Thomas P. Magruder: Difference between revisions

Following graduation from the Naval Academy, he was assigned to the protected cruiser [[USS Charleston (C-2)|USS ''Charleston'']], and while with that ship was commended for courage and presented a gold watch on 11 May 1890 for saving the life of a woman from drowning. From 1891 to 1893, he served aboard the schoolship [[USS Monongahela (1862)|USS ''Monongahela'']], built as a [[barkentine]]–rigged screw [[sloop-of-war]], at the Naval Training Station, Newport, Rhode Island, then on the [[USS Kearsarge (1861)|USS ''Kearsarge'']] in 1894, and was aboard when she was wrecked on a reef off of [[Roncador Cay]] in the [[Caribbean Sea]] on 2 February of that year. Though the vessel was unsalvageable, the crew made it safely ashore. Magruder took the first boat with a hawser to the reef, “and for his manner of doing so was commended by Rear Admiral [[Oscar F. Stanton|Stanton]].”<ref>http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Thomas_Pickett_Magruder/American_Clan_Gregor_Society_obituary*.html</ref> Magruder then served aboard [[USS Miantonomoh (BM-5)|USS ''Miantonomoh'']], an [[Amphitrite-class monitor]], later in 1894, and was then ordered to shore duty in the Navy Department.