LIFE OF 
 
 
 . 
 
 ANDKEV HULL FOOTE, 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL UNITED STATES NAVY. 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES MASON HOPPIN, 
 
 PROFESSOR IN YALE COLLEGE. 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 l8 74 . 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
TO THE 
 
 HON. GIDEON WELLES, 
 
 EX- SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE life which has been imperfectly set forth in these pages 
 deserves to be remembered as that of one who labored and 
 accomplished much for his country; and as a life in itself 
 pure, manly, and heroic. It followed the law of right even 
 when leading to sharp sacrifices and death. It was one of 
 those lives that by the simple force of character raises the 
 spirit of its times to a higher moral level of manhood. 
 
 Though encountering great disappointments and trials, and 
 not permitted to realize what would appear to be his just an 
 ticipations, the career of Admiral Foote may be still regarded 
 in many respects as a brilliant one. He did many notable 
 and noble things. He was, in fact, a great naval commander, 
 of the same stamp though perhaps, from the lack of oppor 
 tunities, not so famous as Decatur, Hull, Lawrence, McDon- 
 ough, and Perry. 
 
 In this biography I have not indulged in highly wrought 
 descriptions of military scenes and events, but with great 
 pains have endeavored to keep on the exact level of truth, 
 carefully verifying every fact and statement by all the author 
 ities at my command, so that (though the hope may be a vain 
 one) this volume might form a slight contribution to the ma 
 terial of future history, especially the history of the late war 
 in one of its most peculiar and important phases. 
 
 I have desired, above all, to make a book that would be 
 read with interest by officers and seamen in the Navy; in 
 order that young men in that service might be led to emu 
 late his example, who died for his country as truly as if he 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 had fallen in battle on the deck of his gun-boat. I would 
 wish them to see that what the hero of Fort Henry and the 
 Mississippi accomplished was no accident of fortune, but was 
 prepared for in the earlier stages of a life devoted to the 
 highest aims. His example, as well as his reputation, belong 
 especially to the Navy. He was a genuine American sailor ; 
 and we can not do thorough justice to him unless we view 
 him in this light. His qualities of mind and temperament 
 have the smack of the salt sea the free play and rough force 
 of old ocean. He was a true child of the sea of a fluent 
 spirit, moved by powerful impulses, loving honor, bold and 
 affectionate. 
 
 Yet he was more than this. To the simple sailor-spirit of 
 indomitable loyalty to duty was added a religious enthusiasm 
 that fitted him to contend with foes more formidable than 
 winds or waves. Here lay the real strength of his character. 
 
 I acknowledge with gratitude the good offices of the Hon. 
 Gideon Welles, for valuable letters placed at my disposal; 
 and also the kindness of the venerable Bear-Admiral Joseph 
 Smith, in the aid rendered by him in obtaining for me access 
 to the files and records of the Navy Department at Wash 
 ington. 
 
 The spirited sketches of actions on the Tennessee, Cum 
 berland, and Mississippi rivers, from which the engravings 
 in this work were made, were drawn expressly for the book 
 by the gallant Rear-Admiral H. Walke, and lend the author 
 ity of an eye-witness and of a principal actor in those scenes 
 to the excellent drawings themselves. To other members of 
 the Navy, and to the Hon. John A. Foote and George A. Jar- 
 vis, Esq., who have given me their kind counsel and assistance, 
 I would also return thanks. 
 
 J. M. H. 
 NEW HAVEN, July, 1874. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. Page 
 
 Birth, Family, and Early Days 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 First Cruises and Sea-life 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Cruise of the John Adams 38 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Cruise of the John Adams continued 48 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Naval Asylum at Philadelphia. Cruise of the Cumberland. 
 . Naval Academy at Boston . . 54 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Cruise of the Perry on the African Coast 60 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Cruise of the Perry continued 75 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Private Journal on the Perry 89 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Literary Labors 97 
 
viii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER X. Page 
 
 Cruise of the Portsmouth and Taking of the " Barrier Forts" . 106 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Remarks on the Taking of the " Barrier Forts." Cruise of 
 the Portsmouth concluded 122 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Correspondence. Brooklyn Navy Yard. Beginnings of 
 Strife , , 136 
 
 CHAPTER XIH. 
 
 Appointment to Command of Naval Operations at the West. 
 The Western Flotilla 154 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 First Operations of "Foote's Flotilla." The Action at 
 Lucas's Bend, and Reconnoitring Expeditions 169 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Action at Eddyville. Documents respecting the Flotilla. 
 Defective Guns. Battle of Belmont. Correspondence.. . 177 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Preparations for Attacking Fort Henry. The Assault and 
 Capture 190 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Results of the Capture of Fort Henry. Further Movements 
 of Gun-boats. Preaching at Cairo 207 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The Share taken by "Foote's Flotilla" in the Siege of Fort 
 Donelson. He is Wounded. Correspondence 220 
 
Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. Page 
 
 Capture of Clarksville. Foote's Proclamation. Not per 
 mitted to take Nashville. Armed Reconnoissance down 
 the Mississippi. Flag of Truce. Evacuation of Colum 
 bus 233 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The Mississippi as the Scene of Operations. General Pope's 
 Movements at New Madrid. Characteristic Order. Cor 
 respondence 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Investment and Bombardment of Island No. Ten. Death 
 of Son. Cutting Canal across Peninsula 264 
 
 CHAPTER XXH. 
 
 Capture of Island No. Ten 282 
 
 CHAPTER XXIH. 
 
 Operations of Fleet at Fort Pillow. Ill-Health and giving 
 up of Active Command 294 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Correspondence at Cleveland. Detached from Command of 
 Western Flotilla 314 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Correspondence. Return to the East. Vote of Thanks by 
 Congress 331 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Appointed Chief of Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting. 
 Speeches and Letters at Enlistment Meetings. Corre 
 spondence. Appointed Rear- Admiral 344 
 
Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. Pag e 
 
 Congratulations and Correspondence. Sword Presentation 
 at Brooklyn 355 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Loss of Children. Correspondence at Washington. Ap 
 pointment to Command of South Atlantic Squadron. 
 Last Days and Death 364 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Honors to the Memory of Admiral Foote. Funeral Obse 
 quies 379 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Concluding Words and Letters of Friends 384 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PORTRAIT OF REAR-ADMIRAL ANDREW HULL FOOTE Frontispiece. 
 
 THE GOVERNOR FOOTE HOUSE, CHESHIRE, CONN Faces p. 20 
 
 ST. PAUL DE LOANDA " 80 
 
 THE BARRIER FORTS p. 114 
 
 THE " BENTON" p. 166 
 
 SCENE OF OPERATIONS AT THE WEST Faces p. 170 
 
 BATTLE OF BELMONT " 186 
 
 MAP OF FORT HENRY p. 200 
 
 BATTLE OF FORT HENRY. Faces p. 201 
 
 MAP OF FORT DONELSON p. 222 
 
 BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON Faces p. 223 
 
 MAP OF FORT COLUMBUS p. 242 
 
 SCENE OF OPERATIONS AROUND ISLAND No. TEN p. 267 
 
 BOMBARDMENT OF ISLAND No. TEN Faces p. 268 
 
 THE " CARONDELET " PASSING BATTERIES " 285 
 
 FORT PILLOW . "311 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL 
 
 ANDREW HULL FOOTE, U.S.N, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH, FAMILY, AND EARLY DAYS. 
 
 ANDREW HULL FOOTE was born in w r hat is known as the 
 " Buddington House," on the corner of Union and Cherry 
 Streets, in 'New Haven, Connecticut, Sept. 12, 1806. Though 
 the blood of the " De Veres, the Bohuns, and the Bigods " did 
 not run in his veins, he was descended from good New En 
 gland stock of God-fearing Puritans, whose first American an 
 cestor, from whom he was removed about eight generations, 
 was Nathaniel Foote, who came from England to "Watertown, 
 Mass., in 1630, and in 1635 was one of the company of emi 
 grants of whom Trumbull, in his history of Connecticut, says 
 they were fourteen days in the wilderness on their journey from 
 Watertown and vicinity to begin settlements on the Connecti 
 cut River, at Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor. Nathaniel 
 Foote settled at Wethersfield, and belonged to the original 
 proprietors of that town, where he died in 1644. His son 
 Robert, from whom Admiral Foote is directly descended, emi 
 grated to Branford, Connecticut, and was among the early 
 settlers of that town. Wethersfield, Hadley, Branford, and 
 Cheshire numbered among their earliest and best citizens the 
 descendants of Nathaniel Foote ; and in all the trials and 
 
14 Life of A dm iral Foote. 
 
 marked events of New England history in pioneer labors, the 
 witchcraft delusion, Indian conflicts and captivities, the colo 
 nial wars and the war of the Revolution this well-known 
 and widely spread family bore its full share, some of its mem 
 bers having shed their blood and given their lives on the 
 battle-field for their country. They were chiefly agricultur 
 ists ; but filled every responsible position in social and civil life, 
 and by their sturdy worth and intelligence helped to build 
 up the good old commonwealth of Connecticut. 
 
 The grandfather of Andrew was John Foote, a native of 
 North Branford, who was a graduate of Yale College in 1765, 
 and for about fifty years was pastor of the church in Cheshire, 
 Connecticut, where he died in 1813. He was one of the old- 
 fashioned New England ministers, who were settled over their 
 parishes for life, and whose life formed an integral part of 
 the history of the town itself. For nearly a hundred years the' 
 grandfather and great-grandfather of the Admiral were the 
 pastors of the village church, the one succeeding the other.* 
 
 * The following incident respecting Lucinda Foote, daughter of Rev. 
 John Foote, which has been recently revived in the public prints, shows 
 that that reverend gentleman was not of the opinion of Aaron Burr, who 
 thought that one tongue was enough for a woman. At the age of twelve 
 years Lucinda Foote was fitted to enter Yale College, as appears from 
 the following copy of a translation of a certificate in Latin, written upon 
 parchment, given to her by President Stiles, and also inserted by him in 
 his diary on the same date : 
 
 " The President of Yale College to all to whom these presents shall 
 come. Greeting : Be it known to you that I have examined Miss Lucinda 
 Foote, twelve years old, and have found that in the learned languages 
 the Latin and the Greek she has made commendable progress, giving 
 the true meaning of passages in the ^Eneid of Virgil, the Select Orations 
 of Cicero, and in the Greek Testament ; and that she is fully qualified, ex 
 cept in regard to sex, to be received as a pupil in the Freshman Class in 
 Yale University. Given in the College Library, the 22d of December, 
 1783. EZRA STILES, President." 
 
 Though kept out of college, Miss Foote pursued a full course of college 
 studies, and also studied Hebrew with President Stiles. She married at 
 eighteen, and died at the age of sixty-two, having been the mother of ten 
 children. 
 
His Parents. 15 
 
 His parents were Samuel Augustus Foote and Eudocia Hull, 
 daughter of General Andrew Hull (militia general), of Ches 
 hire. His father, Samuel Augustus, was Governor of Con 
 necticut in 1834-5, and United States Senator from 1827 to 
 1833. He was known in the political history of the country 
 as the mover of " Foote's Resolutions," which gave occasion to 
 the famous passage of arms between Webster and Hayne. In 
 his political sentiments Governor Foote was originally a Jef- 
 fersonian Democrat, but afterward became a member of the 
 National Republican party, which in 1832 was reorganized as 
 the Whig party under the leadership of Clay and Webster. 
 
 In the winter of 1829-30 it was determined by the leaders 
 of the Republican party to provoke the Southern members 
 who held nullification principles to an open discussion which 
 should compel them to show their colors. Senator Foote as 
 sumed the task of moving the resolutions, which bore mainly 
 on the question of the final disposal of the public lands and 
 the proceeds of their sales ; but he consented to do this on the 
 condition that he should not make a speech upon his own res 
 olutions. This was characteristic of the man. While in Con 
 gress, and, in fact, during a long and successful political life, 
 he rarely was known to make a speech, although, whenever 
 he did speak, it was to the point. His success was owing to 
 his stanchness and sagacity of character. He was a man of 
 positive opinions, often standing quite alone, as on the Mis 
 souri Compromise question ; but he was known to friend and 
 foe as a politician of inflexible honesty, and one who despised 
 intrigue. He led men by his force of will and independence 
 of character. If not an orator, it is an interesting fact that 
 the father of Admiral Foote was a prominent actor in the 
 first great public strife of opinion between the North and the 
 South, and between those principles which go to strengthen 
 and uphold the authority of the "national government, and 
 those which tend to its dissolution. The father may thus be 
 
1 6 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 said, in some sense, to have begun the contest which ended in 
 the war of the Rebellion, and the triumph of the principles 
 of republican government a war in which his son bore so 
 distinguished a part. 
 
