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Benjamin Franklin Tilley

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Benjamin Franklin Tilley
Benjamin Franklin TilleyBenjamin Franklin Tilley
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service / branchUnited States Navy
Years of service1863-1907
RankRear Admiral
CommandsUSS Bancroft
USS Newport
USS Vicksburg
USS Abarenda
USS Iowa
Other workActing-Governor (Commandant) of Tutuila

Benjamin Franklin Tilley (1848–March 18 1907), often known as B. F. Tilley, was a career officer in the United States Navy serving from the end of the American Civil War through the Spanish-American War. He is best remembered as the first acting-Governor of American Samoa. At the conclusion of his 41 years of service, he was promoted to Rear Admiral shortly before dying of pneumonia.

As a young man of 15, Tilley entered the United States Naval Academy during the height of the Civil War. Graduating after the end of the conflict, he gradually rose through the ranks. In 1877 as a lieutenant, he participated on the United States military crackdown against workers in the wake of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Later, during the Chilean Civil War of 1890, Tilley and a small contingent of sailors and marines defended the American consulate in Santiago, Chile against insurgents. As a Commander during the Spanish-American War, Tilley and his gunship, the USS Newport, successfully captured two Spanish Navy ships. After the war, Tilley was made the first acting-Governor of Tutuila and Manua (later called American Samoa) and set many of the legal and administrative precedents of the new territory.

Naval career

During the American Civil War, Tilley enrolled in the United States Naval Academy on September 22 1863, when he was only 15. During the conflict, the school had been moved from Annapolis, Maryland (then held by the Confederacy) to Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated first in his class in 1866, shortly after the war was over. After graduation, he served first and briefly on board the USS Franklin before being transferred to the USS Frolic. While serving on the Frolic, he was promoted to ensign and he remained stationed there until 1869. His next assignment was on board the USS Lancaster where he was promoted twice: first to master in 1870 and then to lieutenant in 1871. From 1872 to 1875, Tilley served on board the USS Pensacola in the South Pacific. After the Pensacola, he briefly served on board USS New Hampshire and then spent two years serving on the USS Hartford.

During the Great railroad strike of 1877, Tilley was serving on board the USS Plymouth when the ship was dispatched to Alexandria, Virginia to help quell the unrest there. In that year, Tilley also served on board the USS Powhatan before being transferred to the United States Naval Academy in 1879, remaining there until 1882 except for a period on board the training ship USS Standish. From 1882 to 1885, Tilley served on board the USS Tennessee. Returning to the Academy in 1885, Tilley was made first the head of the Academy's Department of Astronomy, Navigation, and Surveying, but later instead made the head of the Department of Mechanical Drawing. During his tenure at the Academy, in 1887, he was promoted to lieutenant commander. In September of 1889, he was transferred to the Washington Naval Yard to teach ordnance.

USS San Francisco in the 1890s

In 1890, he was transferred to San Francisco, California to assist in the testing of the USS San Francisco and to become her executive officer. During the Chilean Civil War, the San Francisco transported troops to Santiago, Chile to aid in the protection of the American consulate in that city. After the capture of the city by the insurgents, Tilley and a force of 100 men remained stationed at the consulate to defend it. Following the conflict, Tilley was transferred back to the Naval Academy to serve again as her head of Astronomy and Navigation Department. While serving at the Academy, he was put in charge of the USS Bancroft in 1896 and sailed on an inspection tour of naval yards along the east coast of the United States. That October, he was promoted to commander.

The following year, Tilley was given command of the USS Newport to sail to Nicaragua to evaluate progress of the canal commission. He remained on the Newport through the Spanish-American War. In August 1898, he successfully captured the Spanish Navy's Paquete and Pireno. After the conclusion of the war, he was transferred to the Newport Naval Yard. In October, he was briefly given command of the USS Vicksburg.

Commandant of Tutuila Naval Station

The United States first expressed quasi-official interest in building a Naval Station at Pago Pago, Samoa in 1872 at the behest of Henry A. Peirce, the United States Minister to Hawaii. However, this treaty was neither ratified by the United States Senate nor did the local government of Tutuila have authority to negotiate it. American involvement in the island would continue off and on until February 13 1878 when the Senate ratified a treaty with a Samoan delegation to Washington that gave the country diplomatic recognition. The treaty also gave the United States Navy permission to build a Naval Station on Tutuila. On August 5 1878, the United States flag was raised over an island in Pago Pago harbor for the first time. A United States Navy coaling station was quickly built outside of the villiage of Fagatogo, but work toward the naval station there would not begin until 1898.

