Graduation Exercises at the Naval Academy, 1854–1914

If you were among the thousands who packed Dahlgren Hall last June 7 to witness the commencement exercises of the Naval Academy's Class of 1946 with its record 1,046 members, you may have wondered about the size of the first graduating class and about the nature of their graduation ceremonies. It is the aim of this article to recapture some of the more interesting details concerning these exercises during the years 1854 to 1914.

Fortunately for the midshipmen, and for the spectators too, the graduation ceremonies at the Naval Academy have always been fairly simple but impressive affairs. The first class to graduate was that of 1854. In that year the school was already nine years old, but it had been recently reorganized. Prior to 1850 it was hardly more than a finishing school with a one-year course for youthful officers who had already seen several years' service afloat. In 1850, however, a novel plan was instituted, that of entering young men who had had no previous naval service and of occupying them with a four-year course of study. But the general shortage of officers in the Navy at that time caused this class to be sent to sea after finishing only one year of the prescribed curriculum. Consequently, the next class—designated "51 date"—succeeded to the honor of being the pioneer class to graduate under the present system.

In the ordinary course of events, the "51 date" would have been graduated in 1855. Again, however, the demand for officers afloat led to the singling out of the eleven men who stood highest in the class; these were placed in an advanced section scheduled for graduation in 1854. Of the eleven, five failed to keep pace in the accelerated course, and they dropped back into their original class. The remaining six composed the first formally graduated class, with Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr., at their head.¹

The graduating ceremonies were held on June 10, 1854, and consisted simply of the muster of all hands in the Chapel at noon, the reading of prayers by the Chaplain, a brief address by the Superintendent, Commander L. N. Goldsborough, and the presentation of the certificates of graduation. Thus was established the pattern for succeeding exercises, a pattern sometimes modified by circumstances but never drastically altered. The witnesses to the exercises of '54, besides the midshipmen, were the Board of Examiners, forerunners of the later Board of Visitors.

On June 12 of the following year, the exercises for '55 were distinguished by one of those circumstances just mentioned, an incident which had tremendous interest at that time and which has an equally great significance today in light of the recent surrender of Japan. During the noon graduation service, Dr. Ninian Pinkney presented to the Academy in the name of Commodore Perry the first United States flag to fly over Japan. This was received by the Superintendent and preserved at the Academy to await its even more historic second display, on September 2, 1945, the day of the signing of the surrender, on the U.S.S. Missouri, Admiral Halsey's flagship, in Tokyo Bay.

Of all the graduation ceremonies in the Academy's history, the simplest was that of the Class of 1856. The Academic Board Journal for June 23 of that year remarks:

The Annual Examination was completed by the examination of the fourth class in Physical Geography, concluded at XII N. At this hour the graduates of the First Class appeared in the Examination Hall, and received each from the Superintendent in presence of the Academic Board and Board of Examiners, a Certificate of Graduation, dated June 20th, 1856, according to instructions of the Secretary of the Navy.

Although a speaker, Commander Charles Henry Davis, U. S. Navy, had addressed the Class of '55, and another, Commander Thomas Jefferson Page, was the main feature of the program for 1857, the Class of 1856, so far as we know, went off to sea without the benefit of the usual valedictory advice.

Admiral Dewey records that of the 60 midshipmen of his class who entered in 1854, only 15 were graduated in 1858.² Captain Andrew A. Harwood was the speaker, and after the presentation of diplomas by the Superintendent, Captain George S. Blake, Midshipman A. V. Reed, of New York, was awarded a sword in the name of the Academy for having placed number one in his class. Here was an innovation, the first of a long list of highly valued prizes for various types of distinction. In recent years these awards have been made on Worden Field as part of the dress parade on the Monday afternoon preceding Wednesday's commencement exercises. The Journal of the Officer-of-the-Day, June 11, 1858, notes another innovation:  "The ladies favored the occasion bytheir presence, and numbered not a few in the Chapel."