 The childhood and youth of Admiral Foote were those of 
 a boy brought up in strict Puritan principles, modified per 
 haps by the gentler influence of his mother, who, by her wom 
 anly tact in ordinary matters, was the true executrix of the 
 household, although the father, as in the old Hebrew house 
 hold, held the supreme authority, which was never relaxed in 
 a real difference of opinion. 
 
 Unquestioning obedience was the rule of the family life. 
 This held good not only in respect of domestic authority, but 
 extended also to teachers and all superiors in age and rank. 
 The schoolmaster stood in loco parentis, and the most rigor 
 ous discipline administered at school was taken at home as 
 good evidence that it was well deserved, and admitted of no 
 appeal. 
 
 It was held that talents were given to be used, and idleness 
 was looked upon as the great sin. The day began with the 
 song of the birds. The son was expected to give his spare 
 hours to the service of his parents at home or in the field, and 
 the most deferential respect was enjoined in their presence. 
 Plain diet, simple apparel, hard work, and, above all, profound 
 reverence for the Sabbath, and unfailing attendance upon pub 
 lic worship and all religious ordinances, characterized this and 
 other sober Puritan households, even down to the beginning 
 of the present century, in Connecticut, " the land of steady 
 habits." 
 
 Andrew was a lively boy, indisposed to study or routine of 
 any kind ; and though he had no bad traits, he loved freedom 
 and fun. The family consisted of robust boys, with no sis 
 ter's softening influence ; and many were the pranks of these 
 youngsters, in which Andrew was the leader. One story is 
 
His Boyhood. 17 
 
 told of him, 'which, considering the austere setting of circum 
 stances in which it appears, must have been at the time ludi 
 crous enough. His oldest brother John, who shared his fun- 
 loving temper, had played some successful prank, which, by 
 all principles of boy-law, it was incumbent upon Andrew to 
 return with interest. He armed himself with a no less effect 
 ual and no more destructive missile than a rotten apple, and, 
 standing behind a door, patiently awaited his opportunity. 
 At length hearing some one approaching whom he supposed 
 to be his brother, he darted from his concealment, and threw 
 the apple with all his force, when, to his horror, he saw that it 
 had taken effect in the bosom of his father's ruffled shirt, who 
 had just come out of his chamber, having carefully arrayed 
 himself for the occasion of delivering a public address on the 
 return of peace. The indignant sire, supposing that the jest 
 was intended for himself, rushed to seize the offender, but 
 fright lent wings to his feet ; and as the church-bell was al 
 ready tolling for the public service, the pursuit was necessarily 
 abandoned to allow time for a speedy change of dress ; so that 
 an opportunity was gained by Andrew to send in an explana 
 tion and apology ; and, to his infinite satisfaction, the young 
 rogue was released with a severe reprimand. 
 
 Other anecdotes are told, quite as trivial in themselves, 
 which, however, are characteristic of the spirit of the boy, and 
 show that his resolute nature manifested itself early. While 
 but a wee bit of a lad, he was one day leading his younger 
 brother Augustus, who was dressed in a red frock, across a 
 meadow where there was a large merino ram. The buck, ex 
 cited by the red dress, charged furiously upon the little fellow. 
 Andrew bravely threw himself in the way, and received the 
 shock ; and this he did several times, until they had reached 
 the fence in safety. His brother (Hon. John A. Foote, of 
 Cleveland, Ohio, who tells this story) says of the occurrence, 
 that it was undoubtedly the admiral's first ram fight. 
 
 B 
 
1 8 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Another story of Andrew's youthful days might have been 
 told of hundreds and thousands of plucky boys, but which, at 
 all events, shows that the spirit t&figJit was born in him, and 
 was ready to manifest itself on* any real provocation of insult 
 or injustice. When he had grown to be a bigger lad, he went 
 one winter's day into a shoemaker's shop, and left the shop 
 door open behind him. One of the workmen thereupon or 
 dered him in a peremptory way to shut the door. Andrew 
 thought the tone was too authoritative, and refused to shut 
 the door unless asked civilly. The workman, thereupon grow 
 ing wrathful, told him that if he did not close the door he 
 would thrash him ; and at once the ire of our young hero was 
 kindled, and Crispin was laid helpless across his own bench, 
 while the old master, who had watched the affair over his 
 spectacles, instead of interfering, cried out, " Bravo ! bravo ! 
 well done, lad !" 
 
 His brother John says of his early years : " He was a stut 
 tering, stammering, left-handed little boy. A cot was fitted 
 tightly over his left hand, and he was required to use only his 
 right. When he commenced speaking, he was admonished to 
 speak slowly, and to beat time with his right hand. 
 
 " When we were boys together, it was a rule in our family 
 to commence the Sabbath early on Saturday evening, and play 
 was to be suspended until we could see three stars on Sunday 
 evening. Herschel and other distinguished men have had 
 great credit for discovering new stars, but I have sometimes 
 queried whether the future admiral did not in those days dis 
 cover some stars never seen by any of them. Yery certain I 
 am that the play sometimes commenced before I could see 
 any stars ; and I am equally certain that he never, in after-life, 
 watched for them in a storm at sea, or on a lee shore, more 
 anxiously than when a boy, on a Sunday evening, he watched 
 for them as a license to begin his sports. 
 
 " As a boy, he was full of fun and frolic a real boy but 
 
Influences that drew Him to the Sea. 19 
 
 he was genial, kind, and popular, and I do not remember of 
 his ever being quarrelsome." 
 
 Such incidents of his youthful days might be multiplied ; 
 it would, however, be interesting to inquire what it was that 
 gave the first turn to his life, and led him to seek the sea. It 
 is said Hugh Miller remembered that when a child not three 
 years old he went into the garden one day, and saw there " a 
 minute duckling, covered with soft, yellow hair, growing out 
 of the soil by its feet, and beside it a plant that bore as its 
 flowers a crop of little mussel-shells of a deep red color." 
 This really belonged to the vegetable kingdom ; and the dis 
 criminating observation of a new fact in nature by one so 
 young seemed prophetic of the future man of science. 
 
 Nothing remarkable of this kind is recorded of Admiral 
 Foote's childhood. The sea is a magnet that draws its own to it 
 wherever they may be. The plowboy on the hill-side or on the 
 prairie far away hears in his mind's inner sense the perpetual 
 undertone of ocean, and drops the plow, and makes his way to 
 the coast to embark upon the adventurous life of the sailor. 
 The love of the sea is one of those instincts that are original 
 in the nature of some. This only is to be said of our hero's 
 youth, that his earliest recollections were of ships. His father, 
 when he lived in New Haven, was engaged in the West India 
 trade, and his place of business was upon the well-known quay 
 called " Long Wharf." For the first ten years of his married 
 life his father was, as he himself supposed, subject to an affec 
 tion of the lungs, and occasionally made a voyage to the West 
 Indies, in the capacity of supercargo of one of his own vessels. 
 As these absences were infrequent, the going and coming 
 produced a strong impression upon the imagination of his 
 children, as they watched the departing or returning sail, and 
 probably awoke in one of them at least the vague and wild 
 desires after a sailor's life. 
 
 It is also not altogether improbable that the war of 1812, 
 
2O Life of Admiral P^oote. 
 
 which was almost altogether a naval war, and the brilliant vic 
 tories of our sea-captains at that time, kindled unconsciously 
 in the ardent mind of the boy the first faint fires of military 
 glory connected with the sea. When those stories of combats 
 on the ocean and on the great lakes were related with en 
 thusiasm at the family fireside or table, it is quite impossible 
 that a mind so susceptible even as a child to honor, should not 
 have caught the spirit and the glow of such stirring events. 
 
 The war of 1812, and the severe illness of his father, 
 brought about a change of scene; and the family removed 
 from New Haven to Cheshire, a beautiful inland village in 
 the same state and county, in the spring of the year 1813. 
 There they continued to reside, in a fine old family mansion, 
 until the death of Governor Foote in 1846. 
 
 A word more should here be said of the father of the Ad 
 miral, for from him the son inherited some of his strongest 
 traits of character. 
 
 Samuel A. Foote was born November 8, 1780. Though of 
 a delicate constitution in childhood and youth, he prepared for 
 and graduated at Yale College before he was seventeen years 
 of age. He subsequently pursued the study of the law with 
 Judge Reeve, of Litchfield, Connecticut, until impaired health 
 compelled him to give it up ; and he began business in New 
 Haven, in the West India trade, in 1803. From 1817 to 1835 
 he was in public life, filling all the chief political offices in the 
 state. While governor of the state he received the degree of 
 LL.D. from Yale College. He was a notable example of an 
 intelligent and practical American statesman, or, perhaps, the 
 better word would be politician, of the old school, with the 
 marked conservatism of the shrewd men of his state, and with 
 the still higher qualities of independence and firmness. 
 
 These sterner traits, enforced often by a severe countenance 
 and piercing look, were mingled with a vein of kindly humor, 
 which made him popular with all classes, and even with his 
 
Governor Samuel A. Foote. 2 1 
 
 political opponents ; so that, through his known inflexibility of 
 purpose, that could not be turned by any amount of outside 
 pressure or party drill, and his courteous manners, he truly, as 
 a man, wielded a great influence. His mode of speaking was 
 simple, and as in conversation. He never attempted a meth 
 odized discourse ; but aiming directly at what he considered 
 the essential thing, and developing but one idea at a time, he 
 soon exhausted what he had to say, though it was generally 
 found that he struck at the heart of the matter, and said the 
 true and weighty word. It is related of him, however, that 
 he fully appreciated the value of the ability to speak well in a 
 free country, and encouraged his sons to train themselves in 
 the art of public address. 
 
 Undoubtedly Andrew learned his first lesson of obedience 
 the prime word in a sailor's creed at home ; yet father 
 and son were so much alike in stubbornness of will that Gov 
 ernor Foote once said that he thought he " had succeeded 
 pretty well in controlling all his boys with the exception of 
 Andrew him alone he had only attempted to guide" Yet 
 in both father and son there was, as has been said, a kindly, 
 genial vein ; and they were both what might be truly called 
 popular men with all classes. Courtesy, indeed, was inculcated 
 as a prime principle in the family life ; and the example of 
 Washington the American gentleman as well as hero was 
 not as yet forgotten. This gentler side of the Puritan charac 
 ter and education is sometimes lost sight of. Doubtless there 
 was too little of the spirit of indulgent sympathy with inno 
 cent enjoyment, and too intense a stress laid on obligation 
 and not enough on love ; but the Puritan family was by no 
 means like a planet journeying on in perpetual eclipse. It 
 rolled out sometimes into broad and pleasant sunshine upon 
 Thanksgiving days, election days, and the holiday sports of 
 childhood and youth, and whenever original Anglo-Saxon 
 humor, good-nature, and cheerful piety fairly asserted them- 
 
22 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 selves. We have but to add, what has already been hinted, 
 that Governor Foote, being himself a high-toned Christian 
 man, reared his family in the strict principles of New En 
 gland morality ; religion, as the foundation of character, was 
 laid at the bottom. Though it was not in Andrew's case 
 the immediate cause of a religious life, who can tell what 
 a profound influence this home piety, leading the mind con 
 stantly to view the practical earnestness, and even solemnity 
 of life its obligations to God had upon his whole future 
 career ? 
 
 In regard to the schoolmasters and school-days of Andrew 
 Foote, a word might be said and but a word for his was a 
 nature that did not easily take mould from without, but rather 
 developed itself by a native force from within. He was not 
 a man of thought so much as of action. The strength of his 
 nature was on its moral side. What he purposed he thought ; 
 what he willed he did. His life is in his deeds. Silent in 
 preparation, issuing from deep sources, his acts, like the acts 
 of men of his kind, were rapid ; their results are open to every 
 eye, and the world does not care very much to know about the 
 early shaping influences of a power which is noiselessly gen 
 erated like electricity in the hidden springs of nature. In 
 fact, his schools and schoolmasters did not probably have much 
 to do in making the man. He drew his sagacity to plan, his 
 courage to dare, his power to act, from his parents, and from 
 the nature God gave him. His first school upon entering 
 which, it is said, he made a desperate but, in this sole instance, 
 unsuccessful fight for freedom was in New Haven, and was 
 kept by Miss Betsey Bromham, afterward Mrs. Austen, who 
 was permitted to visit the Admiral in his last sickness in New 
 York, and then and there to express the life-long interest 
 which she felt for her former child-pupil. 
 
 When the family removed to Cheshire, Andrew was sent 
 first to the common or district school kept in that village, and 
 
School-days. 2 3 
 
 afterward was placed at the Episcopal Academy of Cheshire, 
 then in charge of an able and noted instructor, Dr. Tillotson 
 Bronson. 
 
 It is not probable that young Foote distinguished himself as 
 a scholar, for that was not his bent ; but in these schools in 
 Cheshire lie became fitted to pass the examination then re 
 quired to become a member of West Point Military Academy, 
 the entering of which institution was a kind of compromise 
 with his parents, since he had already declared his intention 
 of going into the Navy, to which his mother was particularly 
 opposed. We may, however, suppose that his school -years 
 were not wholly lost time, as his literary attainments and pro 
 ductions in after -years gave good proof. He mastered the 
 common English branches, and always wrote in a clear and 
 flowing style. He said to a friend in the latter part of his 
 life that he had never read a book through consecutively, but 
 was accustomed to glean its contents by a rapid glancing over 
 it, and that he had found this to be the method of some dis 
 tinguished men. One of his schoolmates at the Episcopal 
 Academy in Cheshire was Gideon Welles, recently Secretary 
 of the Navy, who proved to be one of his warmest friends, 
 and who, in the trying scenes of the war, gave the Admiral 
 his generous and unfailing support. From the testimony of 
 another schoolmate,* young Foote was noted while at the 
 academy for his amiability and tact in getting out of the dif 
 ficulties which his frolicsome disposition plunged him into; 
 and even the stern old doctor, a stickler for discipline, was 
 not able to resist his winningly frank, gentle, and affectionate 
 manners. 
 
 This healthy, bold, adventurous boy, we may imagine, was 
 learning a great deal of human nature and of the world that 
 God made in those school-days in the picturesque country vil- 
 
 * George A. Jarvis, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
24 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 lage among the green Connecticut hills. He knew where the 
 tallest hickory-trees grew, and the biggest chestnuts ripened : 
 
 " Knowledge never learned of schools, 
 Of the wild bee's morning chase, 
 Of the wild flower's time and place, 
 Flight of fowl and habitude 
 Of the tenants of the wood ; 
 How the tortoise bears his shell, 
 How the woodchuck digs his cell, 
 And the ground-mole sinks his well; 
 How the robin feeds her young; 
 How the oriole's nest is hung." 
 
 He fished in the trout-brooks, swam in every stream, and ex 
 plored every cave ; and, more than all, he explored his own 
 heart, and found out what he was made for ; for early in his 
 Cheshire boyhood-life he stoutly declared his intention of go 
 ing to sea, and said that if prevented, he should do so the mo 
 ment he was twenty-one years old. 
 
 "West Point proved a stepping-stone to his darling plan. He 
 remained at the Military Academy of West Point but a few 
 months say from June to December and in the latter part 
 of the year 1822, at the age of sixteen, he was transferred to 
 the Navy. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 FIEST CEDISES AND SEA-LIFE. 
 
 THE active temperament of young Foote, ready for any 
 thing but still life on shore, had found its right direction. On 
 the 4th of December, 1822, he was appointed acting midship 
 man, and was stationed on board the schooner Grampus, under 
 Commander Gregory, in whose fleet, upon the coast of Africa, 
 he afterward held his first separate command. The Gram 
 pus belonged to the elder Commodore David Porter's squad 
 ron, which was sent out in 1823 to break up the piratical nests 
 among the West India Islands. He thus entered at once upon 
 the arduous duties of his profession. He was thrust into the 
 " rough and ready " school of the older naval service ; not 
 passing through a preparatory academic training on shore, 
 which is a comparatively modern invention. His habits of 
 promptness and discipline were learned in the schoolroom of 
 old ocean, among hard-handed tars and the stern realities of 
 sea-life. From the testimony of his commander, he was an 
 eager learner in the duties belonging to his profession; and 
 at whatever hour of the day or night Lieutenant Gregory was 
 called on deck, there would be found Midshipman Foote 
 in Gregory's own words " dogging his heels :" ready to aid 
 in taking an observation, active in running aloft, and with his 
 eye and hand always on the right rope. He was equally de 
 voted to the study of books then used in the science of navi 
 gation ; in fact, as he often said, his life's ambition was to 
 make himself a perfect naval officer it ran in the line of 
 his profession. The following is an extract from a boyish 
 letter, dated on board the United States schooner Grampus, 
 
26 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 March 6, 1823, and addressed to an early friend and school 
 mate :* 
 
 " I hope you will excuse my negligence in not writing before this time, 
 for I assure you that it did not proceed from want of affection, but on 
 account of the inconvenience in writing while at sea on board of a ves 
 sel of this tonnage. To my great astonishment and satisfaction I re 
 ceived a midshipman's appointment, which you probably recollect I ap 
 plied for a short time before going to West Point. We left the port of 
 New York on the 1st of January, 1823, and filled away for Tampico; and 
 we have made the ports of Matanzas, Havana, Tampico, and New Or 
 leans. When we left Havana for Tampico, and had made the land, the 
 wind commenced blowing a heavy gale from the northeast, so that it car 
 ried away our topmast studding-sail boom, and sprung our mainmast. 
 She took in hogsheads of water in the wardroom and steerage ; life- 
 ropes were rove on the windward side of the vessel, and one of the 
 
 officers observed that ' we were going to with studding-sails set.' 
 
 This gale was much more severe than it was in September, about sixteen 
 months since. I am very well pleased with the service. I had a desire to 
 visit foreign nations. The duty of the officers is nearly as hard as that of 
 the men, as we have to be on the watch one third of the time day and 
 night, four hours on and eight off." 
 
 He was, above all, in this first cruise, introduced to the most 
 severe perils and hardships of the naval service in the pursuit 
 of pirates among the reefs of the Gulf. These pirates were 
 the lineal descendants of the freebooters who at the end of 
 the seventeenth century established themselves in the West 
 India seas to prey upon Spanish commerce. The unquiet 
 spirits of all countries resorted to them. Issuing from their 
 strongholds the island of Tortuga, on the west coast of St. Do 
 mingo, and Port Royal, in Jamaica they committed such au 
 dacious and successful robberies on the Spanish -American 
 cities as to win almost the honors of legitimate heroes, f The 
 original buccaneers, however, who had some show of legaliza- 
 
 * William A.Browne, of Cheshire, Connecticut. 
 
 t Hildreth's History of the United States, vol. it, p. 38. 
 
Among the Pirates of the Gulf. 27 
 
 tion, degenerated into regular pirates, who, later in the eight 
 eenth century, in Captain Kidd's time, were the terror of the 
 seas, and who with waning power continued their depreda 
 tions until their final extinction by the American Navy. With 
 picked crews in open boats the officers cruised among the in 
 numerable islands of the Cuban archipelago, where many a 
 bloody sea-fight had taken place : 
 
 " The scream of rage, the groan, the strife, 
 
 The blow, the gasp, the horrid cry, 
 The panting, throttled prayer for life, 
 
 The dying's heaving sigh, 
 
 The murderer's curse, the dead man's fixed, still glare, 
 And fear's and death's cold sweat they all were there !" 
 
 Our poet Dana's sombre fancy did not overdraw those hor 
 rid scenes when the reign of these desperadoes was at its 
 height. The phantom of the "long, low, black-hulled" craft 
 lingers in these seas even to this day. The American Navy 
 has prided itself on the thoroughness of the work it did in 
 abolishing the whole thing. It swept this curse from the seas. 
 Not unfrequently the wily foe, who eluded pursuit in a thou 
 sand ways, turned and challenged the avengers of blood to 
 hand-to-hand conflict. For six months of the time officers 
 were out boating on these stormy waters, and it is said that 
 young Foote personally distinguished himself in this service. 
 He certainly acquired those habits of discipline, skill, and dar 
 ing which afterward were so useful to him, and which could 
 not have been learned under the best masters on shore. 
 
 On the 6th of December, 1823, he was transferred from the 
 Grampus to the Peacock, commanded by William Carter, 
 master commandant; and on the llth of the same month he 
 was warranted as midshipman. The Peacock belonged to the 
 Pacific squadron, under Commodore Hull. Before sailing, in 
 a letter, dated January 29, 1824, he gives vent to a thought 
 less, ambitious wish for action : 
 
28 . Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " We are ready for sea, and only waiting for sailing orders from the 
 Department ; but we hear little from Washington except the next Presi 
 dential election, the Greek cause, and the Holy Alliance, which I sincerely 
 hope may produce a war. Then the prospect of the naval officer would 
 brighten, and in the space of a few years would elevate us who are now 
 in service to the highest rank, which will take some time if the country 
 remain at peace with all nations much longer." 
 
 The Peacock sailed from Norfolk for the Pacific on the 
 29th of March, 1824. During the period of this South Amer 
 ican cruise, which covered three years of service, our Navy 
 was compelled to observe a strict neutrality in the wars of 
 liberation of the South American republics with old Spain, 
 which was a difficult and certainly not an enviable position 
 for Americans, although there seemed to be lacking the ele 
 ments of that high morality and that capacity for self-govern 
 ment which dignified our own struggle for independence. 
 Foote was detached from the Peacock and transferred to the 
 frigate United States, Commodore Isaac Hull commanding, 
 September 8, 1824. A letter written during this period to 
 his Cheshire friend and schoolmate is worth transcribing, not 
 as containing any thing brilliant, but as being the letter of a 
 
 manly youth : 
 
 *' U. S. FRIGATE ' UNITED STATES,' ) 
 CALLAO, PERU, Sept. 15, 1824. i 
 
 "DEAR FRIEND, I have so much to communicate that this small 
 sheet will admit of giving no more than a concise detail of circumstances 
 which have fallen to my observation. 
 
 " Until our arrival at Callao we experienced in our little ship every 
 pleasure and hardship incident to a mariner's life. A few days after our 
 departure from the United States we had a very heavy thunder-storm, and 
 one flash of lightning struck the ship, killing four men instantly and 
 wounding several others dangerously, who, however, have recovered par 
 tially ; yet the greater part of them will never perfectly be restored. 
 From that time to our arrival at Rio Janeiro nothing worthy of mention 
 took place. For a description of that city, I refer you to John's letters. 
 After spending ten pleasant days at Rio, we weighed anchor and stood 
 
In South America. 29 
 
 to the southward and westward, shaping our course round Cape Horn. 
 The weather as we made southing grew cold very sensibly, owing to the 
 winter having already set in. We were as far south as 60 15'; and, in 
 the winter month of January, it is useless to add we suffered from the in 
 clemency of the weather. You know by experience the cold weather 
 which prevails in the mild climate of 41; then judge its severity in that 
 of 60, adding to this the constant heavy gales prevalent off the Cape. 
 However, our time would have been rather more pleasant had the small 
 pox not have paid us a long and exterminating visit. We lost twelve 
 valuable men. by this disease, and at a time when the ship appeared to 
 be at the mercy of the waves. Their loss was severely felt, owing to the 
 fact that the vessel was then too short-manned. But after an unpleasant 
 run of fifty-six days, we arrived at Valparaiso, as light-hearted and in 
 rather better spirits than when we left Rio. Owing to Commodore Hull 
 being at Callao, our stay at Valparaiso was short. We left with a convoy 
 for Callao, first, however, lauding the American consul at Coquimbo ; we 
 then made the harbor of Callao on the 15th of August, and here saw the 
 broad pendant of Commodore Isaac Hull. We saluted him with the 
 usual number of guns that his rank was entitled to. Our time was now 
 pretty actively employed, the revolutionary state of the country rendering 
 it necessary for us to keep on the alert, owing to the advantage the pri 
 vateers took of seizing and condemning our merchant ships, under pre 
 tense of their being engaged in smuggling arms to the Patriots. A few 
 days after our arrival the Peruvian admiral entered the harbor with a frig 
 ate and two brigs, and blockaded the harbor, the Spaniards having at the 
 time one frigate, two brigs, and ten gun-boats. No signs of an attack were 
 made by the Spaniards until Sunday, the 5th of this month, when the 
 gun-boats pulled for the brig, which unfortunately came out of gun-shot 
 of the frigate. The attack commenced with every prospect of crowning 
 the Royalists victors ; but their want of courage enabled the brig to haul 
 under cover of the frigate before she received any serious injury. After 
 a spirited engagement of one hour, the Spaniards retreated with the loss 
 of about thirty men killed, and nearly the same number wounded ; two 
 boats sunk, and seven others badly injured. The loss of the Patriots was 
 one killed on board the brig, and two in the frigate. The Spaniards, 
 since their unsuccessful attack, seem to be little disposed to hazard an 
 other engagement. The Royalists at the time were in constant expecta 
 tion of a heavy naval reinforcement from Spain. The 12th of this month 
 the Asia and Constantia arrived, the former a 74-gun ship, the latter a 
 
30 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 22-gun brig. The Patriots' force at this time consisted of a 36-gun frig 
 ate, and one small 10-gun brig. The Spanish force, you will perceive, 
 was greatly superior. Notwithstanding, Admiral Grey slipped his cable, 
 stood out of the harbor, hove to, and fired three 44's at the Spaniards ; 
 hauled up his courses, and waited for the Spanish frigate ; but she most 
 cowardly made sail, and declined an engagement. As she passed, we 
 were at quarters, and it would have taken little provocation from her to 
 have been complimented with a broadside from Uncle Isaac. I will now 
 pass over the strife between the two hostile parties, and mention my ob 
 ject in becoming attached to the flag-ship. On the arrival of the Peacock, 
 some difficulty took place in regard to Captain Carter, which terminated 
 in his return to the United States. Several of the officers left the Peacock, 
 and joined other ships ; and I was induced to send to Commodore Hull 
 an application for his ship, it being larger than the Peacock, and the ac 
 commodation better. I came on board on the 8th. The commodore has 
 Ms wife and Miss Hart with him. We get a glance at them occasion 
 ally. Excuse haste and deficiencies, and believe me your friend, 
 
 " ANDREW H. FOOTE." 
 