The following year, Tilley was transferred from the Norfolk Navy Yard to command the USS Abarenda and transport a load of steel and coal to Pago Pago, Samoa to oversee the construction of the Navy's new station. After a long trip, Tilley arrived and took on his new post on August 13 1899.

Samoa's political situation was complicated following the Second Samoan Civil War which had only just ended prior to Tilley's arrival. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany all had strategic or economic interests in the region which was destabilized due to fighting between local political groups. On June 10 1899, the western powers signed the Treaty of Berlin which split Samoa into two partitions. The eastern part, with Tutuila as the largest island, was placed under the control of the United States. The larger and historically dominant western part was to be controlled by Germany. Under this treaty, the British government relinquished their claims over the region in favor of other concessions from Germany. News of this arrangement did not reach Tilley and the islands until December 6 1899.

After receiving word of the agreement, Tilley notified the local chiefs of the treaty and asserted nominal United States control, but a formal decision on how the government would manage the territory had not yet been made. The construction of the naval base remained Tilley's primary responsibility and he was forced to leave to pick up additional coal and supplies at Auckland, New Zealand. Less than a month after returning from his supply run, on February 19 1900, President William McKinley formally placed the territory under the control of the United States Navy. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Charles H. Allen named Tilley commandant of Tutulia Naval Station with a charter to "cultivate friendly relations with the natives".

Acting-Governor of Tutuila

Map of American Samoa. Swains Island was not added to the territory until 1925.

Tilley's first task in his new role was to negotiate a Deed of Cession with the local powers to formally and peacefully transfer control to the United States. With the partitioning of Samoa, two regional governments remained on Tutuila which had been historically subordinated to a government on the western (and now German-controlled) island of Upolu. Both of these governments were favorable toward the cession. The inhabitants of the islands of Taʻu, Ofu and Olosega— together known as Manu'a, 70 miles to the east, were politically a separate nation from Tutuila and had not been a party to the conflict. On March 12 1900, Tilley traveled to Taʻu to meet with the local king, Tui Manua Elisala. Ultimately, the king agreed to some sovereignty of the United States, but refused to consider cession. Despite this setback, the Deed of Cession was signed on April 17 1900, listing Manu'a as a territory but without a signatory. In the Deed, Tilley was named as Acting-Governor, though the title of Governor would not be official in the territory until it was given to Governor Edmund Beardsley Underwood in 1905. Manu'a would not formally sign the Deed until 1904, after negotiating some concessions from the United States.

As "Acting-Governor", Tilley's first acts were to impose a duty on imports to the territory, ban the sale of alcohol to the local population (but not Americans), and forbid the sale of Samoan lands to non-Samoans. On May 1 1900, he proclaimed that the laws of the United States were now in force in the territory, but any Samoan laws not in conflict with US laws would remain in effect. He also partitioned the territory into three districts, along the historical divisions which were implicitly acknowledged in the Deed of Cession: the two governments on Tutuila and the third comprising the islands of Manu'a. This was despite that region's leaders not yet considering themselves part of the territory. Over the next year, Tilley also regulated firearms; made registrations of births, deaths, and marriages mandatory; accessed taxes; and made the sabbath a public holiday. For defense and police, Tilley also created a small local militia of Samoans which were trained at the naval station by a Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps.

Even during his first administration, problems with the legal and political systems of the islands began to become apparent due to issues of conflicting Samoan and American laws. In one case a native had caught and eaten a skipjack, and according to Samoan law, the sacred fish can only be eaten with prior permission of a local chief. According to traditional punishment, the offender's house was burned down, his crops uprooted, and he was to be exiled from the territory. Under the American system however, the native challenged this punishment, resulting in the arrest of the chief involved for destruction of his property. In a criminal proceeding on which Tilley sat as a judge, the chief was sentenced to a year of house arrest and ordered to pay compensation for destroyed property. There were similar issues overlaying United States political structures on Samoan ones. For example, although the three district governors in the territory were to have equal authority, they were of differing Samoan social status. This made decision-making more difficult and caused social tensions. Despite these problems, Tilley was well-considered by the locals. On December 18 1900, the local chiefs sent a letter of congratulations on the re-election of President McKinley. In this letter, they referred to Tilley by saying "...you gave us a leader, a Governor, a High Chief, whom we have learned to love and respect."

