| Birth: | Oct. 27, 1853 | | Death: | Nov. 24, 1899 | 
United States Marine. Known was the "The Nation's Hero - Sergeant Major William Anthony". While serving as a Private in the United States Marine Corps on board the "USS Maine" it was reported that he said to Captain Charles Sigsbee (who he was serving as his orderly) when it blew up "Excuse me sir - I have to report that the ship has been blown up and is sinking". The explosion, of course, was obvious to everybody, especially Captain Sigsbee, but the effort to come into the fast sinking ship to report this information was truly heroic. Some accounts have him reporting the exact time of the explosion. The Maine blew up in February, 1898, in Havana Harbor (later investigations showed it was a build up of coal dust that caused the blow-up--not a Cuban mine) and Anthony was a minor celebrity for a few months afterward, even appearing in a musical, "Red Whie and Blue." He fell on hard times, married a shop-girl, and committed suicide by drinking a phial of "tincture of cocaine" a year and a half later, in New York City. During World War II the destroyer "USS Anthony" (DD-515) was built, commissioned and named in his honor. (bio by: Joe Fodor)
Search Amazon for William Anthony | | | Burial:
The Evergreens Cemetery
Brooklyn
Kings County
New York, USA
Plot: Seamen's Ground |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 30, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 19977 |
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