Evans, Robley Dunglison (1846-1912), was an American naval officer known as “Fighting Bob.” He first won recognition in 1891 as commander of the gunboat Yorktown in the harbor of Valparaiso, Chile. While there, he peaceably settled a crisis after a mob killed two American sailors.
Evans was born in Floyd County, Virginia, on Aug. 18, 1846. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1863. He fought for the Union during the American Civil War (1861-1865). During the Spanish-American War (1898), he commanded the battleship Iowa and helped destroy the Spanish fleet at Santiago de Cuba. In 1902, Evans, then a rear admiral, took command of the Asiatic Fleet. President Theodore Roosevelt chose him to take the Atlantic Fleet around the world in 1907. Evans died on Jan. 3, 1912.
