Speaker 1: You are listening to History on Trial, a production of
Speaker 1: iHeart podcasts. Listener Discretion advised the prisoners had to die.
Speaker 1: It wasn't an easy conclusion to reach. Seven officers of
Speaker 1: the USS Summers had spent all of November thirtieth, eighteen
Speaker 1: forty two locked in the wardroom of the ship, questioning witnesses,
Speaker 1: gathering the full story. The next day, December first, they
Speaker 1: presented their findings to their captain, Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie.
Speaker 1: After as dispassionate and deliberate a consideration of the case
Speaker 1: as the exigencies of the time would admit, the officers wrote,
Speaker 1: we have come to a cool, decided, and unanimous opinion
Speaker 1: that the prisoners have been guilty of a full and
Speaker 1: determined intention to commit a mutiny on board of this
Speaker 1: vessel of a most atrocious nature. What was more, the
Speaker 1: letter continued, there was no way to keep the prisoners
Speaker 1: safely away from the rest of the crew and transport
Speaker 1: them back to the United States for court martial. The
Speaker 1: safety of the public property, the lives of ourselves and
Speaker 1: of those committed to our charge, the officers concluded, require
Speaker 1: that the prisoners should be put to death. Who were
Speaker 1: these prisoners? There were three of them. One of them
Speaker 1: was an officer himself, Midshipman Philip Spencer, age eighteen. He
Speaker 1: was alleged to be the ringleader of the mutiny plot.
Speaker 1: His two accomplices were a mismatched pair, the tallest man
Speaker 1: on the ship, Chief Bosun's mate, Samuel Cromwell, and the
Speaker 1: shortest seamen, Elisious Mall. After learning about the mutiny plot,
Speaker 1: Commander Mackenzie had arrested the men, Spencer first on November
Speaker 1: twenty sixth, and then Cromwell and Small on the twenty seventh.
Speaker 1: Even after these arrests, it seemed that the ship was
Speaker 1: not safe. The prisoners were being kept on the quarter deck,
Speaker 1: a raised deck behind the main mast, from which they
Speaker 1: could see the crew at work, and the crew could
Speaker 1: see them. Two Mackenzie and his officers had seen meaningful
Speaker 1: looks and maybe even hand gestures exchanged between the prisoners
Speaker 1: and the crew. How many conspirators did the plot have?
Speaker 1: At any minute, Mackenzie feared some signal would trigger the
Speaker 1: crew to rise up and rebel. That could mean dozens
Speaker 1: of deaths. There were one hundred and twenty Navy sailors
Speaker 1: on board the USS Summers, Commander Mackenzie stealed his resolve.
Speaker 1: Executing prisoners was a grave matter, and it was technically
Speaker 1: outside of his legal rights as a captain, but he
Speaker 1: was convinced that it was the only path forward. Mackenzie
Speaker 1: ordered that Spencer, Cromwell and Small be put to death.
Speaker 1: He called the crew to the deck. If there were
Speaker 1: indeed more conspirators amongst their ranks, Mackenzie wanted them to
Speaker 1: see the consequences of crime. The crew of the US
Speaker 1: Summers watched silently as the three prisoners were informed of
Speaker 1: their fates, and then hung from the yard arm, slowly
Speaker 1: suffocating to death. When the USS Summers arrived back in
Speaker 1: New York two weeks later, bringing news of the attempted
Speaker 1: mutiny and the subsequent executions, the public was horrified about
Speaker 1: the mutiny, that is, not about the hangings. These were
Speaker 1: seen as a difficult but necessary choice made by a
Speaker 1: courageous captain in a terrible situation. But as the Navy
Speaker 1: probed into the events aboard the USS Summers, troubling questions
Speaker 1: began to emerge. Had Mackenzie's actions been justified even worse,
Speaker 1: had this threatened mutiny even been real On December twentieth,
Speaker 1: an anonymous letter published in a washing In, DC newspaper
Speaker 1: alleged that the inquiry conducted by the officers into the
Speaker 1: mutiny had been biased and had denied the prisoner's basic
Speaker 1: civil rights. The letter claimed that the three men had
Speaker 1: been hanged on the basis of extremely thin evidence. The
Speaker 1: letter was only signed s, but many people knew right
Speaker 1: away who had written it. It was Philip Spencer's father,
Speaker 1: John Canfield Spencer, and that meant trouble for Commander Mackenzie.
Speaker 1: Because John Spencer was not just any grieving father. He
Speaker 1: was the United States Secretary of War, and he was
Speaker 1: determined to get justice for his dead son. But could
Speaker 1: the Navy administer justice to one of its own. That
Speaker 1: question would be tested at the court martial of Commander
Speaker 1: Mackenzie in early eighteen forty three, a trial that sparked
Speaker 1: debates over just how far military discipline could go. Welcome
Speaker 1: to history on trial, I'm your host, Mira Hayward. This
Speaker 1: week the court martial of Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie. Philip
Speaker 1: Spencer had always dreamed of going to sea, but not
Speaker 1: with the Navy. No, Philip Spencer wanted to be a pirate.
Speaker 1: Born in eighteen twenty four in Canadagua, New York, Philip
Speaker 1: missed the peak of piracy, a period in the seventeen
Speaker 1: tens and twenties during which some two thousand pirates roamed
Speaker 1: the Atlantic and Caribbean, by a century, but the legend
Speaker 1: of pirates lived on long after their numbers were decimated
Speaker 1: by European naval forces. In eighteen thirty seven, when Philip
Speaker 1: was thirteen, Charles Elms published The Pirate's Own Book, a
Speaker 1: four hundred and thirty two page epic filled with swashbuckling
Speaker 1: tales from the High Seas. The book was so popular
Speaker 1: that it ran for eight editions. It was one of
Speaker 1: Philip Spencer's favorite books. Philip's pirate fantasies were met with
Speaker 1: disapproval by his father, John Canfield Spencer. A brilliant, combative,
Speaker 1: ambitious man. John Spencer wanted great things for his children. Philip,
Speaker 1: the sixth of John Elizabeth Spencer's seven children, always struggled
Speaker 1: to meet his father's expectations. Philip was undeniably bright. He
Speaker 1: had a facility for languages. He quickly picked up Latin
Speaker 1: and Greek, and would later become fluent in Spanish, he
Speaker 1: could give a speech better than almost any of his
Speaker 1: classmates at Geneva College, where he studied in the late
Speaker 1: eighteen thirties, and he was brave in an era before anesthesia.
Speaker 1: Classmates remembered with awe how Philip had refused the traditional
Speaker 1: restraints during surgery to try to correct his wandering eye,
Speaker 1: holding himself still through the agonizing procedure through sheer force
Speaker 1: of will. But the discipline he showed in enduring pain
Speaker 1: did not translate to other areas of his life. He
Speaker 1: neglected his schoolwork, He snuck off campus and into town.
Speaker 1: He drank. In November eighteen forty, when he was sixteen,
Speaker 1: the school cited Philip for participating in what they called,
Speaker 1: hilariously a cider disturbance. We'd probably call it a door party.
Speaker 1: In the spring of eighteen forty one, hoping that a
Speaker 1: change of scenery might do Philip some good, John Spencer
Speaker 1: made his son transfer to Union College. Before he left Geneva,
Speaker 1: Philip gave the school a copy of the Pirate's own book.
