Joseph Knefler Taussig (30 August 1877 – 29 October 1947) was a vice admiral in the United States Navy. He served in the Spanish–American War, Philippine–American War, China Relief Expedition, Cuban Pacification, World War I, Second Nicaraguan Campaign, and World War II.
Biography
The son of German-Jewish parents Rear Admiral Edward D. Taussig and his wife Ellen Kneffler, Joseph Taussig was Jewish and was born in Dresden, Germany, where his father, a lieutenant (navy) was on special service at the European Station (February 1877 – January 1880). One of five sons, he entered the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in 1895. His older brother, Paul Taussig, had been enrolled at the USNA but died the previous July of a sudden onset of acute appendicitis. Joseph Taussig, like his late brother, excelled in athletics at USNA. A football star, he was quarterback for the 1899 Navy team. He also excelled at track and field events and was president of the USNA Athletic Association. He was the second of a four-generational family of United States Naval Academy graduates that served from 1863 to 1970 starting with his father, Rear Admiral Edward D. Taussig (1847–1921), continuing with his son Captain Joseph K. Taussig Jr. (1920–1999), and ending with his grandson, Captain Joseph K. Taussig USMC (1945–).
Spanish–American War
When the Spanish–American War began in April, 1898, Taussig was in his final year as a cadet (as midshipmen at USNA were known from the latter part of the 19th century until 1902). He was assigned to the flagship of Admiral William T. Sampson, the cruiser , and was on board during the bombardment of Aguadores and Santiago and the pivotal naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898, where the Spanish fleet was wiped out and Admiral Pascual Cervera taken prisoner.
Taussig was a prolific and talented journalist and writer during his entire 46-year naval career. In later years, his direct and honest candor earned him the professional disfavor of Assistant Secretary of the Navy (and later President of the United States) Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. In the daily 125 page journal (with an additional 35 pages of imprints) that Taussig maintained of his experiences and observations during the Spanish–American War, he wrote about the troops embarkation from Tampa, Florida, the Army landing at Daiquirí and Siboney, the condition of the Cuban and Spanish armies, the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, a visit to Morro Castle in Havana Harbor and the fleet's triumphal and feted return to New York Navy Yard after the end of hostilities in August 1898. Taussig's journal includes his pencil sketches of troops, ships, locations, maps, and prints of naval personnel involved in the war. He also wrote numerous letters to his father and brother Charles Taussig, who became a well-known attorney in New York City. Returning to complete his studies at the USNA, Taussig graduated in the class of 1899.
Philippine–American War
Following graduation, he was assigned to the protected cruiser which departed New York Naval Yard in March 1899 bound for the Philippines. The ship made ports of call in the Caribbean, Caracas (Venezuela), Montevideo (Uruguay) and ports in Chile and Peru before heading up the California coast to Mare Island Navy Yard near San Francisco for outfitting and repairs prior to deployment with the Asiatic Squadron. Departing from the West Coast, made stops in Hawaii and Guam in transit to the Western Pacific and arrived in Cavite in November 1899. For the next five months, was station ship at Vigan on the island of Luzon. During that time, Taussig was part of a landing party that embarked at Pamplona to rescue American citizens being held hostage by Insurrectos opposed to U.S. control of the Philippines. However, once there, the landing party was ordered to return to the ship. In December, moved to Aparri where it accepted the surrender of the Insurrectos in the provinces of Isabela, Cagayan and Bataan.