Palmyra`s Admiral

Palmyra’s Admiral
William T. Sampson
Presented by:
Marilee Sampson Fisk and
Ann Guest, US Navy
Early History
William Thomas
Sampson was born in
Palmyra, New York, on
February 9, 1840, the
first of seven children.
Both of his parents,
James Sampson and
Hannah Walker
Sampson, had been born
in Ireland and
immigrated to the United
States.
Second Sampson Family Home
Early Years
As a boy he was a dedicated
student. He walked to the oneroom schoolhouse on Throop Street
from his home at the corner of
Johnson Street and Prospect Drive.
Secondary
Education
He moved with his classmates to the Union
School Building in 1848. He also spent his
spare time helping his father with various local
projects -- road-building, bricklaying, etc. -- and
on the C.D. Johnson farm. In 1853 he started
his secondary education and held the position
of head of his class for most of that time.
Appointment to the
U.S Naval Academy
In 1857 an appointment to the U.S. Naval
Academy was opened for a local student,
Frederick Clemons, but young Clemons
declined (his mother would not let him go)
and suggested “my friend, Bill” instead.
Congressman E.D. Morgan of Cayuga
County arranged to have Sampson
appointed to Annapolis. His father wanted
him to remain in Palmyra, but his mother
wanted at least one of her children “to
make something of himself” and he was
allowed to go.
U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis,
Maryland
William entered the U.S. Naval Academy on September 24,
1857. He was 17 when he entered and was ranked first in his
class all three of his final years; he was commanding officer of
the cadet battalion during his last year (1860-1861).
In the spring of 1861, as Federal troops appeared off the coast
of Maryland, pro-secessionist Annapolis residents surrounded
the Naval Academy and threatened the Northern students
within. As commanding officer of cadets, Sampson, along with
the New York Seventh Regiment and the Massachusetts Eighth
Regiment, held back and eventually dispersed the mob.
First Duties
In May 1861 he spent three weeks
aboard the Pocahontas, which was
charged with escorting Union troop and
ammunition transports along the
Potomac and in lower Chesapeake Bay.
On June 1, 1861, he was promoted to
Master and transferred to the Potomac,
then undergoing repairs in the Brooklyn
Navy Yard. He joined the Potomac as a
junior officer when it sailed on August
20, 1861, and spent the next nine
months on patrol in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ship similar to
USS Potomac
Beginning a Family
He married Margaret Sexton
Aldrich, niece of Pliny
Sexton, at the Western
Presbyterian Church in
Palmyra on December 18,
1862.
Children in “first”
family
William and Margaret had six children.
Margaret was born in 1863, Catherine in
1866, William in 1870, Susan in 1871,
Hannah in 1875, and Olive in 1877.
Two of them, Susan and William Jr., died
early in life and are buried in the Palmyra
Cemetery in the Aldrich plot.
Loss of Wife
Margaret Sampson died in 1878 and is buried
in the Palmyra Cemetery.
Teacher, Then
Service on an
“Ironclad”
Promoted to Lieutenant on July 16, 1862,
Sampson spent the next two years as an
instructor at the Naval Academy. In August of
1864, Sampson joined the South Atlantic
Blockading Squadron, commanded by John
Dahlgren, as Executive Officer of the ironclad
monitor-class Patapsco.
Ironclad USS Patapsco
More Service, Then
Back to Teaching
Promoted to Lieutenant
Commander in July of 1866,
Sampson next served aboard the
steam frigate Colorado, then the
flagship of the European Squadron.
He joined the faculty of the Naval
Academy's Department of Natural
Philosophy in 1867, and became
head of that department when it
was renamed the Department of
Physics and Chemistry.
USS Colorado
Promoted to Commander on August 9,
1874, Sampson resumed his
chairmanship of the Naval Academy's
Department of Physics and Chemistry. In
this capacity he championed scientific
education for students, and personally
conducted many scientific experiments.
From 1879 to 1881, Sampson
commanded the screw gunboat Swatara,
of the Asiatic Squadron.
USS Swatara
“Second” Family
In 1881, Sampson and his family moved
to Washington, D.C., where he served
as Assistant Superintendent of the
United States Naval Observatory until
1884.
In 1882 he married Elizabeth Burling at
the home of her father in Rochester,
NY. She had been a preceptress
(teacher) at the Palmyra Classical
School. In 1883 William Burling
Sampson was born, but died four
months later. His two other sons, Ralph
(1887-1965) and Harold (1890-1948)
followed him into military service.
From 1884 to 1886, Sampson served as Inspector
of Ordnance and Head of the Torpedo Station at
Newport, Rhode Island.
From 1886 to 1890, Sampson served as
Superintendent of the Naval Academy, one of the
youngest officers ever to hold that position. As he
had done at his previous postings, he made major
improvements to the academy's infrastructure,
including having electric lighting installed
throughout the campus.