Speaker 1: At Union, Philip did not take advantage of his fresh start.
Speaker 1: Instead of focusing on his studies, he devoted himself to
Speaker 1: founding a fraternity, the perfect place to host more cider
Speaker 1: disturbances and to create secret handshakes and codes and rituals,
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that Philip loved. The fraternity Philip
Speaker 1: helped found Kai Sai today has chapters at thirty four
Speaker 1: colleges and universities. John Spencer, however, was not impressed by
Speaker 1: Philip's activities. During the eighteen thirties, the elder Spencer's political
Speaker 1: star had risen. In October eighteen forty one, President John
Speaker 1: Tyler chose John Spencer to be his Secretary of War.
Speaker 1: Managing the military might have seemed easy in comparison to
Speaker 1: managing Philip Spencer. At his wits end with his son,
Speaker 1: Secretary Spencer decided that maybe the Navy could instill some discipline.
Speaker 1: In November eighteen forty one, Philip was appointed as a midshipman,
Speaker 1: the lowest rank of officer in the United States Navy.
Speaker 1: But even the Navy could not tame Philip's energies. He drank,
Speaker 1: fought with senior officers, and, on an official trip to Brazil,
Speaker 1: brawled in the streets every time he got in trouble.
Speaker 1: Though his father put in a good word with Abel Upscher,
Speaker 1: the Secretary of the Navy, and Philip got another chance,
Speaker 1: But by the summer of eighteen forty two, Secretary Upsher's
Speaker 1: patients was wearing thin. He told Philip that he would
Speaker 1: be watching carefully and gave him one last assignment on
Speaker 1: which to prove himself. On August thirteenth, eighteen forty two,
Speaker 1: Philip Spencer received orders to report to the USS Summers
Speaker 1: in New York. Upon boarding, he met the man who
Speaker 1: would one day order his death, Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie.
Speaker 1: The Commander was born Alexander Slidell on April sixth, eighteen
Speaker 1: o three, to John and Marjorie Slidell. In his thirties,
Speaker 1: he would adopt his mother's maiden name Mackenzie, as a
Speaker 1: condition of receiving an inheritance from a maternal uncle. The
Speaker 1: Slydells were a wealthy, well connected family. One of Mackenzie's
Speaker 1: brothers would become a US Senator and another would become
Speaker 1: Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, but it was
Speaker 1: his sister, Jane who would most influence Mackenzie's life. In
Speaker 1: eighteen fourteen, Jane married Matthew Perry, a member of a
Speaker 1: naval dynasty. Matthew's older brother, Oliver hazard Perry, was an
Speaker 1: American hero for his victory at the Battle of Lake
Speaker 1: Erie during the War of eighteen twelve. Matthew Perry too
Speaker 1: would become a naval hero, eventually leading the mission that
Speaker 1: opened trade with Japan. In the eighteen fifties. The Perry
Speaker 1: family encouraged young Mackenzie to join the Navy, and he
Speaker 1: became a midshipman at age eleven, sailing around the world
Speaker 1: throughout his teenage years. The Navy was a good fit
Speaker 1: for the boy. Unlike Philip Spencer, Mackenzie liked discipline. He
Speaker 1: liked rules and laws, making them and following them. In
Speaker 1: his early days in the Navy, he saw what happened
Speaker 1: when the laws were broken. Assigned to anti pirate duty
Speaker 1: in the West Indies, he witnessed the devastation pirate's pillaging
Speaker 1: left in its wake, not nearly so glamorous in real
Speaker 1: life as it was in the pirate's own book. In
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty four, Mackenzie contracted yellow fever and took a
Speaker 1: leave of absence from the Navy to recover. While on leave,
Speaker 1: he traveled to Spain and began to work on a
Speaker 1: book about his experiences abroad. He befriended the writer Washington
Speaker 1: Irving while in Madrid, and Irving would help Mackenzie publish
Speaker 1: his first book, called A Year in Spain. The publication
Speaker 1: made Mackenzie a minor celebrity, and he would continue writing
Speaker 1: even after returning from leave, though his later books received
Speaker 1: cooler receptions. Journalist and historian Richard Snow argues in his
Speaker 1: book Sailing the Graveyard Sea that Mackenzie's writings reveal quote
Speaker 1: an opacity about common human feelings. They also depict a
Speaker 1: man full of contradictions, both moralistic and prudish. Mackenzie also
Speaker 1: displays a taste for violence. He describes both crimes and
Speaker 1: public executions, which, despite professing to dislike, he somehow couldn't
Speaker 1: seem to stop attending while abroad in gruesome detail. In
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty six, Mackenzie married Kate Robinson. Soon after, he
Speaker 1: adopted Mackenzie as his surname in order to receive the
Speaker 1: family bequest. Using this money, he bought a farm in
Speaker 1: New York's Hudson River Valley, near his friend Washington Irving.
Speaker 1: He also began thinking seriously along with his brother in law,
Speaker 1: Matthew Perry, about how to reform America's navy. The Navy
Speaker 1: at this point was struggling to attract, train, and retain
Speaker 1: good men. The pay was low, the training programs were haphazard,
Speaker 1: and promotions were difficult to obtain. In eighteen thirty seven,
Speaker 1: Mackenzie and Perry wrote about the need for naval education
Speaker 1: in the Naval Magazine, calling for the establishment of an
Speaker 1: apprenticeship program. Congress agreed with their recommendations and provided funding
Speaker 1: to recruit and train boys aged thirteen to eighteen. Congress
Speaker 1: also agreed to create a schoolship, a floating naval school
Speaker 1: with on the job training for the young apprentices. The
Speaker 1: USS Summers, a beautiful new ship designed in part by
Speaker 1: Matthew Perry, was chosen for the job. In eighteen forty one,
Speaker 1: Alexander Mackenzie was promoted to the rank of commander. The
Speaker 1: next year, he was assigned to the schoolship that he
Speaker 1: and Perry had dreamed of. The stakes for this voyage
Speaker 1: were high. If it went well, the Navy might be
Speaker 1: willing to produce more schoolships, Congress might agree to fund
Speaker 1: more apprentices, and Mackenzie's beloved navy would flourish. To ensure success,
Speaker 1: Mackenzie and Perry carefully selected the ship's officers. The first Lieutenant,
Speaker 1: Mackenzie's second in command, was thirty year old Garrett Gansvoort,
Speaker 1: a member of a prominent New York family and a
Speaker 1: skilled sailor who had risen quickly through the ranks of
Speaker 1: the Navy. For the midshipmen, the lowest ranking officers, Perry
Speaker 1: and Mackenzie filled the ranks with their relatives and their
Speaker 1: friend's sons. Two of Perry's own sons were serving on board.
Speaker 1: Into this tightly knit crowd appeared the disruptive Philip Spencer.
Speaker 1: Mackenzie took an immediate dislike to dists Spencer. He had
Speaker 1: heard about Spencer's record and wanted him off the ship.
Speaker 1: Mackenzie recommended that Spencer ask for a transfer. Spencer did so,
Speaker 1: but Matthew Perry refused the request. Philip Spencer needed discipline,
Speaker 1: and Perry may have hoped the strict Mackenzie might be
Speaker 1: just the one to provide a firm hand. Little did
Speaker 1: anyone know just how firm that hand would be. The
Speaker 1: voyage of the USS Summers began smoothly enough, departing New
Speaker 1: York on September thirteenth, eighteen forty two, the ship sailed east.
