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Naval Academy

The Academy is often referred to simply as "Annapolis" although naval officers normally refer to it in conversation as "the Academy", "the Yard" or "the Boat School". U.S. sports media refer to the Academy as Navy, and this usage is officially endorsed. ROTC and Officer Candidate School graduates as well as cadets from the Air Force Academy and the Military Academy at West Point (USNA's traditional rivals) often refer to the Naval Academy as "Canoe U."

The transfer of Fort Severn to the navy was officially effected on August 15, 1815. Buchanan was placed in command the same day. His plan of organization was approved by Bancroft two weeks later. Buchanan declared the school open on October 10. The ducks were in the garret. The question now was whether they could be taught to swim.

None of Secretary Bancroft's provisions for the foundation of the Naval Academy proved wiser than his selection of its first superintendent. At forty-five, Commander Franklin Buchanan was a veteran of thirty years' service, nineteen of which were spent at sea. Of medium height, broad-shouldered, and ramrod straight, in his youth he was known as one of the strongest men in the navy. He was always known as one of the boldest. Once, while traveling on a civilian packet from Norfolk to Baltimore, he was threatened by a group of seamen bent on avenging what they considered injustices suffered at his hand on a recent cruise. Taking a sword cane from his cabin, he presented himself on deck. "There he stood," an eyewitness recalled, "with form erect, both hands resting on his cane; the expression of his countenance calm, resolute, and defiant. The seamen gathered around him and gave vent to their feelings in blasphemous oaths ... He stood in statuelike repose, not a word escaping his lips. For full five minutes or more he braved the tempest, but not a man dared lay the weight of his finger upon him ... [Then] he turned upon his heel, and passed down the stairway ... into the after cabin and went to bed."

In his opening address to the entering midshipmen on October 18, 1845, Buchanan made it clear that the discipline he demanded on the quarterdeck would apply to the academy. He promised that "Every indulgence consistent with the rules and regulations of the institution, will be granted to those who merit it," but emphasized "the importance I attach to a strict compliance with all laws, orders and regulations." Following these remarks he read out eighteen articles comprising the "Rules and Regulations for the Internal Government of the Naval School." Article 17 summed up those pertaining to midshipmen, who were "not only required to abstain from all vicious, immoral or irregular conduct, but ... to conduct themselves with the propriety and decorum of gentlemen." Events would reveal that he meant every word.

Buchanan's faculty numbered seven, four of whom came from the Philadelphia Naval Asylum. The latter included his executive officer, thirty-nine-year-old Lieutenant James H. Ward, whose lectures there were published as an Elementary Course in Ordnance and Gunnery for Midshipmen. Among the best-educated officers in the navy, he doubled as instructor in seamanship and gunnery. Following his Annapolis assignment he wrote a Manual of Naval Tactics, which was used as an academy text for two decades.

Fort Severn stood on the eastern edge of town, at the tip of a wedgeshaped peninsula called Windmill Point, where the Severn River empties into Annapolis Harbor. It occupied approximately nine acres, open to the water but enclosed on its shore sides by two brick walls which met at a right angle at the southwest corner of the grounds. Authorized entry was by means of a masonry gate house at the end of Governor Street (today's Buchanan Road), close by the same corner. The fort itself, dating from 1808, occupied the very end of the peninsula. Circular in form, it consisted of a stone wall approximately 14 feet in height and 100 feet in diameter enclosing a brick magazine and an open gun platform. In 1845 it mounted ten guns.

Besides this work, there were seven buildings within the fort walls: the commandant's quarters, a row of officers' quarters, the quartermaster's office, a barracks, married officers' quarters, a hospital, and a bakery, plus small shops for the post sutler and blacksmith. Commander Buchanan took over the commandant's quarters, a handsome colonial mansion sometimes called the Dulany House, after the family from whom the government purchased the grounds for the fort. Already almost 100 years old, it served as the residence of the academy's superintendents until 1882. The officers' quarters, four pretty brick row houses built by the army in 1834, were assigned to the officers and faculty. They subsequently became known as Buchanan Row.

The use made of these buildings was compatible with their original character. The adaptation of the others was rough and ready. The barracks became the center of school life. Its second story was converted into classrooms, its first into a kitchen and mess hall. The remaining buildings were used to house the midshipmen, who, according to the fashion of the era, gave each of them a name. The bakery accommodated a group of youngsters who had come from a cruise in the frigate Brandywine. They christened it Brandywine Cottage. What had been the married officers' quarters was dubbed Apollo Row. A dilapidated frame structure whose warped doors and windows admitted both rain and snow, it was the least desirable of the dormitories. The residents regarded rain as the greater evil, because, they claimed, the temperature inside was never warm enough to melt snow. The blacksmith's shop was named the Gas House, in reference to the garrulity of its occupants. For similar reasons, the hospital became known as Rowdy Row. In contrast, the model behavior of the midshipmen billeted in the sutler's store caused it to be called The Abbey. This was presently proven a misnomer. An inspection inspired by the unnatural silence that prevailed at The Abbey every evening revealed that its inhabitants had tunneled through the wall abutting the rear of the building and "frenched out" to make merry in Annapolis.

The program established for the new school reflected the circumstances of its creation. Between 1840 and 1842, close to 200 midshipmen entered the navy, 136 in 1841 alone. When the school opened in 1845, these midshipmen, ranked according to the dates of their warrants, had almost completed the six years' service customary prior to taking their lieutenants' examination. To prepare for this examination, they were ordered to the academy for a year's instruction. Aged anywhere from eighteen to twenty-seven, they constituted the senior class and spent only one year at the academy. The junior class consisted of newly appointed acting midshipmen, aged thirteen to sixteen, who would pass through the new pre-commissioning program. Under this arrangement there were no "classes," per se, and midshipmen continued to be referred to as members of "dates" (those of their warrants), as they had been before.

Fifty-six midshipmen were ordered to the school for its opening session: forty-nine warranted midshipmen of the Dates of 1840 and 1841, and seven acting midshipmen of the Date of 1845. For some reason, the junior-senior terminology never took hold and the members of the two classes were referred to as oldsters and youngsters.

Buchanan's plan of August 1845, as amended and approved by Bancroft, specified that "every applicant ... must be of good moral character ... [and] free from all deformity ... or infirmity of any kind which would disqualify him for performing the active and arduous duties of a sea life. He must be able to read and write well, and be familiar with geography and arithmetic." Students who were accepted were to spend a year at the academy, "subject to the exigencies of the service," during which time their progress would be closely monitored. Those who failed any of their semi-annual examinations would be, in the language of the day, "restored to their friends." The remainder would be sent to sea for a six months' probationary period, at the end of which those whose conduct was satisfactory would receive their midshipmen's warrants, effective as of the date of their acting appointments. Then, after two and one-half years' service afloat, they would return to the academy for a final year of studying for their lieutenants' exam.

In practice, things did not work so smoothly. The stipulation that midshipmen would be attached to the school "subject to the exigencies of the service" was not merely a sop to conservative opinion. Members of either the junior or the senior class were liable to be attached or detached at any point in the academic year. None of the Dates of 1840 through 1842 was ordered to the academy en masse, which was as well, since such numbers could not have been accommodated. Sections of the oversize Date of 1841 attended the academy every year from 1847 through 1850. But, on the whole, Buchanan's plan provided a framework for the operation of the academy in the early years of its existence.

The administration of the school was to some extent modeled after that of the Military Academy. An Academic Board, appointed by the superintendent from members of the faculty, was established to "decide on the merits of the midshipmen, report on the system of instruction, and suggest any ... alterations which their experience may dictate." Provisions were made for there to be a Board of Visitors by adding to the existing duties of the Board of Examiners. In addition to conducting the annual lieutenants' examination, it was now "to inspect generally the management of the institution, and report to the Secretary of the Navy on its condition and the means of improving it." In time this new function entirely superseded the board's original purpose. Both these bodies were based on West Point practice. So was the requirement, which became a hallmark of academy education, that instructors keep themselves constantly informed of the progress of every student in their classes.

In one important area, however, the program for the Naval School completely ignored the West Point precedent. This was in regard to military training, of which none was prescribed. The midshipmen were not organized into any sort of formation; they were not drilled or mustered; they were not even required to wear uniform at all times. Except for the fact that they were subject to Buchanan's orders and to the laws of naval discipline, they might have been attending a civilian college.

The curriculum, which divided the midshipmen's day into five parts, was determined by the Academic Board. Classes commenced at 8:00 a.m. and continued, with an hour off for study, until noon. The period between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. was allotted to "recreation and dinner." At 1:30 classes reconvened, and met without interruption for the next three hours. "Recreation and supper" occupied the time from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. The evening hours were set aside for study. "Lights out" was at 10:00 p.m.

The midshipmen were generally well behaved. Midshipman Edward Simpson, Date of '40, organized a sort of fraternity called the Spirits Club, which gathered at a tavern on Main Street every Saturday night to eat oysters and terrapin and drink whisky punch. The club was limited to nine members, all of excellent reputation, and enjoyed at least the tolerance of Commander Buchanan. Returning from their merrymaking one evening it occurred to the Spirits to collect the oil lamps from the city lamp posts and leave them in a pile in front of the gate house, but that was the worst of their transgressions. A more rambunctious group known as the Ballsegurs went in for collegiate pranks, such as tarring the clapper of the school bell and firing the morning gun at midnight.

Serious disciplinary problems did not arise until February 1846, when there was a sudden spate of them. On February 1, Midshipman Nones violated direct orders from Buchanan restricting him to the yard on account of academic deficiency. Reporting the incident to Secretary Bancroft as the first instance of "so flagrant an offence," Buchanan recommended that an example should be made. Bancroft agreed, and three days later Nones became the first midshipman to be dismissed from the school.

Later that same month, two midshipmen turned up dead drunk, and Surgeon Lockwood was summoned to nurse a third through a fit of delirium tremens. Buchanan responded with his customary vigor. To Bancroft he explained, "dissipation is the cause of all insubordination and misconduct in the navy, and will if countenanced by me under any circumstances at this School, ruin its usefulness to the Service, and seriously injure its character with the country." One of the offenders was dismissed and the other two received official reprimands. In his letter to the former, Secretary Bancroft observed tartly, "The School is not to be a hospital for incurables, but a school for selected young men." These somewhat draconian measures produced the desired effect, and only two other cases of drunkenness were reported during Buchanan's last twelve months as superintendent.

In academics no less than in conduct, Buchanan was determined that the school's standards should be second to none. He called attention to the need for expanding the little library that had been collected from the navy yards and ships, suggesting the establishment of an annual fund for the purchase of standard works "that the students and others may have frequent access to them."

At the same time, Buchanan drew a line between education and training, a difficult distinction that almost every successive superintendent has confronted in one form or another. As did most of the others, Buchanan decided that training must come first.

Aware that his office involved important social obligations, 13nchanan took care to foster good relations between the school and the city. He was no stranger to Annapolis, having married Anne Catherine Lloyd, daughter of one of its foremost families, in the Chase-Lloyd House on Maryland Avenue, not five minutes' walk from the school. From the beginning, midshipmen were readily received into Annapolitan society. The hospitality they enjoyed was repaid by a grand naval ball arranged by Midshipman Simpson's Spirits Club in the recitation hall on January 15, 1846. Guests came from as far away as Washington, Baltimore, and the Eastern Shore. Evidently a good time was had by all, as the journal of the officer of the day for January 16 notes: "No recitations today-All hands being employed repairing damage after the Ball." Repeated the year following, the academy ball became an annual event.

The outbreak of war with Mexico on May 13, 1846, electrified the school. On May 14, Buchanan volunteered for "immediate, active service at sea." Fifty-six midshipmen followed his example. Kuchanan's request was denied. ("Were it not for the important business on which you are at present engaged," BancrofC assured him, "you would be among the first on whom the Department would call.") Acting Midshipmen John Adams, W. B. Hayes, and Thomas T. Houston had better luck. On May 20, they were ordered to the sloop of war Dale, which made them the first midshipmen ever to go from the academy to war. Another youngster and three oldsters received their orders between May 25 and June 2. The remaining members of both classes were required to finish the school term. However, the date of the oldsters' examination for lieutenant was moved forward four months, from September to June, and the forty-three midshipmen who passed it, all Date of '40, were able to join the fleet later that summer. In the event, the war lasted long enough for the members of the graduating class of 1847 to take part in its closing stages. A total of ninety alumni saw active duty in the course of the conflict.

