Continuing with Road Tripping Through History.
Other Medals of Honor:
2 from Indian Wars
1 from Spanish-American War
2 from the Boxer Rebellion
4 from Civil War (soldiers)
1 from Korea (1871)
2 from peacetime events (1872) and (1903)
Also, three Civil War Union generals and several Union officers.
--Old B-R'er
I was wondering if there were any other persons of interest buried at this cemetery along with Henry Schutes. According to Find a Grave, there are some 200,000 people buried in the cemetery, but it has fallen upon hard times.
There are quite a few Medal of Honor recipients buried there.
I will list the other Navy recipients:
Charles Baker, USS Metacomet, Battle of Mobile Bay.
James Healey, USS Kearsarge vs. CSS Alabama.
Robert Jordan, USS Mount Washington, Nansemond River, Va.
--B-Runner
GARRETT J. PENDERGRAST (1802-1862)-- Naval officer War of 1812, Mexican War and Civil War.
GEORGE C. REAAD (1788-1862)-- Naval officer
WILLIAM RONCKENDORFF (1812-1891)-- Naval officer in Mexican and Civil War.
PINKERTON R. VAUGHAN, USMC (1841-1866)-- Medal of Honor recipient on USS Mississippi during action at Port Hudson.
JACOB ZEILIN (1806-1880)-- USMC Commandant and first Marine general.
--Old B-R'er
JOHN A. DAHLGREN (1809-1870)-- Admiral and commander of South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Invented the Dahlgren gun.
PERCIVAL DRAYTON (1812-1865)-- Union Navy officer.
CHARLES ELLET JR. (1810-1862)-- U.S. engineer who designed the Wheeling Suspension Bridge and during the Civil War , as an Army colonel, created and commanded the United States Ram Fleet in the Mississippi River.
CHARLES RIVERS ELLET (1843-1863)-- Charles Ellett Jr's son and colonel in Union Army who commanded ships in the Ram Fleet.
--Old B-Runner
From Wikipedia.
While researching the West Laurel Hill Cemetery, I found out it was a part of the larger Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. I figured I might as well look there for notables while Road Trippin'.
There were some, including naval officers who served during the War of 1812 which included the commander of the USS Constitution in its famed battle with the HMS Guerriere, Isaac Hull. And, there were several other naval officers from the War of 1812, Mexican and Civil Wars.
I'll write about the War of 1812 navy officers in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog.
Also, Union General George Gordon Meade, the victor at the Battle of Gettysburg is buried there.
Any naval officer connected to the Civil War will be listed in this blog.
--Old B-R'er
From Wikipedia.
Continuing with my Road Tripping Through History.
There are four other Union veterans buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery (Name, life & where he earned his Medal of Honor):
CHARLES M. BETTS (1838-1905) Greensboro, N.C. April 1865. (This would have made him one of the last to receive the Medal during the war.)
WALLACE W.JOHNSON (1842-1911) 2nd Day Battle of Gettysburg
GEORGE HENRY STOCKTON (1833-1912) Vicksburg
ELWOOD N. WILLIAMS (1842-1921) Shiloh
--Old B-Runner
One thing I do when I di these blogs is take a road trip through history from time to time. That is when I take a post and see where it takes me. In this case, I'll be writing about the USS Ticonderoga, on which the good sergeant was serving and also do some research also on the cemetery where he was buried, West Laurel Hill, and see if there is anyone buried there of interest.
There is quite a long article in Wikipedia about this cemetery in Bela Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. It was established in 1869 and has 200 acres. It is affiliated with the nearby Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Quite a few notable people and there is a long list of them. I have heard of some of them and others are of definite interest.
There are several other Union soldiers who were awarded the Medal of Honor.
I will cover them in the next post.
--Old B-Runner
Continued from March 1, 2023.
At the onset of the Civil War, the U.S. Pacific Fleet/Squadron consisted of the screw sloops USS Lancaster, USS Narragansett and USS Wyoming; the sidewheeler sloop Saranac and sailing sloops USS St. Mary's and USS Cyane. None of them were in San Francisco, but spread all over the Pacific. It was commanded by John Barrien Montgomery (the destroyer USS Montgomery (DD-121) that fought in World War I and World War II was named after him.
Montgomery did not know the war had started until May 1861, while on board the Lancaster in Hawaii.
Acting Rear Admiral Charles H. Bell took command of the Pacific Fleet on January 2, 1862.