Speaker 1: Its mission, an easy assignment fitting for a school ship,
Speaker 1: was to deliver dispatches from America to another Navy ship,
Speaker 1: the Vandalia, which was assisting the British Navy in intercepting
Speaker 1: slave ships off the west coast of Africa. Quarters on
Speaker 1: the ship were tight, at one hundred feet long and
Speaker 1: twenty feet wide at the thickest point. The Summers was
Speaker 1: only meant to carry ninety men, but in an attempt
Speaker 1: to squeeze as many apprentices in as possible, the Summers
Speaker 1: had a crew of one hundred and twenty for this trip.
Speaker 1: Of these one hundred and twenty, only thirty were older
Speaker 1: than nineteen. A third of the crew was between thirteen
Speaker 1: and sixteen years old. Life at sea must have been
Speaker 1: bewildering for these boys, many of whom had no sailing experience.
Speaker 1: Time was measured in watches and bells. Sunday mornings were
Speaker 1: spent mustard on deck. The sailors stood on deck while
Speaker 1: their uniforms were inspected. Attendance was taken, and the Articles
Speaker 1: of War, a list of prohibited actions and resulting punishments
Speaker 1: were read. Aloud. The one form of punishment was flogging,
Speaker 1: lashing either with the Cat nine tails, a whip with
Speaker 1: nine eighteen inch braided cords, or the Colt, a three
Speaker 1: foot long single strand whip. Both instruments could rip a
Speaker 1: sailor's back. Open. Floggings were usually done in front of
Speaker 1: the whole crew. Congress would ban flogging in eighteen fifty,
Speaker 1: and some captains had already abandoned the practice, believing it
Speaker 1: to be too cruel, but not Commander Mackenzie. He had
Speaker 1: a reputation as being quick to order floggings, and the
Speaker 1: reputation was well earned. The boys of the Summers soon learned.
Speaker 1: The first flogging happened only three days into the voyage,
Speaker 1: six lashes each of the Colt for three crewmen accused
Speaker 1: of avoiding work on the Summers, Sailors of all ages,
Speaker 1: even those as young as thirteen, were whipped frequently for
Speaker 1: offenses as minor as borrowing someone else's shirts, smoking after
Speaker 1: ten PM, or being impertinent. One fourteen year old apprentice,
Speaker 1: Dennis Manning, received a total of one hundred and one
Speaker 1: lashes during the ship's two month journey. Despite the frequent punishments,
Speaker 1: morale aboard the summers was high, at least for the
Speaker 1: first few weeks. Part of the crew's good attitude might
Speaker 1: have been due to Philip Spencer. Spencer had quickly found
Speaker 1: himself the odd man out amongst the other officers, who
Speaker 1: had all taken their commander's queue and shunned Spencer. He
Speaker 1: decided to search for friends amongst the crew instead. Spencer
Speaker 1: amused the younger boys with a strange talent he had,
Speaker 1: rhythmically dislocating his jaw to create eerie music. He won
Speaker 1: the older sailors over with small gifts of smuggled brandy
Speaker 1: or tobacco for money. Spencer especially concentrated his attention on
Speaker 1: two other misfits, Samuel Cromwell and Elisha Small. Cromwell was
Speaker 1: widely disliked, and perhaps for good reason. As the chief
Speaker 1: bosun's mate, Cromwell was in charge of administering the floggings.
Speaker 1: An enormous man in his thirties, heavily muscled and scarred,
Speaker 1: Cromwell had a fierce temper and a filthy mouth. Crewman
Speaker 1: whispered that he had once sailed with slavers or pirates.
Speaker 1: Elishah Small, thirty years old, was a good sailor with
Speaker 1: a bad drinking problem. He begun the voyage as the Summers' quartermaster,
Speaker 1: responsible for navigation, but had been quickly demoted for drunkenness. Small, Cromwell,
Speaker 1: and Spencer soon formed trio. Spencer provided the men with
Speaker 1: alcohol and tobacco. In return, Cromwell and Small told Spencer
Speaker 1: wild stories from their lives at sea. The other officers
Speaker 1: judged Spencer for his friendship with lowly crewmen and got
Speaker 1: annoyed by his laziness and tasteless jokes. Commander Mackenzie's dislike
Speaker 1: for Spencer had also increased, but he largely ignored the
Speaker 1: eighteen year old. By mid November, the Summers had reached Liberia,
Speaker 1: but they hadn't managed to catch up with the Vandalia,
Speaker 1: which always seemed to be one port ahead of them.
Speaker 1: Mackenzie decided that it was time to head home. Despite
Speaker 1: this incomplete mission, everything was well aboard the Summers until Saturday,
Speaker 1: November twenty sixth, that is, shortly after eight am, First
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Ganzifort burst into the Captain's cabin with shocking news
Speaker 1: a mutiny was afoot. Kenzie was stunned. Gansafort laid out
Speaker 1: the details for him that morning, Purser Stewart James Wales
Speaker 1: had approached his superior purser, Horace High School, with a
Speaker 1: troubling story. The night before, Wales said he had been
Speaker 1: approached by Philip Spencer. After swearing Wales to secrecy, Spencer
Speaker 1: told him that he was planning to seize the ship.
Speaker 1: Spencer said he had a number of the crew signed
Speaker 1: up for his plan, which involved murdering the ship's officers
Speaker 1: and any uncooperative crewmen, sailing the Summers to the Caribbean,
Speaker 1: and turning it into a pirate ship. While Spencer laid
Speaker 1: out the details for Wales's Elisha Small approach, Spencer told
Speaker 1: Small that he had enlisted Wales, and Small said he
Speaker 1: was glad to hear it. When Spencer finished, he asked
Speaker 1: for his thoughts. Whales said he liked the idea, but
Speaker 1: inside he was horrified. Wales resolved to report Spencer to
Speaker 1: Commander Mackenzie as soon as possible. The next morning, and
Speaker 1: able to easily get to Mackenzie, Wales had reported to
Speaker 1: high school high school to ganzi Ort, and now ganzi
Speaker 1: Ort was telling Mackenzie. At first, the captain could not
Speaker 1: believe it. It seemed to me so monstrous, so improbable, that
Speaker 1: I could not forbear treating it with ridicule. Mackenzie later wrote,
Speaker 1: I was under the impression that mister Spencer had been
Speaker 1: reading some piratical stories and had amused himself with mister Wales.
Speaker 1: But improbable or not, Mackenzie felt he had a duty
Speaker 1: to investigate. He told ganzi Ort to watch Spencer closely.
Speaker 1: Ganza Ort followed Spencer all day, and what he saw
Speaker 1: concerned him. I had observed, Gansibort reported to Mackenzie that
Speaker 1: he was exceedingly intimate with the crew. I had noticed
Speaker 1: as individuals passed him by a strange flashing of the eye.
Speaker 1: When Spencer had caught Ganzibart watching him, he had looked
Speaker 1: at the lieutenant, in Ganshwort's words, with the most infernal
Speaker 1: expression I have ever seen upon a human face. Moreover,
Speaker 1: gans of Ort had seen Spencer pouring over a map
Speaker 1: of the Caribbean and asking the ship's surgeon, Richard Leacock,
Speaker 1: about the Isle of Pine's, a notorious pirates haunt. It
Speaker 1: wasn't much to go on, but Ganzibort and Mackenzie were
Speaker 1: now convinced that Spencer was up to something. They couldn't
Speaker 1: risk a mutiny. Mackenzie decided that Spencer should be detained.
