The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 10, 1898, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY,' JULY 10, 1898. MiLLER Admiral Miller has been appointed by the United States Government to raise the stars and stripes over the new territorp of Hawail. { H stinguished honor of ra the Stars and Stripes over:the islands of the Hawaiian republic, upon the final comple of an- nexation to the United States, has fallen to the lot of Rear Admiral Joseph N. Miller. He will sail r Honolulu Ju ) on the United States cruiser Philadelphia. Work on the Philc.delphia is being rushed for the voyage. The United States ship Mohican is now at Honolulu, and, with the Ben- nington, will participate in the demon- stration. It may be possible that the Philippine troops to sail on the City of Puebla and the Peru on Tuesday or Wednesday next will be ordered to re- main at Honolulu until after the hoist- ing of the American flag. The famous New York First Regiment is already on the way here to be stationed on the islands. In that event there will be quite a milltary and naval Csplay. A regiment of infantry and two batteries of artillery will very likely be sent to Honolulu to participate in the celebra- tion. The annexation pro occupy some time, thus giving Philadelphia an opportunity after all to be present at the union of the two re- publi It was on Friday that Rear Admiral Miller received word from Washington that he is to be the naval representa- tive of the United St s at the annexa- tion ceremoni and se the American colors over the newly acquired terri- tory. Just what form of ceremony will be followed in the up of our na- tional standard is nc yet definitely known, it being a somewhat unprece- dented ev in the history of our country. me .detailed instructions are of cou expected from Washing- ton by Rear Admiral Miller, but the probability is that the arrangement of the programme will be left largely to his discretion, acting, of e, in con- junction with United Sta Minister Sewall, who will retain his office until the islands are absolutely annexed. The culmination of that event may be de- termined by the five commissioners ap- pointed by the President, and who will decide how the new territory is to be governed, they, of course, receiving in- structions from the Department of State. The commission which will carefully study the needs of the Hawaiians and frame the necesary laws for the future government of that Teritory is made up of Senators Cullom and Morgan, Representative Hitt, President Dole and Associate Justice Frear of the Ha- waiian Supreme Court. It is understood that a Territorial form of government will be framed, which contemplates a Legislature, with full power to enact laws for local gov- ernment, and executive officers who will | control land and international affair A postoffice inspector, who will make a :eds of the Hawaiian is already on his way there from | ington. It is ught that it take the comm )n a year to form of government for the | new Territory. The outline ¢f the annexation .pro-| ceedings and the flag-raising ceremony, according to the ideas of Reai Admiral | Miller, who has already given the mat- ter nsiderable thought, is substan- s follows: | United States Minister Sewall and the Hawaiian Government will be | formally notified of the action of the 1 Congress of the United States, and | a day will be fixed on which ghe President and members of the Ha- waiian Government will assemble with their troops at the executive| building. The United States Gov- | ernment will be repesented by its| JMinister, and the commander-in-chief of the naval forces and the officers and men of his command. The five| commissioners, if appointed in time, | will be present and the proclamation | of the President of the United States, | together with his Instructions, will | be read to the assembly by Minister} Sewall. The President of the Ha- | waiian republic will then make the | announcement that the transfer of | the islands to the United States is| in accordance with the approval of | the people through their legislative representatives, the resolutions of the | American Congress of course having | meantime been accepted by the Ha- | waiian Legislature. This action on; the part of the Legislature can be | quickly taken, but if that body is| not in session it will have to be spe- | cially convened, and this may delay | the flag-hoisting climax a week or two. When all ‘this preliminary busi- ness has been completed the Ha- waiian flag will be saluted for the last time, and then hauled down by President Dole, never to be raisea again, except, perhaps, on anniver- sary day, as a souvenir