Because of the outbreak of the Civil War no graduation ceremonies were held between June 13, 1860, and May 28, 1863. Ten men of the Class of '61 simply "received orders to repair to Washington immediately" on April 24 of that year, and those midshipmen who had entered the Academy in 1858 and 1859 were ordered into active service in May of 1862. The class of 1863 was ably addressed by the Hon. Edward Everett, who is better remembered for having made the long-winded oration preceding President Lincoln's unforgettable Gettysburg Address. In 1864 there were two graduations, one on June 8³ for those who entered in 1860, and the second on November 22 for those who entered in the fall of 1861. Consequently, no record is to be found of any graduation festivities in 1865, although both the Naval Academy Register and the Army and Navy Journal (June 17, 1865, p. 685) state that the class of 1865 "will graduate" in October. It seems likely that a state of confusion existed because of the removal of the Academy back to Annapolis from Newport, where it had been located during the war years. The records of the members of the class given in Hammersly's Officers of the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-1900, show that all were commissioned in September, 1865, and after several of the names the date, 26th, is specified. One midshipman in this class was ordered to duty on October 2, the day the Academy was reopened in Annapolis.

Sports were introduced as part of the graduation festivities on June 4, 1866, when after the address in the Chapel by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, President of Washington and Jefferson College, a baseball match was played between the first and second classes. (Unfortunately there is no record of the score.) It is interesting that the popularity of baseball had been much increased by the Civil War, the Union soldiers playing in their spare time between battles, and, when captured, whiling away the long hours in prison camps with the game, even teaching it to their captors of the South. Whereas Captain Blake, Superintendent from 1857-65, had discouraged athletics of every kind, Vice Admiral David D. Porter (1865-69) encouraged all forms of sports, even to the extent of turning old Fort Severn into a gymnasium for the recreation of the middies, of whom by this time there were 450. The Class of '66 numbered 79.

The class which graduated on June 6, 1867, was honored by the presence of two of the Navy's most eminent war figures, Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, and Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, hero of Mobile Bay. These dignitaries were received on June 4 with appropriate honors. "The midshipmen were drilled in the infantry exercise in the presence of the Honorable Secretary and afterward exercised at sails on board the Macedonian." This ship, brought to the Academy for practice cruises, lay between the Constitution and the frigate Santee, and was regularly used for these drills. During Examination Week, which immediately preceded graduation, the Board of Visitors timed the midshipmen's efforts to strip another smaller ship, the sloop Marion, of sails, yards, rigging, and masts. The record time for 1867 was one hour and seventeen minutes.

Not all the graduation exercises in those days were held indoors. That of 1868 (June 3) was held on the parade grounds in the late afternoon. "At 5 had a dress parade and the midshipmen received their diplomas," is the brief account of the Officer-of-the-Day. The Army and Navy Journal (June 20) supplies a few more details:

At 5:30 P.M. the diplomas were presented to the graduating class. The battalion was drawn up in line and the members of the graduating class were ordered to the front. An address was then delivered by Lieutenant-Governor Scott of Iowa of the Board of Visitors. At the conclusion of the address the diplomas were presented by the Superintendent of the Academy, Vice-Admiral Porter.

The members of 1869 considered themselves particularly fortunate. Their graduation exercises and the ball which was given to commemorate the retirement of Admiral Porter were the occasion of assembling at Annapolis

a multitude the like of which the old capital has not seen since the days when Annapolis was the center of fashion. . . . It is estimated that there were present nearly 4,000 persons.

At 9 o'clock in the morning [of Friday, June 4] the steamer Tallapoosa arrived from Washington, having on board President Grant, the Hon. A. J. Creswell, Postmaster General; the Hon. J. D. Cox, Secretary of the Interior; E. R. Hoar, Attorney-General; J. C. B. Davis, Assistant Secretary of State; Mr. Thornton, the British Minister; besides Mrs. Grant, the Misses Jessie and Nellie Grant, Mrs. Creswell and several other ladies and gentlemen from Washington.

There was the usual salute of 21 guns. "At 11 o'clock the crowd gathered under the magnificent shade trees in front of Vice- Admiral Porter's residence to witness the delivery of diplomas, which took place at that time." The first event was a dress parade.

