Winfield Scott Schley Schley, Winfield Scott (slĪ) [key],
1839–1911, American naval officer, b. Frederick co., Md. After
serving with Union naval forces in the Civil War, he held
various naval posts. In 1884 he commanded the third, and
successful, relief expedition to rescue the arctic explorer
Adolphus W. Greely. Schley was promoted to the rank of commodore
in 1898 and in the Spanish-American War commanded the "flying
squadron," ordered to seek out the Spanish under Admiral Pascual
Cervera. There was some ill feeling between Schley and William
Thomas Sampson, who had been advanced to chief command. When the
battle of Santiago was fought and the Spanish fleet destroyed,
Sampson was absent and Schley had command, thus giving rise to a
bitter controversy over the credit for the victory. Schley was
made a rear admiral and resigned from the navy in 1901. A court
of inquiry, requested by Schley to investigate charges leveled
against him of negligence and misconduct in the battle of
Santiago, was generally adverse