Rear Admiral French Ensor Chadwick USN (February 29, 1844 – January 27, 1919) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

officer who became prominent in the naval reform movement of the post-

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

era. He was particularly noted for his contributions to naval education, and served as

President of the Naval War College The president of the Naval War College is a flag officer in the United States Navy. The President's House in Newport, Rhode Island is their official residence. The functions of the president of the Naval War College actually predate the estab ...

from 1900 to 1903. A native of

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Monongahela River in North Central West Virginia and is the home of West Virginia University. The population was 30,347 at the 2 ...

, he attended the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

from 1861 to 1864, then temporarily relocated from

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

, to

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

during the Civil War due to concerns about Maryland's secessionist sympathy as a border state. Graduating fourth in his class, his first sea assignment was to the gunboat USS Marblehead (1861). From 1865 to 1870, he served successively in four warships in the South Atlantic and Caribbean: the sidewheel steam frigate USS Susquehanna (1850) in which he was promoted to Ensign in 1866, the sloop of war USS Juniata, the frigate

Sabine The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided int ...

in which he was promoted to Lieutenant in 1868, and the screw sloop USS Tuscarora in which he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander a year later. Following a brief assignment to the newly established

Naval Torpedo Station The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons ...

in Newport, Rhode Island, during 1870, Chadwick served in the screw sloop of war USS Guerriere with the

European Squadron The European Squadron, also known as the European Station, was a part of the United States Navy in the late 19th century and the early 1900s. The squadron was originally named the Mediterranean Squadron (United States), Mediterranean Squadron and ...

until 1872. At that point, he was assigned to the

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is the sec ...

as an instructor in mathematics. On leaving the academy in 1875, he reported to the sidewheel steam frigate USS Powhatan as the ship's executive officer. On his detachment from that ship, he took a leave of absence from the Navy. During this period, he married Cornelia Jones Miller, the daughter of a U.S. Consular official in 1878 and carried out a study on how sailors were trained in Britain, France, and Germany. This document proved useful to Captain Stephen B. Luce in developing a training squadron and station at Newport, Rhode Island. In 1881, Lt Commander Chadwick led the investigation into the fog signals at

Little Gull Island Light Little Gull Island Light is a lighthouse on Little Gull Island, a small island in Long Island Sound, located approximately northeast of Great Gull Island. Both islands are located in the Town of Southold, in Suffolk County, New York, and lie r ...

in Long Island Sound after the Galatea ran around in the fog during the evening of May 12, 1881.''New York Times'', "Don't Believe your Ears", Feb 22, 1891 Major sea commands included the gunboat , commissioned in 1889. He served in the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, fighting at the

Battle of Santiago de Cuba The Battle of Santiago de Cuba was a decisive naval engagement that occurred on July 3, 1898 between an United States, American fleet, led by William T. Sampson and Winfield Scott Schley, against a Restoration (Spain), Spanish fleet led by Pascu ...

. As commander of the

South Atlantic Squadron The Brazil Squadron, the Brazil Station, or the South Atlantic Squadron was an overseas military station established by the United States in 1826 to protect American commerce in the South Atlantic during a war between Brazil and Argentina. When t ...

he played a major part in the Perdicaris incident of 1904 in Morocco. He was also a noted historian who wrote several published books, including a noted work on ''The Causes of the Civil War''. In a 1917 speech, he complained that American women were not having enough children compared to immigrants, and that "soon the older American stock will be replaced completely." He also charged that boys were being made effeminate due to exposure of female public-school teachers."American Women Letting Race Die, Says Rear Admiral," New York Herald, Feb. 18, 1917

Portrayal

Chadwick was portrayed by

Roy Jenson Roy Cameron Jenson, also known and credited as Roy Jensen (February 9, 1927 – April 24, 2007), was a Canadian American football player, stuntman, and actor. Early years Jenson was born in Calgary, Alberta, and moved to Los Angeles with his ...

in the 1975 film ''

The Wind and the Lion ''The Wind and the Lion'' is a 1975 American epic historical adventure film written and directed by John Milius, and starring Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, Brian Keith, and John Huston. The film is loosely based on the real-life Perdicaris affa ...

''.

Awards

Civil War Campaign Medal The Civil War Campaign Medal is considered the first campaign service medal of the United States Armed Forces. The decoration was awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces who had served in the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. ...

Sampson Medal The Sampson Medal was a U.S. Navy campaign medal. The medal was authorized by an Act of Congress in 1901. The medal was awarded to those personnel who served on ships in the fleet of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson during combat operations in t ...

West Indies Campaign Medal The West Indies Campaign Medal was a United States military medal of the Navy and Marine Corps issued for service in the West Indies campaign theater of the Spanish–American War. The medal was established on 27 June 1908 and the first recipie ...

Spanish Campaign Medal The Spanish Campaign Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces which recognized those men of the U.S. military who had served in the Spanish–American War. Although a single decoration, there were two versions of the Spanish ...

References

Together We Served Chadwick, French Ensor, RADM

External links

*
Register of French Ensor Chadwick Papers, Naval War College
- Includes a biographical sketch {{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick, French Ensor 1844 births 1919 deaths Military personnel from Morgantown, West Virginia United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy rear admirals (upper half) Presidents of the Naval War College American military personnel of the Spanish–American War Directors of the Office of Naval Intelligence Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters American naval historians