of this im- portant epoch in the history of the islanders. In its place Rear Admiral | Miller will hoist the stars and' | to the breeze, indicating that another | | all probability, become Governor of e — thusiastic salute. and there by Rear Admiral Miller The moment our flag is unfurled | or Minister Sewall. Then there will be cheers, .clasping of ands, patriotic music and eloquent and speec followed, of course, banqguet at which no doubt cham- ne will materially contribute to the happiness and hilarity of the occasion. The sum of $100,000 has been appro- ted by gress to pay the expenses of the commission and the transfer, and it is but fair to presume that a portion s money will be expended in the tion in honor of “Old Glory's” | new star—the gem of the Pacific. Rear Admiral Miller, the ranking offi- | ger in the navy, on whom the hcnor of hoisting our flag over Hawaii falls, has had a long and honorable and eventful career in the navy, extending over a eriod of forty-seven years. He was in Springfield, Ohio, in 1836. Re- ceiving a high school education, he was appointed to the N3jval Academy as acting midshipman = October 1, 1851, aduating in June, 1854, and standing No. 3 in his class and first in mathe- matics. For the next two years or more young Miller served on board the flagship Independence in the Pacific squadron. It was forty-three years ago | that he came around the Horn to San | Francisco on the Independence, which | since 1856 has been doing duty as a re- | ceiving ship and has been for many | years located at Mare Island Navy Yard. After this cruise Miller was ordered | to duty at the Naval Academy in the department of ethics and English stud- | ies. From November, 1858, to Septem- | ber, 1860, he served on the Preble, being | in the Paraguay expedition and in the | home squadron, assisting in the cap- | ture of the steamers General Miramon | and Marquis de la Habana off Vera Cruz, Mexico, on March 6, 1860. Returning to the Naval Academy at 0000000000000 00000 star has been added to the Federal | constellation, President Dole will, in the new territory by virtue of a com- mission from President McKinley, | N Friday, the 18th of October, 1867, the Russian and United States Commissioners, Captain Alexei Pestchourof and General L. H. Rousseau, escorted by a com- pany of the Ninth Infantry, landed at Novo Arkhangelsk, or Sitka, from the United States steamer John L. Ste- phens. Marching to the Governor’s resi- dence they were drawn up side by side with the Russian garrison on the sum- mit of the rock where floated the Rus- sian flag; ‘‘whereupon,” writes an eye-witness of the proceedings, “Captain Pestchourof ordered the Rus- sian flag hauled down, and thereby, with brief declaration, transferred and delivered the territory of Alaska to the United States; the garrison presented arms and the Russian batteries and our men-of-war fired the international salute; a brief reply of acceptance was made as the Stars and Stripes were run up and similarly saluted, and we stood upon the soil of the United States.” i | Thus, without further ceremony, without evening banqueting or speech- j making, this vast area of land, belong- riga . oL ST | THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONOLULU, WHERE THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER WILL BE RAISED BY ADMIRAL MILLER WHEN HE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE TERRITORY FOR THE UNITED STATES. | stripes, which will be given an en~i which will be presented to him then the end of this cruise he remained there as an instructor until the break- | ing out of the civil war in 1861, when he was ordered to the brig Perry, then fitting out in New York. This vessel was employed in blockade duty, and on June 3, 1861, captured off Charleston the privateer Savannah, which s under the first letter of marque i by the Southern Confederacy. vember,, 1861, Miller w; tra; to the steamer Cambridge as executive officer, and was in the action in which the Cumberland and the Congress were destroyed by the Merrimac March 12, 1862. In May he was transferred to the training ship John Adams, and in August at his own application for ac- tive service he was assigned to the monitor Passaic, having been pro- moted to the rank of lieutenant com- mander. ‘While attached to the Passaic he par- ticipated in the naval attack on Fort McAllister, in March, 1863, and in the attack on Fort Sumter in April. In igned to duty with Ad- perintending the con- struction of ironclads at New York, and in Septen.ber he was sent on the ironclad Saugamon to assist in block- ading Charleston. Lieutenant Miller was given his first active war command. the