Georgia's Naval Militia: Still Authorized, Still Ignored, and Still Disbanded
From all walks of life--physician, grocer, dredger, educator, politician--they came to drill once a week in the years prior to the Spanish-American War and during the first decade of a new century. These were the men who served Georgia in the Naval Militia from 1895 until about 1908. They served in a arduous role, patrolling the tidal creeks and rivers along the coast of Georgia in the days when muscle power was the most common method of propulsion in those waters. Called variously, the Naval Reserve Artillery or the Naval Battalion, the Naval Militia was little known at the time. It is remembered even less today.
The Act creating the Naval Militia of Georgia was approved by the General Assembly on December 19, 1893. Little more than a year later Companies A and B of the Naval Reserve Artillery were organized in Brunswick and Savannah, Georgia, respectively.
After their organizational activities, Naval Militia officers and men hoped to train with Navy regulars on the U. S. S. "Atlanta," a cruiser class vessel, during the unit's first summer training tour. Enthused about the militia's future, Governor William Y. Atkinson and his staff even planned to join the training adventure. Instead of the "Atlanta", however, the cruiser, "Passport" actually transported the Georgia seamen for their training mission. During their tour the Georgia Naval Militiamen participated in a joint sea-land military exercise near Savannah. Whether Governor Atkinson tested his sea legs is unknown, though he did travel with the Brunswick Rifles by train to Savannah.
With military training successfully started, the Naval Militia's image in the community was also promoted with the formation of a Naval Marine Band. This was the first Marine Band organized in the South, and many members were enlisted from the famous "Atlantic Band." The Band was quartered in the Naval Armory in Brunswick and John Baumgartner, a well-known cornetist, was chosen leader. The Marine Band accompanied the Georgia militiamen on the U. S. S. "Passport" during the first summer training tour.
During the second tour of the Naval Reserve Artillery in 1896, both Company A and Company B served aboard the U. S. S. "Amphitrite"
Summer training aboard "Amphitrite" also provided an opportunity to test some odd lodging and feeding operations. Company A personnel were required to lodge and eat ashore during the tour, since the "Amphitrite" could not provide quarters or rations. Lieutenant Aiken, Commander of Company A, arranged for the St. Simon's Transit Company to provide transportation from the unit's armory, 502 1/2 Gloucester Street, to St. Simon's Sound each day and, the side-wheeler "Pope Catlin" delivered the crew for daily meals near the St. Simon's Lighthouse.
Following summer training, members of Brunswick's Company A made a trip to Washington apparently to secure additional federal help, and reaped some success. Upon their return, the "Passaic," a monitor some 200 feet long, had been permanently secured for use by the Militia in Brunswick. The "Passaic," originally built for service in the Civil War, arrived in Brunswick July 30, 1896 and was used for the next two years by the Georgia Naval Militia. A newspaper account of the arrival proclaims that "It was the proudest moment in many of their lives when they set their feet on the Passaic."
Four years later (1900), federal assistance had continued to improve and the Naval Battalion, now under Commander Aiken, drilled aboard the U. S. S. "Prairie" from May 20 to 28. The "Prairie" sortied from Brunswick and traveled up the coast to Virginia's York River where drills in gunnery and signaling were held.
Besides their shipboard activities and training, the Naval Militia participated in civic functions and celebrations. A parade was held in Brunswick on November 30, 1899, with 114 officers and men present. (Admiral) Dewey Day, March 21, 1900, saw 103 officers and men on parade in Savannah.
Though feted by townsfolk and respected by their peers, the Naval Militia still suffered from inadequate funding and the problems that it sparked. In his annual report to the Adjutant-General for 1900, Commander Aiken raised the concern--a problem which may have spelled the beginning of the end for an active Naval Militia in Georgia--about the lack of uniforms for the men of the Naval Militia. Noting that land forces were provided uniforms, Aiken wrote, in despair, "The free distribution by the State of uniforms to the land forces, and their inability to do so for my command, has had a very depressing effect on same." Therefore, Aiken recommended, "that every effort be made to furnish uniforms to them in some way without cost to individuals."