After the parade was concluded, the members of the graduating class [78 in number] were marched to the front and center, when a speech was delivered by Judge D. C. Humphrey, of Alabama, one of the Board of Visitors. The diplomas were then given to members of the graduating class by President Grant. . . . The battalion was then marched away, and the graduates clustered around the many fair spectators to receive their congratulations. . . . The heat of the day prevented further proceedings until a later hour.

At 5:30 there was a most unusual boat race (rowing as a sport had been introduced in 1867 by Porter's direction) between the first and second classes. The former rowed a regular 6-oared shell, the latter an extremely light, 4-oared, papier-mâché boat. A quarter-mile from the finish line the first-class boat swamped, and the second-class crew, which rowed the 3-mile course in 21 minutes, 33 seconds, despite the rough surface of the Severn caused by a head wind, won a silken banner, presented by Admiral Porter.

The grand ball began at ten in the evening. The ballroom was the octagonal Fort Severn which had been decorated inside and out for the occasion. Chinese lanterns were strung from the trees and their feeble light was augmented by the novel brilliance of a calcium lamp in the tower of the new quarters. A pavilion was constructed in front of the two entrances to the fort; this contained a fountain ornamented by a statue of Niobe (Greek goddess), from which ran numerous passages, covered with canvas, leading to the entrances, the dressing rooms and the supper rooms. Inside the building a grove of "fictitious" palm trees surrounded another rustic fountain. The walls were decorated with flags, swords, and muskets, and the bandstand with sabers. "In the corners were elegant pavilions, known as 'spooney corners,' over which appeared such sentences as: 'Beware! Beware! She's fooling thee!' and 'Who enters here leaves hope behind.' A circular gallery surrounded the room, opening on the sea, and affording a beautiful promenade." The music was supplied by the Naval Academy Band and the Marine Band from Washington. The dancing began with a quadrille led by President Grant and Mrs. Porter; Secretary Bork paired off with one of General Sherman's daughters, and Postmaster-General Creswell with the other; the General escorted Miss Bork, and Admiral Porter the President's wife. The quadrille was followed by a "german," a cotillion of involved figures intermingled with waltzes, and the dancing continued till two in the morning, when supper was served. The bands played on till sunrise.⁴

The Class of 1870 doubtless considered themselves unfortunate for having to sit through two graduation speeches. For some reason the exercises were split in two. Part I occurred on May 31 when the class was addressed by Professor H. B. Wilson of the University of Minnesota. A week later the second half of the exercises took place. At ten in the morning the battalion was marched to the open lawn in front of Commodore John L. Worden's residence, and the graduating class received their diplomas from the hands of Admiral Porter, who had returned to the Academy for the occasion. But the diplomas were presented only after the class had listened patiently to the address of Secretary of the Navy George H. Robeson. Secretary Robeson was particularly conscientious about the graduating midshipmen, for he addressed the next five classes, '71 through '75, and also that of 1877.

The most interesting exercise of the annual examination of 1872, according to the Army and Navy Journal, was an attack on the Academy by the midshipmen, who rowed out in launches to the middle of the Severn, deployed into line, and effected a landing in the face of a most determined resistance put up by invisible foes; and then, "deploying as skirmishers advanced to the assault in a style which won the enthusiastic admiration of the beholders." These ten boats, packed with midshipmen and armed with howitzers, doubtless carried some of the "beholders" back in memory to the capture of Fort Fisher in 1865, just as the description of this sham amphibious operation makes us think of many a costly landing of the recent past.

One member of the Class of 1875, F. S. Carter, owed his presence at graduation to two of his seniors in the Class of 1872. On May 23, 1872, while exercising at sails on the sloop-of-war Dale, Carter, then a plebe, tumbled overboard and would have been drowned had it not been for the quick thinking and acting of First Classmen R. H. McLean of New York and R. H. Galt of Virginia. Their names were submitted by Superintendent Worden to Secretary Robeson. The latter answered with a letter commending these lads for their gallantry and for their presence of mind in an emergency; and this letter was read at the graduation ceremonies held in the Chapel on the morning of June 1.