Speaker 1: When he approached Spencer and asked him about the plan,
Speaker 1: Spencer replied that it was just a joke. This joke,
Speaker 1: Mackenzie told Spencer, may cost you your life. He ordered
Speaker 1: that Spencer be shackled, and, because the Summers had little
Speaker 1: free space below deck, be taken to the quarter deck
Speaker 1: and kept under observation. The next day, the investigation into
Speaker 1: the mutiny continued. Lieutenant Ganziwort and Midship in Henry Rogers
Speaker 1: searched Spencer's belongings. Inside his razor case. They found several
Speaker 1: pieces of paper. Two of these were written in Greek letters. Rogers,
Speaker 1: who could read Greek, translated the words. It turned out,
Speaker 1: were just English words spelled out with Greek characters. On
Speaker 1: one page, a paragraph read those marked X will probably
Speaker 1: be induced to join before the project is carried into execution.
Speaker 1: The remainder of the doubtful will probably join when the
Speaker 1: thing is done. If not, they must be forced. If
Speaker 1: any not marked down wish to join after it is done,
Speaker 1: we will pick out the best and dispose of the rest. Below,
Speaker 1: a list of names was sorted into three categories, certain, doubtful,
Speaker 1: and to be kept Nolan's Volan's willingly or not. It
Speaker 1: was a damning document, to be sure, but also a
Speaker 1: confusing one. The list of crew members who were certain
Speaker 1: was small and included the name E Andrews, which did
Speaker 1: not match anyone on board. Elisha Small's name was not
Speaker 1: on the certain list, but per Wales's story, he was
Speaker 1: indeed involved. Despite these discrepancies, Mackenzie was now sure that
Speaker 1: Spencer had been plotting a mutiny, and the captain had
Speaker 1: concerns about Samuel Cromwell too. Spencer had not mentioned to
Speaker 1: Cromwell to Wales, and Cromwell's name was not anywhere on
Speaker 1: Spencer's list, but Cromwell was known to be close to Spencer.
Speaker 1: That afternoon, Mackenzie's suspicions seemed to be confirmed. One of
Speaker 1: the ship's top masts suddenly collapsed, causing a number of
Speaker 1: sails to fall. In the chaos that followed, Mackenzie noticed
Speaker 1: that Cromwell and Small were first on the scene. Had
Speaker 1: they caused the mast collapse? He wondered, It was just
Speaker 1: the type of distraction that mutineers could use to their advantage.
Speaker 1: It was true that no uprising had begun. The masts
Speaker 1: and sales were repaired, but Mackenzie believed that the crisis
Speaker 1: had only narrowly been averted. He ordered Cromwell and then
Speaker 1: Small arrested and stowed on the quarter deck. Cromwell denied
Speaker 1: any involvement in the plot, and Spencer also said that
Speaker 1: the man was innocent. Small, on the other hand, said
Speaker 1: that he had heard of plans. Mackenzie informed the three
Speaker 1: men that they would be kept under lock and key
Speaker 1: until the ship arrived back in America, where they would
Speaker 1: be tried for the crimes. Over the next three days,
Speaker 1: tensions on the ship reached a fever pitch. Mackenzie ordered
Speaker 1: his officers to arm themselves and patrol the ship. He
Speaker 1: informed the crew about the mutiny plot and warned them
Speaker 1: to abandon any schemes to free the prisoners. He arrested
Speaker 1: three more men believed to be connected with Spencer and
Speaker 1: put them on the quarter deck. These further arrests brought
Speaker 1: new concerns. The Summers was a small ship, Surely it
Speaker 1: could not hold many prisoners, and Mackenzie was convinced that
Speaker 1: the existing prisoners were plotting an escape with their uncaptured
Speaker 1: co conspirators. Maybe the leaders of the mutiny needed to
Speaker 1: be removed permanently. Mackenzie had always seen his ships as
Speaker 1: quote little worlds, self contained environments in which discipline meant harmony.
Speaker 1: One bad apple could spoil the whole bunch, But he
Speaker 1: didn't want to make such a serious decision alone. On Wednesday,
Speaker 1: November thirtieth, Mackenzie wrote a letter to his officers asking
Speaker 1: them to investigate the situation on board and come to
Speaker 1: a conclusion about the best path forward. The seven officers
Speaker 1: moved swiftly. They took over the wardroom, the officer's mess hall,
Speaker 1: and brought in crew members for questioning. Many of the
Speaker 1: crewmen claimed that Spencer had spoken to them about dreaming
Speaker 1: of being a pirate and of hoping to have a
Speaker 1: ship of his own. They all agreed that Spencer, Small
Speaker 1: and Cromwell were the ringleaders. Many of the sailors spoke
Speaker 1: especially harshly about Samuel Cromwell. The questioning continued throughout the
Speaker 1: day and into the next morning. The officers reached a decision.
Speaker 1: They wrote to Mackenzie and told him that they believed
Speaker 1: the prisoners should be executed. Mackenzie wasted no time in
Speaker 1: carrying out the sentence. Summoning the crew to the deck,
Speaker 1: McKenzie donned his full dress uniform and told his officers
Speaker 1: to arm themselves. Then he told the prisoners their fate.
Speaker 1: Elishah Small took the news calmly. Philip Spencer began to weep.
Speaker 1: Samuel Cromwell fell to his knees and yelled, God of
Speaker 1: the Universe, looked down upon my poor wife. I am innocent.
Speaker 1: Spencer regained his composure and told Mackenzie quote, as these
Speaker 1: are the last words I have to say, I trust
Speaker 1: they will be believed. Cromwell is innocent. Mackenzie was unsettled.
Speaker 1: Seeking reassurance, he questioned his officers if they were certain
Speaker 1: of Cromwell's guilt. They said they were, and this was
Speaker 1: enough for the captain. Returning to Spencer, mackenzie began a
Speaker 1: strange conversation with the eighteen year old. When Spencer said
Speaker 1: that he felt bad for wronging his parents, Mackenzie told
Speaker 1: Spencer that his father was part of the reason for
Speaker 1: his death sentence. If mackenzie had taken Spencer back to
Speaker 1: the United States for court martial, the captain said, John
Speaker 1: Spencer likely would have interfered in the trial for those
Speaker 1: who have friends or money in America, Mackenzie said there
Speaker 1: was no punishment for the worst of crimes. He spoke
Speaker 1: to Spencer for nearly an hour. He asked his steward
Speaker 1: to bring paper and ink so that Spencer could write
Speaker 1: a letter to his parents. When Spencer said he could
Speaker 1: not write with his hand shackled, Mackenzie wrote for him,
Speaker 1: and then finally the terrible moment arrived. The execution itself
Speaker 1: was gruesome and painful. The prisoners, faces covered, hands and
Speaker 1: feet still shackled, had nooses fastened around their necks. The
Speaker 1: ropes trailing from these nooses hung over the yard arm
Speaker 1: of the ship, the large beam running perpendicular to the mainmast.
Speaker 1: Groups of men held the other side of the rope.
