The True Blue Saloon
16 OCTOBER 1891
THE TRUE BLUE SALOON
Frictions between the President of Chile, José Manuel Balmaceda, and the Chilean Congress erupted into civil war in January 1890. US sympathies leaned weakly toward Balmaceda, but in the main, President Benjamin Harrison was most interested in preventing European powers (particularly England) from exploiting the struggle for their own gains. Toward this end, Harrison dispatched the protected cruisers CHARLESTON (C-2), BALTIMORE (C-3), and SAN FRANCISCO (C-5) to patrol the Chilean coast. The insurgents won the initial battles, forcing the weakened Balmaceda government to seek refuge in the American consulate in Valparaiso. The consulate then became such an object of local anger that on 28 August 1891 a guard of Marines under CAPT William S. Muse had to be landed. Then in October of 1891, the incumbent government collapsed after Balmaceda committed suicide. Tensions momentarily eased in the city, and CDR Winfield Scott Schley, whose cruiser BALTIMORE had been standing in the harbor for months, seized the opportunity to send his thirsty sailors on liberty.
In retrospect, Schley’s decision was regrettable as mobs of victorious insurgents with long memories still roamed Valparaiso’s streets. Neither did Schley organize the customary precaution of a shore patrol. Nevertheless, on the night of 16 October a liberty party from the BALTIMORE located a likely watering-hole called the True Blue Saloon. In short order they were hunted down by an anti-American mob who still recalled the US support of their deposed former president. A brawl ensued in which local police “looked the other way” as Boatswain’s Mate C.W. Riggins and another sailor were beaten to death and sixteen others injured. The Chilean foreign minister complicated matters with some disparaging remarks about the incident, prompting President Harrison to demand reparations and an official apology. The new Chilean president, Jorge Montt, was oblivious to US concerns and ignored the request.
In the ensuing months, anti-Chilean factions in America pressed Harrison for a military solution. By January the absence of any reply had piqued Harrison’s anger. He ordered Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Tracy to pre-position American warships, and on the 27th of January requested a war declaration from Congress. Impressed with the apparent American resolve, five days later the Montt government agreed to pay a $75,000 indemnity to the families of the two slain sailors. A war with Chile had been narrowly averted. (One factor that temporarily cooled the crisis was the surprised realization on the part of US planners that the Chilean Navy was materially stronger than our own, having purchased several British-built cruisers during Chile’s recent war with Peru).
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CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES: This was not Winfield Scott Schley’s only questionable decision. He later became embroiled in an embarrassing public controversy with RADM William Sampson, his senior at the Battle of Santiago on 3 July 1898. Schley’s alleged cowardice and confusing ship movements during that battle became the point of argument between the officers, a shameful public fight that ultimately required the intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt.