George Hamilton Perkins, commodore, U.S.N.; his life and letters

Preface

BECAUSE a young naval officer was constantly thinking of home and because his family treasured his frequent letters, this book has been possible. The letters were informal and unstudied; being subject to constant interruption and other unfavorable conditions, they frequently did not possess literary distinction; but they were ever full of hearty feeling, and of keen interest in routine duty as well as the stirring events of war and conflict. By reason of their spontaneous, straightforward character they have a value as history.

Miss Susan Perkins, who all her life had been collecting the letters, edited them in 1886, with a biographical sketch of her brother by Admiral G. E. Belknap. The work was well done, and it shows throughout a sister’s love and admiration. Still I have felt that there was a place for further work. Miss Perkins’s book was published privately and reached the family friends rather than the general public; as it was written thir-

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PREFACE teen years before the Commodore’s death, it did not deal with the last phase of his life and could not treat with fulness many matters of a personal nature. In my writing I have constantly had Miss Perkins’s book before me. At the same time I have gone over the originals of most of the letters she quoted, and have included some others which had become accessible later; also I have availed myself of the rich historical and biographical material of a general character that has appeared since her book was written, throwing light on the events in which Commodore Perkins had a part.

Miss Perkins’s noble life is ended, and to her I cannot speak my gratitude. To Mrs. Perkins, widow of the Commodore, to Mrs. Anderson, his daughter, and to a score of others, his relatives and friends, I hope the following pages will be the best expression of my deep appreciation of their assistance and encouragement in the various stages of this work.

Annapolis, Maryland,

February, 1914.

Contents

I. Family and Boyhood . . . . i

II. At the Naval Academy . . .16

III. In Central and South American Waters 3 7

Chapter I

IF the laws of inheritance have a force in the shaping of character, and a man’s fortune is thus in the making long before his birth, George Hamilton Perkins was favored in his antecedents.

He was in direct line from the Reverend William Perkins, who, sprung of an old Warwickshire family, was born in London and came to Boston in 1632. William Perkins, according to the early records, was a “man of parts,” and had unusual versatility. He gave fifty pounds to the Massachusetts Bay Company and received in return four hundred acres of land. He was elected representative to the General Court of Massachusetts. Besides attacking the strongholds of evil from the pulpit, he commanded a military company and was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in Boston. Still better, he had a large family. His spiritual enthusiasm for the latter is not without a touch of humor for us, when he writes on the marriage of Katharine, his second daughter: “She was the first which the merciful Providence of God gave me opportunity to be disposed of in marriage.” He died in 1682 at the age of seventy-five.

Timothy, great-grandson of William Perkins, married Hannah Trowbridge, and through her George Perkins was descended from Thomas Trowbridge, of Devonshire, who came to America in 1636. Also through her he was descended from Increase and Maria Cotton Mather.

The first generations of Perkins in America lived in Roxbury, Gloucester, Topsfield, and neighboring towns in eastern Massachusetts. But as the country became more thickly populated, there was the reaching-out for more land. Roger Eliot Perkins (1769-1825), grandfather of the subject of this biography, moved from Middleton, Massachusetts, to Hopkinton, New Hampshire. Building there some lumber mills on the Contoocook River, he established a profitable business. Prompted by the English gentleman’s pleasure in an estate, he obtained large tracts of land reaching out from the present village of Contoocook. Here, a few hundred yards from the river and mill, he built the

BIRTHPLACE OF COMMODORE PERKINS, CONTOOCOOK (hOPKINTOn), N.H.

large and stately mansion that still stands on the edge of the village. In this house Commodore Perkins was born, and when a small boy he could look out and see in all directions only the paternal acres. This pleasure in land and farm country does not seem to have been so strong in Hamilton Eliot Perkins, father of the Commodore, but was to reappear in the Commodore with undiminished vigor.

