William B. Cushing - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

William Barker Cushing was an officer in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, best known for sinking the Confederate

Confederate States Navy

The Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...

ironclad CSS Albemarle

CSS Albemarle

CSS Albemarle was an ironclad ram of the Confederate Navy , named for a town and a sound in North Carolina and a county in Virginia...

during a daring nighttime raid on October 27, 1864, a feat for which he received the Thanks of Congress

Thanks of Congress

The Thanks of Congress are a series of formal resolutions passed by the United States Congress originally to extend the government's formal thanks for significant victories or impressive actions by American military commanders and their troops. Although it began during the American Revolutionary...

Early life and career

Cushing was born in Delafield, Wisconsin

Delafield, Wisconsin

Delafield is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, along the Bark River, and a suburb of Milwaukee. The population was 6,472 at the 2000 census....

, and was raised in Fredonia, New York

Fredonia, New York

Fredonia is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 11,068 as of 2009.The Village of Fredonia is in the Town of Pomfret south of Lake Erie...

. He was expelled from the United States Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

for pranks and poor scholarship. At the outbreak of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, however, he pled his case to United States Secretary of the Navy

United States Secretary of the Navy

The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...

Gideon Welles

Gideon Welles was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869. His buildup of the Navy to successfully execute blockades of Southern ports was a key component of Northern victory of the Civil War...

himself, was reinstated and went on to acquire a distinguished record, frequently volunteering for the most hazardous missions. His heroism, good luck and coolness under fire were legendary.

"Lincoln's commando"

Several biographers have referred to Lieutenant William B. Cushing as "Lincoln's commando

Commando

In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...

" (though the Boer War

Boer War

The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....

-era term was not known in his time). He also saw action during the Battle of Hampton Roads

Battle of Hampton Roads

The Battle of Hampton Roads, often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads, was the most noted and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War from the standpoint of the development of navies...

and at Fort Fisher

Fort Fisher

Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865....

, among many others. Cushing was promoted to lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

in 1862, and to commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

in 1872, although many historians believe he deserved even greater honors for his bravery. Two of his brothers died in uniform, one (Alonzo Cushing

Alonzo Cushing

-References:* Brown, Kent Masterson. Cushing of Gettysburg. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1993. ISBN 0-8131-1837-9.-Further reading:* Haight, Theron Wilber. . Madison: Wisconsin History Commission, 1910. .* -External links:**...

) in the Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...

in 1863, and another while fighting the Apache

Apache

Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...

s in 1871.

It was his daring plan and its successful execution against the Confederacy's ironclad ram CSS Albemarle

CSS Albemarle

CSS Albemarle was an ironclad ram of the Confederate Navy , named for a town and a sound in North Carolina and a county in Virginia...

that defined his military career. The powerful ironclad dominated the Roanoke River and the approaches to Plymouth through the summer of 1864. By autumn, the U. S. government decided that the situation should be studied to determine if something could be done. The U. S. Navy considered various ways to destroy Albemarle, including two daring plans submitted by Lieutenant Cushing. They finally approved one of his plans and authorized him to locate two small steam launches that might be fitted with spar torpedo

Spar torpedo

A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls...

es. Cushing discovered two 30 feet (9.1 m) picket boats under construction in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

and acquired them for his mission (some accounts have them as 45–47 feet). On each he mounted a 12-pound Dahlgren howitzer

Howitzer

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...

and a 14 feet (4.3 m) spar projecting into the water from its bow. One of the boats was lost at sea during the voyage from New York to Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, but the other arrived safely with its crew of seven officers and men at the mouth of the Roanoke. There, the steam launch's spar was fitted with a lanyard-detonated torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

.

On the night of 27 and 28 October 1864, Cushing and his men began working their way upriver. A small cutter accompanied them, its crew having the task of preventing interference by the Confederate sentries stationed on a schooner anchored to the wreck of "Southfield." When both boats, under the cover of darkness, slipped past the schooner undetected, Cushing decided to use all 22 of his men and the element of surprise to capture Albemarle.

