Washington Navy Yard

“ The destruction or displacement of the gate, by order of the court, would have seriously disturbed the general business of the entire Navy Yard. In the present case the facts are altogether different. ”

“ The entire establishment, whether on land or water, was indispensable to the conspirators, for the possession of the Navy Yard would give them immediate control of ordnance stores and property worth $30,000,000.
The seizure of this vast establishment having been determined upon, five or six vessels had been sunk by the rebels in the channel of the Elizabeth river, below the Navy Yard, thus effectually preventing the passage of larger vessels. ”

“ Notwithstanding all the unreasonableness of the American people in reference to their relations with foreign powers, it is deplorable such scenes should ever have been enacted between members of the human family so closely allied by all that shall make them of the same household.
The Navy Yard is surrounded by high brick walls; in the gateway stood two sentries in dark blue tunics, yellow facings, with eagle buttons, brightly polished arms, and white Berlin gloves, wearing a cap something like a French kepi, all very clean and creditable. ”

“ General Washington cannot with justice be blamed for any part of the sufferings inflicted upon the naval prisoners on board the prison ships. Although he had nothing whatever to do with the American Navy, or the crews of privateers captured by the British, yet he exerted himself in every way open to him to endeavor to obtain their exchange, or, at least, a mitigation of their sufferings, and this in spite of the immense weight of cares and anxieties that devolved upon him in his conduct of the war. ”

“ The Marine Barracks at Pearl Harbor comprised a Barracks Detachment and two companies, A and B, the men living in a comfortable three-story concrete barracks. Company A manned the main gates at the Submarine Base and Navy Yard, and other “distant outposts,” providing yard security, while Company B enforced traffic regulations and maintained proper police and order under the auspices of the Yard Police Officer. In addition, Marines ran the Navy Yard Fire Department. ”

“ No part of the government is increasing so rapidly as the naval service. When all men are enlisted for which legal provision has been made, the naval and marine force will reach 34,810 men, or nearly 8,000 more than were in the army prior to the war with Spain. By the Congressional acts of 1864, 1868, and 1876 the navy was fixed not to exceed 7,000 men ”

“ But the greatest misfortune to the Union caused by the destruction of the Navy Yard was the loss of at least twelve hundred fine guns, most of which were uninjured. A number of them were quickly mounted at Sewell’s Point to keep our ships from approaching Norfolk; others were sent to Hatteras Inlet, Ocracoke, Roanoke Island, and other points in the Sounds of North Carolina. Fifty-three of them were mounted at Port Royal, others at Fernandina and at the defences of New Orleans. They were met with at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Island No. 10, Memphis, Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, and Port Hudson. ”

“ With the seized boats that had sailed into Boston harbor, ignorant of the fact that the British had left there, Washington was able to supply his men with guns, ammunition and goods greatly needed by them. Then, when Campbell of the British navy sailed serenely into the net of the enemy, a large quantity of military stores was captured, besides the fine vessel that carried over two hundred and seventy men. The latter were made prisoners, and the ships were turned into privateers, to act as sea-scouts in place of a regular naval force, which the colonists had not been able to raise as yet. ”

“ On this and the following day, I reviewed the product of research that had been begun almost immediately following the news of the detainee abuse, in particular a memorandum of law prepared under RADM Lohr's direction by Navy JAG attorneys. (ATT 5) In addition, I reviewed a letter (Att 6) dated December 26, 2002, from Kenneth Roth, the Executive Director of Human RIghts Watch, a prominent human rights organiation, to President Bush. The letter, which contained legal analysis I considered largely accurate, had been dited in a Washington Post article published on the same date. ”

“ Moreover, this discontent was not limited to NCIS; law enforcement and military personnel from other services were also increasingly disturbed by the practice.
Director Brant also repeated that NCIS had been informed that the coercive interrogation techniques did not represent simply rogue activiity limited to undisciplined interrogators or even practices sanctined only by the local command, but had been reportedly authorized at a "high level" in Washington. ”

“ I say that, not with the slightest intention of imputing any unfair motives to the Government, to the officers of the Navy, or any one else. It is a great deal better that where men are to be put on trial for their lives, they should have the benefit of the chapter of accidents.
If it would have been any better for these prisoners to have had a Jury to try them in Virginia, they were entitled to the benefit of that. In saying so, I mean no reflection on any Jury in New York. ”

“ There is one 50, one old East India man, one 20 that is repairing at the ship yard, the Scorpion at N. City Island, one old India man at Huntington, 40 guns, the Halifax Brig at Oyster Bay, one sloop of ten guns they are repairing all their flat bottom boats in New York and building a number at the ship yard. ”

“ If the court of enquiry found that the loss of the vessel was caused by the negligence or malconduct of any commissioned officer, the Navy Board might suspend such officer pending his trial by a court-martial, which, in the event that six naval officers could not be assembled, was to consist of five men appointed by the Navy Board. The permitting of civilians to sit upon naval courts is the salient feature of these new resolutions, and is an anomaly in naval judicature. ”

“ Civil Service reforms of the ’90s had already gone a long way toward making merit, not political advantage, the criterion for hiring and firing. And now, in the hour of war, the Navy wanted to keep its shipyard workers. In the months before the United States entered the conflict, officials had worried that employees swept up in the popular sentiment for preparedness would enlist. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels declared it the “patriotic duty” of the workers to remain at the yard, asserting that “their services to their country ... ”