Hamilton Perkins received his education at Exeter, Norwich Military Academy, and Harvard Law School. For many years he gave his attention to lumbering at Contoocook where he owned one or more mills. For sixteen years in the latter part of his life he presided over the probate court of Merrimac County and was known the country about as Judge Perkins. Senator W. E. Chandler says of him: “He was not only genial, full of kindly humor, but he was brave and plucky — a positive man from whom George must have inherited much of his natural courage.”

Clara Bartlett George, wife of Judge Perkins and mother of the Commodore, was also of good old English stock; her ancestor had come to America in the seventeenth century, settled in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and after the middle of the eighteenth century had moved to Hopkinton. Her paternal grandmother was the daughter of Captain Harriman, — a skipper of Salem, — while her grandfather was Captain Benjamin Emery, “Gentleman,” who commanded a company at the battle of White Plains in the Revolution. Mrs. Perkins’s brother was Captain Paul R. George, long an intimate friend of General Benjamin Butler. General Butler, knowing of the remarkably efficient service of Captain George as quartermaster of volunteers in the Mexican War, immediately, on being given command of the forces at New Orleans in 1862, requested that Captain George be appointed quartermaster on his staff; but because of political opposition in Congress the nomination was not confirmed.

Mrs. Perkins had among her early devoted admirers the talented young lawyer, Franklin Pierce, later President of the United States. Throughout his life Pierce continued a friend of the family, and when the youngest son, John H. George, on the death of his father, left Dartmouth a year before graduation, Pierce took him into his office; the youth thus favored later became one of the most brilliant lawyers in New Hampshire.

Hamilton and Clara Perkins had two daughters and six sons. The second child and the eldest son was George Hamilton Perkins. He was born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, October 20, 1836. Here in the house already mentioned as built by his grandfather he spent his early years.

George Perkins was ever fond of this, the south central part of New Hampshire, and to a large extent it was the mould that shaped the man. It is agricultural country and the land is still extensively cultivated, being adapted especially to dairy farming. Though lacking the austere grandeur of the mountainous parts of the State, Hopkinton and the adjoining towns of Warner and Webster are not less varied and lovely. Mount Kearsarge, Sunapee Mountain, Monadnock, Moosilauke, and on exceptionally clear days the White Mountains are to be seen from the hills — the nearest of the mountains being twelve miles distant. The hills, which in many less rugged States would be honored by the names of mountains, are so placed as to show their height to advantage and they afford picturesque views of the Contoocook River and smaller streams. Contrasted with the rough hills and the heavy woods are the rich intervales, where unsurpassed meadows and some good grain-fields are to be seen.

George Perkins was an active youngster on the farm. He was interested in whatever was being done, and made friends and companions of all the workers. He had a great liking for animals and pets of all kinds, as had the others of his family; indeed, this fondness for animals was so marked that it may be regarded as a family trait and seems to have come from the Georges. For horses he had a veritable passion, and this lasted all through his life.

One of his earliest recorded adventures was with a horse, and the incident, which his sister relates, is important because the child shows the same characteristics that later were to make him the superior officer. When scarcely as old as the boy of to-day who wakes to consciousness of masculine dignity because of his first knee breeches, he went to the pasture to catch one of his father’s colts. It was a spirited animal, full grown, and its head was so high that the boy was not tall enough to reach it. The colt eluded George for some time, and then taking to the river crossed over to the other side. As the field bordered on the Contoo cook above the dam, the stream was of some depth and breadth. The small boy, however, did not hesitate, but, throwing off his scanty attire, he plunged in and swam to the opposite bank. There he cornered the horse against a fence, and by climbing the rails succeeded in fastening the bridle, which he had placed about his own neck on crossing the river. Then, swimming the animal back, he put on his clothes and rode in triumph to the stable. Just as later in the battles below New Orleans and in Mobile Bay, he was without fear. Difficulty and danger were for him like a game and brought out his quickness in action and his ready resource.

The father constantly encouraged him in selfreliance. When he was six and it was imperative to send some one through the deep snow to Concord, ten miles distant, George was tied in the sleigh, and though all alone, made the trip without mishap. Early he had a pony of his own, and with his father he would take long rides over the rough hills and through the heavy woods. At times they would spend the night in a small and very old house in Webster on a farm belonging to the judge, and would fish in the beautiful little lake which the farm overlooked, or hunt in the vicinity. The farmhouse, known as the “Box,” in later years was to receive many additions, and eventually became the summer home of the Commodore.

When George was eight years old, his father moved to Boston where he engaged in the West African trade. The boy saw the extensive shipping, and doubtless had his imagination fired by many a sailor’s yarn as he roamed over the vessels his father was fitting out. Yet there is nothing to indicate that the child or his parents recognized that the sea was to be his profession. Indeed, when two or three years later his father tired of business cares and city life, it was a glad boy that returned with the family to the large and comfortable old home in Hopkinton.

George’s education was early found to be a serious problem. He did not take to books. Augustus T. Perkins, who comes of an entirely different branch, in writing of his own family, notes what is fully applicable to the family of the judge: “Of well-educated and accomplished men and women we have a plenty, but almost no scholarship in the strict sense of the word”; and he mentions as their .particular characteristics, “The love of adventure, of field sports and of athletics . . . together with an extraordinary vigor of body, noticeable in the women as well as the men.” Thus it was that George, who loved action and all outdoor life, had no enthusiasm for books and study.

Because of this indifference he made little progress, and the teachers commonly agreed that he was dull. Had it not been for the faith and perseverance of his mother, his distaste would have crippled him for life, and there would have been no public career. She took his education upon herself, in spite of the many cares of a large family and an extended circle of friends. Many a spirited contest followed, for George would not study and the mother would not let him shirk. Frequent were the petitions for leniency. He was not feeling well, he wanted to go with father to Tilton to buy a horse, or he must see a litter of pigs just arrived on a neighboring farm. Might he not accompany Sister Hattie, who had shopping to do in Concord? If he would work all day to-morrow, might he not go fishing this morning with some of the older boys ? — There were times when undoubtedly he was not feeling entirely well. He was not robust, and was quite alert enough to see how this fact might be used to advantage. Fortunately, Mrs. Perkins had herself a liking for play and a lively appreciation of the importance of the many interests connected with the farm. Recreation was not forgotten because of study, and most of the privileges desired were granted if preceded by faithful application. Progress was slow, but in the end the mother triumphed and George gained some schooling.

There is still preserved a journal which Mrs. Perkins induced George to write during his eleventh year. It shows how many and active were the interests of the busy, helpful boy; it also expresses a pathetic lament that his mother should hold him so strictly to his books. It was hard for him to understand how she could be so blind to the better things of life. The following are some extracts (the form has been somewhat modernized by Miss Perkins, sister of the Commodore) : —

Thursday. — It has rained all day and taken off some of the snow. I did my lessons and took care of Black Hawk and the other horses, because the man had to go away. In the afternoon I sold a horse, and then I carried a man in the sleigh to Mr. Gould’s on business.

Friday. — This afternoon I took Black Hawk and Mr. Stanley, and Roger took Uncle Paul’s horse and David, and we went to the lower village to an exhibition. We had a very pleasant time till we got ’most

CLARA BARTLETT (GEORGE) PERKINS Mother of Commodore Perkins ii home, when the thills dropped down on Black Hawk’s heels and he tipped Mr. Stanley and me out of the sleigh, and got away from us and ran almost home. I took the other sleigh and went after him and led him home, and the only harm done was he corked himself a little. Thus closed the labors of the day! I lent four chains to E. Burbank, two binding and two ox chains, and one axe; and to William Leslie, two horse chains, one ox chain, and a goad stick.

Monday. — I did not expect to study any to-day, as Frankie is sick, but mother saw me go by the window and called me in, and of all the scoldings that she has ever given me I got one to-day the worst. To-day I have set some hens, and I expect to have a great flock of chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese this year, for I have set a good many.