As they approached the Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

docks, their luck turned and they were spotted in the dark. They came under heavy sentry fire from both the shore and aboard Albemarle. As they closed with Albemarle, they quickly discovered she was defended against approach by floating log booms. The logs, however, had been in the water for many months and were covered with heavy slime. The steam launch rode up and then over them without difficulty. When her spar was fully against the ironclad's hull, Cushing stood up in the bow and detonated the torpedo's explosive charge.

The explosion

Explosion

An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...

threw everyone aboard the steam launch into the water. Recovering quickly, Cushing stripped off his uniform and swam to shore, where he hid until daylight. That afternoon, having avoided detection by Confederate search parties, he stole a small skiff and quietly paddled down-river to rejoin the Union

Union Navy

The Union Navy is the label applied to the United States Navy during the American Civil War, to contrast it from its direct opponent, the Confederate States Navy...

forces at the river's mouth. Of the other men in Cushing's boat, one escaped, two were drowned, and eleven were captured.

Cushing's daring commando raid blew a hole in Albemarle 's hull at the waterline "big enough to drive a wagon in." She sank immediately in the six feet of water below her keel, settling into the heavy bottom mud, leaving the upper armored casemate mostly dry and the ironclad's large Stainless Banner battle ensign flying from its flag staff, where it was eventually captured as a Union prize.

Postbellum career

After the Civil War

American Civil War

, he served in both the Pacific

Pacific Squadron

The Pacific Squadron was part of the United States Navy squadron stationed in the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially with no United States ports in the Pacific, they operated out of storeships which provided naval supplies and purchased food and obtained water from local...

and Asiatic Squadron

Asiatic Squadron

The Asiatic Squadron was a squadron of United States Navy warships stationed in East Asia during the latter half of the 19th century, it was created in 1868 when the East India Squadron was disbanded...

s; he was the Executive Officer of the USS Lancaster and commanded the USS Maumee. He also served as ordnance officer in the Boston Navy Yard

Boston Navy Yard

The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...

. Before taking command of USS Maumee, while he was on leave at home in Fredonia, that Cushing met his sister’s, friend, Katherine Louise Forbes. ‘Kate’, as she was known, would sit and listen for hours to William’s stories of adventure. Having decided that he was in love with her and she with him, Cushing asked her to marry him on July 1, 1867. Unfortunately, he received orders and was gone before a ceremony could take place. Finally, on February 22, 1870, Cushing and Forbes would marry. Their first daughter, Marie Louise was born on the first of December 1871.

On January 31, 1872 he was promoted to the rank of commander, becoming the youngest up to that time to attain that rank in the Navy. Two weeks later he was detached to await orders. Weeks of waiting turned into months, but no word came. He had given up hope of another sea command, when early in June 1873 Cushing had an offer to take command of USS Wyoming

USS Wyoming (1859)

The first USS Wyoming of the United States Navy was a wooden-hulled screw sloop that fought on the Union side during the American Civil War. Sent to the Pacific Ocean to search for the CSS Alabama, Wyoming eventually came upon the shores of Japan and engaged Japanese land and sea forces...

. He took command of his new ship on July 11, 1873.

Cushing commanded the Wyoming with his typical flair for being where the action was, performing daring and courageous acts. The warship's boilers broke down twice, and in April she was ordered to Norfolk for extensive repairs. On April 24, Cushing was detached and put on a waiting list for reassignment. He believed that he would be given the Wyoming

USS Wyoming (1859)

again when she was ready for duty, but in truth, his ill health would not permit him to command another vessel.

Cushing returned to Fredonia to see his new daughter, Katherine Abell, who had been born October 11, 1873. His wife was shocked to see the condition of her husband. His health was in apparent decline. Kate remarked to William’s mother that he looked to be a man of sixty instead of his thirty-one years.

Cushing had begun having severe attacks of pain in his hip as early as just after the sinking of the Albemarle. None of the doctors he saw were able to make a diagnosis. The term “sciatica

Sciatica

Sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve, or by compression or irritation of the left or right or both sciatic nerves. The pain is felt in the lower back, buttock, or...