Speaker 1: On a signal the firing of a gun, the men
Speaker 1: pulled the ropes, dragging the prisoner's twenty feet in the air,
Speaker 1: where they slowly strangled to death, their bodies spinning in
Speaker 1: the wind. Mackenzie, with the bodies still hanging above the deck,
Speaker 1: gave his crew a speech about the dangers of disobedience.
Speaker 1: The rest of the journey held a tenor of muted fear.
Speaker 1: The summers made it back to New York Harbor two
Speaker 1: weeks after the executions, and a messenger was quickly dispatched
Speaker 1: to Secretary of the Navy, Able Upsher. Soon news of
Speaker 1: the shocking events on board the Summers had spread across
Speaker 1: the country. Most people praised Captain Mackenzie. The New York
Speaker 1: Tribune wrote, quote, by the prompt and fearless decision of
Speaker 1: Captain Mackenzie, one of the most bold and daring conspiracies
Speaker 1: ever formed. Was frustrated and crushed. But six days later,
Speaker 1: on December twentieth, John Canfield Spencer published his anonymous rebuttal
Speaker 1: of Mackenzie's accounts of the events on board. Spencer questioned
Speaker 1: the legality of Mackenzie's impromptue on board court martial and
Speaker 1: questioned whether the threat of a mutiny was even real.
Speaker 1: The Navy promised a full investigation, but would an investigation
Speaker 1: be enough for John Spencer? Pending an investigation into the mutiny,
Speaker 1: no one was allowed to leave the USS Summers once
Speaker 1: it docked in New York. No one except Mackenzie, that was,
Speaker 1: who went to visit his brother in law, Matthew Perry Commodore.
Speaker 1: Perry was now the commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Speaker 1: Before leaving the Summers, Mackenzie ordered the arrest of eight
Speaker 1: more men who he believed to be involved in the mutiny.
Speaker 1: Criticism of Mackenzie was growing louder, both within and outside
Speaker 1: of the Navy. Captain Francis Gregory, commander of the USS
Speaker 1: North Carolina, visited the Summers after it docked. He was
Speaker 1: horrified by conditions on board. I have never known the
Speaker 1: crew of an American man of war so dirty and
Speaker 1: dejected in their personal appearance as hers were at the
Speaker 1: time of her arrival here, he wrote a colleague. Gregory
Speaker 1: was also shocked by the number of floggings Mackenzie had ordered,
Speaker 1: a number Gregory said that was quote beyond all precedent
Speaker 1: within my knowledge. News of Gregory's discoveries quickly became public.
Speaker 1: On December twenty eighth, the Navy convened a Court of Inquiry.
Speaker 1: This court could only investigate, it could not punish, and
Speaker 1: unlike in a traditional trial, the person being investigated did
Speaker 1: not need to appear in person. Mackenzie could instead submit
Speaker 1: his statement in writing. In writing his narrative of events,
Speaker 1: Mackenzie brought his authorial experience to bear to ill effect
Speaker 1: the document was bloated full of tangents and philosophical musings.
Speaker 1: Mackenzie's own legal counselor despaired of the narrative, calling it
Speaker 1: quote a diabolical document. People wondered if, given the document's
Speaker 1: excessive length, the captain was protesting a little too hard,
Speaker 1: but the testimony of Mackenzie's officers supported their captain. Their
Speaker 1: stories were consistent with Mackenzie's narrati of On January twenty eighth,
Speaker 1: the day that would have been Philip Spencer's nineteenth birthday,
Speaker 1: the Court of Inquiry announced their findings. They concluded that
Speaker 1: quote the immediate execution of the prisoners was demanded by
Speaker 1: duty and justified by necessity. It was a victory for McKenzie,
Speaker 1: but this was just the first battle. John Spencer, along
Speaker 1: with Samuel Cromwell's widow Margaret, were pushing to have Mackenzie
Speaker 1: tried for murder in a civilian court, but a judge
Speaker 1: ruled that a civilian court did not have jurisdiction over
Speaker 1: the case. Only a military court did. That meant a
Speaker 1: court martial. Mackenzie himself had requested a court martial, believing
Speaker 1: that it would clear his name and believing that a
Speaker 1: civilian jury might not understand what he called his quote
Speaker 1: conscientious performance of my duty. Secretary Upsher agreed, and on
Speaker 1: February second, eighteen forty three, Commander Mackenzie's court marcial began.
Speaker 1: It took place at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, first Aboardisteship,
Speaker 1: and then when the audience grew too large, in the chapel.
Speaker 1: The Navy charged Mackenzie with five crimes murder for the
Speaker 1: killing of Philip Spencer, oppression for the killing of Samuel
Speaker 1: Cromwell without sufficient cause, illegal punishment for the killing of
Speaker 1: Elishah Small, conduct unbecoming an officer for his treatment of
Speaker 1: Philip Spencer before his execution, and cruelty, and oppression for
Speaker 1: his excessive punishment of his entire crew throughout the voyage.
Speaker 1: Eleven high ranking naval officers served as jurors on the case,
Speaker 1: serving in the prosecutor's role called in this context. The
Speaker 1: judge advocate was William M. Norris, a lawyer from Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Little is known about Dorris or how he was chosen
Speaker 1: for this role. It was a difficult job. Norris had
Speaker 1: to go into the trial completely unprepared because none of
Speaker 1: the Summers's officers would speak to him before the trial,
Speaker 1: but Norris was tireless and determined. Over the next five weeks,
Speaker 1: he relentlessly questioned the witnesses. The testimony could be repetitive
Speaker 1: and tedious. Norris did not know who had valuable information
Speaker 1: until he managed to uncover it. But uncover it he did, slowly, steadily,
Speaker 1: Norris began to poke holes in the rock solid story
Speaker 1: of impending mutiny. One of Norris's main themes was how
Speaker 1: little evidence the captain and officers actually had. During his
Speaker 1: examination of First Lieutenant Gansuwort, Norris asked if ganzi Ort,
Speaker 1: in all the hours he spent guarding Spencer on deck,
Speaker 1: had ever tried to question Spencer about the plan. If
Speaker 1: you made no inquiries of Spencer, Norris asked, what did
Speaker 1: you do in pursuance of the Commander's instructions to find
Speaker 1: out from mister Spencer what you could as to the mutiny?
Speaker 1: Ganzi Ort could only answer, I inquired among the crew.
Speaker 1: Ganzi Ort had, also, on Mackenzie's orders, followed Philip Spencer
Speaker 1: around on November twenty sixth. His observations, he testified, had
Speaker 1: convinced him that Philip Spencer was up to no good.
Speaker 1: But Norris revealed how flimsy these observations really were. He
Speaker 1: asked gans of Ort, quote, was mister Spencer till the
Speaker 1: time of his arrest engaged in the usual duties of
Speaker 1: an officer of his station? Ganzi Ort admitted that Spencer
Speaker 1: had been, with the exception of getting a tattoo from
Speaker 1: a crew member. Sailor getting a tattoo was hardly unusual.
Speaker 1: Ganza Ort also claim that Spencer had given him quote
Speaker 1: a menacing look and displayed, quote, the most infernal expression
Speaker 1: I have ever beheld on a human face. Was this
Speaker 1: the kind of evidence that justified executing a man? And
Speaker 1: what about proof of Cromwell's involvement? Norris got Ganziwort to
Speaker 1: admit that Cromwell's name never appeared on Spencer's alleged list
Speaker 1: of conspirators. Not only had the investigation been shoddy, Norris implied,
Speaker 1: but it had also trampled on the prisoner's civil rights.
