SAMPSON 



31S3 



SAMSON 



., , , Because he was not present 



the harbor, dur i ng mos t of the Battle of 



the son of Irish immigrants. William went to 



the public schools and studied at home, in 



1857 was appointed midshipman in the United 



States Naval Academy, and was graduated in 



1861, just at the beginning of the War of Se- 



cession. The next 



year, following 



sen-ice on the 



Potomac, he was 



advanced to the 



rank of second 



lieutenant. Later, 



asexecutive officer 



on the Patapsco, 



he was ordered to 



clear the Charles- 



ton harbor of 



mines and torpe- 



does, and suc- 



ceeded in enter- REAR-ADMIRAL SAMPSON 



ing 



but his ship 



blown up, and Commodore Schley, the parti- 

 a sans of each engaged in a bit- 



Sampson was ter controversy over the ques- 

 rescued 150 feet tlon of honors for the victory. 

 from the wreck. He was then made lieutenant- 

 commander, and in 1866 served on the Colo- 

 rado, the flagship of the European squadron. 

 From 1868 to 1871 he was an instructor in the 

 Naval Academy. 



Sampson held many positions of trust, among 

 others those of assistant superintendent of the 

 United States naval observatory, superintend- 

 ent of the Naval Academy, delegate to the in- 

 ternational maritime conference, presiding offi- 

 cer on the board of inquiry into the sinking of 

 the Maine, and member of the commission to 

 arrange for the evacuation of Cuba. 



In 1889 he was made captain on the first 

 modern steel cruiser, and in 1897 was com- 

 mander of the battleship Iowa. At the out- 

 break of the Spanish-American War in 1898 he 

 was given charge of the North Atlantic squad- 

 ron, and was commander-in-chief of the United 

 States naval forces off the coast of Cuba. 

 Sampson was in charge of the blockade of San- 

 tiago Harbor, but while he was at Siboney 

 conferring with General Shafter, who com- 

 manded the land forces, the Spanish fleet at- 

 tempted to escape, and Sampson only reached 

 Santiago in tmx to witness the last of the bat- 

 tle, which in his absence had been directed by 

 Winncld Scott Schley. In 1899 he was ad- 

 vanced to the rank of rear-admiral. He took 

 command of the Charleston navy yards, but 

 withdrew from active service when he reached 



his sixty-second year, the age of retirement. 

 Sampson died in Washington, D. C., May 6. 

 1902. He was considered one of the highest 

 authorities on ordnance. 



Related Subject*. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Santiago, Battle of Shafter. William Rufus 



Schley, Winfleld Scott Spanish-American War 



SAM 'SON, a popular hero and judge of the 

 ancient Hebrews, famed for remarkable strength. 

 The story of his life is told in the Bible in 

 chapters fourteen to sixteen of the book of 

 Judges. 



Before his birth, Samson's mother was com- 

 manded by an angel to bring up the child as a 

 Nazarite, which meant that he must never 

 drink wine, eat "unclean things" or cut his hair. 

 When Samson fell in love with a Philistine 

 woman and she proved faithless, he took re- 

 venge by setting fire to the fields and vineyards 

 of her people. The Philistines retaliated by 

 forcing Samson's countrymen to surrender him 

 into their power. Then "the Spirit of tin- 

 Lord came upon him;" he broke his bonds, and 

 with the jawbone of an ass killed a thousand 

 of his enemies. Later they conspired to recap- 

 ture this dreaded foe by locking the city gates 

 of Gaza to prevent his escape, but he tore out 

 doors, posts and all, and carried them to a 

 hilltop forty miles away. 



Samson's downfall finally came about through 

 a Philistine woman named Delilah. Coaxing 

 from him the secret that his strength lay in 

 his unshorn locks, she treacherously cut tin in 

 off while he slept. He was imprisoned and 

 blinded. When the great festival of their god 

 Dagon arrived, the Philistines gathered by 

 thousands in the temple to gloat over Samson's 

 defeat. But during his captivity his hair had 

 again grown long, bringing back his fonm T 

 might, and, with a prayer for power, he pulled 

 down the two great pillars which supp 

 the roof. The temple collapsed, and thus "the 

 dead which he slew at his death were more than 

 they which he slrw in his life." According to 

 Biblical history, all this happened in 1113 i< 



The life of Samson forms the basis of Mil- 

 fc drama, Samson Agonist cs, and also of tin- 

 opera Samson and Delilah, by Saint-Saens. 

 Many students find in the story traces of an- 

 cient sun myths, and some compare his ex- 

 ploits to the famous Twelve Labors of H 

 lea in Greek mythology; in fact, Samson is 

 i called "the Jewish Hercules." L.M.B. 



Consult Carus'a The Story of Samson and Its 

 I'l<, in the Religious Development of Mankind. 



