1915, July 28, 11:50 A.M.

1915, July 28, 11:50 A.M. – 5:48 P.M.: (The Situation Is Well in Hand: The Cables, the Orders, and the Landing at Bizoton): As soon as the boatswain’s mates could get a steam launch into the water — the time was 11:50 A.M. — Admiral Caperton sent Beach ashore to the American legation and immediately afterward to the British and French legations. All three chiefs of mission agreed that no vestige of authority or government was left and urgently asked that a strong force be landed at once. The immediate sequence of events that brought the 330-man landing force on deck was this: at 2:00 P.M. on July 27, Beale Davis had cabled Lansing that the French legation was threatened and a forcible entry attempted for the purpose of taking out the president, that the situation was very grave and the presence of war vessels necessary as soon as possible. During the forenoon of July 28, a State Department memorandum records telephone conversations between the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Latin American Division, resulting in a decision that Admiral Caperton be instructed to land Marines at earliest opportunity. At 11:00 P.M. on the 28th, Davis cabled that the mob had invaded the French legation, taken out the president, killed and dismembered him. At 3:00 P.M. on the 28th, Navy Radio Washington sent Caperton the order: State Department desires American forces be landed Port-au-Prince and American and foreign interests be protected — Department has ordered U.S.S. Jason with Marines from Guantánamo to proceed immediately to Port-au-Prince. Caperton did not receive this radiogram until 10:00 P.M., but at 4:00 P.M. he had heard from Guantánamo that Jason was on the way with reinforcements. At 4:10 P.M. the chiefs of the foreign missions and Captain Beach left for shore bearing word that the landing had been ordered. At 4:50 P.M. Washington’s landing force shoved off for the beach. At 5:48 P.M., Marines were ashore at Bizoton. When — with personal clearance from President Wilson — Admiral Benson sent Caperton his fateful orders to land, the final violation of the French legation and Guillaume Sam’s dismemberment were not yet known in Washington, though the prison atrocities were known and Davis had reported mob attempts to smash into the French legation. As for Caperton, although orders were on the air nearly three hours before the landing at Bizoton was effected, the admiral clearly acted in advance of receiving his final instructions — but he acted on the strongest urging of the local chiefs of mission of three great powers.