Interesting as showing the practical methods used to promote scholarship is this entry: —

My mother solemnly agrees to give George H. Perkins one loaf of cake, if the said George H. Perkins goes through his geography in ten days.

Mother Perkins.

George’s further education was at the Hopkinton and the Gilmanton academies, the latter one of the three oldest in the State. He did nothing to distinguish himself at either institution, and the reports of scholarship were not flattering. The teachers for the most part did not understand the boy, and the routine of study failed to arouse his interest.

George’s struggles suggest those of the British naval officer and author, Captain Marryat. The two in early and later life exhibit many characteristics in common. Marryat as a boy made but slow progress under his schoolmasters, and the unusual and desperate methods he resorted to in the acquisition of knowledge are worthy of a Yankee. It is related that in one of these earnest endeavors to lay hold on truth, he was discovered in an erect but inverted position, feet high in air. When called sternly to account for not studying his lesson, he explained, “Well! I’ve been trying for three hours to learn it on my feet, but I could n’t, so I thought I would try whether it would be easier to learn it on my head.”

While George was studying at Gilmanton, being fourteen years old, there came an unexpected offer of an appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. Although every boy is at heart a soldier or sailor, there is no record that George had seriously thought of a naval career before this. However, the history of New Hampshire had been such as would enkindle patriotism. The Granite State, though possessing less than twenty miles of seacoast, early made much of her one harbor, Portsmouth. Here in the Revolution, the Ranger had been built, and the crew, led on to victory by Paul Jones, were many of them from the Piscataqua region. Here in the War of 1812, the Enterprise was fitted out as she sailed forth to capture the Boxer; and also the second Wasp , which under the gallant Blakely harried British commerce so fearlessly in the English Channel, was built and provided with a crew. And here in the Civil War the Kearsarge was to be built, named after the mountain twelve miles from Hopkinton.

It was the Hon. Charles H. Peaslee who offered the appointment to the Naval Academy. He was Congressman from the Concord District, and having a vacancy to fill he sought out Judge and Mrs. Perkins, — he had been long a warm friend of the family, — making the suggestion that George should go to Annapolis. There followed some anxious deliberation and weighing of advantages. The parents recognized the value of the thorough and practical education that the Academy was already making a name for. They saw that for one of George’s active temperament a naval career was in many ways admirably suited. Yet they hesitated before taking a step that would remove their son, still a mere boy, from their sight and influence.

When it was decided that George should accept the appointment, he was withdrawn from Gilmanton and placed under a private tutor at Concord to prepare for the entrance examination at the Academy. This, like the examination for West Point, was far less exacting than at the present time.1 It had been recognized that the test must be of such a character that candidates from States where the schools were not of the best might hope to pass. Otherwise the charge would be made that the institution was a rich man’s school, for which only those who had enjoyed unusual privileges could qualify. As we turn to the “ Regulations of theU.S. Naval Academy, 1 853,” we read, —

Candidates must be over fourteen and under sixteen years of age at the time of examination for admission; must be of good moral character, able to read and write well — writing from dictation, and spelling with correctness — and to perform with accuracy the various operations of the primary rules of arithmetic, viz.: numeration, and the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers.

An eccentric schoolmaster in Concord under whom George studied before he went to Gilman- 1 Mahan, From Sail to Steam , p. 71.

ton seems to have been the only teacher besides his mother who had the gift or the patience to discern promise of unusual power in the boy. However, he passed the mental examination for admission to the Academy without difficulty, and after undergoing the physical test with like success was enrolled as an acting midshipman. He entered upon the first stage of his naval career at the beginning of the academic year, October 1, 1851.

