The Long Road to Annapolis: The Founding of the Naval Academy and the Emerging American Republic

CHAPTER 6 Mutiny, Midshipmen, and the Middle Class

[ CHAPTER 6 ] Mutiny, Midshipmen, and the Middle Class By the early 1840s Americans had debated the naval academy question in the halls of Congress, in the wardrooms of navy ships, and on the pages of newspapers and magazines. Although some politicians, naval officers , and members of the public still did not see the need to replace the navy’s traditional on-the-job approach to education, disturbing social problems within the navy pointed to the need for a naval academy. In the antebellum period, life at sea took on a threatening, almost sinister character. The maritime literature of authors such as James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, and Richard Henry Dana moved away from romanticized images of adventure at sea and focused instead on darker, more realistic descriptions of the sailor’s life. These writers contrasted the majesty of the sea with its harsh and unforgiving nature. They emphasized the experiences of common sailors—the hardships they endured and the cruelty they suffered at the hands of merciless, dictatorial sea captains. The U.S. Navy was very much a part of this changing view of seafaring life. Politicians, the press, and the general public no longer lavished the navy with praise, as they had during and after the War of 1812; increasingly they questioned the moral character of naval personnel. Secretary of the Navy James K. Paulding best articulated the country’s new attitude when he said that “a low, dirty, sordid feeling . . . seems to pervade all ranks of the Navy.”1 The naval academy debate in the 1830s and 1840s coincided with the [ 164 ] Mutiny, Midshipmen, and the Middle Class gradual emergence of the American middle class, which was becoming more vocal in advocating its values of respectability, morality, education, and professionalism . Concerned with the moral development of America’s young men, middle-class reformers gave a great deal of attention to the navy and its midshipmen. The controversial hanging of a midshipman at sea for mutiny on board the navy training ship Somers in 1842 directed the public’s attention to the need for moral reform in the navy. Believing that formal education was a crucial component of character development, middle-class reformers argued for the establishment of a naval academy to ensure that the young men who would one day command the navy’s ships and represent the nation abroad were not only well educated, but also gentlemen of the highest moral caliber. A Disorderly Corps A breakdown in discipline was the most obvious symptom of the navy’s malaise. One congressman complained that the navy “was composed of the most disorderly corps” of people in any government and required “a court-martial sitting nearly the entire year for their trial.” Court-martial offenses included desertion, being absent without leave, insubordination, conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, drunkenness, mutiny, negligence , assault of a superior, fighting, disorderly conduct, embezzlement, misuse of government property, gambling, theft, profanity, cruelty, and oppression . An article in Niles’ Register commented that “the general impression is that the discipline and character of the navy are at a very low ebb.” Although the author believed the sentiment was exaggerated, he did admit that the navy had “deteriorated from the exalted elevation it had attained at the close of the late war [War of 1812]” and warned that the navy’s problems “if not speedily eradicated, will not only lose it the affections of the nation, but make it the scorn and contempt of the world.” There was too much personal animosity among naval officers and not enough professional pride in the merits and accomplishments of the officer corps as a whole. In addition, the younger officers seemed to lack commitment to their profession, viewing it as just another job rather than a higher calling.2 Shipboard conflicts between captains and lieutenants were common by the early 1840s. At the heart of these conflicts was mutual resentment. Junior officers resented the senior captains because they delayed the promotion of younger officers by remaining on active duty well beyond their prime years. Isaac Hull was a case in point. As commodore of the Mediterranean Squadron in 1838, Hull was in no condition for active duty. He was sixty-five years old, nearly deaf, and actually suffered two strokes during the cruise. Hull’s Mutiny, Midshipmen, and the Middle Class [ 165 ] ill health ultimately resulted in a rebellion among his lieutenants, who were dislodged from their...