The galling problem of lack of uniforms and its effect on his command again occupied Commander Aiken's report of September 5, 1902. "It is indeed hard to explain to our men who know that all the rest of the service are furnished with uniforms, while they cannot be," wrote Aiken.
The morale problem caused by the uniform controversy was not limited just the unit at Brunswick. Commander Colding in Savannah complained bitterly about the lack of naval uniforms. He declared in his report to the Adjutant General of December 31, 1903, "The Battalion is not in the condition it should be and this is caused entirely by the State not being able to uniform the men. In the past the men have provided their own uniforms, but they do not feel able and are unwilling to do so any longer."
The uniform problem reached a crisis in 1905. Some earlier attempts to outfit the Naval Militia with khaki uniforms, probably from the other state services, had not been received well. This caused a morale problem of such magnitude that Commander Colding took matters in his own hands. "The men," he averred, "were so dissatisfied by the khaki uniforms and their unsailor-like appearance, it was hard for their officers to get them to re-enlist, and it was more than apparent that the days of the Naval Battalion were numbered unless something was done at once." Consequently Colding personally purchased eighty-four navy caps, blue shirts and trousers. To justify the purchases and request reimbursement, he believed that, "... by so doing [he] saved this batallion [sic] to the State, and I sincerely hope that your office [Adjutant General] will reimburse me in part, if not in full, out of the money appropriated by the last Legislature for the equipment of the militia."
Despite the morale problem generated by the lack of uniforms, the Naval Militia kept up their weekly drills. Indeed, in 1902, the Naval Battalion in Brunswick received a twelve-oared cutter from the U. S. Navy. This cutter was used in the reconnaissance work in the rivers around Brunswick. By 1903, the Brunswick unit had raised $300 to build a boat house for their cutter, and the 2nd Division in Savannah completed a boat house at the foot of Abercorn Street which cost $400. Indeed, Commander Colding was able to attend the 1903 summer naval maneuvers on the coast of Maine. From August 23 to August 26, he served aboard the battleship "Illinois" and observed fleet operations and a mock attack on forts near Portland, Maine.
By 1908 there was no further mention of the Georgia Naval Militia to be found in the Adjutant-General's Reports. Victims of severe morale problems caused by lack of State funding, overwhelmed by rules promulgated for a land service,
Though the Naval Militia survived as an functioning state military force for only about 15 years, many Georgians might be surprised to know that the Naval Militia today remains an authorized, but unmanned, part of Georgia's military forces.
1. Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of Georgia January 1, 1903 to December 31, 1905, Atlanta: N.P., 1905, p. 117. [Hereafter referred to as Report.] The Georgia Naval Militia remains authorized in the Official Code of Georgia in Title 38 (OCGA 38-2-22).
2. Brunswick Times - Advertiser, February 12, 1895. In most cases, page numbers for the Brunswick newspaper articles were unavailable. Thanks to the following members of the Brunswick-Glynn Regional Library for their assistance in obtaining local newspaper accounts of the Georgia Naval Militia activities: Jane Hildebrand, Jimmy Smith and Marcia Hodges.
3. Brunswick Times - Advertiser, May 14, 1895.
4. Brunswick Times - Advertiser, April 28, 1895. The Atlantic Band seems to have been a locally known group. Apparently, the Band had won notoriety as the "Champion of the South." Disbanded in 1895, the members appear to have volunteered for service in the Brunswick Marine Band. It is unclear as to the exact nature of the Marine Band. Vance's Brunswick City Directory, Volume 11, 1898, page 44, lists the military companies and bands separately. This directory indicates that the Marine Band was organized on June 5, 1895. The address of both the Naval Militia and the Brunswick Marine Band are the same, and it appears that the Marine Band accompanied the Naval Militia on some occasions. The Brunswick Marine Band is not mentioned in the Report of the Adiutant General nor is it mentioned under the "band" category in the 1903 Brunswick City Directory.