The balance of the exercises of 1872 may be regarded as typical of the commencement programs of the time. This special letter was followed by a prayer, offered by Rev. Dr. Henderson, the Presbyterian clergyman of Annapolis, after which Chief Justice Moses, of South Carolina, addressed the graduating class. After the ceremonies at the Chapel, the midshipmen were marched to the Armory and equipped for the usual dress parade. On the parade grounds the five "star" members of the graduating class were addressed and presented with their diplomas by Secretary Robeson, after which the other members received their diplomas. The battalion then gave three cheers for the graduates, who in return cheered, and the battalion marched off to the music of "The Girl I Left Behind Me."

The New York Herald's rather facetious correspondent, in describing the graduation of 1873, included some interesting features not previously recorded. For example, after the dress parade, the 34 graduates stepped from the ranks and marched in double rank to the front, the band, under Professor Shaaf, striking up "Getting Out of the Wilderness." Then, following the presentation of diplomas and the cheers, some of the newly fledged naval officers "quickly disappeared in the neighboring quarters, soon to reappear in coats, heretofore restricted articles to them." The uniform for graduation is also described as the summer uniform, blue jackets with brass buttons, and white caps and pants.

Among the graduates of 1873 was a Japanese, Z. Z. Matzmulla, and in Company B, the prize-winning company that year, was another, a Jap prince, Azuma, nephew to the Mikado. In that company also was a Negro, Conyers, from South Carolina, who, although praised for his excellence in drill, later had to retire from the Academy for failing in his examinations.

The Herald correspondent is most amusing in his comments concerning the awarding of the prize to Company B. The Committee of Decision having judged that company to have excelled in infantry drill, the prize, a large blue silk flag, fringed with gold and bearing the inscription "Excelsior," was "most gracefully presented by Miss Ludlow" to Captain Fowler, "who bears the reputation among the ladies of being the handsomest and 'dearest' young man in the 'Yard.'" The account concludes with this item, that General J. J. Reynolds, U. S. Army, "bade the cadets 'remember their country,' 'do their duty,' and other things."

June 20, 1877, brought another visit from a Commander in Chief, this time General Rutherford B. Hayes. The members of 1878 were treated to a visit by a former Superintendent, Admiral Porter. The Journal of the Officer-of-the-Day for June 20 is more descriptive than usual by way of commemorating this event:

At 9:45 the companies were formed and the battalion formed shortly after and marched to the Chapel when the ranks were opened and arms presented to Admiral Porter, the members of the Board of Visitors and the Academic Board. The battalion then stacked arms and were marched by companies to the Chapel where [Rear] Admiral [C. R. P.] Rodgers [then Supt.] introduced the Admiral of the Navy with a few remarks. He then introduced Mr. [C. M.] Woodward of Washington University [actually Washington Polytechnic School, St. Louis] who addressed the graduating class. After the address the line was formed by the battalion and paraded to the main walk. After dress parade ranks were closed and a hollow square formed. The members of the graduating class were ordered to the front and center, and after a short address, Admiral Porter presented the diplomas.

With the growing reputation of the Academy as the finest naval school in the world, it was to be expected that foreign navies and governments would send observers to witness the drills and ceremonies of graduation week. Captain Sattig, of the Imperial German Navy, together with the other officers of the Prussian school-ship Nymphe, visited the exercises on June 10, 1879. Later classes entertained many other foreign dignitaries at commencement time; the Class of 1900, for example, graduated in the presence of a Turkish Admiral and a Japanese Chargé d'Affaires, and the Class of 1907 in the presence of Admiral Thierry and other officers of the French Navy. For the most part, however, the distinguished visitors have been Americans, eminent naval officers, political figures, and educators. Among the Presidents of the United States who have addressed graduating classes, in addition to those already mentioned, were Garfield, who addressed '81; Theodore Roosevelt, who spoke to the Classes of '02 and '05; Taft, who presented diplomas to the Class of '12; Wilson ('14 and '16), Harding ('21), Coolidge ('25), and Franklin D. Roosevelt ('33 and '38). The Army too has been ably represented at Naval Academy graduations by such celebrities as General Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur, who was the principal speaker on June 8, 1894; and General Horace Porter who was guest of honor on June 5, 1908.

