August P. Teytand

August P. Teytand was a United States Navy sailor, Spanish-American War veteran, participant in the Battle of Manila Bay, and recipient of the Medal of Honor. His naval career linked two very different forms of service: combat aboard USS Olympia during one of the most decisive naval battles of the Spanish-American War, and later extraordinary non-combat heroism aboard USS Leyden when the vessel was wrecked off Block Island in 1903.

At the time of his Medal of Honor action, Teytand held the rating of Quartermaster Third Class, which is also the highest rank presently verified for this project.

His final verified medal record is:

Medal of Honor — No Device Battle of Manila Bay Medal (Dewey Medal) — No Device

Early Life

August P. Teytand was born on April 6, 1878, in Santa Cruz in the West Indies, identified in modern Medal of Honor records as Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago.

Official records preserve his name as August P. Teytand. Some later records also use the spelling Teytard, and his grave is associated with that alternate spelling. Because the Department of Defense, Naval History and Heritage Command, and Medal of Honor records use Teytand, that is the correct project form.

The meaning of his middle initial “P.” has not been securely established through the authoritative records used for this project, so it should not be expanded without additional primary documentation.

At some point before the Spanish-American War, Teytand entered the United States Navy.

His exact enlistment date is not required for the verified project record because the strongest recipient-specific evidence establishes his presence aboard USS Olympia during the Battle of Manila Bay.

USS Olympia

By May 1, 1898, Teytand was serving aboard the protected cruiser USS Olympia as an Apprentice First Class.

Olympia was no ordinary assignment.

She was the flagship of Commodore George Dewey's Asiatic Squadron, the American naval force positioned in the Far East as relations between the United States and Spain deteriorated.

When war began in April 1898, Dewey moved his squadron from Chinese waters toward the Spanish-controlled Philippines.

Late on April 30 and during the early hours of May 1, the American squadron entered Manila Bay.

At its head was USS Olympia.

Battle of Manila Bay — May 1, 1898

The Battle of Manila Bay became one of the defining naval victories of the Spanish-American War.

Dewey's force entered the bay and attacked the Spanish squadron positioned near Cavite.

USS Olympia led the American battle line.

As the flagship maneuvered past the Spanish ships, her batteries opened fire. The American squadron repeatedly passed the enemy line, using its heavier and more effective gunfire to overwhelm the Spanish naval force.

Teytand was aboard Olympia throughout this operation.

The surviving official recipient roster identifies him specifically as:

Teytand, August P. — Apprentice, First Class — USS Olympia

The available evidence does not specify his exact individual battle station or a separate personal act of gallantry during the engagement. Therefore, his service should be described accurately as verified participation in the Battle of Manila Bay as a member of Olympia's crew, without inventing a particular gun position or action.

The result of the battle was decisive.

The Spanish squadron was effectively destroyed as a fighting force, while the American squadron suffered no comparable loss of ships.

The victory immediately transformed Commodore Dewey into a national figure and profoundly influenced the course of the war in the Philippines.

For Teytand, it established his status as a combat veteran of one of the most famous naval battles in American history. Naval History and Heritage Command confirms both Olympia's central role in the battle and Teytand's presence on her Dewey Medal roster.

Battle of Manila Bay Medal — Dewey Medal

Teytand's participation at Manila Bay resulted in his second verified decoration:

Battle of Manila Bay Medal — commonly called the Dewey Medal

This medal has an especially important place in United States naval award history.

Congress authorized it on June 3, 1898, only about a month after the battle.

The legislation instructed the Secretary of the Navy to have bronze medals struck to commemorate the victory and to distribute them to the officers and men of the ships of the United States Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey on May 1, 1898.

Teytand appears by name in Naval History and Heritage Command's official USS Olympia recipient roster, so his entitlement is recipient-specific rather than merely inferred from general wartime service.

History and Design of the Dewey Medal

The Dewey Medal was designed by the renowned American sculptor Daniel Chester French, later famous for the seated Abraham Lincoln statue in the Lincoln Memorial.

The medals were struck by Tiffany & Co.

Its design commemorated both Commodore Dewey and the American victory at Manila Bay.

The reverse identified the vessel aboard which the recipient served, while the recipient's own name was engraved on the medal's rim.

This makes the Dewey Medal especially valuable to historical researchers because it was an officially named award.

Naval History and Heritage Command notes that it predates the Navy's later general system of campaign medals and was specifically associated with the men present at Manila Bay.

For the project:

Battle of Manila Bay Medal (Dewey Medal) — No Device

Continued United States Navy Service

Teytand did not leave naval service with the end of the Spanish-American War.

By early 1903, he had advanced from Apprentice First Class to:

Quartermaster Third Class

In the Navy of that period, a quartermaster was principally concerned with navigation-related deck duties, including the ship's steering, compass work, signals, charts, and supporting the officers responsible for navigating the vessel.

By January 1903, Teytand was serving aboard USS Leyden.

The ship was a small screw steamer used by the Navy for tug and support duties.

Her career would end suddenly off Rhode Island.

USS Leyden Disaster — January 21, 1903

On January 21, 1903, USS Leyden was wrecked near Block Island, Rhode Island.

The official Medal of Honor records place the action on the rocks of Block Island.

The wreck created a serious shipboard emergency in which members of the crew had to respond under dangerous conditions as the vessel was lost.

Teytand distinguished himself through his conduct during the disaster.

The surviving official citation is unusually brief.

It states that the Medal of Honor was awarded:

for heroism while serving aboard USS Leyden at the time of the wreck of that vessel.

This brevity is important.

Unlike many later Medal of Honor citations, it does not provide a detailed step-by-step description of precisely what Teytand did.

Therefore, no biography produced under the project's zero-assumption standard should invent actions such as rescuing a particular sailor, manning a specific line, remaining below decks, or commanding an evacuation unless an additional contemporary record establishes those details.

What is securely known is that his conduct during the wreck was judged sufficiently heroic to merit the highest decoration then available to an American sailor.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society confirms the action date, location, unit, rank, and non-posthumous status.

Four Leyden Medal of Honor Recipients

Teytand was not the only member of USS Leyden's crew formally recognized for heroism during the wreck.

Official Medal of Honor records also identify:

Ernest H. Bjorkman — Ordinary Seaman Loddie Stupka — Fireman First Class Michael Walsh — Chief Machinist

alongside Teytand.

This demonstrates that the Navy regarded the wreck as an exceptional emergency in which several crewmen displayed distinguished courage.

For Teytand, however, the citation remains individualized to his own heroism as Quartermaster Third Class.

Medal of Honor

Teytand's principal decoration was:

Medal of Honor — No Device

His award was formally recorded in:

General Order No. 145 — December 26, 1903

The heroic action itself occurred much earlier:

January 21, 1903

These two dates should never be combined.

The correct chronology is:

Action: January 21, 1903 General Order: December 26, 1903

The available authoritative sources do not provide a securely verified separate presentation ceremony date, so one should not be invented.

The U.S. Army's official historical Medal of Honor register identifies him as Quartermaster Third Class, U.S. Navy, born April 6, 1878, and accredited to New Jersey.

Why a Non-Combat Wreck Could Earn the Medal of Honor

Teytand's Medal of Honor can appear unusual to modern readers because the USS Leyden disaster was not an engagement with an enemy.

But the Medal of Honor rules of his era differed from the modern system.

The Navy's Medal of Honor originated during the American Civil War. Under legislation enacted in 1862, sailors could receive the decoration for extraordinary heroism “in the line of his profession,” and such heroism did not necessarily have to occur during combat.

This historical framework allowed Navy personnel to receive the Medal of Honor for acts of exceptional bravery during fires, explosions, shipwrecks, drownings, and other life-threatening emergencies.

Only later—particularly after the First World War—did the Navy's highest award become much more specifically associated with combat heroism above and beyond the call of duty.

Teytand's 1903 award therefore belongs to the earlier Interim / non-combat Medal of Honor tradition.

His decoration is not an anomaly; it reflects the law and naval award standards of his own period. Naval History and Heritage Command specifically explains that the 1862 system permitted Medal of Honor awards for heroism in one's profession without requiring combat.

Rank and Military Identity

Teytand's documented rank progression includes at least two securely established enlisted ratings:

1898 — Apprentice First Class, USS Olympia

1903 — Quartermaster Third Class, USS Leyden

No authoritative evidence recovered for this project establishes a later higher Navy rating.

