JOHN M. HUDGINS, LT, USN
John Hudgins '94
Lucky Bag
From the 1894 Lucky Bag:
Hudgins, John Melton
Palmyra, Virginia
Class foot-ball team.
Hudgins, John Melton
Palmyra, Virginia
Class foot-ball team.
Photographs
Photo scanned and provided by Jennifer Bryan, Ph.D., Head of Special Collections & Archives/Archivist at the Naval Academy's Nimitz Library
Photo scanned and provided by Jennifer Bryan, Ph.D., Head of Special Collections & Archives/Archivist at the Naval Academy's Nimitz Library
Loss
John was lost on April 14, 1906 when the gunpowder from a 13" gun aboard Kearsarge (Battleship No. 5) ignited, killing another officer and eight men.
Other Information
From Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times, Volume 39:
Lieutenant John Milton Hudgins was appointed as a naval cadet from Virginia in September, 1890. He was graduated from the Naval Academy in June, 1894, and was sent to serve on the Detroit at the Norfolk Navy Yard. In July, 1895, Lieutenant Hudgins was promoted to the grade of assistant engineer and continued to serve in that capacity at the Norfolk Navy Yard until the following August when he was detached and ordered to London for a course of instruction, during which time he was attached to the American Embassy. On March 3, 1899, Lieutenant Hudgins' rank was changed from assistant engineer to Ensign. He subsequently reached the grade of lieutenant on September 26, 1901. He was attached to the bureau of equipment of the Navy Department soon after his last promotion and in October, 1903, was sent to the Kearsarge. A year ago he was given three months' sick leave, and upon his return to the Kearsarge was placed in charge of the wireless telegraph tests, which were being instituted by the bureau of equipment.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
In October 1901, John was staying at a fashionable uptown hotel, the Ebbitt House, in Washington, D. C. when he was robbed of $75 from his valise. The police eventually caught the Cuban man in Philadelphia with $67 in cash on him and a watch engraved with the name of ex-Governor Jim Hogg of Texas.
John was involved with wireless telegraphy. On August 8, 1902, several experiments were conducted under the supervision of Rear Admiral Bradford. Per The Washington Times: “Two different sets of instruments were used at each station. They were recently purchased in Paris and Berlin for the use of the Navy Department by Lieut. John M. Hudgins, and the results with each were satisfactory, and, in fact, all that was expected of them. Neither set is of the Marconi pattern . . . Lieut. Hudgins endeavored to secure a set of Marconi's instruments, but Mr. Marconi demanded a royalty for their use, which was so high that the Navy Department refused to agree to pay it, and decided to first make a test of the other apparatus.”
During his career, John also served on the Manila and the Petrel.
John married Arabella Adams Moran on September 18, 1902, at Christ Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her great-grandfather was Lt. Blackburn, an aide de camp on George Washington's staff.
John's father George was a farmer. Even at age 10, John was listed as working on the farm with his brothers Preston and Henry. John's other siblings were Lula, Nena, and George. Lula married Alphonso Hunter Jones. She died in Rome, Georgia, in 1892.
He was survived by his wife and son; John is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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.
July 1894
January 1897
January 1898
January 1899
January 1900
January 1901
January 1903
January 1904
January 1905
Memorial
John's classmates erected a plaque in Memorial Hall "in commemoration of an act of self sacrifice and devotion to duty."
Related Articles
Joseph Graeme '97 was also lost in this incident.
John is one of 2 members of the Class of 1894 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.