The Mexican War also provided the occasion for the first of the academy's many monuments. Although the only graduate to lose his life in the war, Passed Midshipman William R. Thomas, Date of '41, succmnbed to disease aboard ship off Veracruz, four other midshipmen died in the line of duty. Thomas B. Shubrick was decapitated by an enemy round shot while pointing a gun in the Naval Battery before Veracruz; Wingate Pillsbury drowned as he attempted to aid a seaman when a launch under his command capsized while chasing a Mexican coaster; and Henry R. Clemson and John R. Hynson went down in the ill-fated Some7s, sunk by a sudden squall off Veracruz in December 1846. To commemorate these sacrifices, the midshipmen at the school took up a subscription for a memorial. A marble shaft supported by a rectangular base and four upright cannons, the Mexican Monument was erected in 1848.

In the meanwhile, the time had come for Secretary Bancroft to submit the navy's new budget to Congress. The fact that it included funds for a naval academy, which had been established without the approval of Congress, created a potentially prickly situation. Bancroft put the best possible face on the matter, noting that eleven of the twenty-two professors on the navy's payroll the previous year had been put "on waiting orders" and asking no more than "that you will continue to appropriate the same amount as formerly, but that it may be devoted specifically to this new system of instruction." On August 10, 1846, Congress acquiesced in his fait accompli, allocating $28,200 "for repairs, improvements, and instruction at Fort Severn, Annapolis, Md." Three days later, Bancroft directed Buchanan to make whatever "additions and alterations" the school buildings required to accommodate a student body of one hundred.

This was Bancroft's last service to the academy. On September 9, 1846, he left the Navy Department to accept the appointment of ambassador to the Court of St. James. Although he lived for forty-four more years, he visited the academy only once, in 1878. The prolix History of the United Slates, which he believed would be his monument, is unread today even by historians. His monument is the world's largest dormitory, Bancroft Hall, home of the brigade of midshipmen.

The school commenced its second year of operation on October 12, 1846. By then Buchanan had the new construction well under way. The most important addition was a two-story, colonnaded, brick building erected adjacent to the recitation hall. Subsequently assigned to the department of seamanship, it originally housed the midshipmen's kitchen, mess hall, library, and lyceum. The library was organized by Professor Chauvenet; the lyceum by Chaplain Jones. The latter's holdings were greatly increased in February 1849, when President Polk ordered the navy's accumulation of captured enemy flags transferred to the Naval School. With them came the famous DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP flag flown by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry at the battle of Lake Erie. These accessions formed the core of what became the Naval Academy Museum.

The school's second naval ball was held in the new building on January 21, 1847. Among the guests were Bancroft's successor, Secretary of the Navy John Y. Mason, and the naval committees of both the Senate and the House. Less than two weeks later, Buchanan renewed his request for active service. It was granted, and on March 16, he left Annapolis to assume command of the new sloop of war Germantown. The war had waited for him, and he arrived in Mexican waters in time to smell his share of gunsmoke on the expeditions up the Tuxpan and Tabasco rivers.

Buchanan's contribution to the school over whose birth he presided was immense. Much remained to be done before it deserved to be called an academy, but he had laid a solid foundation for the future. As early as January 1846 the Nautical Magazine noted: The appearance, order and studious habits of the midshipmen generally reflect the highest credit upon them, upon the institution, and upon the service of which they are members ... Aided by the zealous efforts of those having charge of the various branches of instruction, [the Superintendent] has already given to the institution a consolidated character which would render it difficult for an observer to detect traces of its recent origin. Perhaps ducks could be taught to swim in a garret, after all.

Jack Sweetman. . Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press. 1979.

Rebel Reefers The Organization and Midshipmen of the Confederate States Naval Academy. Conrad. The Confederacy's only national naval academy was anchored in Virginia's James River aboard the CSS Patrick Henry. Using original Confederate documents and many previously unpublished letters and diaries, this book is a fresh and scholarly study of a neglected subject.

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