Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society ; v. 3, no. 1
Summary
Article about the U.S.S. Lancaster, written during the time of the Spanish American War. "Few, if any, of my hearers are aware of the fact that the 'Lancaster' is the oldest ship in the United States navy and that the cruiser was constructed over forty years ago and was a sister vessel of Farragut's flagship 'Hartford,' and that this battle-scarred veteran of the Civil War was named after Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was christened by a young woman of Lancaster, Harriet Lane, mistress of the White House, and niece of President James Buchanan. This is the case and an examination of the files of the local and Philadelphia newspapers for the year 1858 establishes that fact, the 'Lancaster' having been christened on October 20 of that year."
