172 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



51. JOHN WOODWARD PHILIP. 



JOHN WOODWARD PHILIP was born at Kinderhook, Columbia county, New 

 York, August 26, 1840. He entered the Naval Academy September 1856, and 

 in July 1862 was commissioned lieutenant. Until 1865 he was executive officer 

 of the Chippewa, Pawnee, and Montauk in succession, blockading the South Atlan- 

 tic seaboard. After the war he was executive officer of various flagships. For 

 two years he commanded a Pacific mail steamer; in April 1877 he commanded the 

 Woodruff scientific expedition around the world, and for several years was assigned 

 to survey work on the coast of Mexico and Central America. He was given vari- 

 ous commands, was inspector of the cruiser New York while building, was for three 

 years commandant of the Boston navy-yard, and in October 1897 was given com- 

 mand of the battleship Texas. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war the 

 Texas went with Commodore Schley's squadron to the south coast of Cuba. In May 

 1898 they lay off the entrance of Santiago harbor, and on July 3, when Cervera's 

 fleet essayed to escape from the harbor, the 12-inch shells of the Texas did remark- 

 able execution and the Texas was herself little damaged. At the close of the war 

 Philip was made commodore and placed in command of the North Atlantic squad- 

 ron. He was commandant of the Brooklyn navy-yard from 1899 until his death 

 the next year. 



Philip was prevailingly of the nervous type of temperament, with little tendency 

 to repress his emotions. "As a boy he was full of pranks; was in all the devilry 

 in a mild form which his mates indulged in chalking the teacher's rush-bottomed 

 chair, freezing up the academy bell so that it couldn't be rung, shooting beans 

 from the back of a large hall at the time of an 'exhibition' of compositions and 

 recitals at the Academy. With a deep-seated belief in democracy, he caught a 

 long-haired son of a rich family and filled his hair with burrs, so that the hair had 

 to be cut off. While still in his kilts he would fight his brother at family prayers. 

 At the Academy he led a hazing party that tarred and feathered an unpopular 

 midshipman. His humor was irrepressible. At the Naval Academy he would 

 get his section laughing while he sat stolid; he received demerits almost daily 

 for loud laughing in the mess-hall. Indeed, in his course, he received more than 

 the maximum of demerit marks, mostly for loud laughing, smoking a pipe, or 

 endeavoring to cover the shortcomings of others." 



His initiative was shown when at 8 years of age his father sent him to drive 

 a horse and carriage to an adjoining town. When but a short distance from home 

 a wheel of the carriage broke down. Instead of returning home he unhitched 

 the horse, got on his back, went on to a smithy, ordered the wheel repaired, rode 

 on to fulfil his errand and on returning picked up the repaired vehicle. As a young 

 lieutenant, left in charge of the ship off Havana harbor, which the captain thought 

 wise not to try to enter because of adverse winds, he brought the ship into the 

 harbor. As an executive officer he was remarkably successful in obtaining favor 

 and respect of his commanding officers. 



He was honorable. Even as a boy he paid for the pane of glass in a neigh- 

 bor's house which he accidentally broke with a stone. He resented having his 

 word doubted. 



He early had a nomadic tendency. As a boy he wrote on the flyleaf of a book: 

 'Would I were a missionary." 