The graduation of 1883 is still remembered for a most unfortunate incident which occurred at the very height of the ceremony, that moment when the graduates are about to receive their diplomas. The exercises began as usual with an address by Representative R. T. Mills, of Texas. His theme was obedience to orders of superiors, and he used a Biblical example, a rather negative one, Saul, who disobeyed the Almighty. "Saul was broken of his rank, and I expect there was some 'groaning' there." The midshipmen listened with the greatest (apparent) interest, and even applauded those points in the speech which by implication criticized their conduct in cheering and groaning, which they often indulged in, though such noisemaking was forbidden by the regulations.

The Superintendent of the Academy, Captain Ramsay, then arose to deliver the diplomas. Behind him, seated on the platform, were a number of distinguished guests. According to a witness, the Captain,

with his cocked hat in his hand, . . . leaned against the desk, and looked straight forward into the audience. His lips were seen to work, but few of the spectators heard what he said. The name of Dana S. Greene, Jr., the honor man of the Class, was then called. As Cadet Greene stepped forward to receive his diploma, a number of cadets broke into cheers, the usual course on commencement day when a favorite steps to the front to receive the testimony of his graduation. In an instant the scene changed as Captain Ramsay said: "You show your insubordination and attempt to disgrace yourselves and the Naval Academy before the eyes of the country. Battalion rise! Those who applauded, march to the front!" and there, to the astonishment of the spectators, twenty cadets left the ranks and formed around the platform before the indignant Superintendent. Turning to Lieutenant Greene, who had followed the cadets, Captain Ramsay said: "Take them to the Santee until further orders." Several of the convicted cadets' parents were present, and saw their sons march off to prison and nobody seemed to know what for.

These midshipmen—three were members of the graduating class—marched out of the Chapel, some with smiles, some with expressions of conscious innocence, and some with expressions of shame.

The diplomas were then handed to the remaining graduates in funereal silence, the situation being exceedingly painful and gloomy. This over, all the cadets were marched out to the new quarters, where they were dismissed. Then it was discovered . . . that the first words Captain Ramsay had spoken were that there should be no applauding, and the cadets, like nearly all the audience, had not heard them. Officers and cadets crowded around the Superintendent and represented the situation, and the Captain ordered all who had not heard the order to be released. In an hour the cadets were once more at liberty. Before the order had reached the Santee, all the cadets had signed a pledge, on their honor, that they had not heard the order of the Superintendent. [The Army and Navy Journal correspondent blamed the faulty acoustics of the Chapel.]

It is understood that information had reached Captain Ramsay that it was the intention of the cadets to humiliate one of the graduates by applauding all of the others, and receiving his name in dead silence. It was to prevent this that he gave the order not to applaud.

The aftermath of the matter was that the graduates refused to have their graduation ball at Annapolis and instead held a banquet at the Riggs House in Washington on the following Saturday night. "As may be imagined, there was anything else but good spoken of the present Superintendent" upon that occasion.⁵

A similar infraction of rules, but on a much smaller scale, took place during the exercises on June 3, 1892, when a midshipman named McDonald, the cadet Lieutenant-Commander, was placed under arrest for proposing three cheers for a particular department.

When was it that midshipmen were allowed to elect the Marine Corps as their branch of the service? An Act of Congress, passed August 5, 1882, permitted appointment of Academy graduates to fill vacancies in the lists of officers in the Marine Corps. The first man to take advantage of this law was Herbert Lemuel Droper of the Class of '87, but as he had to serve his two years at sea, he did not become part of the Corps until 1889. Four members of the Class of '88 decided to become Marine officers. One of them, John A. Lejeune, later became a major general and commandant of the Corps. The Class of '89 furnished the Marines with six graduates, and since then a varying percentage of each class have been commissioned second lieutenants in the Marine Corps.

In 1897 the United States began to make serious preparations for intervention in the Spain-Cuba situation; on February 15, 1898, the Maine was blown up; on March 11, the Army was mobilized; and on April 2, the Academy's Class of '98 was graduated and all but one man detached for sea duty. Twenty-two days later war was declared and the contest was on. Because of the war the Class of '99 was also graduated early, on January 28, and Rear Admiral Lewis A. Kimberley, U. S. Navy (Retired), who gave the address, handed to each of the 53 graduates, along with their diplomas, a set of orders, taking them off to duty in the Fleet.

