JOHN CRITTENDEN WATSON
WATSON, JOHN CRITTENDEN. In preparing biographies of officers in our army and navy, it is interesting to note how many of these men of mark point the young men not merely to the highest standards of honor and integrity, but explicitly to a life of distinctly Christian faith and principle, based on the Bible. In making a study of the lives of the men who have helped to give dignity, stability and expansion to our country, one can not help noticing for the encouragement of parents and teachers the large number who regard the moral and religious training of their early years as one of the principal causes of their success in active life. Admiral John Crittenden Watson is one of those whose successful life-record may be traced in large part to the influence of his home and of his teachers. He was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, August 24, 1842. His father, Edward Howe Watson, he refers to as a man of "great gentleness, with sympathetic kindness of heart and love of people, combined with the highest courage and with universal charm of manner." His mother's influence on the formation of his character was such as to ennoble all that was fine in his natural qualities. Isaac Allerton and Fear Brewster, who came over in the Mayflower, were among her ancestors. John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, author of the Crittenden Compromise, was also of his kin.
As a child he was somewhat delicate, though this did not prevent his enjoying athletic games, swimming and dancing; while books and the society of young people were particularly attractive to him. His early life was passed at the capital of Kentucky, with visits to the country and to Louisville, Washington, and Liverpool, England. His education was largely at the famous school of Mr. B. B. Sayre, who was also the teacher of Justice Harlan, Senators Vest and Blackburn, and of others prominent in public life. He was graduated from the United States naval academy in 1860. The summer of 1860 he spent on board the United States steamship Susquehanna in West Indian waters. He made his first voyage as midshipman in the same
