PHILIP H. FIELD, MIDN, USN
Philip Field '06
Lucky Bag
From the 1906 Lucky Bag:
Philip Henry Field
Denver, Colorado
"Si," "Phil," "Bo," "Willie"
The Navy's dark horse. His silent, thoughtful reserve suggests awful possibilities. Is he or is he not? Seldom smiles, but when he does—ah, such a smile. It drowns the remembrance of the sordid common places of a monotonous existence in the feeling that you are experiencing a touch of the unreal, impossible. Is skipper of the good ship "Lithia," and a man of exemplary habits. Rooms with Red, upon whom he exercises a most beneficial influence.
"Rah, rah, rah, how proud we feel
Two stripes (1); Farewell Ball Committee; Class Football (4, 3, 2); Baseball (3, 2); Class Yell Committee; Manager Track and Fencing Teams.
Philip Henry Field
Denver, Colorado
"Si," "Phil," "Bo," "Willie"
The Navy's dark horse. His silent, thoughtful reserve suggests awful possibilities. Is he or is he not? Seldom smiles, but when he does—ah, such a smile. It drowns the remembrance of the sordid common places of a monotonous existence in the feeling that you are experiencing a touch of the unreal, impossible. Is skipper of the good ship "Lithia," and a man of exemplary habits. Rooms with Red, upon whom he exercises a most beneficial influence.
"Rah, rah, rah, how proud we feel
Two stripes (1); Farewell Ball Committee; Class Football (4, 3, 2); Baseball (3, 2); Class Yell Committee; Manager Track and Fencing Teams.
Loss
Philip was lost when the steam-powered launch he was aboard was "run down and sunk" on June 11, 1907, in Hampton Roads. He was a passenger returning to the battleship Connecticut, which he was stationed aboard, from the Jamestown Exposition.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Philip, the other five midshipmen, and the five seamen killed in the Minnesota’s launch had left a dance at the Jamestown Exposition around midnight. The old Virginia dance was given in honor of the midshipmen from Annapolis and the cadets from West Point. The exposition, which ran for seven months, commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.
Philip was born in Albemarle County, Virginia. His father William was an attorney who was born on the “Windsor” plantation in Albemarle County, about two miles southwest of Gordonsville. Philip’s mother was Lizzie, and his sisters were Fanny and Laura. In the 1900 census they lived in Denver, Colorado. Philip was appointed to the Naval Academy by Colorado Senator Patterson. Philip’s father was one of the attorneys in the 1903 lawsuit of the New York Life Insurance Company vs. Henry C. Brown (his wife’s estate included the Brown Palace Hotel.) Philip’s grandfather was Confederate General James G. Field who was wounded and had a leg amputated in the Civil War. An attorney, he was later the Attorney General of Virginia.
Related Articles
William Stevenson '06, Walter Ulrich '07, Herbert Holden '07, Franklin Holcomb '07, and Henry Murfin, Jr. '07 were also drowned in this incident.
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