The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Maclay, Edgar Stanton

MACLAY, mạ-klā', Edgar Stanton, American author: b. Foochow, China, 18 April 1863. He was graduated at Syracuse University in 1885; was reporter on the Brooklyn Times, 1886-90, and on the New York Tribune 1891-93; served on the editorial staff of the Tribune, 1893-95, and on that of the New York Sun, 1895-96. In 1896 he was appointed lighthouse-keeper at Old Field Point, and in 1901 received an appointment at the New York navy yard. He edited the ‘Journal’ of William Maclay (q.v.), and is the author of a ‘History of the United States Navy,’ which occasioned much controversy and brought about his dismissal from government employ, by order of President Roosevelt, in 1901. The ground of this action, following Maclay's refusal of an official request for his resignation, was a passage in the ‘History’ stigmatizing Rear-Admiral Schley as a “caitiff, poltroon and coward” for his conduct in the naval fight off Santiago, Cuba, 3 July 1898. Maclay has also written ‘Reminiscences of the Old Navy’ and ‘The History of American Privateers.’