 Ill another letter to the same friend, dated Chorilos, Au 
 gust 12, 1825, he farther speaks of his Pacific coast expe 
 riences : 
 
 " We are now lying in an open roadstead unprotected from the sea, 
 consequently the motion is very troublesome, and the surf at times so 
 heavy as to render landing dangerous. It is necessary to make this the 
 port of entry, as Callao is blockaded by a squadron consisting of seven 
 sail, two of which are frigates. As soon as Callao falls we shall return 
 to that port ; but when she will capitulate is uncertain, as the city ex 
 pends from two to three hundred shot daily, and is well provisioned. 
 
 " We have less opportunity for enjoying ourselves on shore than we 
 had in Chili, as Lima is nine miles distant, and Chorilos a small place 
 containing but a few huts. A party of us visited Lima a short time since, 
 where we spent four days very pleasantly. The city may still be styled 
 one of the richest cities in the world, although poor to what it was be 
 fore the revolution. During the struggle it has alternately been in pos 
 session of Royalists and Patriots, who have robbed the churches of vast 
 quantities of plate. From a single altar was coined one hundred thou 
 sand dollars. We saw the grand palace where Pizarro resided ; also the 
 apartment in which he was assassinated. I forgot to mention the walk- 
 
A Disappointment. 31 
 
 ing-dress of the ladies, which is admirably calculated to carry on an in 
 trigue. The part from the waist down contains thirty yards of silk, plaited 
 in such a manner as to set perfectly smooth, in order to show a fine shape. 
 The robe covering the head is also silk, and large enough to conceal tlje 
 face excepting one eye. Equipped in this manner, I have seen ladies 
 watch the movements of their husbands by following them through the 
 city, the virtuous not being distinguished from the vicious." 
 
 We find among the officers then sailing in the United States 
 the familiar names of H. Paulding, C. H. Davis, William C. 
 Nicholson, Thomas T. Craven, H. K. Thatcher, and James Arm 
 strong. 
 
 Returning to 'New York in the United States from this three- 
 years' service, April 25, 1827, Andrew successfully underwent 
 his examination for passed midshipman. He had been labo 
 riously preparing himself for this by availing himself of all 
 opportunities of study and observation in his reach; and Ad 
 miral Davis says of this examination that Foote and himself 
 got news of it together, and the question was how to get 
 ready ? They at once set about their preparation with great 
 earnestness, consulting what books they had access, to, but 
 chiefly making practical observations, and reducing the sci 
 ence of their profession to a regular working system. 
 
 Foote had been up to this time four years and five months 
 constantly at sea. It w T ould seem as if he had earned the right 
 to a little rest at home ; but, as if it were expressly so planned 
 by his superiors, he was to be allowed no time to display 
 his midshipman's uniform ashore ; and on the 26th of August, 
 1827, to his sore disappointment, he was sent off a second 
 time to the West Indies for a brief cruise, first in the Natchez 
 and afterward in the Hornet, to which he was transferred 
 October 8, 1827. He had set his heart upon making a cruise 
 with the Mediterranean squadron, for which station he ap 
 plied. His hopes were not realized. Something better, how 
 ever, than the gratification of his desires, or even the educa- 
 
 C 
 
32 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 tion of his mind, was in store for him. A change of character 
 that raised him to a higher level of manhood awaited him on 
 this short West India voyage. After he had been at sea some 
 six weeks or two months, his mother received a letter from 
 him, in which are these words : " You may discharge your 
 mind from anxiety about your wayward son." The letter 
 then went on to relate that one of the lieutenants of the ship 
 had spoken to him soon after joining the Natchez on religious 
 subjects, and, as his expression was, he had " bluffed him off" 
 by saying that he had aimed to be honorable and honest in 
 all things, and that would do for him. But, after getting on 
 the station, upon a beautiful moonlight night, while riding 
 quietly at anchor, the same officer and himself being on duty, 
 the lieutenant spoke to him again about the subject of relig 
 ion, and with such earnestness that, as he said, his " knees for 
 the first time bowed to his Maker ;" and as soon as he was 
 released from duty, he took his Bible and went into the steer 
 age, and read it under great agitation of mind. This he did 
 for two weeks, when, upon going on deck one day, he came to 
 the resolution that " henceforth, under all circumstances, he 
 would act for God;" upon which his mental anguish and 
 trouble vanished. 
 
 In this simple manner he recounts that event in his history 
 which made him a new man, and a true Christian hero. It 
 did not make him over into a perfect character, but he was 
 established now on right principles, and a high and pure im 
 pulse was given to his life ; and take that life through, at sea 
 and on shore, in battle and at peace, in success and adversity, 
 in life and death, we shall find that, by divine aid, he carried 
 out the resolution made in his youth that "he would act for 
 God." 
 
 It should be said here, so that it need not be misunderstood 
 by the reader, that this is the biography of a Christian officer. 
 He thought himself to be, and his life proved that he was 
 
The Beginnings of a Religious Life. 33 
 
 right in thinking himself to be, a religious man. His faith, 
 in some respects, took the stamp of his Puritan training. His 
 religious phraseology was that which was in ordinary use in 
 New England homes and literature ; but it was a pure Chris 
 tianity, that showed itself by its fruits. In the case of Ad 
 miral Foote, his free and genial temperament, his extensive 
 acquaintance with men, and his constant voyaging up and 
 down in all parts of the world, served to make him catholic 
 in his opinions; but none of these influences ever succeeded 
 in effacing the strong Puritanic stamp with which he began 
 his religious life ; and, as a reformer in the naval service, it is 
 a matter of thankfulness that they never did, for here was 
 nourished the invincible will in right-doing that never turned 
 back in any good enterprise, but went, like an iron prow, often 
 roughly enough, through the most time-honored customs, and 
 always straight to the end. 
 
 The following letter, written about this time by the com 
 manding officer of the Natchez, though but a simple letter of 
 introduction, seems prophetic in its expression in regard to the 
 future character and career of our hero : 
 
 " UNITED STATES SHIP ' NATCHEZ,' PENSACOLA BAY. 
 " SIR, It is with great pleasure that I have it in my power to state 
 that ^Midshipman A. H. Foote served on board this ship, and I found him 
 to be a young gentleman of great merit, being always competent and at 
 tentive to his duty ; and I am impressed with the belief that he will be 
 come a very valuable officer. Mr. Foote is a young gentleman of the first 
 respectability, and of the finest principles and feelings ; and his whole 
 conduct while he was attached to this ship has met my cordial approba 
 tion therefore beg leave to recommend him to your favorable consider 
 ation. With very much respect, I remain your obedient servant, 
 
 "GEORGE BUDD. 
 " Commodore Isaac Chauncey, Commanding Naval Officer, N. Y." 
 
 The Christian consciousness which had been awakened in 
 the youth soon, of course, as in the case of many others in like 
 
34 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 position both in the Navy and Army, led him to raise the ques 
 tion of the rightfulness of the military profession as a calling, 
 and whether he could consistently remain in the Navy. When 
 he came home (which he did in the Hornet on the 6th of 
 December, 1827) he made known his scruples to his father, 
 who asked him if he did not suppose a Navy to be necessary, 
 and, considering it to be necessary, if there should not be good 
 men and Christian men in it. This sensible and practical way 
 of putting the matter seems to have entirely removed his 
 doubts, as he never appeared to be afterward troubled upon 
 this point. 
 
 Foote was detached, January 1 } 1828, from the West India 
 squadron, and during his brief stay on shore he was married, 
 June 22, 1828, to his first wife, Caroline Flagg, the daughter 
 of Bethuel Flagg, of Cheshire, Connecticut, who was permitted 
 to cheer his arduous life but a comparatively short time. She 
 died in the year 1838, having borne him two children, the first 
 of whom, named Josephine, lived but four years ; and the sec 
 ond, of the same name, was born in 1837. 
 
 We very soon find our hero afloat again in the sloop-of-war 
 St. Louis, twenty-four guns, to which he was appointed Octo 
 ber 5, 1828, as sailing-master, under the command of Captain 
 John D. Sloat. They sailed from Norfolk to the Pacific on 
 the 14th of February, 1829. Three years were passed in 
 this cruise upon his old station in the Pacific, comprising the 
 coasts of Chili, Peru, and Central America, during which pe 
 riod he was appointed acting-lieutenant ; and on his return to 
 the United States, on the 9th of December, 1831, he found 
 awaiting him a commission as lieutenant, the commission bear 
 ing date May 27, 1830. Thus slowly, by hard work and good 
 conduct, he was creeping up the ladder of official preferment ; 
 though in after -years promotion seemed all too slow to his 
 ardent mind thirsting for honorable distinction. 
 
 In January, 1832, he was detached from the St. Louis ; and 
 
Voyage of the " Delaware? 35 
 
 on May 1, 1833, he was assigned to the Delaware^ seventy-four 
 ship of the line, bearing the pennant of Commodore Patterson, 
 then on the Mediterranean station, and was appointed to 
 the honorable post of flag-lieutenant of the squadron. The 
 Delaware sailed from Norfolk to the Mediterranean on the 
 30th of July, 1833. During this trip the ship touched at the 
 principal European, Asiatic, and African Mediterranean ports ; 
 and a party of its crew, of which Lieutenant Foote was one, 
 obtained leave to visit many of the historic points up the Nile, 
 in Egypt, and also in the Holy Land. They landed at Joppa, 
 and went to Jerusalem, explored the valley of the Jordan, 
 sailed on the Dead Sea, and climbed Mount Lebanon; and 
 we may be sure that none of that light-hearted company of 
 young officers looked on these sacred scenes with fresher de 
 light than he did, who had been a constant reader of the Bible, 
 and who had devoted his life to the Master whose footsteps 
 once glorified these rocks and vales. A lovely daughter of 
 Admiral Patterson, who with her two sisters accompanied the 
 party, was so deeply impressed by her visit to Jerusalem, and 
 the places where were the head-springs of our Christian faith, 
 that the commencement of her religious life was dated by 
 herself from that period ; it was brief, however, for before the 
 ship reached the shores of America, although within sight of 
 them, Miss Patterson died, and was buried at Norfolk, at 
 which port the Delaware ended her voyage. 
 
 This pleasant cruise of the splendid ship Delaware was a 
 kind of triumphal progress all the way, bearing as she did the 
 flag of our young Republic, that was every where recognized 
 and welcomed as the emblem of freedom ; and we may, indeed, 
 regard this voyage of pleasure and of glory through the classic 
 waters of the Mediterranean, shared by our hero in the prime 
 of his young manhood, with health, a sound, active mind, an 
 honorable position, and, above all, a good conscience toward 
 God and man, and made as it was before he had a great bur- 
 
36 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 den of official responsibility laid upon him, as the acme of his 
 free youth's enjoyment and proud satisfaction. 
 
 In a private letter to a friend in Cheshire, dated Mahon, 
 November 28, 1833, he, in an animated, sketchy manner, de 
 scribes the first portion of the cruise : 
 
 " I presume you have caught an occasional glimpse of my letters to 
 Caroline, and to them I refer you for a detailed account of what has oc 
 curred since we left the United States. Our passage across the Atlantic 
 to Cherbourg and in the English Channel was unusually pleasant, as 
 much so, in fact, as a large, comfortable ship, pleasant messmates, fine 
 weather, and the agreeable company of our minister, Mr. Livingstone, 
 and his family, could render it. On our arrival, several of the officers 
 went to Paris, were presented at court, dined with the king, and were 
 received with similar marks of respect by his ministry. Our chaplain, 
 Mr. Stewart, who is a man of fine personal appearance, an accomplished 
 scholar, and a polite gentleman, made one of the party. He told me, on 
 his return, that it was the third court at which he had been presented. 
 I believe Mr. S. to be a good and pious man, notwithstanding I have 
 heard when at home he was extravagant in dress and courted polished 
 society. Yet this opinion has doubtless arisen in consequence of his 
 having a handsome person and pleasing manners. He proposed and car 
 ried out his resolution to have evening prayers on board, which, except 
 with him in the frigate Guerriere, stands without a precedent in our serv 
 ice. Yet do not imagine from this a better state of things with regard 
 to religion existing among us. Candor, indeed, compels me to state that 
 but three or four out of nearly one thousand souls are professing Chris 
 tians ; and at present there appears to be no more interest on the subject 
 than when we sailed from New York. Our evening prayers are rarely 
 held, and sometimes there is no Sunday service ; yet this is not attribu 
 table to unreadiness on the part of Mr. Stewart. 
 
 " On the return of the officers from Paris we left Cherbourg, and on 
 the following morning were close to the English coast. The beauti 
 ful hedges and fine appearance of the country, and the associations with 
 it as the land of our fathers, gave it a lively and exciting interest with 
 me. I felt disappointed that I could not go to London ; but the Paris 
 party were absent so long that this was rendered impracticable. A few 
 days after leaving the coast of England we encountered a severe gale in 
 the Bay of Biscay ; after which we ran down the coast of Portugal in 
 
Voyage of the "Delaware'' 37 
 
 sight of Lisbon Rock. The wind being strong and fair, two days brought 
 us off Cadiz, in Spain, and not far from the place where Lord Admiral 
 Nelson captured the combined fleets of France and Spain, near Trafalgar. 
 The Sunday following we anchored at Gibraltar, a place you know re 
 plete with interest. We remained there three days, and then proceeded 
 up the Mediterranean, passing in sight of Malaga and several other places 
 of note, and arrived here the early part of this month. 
 
 " In Mahon is the second largest organ in the world. I went with sev 
 eral other officers to hear it. That we might have an idea of the power 
 of the instrument, a tempest was represented so well thunder, wind, and 
 rain that it seemed to be real ; and the church, whose walls are eight 
 feet thick, had a tremulous motion. We shall probably begin to cruise 
 in April. Report says that the commodore will devote the summer to 
 pleasure, and we shall probably visit Naples, Carthage, Smyrna, perhaps 
 Constantinople, and other points of interest." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE native aptitude of Americans for the sea is abundantly 
 proved in the history of the American Navy. The history of 
 England has not been more wonderful in its proofs of na 
 tional genius for maritime operations than that of the United 
 States. In the War of the Revolution there were no two- 
 decked American frigates, properly so called; and yet the 
 small ships in use, imperfectly equipped, with insignificantly 
 light metal compared with their adversaries, manned with has 
 tily collected crews, gave important aid in that great struggle. 
 The early exploits of John Paul Jones, Dale, Manley, Barry, 
 Nicholson, Barney, Rathburne, and Biddle, in their active little 
 ships, cutting off English transports, carrying the war into En 
 glish seas, and by alertness and audacity making up for want 
 of force and organization these should not be lost sight of, 
 for they were the first efforts of a power that has since then 
 contested the empire of the seas with Great Britain herself. 
 The actual Navy of the Revolution an emanation from the 
 sea sank back as suddenly into the sea. Nothing was left of 
 it. For the exigencies of the naval war w r ith France, and for 
 the Algerine and Tripolitan wars, new ships had to be built, 
 and an entirely new system organized. Then arose another 
 brood of naval heroes, w r ho, almost by their individual exer 
 tions, redeemed our country from the imbecility into which it 
 sank when it paid tribute to the Dey of Algiers, and was pow 
 erless to reclaim its hundreds of American prisoners rotting 
 in his dungeons. The names of Decatur, Preble, Trnxton, 
 Soiners, Barron, Bainbridge, Chauncey, Hull, Porter, are now 
 
Increased Popularity of the Navy. 39 
 
 with us as household words. Some of these continued to be 
 names of inspiration in the two-years' contest of the War of 
 1812, in which others of equal if not greater celebrity such 
 as Lawrence, Stewart, Perry, and Macdonough were added 
 to the splendid constellation. In the War of 1812, our Navy 
 for the first time assumed something like organization and 
 concentrated efficiency. But at the beginning of the War of 
 1812 we were worse off than in 1801, at the end of the Rev 
 olutionary War. We had actually but seventeen cruising ves 
 sels, nine of which were frigates; while Great Britain had 
 more than a thousand ships of war, of which between seven 
 and eight hundred were efficient cruisers. But new frigates 
 were at once built, immense activity was infused into the 
 Navy, and the government devoted its special attention to 
 this department. And the Navy also became at that time 
 more popular, and was sought for by the youth of the best 
 families in the country. Many of these were introduced 
 almost at once from the quiet of home to the horrors and 
 carnage of the naval combat. " Perhaps one half of the 
 lieutenants in the service at the peace of 1815 had gone on 
 board ship for the first time within six years from the dec 
 laration of the war, and many of them within three or four. 
 So far from the midshipmen having been masters and mates 
 of merchantmen, as was reported at the time, they were gen 
 erally youths that first quitted the ease and comforts of the 
 paternal home when they appeared on the quarter-deck of the 
 man-of-war."* Young Foote might be numbered among these. 
 He went from the bosom of well-regulated family life in the 
 quiet country village to the hardships and rough realities of 
 the naval service. It is true, his youth had fallen upon reac 
 tionary, peaceful times; but doubtless he would have been all 
 the more ardent to join the Navy had there been hard fight- 
 
 * Cooper's Naval History, vol. ii., p. 395. 
 
4O Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 ing and the chance of winning distinction. As it was, the 
 first years of his sea-life were spent in long cruises (like the 
 one we are now to relate), which have in them little of the stir 
 of warlike achievement, but which are, on the contrary, as this 
 one proved to be, in the immediate interest of peace. 
 
 On the 4th of November, 1837, Lieutenant Foote was as 
 signed to the East India squadron, under command of Com 
 modore Read, in the sloop-of-war John Adams* and Captain 
 Wyman, in the capacity of first-lieutenant, or executive officer. 
 The John Adams was an old ship that had done good service in 
 the Barbary wars, when she was commanded by that able offi 
 cer, Captain John Rodgers. She was built at Charleston, South 
 Carolina, and underwent many changes. She was constructed 
 for a small frigate, carrying 24 twelves on her gun -deck; 
 was then cut down to a sloop ; next raised upon to be a frig 
 ate ; and finally once more cut down. It is said that the ship 
 was built by contract, and that the original contractor let out 
 one side of her to a sub-contractor, who, in a spirit of economy, 
 so much reduced her moulds that the ship had actually sev 
 eral inches more beam on one side than the other. As a con 
 sequence, she both bore her canvas and sailed better on one 
 tack than on the other. The John Adams was rebuilt en 
 tirely, and became one of the most beautiful ships in the Navy.* 
 Ships acquire a certain kind of personality, and through every 
 spar, timber, and bolt there seems to run an individual life. 
 Thus the old Constitution was called " a lucky ship ;" and 
 she never lost this character. " In all her service, as well be 
 fore Tripoli as in this war (1812), her good-fortune was re 
 markable. She never was dismasted, never got ashore, or 
 scarcely ever suffered any of the usual accidents of the sea. 
 Though so often in battle, no very serious slaughter ever took 
 place on board of her. One of her commanders was wounded, 
 
 * Cooper's Naval History, vol. ii., p. 31, note. 
 
Voyage Round the World. 41 
 
 and four of her lieutenants were killed, two on her own decks, 
 and two in the Intrepid; but, on the whole, her entire career 
 had been that of what is usually called ' a lucky ship.' Her 
 fortune, however, may perhaps be explained by the simple 
 fact that she had always been well commanded. In her last 
 two cruises she had probably possessed as fine a crew as ever 
 manned a frigate. They were principally New England men : 
 and it has been said of them that they were almost qualified 
 to fight the ship without her officers."* The John Adams 
 had no such brilliant record as the " old Ironsides? but had 
 been nevertheless a serviceable and fortunate ship ; and the 
 name of this vessel serves to connect the different epochs of 
 our naval history, and to bring down the past into the present, 
 as Admiral Foote himself unites the old and the new, and 
 forms a connecting link between the ancient and modern pe 
 riods of the American Navy. He belongs to both periods, 
 although his most famous actions lie in the circle of very re 
 cent events. The voyage of the John Adams, in which we 
 are now particularly interested, was really one of the circum 
 navigation of the globe. They sailed around the Cape of Good 
 Hope to Bombay, Canton, Manilla, the Sandwich and Society 
 Islands, the coast of Chili, and doubled Cape Horn ; during 
 which cruise the ship was engaged in an attack on the pi 
 rates of Sumatra, and especially in an assault upon the Asi 
 atic towns of Quallahbattoo and Arbucloo, burning the latter, 
 the inhabitants of which had treacherously murdered the cap 
 tain of an American pepper-ship. But the chief interest of 
 this cruise is concentrated in the visit to the Sandwich Islands, 
 on which occasion Lieutenant Foote, now thirty-two years old 
 and a man of matured character, displayed a prompt energy 
 and a loyalty to cherished principles of duty. 
 
 Many English ships had in previous years exerted a most 
 
 * Cooper's Naval History, vol. ii., p. 378. 
 
42 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 deleterious influence upon the natives of the islands by intro 
 ducing intemperance and other vices; but in July, 1839, Cap 
 tain Laplace, of the French frigate L"* Artemise, arrived at 
 Honolulu. He came in the interest of the Romish mission, 
 representing the queen of Louis Philippe as a patron of the 
 missions of her Church, and saying that he had come by order 
 of the French government to put an end to the ill-treatment 
 the French had suffered at the islands. He demanded that 
 the Roman Catholic faith should be granted all the privileges 
 that the Protestant faith enjoyed ; that the King of the 
 Sandwich Islands should make a special treaty with France, 
 and should deposit in the hands of the captain of UArte- 
 mise twenty thousand dollars as a guarantee of his future con 
 duct ; and that if these and other equally peremptory con 
 ditions were not complied with, Captain Laplace declared his 
 intention to make immediate war upon the islands. He sent 
 letters to the English and American consuls, informing them 
 of his intention to commence hostilities in case his terms were 
 not agreed to, and offered an asylum to the citizens of the two 
 nations if war should arise ; but in the letter to the American 
 consul was this singular language : " I do not include in this 
 class the individuals who, although born, it is said, in the 
 United States, make a part of the Protestant clergy of this 
 archipelago, direct the counsels of the king, influence his con 
 duct, and are the true authors of the insults given by him to 
 France. For me they compose a part of the native popula 
 tion, and must undergo the unhappy consequences of a war 
 which they shall have brought on this country." He referred, 
 of course, to the American missionaries, who, for the reasons 
 alleged, were not to be recognized and treated as American 
 citizens.* 
 
 The upshot of all this was that the king was forced to com- 
 
 * Dr. Anderson's History of the Sandwich Islands Mission, p. 159. 
 
Affair of the Sandwich Islands Mission. 43 
 
 ply with the conditions above mentioned, and to sign a treaty, 
 one of whose articles was that French wines and brandies 
 should not be prohibited, and should pay a duty of only five 
 per cent, on their value. The French frigate sailed away on 
 the 20th of July ; and the French consul, taking advantage 
 of the treaty, used his efforts so successfully to introduce wine, 
 brandy, and tobacco, that the port was flooded with these ar 
 ticles, and the morals of the native population were greatly 
 depraved. A violent Romanist party was raised up, and the 
 Protestant missionaries, who had not injuriously influenced 
 the government in their special measures against the Roman 
 Catholics, were nevertheless defamed, and in many ways great 
 ly annoyed and harassed. In the following October the United 
 States East India squadron arrived at Honolulu ; and the rest 
 of the story will be told nearly in the words of Lieutenant 
 Foote, who wrote out a statement of his own share in this 
 transaction. 
 
 On the arrival of the squadron, the officers heard of the in 
 fluence which the late visit of the French frigate EArtemise 
 had exerted upon the government, the mission, and foreign 
 residents. Their first impressions were unfavorable to the 
 missionaries; and the reports in circulation were of such a 
 character as to induce many of them scarcely to question the 
 propriety of the proceedings of the French commander. It 
 was said that the missionaries had an agency in framing many 
 of the penal laws of the government, in urging persecution 
 even to torture against Roman Catholics, and, in fact, all the 
 mistakes and evils in the political and social condition of the 
 islands were ascribed to them. 
 
 At the expiration of the first week, Lieutenants Turner 
 and Foote were in possession of facts which left no doubt of 
 the innocence of the missionaries in regard to the motives, 
 and, with but few exceptions, the judiciousness of their acts. 
 With this view of the case, Lieutenant Foote met the members 
 
44 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 of the mission, and urged upon them the necessity of applying 
 at once to Commodore Read to order a court of inquiry, com 
 posed of the officers of the squadron, with power to summon 
 witnesses, enter the proceedings on record, and pronounce an 
 opinion, or at least to put on record all the facts bearing 
 upon the case. The suggestion was immediately adopted : a 
 letter was drawn up and laid before the commodore, urging 
 an investigation. Several days having elapsed without an 
 answer, Foote again met the mission, urging them to reiterate 
 their request. This was done, and on the 30th the commodore 
 replied to the communications from the mission, declining to 
 act. This put a new aspect on the question. Lieutenants 
 Turner and Foote at once formed a plan to give currency to 
 the correspondence and action thus far secured, feeling that 
 in the lack of an investigation it was important to do some 
 thing to place the real merits of this question before the public. 
 It was determined to make an effort to induce the officers 
 generally to subscribe their names to a letter prefixed to Mr. 
 Castle's article, and to the correspondence with the commo 
 dore, the king, the consul, and the mission. A letter was 
 drawn up and was signed unanimously by the wardroom 
 officers of the John Adams, and, as no others were asked, it 
 was then sent to the Columbia, where it received the signa 
 tures of the officers, with two or three exceptions. 
 This is a copy of the letter : 
 
 " We, the undersigned officers of the United States East India squad 
 ron, having upon our arrival at this place heard various rumors in rela 
 tion and derogatory to the American mission at these islands, feel it to 
 be due not only to the missionaries themselves, but to the cause of truth 
 and justice, that the most unqualified testimony should be given in the 
 case, and do therefore order one thousand copies of the annexed article 
 and correspondence to be printed for gratuitous distribution, as the 
 most effectual method of settling this agitated question in the minds of 
 an intelligent and liberal public. 
 
 " Being most decidedly of the opinion that the persons composing the 
 
Letter of the American Officers. 45 
 
 Protestant mission of these islands are American citizens, and as such 
 entitled to that protection which our government has never withheld, 
 and with unwavering confidence in the justice which has ever character 
 ized it, we rest assured that any insult offered to this unoffending class 
 will be promptly redressed. It is readily admitted that there may be in 
 the operation of this, as well as in other systems in which fallible man 
 has an agency, some objectionable peculiarities; still as a system it is 
 deemed comparatively unexceptionable, and believed to have been pur 
 sued with the professed principles of the society which it represents ; and 
 it would seem that the salutary influence exerted by the mission on the 
 native population ought to commend it to the confidence and kind feel 
 ings of all interested in the dissemination of good principles. 
 
 " GEOKGE A. MAGRUDER, Lieutenant. 
 ANDREW H. FOOTE, Lieutenant. 
 JOHN W. TURK, Lieutenant. 
 THOMAS TURNER, Lieutenant. 
 JAMES S. PALMER, Lieutenant. 
 EDWARD R. THOMSON, Lieutenant. 
 AUGUSTUS H. KILTY, Lieutenant. 
 GEORGE B. MINOR, Lieutenant. 
 JOHN HAZLETT, Surgeon of the Fleet. 
 JOHN A. LOCKWOOD, Surgeon. 
 DANGERFIELD FONTLEROY, Purser. 
 ROBERT B. PEGRAM, Master. 
 FITCH W. TAYLOR, Chaplain. 
 JOSEPH BEALE, Assistant Surgeon. 
 J. H. BELCHER, Professor of Mathematics. 
 A. G. PENDLETON, Professor of Mathematics." 
 
 The "article" referred to in the letter, to be printed with, 
 the correspondence, was an able article written by Mr. Castle, 
 a leading member of the mission, and published in the 
 Hawaiian Spectator, which contained the evidence upon 
 which the unqualified expressions of the letter were based. It 
 furnished many facts in reference to the history of the Ameri 
 can mission in the Sandwich Islands, and especially in regard 
 to the relations of the mission with the Koman Catholics, 
 proving that the missionaries had opposed all means of con- 
 
46 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 tending against the Roman Catholics other than those of rea 
 son and truth. The rigid ecclesiastical discipline, the uncom 
 promising opposition to intoxicating liquors, the exposing of the 
 vice and evils of licentiousness, and the marked preference 
 given to the Protestant faith, were really the head and front of 
 the missionaries' offending. The mission had no doubt repre 
 sented the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church to be hostile 
 to the religious and political welfare of a nation, and, whether 
 this were true or untrue, the missionaries were justified in a 
 free expression of opinion on the subject. 
 
 Fifty copies of these papers were privately struck off ; but 
 it appeared that an imprudent gentleman had walked into the 
 office and taken away one of the copies, and it was soon 
 noised abroad that the officers of the United States squadron 
 had published a severe and abusive letter in the interest of the 
 mission against the French government. The excitement at 
 Honolulu was very great. The French consul applied to the 
 commodore for a copy of the offensive letter, that he might 
 forward it to his government. 
 
 On Lieutenant Foote's meeting with the commodore, the 
 latter refused to read the letter or to sanction its publication. 
 He was, however, finally convinced by the firm arguments of 
 Foote that he had misconstrued entirely the character of the 
 letter; that it contained no offensive assault upon the French 
 government, but that it was a calm statement of opinion ab 
 solutely required by the circumstances. In a conversation 
 which followed with the. French consul himself, he was led to 
 admit frankly that the letter was unobjectionable in substance 
 and tone. The English consul concurred in this ; and a paper 
 was drawn up and signed to that effect. 
 
 By these conversations and explanations the excitement was 
 allayed, anil at the same time the desired immediate publicity 
 was given to the dignified statement of the American officers 
 in support of the mission, and all ground of renewing the op- 
 
Prompt Action of Lieutenant Foote. 47 
 
 position to the mission in future was taken away. Eeal serv 
 ice was done to the mission, and at the same time no offense 
 was given to the French government, while its agents received 
 a salutary check. 
 
 Lieutenant Foote's spirited conduct received the formal as 
 well as hearty thanks of the missionaries. It was all that he, 
 a subordinate officer in the squadron, could do; but it was 
 done promptly, thoroughly, and at the personal risk of offi 
 cial disgrace, and perhaps of summary dismissal from the 
 Navy. It may by some be thought to have been an irregular 
 proceeding and an unjustifiable interference, but the risk was 
 foreseen and deliberately assumed. It was the act of a man 
 who placed duty before every thing else. The action which 
 was taken maintained the important principle, now so well 
 recognized, that American missionaries are American citizens, 
 and that wherever they are, they are under the full and com 
 plete protection of their country's flag. 
 
 D 
 
CHAPTEK IY. 
 
 FROM the Sandwich Islands the John Adams sailed to the 
 Society Islands, and as there are some things of interest in 
 Lieutenant Foote's journal of the voyage, the account will be 
 continued in his own words : 
 
 TAHITI, December 18, 1839. 
 
 " We arrived at these islands after a long passage of thirty-one days, 
 running a distance of twenty-five hundred miles, and found the frigate 
 Columbia, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Read, which came in 
 the day preceding. These islanders have made less advance in civiliza 
 tion than the people of the Sandwich Islands ; for although churches are 
 large and Christianity is the religion of the land, still it is a sad fact that 
 licentiousness to a frightful degree prevails, and scenes of the most re 
 volting kind occur. 
 
 " The men are larger and better proportioned than in the Sandwich 
 Islands, and the women are beautiful. Nature has been so bountiful 
 that labor is not necessary to support life. All vegetable production is 
 of spontaneous growth. Cattle roam in the mountains. Streams gush 
 from the hills. The climate is healthful during the year. So seductive 
 are these islands that one almost ceases to wonder at the mutiny of the 
 Bounty. 
 
 "L'Artemise had also visited these islands, and imposed restrictions 
 scarcely less intolerable than at the Sandwich Islands. Captain Laplace 
 had not only demanded the free introduction of Romanism, but had im 
 posed on the queen the tax of building Catholic churches. 
 
 "As the mission here is English, and no tangible act of which we 
 could complain had been committed, of course we had nothing to do. 
 
 " The object of our visit is to investigate a supposed outrage on the 
 American flag. The former American consul had protected, against the 
 laws of the country, some French Catholic priests, who were forcibly 
 expelled from the country, wherein he transcended his powers, and an 
 
At Otaheite. 
 
 49 
 
 attack was made upon him, in which he received a severe wound, and 
 his wife met her death. 
 
 " I can imagine no greater obstacle to the progress of religion than is to 
 be found in those persons who, coming from different parts of Christen 
 dom, pass for Christians, and yet behave so badly. There are some 
 creditable exceptions among the residents, and far be it from me to say 
 that the guilty are found among them alone. No ; transient visitors are 
 in the condemnation, and, until quite recently, even vessels of war of all 
 nations were the scenes of nocturnal orgies too bad to relate. This ex 
 plains the cause why there is so little reciprocity of feeling among mis 
 sionaries and their countrymen and foreign visitors ; and this shows also 
 that little weight should be attached to the opinions and censures of 
 men whose real motive in decrying attempts to diffuse the blessings of 
 Christianity is to be judged of by their own manner of life. 
 
 "As to the Catholic question, this is briefly the history of it: At the 
 Society Islands, where the London Missionary Society has for forty years 
 been successfully employed in teaching the Christian faith, frequent ar 
 rivals of Catholic priests, and French men-of-war to enforce their claims, 
 have disturbed the mission and held the native government in constant 
 terror. Several years since two French priests came to Tahiti to propa 
 gate Roman Catholicism. Queen Pomare and her chiefs peremptorily 
 ordered them to leave the islands, assigning as a reason that it was con 
 trary to her laws and desires that any other religion than the Protestant 
 should be taught in her kingdom. They persisted in remaining until it 
 was perfectly convenient for them to leave, the American consul sustain 
 ing them in this. He placed them in a house just beyond the precincts 
 of the consulate. They were frequently warned to re-embark in the same 
 vessel which brought them, and, still refusing to do so, the queen's order 
 to put them on board was executed, and the ship proceeded to her des 
 tination, Botany Bay. Some weeks after they returned in an American 
 vessel, and made attempts to land, which were resisted by the natives. 
 The French frigate Venus, Captain Petit Thouars, arrived at Tahiti soon 
 after, and exacted two thousand dollars from the London mission, prob 
 ably to reimburse the captain of the American vessel for his detention, 
 and for the necessity of his going to Valparaiso in consequence of the 
 priests not being permitted to land. It was demanded also that the 
 French Catholics should be put on the same footing with the Protestants. 
 The Veniis was followed by L'Artemise, Captain Laplace, who left the 
 islands but a few months since. This frigate having run on a coral reef, 
 
50 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 was with difficulty, by the assistance of the natives, got into port, when 
 she underwent extensive repairs, having timber and all necessaries gra 
 tuitously furnished by the queen. At the expiration of six weeks she 
 was drawn up and presented her broadside toward the town, and a mes 
 sage was sent to Pomare that a Catholic church must be built at her 
 expense wherever there was a Protestant church, and that the same 
 facilities must be extended to Catholic priests as to Protestant clergy 
 men. Fear for the destruction of life and property prevailed, and the 
 terms were submitted to. How this will be viewed in England, time 
 will disclose. It is to be hoped that the English and our own govern 
 ment will take measures to prevent such outrages in the future. 
 
 "A scene took place in the wardroom of the ship which bears on this 
 subject. While at Tahiti, on remarking to our new consul that I could 
 not see the object of the squadron's being detained for the arrival of the 
 queen, he said : ' Oh, it is exceedingly important ; the queen has been 
 duped by the English, and regards us as a feeble nation. British influ 
 ence will try to prevent her coming. I wish her to see the ships. Their 
 order and beauty will make a good impression. I have serious fault to 
 find with the English consul, and also with Commodore Wilkes and the 
 exploring expedition, who were, however, also deceived by the English, 
 and made presents to the children of the English mission, totally disre 
 garding the insult to our flag.' After running on in a rapid manner, I 
 told him I was willing to read any documents he might bring forward, 
 and if Commodore Wilkes had acted improperly, it was his duty to prove 
 it. No man should shrink from doing his duty, cut where it may. As for 
 the missionaries, if they had been guilty of the charges brought against 
 them, of all persons they were the last who should escape with impunity. 
 The next day the consul produced his documents. They consisted of 
 three short letters between Queen Pomare and Commodore Wilkes. 
 
 " The letter of Commodore Wilkes contained his directions from the 
 President of the United States to touch at Tahiti, and assure the queen 
 of the good feeling toward her on the part of our government, and to 
 distribute presents among her subjects ; and that the President expected 
 the queen to treat our consul kindly, to give him a lot for his consulate, 
 and to regard him as the supervisor of our commercial interests ; and 
 that the present consul had been sent to supersede the one of whom she 
 had complained as protecting French priests against her laws. The 
 reply of the queen was short and in a conciliatory tone, she evidently 
 wishing to be on good terms with our government, and stated that the 
 
Extracts from Private Journal. 5 1 
 
 Roman Catholics were not Americans, for which reason she insisted upon 
 their being taken from the consul, who transcended his powers in pro 
 tecting them. These were the only points touched upon in the corre 
 spondence ; and, on remarking that they were not enough to sustain the 
 allegations made in his conversation of yesterday, he said that Com 
 modore Read had the other papers, which he would procure ; but he 
 never presented them. I candidly told him that the data were not suf 
 ficient to enable me to form an opinion ; but from what I had read and 
 heard, I was convinced that no consul had a right to throw our flag 
 around foreign Catholics to shield them from the laws of a government 
 within his consulate." 
 
 The events of this cruise entered deeply into the religious 
 feelings of Lieutenant Foote, and his private journal gives in 
 dications of great mental trials and heart-searchings. 
 
 A few quotations will doubtless prove interesting to the 
 readers of this book, for, as has been said, though not a perfect 
 man, the springs of our hero's character are to be found in his 
 religious nature, and in his intense and unvarying desire to 
 " act for God." These meditations show that, while above all 
 a man of action, he did not live a shallow, surface life, but 
 that the roots of his actions had their nourishment in a more 
 hidden life : 
 
 " U. S. SHIP ' JOHN ADAMS,' VALPAKAISO, January 7, 1840. 
 
 " Discard the secret whisperings of pride. It is Christ himself that 
 must be formed in the soul the hope of glory. Therefore, my soul, look 
 to Jesus your Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit your Sanctifier, and give 
 God all the glory for every good impulse of the affections. 
 
 " This day I renewedly dedicate myself to God ; and although trials and 
 temptations await me in a man-of-war, still grace is sufficient to overcome 
 all, if I am faithful to the means which the Holy Scriptures furnish. 
 Enlighten my. mind to cherish clear conceptions of thy character, oh 
 God. Communicate thy grace to my dear orphan daughter, that she may 
 early be prepared to serve thee." 
 
 " VALPARAISO, February 7. 
 
 " This day I observe as one of prayer and humiliation for the manifold 
 evils of my heart. I deplore the ascendency of my passions and my 
 
5 2 . Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 pride. The world appears to be too much in a heart that is dedicated to 
 God. Blessed Jesus ! show me my true character. Give me a view of 
 spiritual things. 
 
 " I resolve to watch and pray, to bear in mind that the Christian life is 
 a warfare, that one must be uncompromising in his principles. I resolve 
 to guard my tongue from speaking injuriously of others ; to avoid levity 
 of manner, on the one hand, and moroseness on the other ; to perform the 
 executive duties of the ship with impartiality, feeling that my official acts 
 will be closely criticised on account of my profession of Christian princi 
 ples ; to devote every day suitable time to meditation and prayer, letting 
 no day pass without one hour being wholly spent in religious reading 
 
 and devotion." 
 
 "AT SEA, March 19th. 
 
 " Who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? Why with the 
 fruits of holiness can not the Christian be satisfied ? Alas ! in my own 
 case, the world, its honors and varied sources of gratification, steal upon 
 me and are incorporated into all my plans." 
 
 " AT SEA, April 2. 
 
 " My mind being in an unusual state this day, induces me to note the 
 circumstance notwithstanding the gale. Some trials belonging to the 
 service cause me unpleasant feelings, but especially the singular deport 
 ment of a friend. Earthly ties bind us to the world, and when they are 
 sundered we should throw ourselves on Him who is without variableness 
 or shadow of turning. 
 
 " Oh, enable me to become less sensitive to mortal friendships, and 
 transfer my affections to my Redeemer; and, Heavenly Father, give me 
 influence, that souls may be weaned from the world and placed supremely 
 on thee. Bless this ship, her officers and men." 
 
 " AT SEA, April 22. 
 
 " Doubts as to the Christian religion suddenly flashed across my mind 
 last evening. Why are these things ? I know not, unless it is to show us 
 our weakness, and that we must ever in this warfare rely on Christ." 
 
 " AT SEA, May 21. 
 
 " I could give wings to my faith, such are my views and feelings to-day. 
 But, alas ! what have they been the last month ? Such as to condemn me, 
 for the pride and vanity about the appearance of the ship, instances of 
 passion, and coldness in my devotions. I would humble myself before 
 God this day." 
 
Extracts from Private Journal. 53 
 
 " AT SEA, June 9. 
 
 " We are rapidly drawing to the end of our cruise, a good emblem of 
 life ; and it becomes me to look back to the cruise of my life for the evi 
 dences that Christ has been formed in the soul. 
 
 " The coming week is likely to be one of excitement to me. May my 
 weakness prove my strength ! Blessed Redeemer, to thee I look for grace 
 according to temptation. 
 
 " Our Father, I renew to thee this day my obligations and vows to be 
 thine wholly thine. I come to deplore the levity of my character, and 
 yet I come blessing thee. I come with the desire to be taught of God 
 through Christ and the Holy Spirit, so to live and act in my situation as 
 to thy glory, and that my highest ambition may ever lie in being conform 
 ed to the will of God. Amen." 
 
 Upon the thirty-fourth anniversary of his birth, September 
 12, 1840, he wrote : 
 
 " Oh how mingled are the emotions of my mind. It seems as if love, 
 joy, gratitude, on the one hand, with sorrow and contrition of soul on the 
 other, were all at work within me. The Christian is told in the Word of 
 God that Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour, and he is able and ready in all 
 circumstances to sustain us in a life of perfect obedience, if we exercise faith 
 in him. May this year be so passed as to meet thy acceptance ; and if I 
 am to leave this world before its expiration, enable me cheerfully to 
 acquiesce." 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 NAVAL ASYLUM AT PHILADELPHIA. CRUISE OF THE "CUMBER 
 LAND." NAVAL ACADEMY AT BOSTON. 
 
 HAVING been detached from the John Adams June 24, 1840, 
 Lieutenant Foote was appointed Nov. 22, 1841, to the Naval 
 Asylum in Philadelphia, and after Commodore Barren's resig 
 nation the full charge of that institution during the last two 
 years of the administration of Secretary Upshur, was placed 
 in his hands. This establishment at that time combined the 
 character of half hospital and half school, and was, in fact, the 
 first of our home institutions of a like kind that sprang up to 
 meet the necessities of the service. The Naval Academy at 
 Annapolis grew out of this, the purely educational part of it 
 having been transferred to Annapolis. To Lieutenant Foote 
 was especially assigned the care and education of midshipmen. 
 
 "By scraps of laws, regulations, and departmental instructions, a Naval 
 Academy has grown up, and a naval policy become established for the 
 United States, without the legislative wisdom of the country having 
 passed upon that policy, and contrary to its previous policy, and against 
 its interest and welfare. A Naval Academy, with two hundred and fifty 
 pupils, and annually coming off in scores, makes perpetual demands for 
 ships and commissions, and these must be furnished, whether required by 
 the public service or not; and thus the idea of a limited Navy, or a naval 
 peace establishment, is extinguished, and a perpetual war establishment 
 in time of peace is growing upon our hands. Prone to imitate every 
 thing that is English, there was a party among us from the beginning 
 which wished to make the Union, like Great Britain, a great naval 
 power, without considering that England was an island, with foreign 
 possessions, which made a Navy a necessity of her position and her policy ; 
 while we were a continent, without foreign possessions, to whom a Navy 
 would be an expensive and idle incumbrance ; without considering that 
 
Naval Schools. 55 
 
 England is often by her policy required to be aggressive, the United 
 States never ; without considering that England is a part of the European 
 system, and subject to wars (to her always maritime) in which she has no 
 interest; while the United States, in the isolation of its geographical 
 position, and the independence of its policy, can have no wars but its 
 own, and those defensive."* 
 
 These remarks are interesting as bearing upon a depart 
 ment of the Navy with which Lieutenant Foote, in the course 
 of his active life, came to be closely identified. He did an 
 important work in organizing and building up these infant 
 establishments and naval schools, which the distinguished 
 senator to the contrary notwithstanding are essential to the 
 existence of a strong naval power. It is true we shall never 
 need again a great Navy to protect our territory. The inven 
 tion of iron-clads, the facility of sea-coast fortifications, the 
 telegraph, the vast extension of the railroad system, make us, 
 so long as no internal dissensions prey upon and weaken us, 
 impregnable without a great Navy, which, if not needed, is a 
 source of expense and foreign menace. But what would we 
 have done at the breaking out of the last war without some 
 military and naval organization, and some actual material of 
 preparation? To say nothing also of our extended com 
 mercial interests, the fact that there are such great numbers 
 of Americans residing in Europe and all parts of the world, 
 makes a naval home establishment with its boards, bureaus, 
 and schools a necessity. 
 
 It is doubtless true that there will be no more sea-actions 
 like those off Brest and Trafalgar, w T here nation met nation in 
 conflict. 
 
 The necessity of maintaining large squadrons, and building 
 costly ships only to go to ruin, when the whole system of war 
 fare and of naval architecture is undergoing such continual 
 
 * Benton's " Thirty Years in the U. S. Senate," vol. ii., p. 57. 
 
56 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 changes, has, with us at least, ceased. Still there must be a 
 peace establishment as a nucleus for naval operations ; and the 
 good order, high discipline, and moral tone of our naval schools, 
 asylums, and ship-yards at this moment are due as much to 
 the efforts and character of Admiral Foote as to any other 
 man. 
 
 At the Philadelphia Asylum, during a period of considera 
 ble excitement owing to certain local controversies and unset 
 tled questions in relation to organization and government, he 
 began that course of thorough moral reform which he carried 
 through his whole career. By dint of unceasing persuasion, 
 he prevailed upon the pensioners of the asylum to take the 
 temperance pledge, or, as an " old salt " would say, " stop their 
 grog." He was one of the first to introduce the reform of 
 total abstinence from intoxicating drinks into the Navy; and 
 it was well understood that he was in thorough earnest in this 
 matter, so that officers and men who were devoted to the use 
 of liquor fairly understood that 'it would go hard with them if 
 Foote was on judgment in cases of delinquency. Whether he 
 sometimes carried this too far or not, all knew where he stood, 
 and all were aware of the inflexible resolution he had taken to 
 introduce the -temperance reform into the Navy, in which de 
 termination he was successful. The Naval Asylum, in fact, 
 made him a thorough temperance man. He said once in Phila 
 delphia to his brother John: "I made up my mind that rs a 
 naval officer I could not be a temperance man. I met witn 
 persons of all nations. I was obliged to conform to their 
 customs. But when I came here I found these old sailors 
 dreadful drunkards. "Whenever I gave them any privilege, 
 they invariably got drunk. I could do nothing with them. At 
 last I signed the pledge myself, and then they followed me." 
 In a certain petition of the pensioners of the Naval Academy 
 to the Honorable Secretary of the Navy a characteristic 
 sailors' document Lieutenant Foote is thus spoken of : 
 
Second Marriage. 57 
 
 " The gallant Commodore Biddle was our first governor. A brave man 
 like him knew what old sailors wanted. He indulged the good men, and 
 brought the bad men into good order ; and when he left us, we all to a 
 man wished he had been left alone. The proper rooms were allotted by 
 him to us, and the officers treated us like men. When he went away, 
 Commodore Barron came, who commanded us as an old commodore 
 ought to command old seamen like himself. He was ready to listen to 
 us and to see our wants supplied, and may God bless him, and Biddle 
 too, for both were old sailors' friends, which we put into the newspapers 
 which you have read. When Commodore Barron left us, lie left Lieu 
 tenant Foote to command. He has done us a great deal of good in mak 
 ing us all sober men. We once thought that old sailors could not do 
 without grog. Now there is not a man in the house who draws his grog, 
 and we feel like human beings, and hate the sin of getting drunk. We 
 now understand the Word of God as it is written in the Bible, with which 
 we are supplied, and hope our latter days will be better than our former 
 lives have been. As old men, we wanted and have had quiet and peace 
 of mind and body." 
 
 In all matters of strictly professional education and culture, 
 the principles of navigation, practical seamanship, gunnery, 
 naval tactics, and ship-building, he was, by the testimony of 
 his contemporaries, for his time, a thorough master, leaving 
 nothing to subordinates that he could do himself. 
 
