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CAPT. EDWARD ALBERT EVERS (1878-1954)
and the U.S.S. WILMETTE
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Capt. Edward A.
Evers
Photo courtesy Great
Lakes Naval Museum
Capt. Evers' long
career
Evers
was the commanding officer, Illinois naval militia, from 1909 to 1941,
and is believed to be the first reservist ever to reach the rank of
admiral. He joined the Naval Reserve in 1897. Serving as a seaman
in the Spanish-American War on the U.S.S. Indiana, he participated
in the Battle
of Santiago on July 3, 1898 in which the Spanish fleet was destroyed.
According to his obituary in the
Wilmette Life published April 6, 1954, Evers was a member
of the pulling boat crew which rescued Admiral Cevera from the burning
Spanish flagship.
Headed
Naval Reserve
Evers
served as commanding officer, Illinois naval militia, from 1909 to
1941. During World War I he served as comanding officer of Grant Park
Camp which trained men for duty on converted yachts and submarine
chasers. He was also in charge of remodeling and fitting out seven
steamships taken over by the Navy. His flagship was the U.S.S. Wilmette.
USS Constitution
tour...
In
1927 Chicagoans were eagerly raising money for the restoration of
the sailing ship, U.S.S. Constitution, known affectionately as Old
Ironsides. Even school children were deeply involved in the project.
On Aug 20, 1927 Capt. Evers, representing the national Save Old Ironsides
committee, received a check for $25,143 raised in May by the sale
of Old Ironsides buttons in the schools. Much of the excitement was
generated by the promise that the historic ship would be brought to
Chicago on a "glory cruise" manned by a crew of Chicago
sailors. Capt. Evers was the choice to be its captain.
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Chicago
Crew Proposed for Old Ironsides
“Capt. Evers is the choice of the naval post, and it is the
post’s belief that he knows more about the rocks and shoals
of the great lakes than any other individual. Therefore this great
privilege and responsibility should be his..he alone is capable
of the command.”
Chicago
Tribune, May 14, 1927
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Almost...
Unfortunately,
when the ship was ready for the trip in 1930 careful measurements
revealed the St. Lawrence seaway, through which Old Ironsides was
to travel on its way to the Great Lakes, was too shallow to accomodate
the ship. The victory tour to the west coast was accomplished via
the Panama Canal.
Promoted to Admiral
Captain
Evers was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1941 and was retired
in 1942, after completing the World War II mobilization of Chicago
Naval Reserve Division.
Evers was also
a member of the original commission for the development of Chicago's
lake front and was instrumental in having the State of Illinois construct
the Naval Armory at the foot of Randolph street.
His hobby
was sailing
According
to the Book
of Chicagoans 1917 Evers was born in New York City on January
16, 1878, the son of John William and Mary (Kelly) Evers. He was married
to Florence Virginia King of Chicago on November 21, 1905 and had
three daughters: Jean, Virginia and Marjorie. Evers' was engaged in
contracting business with heating and power plants in Chicago since
1900. His hobby was sailing.
Evers
a Wilmette resident for 40 years
Rear Admiral Edward
Albert Evers died at the age of 74 on April 4, 1954 in Los Angeles,
and was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, near San Diego.
The Chicago Historical Museum has posted additional photographs of
Capt. Evers from the Chicago Daily News photograph archives on the
Library of Congress American
Memory site.
Local
History Home
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U.S.S.
Wilmette
Naval
Reserve Capt. Edward A. Evers, a Wilmette resident in the World War
I era, was instrumental in salvaging the ill-fated excursion boat,
Eastland,
after it overturned on July 24, 1915 in the river near Clark St. in
Chicago killing hundreds of passengers.
Working
with electricity magnate, Samuel Insull, and a group of other prominent
Chicagoans, Evers transformed the boat into a naval reserve training
ship, the U.S.S. Wilmette. The ship was used extensively for training
in both World War I and II. Evers wrote an article about the history
and importance of the U.S.S. Wilmette for the Illinois
Blue Book of 1935-36.
Postcard image courtesy Wilmette
Historical Museum
Sinking
of the UC-97
A
little known story about the U.S.S. Wilmette was its role in the sinking
of a German submarine in Lake Michigan. As a training exercise on
June 7th, 1921, the U.S.S. Wilmette sank a captured German submarine,
UC-97, about twenty miles off the coast of Highland Park. The German
U-Boat, still lies at rest on the bottom of Lake Michigan. The wreckage
of the UC-97 was located in 1992 by A&T
Recovery, but it's location has not been made public.
Photo courtesy Great Lakes Naval Museum
Famous
Passengers
Naval
reservist and war correspondent, Ernie Pyle, described his impressions
of sailing on the U.S.S. Wilmette in his book, Home
Country.
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was still in a sinking condition, I assure you
We sailed
on the USS Wilmette, formerly known as the Eastland. ...It was still
in a sinking condition, I assure you. It constantly shied to the right,
and once in a while felt as though it wanted to lie down in the water.
Ernie Pyle,
Home Country, p.136 |
The most noteworthy
event of her later career occurred towards the end of World War
II. In August 1943, the U.S.S. Wilmette took President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt and other dignitaries on a ten day cruise of McGregor
and Whitefish Bays to plot war strategies.
Sold
for Scrap
On
October 31, 1946, the U.S.S. Wilmette was sold as scrap by the US
Government for $2,500 ending its long and lively career.
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1974
Wilmette Vehicle
Sticker
Wilmette's village
newsletter, The Communicator,
announced in its 1973, No. 4 issue, that the local vehicle sticker
for the coming year would feature the U.S.S. Wilmette. The newsletter
includes a concise history of the ship and the photograph that was
used on the sticker. Bound copies of the newsletter are kept in the
Library's Reference Room. Unfortunately samples of the actual sticker
no longer exist.
Officers U.S.S. Wilmette, Evers front row, left
Photograph courtesy Great Lakes Naval Museum
Enlarge
photograph
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