Whips to Walls: Naval Discipline from Flogging to Progressive Era Reform at Portsmouth Prison

by Rodney Watterson

Overview

The abolishment of flogging in 1850 started the U.S. Navy on a quest for a prison system that culminated with the opening of Portsmouth Naval Prison in 1908. During World War I, that prison became the center of the Navy’s attempt to reform what many considered outdated means of punishment. Driven by Progressive Era ideals and led by Thomas Mott Osborne, cell doors remained opened, inmates governed themselves, and thousands of rehabilitated prisoners were returned to the fleet. Championed by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt, Osborne’s reforms proceeded positively until Vice Adm. William. Sims and others became convinced that too many troublemakers were being returned to the fleet. In response, FDR led an on-site investigation of conditions at Portsmouth prison, which included charges of gross mismanagement and rampant homosexual activity. Although exonerated, Osborne resigned and initiatives were quickly reversed as the Navy returned to a harsher system.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612514468
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	03/15/2014
Series:	New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Capt. Rodney K. Watterson USN (Ret.) is the author of 32 in ’44: Building the Portsmouth Submarine Fleet in World War II. He lives in Hampton, NH.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations viii

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 National Prison Reform (1790-1917) 11

Chapter 2 The End of Flogging (1850-62) 25

Chapter 3 Shipboard Punishments Post Flogging (1862-88) 41

Chapter 4 Origins of the Naval Prison System (1870-88) 54

Chapter 5 Makeshift Naval Prisons (1888-1908) 62

Chapter 6 The Navy Finally Gets a Real Prison (1908-14) 82

Chapter 7 The Naval Prison System Matures (1914-17) 91

Chapter 8 Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels (1912-20) 104

Chapter 9 Osborne Prior to Portsmouth (1859-1917) 112

Chapter 10 Reform Comes to Portsmouth 120

Chapter 11 Reform Struggles at Portsmouth 134

Chapter 12 What's Going on at Portsmouth Prison? 151

Chapter 13 Investigation into Conditions at Portsmouth Prison 161

Chapter 14 Osborne's Results at Portsmouth 172

Chapter 15 Portsmouth Post Osborne 184

Chapter 16 Osborne Post Portsmouth 194

Chapter 17 Conclusion 199

Notes 203

Bibliography 231

Index 237

Editorial Reviews

"Captain Rodney Watterson has written an engaging scholarly study concerning an important but neglected part of American naval history. The book examines the men who were early naval recruits as well as what measures were used to establish and maintain shipboard discipline and its evolution in the face of moral and political pressures." --International Journal of Naval History

"Rod Watterson's Whips to Walls gives fresh insight into an under-appreciated period of naval history--the transition of naval discipline from mid-nineteenth century flogging to a much-needed naval prison system, including the ambitious experiment in Progressive reform at Portsmouth prison. The author has thoroughly researched and clearly documented the Navy's journey between these two extremes in naval discipline. Making excellent use of charts to illustrate historical trends and personal testimonies and anecdotes to round out the narrative, Watterson has written a compelling account of a most curious era of naval history." --Rear Adm. Hugh Don Campbell, USN (Ret.), Judge Advocate General (Navy), 1986-88

"Portsmouth prison remains as dark and cold now as it has been for half a century. The story behind the Castle is as silent and unknown today as the story of naval discipline since the abandonment of the lash. Watterson changes all that. He takes you from the navy's shipboard discipline of 1800 to the 20th century when the cells of Portsmouth prison, commanded by a turnkey hand-picked by FDR, miraculously returned 1563 rehabilitated sailor prisoners to the fleet in a single year. Who was this magician? How did he do it? How did the fleet receive his reformed seamen? The answers are all here, and in the answering is a tale you'll not soon forget." --Vice Adm. George W. Emery, USN (Ret.), author of In their Own Words. The Navy Fights the War of 1812

"The brooding hulk of the abandoned naval prison still dominates the harbor in Portsmouth, NH, a monument to nearly a century of military discipline. Now through meticulous research in little-used sources, Rod Watterson has reconstructed the evolution of the U.S. Navy's experiment with progressive prison reform, much of which occurred in that castle-like prison. This is military cultural history at its finest--detailed, lively, and surprising." --W. Jeffrey Bolster, author of The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail

"As a local historian I wince like a flogged sailor every time a tour guide tells visitors that the white cement prison on the hill was the inspiration for Walt Disney's fantasy castle. It wasn't, but a good myth dies hard. Thankfully, Rod Watterson's new book not only kills old rumors about the mysterious naval prison, but also adds a critical new chapter to the 400-year maritime history of Portsmouth Harbor." --J. Dennis Robinson, Portsmouth historian

From the Publisher