The Gallant Young: Heroism, Audacity, And Controversy Of A Kentucky Naval Officer (Part Six)
By: Joe D. Friday Jr.
Note: This is the sixth part of an ongoing multi-part series that will be presented once a month until completion. For further context of this story, please read the previous part in this series.
Young returned to Cuba and brought along his brother, Franklin, and his wife for an extended visit. He sponsored a reception for the couple that included some 400 guests. The Lexington-Herald Leader reported, “the celebrated Lucien Young punch was dispensed with a hospitable hand and pronounced the finest ever brewed in the United States Navy.”123
In addition to Young’s duties of managing the overall port operations in Havana, he also oversaw the solicitation of bids for the salvage of the sunken battleship Maine.124 He later made the purchase of a floating drydock left in the Havana harbor and that had belonged to Spain prior to the war.125
In April 1901, Young’s reputation for egotism and big talk surfaced again when as commandant of the port he used his authority to sentence two Cuban men, an editor and the publisher of a local Havana newspaper to jail terms of thirty and ninety days respectively for libel against him.126 The action seems to hint at Young’s view of the Cuban nationalists and of his own importance. The Owensboro Twice-A-Week Messenger responded to the news with more than a twinge of sarcasm:
“Who that has listened, by compulsion or otherwise, in Washington clubs or hotel corridors, to his breezy and beery stories of remarkable adventure, in which he was always the hero—deeds of heroism of which he only is capable of telling and of which eye-witnesses are generally strangely missing—can doubt him in any matter?”127
On November 14, 1901, Young took thirty days leave and set sail for the United States.128 He visited Kentucky and New York, where he spoke freely about the necessity of Cuban annexation: “Annexation is the only salvation of Cuba, for annexation means free trade with us.”129 He further said, “Cuba can give the United States but one concession, and that should be annexation.”130 It wasn’t long before the Navy responded to the controversy raised by its talkative officer. By December 11, Young received orders relieving him from duty in Havana and ordering him to Washington.131 Before taking his leave of Cuba, he enjoyed a giant farewell reception, with a reported attendance of 3,000.132
Newspapers across the country speculated on Young’s fate. Headlines read, “Naval Officer Disciplined,” “Indiscreet Talking Cost Him His Post,” and “Talked Too Much.”133 Maybe some expected a court martial. Instead, after a meeting with President Roosevelt, the Navy promoted Young to commander and shuffled him off to duty as the lighthouse inspector of the ninth naval district, headquartered in Chicago.134 “Young…owes it to his good record that he did not suffer worse at the hands of the department,” reported the Lancaster Examiner.135 It could have been possible that Young’s public comments, while embarrassing to the administration, weren’t necessarily out of sync with the unofficial, private views of Theodore Roosevelt.
From March 1902 to February 1904, Young spent his time engaged in the duties of inspector in the ninth lighthouse district. Among other things, this included the annual survey and inspection of USS Dorothea, an 1898 surplus gunboat loaned to the Illinois Naval Militia, and berthed at Chicago.136 He traveled to Washington for various duties. He also served on the board of a general court martial on board USS Michigan.137 It was also during this time that Young endorsed the popular patent medicine, Peruna, a so-called “cure-all” tonic containing 28% alcohol.138 Young’s picture appeared in newspapers from coast to coast in Peruna advertisements.139
Detached from the inspector’s office in February 1904, Young took command of the cruiser Montgomery, assigned to the Caribbean squadron. This duty took Young back to visits in Cuba and other familiar ports.140 He was in the region shortly after Panama, with backing from the U.S., broke away from Colombia, which paved the way for the construction of the Panama canal. Young took Montgomery to the port of ColoĢn and remained on station there from April to June.141 Notably, Young made no public statements regarding the American presence in Central America. It appears he had finally reigned in his tendency to speak publicly about American foreign policy. Following a leave, Young visited President Roosevelt at the White House to report on and discuss conditions in Panama.142 The visit suggests the two men held similar views regarding American expansion in the region and raises the question of whether they had struck up a friendship. Years later, at least one newspaper commented on the idea of a friendship between the two men with the headline that Young, “Had Pull With Roosevelt,” and saying further that, “during the first year of the Roosevelt administration, Young had about everything he wanted.”143
