Edward B. Barry
United States Navy rear admiral (1849–1938)
Edward Buttevant Barry (October 20, 1849 – November 27, 1938) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. A popular and mostly successful sailor, Barry took part in the Spanish–American and Philippine–American wars and commanded various ships, including the USS Vicksburg and USS Kentucky.
In November 1910, Barry was appointed as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. He served there until January 1911, when a scandal erupted due to his suspected homosexuality. Despite his request for an early retirement being accepted, pressure from his subordinates and President William Howard Taft led Barry to resign "for the good of the service".
Early life
Edward B. Barry was born on October 20, 1849, as the second son in an Irish Catholic family in New York City. His father, Garrett Robert Barry, was a successful Navy purser, who served as paymaster for the New York Navy Yard (now the Brooklyn Navy Yard) during the American Civil War. He studied at St. Francis Xavier College in New York City before entering the United States Naval Academy on July 21, 1865, through being an officer's son. Barry's stay at the naval academy was mediocre, being demerited for various incidents, including "very disorderly humming" and reading a newspaper during fencing lessons.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edward B. Barry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.