5. Captain William C. Wise, U.S.N., commanded the "Amphitrite" during the summer training in 1896. The "Amphitrite" was launched in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1883, probably a completely rebuilt Civil War-era ship. She was 262 feet long with a beam of 55 feet and drew 14 feet of water. The "Amphitrite" had a complement of 171 officers and men. She served in the Spanish-American War where the ship bombarded San Juan, Puerto Rico and Cardenas, Cuba. "Amphitrite" put ashore a landing party which held Cape San Juan lighthouse from a superior Spanish force, August 6-9, 1898. After the war, "Amphitrite" served as a gunnery training ship, station ship at Guantanamo, Cuba, from 1904-1907. She was decommissioned in 1907 and assigned to the Missouri, Louisiana, and Connecticut naval militias until WWI. During WWI she was a training vessel and guard ship for New York Harbor. She was sold, probably for scrap, in 1920. "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships," (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Naval History Division, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1970) Vol. 5. Thanks to Renee Hylton-Green, Historian, National Guard Bureau, for providing this information about "Amphitrite."
6. The actual address of the armory building was 503 1/2 Gloucester Street. The building was renovated in 1987. See records located in the Brunswick Historical Society and the Brunswick Times - Advertiser, June 14, 1896.
7. [Anon], "Passaic In the Harbor', Brunswick Evening Advertiser, Brunswick, Georgia, July 30, 1896, 1. The "Passaic" was a single turret, coastal monitor, built by Continental Iron Works, Greenport, New York, under subcontract from John Erriccson. It was launched August 30, 1862, and saw service in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Hampton Roads, Virginia. While at the Washington Navy Yard, "Passaic" was visited by President Lincoln and members of his cabinet on December 6, 1862. "Passaic" saw service in the assault on Fort McAllister and in the assault on Charleston, South Carolina. "Passaic" was decommissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1865 and was laid up there from 1866 to 1874. Repaired and recommissioned in 1876, "Passaic" saw varied service and was stationed at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, from 1893 to 1894. After a tour of two years with the Georgia Naval Militia at Brunswick, Georgia, "Passaic" saw service at Key West and Pensacola, Florida, during the Spanish-American War. She was decommissioned at Pensacola, Florida, on September 11, 1898, and was sold in 1899. "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships," (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Naval History Division, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1970) Vol. 5, 222-3.
8. Ibid. About 200 passengers had boarded a small ship, the "Dauntless", to meet the Passaic as she was towed into Brunswick. U. S. S. "Columbia" towed "Passaic" from Boston until she was met by the "Dauntless." Georgia Naval Militia, under Lieutenant Aiken, relieved the naval personnel at sea, and "Columbia" transferred the towing to "Inca" which delivered the "Passaic" to the docks at Brunswick. See the Brunswick Times - Advertiser, July 30,1896, 1.
9. Report, Atlanta: N. P., 1900, p. 196.
10. Report, Atlanta: N. P., 1902, pp. 44-46.
11. Report, Atlanta: N. P., 1903, pp. 184-187. The Report lists the strength of the Naval Battalion at 14 officers and 113 men.
12. Report, Atlanta: N. P., 1905, pp. 116-118. Despite the state funding problems, the Navy Department responded to a request from the Naval Battalion, through the Adjutant General's office for a thirty-foot gasoline launch. The Naval Battalion received the launch November 5, 1905. The launch was used in the Savannah area.
13. Ibid., p. 116.
14. Ibid., p. 117. Commander Colding comments unfavorably on the requirement of attendance at all assemblies. He indicates that several men from the same ship cannot all be present at the same time without running the risk of leaving their ships or boats without sufficient crew to operate.