

Seven Things You Didn't Know About New York's Central Park-- Part 5: Seneca Village

7.  One of the first African American communities in the city was razed in order  to create Central Park.

About three decades before the creation of the park, the area  was home to Seneca Village, a small community founded by free black property owners, one of the first ones in New York City.

It had three churches and a school and stretched between West 83rd and 89th streets.  By the 1840s, German and Irish immigrants moved to the area, making it one of the few integrated areas of the time.

In 1853, the city took possession of the area through eminent domain and destroyed Seneca Village to make way for Central Park.  The history of the village was largely ignored until 2011, when historians and archaeologists from the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village excavated six areas within the former village.

They found thousands of artifacts, including household items that revealed signs of middle-class life.  Last year, the central Park Conservancy  launched an outdoor exhibit to teach visitors about Seneca Village.

--Brock-Perry

Seven Things You Didn't Know About New York's Central Park-- Part 4: The Whisper Bench and the Surveyor Bolt

5.  The park is home to the "Whisper Bench" in Shakespeare Garden.  It is similar to the whispering walls of Grand Central.  It is named in honor of Charles B. Stover, a park advocate and co-founder  of the University Settlement.  It is a curved  granite bench that can be found in the four-acre Shakespeare Garden.

If you sit at one end and whisper , the sound travels to the other side, creating a way to share secrets, even in this age of social distancing.

6.  There is a surveyor bolt put in place by the mastermind of the Manhattan Grid that remains unmarked. 

John Randel Jr., the chief surveyor who designed the Manhattan street grid more than 200 years ago, traversed the city  for about a decade to mark nearly 1,000 future intersections.  Randel and his team were not exactly loved by New Yorkers at the time and some destroyed his markers, set their dogs after him and even threw vegetables at him.

Only one of his many bolts has been found at a location originally marked as Sixth Avenue and 65th Street but is now a part of Central Park.  Embedded in a rock on the southern end of the park, the bolt's location remains unmarked in order to preserve it, as well as create a treasure hunt for history and city planning buffs.

--Brock-Perry

Seven Things You Didn't Know About New York's Central Park-- Part 2: Fort Clinton and the Cannon

3.  The cannon at the War of 1812's Fort Clinton actually came from an American Revolution British ship.

Fort Clinton has views of Harlem Meer and the city's east side and served as a strategic overlook in the War of 1812.  It was named after the city's mayor at the time, DeWitt Clinton.  The fortification and its original remains were retained during the construction of Central Park.

A historic cannon and mortar can be found at the top that actually predate the War of 1812.  They came from the HMS Hussar, a British ship from the American Revolution that sank in the East River in 1778, and were later donated anonymously to the park in 1865.

This Revolutionary War cannon was placed in various sites around the park until placed at Fort Clinton in 1905.  When the staff of the Conservancy  cleaned the cannon in 2013, they found it was still loaded with cannonball and powder, all of which have since been removed.

I have already written about this.  Click on the Fort Clinton label below.

No Big Bangs Here.  --Brock-Perry