Chapter II

PERKINS’S life at the Naval Academy cannot be regarded as extraordinary. As in earlier years, he showed indifference or aversion to study, and more than once he but narrowly escaped “ bilging.” 1 He was extremely popular with his fellows, but because he was not aggressive he never constituted himself their leader. To-day a man with his qualities would gain distinction in athletics, dramatics, and like branches of student activities which have an element of seriousness in their character. In the absence of such interests in the fifties, he doggedly pursued his course and was graduated the lowest stand man in his class. He was probably the last man also that his companions would have picked as the one to win distinction six years later for exceptional efficiency and bravery.

The United States Naval Academy was at the

1 Bilging: the expressive term by which, in the fifties as now, midshipmen refer to the untimely end of those seriously deficient in scholarship, when their fate is that of a ship bilged; that is, run on the beach, lying on her bilges, her bottom broken, a wreck.

1 7 time of Perkins’s admission entering upon the seventh year of its work. Previous to the founding of the sister institution at West Point, in 1802, the idea of a naval school constituting one of the four departments of a military academy had been suggested. This probably originated in the fertile brain of Alexander Hamilton, but it came to nothing. From the beginnings of our navy until 1845 (the year the Academy was founded at Annapolis), midshipmen acquired their slight book education commonly from chaplains and schoolmasters on shipboard.

Naturally the first years of the institution, for which there was no model, were somewhat experimental, and the work was limited in its scope. The school was merely a station where midshipmen, during a few months’ respite from sea service, might with assistance study for the examination confronting them as they sought promotion to the grade of passed midshipman or of lieutenant. The Academy quickly demonstrated its value, and in 1851 it was decided hereafter to limit the sea duty of acting midshipmen to summer practice cruises and to the period following their training at Annapolis. Immediately on appointment they were to enter upon a course of study at the Academy that should cover four consecutive years — the plan still followed.

The change that has come over the spirit of our colleges in the past half-century does not have its parallel in the Naval Academy. As has been frequently observed, studies in the former do not, as of old, form the central and absorbing interest; and reading and recreation, while in some phases more healthy and sane, are for the most part less aspiring and idealistic. In Annapolis, on the contrary, the life has become more serious. As the United States Navy has risen in self-esteem, and the midshipmen are three or four years older on admission, they seem to feel more fully the dignity of the service. It is certain that discipline is superior to what it was fifty or sixty years ago; courses of study have been broadened and a greater degree of application is required. It would be misleading, however, to suggest that the earlier and younger midshipmen did not work, and the final results speak well for their training.

There were six departments of instruction when Perkins entered the Academy, and two years later they were increased to eight. The following is a list: (i) Naval tactics and practical seamanship. (2) Mathematics, navigation, and astronomy. (3) Natural and experimental philosophy; mechanics; steam engines. (4) The theory of gunnery, field artillery, and infantry tactics; the art of defense, including fencing. (5) Ethics, rhetoric, geography, history, international and military law. (6) French. (7) Spanish. (8) Drawing.

Among those permanently attached to the academic staff at this time was Professor Henry H. Lockwood, U.S.N. He had been at the Academy since its founding and had been one of the master spirits in organizing the courses. He began with teaching mathematics and natural philosophy, but when Lieutenant Dahlgren after a few lectures on gunnery gave up his department in disgust, Lockwood (who was a graduate of West Point and had served with distinction in the Florida campaign of 1836-37) immediately took up the more technical work. He drilled the midshipmen in light artillery and simple infantry evolutions. This they strongly resented. The traditions of the navy had all been against the sailors’ touching even thus remotely upon the domain of the soldiers. The experiment had been tried with the bluejackets and their unwillingness had caused it to fail. Loud were the murmurings of the midshipmen because of Lockwood’s innovations, and on St. Patrick’s Day they hanged him in effigy from the Academy flagstaff. But he kept on with the drills and finally succeeded.

There is an incident often related that shows how spirited was the conflict, in which the midshipmen would obstinately slouch and stand on one leg in the most unsoldierly fashion while Lockwood sought to bring them up to West Point standards.