“ At this writing, 27,000 people are employed in the Pentagon. It is a city within a city. Like all cities, it has its peccadillos. Many elevator operators are runners for bookies. Many colored messengers, male and female, sell policy slips. Reefers can be had. The cops—all kinds—don’t know what to do about it. The military police don’t like to arrest civilians, even those employed by the Army. The Virginia police say they have no authority because it’s federal property.
The same apathy that marks everything in Washington pervades the Pentagon and other federal buildings. ”

“ Great activity and vigilance have been displayed by all the squadrons, and their movements have been judiciously and efficiently arranged in such manner as would best promote American commerce and protect the rights and interests of our countrymen abroad. The vessels unemployed are undergoing repairs or are laid up until their services may be required. Most of the ironclad fleet is at League Island, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, a place which, until decisive action should be taken by Congress, was selected by the Secretary of the Navy as the most eligible location for that class of vessels. ”

“ Pretty “Middies,” young and slender, in their suits of dark blue! As a body, they are younger than the West Pointers, and slighter. Nor can any comparison be drawn between their marching, for the Middies drag their howitzers. They look true sons of their class; and for intelligence, chivalric manners, and gentle manhood, the true officer of the American navy is unsurpassed.
273The Midshipmen are followed by the famous United States Marine Corps, then the Old Guard of New York with Dodworth’s band, the Washington Light Infantry, the Corcoran Zouaves, the Washington Grenadiers, the St. ”

“ The act of Congress does not leave it to the mere arbitrium of an officer whether to detain a seaman or not. The burden of proof is upon him, to show that the detention was essential to the interests of the service. The act of Congress directs the officers to 'report to the navy department,' and implies therefore that he is responsible for his acts.
5th exception. It has been said that every refusal to do duty is a fresh offence. If this argument be sound, a man might be whipped to death for refusing to perform duty after the term of his enlistment had expired. ”

“ It is conceded that had petitioner not re-enlisted in the Navy after his 1946 discharge, no Navy court-martial could have tried him for offenses committed during his prior naval service. Thus, under the construction here urged, naval court-martial jurisdiction for a prior enlistment offense is made wholly to depend on whether the naval offender either voluntarily re-enters the Navy or is drafted into its service. And punishment of the gravest nature might be imposed on a naval volunteer or draftee which no court-martial could have imposed but for such a voluntary or forced entry into the Navy. ”

“ But 'attempting to desert' is not enumerated by the articles for the government of the navy as an offence within the cognizance of a naval court martial. A naval court martial derives its sole being from, and is the mere creature of, the act of Congress, and has no jurisdiction of any other offences than such as are therein enumerated as within their cognizance. ”

“ Warren, the deputy marshal, to go to the navy yard at Charlestown, about two miles distant, and ask Commodore Downes whether, should a delay or adjournment take place, the navy yard might be used as a place of detention, the United States not being permitted by the law of the state to use the jails, and having none of their own. That the examination proceeded, and after the reading of certain documents presented by the claimant's attorney, and some discussion, the commissioner decided to grant the delay until Tuesday following the 18th inst. ”

“ At a general muster the findings of the court-martial, approved by the commandant of the station, were read out by the executive officer. 94 It was an impressive scene to the Battleship Boys—one that they never forgot, showing as it did that the United States Navy is no place for a man guilty of a dishonorable act. ”

“ Though I will not affect an indifference to the personal annoyance to us by the action of the United States Navy Department in our case as prisoners of war, yet my chief solicitude is to have placed on file in that office such a statement of facts as will, on a fair investigation, vindicate all the officers of the Confederate States Navy concerned from the odium of infamous conduct unjustly attempted to be fixed upon them by those of the United States Navy ”

“ As the vessel listed and began to sink, the crew abandoned ship, but 121 men—already dead, too hurt to save themselves, or firing guns to the end—went down with Cumberland. (As water flooded the gun deck, a young gun crew officer barely saved himself by squeezing through a gun-port. He was Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, who in 1890 became commandant of the Charlestown Navy Yard.) Before darkness ended the fighting, the ironclad also riddled Congress, killing more than a hundred 31 men and setting the vessel on fire. Congress burned on into the night and finally exploded. ”

“ After the capture of Washington the citizens toiled still more earnestly at their task, until a formidable line of redoubts protected the town, and, though not wholly finished, gave cover to the militia. The batteries were manned by sailors, commanded by officers of the navy. The harbor was protected by Fort McHenry, small but capable of defence, and occupied by a strong force of regular troops, sailors, and volunteer artillerists numbering about one thousand, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Armistead of the Artillery. ”

“ They are likewise less frank and hospitable than the navy officers. Their quarters have not the aspect of homes, although they continue for a term of years, five or more, on one station, whereas the navy officers are limited to two or three. But then the former migrate with their families to new stations, whereas the wives of the naval officers, though ejected from the navy-yard houses, yet, not accompanying their husbands on service, remain to form a nucleus of home.
Two or three miles from the Navy Yard, on Kittery Point, stands the former residence of Sir William Pepperell. ”

“ A cop can arrest a man whom he sees in the process of house-breaking on burglary, but if he then fans him and finds a gun he cannot charge him with a concealed-weapon violation, because he had no warrant for the search. When police have information that a crime is being committed on a premise, they must first get in touch with the U.S. Commissioner or a judge, then locate a deputy marshal to come and serve the warrant.
But don’t you assume you can get away with anything in Washington. The cops are death on jay-walkers. If you cross against the light you’ll be jugged. ”