The cutting of the telegraph cables at Cienfuegos, Cuba on May 11, 1898 was one of the most exciting and remarkable events of the Spanish-American War. As Spanish troops, concealed in gullies and ravines, poured whithering fire, a volunteer force dragged the ocean floor to locate and raise the cables.
For over an hour the Sailors and Marines, clustered in work boats, fished around coral and debris beneath the water trying to snare the line that linked Cuba to the outside world. As rifle and artillery fire landed all around them, they hacked at the cable with saws and knives until successfully severing the copper conductors, insulated with gutta percha and armoured with fourteen No.9 SWG steel wires.
Of the 112 individuals to receive the Medal of Honor for actions during the war, nearly half would earn it on 11 May, including Joseph Francis Scott. Scott was serving on board the USS Nashville during the cutting of the cable and facing heavy fire “displayed extraordinary bravery and coolness throughout.”
As with many recipients of the war, information about Scott is hard to come by. He was born in Boston on June 4, 1866 and was serving as a Private with the Marine Corps when he earned his medal. He returned to Massachusetts and lived in Cambridge where he died #onthisday in 1941 at the age of 76. He was buried in the Mayflower Path section of Cambridge Cemetery by the road.
A total of 14 Spanish-American War Medal of Honor recipients are buried in Massachusetts. I recently confirmed the unmarked gravesite of one of them, Henry Hendrickson, and am working with the state to have a headstone installed. Another, Herbert Foss, was recognized as the individual who made the final cut to the cable. The town of Hingham honors his memory every year on the anniversary of his birth.
What does your #community do to honor those who served?