One day, while drilling the midshipmen in field artillery, he started them off in the direction of the Severn River. When the head of the column reached the steep embankment on the shore, Lockwood tried to give the command, “Halt!” but, unfortunately, his tendency to stutter just at that moment asserted itself. “Haw — haw — haw,” he shouted, but the word would not come. On went the battery over the bank — there was no sea-wall then — and into the river went the guns. The youngsters who manned the drag-ropes were preparing to swim across when the belated order at last arrived.1

The regime had become better established by 1851 when Perkins arrived on the scene, and progress was marked during the latter part of his course in Superintendent Goldsborough’s admin- 1 Benjamin, The United States Naval Academy , p. 185.

istration. Still it was the youthful, scarcely formed Academy of which he was a part.

Foremost among those who imparted sound traditions, and at the same time aroused mischief, were the “ oldsters” — midshipmen who, according to the early provisions of the Academy, came after several years of sea service to prepare for examination. They were senior by five or ten years to the “youngsters” (those entered in 1851 or later and taking the four years’ consecutive course), and some of them had served in the Mexican War. It was chiefly owing to their influence that there was no hazing (unlike West Point and most of the colleges). But they had been accustomed to considerable freedom and found it hard to conform to Academy regulations. The youngsters followed their lead and got in trouble by card-playing, drinking, and “frenching” — leaving the Academy grounds without permission, usually after nightfall, by scaling the walls.

Midshipman Perkins, with his active nature and fondness for all kinds of fun, found much to lure him from study. The influence of home and his naturally high instincts kept him from dissipation, but in nearly all the innocent pranks he seems to have had a part. He was reported for a fair number of offenses, but evidently for not nearly all of those actually committed. He attributed his lucky escapes to the fact that he was a little fellow and was quite hidden under “Old Goldy’s” huge figure, as the inquisitorial eye of the stately Superintendent sought out the authors of mischievous pranks and irregularities.

The following from the Conduct Roll, 1853-54, are some of the reports made against him : “ Room not swept before prayers”; “Absent from roll call ” ; “ Light in room after taps ” ; “ Playing chess in room during study hours”; “Greasing the floor of his room”; “Visiting after taps”; “Skylarking when marching up to recitation ” ; “ Injury to public property (filing gas-burner)”; “Boxing in the porch of mess hall”; “Ink spilled on floor of room”; “Visiting the kitchen at 9.50 p.m.”

Entertaining his friends or visiting after taps was a particularly common offense on George’s part, for he was ever sociable. “Greasing the floor” was incidental to some rich “feed” indulged in after the officer-in-charge had presumably gone to his rest.

Admiral Mahan, who entered the Academy the same year Perkins was graduated, remarks on the manner with which the officers at the naval school treated the midshipman pranks.1 Probably most of them, although recognizing the duty of enforceing regulations, sympathized with the youthful exuberance of spirit; and considered the matter of detection and reporting as a game in which they did not mind being occasional losers, provided that the midshipmen did not trespass on the standards of a gentleman. On the other hand, the midshipmen had no personal feeling against the officer catching them, provided he used only what they regarded as fair means. The lieutenant who inspected at unusual hours, or put on rubber shoes so as to give no notice of his approach, was the subject, in the private conversations of the midshipmen, of much condemnatory eloquence. In sharp contrast was such an officer as John Taylor Wood. It is related that as he came into a building he would tap on the steam pipes and then wait a few minutes before beginning inspection. It is needless to say Wood found little to report, and perhaps enough midshipmen appreciated his generous treatment so that the number of offenses was not really increased.

What object Midshipman Perkins had in filing his gas-burner, for which he was twice reported, 1 Mahan, From, Sari to Steam , p. 56.

we can only conjecture. There was some game connected with it, perhaps of the character which Dick Prentiss, killed at Mobile, is said to have taught his classmates. He would place a handkerchief over the burner, and, blowing into the pipe until he was black in the face, put out the gas in the rest of the building.1