Young assumed command of USS Bennington on October 22, 1904.144 That vessel was part of the Pacific squadron, and the assignment took Young back to Hawaii for six weeks in the spring of 1905. His time there was apparently uneventful, though newspapers reported he received a chilly reception from many native Hawaiians. The News Journal of Mansfield, Ohio reported that Young, “has met with considerable unpleasantness,” while the Natchez Democrat wrote that Young, “is the recipient of frigid and scant courtesy.”145
Young and Bennington returned to San Diego in mid-July. Young was ashore on July 21 with the ship anchored in the harbor when a boiler explosion rocked the vessel and tore away large sections of the deck and the starboard side.146 Bennington began to list to starboard, but did not sink. The explosion killed more than twenty-five men almost immediately, and wounded between sixty and seventy.147 The force of the explosion blasted men into the air, and eyewitnesses say bodies were thrown one hundred feet high, and at least twelve to fifteen men were blown overboard.148 Young made a hasty return to his ship and to keep it from sinking, had the crippled Bennington beached.149 By the end of the day, Young had confirmed thirty-four men killed, seventy-six wounded, and twenty-one missing.150 The death toll eventually reached sixty-six.151 Young kept three pets on Bennington; his terrier dog, a cat, and his pet deer. The animals survived uninjured in the blast, and in a message to his wife, displaying his softer side, Young told her, “the three babies are safe.”152
The Navy vowed to conduct a thorough investigation to determine exactly how the explosion occurred, and in late August issued a report that placed blame for the tragedy on three enlisted men, who died in the explosion, and an officer, Ensign Charles Wade.153 Investigators did not explain or answer questions about one of the boilers known to be weak or defective.154 The Navy tried Wade by court martial, and acquitted him, perhaps because Wade was not a trained engineering officer. Secretary of the Navy Charles Bonaparte disapproved of the court’s verdict, but did not overrule it.155 Young was tried by court martial and acquitted of responsibility for the tragedy, but was reprimanded for “remissness of duty,” for his failure to sign the steam logbook. Bonaparte administered a letter of reprimand to Young.156
At the conclusion of his court martial, Young spent the rest of the year on duty at the Mare Island navy yard. Despite the reprimand, he received his commission as Captain in August 1905. He served on various boards, including the retirement board, court martial board, and the examination board, and traveled between San Francisco, Oakland, and San Diego during this time. He later became captain of the navy yard.157
On the morning of April 18, 1906, a tremendous earthquake struck the city of San Francisco. Young was staying in an apartment in the city and after the quake struck, he went quickly to the assistance of the residents nearby. He evacuated women and children from the building where he was staying, then organized a detachment of personnel to act as “police” to guide other people to safety.158 In a letter written three days later to his brother, Young said, “this is the most awful destruction ever known….I am worn out from loss of sleep and fatigue: have not had my shoes off since Wednesday.”159
Young continued serving at Mare Island until the end of December 1909. He took leave and then went to duty at Pensacola navy yard in February 1910. He received his commission as Rear Admiral, effective March 17.160 Fifty-eight years old by this time, Young seemed to find duty at the navy yard to his liking. He and his wife hosted many social events, including weekly band concerts at the navy yard, a birthday party for Mrs. Young, dinners for various guests, and a grand celebration on their anniversary. For the anniversary dinner, the Pensacola News Journal wrote, “Lucien Young’s punch, famous the world over, could be had…and a beverage long to be remembered, too, it proved!” 161 In regard to a good drink, Young once told a friend, “A man can never have enough, he may get too much, but he can never have enough!”162
In July 1910, Young was invited to umpire a baseball game between the “intelligent and well-mannered Journal Nine” of the Pensacola News Journal, and the “low-browed sluggers” of the Pensacola Evening News.163 Young jokingly declined the invitation, saying, “I will therefore suggest you get some other knockout referee.” And he further added, “be sure you have that ball tampered with as Mark Twain did with the frog.”164
When Young transferred from Pensacola to Key West naval station in September 1911, over one hundred of his friends and admirers gave him a huge farewell banquet which included an all-ladies orchestra, the navy yard’s marine corps band, and four different singers. As testament to his popularity, the Pensacola News-Journal wrote, “it is not Lucien Young of the navy…they have been entertaining, but Lucien Young of the world.”165 The crowd presented him with an inscribed silver loving cup to commemorate his service in Pensacola.166
Note: Please stay tuned for next month when part seven will conclude this multi-part series.
Notes
123 Lexington Herald-Leader, January 11, 1900, p. 6.
124 The Boston Globe, November 20, 1900, p. 10.
125 “The Havana Dry Dock,” Evening Star, June 30, 1900, p. 1; “Our Navy Buys Dry Dock Of Spain,” The Weekly Republican, (Plymouth, Ind.), July 25, 1901, p. 6.
126 Lexington Herald-Leader, April 12, 1901, p. 3.
127 The Twice-A-Week Messenger, (Owensboro, Ky), April 20, 1901, p. 4.
128 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 52.
129 “Cuba Weeping.” The Boston Globe, November 21, 1901,p. 4.
130 “Lucien Young An Annexationist,” The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 13, 1901, p. 9.
131 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 52.
132 “Capt. And Mrs. Young Leave Havana,” The New York Times, December 29, 1901, p. 4.
133 “Naval Officer Disciplined,” The Inter Ocean, December 12, 1901, p. 10; “Indiscreet Talking Cost Him His Post.” The San Francisco Chronicle, December 12, 1901, p. 2; “Talked Too Much,” The Owensboro Messenger, (Owensboro, Ky), December 12, 1901, p. 4.
134 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 52; “Lucien Young”, The Lexington Herald-Leader, March 30, 1902, p. 15.
135 “Good Record Saved Him,” The Lancaster Examiner, (Lancaster, Pa.),December 14, 1901, p. 1.
136 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 52; Dorothea, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
137 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 52.
138 John Panella, Joe Widman, “Peruna—King Of The Bracers,” In The Medicine Chest, Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, April, 2020, https://www.fohbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Peruna_ABGC_April20.pdf, (Accessed October 16, 2025).
139 The Los Angeles Times, September 20, 1903, p. 5; The Buffalo News, August 1, 1903, p. 4.; The Waco Times-Herald, September 20, 1903, p. 3; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 20, 1903, p. 5.
140 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 52.
141 Annual Reports of the Navy Department For the Year 1904, p. 534.
142 “Lucien Young At The White House,” The Courier-Journal, October 27, 1904, p. 5.
143 “Had Pull With Roosevelt,” Oakland Tribune, (Oakland, Cali.), July14, 1912, p 25.
144 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 53.
145 News Journal, (Mansfield, Ohio), May 29, 1905, 4; Natchez Democrat, (Natchez, Miss.), May 31, 1905, p. 4.
146 “San Diego Harbor Scene Of Fearful Boiler Explosion,” Los Angeles Evening Express, July 21, 1905, p. 1.
147 “Gunboat’s Officers Injured,” Los Angeles Evening Express, July 21, 1905, p, 1.
148 “Men Blown 100 Feet High,” New York Times, July 22, 1905, p. 1.
149 New York Times, July 22, 1905, p. 1.
150 New York Times, July 22, 1905, p. 2.
151 “USS Bennington (PG-4), Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
152 The Courier-Journal, March 16, 1907, p. 4.
153 “Report on Bennington Disaster,” The Charlotte News, August 23, 1905, p. 4.
154 The Charlotte News, August 23, 1905, p. 4.
155 “Differs From Bonaparte,” The Baltimore Sun, January 23, 1906, p. 2.
156 “Commander Young’s Reprimand,” The New York Tribune, February 4, 1906, p. 4.
157 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 53-54.
158 Rebecca Livingston, “When An American City Is Destroyed: The U.S. Military As First Responders To The San Francisco Earthquake A Century Ago.” Prologue, Spring 2006, Vol. 38, No. 1, National Archives And Records Administration, 36-44.
159 “Capt. Young’s Letter,” Lexington Herald-Leader, April 27, 1906, p. 2.
160 Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 54.
161 Pensacola News Journal, June 2, 1910, p. 5; Pensacola News Journal, June 10, 1910, p. 5; The Times-Picayune, September 4, 1910, p. 26; Pensacola News Journal, June 20, 1911, p. 5.
162 “Young’s Philosophy,” Oakland Tribune, December 19, 1908, p. 18.
163 Pensacola News Journal, July 21, 1910, p. 8.
164 Pensacola News Journal, July 21, 1910, p. 8.
165 Pensacola News Journal, October 3, 1911, p. 3.
166 Pensacola News Journal, October 6, 1911, p. 6.