Sampson was promoted to Captain in March of 1890, and, that spring,
moved his family to California to oversee the final stages of
construction of the cruiser San Francisco. He took command of the ship
in March of 1891 and joined the South Pacific Squadron off the coast of
Chile, then embroiled in a civil war, to protect American interests.
USS San Francisco
Returning to America, Sampson
became temporary Chief of the
Bureau of Ordnance at the
Washington Navy Yard, in June 1892;
he subsequently became permanent
Chief of the Bureau.
Sinking of the USS Maine
On February 15, 1898, the battleship Maine exploded in the harbor
of Havana, Cuba. Because of his expertise in ship manufacture and
ordnance, Sampson was made president of the Court of Inquiry
called to determine the cause of the explosion. The Court
determined that there was nothing physically wrong with either the
Maine itself, its crew, its ordnance, or its load of coal, and that,
therefore, the only possible cause for the disaster was the explosion
of a Spanish-planted submarine mine.
On March 24, 1898, Sampson replaced Montgomery Sicard (who
was suffering from malaria) as Commander of the United States
North Atlantic Squadron (the most prestigious post in the U.S. Navy),
was made Acting Rear-Admiral, and took command of the
Squadron's flagship, the armored cruiser New York.
Sinking of USS Maine
Promotions
On July 3, while Sampson sailed the New York toward the Army base at
Siboney for a conference with Brigadier General William Rufus Shafter, The
Spanish fleet attempted to run the blockade. The American fleet, temporarily
under the command of Winfield Scott Schley, decimated the Spanish fleet in a
matter of hours. Although Sampson was not present during the battle, he has
been credited with instituting the discipline and firing capabilities aboard the
American ships that allowed the Americans to defeat a naval force that was
actually superior in experience and equipment.
Promoted to Commodore in 1898, Sampson returned to Cuba after the war
to serve on the commission that oversaw evacuation of Spanish troops from
the island and the preservation of governmental property.
Return to Palmyra
The Sampson family returned to
Palmyra in 1899 for a “hometown”
celebration. In 1900 he received an
honorary degree from Harvard.
Already in failing health by the end of the war, he was forced
to return home at the end of 1898 after contracting malaria.
He maintained command of the North Atlantic Squadron
until increasingly poor health forced him to step down in
September of 1899. After suffering a stroke in September of
1901, Sampson went into seclusion at Lake Sunapee, New
Hampshire. By February of 1902 he could no longer
recognize his family, and he died of a brain hemorrhage on
May 6, 1902.
A state funeral for Admiral Sampson was held in Washington,
DC; (despite his will and the family’s request that he be
buried in Palmyra) President Theodore Roosevelt decided
that he would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Honoring Admiral
Sampson
On May 30, 1903 the Navy
Department helped in the
dedication of a gun from the
Spanish ship, Almircante
Oquendo, on Main Street. It
was later moved to in the
Village Park .
Acquisition of Cannon
In July 1919, the Sampson gun was permanently loaned to the Palmyra VFW for display.
United States Naval
Academy –
Sampson Hall
In 1942, along the east shore of
Seneca Lake a training station was
named Sampson Naval Training
Center in his honor.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Friday, July 16, 1920
Legion Post Changes Name.
Palmyra, July 15.- The American Legion post of Palmyra
has changed its name from "Rear Admiral Sampson
Post" to "James R. Hickey Post." When the young
veterans met to organize the name of Admiral Sampson
was temporarily taken, as he was Palmyra's most famous
son of modern times. As the membership of the post
increased, it was voted to rechristen it with the name of
one of the comrades who made the supreme sacrifice.
As James R. Hickey was the first to fall in battle, his was
the logical name to be chosen.
Admiral William T. Sampson Post #120 –
American Legion Boy Scout Troop
Now known at James R. Hickey Post
Boy Scout Troop
Formed 14 July 1919 with temporary
charter until 12 July 1920
Sponsored by Post
Name changed in 1920 – ruling by
National Legion office
Name stayed until the late
1930s/early 1940s
Four Ships Named for Admiral Sampson
USS Sampson - 1916
USS Sampson - 1960
Sampson Medal or West Indies
Naval Campaign Medal
USS Sampson - 1938
USS Sampson - 2006
Admiral Sampson’s
Ceremonial Sword at
Historic Palmyra’s
Museum
Rear Admiral’s Flag
I
In October of 2015, the Naval History and
Heritage Command of the Department of
the Navy provided a 4’ x 6’ Rear Admiral’s
flag as a gift from the Naval Historical
Foundation to the Palmyra Historic
Preservation Commission. The flag will
hang in the Village Hall.
© 2016 Palmyra Historic Preservation
Commission/James R. Hickey Post 120