State

Our Secretaries of the Navy ftortli Carolina liail five: anil if you cou i Joseph Howes, there wppo six. All off I lie in rendered distinguished service during their tenure of office. «I/ W. C. IIIMHtHKS ■ F you couut old Joseph Howes, I North Carolina 1ms provided sin 1 head men for the I'nit-d States Navy, and each of them left his mark upon the service, one way or another. But George E. Badger, who had the briefest service, is the only one that told the Navy not only how to trim its sails, but its heard, as well. John Paul Jones, one-time resi¬ dent of Tar Heelia. has lieen called the father of the American Navy. If he is the father, Joseph Howes must be the grandfather, because John Paul got his commission from Howes. Hewcs Built Ships Back in 1775, when the Continental Congress was trying to devise ways and means for conducting a war against Great Britain without a navy and with virtually no army, the Con¬ gress made a start by appointing a Committee of Marine, of three mem¬ bers. Joseph Howes, the patriot mer¬ chant of Edenton, was named chair¬ man. Later the committee was ex¬ panded to include n representative from each of the Thirteen Colonies, and Howes remained at its head. Ho wee* job was to build and equip ships, procure armament and ammu¬ nition, select and appoint naval officers. This made him the equivalent of Sccretray of the Navy before such a position, or even a cabinet, existed. Among the officers commissioned was John Paul Jones, whose real name was John Paul, but who assumed the name of Jones for Willie Jones, the doughty revolutionist and early chant- E'on of state’s rights, who gave John mil a haven at Halifax while the British Navy was looking for him with a warrant that had homicide written on it. North Carolina’s second contribu¬ tion as Navy boss was John Branch, a native of Halifax, lie served “with integrity and zeal" for two years (1829-31) in Andrew Jackson’s cabi¬ net before his secretarial career was torpedoed in the famous battle of the social amenities that was fought around the pretty head of Margaret O’Neill Timberlake Eaton, better known in story and song as Peggy O'Neill. Margaret was the daughter of a Washington hotel kccjier. She married John Timberlake, and after his death she was wedded to John Henry Eaton. U. S. Senator from Tennessee. There was Branch, Secre¬ tary of the Navy, and there was Eaton, now Secretary of War. Mrs. Branch was a North Carolinian and a true Southern lady, но what did she do? She organized the wives of the other cabinet officer- into a boycott against Mrs. Eaton, and was Wash¬ ington shaken by the war that fol¬ lowed ! What Sherman said about the War Between the States was mild. President Jackson threw himself into the fray, on the side of the Eatons. He demanded that Mrs. Eaton receive the usual social courtesies. Mrs. Branch couldn’t take another thing so Mr. Branch resigned, and that was North Carolina's second top Navy man. Then came Badger, lint we will save him for the last of the feast. William A. Graham held the Navy portfolio from 1S50 to ’5 2. He was probably the best Secretary of the Navy up to that time. His list of accomplishments in¬ cludes reorganization of the service personnel, inauguration of a retire¬ ment system for super-annuntes, re¬ organization of the const survey, fitting out an expedition for explora¬ tion of the Amazon, and organizing and dispatching of Commodore Perry’s expedition to Japan. He was so good that the Whigs nominated him for Vice President in 1852. In 1853. President Franklin Pierce chose another North Carolinian for Secretary of the Navy. The choice George E. Badger, appointed Secre¬ tary of the Navy by President Har¬ rison. fell on James C. Dobbin, who held the post until 1857 and really made things hum. Someone asked why -i many North Carolinians were king appointed to head up the Navy and a wag replied : "It may lie a good idea to aiinoint n man from the Rip Van Winkle state, to take charge of the Hip Van Winkle service.’’ It seems that the navy was lagging about that time. It didn’t lag under Dobbin. He established the apprentice system, pro¬ motion by merit, and a retired list. In 1854 he persuaded Congress to appropriate $3,000,000 for construc¬ tion of six first-class steam frigates. He instituted reforms in navy disci¬ pline and banned corpora] punish¬ ment of seamen. Of course there is Josephus Daniels, of our own time, who was Secretary of the Navy during the World War. Mr. Daniels wrote a book, “Our Nnv\ at War,” and the dedication of the hook "to the six hundred thousand men who served in the I'nitcd State- Navy and Marine Corps.” seems also to summarize hi- own great achieve¬ ment: ". . . manning more than two thousand vessels . . • operating with the Allied Navies from the Arctic to the Adriatic . . . transporting troops ( Continued on page twenty-four)