George Henry Ellis - Battle of Santiago

Battle of Santiago

Chief Yeoman Ellis was killed 3 July 1898 while serving on the USS Brooklyn during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. During the battle, he was reporting ranges to enemy vessels which he read from the stadimeter, a rangefinding device, while observing from an exposed position, while the Brooklyn was under fire from as many as four Spanish ships. Yeoman Ellis was considered an expert with the stadimeter. While the Brooklyn was pursuing fleeing Spanish armored cruisers Vizcaya and Cristobal Colin, Ellis took a position about three feet in front of the forward turret. He was "singing out" the ranges to a messenger, who passed them to the guncrews inside the turrets. He was decapitated when a large shell fired from a Spanish ship struck him in the face. His brain and blood were thrown over a number of people.When an ensign and the ship's doctor started to pick up Ellis's body to throw it over the side, as was a common practice in naval battles, they were stopped by Commodore Schley, who said "No! Do not throw that body overboard! One who has fought so gallantly deserves the honor of a Christian burial." Ellis was buried with military honors in Guantanamo, Cuba at Camp McCalla, and later re-buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, on November 28, 1898. The funeral at Washington Avenue Baptist Church in Brooklyn had a capacity crowd of 2,000 mourners, with thousands more turned away. Soon after the battle, the officers and men of the Brooklyn took up a collection to benefit Ellis's widow, some contributing over a month's pay, to reach a total of over $1,000. Additional donations raised the total to$2,000 by September 1898. Besides his 25 year old widow, Ellis was survived by a seven month old infant.