Therefore:

Highest Verified Rank: Quartermaster Third Class

This is also his rank at the Medal of Honor action.

His historical branch remains unequivocally:

United States Navy

He should not be classified as Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard, or another service.

Two Very Different Forms of Heroism

Teytand's record is unusual because his two verified medals represent fundamentally different experiences.

The Dewey Medal represents his role as a sailor in wartime naval combat.

He was aboard the flagship of the Asiatic Squadron as it entered Manila Bay and defeated Spain's Pacific naval force.

The Medal of Honor, by contrast, represents heroism in a peacetime maritime disaster.

It was not awarded for defeating an enemy.

It was awarded because of his conduct when his own ship was being lost.

Together the two medals tell almost the entire verified story of his naval career:

combat service at Manila Bay in 1898, followed by individual heroism during the wreck of USS Leyden in 1903.

Later Life

The authoritative military record becomes much less detailed after Teytand's early-twentieth-century naval service.

For that reason, the project should avoid filling his later decades with unsupported assumptions.

What can be securely established is that he survived his Medal of Honor action and lived for more than half a century after the Battle of Manila Bay.

He died on March 4, 1956, aged seventy-seven.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society and the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration independently confirm his death date and burial in Philadelphia.

Burial at Mount Moriah Cemetery

August P. Teytand was buried in the historic Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

His grave lies in the naval plot:

Section 5 Row 4 Site 5

The National Cemetery Administration specifically identifies him as a Medal of Honor recipient buried there and records both spellings:

Teytand and Teytard

This explains the spelling variation found on later grave-related records.

The official Medal of Honor databases nevertheless consistently use Teytand, so that remains the correct primary database name.

His Medal Legacy

August Teytand's verified award record is small in number but historically significant.

He does not require a large speculative rack to demonstrate an important military career.

His Battle of Manila Bay Medal links him directly with the flagship of Commodore Dewey's squadron and one of the decisive naval victories of the Spanish-American War.

His Medal of Honor places him among the sailors recognized for exceptional personal courage during the dangerous maritime emergencies of the pre-First World War Navy.

These two awards represent different categories of service:

Battle of Manila Bay Medal: participation in a historic combat victory.

Medal of Honor: individual heroism during the loss of USS Leyden.

That distinction is central to understanding his career.

Legacy

August P. Teytand served during a period when the United States Navy was rapidly changing from a nineteenth-century fleet into a major international naval force.

As a young sailor aboard USS Olympia, he was present when the Asiatic Squadron entered Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.

That victory helped establish the United States as a significant Pacific power.

Five years later, Teytand's reputation was defined not by battle but by disaster.

Serving aboard USS Leyden, he faced the destruction of his own vessel off Block Island.

The Navy concluded that his conduct during that emergency constituted heroism worthy of the Medal of Honor.

His surviving record therefore shows a sailor who experienced both warfare at sea and deadly maritime emergency.

Teytand lived until 1956, long enough to see the United States Navy transformed far beyond the force in which he had first served.

Yet his place in naval history remains anchored to two ships:

USS Olympia — where he served during the Battle of Manila Bay.

USS Leyden — where his heroism earned the Medal of Honor.

His legacy is not built on senior rank or command.

It is built on verified service, presence in a historic naval battle, and courage when his ship was wrecked.

Final Project Record

Full Name: August P. Teytand Alternate Recorded Spelling: August P. Teytard Country: United States Branch: United States Navy Highest Verified Rank: Quartermaster Third Class Spanish-American War Rank: Apprentice First Class Medal of Honor Action Rank: Quartermaster Third Class Spanish-American War Ship: USS Olympia Medal of Honor Ship: USS Leyden Major Engagement: Battle of Manila Bay Battle Date: May 1, 1898 Medal of Honor Action: USS Leyden wreck, Block Island, Rhode Island Action Date: January 21, 1903 Medal of Honor General Order: No. 145 — December 26, 1903 Awarded Posthumously: No Born: April 6, 1878 — Santa Cruz, West Indies Died: March 4, 1956 Burial: Mount Moriah Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Section 5, Row 4, Site 5

Final Verified Medal Rack

1. Medal of Honor — No Device

2. Battle of Manila Bay Medal (Dewey Medal) — No Device

Total Verified Medals: 2