Fighting Bob Evans

Fighting Bob Evans EDWIN A. FALK NEW YORK JONATHAN CAPE HARRISON SMITH COPYRIGHT, 1931, BY EDWIN A. FALK FIRST PUBLISHED, 1931 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE CORNWALL PRESS, INC., AND BOUND BY THE J. F. TAPLEY COMPANY FOREWORD JL ALWAYS shall be happy that I had the privilege of knowing quot Fighting Bob quot Evans. While I was in college and in the years following my graduation, Admiral Evans was very distinctly one of our active living national heroes who was especially close to the hearts of Americans in every part of the country. There was something about his personality that made people recog nize him not alone for his courage or for his technical naval qualifications, but more especially for his gift of leadership. I am glad that this book has been written, because the two volumes which came from the pen of Admiral Evans himself were primarily biographies relating events and the part he took in them and it must be remembered that auto biographies by naval officers of necessity contain elements of restraint and a lack of personal touches which result from a lifetime of conformity to official restrictions. His particular lifetime covered three definite phases of the history of the American Navy. As a Midshipman, and during his early service he was an active participant in the largest and most efficient naval organization of the world a Navy actually engaged in warfare, a Navy making history with the introduction and use of weapons of offense and defense hitherto untried. He then passed through the second phase, an ordeal in which his profession saw the Navy of the Civil War re duced to the status of a third-rate power. It is hard for us vii viii FOREWORD to realizethat from 1865 almost to 1890 the officer per sonnel of our Naval service maintained their esprit de corps and scientific attainments in spite of a national policy which gave them no new ships and no new guns. Evans was fortunate that in the later years of his active service he was able to take a definite part in the building of the New Navy first the small protected cruisers, then the armored cruisers, then the coast defense battleships, then the torpedo boats. He saw the Spanish-American War bring home to the American people a realization of the need for a first-class Navy, and he became Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet at a moment when we first had a well-rounded Fleet to com mand. His will always be a household name among those of us who love the Navy and its glorious record his will always be a personality which will live in the traditions of the Serv ice. History will record that for half a century after steam replaced sail there was one great question-mark in the minds of the naval service and of the public as well could the fleet protect both our coasts To Admiral Evans it was re served to answer that question. Under his command not a squadron, not a division, but a complete quot fleet in being 1 passed successfully from our Atlantic ports to our Pacific ports. His name always will be associated with those of the great naval commanders of the United States. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. UNDERWAY 1 2. THE BROOD 22 3. FORT FISHER 43 4. LEGS AND HORIZONS 78 5. CHARLOTTE EVANS 94 6. NAVAL FRONTIERS 97 7. COMMAND 129 8. ON THE BEACH 133 9. quot FIGHTING BOB quot 145 10. READING BETWEEN THE LINES 169 11. THRESHOLD SEAS 184 12. POMP AND DIPLOMACY 193 13. BATTLESHIP No. 1 21114. THE quot UNTOWARD INCIDENT quot 220 15. WAR 250 16. TIDINGS FROM AFAR 258 17. BLIND MAN S BUFF 266 18. quot INCOMPREHENSIBLE quot 286 19. PRELUDE 298 ix x CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 20. THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO 322 21. REAR ADMIRAL 346 22. ASIATIC FLEET 370 23. SUPREMACY 400 24. THE LAST CRUISE 422 25. LANDLOCKED 439 ILLUSTRATIONS REAR ADMIRAL EVANS ABOARD THE Mayflower Frontispiece Facing page U. S. S. Powhatan IN A STORM 52 THE quot SLAUGHTER-HOUSE SANTIAGO SHOOTING OF AMERICANS IN 1873 104 U. S. S. Saratoga 130 U. S. S...