Speaker 1: From the time of Spencer's arrest to the time of
Speaker 1: his execution, did any officer explain to mister Spencer his
Speaker 1: situation and what was contemplated in respect to him? Norris
Speaker 1: asked ganz of Ort. Ganza Ort said no, neither had
Speaker 1: Cromwell nor Small been warned that they were on trial
Speaker 1: for their lives until the sentence had already been passed.
Speaker 1: Norris pushed the officers as to why they had not
Speaker 1: sought a solution other than execution. Had the officers ever
Speaker 1: considered just trying to reach a port they were in
Speaker 1: the West Indies when they first learned of the mutiny
Speaker 1: nearby islands abounded. Norris asked Acting Master Matthew Perry, the
Speaker 1: twenty one year old son of Commodore Perry, why they
Speaker 1: had not tried to take the ship into harbor and
Speaker 1: get help in suppressing the alleged mutiny. Was discussed as
Speaker 1: to whether she could be taken into Saint Thomas. Matthew
Speaker 1: replied Saint Thomas at this time was a Danish colony,
Speaker 1: but the officers did not want to go to Saint
Speaker 1: Thomas for help or any other foreign island, because, Matthew
Speaker 1: explained quote, it would be a disgrace to the United States,
Speaker 1: the Navy, and particularly to the officers if an American
Speaker 1: man of war could not protect herself. A few men's
Speaker 1: lives were a small price to pay to save face.
Speaker 1: It seemed many in the public believed that fear had
Speaker 1: been a motivator in the officer's decision, fear for their
Speaker 1: lives and for the lives of the crew, But Norris
Speaker 1: pointed out that some of their behavior before the execution
Speaker 1: did not hint a true fear. All the officers cited
Speaker 1: the incident of the collapsing mast as proof that danger
Speaker 1: was imminent. Norris asked Matthew Perry about the event. Matthew
Speaker 1: had been below deck when he heard the ruckus above
Speaker 1: and ran up to see what the matter was, but
Speaker 1: he didn't arm himself before running up, and Norris reminded
Speaker 1: Matthew for his testimony at the Court of Inquiry. After
Speaker 1: seeing the situation, Matthew quote went below because he found
Speaker 1: nothing to do if he really thought mutiny was imminent,
Speaker 1: Norris asked Matthew Perry, would it not have been your
Speaker 1: duty to remain on deck. There were also troubling inconsistencies
Speaker 1: in the officer's stories. While investigating the case, Norris had
Speaker 1: learned that before the execution, Mackenzie had transcribed a letter
Speaker 1: from Spencer to his family, but in his narrative, Mackenzie
Speaker 1: claimed that this had never happened, that Spencer had declined
Speaker 1: to write a letter, and the Spencer family had never
Speaker 1: received a letter. Initially, the officers had backed up their
Speaker 1: captain's claims, but Norris, armed with his discoveries, pushed the
Speaker 1: officers for the truth. Oliver Perry, the seventeen year old
Speaker 1: commander's clerk and another son of Matthew Perry, initially testified
Speaker 1: that he had not seen any writing, but under pressure
Speaker 1: he admitted that he actually had. In the face of
Speaker 1: Oliver's testimony, Mackenzie now admitted that he had helped Spencer
Speaker 1: write a letter. Two more men, Edbert Thompson and Daniel McKinley,
Speaker 1: confirmed that they had seen the pair writing something. Where
Speaker 1: was this letter? The letter would appear under strange circumstances
Speaker 1: Almost a week later, on March fourteenth, Mackenzie said he
Speaker 1: was too ill to come to court and the court
Speaker 1: martial was adjourned. This continued for three days. The court
Speaker 1: would assemble only to receive a note excusing Mackenzie from appearing.
Speaker 1: These notes were all signed by the Summers surgeon, Richard
Speaker 1: Lee Cock. Eventually, on March seventeenth, Mackenzie showed up, bringing
Speaker 1: with him a document that he claimed was the one
Speaker 1: he had written with Spencer on the day of the execution.
Speaker 1: This document is baffling, to say the least. It reads
Speaker 1: like a stream of consciousness of the hours leading up
Speaker 1: to the execution. Occasionally the narrator seems to be Philip Spencer,
Speaker 1: but Mackenzie's voice dominates. The writing is nearly illegible, many
Speaker 1: sentences are fragmented, and there is no reference to Spencer's family.
Speaker 1: Was this really the letter that Philip Spencer had dictated
Speaker 1: in his final hour? William Norris did not think so.
Speaker 1: He thought that Mackenzie, caught in a lie, had called
Speaker 1: in sick and used the time to write a letter.
Speaker 1: If Mackenzie was lying about this, Norris wondered what else
Speaker 1: was he lying about, but time to find out was limited.
Speaker 1: The patience of the court, after nearly two months of
Speaker 1: repetitive testimony, was running out. On March twenty first, Norris
Speaker 1: told the court that he was resting his case. The
Speaker 1: next day, Mackenzie's lawyer, George Griffin, presented the case for
Speaker 1: the defense. He would not be calling more witnesses, viewing
Speaker 1: the evidence, and arguing his client's position. Griffin was a
Speaker 1: skilled lawyer and a passionate speaker. He spoke for an
Speaker 1: hour and a half, enthralling his audience, taking them on
Speaker 1: to the Summers. In those trying days before the execution,
Speaker 1: a nation's honor was at stake. Griffin told the court,
Speaker 1: a vessel which had been consecrated as a defender of
Speaker 1: her country's glory and one of the protectors of the
Speaker 1: great commonwealth of civilized man, was about to be torn
Speaker 1: from her sphere and let loose a lawless wanderer upon
Speaker 1: the deep, carrying along in her devious course like a
Speaker 1: comet loosened from its orbit, devastation and terror and death.
Speaker 1: In the face of such a grave threat, what could
Speaker 1: Mackenzie do but take immediate action? Griffin asked the court
Speaker 1: not to punish Mackenzie, but to commend him. Mackenzie, in
Speaker 1: Griffin's words, had quenched the flame of mutiny. He had
Speaker 1: saved not only the Summers but all future navy's ships
Speaker 1: from quote the demoralizing, destructive principle of insubordination. It was
Speaker 1: a powerful emotional message, especially to the career navymen who
Speaker 1: sat in judgment of Mackenzie. Over the next five days,
Speaker 1: all of the testimony was read aloud again. Then, on
Speaker 1: March twenty seventh, William Norris presented his summation. Norris said
Speaker 1: Mackenzie was not a defender of American values, he was
Speaker 1: a destroyer of them. Though the military code was different
Speaker 1: from the civil law, Norris acknowledged naval men are still
Speaker 1: quote shielded by guaranteed privileges. The law tells of a
Speaker 1: legally constituted court of the right of challenging the judges,
Speaker 1: of examination and confrontment of witnesses. Whether or not Philip
Speaker 1: Spencer had really planned a mutiny, and Norris did not
Speaker 1: believe he had. Spencer was still due these sacred rights.
