MuthaPNW 🌲🦅🇺🇸@muthaPNW
Spokane, Washington
The Spokane City Council approved a contract to remove John Robert Monaghan’s statue, because it is insensitive by using the word “savage”. (We are still doing this?) It’s been there for 120 years!
Why not put a new plaque next to it, with a modern approach?
Who is John Robert Monaghan?
Born in Chewelah, Washington, March 26, 1873. His parents sent him at the age of eleven to California to have Catholic instruction because their church did not offer it at the time. He would continue to study in Portland, Oregon. Eventually, returning to Washington State to attend Gonzaga University when it opened in 1887, named after Aloysius Gonzaga.
You will quickly discover from this article that he was the FIRST Washingtonian to graduate from US Naval Academy.
Heroism:
“On the 1st of April a concerted movement was made by the allied land forces. Lieutenant Lansdale of the Philadelphia commanding the American party with which Ensign Monaghan had been serving since it had been put ashore. The march was through a densely wooded country, where Mataafa's men were in ambush in large numbers. The following account of this encounter has been given: "Under a deadly fire which could not be replied to with advantage, especially as the only piece of artillery (a Colt automatic gun) brought by the marines had become disabled, a retreat was sounded.
While this was in progress Lansdale received a wound in the leg, shattering the bone. In the confusion of the retreat he had been left in the rear, with only Monaghan and three or four privates. He was carried some distance, when one of the privates was shot to death, and soon afterward the others fled, leaving Monaghan alone with him. Although urged repeatedly by Lansdale to save himself (as testified by the last of the men to leave), he steadily refused and stood his ground, awaiting assistance. Presently others who had been in the rear came up and in their turn departed. The next day the bodies of Lansdale and Monaghan were found lying together in the jungle. Captain White of the Philadelphia in his official report wrote: “It is in evidence most clear that when Ensign Monaghan discovered that Lieutenant Lansdale was wounded he used his best endeavors to convey him to the rear and seizing a rifle from a disabled man made a brave defense; but undoubtedly he fell very shortly after joining Lansdale, and the hostiles, flushed with success, bore down on our men in this vicinity. The men were not in sufficient numbers to hold out any longer and they were forced along by a fire which it was impossible to withstand. But Ensign Monaghan did stand. He stood steadfast by his wounded superior and friend, one rifle against many, brave man against a score of savages. He knew he was doomed. He could not yield. He died in the heroic performance of duty.'”
-Washington Biographies Project in July 2014 by Diane Wright.
- The remains of Ensign Monaghan were brought back to the United States on the Philadelphia and interred in Spokane, where every honor was paid his memory. On the 25th of October, 1906, a bronze statue was unveiled in Spokane, by his sister, Agnes, which was given by the citizens of the state of Washington. The torpedo boat destroyer which was launched February 18, 1911, was named in honor of Ensign Monaghan and his sister, Nellie, christened the boat. A life of great promise was terminated when in that tropical country he closed his eyes forever in death, after displaying a heroic devotion to his commander and to the cause which he served that is unsurpassed in the history of military action among American troops. It has been said that "Memory is the only friend that grief can call its own." It is indeed a precious memory that remains to the parents, for there was never a blot on his scutcheon, and the story of his heroism may well serve as an inspiration to the American youth.
