ALEXANDER F. CROSMAN, CDR, USN
Alexander Crosman '55
Photographs
From the USN Register 1873, Volume 20, in the George Henry Preble collection of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Courtesy of Megan Casey, Supervisory Librarian, Reference Section
Loss
Alexander was aboard a boat on April 12, 1872 when it capsized while crossing over a bar off the coast of Nicaragua. He, one of his officers who attempted to rescue him, and four sailors were drowned.
He was commanding officer of Kansas; he and his men were part of the Nicaragua Canal Surveying Expedition.
Other Information
Alexander was admitted to the Naval Academy from Pennsylvania.
From Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifice:
Alexander F. Crosman, the son of George H. Crosman, a U.S. Army officer, was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 11, 1838. Crosman was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy [from Pennsylvania] and graduated in 1855. The following year he was attached to the frigate USS Congress, which served in the Mediterranean.
By 1860, Crosman was stationed back in his hometown. At this time baseball was in its infancy and Crosman played for the Cyclone Base Ball Club of St. Louis. The Cyclones, formed the previous year, played their games at Lafayette Park. On July 9, 1860, they played against the Morning Star Club, a game that has been recognized as the first official game played west of the Mississippi River according to the rules of the National Association.
With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Crosman was promoted to lieutenant and left St. Louis to command the USS Somerset, a wooden-hulled, side-wheel ferryboat assigned to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. He attained the rank of lieutenant commander in July 1862 and spent most of the remainder of the war on the steam screw frigate USS Wabash, as part of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
After the war, Lt. Cmdr. Crosman served on the wooden, screw sloop of war USS Ossipee, the clipper USS Onward, and at Portsmouth (NH) Naval Yard. A son, Alexander, Jr., was born to Crosman and his wife, Frances, at Portsmouth on August 1, 1871. Crosman was later commissioned commander and led surveying expeditions in South America, searching for an interoceanic canal route.
On April 12, 1872, aboard the 836-ton screw steam gunboat USS Kansas, Commander Crosman, pioneer baseball player, drowned in the harbor of Greytown, Nicaragua, while trying to save two sailors who had fallen overboard. He was 33 years old.
He was survived by his wife Frances, daughters Daisy and Ethel, and son Alexander. He has a memory marker in Philadelphia.
Daughter
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Alexander's second daughter Ethel, born in 1870, was adopted by her mother's second husband, attorney Edward Barry. In the 1900 census, she was listed as Ethelred Barry living with her widowed mother Frances/Fanny Barry at 181/183 Appleton Street, Arlington Heights, Massachusetts. Ethelred was an artist and writer who illustrated all her books under the name Etheldred Breeze Barry. In 1899, she had her children's book “Little Tong's Mission” published by Dana Estes & Co., Boston. The book tells the touching story of an invalid girl visited by sailors when they were in town.
Among her published works were: “Countess of the Tenements” in 1901, “Miss DePeyster's Boy” in 1902, “Little Dick's Christmas” in 1903, and “What Paul Did” in 1904.
She did illustrations for other authors as well: Mary Barnes Beal's “The Boys of Clovernook” in 1896; Laura E. Richards' “Three Margaret's” in 1897; Harriet A. Cheever's “Ted's Little Dear” in 1900, Edith Robinson's Litle Puritan Bound Girl;” Charles Dickens' “Little David” in 1903; many of Annie Fellows Johnston's books, including “The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor” in 1906 (Shirley's Temple's movie was based on this book); Marion Ames Taggart's “Sweet Nancy” in 1909; and Frances Margaret Fox's “Seven Little Wise Men” in 1910.
In the 1910 census, Etheldred's home became the location for the Order of St. Anne of the Episcopal Church, founded by Father Frederick Cecil Powell of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. Living with her in 1910 was a 46-year-old housekeeper Julia Morgan and a 50-year-old mother's helper, Clara White. The nine boarders ranged from ages 1 month to 19 years old. The grounds and chapel are still in use today as a retreat by the Bethany House of Prayer.
In December 1912, Etheldred, Julia, and two others took vows to be Sisters in the Order of St. Anne of the Episcopal Church at Arlington Heights. She would be known as Sister Ethelred in the Convent. In the fall of 1913, she had a poem published in the New York Times about helping homeless kittens and dogs. It was published in many other newspapers in the next few months.
Ethelred's order moved to Chicago in 1921. She became the first superior Mother Ethelred by the 1930s, and some of her illustrations may be seen at: https://sistersofstannechicago.org/our-history/
Etheldred died in 1967 in Gosport, Hampshire, England.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
January 1857
January 1858
January 1860
September 1861
September 1862
January 1863
January 1864
January 1865
January 1866
January 1869
July 1870
January 1871
January 1872
Related Articles
Alfred Forée '67 was drowned when attempting to rescue Alexander, his commanding officer.
Memorial Hall Error
Alexander is not listed with his classmates in Memorial Hall. This error was discovered by researcher Kathy Franz.
Alexander is one of 7 members of the Class of 1855 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