Speaker 1: Public ships are creatures of the law, Norris concluded, and
Speaker 1: meant to sustain it and not to overstretch it. The
Speaker 1: Navy's officers are sworn to sustain the constitution, but Mackenzie
Speaker 1: had not upheld the law. Norris argued he had put
Speaker 1: himself above it. The panel of Navy officers deliberated for
Speaker 1: five days and then delivered their verdict on April first.
Speaker 1: They had made the same finding for each one of
Speaker 1: the five charges Mackenzie faced on the charges of murder,
Speaker 1: illegal punishment, oppression, conduct, unbecoming an officer, and cruelty. Commander
Speaker 1: Alexander Slidell McKenzie was found not guilty. The verdict had
Speaker 1: not been unanimous. General court martials did not and still
Speaker 1: do not, require unanimity for a guilty verdict, only a
Speaker 1: two thirds majority. The panel of jurors concluded that Norris
Speaker 1: had not addressed the fourth and fifth charges, those of
Speaker 1: unbecoming conduct and cruelty for the general treatment of the crew.
Speaker 1: On the charge of illegal punishment for the hanging of
Speaker 1: Elishah Small, the jurors unanimously acquitted mackenzie. On the charge
Speaker 1: of murder for the hanging of Philip Spencer. The jurors
Speaker 1: split nine to three in favor of acquittal. On the
Speaker 1: charge of oppression for the hanging of Samuel Cromwell, the
Speaker 1: jury voted eight to four to acquit. The military also
Speaker 1: decided to release the remaining sailors whom mackenzie had ordered arrested.
Speaker 1: On March twenty nine, ninth, President John Tyler's cabinet met
Speaker 1: to discuss the verdict. The other members encouraged John Spencer
Speaker 1: to recuse himself from the meeting. He did not. Secretary
Speaker 1: of the Navy Abel Upsher recommended that he and Tyler
Speaker 1: publicly declare that the verdict was an honorable acquittal. Upsher's
Speaker 1: support from Mackenzie apparently led to a full blown physical
Speaker 1: fight between himself and John Spencer, which the President had
Speaker 1: to break up. President Tyler himself was not happy about
Speaker 1: the verdict. He had read the court martial transcript and
Speaker 1: believed that Mackenzie ought to have been found guilty, but
Speaker 1: his hands were tied under the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy.
Speaker 1: Mackenzie could not be retried for a crime he had
Speaker 1: been acquitted of, and Tyler did believe that the court
Speaker 1: proceedings had been fair. Nonetheless, the President made his true
Speaker 1: feelings clear. As long as my power should last, he said,
Speaker 1: Mackenzie should never be a trusted with another command. He
Speaker 1: publicly approved the verdict, but refused to call it an
Speaker 1: honorable acquittal. Despite the President's criticisms, many people supported Mackenzie.
Speaker 1: A public fund was taken up to cover his legal fees.
Speaker 1: The famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, author of poems such
Speaker 1: as Paul Revere's Ride, was just one of Mackenzie's prominent fans. Longfellow,
Speaker 1: who knew Mackenzie through Washington. Irving wrote to Mackenzie after
Speaker 1: the court martial, saying, quote, the voice of all upright men,
Speaker 1: the common consent of all the good is with you. Mackenzie,
Speaker 1: delighted and apparently remorseless, replied with the suggestion that Longfellow
Speaker 1: write an epic poem about the USS Summers. But Mackenzie's
Speaker 1: reputation was permanently painted by the Events on the Summers.
Speaker 1: This was in part thanks to another famous literary figure,
Speaker 1: one who made his disgust with the acquittal public in
Speaker 1: impressive form. James Fenimore Cooper, best known today as the
Speaker 1: author of the Last of the Mohicans, had pre existing
Speaker 1: beef with Mackenzie. The two had disagreed over Cooper's writings
Speaker 1: about the Battle of Lake Erie. Cooper had served in
Speaker 1: the Navy himself and felt uniquely qualified to judge Mackenzie's actions,
Speaker 1: believing that his insights might be helpful to others. Cooper
Speaker 1: published two extensive dissections of the events on the Summers
Speaker 1: and the proceedings of the court martial. In the dramatically
Speaker 1: titled The Crews of the Summers Illustrative of the Despotism
Speaker 1: of the Quarterdeck and of the unmanly conduct of Commander Mackenzie.
Speaker 1: Cooper methodically exposed the absurdity of the mutiny claims. The
Speaker 1: truth is, Cooper wrote, the story is an exaggeration. For
Speaker 1: all the testimony gathered by the officers from the crew,
Speaker 1: Cooper noted quote, not an individual gives any fact to
Speaker 1: corroborate his suspicions. He criticized the investigation, noting that it
Speaker 1: was on shaky grounds from the very beginning. Why had
Speaker 1: Commander Mackenzie so readily accepted the words of the purser's steward,
Speaker 1: James Wales? Besides a personal dislike of Philip Spencer? What
Speaker 1: made his character so inherently less trustworthy than Wales's? Yes,
Speaker 1: Spencer had a record, but so it emerged, did Wales.
Speaker 1: The summer before the Summers's first official mission, Mackenzie had
Speaker 1: taken the ship for a practice run to Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1: While there, James Wales had gotten mixed up in some
Speaker 1: sort of trouble, serious enough that Mackenzie acknowledged it in
Speaker 1: his narrative of events. Why was Wales's word taken as
Speaker 1: gospel while Cromwell, Small and Spencer were disbelieved? Cooper after
Speaker 1: walking through each piece of supposed evidence, from the flimsy
Speaker 1: importance of infernal expressions to the likely innocent explanation for
Speaker 1: the mast's collapse, dove into the captain's psychological motivations. Many
Speaker 1: people had attributed Mackenzie's harsh decision to fear, but we
Speaker 1: should remember, Cooper wrote that peril is the very thing
Speaker 1: a sailor expects to meet, wishes to meet. Indeed, wherever
Speaker 1: he goes, he expects to face danger that requires more
Speaker 1: than a landsman's nerve to meet. Despite the ship's isolation
Speaker 1: and the tense circumstances, Cooper believed that a true naval
Speaker 1: officer should be better equipped to deal with such events
Speaker 1: than anyone else. Cooper also discussed a troubling point that
Speaker 1: had emerged during the court martial. Horace High School, the
Speaker 1: purser had been in charge of transcribing the officer's interviews
Speaker 1: with crewmen during his testimony. High School acknowledged that some
Speaker 1: of the transcripts had been edited after the interviews concluded.
Speaker 1: This loose manner of taking down such important testimony, Cooper wrote,
Speaker 1: is not only illustrative of the want of a decent
Speaker 1: regard for the rights of the accused and for public opinion,
Speaker 1: but very justly lays the published account of it open
Speaker 1: to grave suspicions. These suspicions would later be confirmed. A crewman,
Speaker 1: George Washington Warner, told his nephew, the journalist Frederick F.
Speaker 1: Van der Water, that the officers had fabricated part of
Speaker 1: his testimony. Warner, who had been flogged by Cromwell, had
Speaker 1: told the officers that he would hang Cromwell if he could.
Speaker 1: When the officers asked why, Warner said he'd just disliked
Speaker 1: the man. But this answer didn't satisfy the officers. They
Speaker 1: pushed Warren to say he believed Cromwell was guilty of mutiny.