Tilley took leave in June 1901, to return to Washington and then to his family, leaving E. J. Dorn in command. Dorn subsequently had medical issues and was replaced by J. L. Jayne in October. In October 1901, an anonymous complaint was made to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Frank W. Hackett against Commandant Tilley, alleging immorality and drunkenness. Also in October, Tilley was formally promoted to Captain by President Theodore Roosevelt. On November 9 1901, two days after returning with his wife visiting from the United States, Tilley was given a court martial on these charges. The trial lasted four days and only one witness was called for the prosecution. Ultimately, Tilley was acquitted of the charge. Despite his acquittal, Captain Uriel Sebree was appointed Commandant on November 27 1901. Tilley and his wife returned to the United States the following month.

Tilley's successor, Captain Sebree, later remarked of his predecessor that he had "great ability, kindness, tact and sound common sense". Unlike Sebree, who was concerned that he did not have a legal mandate to govern, Tilley was not shy about enacting legislation and being the de facto leader of the territory. Although the Deed of Cession recognized his authority and gave him the title of Acting-Governor, the United States government had not. (He was officially responsible only for the naval station.) As the first such governor, Tilley laid the groundwork for much of the future governance of the territory which did not even have a formal name until 1911. Although he was not officially Governor, the American Samoa territorial government includes him in its list of governors.

Later career and death

After being reassigned from Samoa, Tilley was made captain of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California in March 1902. He remained in this post for three years before being assigned to the USS Iowa on January 11 1905. Two years later, Tilly was made commandant of League Island Naval Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 23 1907. He was promoted to Rear Admiral the following day. Less than a month later, on March 18 1907, Tilley died of pneumonia. On December 29 1907, Tilley was one of 322 men and women listed by the Washington Post as "foremost in their various callings" that had died in 1907.

References

  1. ^ Hamersly, Lewis Randolph (1898). The Records of Living Officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (PDF) (6th ed. ed.). New York: L. R. Hamersly and co. p. 106. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
  2. "Miscellaneous". New York Times. 1866-07-21. p. 6.
  3. C., H. C. (1879). "The Naval Brigade and the Marine Battalions in the Labor Strikes of 1877". United Service. 1 (1): 115–130. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. "Naval Academy Affairs". The Sun. 1885-09-29. p. Supplement 1.; "The Army and Navy". Washington Post. 1889-09-22. p. 12.; "The Army and Navy News". New York Times. 1889-12-29. p. 16.
  5. "Nineteen Knots and Over". New York Times. 1890-08-28. p. 1.
  6. "Santiago Capitulates". Chicago Daily Tribune. 1891-08-30. p. 1.
  7. "Notes from Annapolis". New York Times. 1893-08-27. p. 16.
  8. "News from the Naval Academy". New York Times. 1896-06-07. p. 21.
  9. "The United Service". New York Times. 1896-10-21. p. 3.
  10. "The Panama's Valuation". Los Angeles Times. 1898-04-27. p. 3.
  11. "Naval Orders". Washington Post. 1898-10-25. p. 4.
  12. "The United Service". New York Times. 1898-10-21. p. 4.
  13. Gray, J. A. C. Amerika Samoa: History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. p. 58.
  14. Gray, J. A. C. Amerika Samoa: History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 64–66.
  15. ^ Gray, J. A. C. Amerika Samoa: History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 105–108.
  16. Gray, J. A. C. Amerika Samoa: History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 157–158.
  17. ^ Gray, J. A. C. Amerika Samoa: History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 125–128. Cite error: The named reference "Amerika Samoa-125" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. Gray, J. A. C. Amerika Samoa: History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 132–134.
  19. ^ Gray, J. A. C. Amerika Samoa: History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 137–139.
  20. "To Be Captain in the Navy". New York Times. 10-08-1901. p. 6. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  21. ^ Sebree, Uriel (1902-11-27). "Progress in American Samoa". The Independent. 54 (2817): 2811–2822.
  22. Gray, J. A. C. Amerika Samoa: History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 150–151.
  23. "Governor's Gallery". 2004. Retrieved 03-10-2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  24. "Assignment for Funston". Washington Post. 1902-03-18. p. 9.
  25. "The United Service". New York Times. 1905-01-15. p. 5.
  26. "Death of Admiral Tilley". Washington Post. 1907-03-19. p. 3.
  27. "The Silent Reaper's Harvest of the Great". Washington Post. 1907-12-29. p. MS8.


Preceded byNone Governor of American Samoa
1900-1901
Commandant / Acting-Governor 		Succeeded byUriel Sebree
Governors of American Samoa
Commandant (1900–1905)
Naval (1905–1951)
Civil (1951–1978)
Elected (since 1978)



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