monitor Na- hant, in April, 1864, and the next month took part with that ship in an attack on Fort Sumter. Later, while on the monitor Monadnock, he was engaged in both attacks on Fort Fisher, in De- cember, 1864, and January, 1865. After the war he was successively head of the Denartments of Seaman- ship and English Studies, until in Sep- tember, 1867, he was ordered to the steamer Powhattan in the South Pacific squadron and served on tlat vessel in the ™acific and Gulf of Mexico until January, 1870, when he was promoted to commander. After a short stay at HOW THE STARS AND STRIPES WERE RAISED OVER ALASKA, 1867 the New York navy yard Commander 000000000000 00000 ing by right to neither, was transferred from one European race to the offshoot | of another. No sooner had the’ transfer been made than General Davis demanded the barracks for his troops, taking pos- session, moreover, of all the buildings, and this, although the improvements of whatever kind were undoubtedly the property of the Russian-American Company, the Russian Government having no right whatever to transfer them. In “Whymper’s Alaska” and in some of the Pacific Coast newspapers it is stated that the Russian flag, when be- ing lowered, clung to the yard-arm. The following version of the affair was pub- lished at the time: ‘A sailor was or- dered up the flagstaff, and had actually to cut the flag into shreds before he could take it down. When the Amer- ican flag reached the top of the staff it hung lifeless, until, at the first boom of the saluting Russian = artillery, it gave a convulsive shudder, and at the second gun it shook out its starry folds and proudly floated in the breeze.”— From “Bancroft's History of Alaska.” Miller was ordered as chief of staff to the South Pacific station, serving that capacity until December, 1872, and also for a considerable period as com- mander of the Ossipee. In November, 1 after a short ser- vice as executive officer of th¢ naval station at 'New London and as assist- ant hydrographer in Washington, Mil- | ler was ordered to the command of the \ Ajax, which was sent to Key West in v NATIvE DANCE Hawanan ~ POANTANAS . in } of trouble with Spaln. anticipation After the threatened trouble had passed he -vas again ordered to the hydro- graphic office, and in August, 1876, was given the command of the United States steamer Tuscarora and ordered to run a line of deep sea soundings from the Hawaiian Islends “'to” the Fijis and Australia. Miller then served on shore duty as assistant td the Bureau of Yards and Dock f the lighthouse district lakes Huron, Michigan and Superi ~ and on special duty at the Na Department. His promotion to captain came in 1881, and since that time he has com- manded the receiving ships Wabash and Vermont, the flagship Teanessee of the North Atlantic squadron, the flag- ship Chicago of the squadron of evo- lution, and as captain of the New York navy yard and memler of the Jeannette court of inquir:. * After his promotion to commodore Miller was given the command of the Boston navy yard, and on his promo- tion to the grade of rear admiral in March, 1897, on the retirement of Ad- miral Walker, he was ordered to Eng- land as the naval representative of the United States, hoisting his flag on the armored cruisc Brooklyn. Rear Ad- miral Mill was present in London at the Queen’s Jubilee as naval re.resen- tative, and with his flagship was at the naval review at Spithead. Upon completion of this duty he was given command of the Pacific squad- ron, assuming command. at Hono- lJulu, August 14, 1897, relieving Admiral Beardslee. He remained at Honolulu until last May. During this period he was constantly expecting the annexa- tion of the islands, and the consequent unfurling of the national colors at Hon- olulu -as the signal of the union. The errand upon which he now goes is, therefore, no surprise to him. Rear Admiral Miller, since his return to the United States, has, in addition to his other duties as commander in chief of the Pacific squadron, been placed in charge of the naval defenses of this coast and of the auxiliary naval force. By the retirement of Rear Ad- miral Kirkland on July 4 Miller is now the senior admiral of the navy on the active list. N —_—— It is a fact not generally known that the first and the last stand of the Con- federates were made on land owned by the same man. A part of Bull, Run battlefield was owned by Mr. McLean. After this famous battle he decided to move to a locality where there would be less fear from the ravages of war. By a strange coincidence he took up his abode at Appomattox, which subse- quently proved to be the final battlefleld of the civil war, s