The next two classes graduated at the usual time, but the exercises for 1902 were, for some reason, held early in May. President Roosevelt arrived in the Yard at 9:45 on May 2, and after reviewing the battalion, he proceeded to the bandstand and delivered his famous shots-that-hit address:

Officers and men alike must have the sea-habit; officers and men alike must realize that in battle the only shots that count are the shots that hit, and that normally the victory will lie with the side whose shots hit oftenest. Seamanship and marksmanship—these must be the two prime objects of your training, both for yourselves and for the men under you.

After presenting the diplomas, the President visited the hospital and there personally delivered to Midshipman Emory S. Land (now head of the Maritime Commission), who was ill, a sheepskin which Admiral Land has probably treasured the more for the manner of its delivery. In the afternoon the President watched with interest and enthusiasm the evolutions of the new submarine Holland.

The Classes of '03, '04, '05, and '06 were graduated at the half-year, that is, either early in February or late in January, and '07 graduated in three sections: I, on September 12, 1906; II, on February 11, 1907; and III, on June 6. The reason for this was the unusual need for junior officers in the Fleet during the program of dreadnought building. The Class of '08 went back on the June schedule, and each succeeding class graduated at the regular time until 1917, when the exigencies of war once again required an early ceremony on March 29. During those years in which there were early commencement exercises, the June Week festivities were held just the same, with addresses by members of the Board of Visitors, sports events, and "hops." In June Week, 1904, the ceremonies included the laying of the cornerstone of the New Chapel (June 3), the speakers for the occasion being Mr. William H. Moody, Secretary of the Navy, and Admiral of the Navy George Dewey. June 11, 1906, was the occasion for the presentation of a portrait of John Paul Jones to the Academy by the Class of '81, at which ceremony Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte spoke.

The most familiar item of the Academy's graduation exercises today is the throwing up of the caps by the graduates. This custom dates back to 1912. An Act of Congress of May 7 of that year did away with the requirement that midshipmen put in two years at sea before receiving their commissions. The Class of '12 being the first to receive their commissions directly upon graduation, they threw up their hats for two reasons: one, because they were happy to be Ensigns; two, because they didn't need their midshipman hats any more. Families and friends do, however, value these articles as souvenirs.

The Class of 1913 was addressed by Secretary Josephus Daniels, and that of 1914 by President Wilson. At 8:30 on June 13, 1914, the President and Secretary Daniels arrived on the Mayflower; they were saluted by the cruising squadron Missouri, Illinois, and Idaho in Annapolis Roads, and again fifteen minutes later by the guns of the Reina Mercedes. President Wilson's address to the graduating midshipmen reflected both his idealism and his background as a teacher. He spoke of the naval officers' duty as teachers of 50,000 enlisted men, and warned them against adopting what he called the "professional attitude"; he reminded them of their responsibility to live and act as sample Americans because they would be representing America in all parts of the world. "The idea of America is to serve humanity," said he, and he expressed his thoughts concerning the manner in which the flag symbolized that idea.

You are not serving a government, gentlemen; you are serving a people. For we who for the time being constitute the Government are merely instruments for a little while in the hands of a great nation which chooses whom it will to carry out its decrees and who invariably rejects the man who forgets the ideals which it intended him to serve. So that I hope that wherever you go you will have a generous, comprehending love of the people you come into contact with, and will come back and tell us, if you can, what service the United States can render to the remotest parts of the world. . . . I want you to take these engines of force out onto the seas like adventurers enlisted for the elevation of the spirit of the human race. For that is the only distinction that America has.

Such serious but enthusiastic idealism could not fail to impress the graduates. After the ceremonies were over, they formed in a serpentine dance on the floor of the Armory singing "Out of the Wilderness" and "There's No More Rivers to Cross." Up went the fountain of white caps, and the Class of '14 issued forth with the concluding words of the President ringing in their ears:

We must strike out upon new paths and we must Count upon you. . . to be the explorers who will carry this spirit and spread this message all over the sea and in every part of the civilized world.