Speaker 1: When he would not, they dismissed him. When Warner next
Speaker 1: saw his testimony, someone had put in their own answer,
Speaker 1: attributing it to him. Now. When asked why he believed
Speaker 1: Cromwell should be hanged, the paper showed Warner saying, quote,
Speaker 1: because I believe him guilty. This example is a neat
Speaker 1: illustration of the whole story of the USS Summers. From
Speaker 1: the beginning, Commander Mackenzie had believed Philip Spencer guilty, guilty
Speaker 1: of what exactly he did not know, but when he
Speaker 1: was given an opportunity to rid himself of a troublesome,
Speaker 1: disliked officer, Mackenzie did not hesitate. This isn't to discount
Speaker 1: the very real fear the officers of the Summers may
Speaker 1: have felt at the idea of a mutiny, but Cooper's
Speaker 1: point that naval men ought to be more for danger
Speaker 1: than other men is a revealing one. Both he and
Speaker 1: William Norris pointed out that the heightened powers of a
Speaker 1: military commander should not give him greater leeway to act. Instead,
Speaker 1: it should subject him to stricter scrutiny. In other words,
Speaker 1: with great power comes great responsibility. This is particularly true
Speaker 1: when those under your command are mainly children. The two
Speaker 1: experienced officers aboard, Commander Mackenzie and First Lieutenant ganzi Ort,
Speaker 1: should have remembered that their accused criminal was a fanciful teenager,
Speaker 1: and they should not have asked the officers, many of
Speaker 1: whom were teenagers themselves, to pass a death sentence. For
Speaker 1: Ganziwort's part, he seemed haunted by the whole ordeal. He
Speaker 1: would later be disciplined for drinking on the job and
Speaker 1: during the Civil War for running a sloop he could
Speaker 1: demanded a ground. He never held command again and died
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty eight. Ganzafort was not the only officer
Speaker 1: to apparently struggle with what happened on the Summers. On
Speaker 1: March thirty first, eighteen forty three, shortly before the verdict
Speaker 1: in the court martial was announced, Richard Leacock, the twenty
Speaker 1: eight year old ships surgeon who had both recommended the
Speaker 1: executions and written Mackenzie's sick notes during the court martial,
Speaker 1: killed himself aboard the Summers. Mackenzie, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: never stopped defending himself. True to President Tyler's word, Mackenzie
Speaker 1: did not command another ship during that president's tenure. He
Speaker 1: spent this time at home working on his books. Then,
Speaker 1: during the Mexican War, he was given command of a
Speaker 1: steam freighter. This command seems to have passed without incident.
Speaker 1: On September thirteenth, eighteen forty eight, Alexander Mackenzie died suddenly
Speaker 1: at home of a heart attack, aged forty five. Three
Speaker 1: years earlier, in eighteen forty five, the Navy had finally
Speaker 1: established a permanent, comprehensive officer training school. This school now
Speaker 1: the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, traces its
Speaker 1: history in part to the Summers. Per the Academy's website
Speaker 1: quote the incident cast doubt over the wisdom of sending
Speaker 1: midshipmen directly aboard ship to learn. By doing so, mackenzie
Speaker 1: had seen his hopes for an educated officer class realized.
Speaker 1: But in a strange way, McKenzie had actually come closer
Speaker 1: to achieving Philip Spencer's dreams than his own. McKenzie had
Speaker 1: never become a truly famous author, nor risen to the
Speaker 1: highest ranks of the Navy, but he had, by taking
Speaker 1: the law into his own hands, become a pirate of sorts.
Speaker 1: Justice there was none of on board the Summers, James
Speaker 1: Fenimore Cooper wrote, A pirate's deck would have exhibited more mercy.
Speaker 1: That's the story of the court martial of Commander Alexander
Speaker 1: Slidel mackenzie. Stay with me after the break to learn
Speaker 1: about how this case touched the life of yet another
Speaker 1: famous author. Lieutenant Gerrett gans of Ort was part of
Speaker 1: a prominent Dutch American family from New York. His grandfather,
Speaker 1: Peter Gansavort, had served as a general in the Continental
Speaker 1: Army during the Revolutionary War. Peter Gansibort had six children.
Speaker 1: One of them, a son named Leonard, was Gerret Gansifort's father.
Speaker 1: Another of Peter's children was a daughter, Maria. Maria married
Speaker 1: a man named Allan. The couple would have eight children
Speaker 1: of their own. The third was a boy who would
Speaker 1: become perhaps the most well known chronicler of the nautical world,
Speaker 1: Herman Melville. Melville, who was only seven years younger than
Speaker 1: his cousin Garrett, was intimately familiar with the USS Summers.
Speaker 1: He referenced the case in multiple works. The most direct
Speaker 1: connection is in his posthumously published novella Billy Budd, which
Speaker 1: tells the story of a British sailor who accidentally kills
Speaker 1: a sadistic officer who has wrongfully accused Bud of plotting
Speaker 1: a mutiny. Bud, in turn, is himself executed. The men
Speaker 1: who hanged Bud, Melville writes, were brought to something more
Speaker 1: or less akin to that harassed frame of mind, which
Speaker 1: in the year eighteen forty two actuated the command of
Speaker 1: the US brig of War Summers to resolve upon the
Speaker 1: execution at sea of three men, Which resolution was carried out,
Speaker 1: though in a time of peace and within not many
Speaker 1: days sale of Home. Dryly, Melville says that the story
Speaker 1: is quote cited without comment, though his sarcasm makes his
Speaker 1: real feelings clear. Over the years, many have chosen to
Speaker 1: comment more explicitly on the Summer's case. Some have supported
Speaker 1: Mackenzie's choices, others have denounced them, But the story has
Speaker 1: lingered on finding echoes in cases where questions of safety
Speaker 1: are held up against the preservation of rights. Philip Spencer,
Speaker 1: Samuel Cromwell, and Elijah Small may have been silenced by
Speaker 1: a lack of due process, but their lives echo, As
Speaker 1: James Fenimore Cooper so powerfully put it, though the prince
Speaker 1: of perpetrator has safely passed the ordeal of a courtmercial,
Speaker 1: the blood of the slain cries from out the deep,
Speaker 1: and sooner or later will be heard, no matter what
Speaker 1: attempts may be made to stifle it. Thank you for
Speaker 1: listening to History on Trial. My main sources for this
Speaker 1: episode were Richard Snow's book Sailing the Graveyard Seed, The
Speaker 1: Deathly Voyage of the Summers, The US Navy's Only Mutiny
Speaker 1: and the Trial that Gripped the Nation, and James Fenimore
Speaker 1: Cooper's The Crews of the summers illustrative of the despotism
Speaker 1: of the Quarterdeck and of the unmanly conduct of Commander Mackenzie.
Speaker 1: For a full bibliography, as well as a transcript of
Speaker 1: this episode with Citatis, please visit our website History on
Speaker 1: Trial podcast dot com. History on Trial is written and
Speaker 1: hosted by me Mira Hayward. The show is edited and
Speaker 1: produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer Trevor Young and
Speaker 1: executive producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams, Matt Frederick, and Mira Hayward.
Speaker 1: Learn more about the show at History on Trial podcast
Speaker 1: dot com and follow us on Instagram at History on
Speaker 1: Trial and on Twitter at Underscore History on Trial. Find
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