Background
John Crittenden Watson was born at Frankfort, Ky. , son of Dr. Edward Howe and Sarah Lee (Crittenden) Watson, grandson of John Jordan Crittenden, and of ancestry distinguished in both Kentucky and Virginia.
John Crittenden Watson was born at Frankfort, Ky. , son of Dr. Edward Howe and Sarah Lee (Crittenden) Watson, grandson of John Jordan Crittenden, and of ancestry distinguished in both Kentucky and Virginia.
After study at Sayre School, Lexington, Ky. , he entered the United States Naval Academy at fourteen and graduated in 1860.
Promoted to master, August 31, 1861, he saw his first Civil War service in the sail-frigate Sabine, in which duty he was commended for his seamanship in the rescue of a disabled transport. Afterward, as navigating officer in the Hartford, flagship of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, he took part in the passing of the forts below New Orleans (April 24, 1862), in the subsequent advance to Vicksburg, and, after promotion to lieutenant (July 16, 1862), in the operations of March 1863 against Port Hudson, Grand Gulf, and Warrington, where he was slightly wounded by a shell fragment. From July 1863 until late in 1864 he was on Farragut's staff as flag lieutenant. Prior to the battle of Mobile Bay he commanded a boat party, July 5, 1864, which destroyed the blockade-runner Ivanhoe under the guns of Fort Morgan, and on three nights before the battle he engaged in extremely hazardous boat duty, removing torpedoes from the channel past the fort. Of slight, active build like Farragut, and sharing the latter's fondness for fighting and for reading the Scriptures, he had a devotion for the admiral which was warmly returned. "I am almost as fond of Watson, " wrote Farragut to his son, "as yourself". It was Watson who, on the second occasion when this was done in the battle, passed a rope about the admiral to secure him to the mizzen rigging during the fight with the ram Tennessee. After the war he went to the European Squadron and was again under Farragut during the latter's European cruise in 1867-68. Noteworthy in his service prior to the war with Spain were his command of the Wyoming (1878 - 80), which carried the American exhibits to the Paris exposition, his duty as naval representative at the exposition, his command of the new steel cruiser San Francisco (1892 - 94), and his superintendency of the Philadelphia Naval Home (1895 - 98). He was promoted to captain, March 6, 1887, and to commodore, November 7, 1897. During the Spanish-American War he had command, under W. T. Sampson, of the North Cuban Blockading Squadron (May 6-June 21, 1898), and from June 27 to September 20 was in command of the "Eastern Squadron" which was organized, though not actually dispatched, to menace the Spanish coast and force the recall from the East of the Spanish reserve squadron under Camara. He was made rear admiral (March 3, 1899), commanded the Mare Island Navy Yard (October 1898 - June 1899), and afterward until October 1900 was in charge of the Asiatic station, succeeding Admiral George Dewey. From then until his retirement (August 24, 1904), he had duty chiefly on the examining and retiring boards, and was also American naval representative at the coronation of Edward VII. Before and after retirement his home was in Washington, D. C. , where for many years he was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. His burial was in Arlington.
He married Elizabeth Anderson with whom he had three boys.
