Francis Joy Haesler – Lieutenant, United States Navy

LIEUTENANT FRANCIS JOY HAESLER

NEW YORK,  New York, November 21, 1900 – Lieutenant Francis Joy Haesler, United States Navy, died yesterday in the Naval Hospital, Brooklyn, after an illness of two weeks, from typhoid fever.  He was taken ill upon his return from a trip to Washington, and was removed at once from the battleship Kearsarge, to which he was assigned, to the hospital.

Lieutenant Haesler was one of the most popular officers of his grade in the Navy.  He entered the Naval Academy from Pennsylvania in 1876 and was graduated as a Midshipman in 1882.  He was appointed an Ensign, junior grade, in 1883, and was a Senior Ensign a year later.  In 1885 he was assigned as an instructor in the Naval Academy.  From 1889 to 1892 he served on the cruiser Boston on the European Station, after which he became an instructor at the Naval Academy.

Lieutenant Haesler served through the Spanish-American War on the battleship Texas, under the late Rear Admiral (then Captain) John W. Philip.  He had command of the starboard turret of the battleship, and made the big guns of the ship more rapid firers by improving the method of loading.  During the war he acquired a reputation as an ordnance expert and was the inventor of several improvements in gun mechanism.  He was last assigned to the Kersarge, his last post of duty, several months ago.  The deal lieutenant will be buried in Arlington Cemetery with customary honors.  He leaves a wife who resides in Manhattan.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard