32 • Friday, November 25, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Uriah. Levy, USN, Corporal Punishment
By ALLAN BLUSTEIN
Chaplain, Sinai Hospital
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Uriah Philips Levy was
born in Philadelphia in
1792 to a family distin-
guished by its American
patriots. His brother, Cap-
tain Jonas Levy, highly
praised by General Winfield
Scott, was named to the
position of military gover-
nor of Vera Cruz, Mexico.
Robert P. Noah, a cousin,
fought with the U.S. Army
in Mexico while other rela-
tives were active in several
branches of the military
forces.
Uriah, enamored of sail-
ing at an early age, ran
away to sea at the age of 10.
Rising rapidly in his chosen
career, he became a sailing
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VISA & MASTERCHARGE
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master in the U.S. Navy at
the age of 20 and a mid-
shipman (without benefit of
training at the Naval
Academy) some four years
later.
In 1816, he was commis-
sioned a lieutenant and in
1844 was promoted to cap-
tain. Because of his disci-
plinary problems, peculiar
mannerisms and overall
pugnacious bearing, he saw
little active duty during the
years froin 1827 to 1857.
In 1855, the Navy tried
hard to drop him from its
lists along with 200 other
officers. His record, aside
from six court-martials,
indicates that he was a
superior sailor, humane
disciplinarian, progress-
ive officer and courage-
ous patriot. His troubles
with the Navy seemed to
stem from the fact that
unlike his other "gentle-
men" contemporaries,
he's risen front the ranks,
relying on his own
abilities and talents to get
the jobs done.
Pouring additional fuel
on the fire was the fact of his
"Jewishness." Testifying at
one of his frequent court-
martials, the Secretary of
the Navy, George Bancroft,
remarked, "I perceived a
strong prejudice in the serv-
ice against Captain Levy,
which seemed to me, in a
considerable part, attribut-
able to his being of the
Jewish persuasion." His
"Jewishness" also got the
hot-headed officer involved
in nothing less than a duel
to the death.
The dashing young officer
had just returned to his
hometown of Philadelphia
in command of the frigate,
Franklin. Itching to celeb-
rate his good fortune, he
took a young lady to the
formal military dance at
Patriot's Hall. While on the
dance floor, he inadver-
tently jostled a Lieutenant
4 . 11. 11. 11111
Best Wishes For A
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Th
URIAH LEVY
RABBI BLUSTEIN
William Potter who took
umbrage.
After several provoca-
tions, among them being
called a "dirty Jew," Levy
could take no more of it. He
retorted something to the
effect that Potter was a dis-
grace to his uniform and
country. Shortly thereafter,
Levy was challenged to a
duel by Potter.
Both men travelled to
New Jersey because
Pennsylvania had
banned dueling. Several
paceoffs later, after Pot-
ter had fired and missed
while Levy had fired into
the air each time, the
former insisted on con-
tinuing the duel even
though all could see he
was no match for Levy.
Finally, goaded on by the
taunting Potter, Levy
shot him dead.
Prior to that deed, Levy
had recited a Jewish prayer
asking that he not be forced
to slay his opponent (pray-
ing also of course that his
opponent not slay him).
Levy's brash style got him
into hot 'water near Vera
Cruz as well. Posted to the
U.S.S. Vandalia in order to
"police" the Gulf of Mexico
in efforts to quiet Mexican
abuse of Americans through
insult and robbery, Levy's
ship accidentally scraped a
French man-o-war, damag-
ing it slightly.
After a heated exchange
between the French com-
mander and himself, Levy
asked for and got an apology
from the Frenchman. Levy's
adroit seamanship had av-
erted a major accident be-
tween the ships and the
French commander, to his
credit, finally realized it.
Perhaps, Levy's
greatest accomplishment
as a naval officer came
about because of the then
current practice of flog- -
ging sailors with a cat-o-
nine tails as a discipli-
nary measure. Since he
could not abide whipping
of sailors as part of the
Navy's "Code of Con-
duct," he never once re-
sorted to the lash on his
ships.
Once, a cabin boy aboard
the Vandalia required
discipline so Captain Levy
had him tied to a cannon
while daubs of tar and par-
rot feathers were stuck on
his buttocks. Levy had in-
tended this (and not whip-
ping) to serve as an example
to the crew aboard his ship.
Upon reaching port in
Florida, Levy was promptly
hustled off to another
court-martial.
Ignoring his convincing
argument that what he'd
done was substantially bet-
ter 'than beating a sailor
half to death, the court
found the "Jewish" upstart
guilty and ordered him
cashiered from service.
President John Tyler, in
reviewing the verdict, found
for Levy and ordered that he
be suspended for one year
only. The year stretched
into a decade while Uriah
Levy lived at Monticello
(Jefferson's Home), Va.
During that time, Levy lent
his considerable support to
a law sponsored by Senator
John Parker Hale prohibit-
ing corporal punishment in
the U.S. Navy even though
only a handful of officers
were for it.
Long advocating such
a prohibition, Levy had
written about it exten-
sively, as well as practic-
ing it during his own
commands. He also
found time to publish "A
Manual of Informal
Rules and Regulations
for Men-O-War."
At long last, the Navy
remembered the all-but-
forgotten Captain Uriah P.
Levy and assigned him to
command the Mediterra-
nean Squadron flagship.
Further honoring this val-
iant fighter for just causes,
the Navy accorded him its
most exalted rank for that
particular point in time —
the rank of commodore.
Commodore Levy died in
1862 (one year after the
outbreak of the Civil War),
fully recognized as the man
who almost single-handedly
had brought about the abol-
ition of corporal punish-
ment in the U.S. Navy. Most
remarkable of all, he had
accomplished the feat in
spite of "starring" in no less
than six naval courts-
martial.
Successful Ships
TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Is-
rael's successful merchant
marine now includes 105
vessels operated by 8,800
personnel. Some 26 percent
of the sailors are non-
Israeli, including 50 percent
of the technical officers and
30 percent of the ships' of-
ficers.
In 1981, the fleet did $1
billion in business. The
newspaper Haaretz noted
that despite attractive pay
and generally good ship-
board conditions, it is dif-
ficult to find qualified Is-
raeli sailors.
More people die of over-
eating than
starvation.