” was used in those days without regard to cause for any inflammation of the sciatic nerve, or any pain in the region of the hip. Cushing may have had a ruptured intervertebral disc

Intervertebral disc

Intervertebral discs lie between adjacent vertebrae in the spine. Each disc forms a cartilaginous joint to allow slight movement of the vertebrae, and acts as a ligament to hold the vertebrae together.-Structure:...

. He had suffered enough shocks to dislocate half a dozen vertebrae, and with the passage of time it would come to bear more and more heavily upon on the nerve. On the other hand, he may have been suffering from tuberculosis of the hip bone, or cancer of the prostate gland. There was nothing to be done and Cushing continued to suffer.

Cushing was next given the post of executive officer of the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. He spent the summer of 1874 pretending to be happy with his inactive role. He played with his children and enjoyed their company. On August 25 he was made senior aide at the yard; in the fall he amused himself by taking an active interest in the upcoming Congressional elections.

On Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...

Day, William, Kate and his mother went to church in the morning. That night, the pain in Cushing’s back was worse than it had ever been and he couldn’t sleep. The following Monday he dragged himself to the Navy Yard. Kate sent Lieutenant Hutchins, once of the Wyoming and now Cushing’s aide, to bring his superior home. She feared that he wouldn’t last the day.

True to his nature, Cushing stayed at the yard until after nightfall, and went right to bed when he got home. He would not rise again. The pain was constant and terrible. He was given injections of morphine

Morphine

Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...

but they only dulled the pain a little.

On December 8, 1874, it became impossible to care for Cushing at home, and he was removed to the Government Hospital for the Insane

St. Elizabeths Hospital

St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. It was the first large-scale, federally-run psychiatric hospital in the United States. Housing several thousand patients at its peak, St. Elizabeths had a fully functioning...

. His family visited him often, but he seldom recognized them.

Commander Cushing died on December 17, 1874 in the presence of his wife and mother. He was buried on January 8, 1875 at Bluff Point, at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...

.

Cushing was survived by his mother, his wife, two daughters and one of his brothers. Kate Cushing, his wife, who never remarried, followed William in death thirty-five years later in January 1910.

William Cushing was a first cousin twice removed of Erskine Hamilton Childers

Erskine Hamilton Childers

Erskine Hamilton Childers served as the fourth President of Ireland from 1973 until his death in 1974. He was a Teachta Dála from 1938 until 1973...

. Cushing's grandparents, Elisha Smith and Mary Butler Bass, were also the great-grandparents of Mary Osgood, Erskine's mother. Elisha Smith was descended from Edward Fuller

Edward Fuller (Mayflower)

Edward Fuller crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower...

, and Mary Butler Bass was descended from John Alden

John Alden

John Alden is said to be the first person from the Mayflower to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620. He was a ship-carpenter by trade and a cooper for Mayflower, which was usually docked at Southampton. He was also one of the founders of Plymouth Colony and the seventh signer of the Mayflower Compact...

through her father and Richard Warren

Richard Warren

Richard Warren was a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620. He settled in Plymouth Colony and was among ten passengers of the Mayflower landing party with Myles Standish at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620...

through her mother.

Namesakes and honors

Five ships in the U.S. Navy have been named USS Cushing

USS Cushing

USS Cushing may rfer to one of several United States Navy ships named in honor of William B. Cushing:* The , was a torpedo boat commissioned in 1890, and served until her decommissioning in 1898* The , an commissioned 1915 and decommissioned in 1920...

after him, the last one (DD-985) was decommissioned in September 2005.

His grave is marked by a large, monumental casket made of marble, on which in relief, are the Commander’s hat, sword and coat. On one side of the stone the word ‘Albemarle’ is cut and on the other side, ‘Fort Fisher’.

Another memorial to the Commander hangs in Memorial Hall at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. In the hall hangs a portrait of Commander Cushing in full dress uniform. Nearly all of the other portraits in the hall are of admirals.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.