--Old B-Runner
Initial plans called for four turrets on the new monitor, but only three were placed. Her masts, rigging and everything except smokestack was removed above the gundeck. Little to nothing was done to reinforce the hull which proved to be a major problem.
Those three turrets, however, mounted some really heavy pieces of artillery: two muzzle loading 15-inch Dahlgren, two 11-inch Dahlgrens and two eight inch 150-pdr. Parrott rifles. No turret had two of the same two caliber guns, however.
Commissioned 29 June 1863.
Her initial commander as an ironclad was Captain Benjamin F. Sands (who was also at the battles of Fort Fisher while in command of the USS Fort Jackson), He reported that on the trip from New York to Hampton Roads that the ship rolled heavily that it would be impossible to use its guns.
On 14 July, Sands test fired his guns for the first time and three of the guns dismounted because of the bad recoil. It was decided that the Roanioke would serve only as harbor defense for Hampton Roads, where she spent the rest of the war.
She was decommissioned in 1875 and sold for scrap in 1883.
--Old B-Runner
The USS Roanoke was named after the Roanoke River in Virginia and North Carolina. She was laid down in Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia in May 1854 and launched in December 1855. It had an inauspicious start when it sank during the launching and had to be refloated.
She was commissioned on 4 May 1857 with Captain John B. Montgomery in command. One of her early duties was to transport William Walker and his fillibuster men back from Central America. After that, she returned to Central America to await the arrival of the first Japanese embassy to the United States.
At the start of the Civil War, the Roanoke was assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and made some captures of blockade runners off Lockwood Folly Inlet, N.C. and off Charleston, S.C.
It was at the Battle of Hampton Roads where her former sister ship, the USS Merrimack had been turned into the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia. But her deep draft prevented her from engaging. After the battle, she ferried survivors of the USS Congress and USS Cumberland to New York City.
Upon arrival, she was decommissioned and reconstruction began to convert her into a monitor.
--Old B-Runner
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS (as a frigate)
Length: 263.8 feet
Beam: 51.4 feet
Complement: 674
Armament:
One 10-inch Dahlgren gun
Twenty-eight 9-inch Dahlgren guns
Fourteen 8-inch Dahlgren guns
***********************************
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS (as a monitor)
Complement: 347
Armament (in three turrets)
Two 15-inch Dahlgren guns
Two 150-pdr. Parrott rifles
Two 11-inch Dahlgren guns
--Old B-Runner
The second ship John B. Montgomery commanded was the USS Roanoke, one of the most powerful and newest ships in the U.S. Navy when the Civil War started.
From Wikipedia.
The USS Roanoke was a wooden-hulled Merrimack-class screw frigate. There were a total of six of these ships in that class. Three of them, the USS Minnesota, USS Colorado and USS Wabash took part in the bombardments of Fort Fisher.
She served as the flagship for the U.S. Home Fleet in the late 1850s.
She was converted into an ironclad monitor during 1862-1863; the first-ever ship with more than two turrets (three).
However, her conversion was not very successful as she rolled excessively and the weight of her armor and turrets strained her hull. Her depth was too much to operate off shallow Confederate ports so spent the rest of her career in harbor defense at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
The Roanoke was placed in reserve after the war and sold for scrap in 1883.
--Old B-Runner
Three of the ships John B. Montgomery commanded at one time or another also participated in the Civil War. They were the USS Portsmouth during the Mexican War, the USS Roanoke before the Civil War and the USS Lancaster in the early part of the war.
I will write about the Civil War service of each one.
**************************
USS Portsmouth
(1843-1878)
The second ship to bear the name USS Portsmouth. Built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, across from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Launched in 1843 and commissioned in 1844 with John Berrien Montgomery commanding.
It was a sailing wooden sloop of war.
It was 151 feet 10 inches long, had a beam of 37 feet 3 inches and a crew of 227. Armament consisted of eighteen 32-pdrs. and two 64-pdr shell guns.
--Old B-Runner
After the Mexican War, John Montgomery was made executive officer of the Washington Navy Yard in April 1849 and held that position until 1851. Commissioned a captain in January 1853 and in April 1857, was placed in command of the USS Roanoke.
He then sailed to Aspinwall in Central America and returned with 250 of William Walker's filibusters.
During the following two years he served on shore duty and 1859-1862, commanded the United States' Pacific Squadron with the USS Lancaster as his flagship.
On his return to New York, he was placed in waiting for orders until May 1862 when he was given commands of various Navy Yards.
He was made commodore on the retired list in July, 1862 and a rear admiral on July 25, 1866.
--Old B-Runner
From Wikipedia, a RoadTrippin' Thru History's favorite source.
USS MONTGOMERY (DD-121)
A Wickes-class destroyer during WW I and later reclassified as DM-17 (Destroyer Minelayer) when it participated in WW II. She was the fifth ship to bear the name Montgomery in the U.S. Navy and was named after Admiral John B. Montgomery, a Navy officer in the Mexican War and the Civil War.
It was built at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Virginia and was launched 23 March 1918, sponsored by Mrs. Andrew Jones, a descendant of Admiral Montgomery. The destroyer was commissioned on 26 July 1918.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Length: 314 feet 5 inches
Beam: 31.8 feet
Complement: 113 enlisted and officers
Speed: 35 knots
Armament:
Four 4-inch guns
Two 3-inch guns
Twelve 21-inch torpedo tubes
One depth charge protector
Two depth charge tracks
--Old B-Runner
Right now, we are taking a RoadTrip through history with the USS Montgomery. This is the fifth ship to bear the name, starting with the American Revolution with the first one, then the War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War and now both World Wars up to the current ship of that name.
One of the things I do when RoadTrippin' is to find out how the ship got its name.
The first two were named after American hero, Gen. Richard Montgomery who was killed in the American Revolution, I believe the third Montgomery had its name because that was the ship's name when the U.S. Navy purchased the ship during the Civil War.
The 4th USS Montgomery was named after the capital of Alabama. The current one (the 6th of that name) was also named after the state capital.
The 5th one, the USS Montgomery (DD-121) was named after Rear Admiral John B. Montgomery. He was a veteran of the Mexican War and Civil War. U.S. destroyers are traditionally named after people.
--Old B-Runner
The 4th USS Montgomery was the lead ship of her class and was rated as an unprotected cruiser. She served in the Spanish-American War and World War I.
Launched 5 December 1891 by the Columbian Iron Works, Baltimore, Maryland and commissioned 21 June 1894 at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia. It was named after Montgomery, Alabama.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
Length: 269.10 feet
Beam: 37 feet
Draft: 14.6 feet
Speed: 17 knots
Complement: 30 officers, 249 enlisted
Armament:
Two 6-inch guns
Eight 5-inch guns
Six 6-pounder guns
Two 1-pounder guns
Two Gatlin guns
Three 18-inch torpedo tubes'
--Old B-Runner
The third USS Montgomery was in the Civil War, which is the basis for all of this. It was originally a civilian ship that was leased by, and later bought, by the Union Navy near the start of the war. I wasn't able to find out for sure how it got its name, but think that might have been its name when purchased by the Navy.
Now, I had never heard of any USS Montgomery in the Navy before, much less this one. And, I kind of pride myself on knowing Civil War naval history. That would include names of ships.
And, to make matters worse, it was at both battles of my favorite Civil War battle, or for that matter, any historical battle, Fort Fisher. That was embarrassing.
Fort Fisher is one of my Big Three when it comes to naval/maritime events. Anytime I come across anything on these three I am sure to read further. And, another USS Montgomery was at the second one of the Big Three. Find out what it is a few posts from now.
I will write more about the third USS Montgomery after I finish with the next two USS Montgomerys.
How Could I Not Know About a Ship at Fort Fisher? -Old B-Runner
Continuing with our roadtrip through history with this ship.
The second USS Montgomery was listed as a sloop or schooner during the War of 1812.
The Wikipedia article said it was built by Thomas Macdonough in 1813 and part of his fleet to keep the British Navy from controlling Lake Champlain. It participated in convoying Wade Hampton's troops in their advance to Canada.
The only other two things were that the ship was decommissioned and sold in 1815 and that it was also named after Gen. Richard Montgomery.
This paltry amount of information was surprising in that this ship would have been available to fight in the Battle of Lake Champlain where the American fleet was commanded by Macdonough. Why wouldn't he have used it?
After further research, I believe that Macdonough wasn't impressed with the ship very much and that there was a naval arms race going on with both the British and Americans launching more and bigger ships. Evidently, whenever a new ship was launched, Macdonough would take cannons and sailors off the Montgomery.
I have come across mention that the Montgomery and several other ships were left behind at Plattsburgh to defend the town.
--Old B.Runner