 In the year 1842 (Jan. 27) Lieutenant Foote married for 
 his second wife Caroline Augusta (his second cousin), the eld 
 est daughter of Augustus Russel Street, of New Haven, a 
 gentleman of wealth and high cultivation, now well-known as 
 the generous founder of the art-school in Yale College.* 
 
 * Mrs. Caroline Augusta Foote died in New Haven, August 27, 1863, 
 just two months after the death of her husband. She bore to him five 
 children, three sons and two daughters, of whom two, Augustus Russel 
 Street and John Samuel, survive their parents. Under the careful and 
 scholarly training of her father, Miss Street's fine mind and lovely char 
 acter were developed into a rare and beautiful womanhood, fitting her 
 to become the true wife and counselor of a heroic man. She shared 
 patiently his labors and sorrows, and rejoiced in his triumphs with a 
 calm joy that intelligently appreciated their greatness, but was attem 
 pered by a higher hope. 
 
58 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 But he enjoyed for a short time only the sweets of domestic 
 repose on shore. His whole life was destined to be one of 
 constant hard service in his profession. 
 
 In the summer of 1843 (Aug. 26) he was ordered, as first-lieu 
 tenant, to the flag-ship Cumberland, fifty guns, under Captain 
 Breese. J. A. Dahlgren and others who have since won for 
 themselves distinction were lieutenants and fellow-officers with 
 Foote in this cruise of the Cumberland. This vessel bore at 
 her peak the pennant of Commodore Joseph Smith, who on 
 his return from this cruise was made Chief of the Bureau of 
 Yards and Docks at Washington, and who, with Captain Breese, 
 bore a distinguished part in the last war with Great Britain, es 
 pecially in the battle of Lake Champlain. Commodore Smith 
 proved to be Foote's life-long and perhaps his most loved and 
 trusted friend, and is himself a genial and noble-hearted Chris 
 tian man. Commodore Smith soon appreciated Foote's work 
 ing qualities, and in one of his earliest letters he says: "Would 
 you be willing to go to Norfolk if I should go there ? as that 
 is a place of work, and requires energetic officers." He told 
 Foote that he wished him to be always associated with him 
 self, and he regarded him " as his mainmast" 
 
 The Cumberland sailed from Boston for the Mediterranean 
 on the 20th of November, 1843. When taking the stores on 
 board for the voyage, some of the* men got an opportunity to 
 tap a barrel of whisky, and made themselves drunk. Trou 
 ble ensued: some of them insulted and attacked one of the 
 officers, and were consequently flogged. Foote took the op 
 portunity to form a temperance society, beginning with the 
 officers, and being sustained and encouraged by the commo 
 dore. The movement became popular, and soon all the sail 
 ors but one consented to commute their grog-rations for money; 
 and that solitary one, coming up every day to receive his grog, 
 became a laughing-stock, and was soon got rid of. 
 
 The spirit-room was emptied of its contents, and the whole 
 
Temperance Reform on the " Cumberland'' 59 
 
 crew, with the exception of the one veteran toper, joined the 
 movement, so that the Cumberland became the first temper 
 ance ship in the United States Navy ; and how interesting is 
 this, when we think of the future fate of this vessel, selected 
 to be the martyr ship of our civil war.; when, in the terri 
 ble fight with the iron-clad and iron-beaked Merrimack, with 
 her flag flying and her crew cheering, she delivered her last 
 fire at her country's foes, and went down unconquered and 
 unsullied in her pure renown. 
 
 The effects of the temperance reform on the Cumberland 
 were vMble in the excellent discipline of the ship, showing 
 that the moral element is the basis of the highest and most 
 efficient military discipline. Lieutenant Foote delivered a part 
 ing temperance address before the crew of the Cumberland, 
 November 1, 1845, from which the following are extracts : 
 
 " To illustrate the correctness of the position which I have taken, let 
 us look at the changes within the last few years. See how the tem 
 perance movement has changed the aspect of things. Look around, 
 and we see ourselves in a ship where that great enemy of man the 
 enemy to his hopes and happiness ardent spirits, is abolished. Who 
 would have believed a man, thirty years ago, had he predicted that a 
 ship, a frigate a flag-ship, too, of the squadron would cruise a year 
 without the grog-tub ? But it has been done, and I have strong hopes that 
 in thirty years hence every man-of-war will cruise without a grog-tub, and 
 that liberty in almost every port, and money every month, as has been 
 the case in this ship, with many other changes, will also take place, 
 rendering life in a man-of-w T ar comparatively respectable and happy. 
 But the credit of taking the lead in this reform, this matter which will 
 prove so great a blessing to so many generations of seamen, will ever be 
 long to the Cumberland -to the crew of the Cumberland. They did it ; 
 they also sent a petition to Congress to abolish the whisky-ration did 
 it voluntarily, of their own accord no coercion, no force was used. The 
 subject was placed before thenl they chose, they acted for themselves ; 
 and by it have not only astonished people abroad, but the papers at 
 home are resounding with their praise, and the good effects of their 
 choice have been witnessed in the good order and condition of the ship : 
 
60 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 in her snugness aloft and cleanliness below ; in her rapid exercise of bat 
 tery, and no less rapid evolutions of getting under way, furling sails, and, 
 I may now add. of beating every thing which we have met. Of such a 
 ship we may well be proud, and no doubt we shall all, long after the 
 cruise, recur to the Cumberland with the most pleasurable feelings. * * * 
 " I say that temperance has done good, and I believe its good effects 
 will long be felt by many poor deserted mothers, who for ten and 
 fifteen years have not been visited by their sons, but who will in a 
 few months share the gatherings of a two years' cruise. Will they 
 not thank God for the temperance movement in the Cumberland ? Yes ; 
 and I trust that in eternity, as well as in time, many of you will bless 
 the Lord for sending you on board this ship. But now is the crisis 
 now is the time to make a stand. Now the time has come to decide 
 the great question, whether seamen shall become a rational, long-lived, 
 and respectable class of men, or whether they shall continue to be 
 imposed upon by land-sharks, and madly rush into the grave in the 
 middle age of life. I speak strongly, because I feel strongly on this sub 
 ject ; and here, at the termination of the cruise, still feeling a deep inter 
 est in the crew of this ship for their general behavior and efficiency, and 
 hoping at some future day to sail with many of them, I conclude by 
 saying, as a true friend, neither touch, taste, nor handle any thing that 
 can intoxicate. I have practiced and will practice myself these doctrines 
 which I advocate, and so let every man now determine for himself, or he 
 is in danger of rushing, with his eyes open, upon the dreadful alternative 
 a drunkard's grave and the drunkard's endless doom ; which may God 
 avert from us. Farewell !" 
 
 Returning from this cruise of the Cumberland to Boston, 
 November 10, 1845, after a leave of absence for six months, 
 suffering as he was from ophthalmia, contracted while acting 
 as captain of the boating-service of the Cumberland in Egypt 
 and on the dazzling waters of the Mediterranean, he was order 
 ed (June 1, 1846) to the Navy Yard at Boston, where he re 
 mained in comparative quiet, though strenuous as ever in the 
 line of professional duty, as executive officer of that establish 
 ment, until June 1, 1848. 
 
 A few extracts from the familiar letters of Commodore 
 Joseph Smith, at Washington, to Lieutenant Foote, while the 
 
Abolishing the Spirit -Ration. 61 
 
 latter was in charge of the Boston Yard, relative chiefly to pro 
 fessional matters, and especially to the subject of naval re 
 form, in which both were engaged heart and soul, will prove 
 interesting as reflecting some of the marked personal charac 
 teristics of his correspondent. One of Foote's own letters on 
 the subject of the " spirit-ration " to a Connecticut senator we 
 
 insert among these : 
 
 " January 30, 1846. 
 
 " I conversed with many persons on the feasibility of carrying through 
 Congress our project of abolishing the spirit-ration. I do not believe the 
 committees in both houses would report in its favor ; and if they should, I 
 do not believe this Congress will ratify the measure. There is a strong 
 opposition to it, and a good many wires would be pulled to check it. I 
 heard by Dahlgren that your eyes continued bad. The Cumberland sailed 
 yesterday for Mexico." 
 
 "February 20, 1846. 
 
 "You have done a good thing for the service by 'putting in your oar' 
 to keep all the bureaus in the Navy. You are not alone in this work ; still 
 I learn from reliable sources that your townsman (Gideon Welles) will be 
 confirmed. It is strange that the Navy can not furnish a head to a bureau 
 capable of knowing what seamen want and how to furnish the stores. I 
 trust your eyes will soon be well. I see by the prints that the crew of the 
 Boston broke into her spirit-room and got drunk, and caused much trouble. 
 That would be a good spoke in our wheel of reform, and a good com 
 mentary upon the effect of whisky in the Navy. The Cumberland lay 
 fourteen days in the dry-dock, and no such conduct was enacted there. 
 I have talked with Mr. Choate about the matter. He told me Mr. Cal- 
 houn voted against the reform, and that he could not carry it. We have 
 some officers high in rank who will oppose it ; nevertheless, I think it will 
 come round by-and-by." 
 
 "February 22, 1847. 
 
 " I fear the six cents' commutation is in danger in the House of Repre 
 sentatives. The bill has been returned with amendments, and I fear the 
 six cents will be attacked, as I know a good many who think much of the 
 difference between the cost of whisky made from potatoes and money ; 
 and Mr. Welles has asked and received the assent of the Senate for an ap 
 propriation of $200,000 to pay this commutation, and that is what will 
 endanger the bill in the House. God knows when the war (with Mexico) 
 
62 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 will end. I see no prospect at present. After Vera Cruz and the Castle 
 have surrendered, the chances for peace will be better." 
 
 " NAVY YARD, BOSTON, June 15, 1847. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, Agreeably to the request contained in your letter of the 
 24th ultimo, I submit the following reasons, as among the most promi 
 nent, why whisky should be stricken from the Navy ration-table : 
 
 " In the mercantile marine generally the spirit-ration has been abolished, 
 and its effect upon the morale and efficiency of that service has exceeded 
 the expectations of the most sanguine. Similar effects were so manifest 
 in the case of the United States frigate Cumberland, bearing the flag of 
 Commodore Joseph Smith, now Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, 
 that all the commissioned officers, although at the outset of the cruise re 
 garding the idea of abolishing the whisky-ration as wholly impractica 
 ble, with two hundred and fifty of the crew, subsequently sent a petition 
 to Congress, praying its abolishment. Lieutenant-Commandant Charles 
 H. Davis, of the United States surveying schooner Gallatin, and formerly 
 in command of the Nautilus, has not for several years served out to his 
 crew the daily allowance of whisky. One of his lieutenants informs me 
 that now they can send their men on shore without apprehension of 
 drunkenness and desertion, which were rife previously to adopting this 
 measure. I inclose herewith a letter from Lieutenant-Commandant Davis, 
 giving his views and mode of proceeding more in detail in relation to 
 this matter. Commander John Pope, of the United States brig Dolphin, 
 now cruising on the coast of Africa, in a letter to a friend, just received, 
 says : ' I hope most truly to see the day when the spirit-ration will be 
 done away. We can do as well without liquor as the men in the merchant 
 service.' Commander John C. Long, United States Navy, says : 'It is 
 practicable, it is expedient to abolish the whisky-ration, and it ought to 
 be done forthwith. I tested this matter to my entire satisfaction when in 
 command of the schooner Dolphin? I am aware, notwithstanding this 
 testimony, that there are quite a number of officers in the Navy opposed 
 to its abolishment, and so were the officers of the Cumberland, and also 
 of the mercantile marine, until the experiment was fairly tested, when 
 the sentiment changed entirely. 
 
 " These facts seem to show conclusively that the abolishment of the 
 whisky-ration would materially advance the moral tone of seamen and 
 the efficiency of the service, but the proposed measure has met with ob 
 jections, the most prominent of which is that it would be coercive ; on 
 
Naval Reform in Congress. 63 
 
 the other hand, I would ask in the premises, Is not serving it out a posi 
 tive encouragement to drunkenness ? I have never been able myself to 
 see the force of this objection coercion. It simply takes away a portion 
 of the ration and gives a full equivalent, which will be far more satis 
 factory to the men in service generally. It does not forbid the sailor's 
 drinking. It merely ceases to parade by authority the grog-tub daily be 
 fore his eyes : placing its contents in the same table with beef, pork, and 
 other parts of the ration necessary to sustain his physical being a sly in 
 centive to his becoming a drunkard. The officer when he draws his 
 ration is not permitted to receive his whisky ; the minor is also debarred 
 this portion of his ration. Why not, then, extend the prohibition to the 
 remainder of the crew, especially as it has led them to advocate its abol 
 ishment who previously to sailing without it regarded its continuance 
 essential ? 
 
 " I can not regard the commutation at even $ 1 80 per month, leaving 
 it optional with the crew, as calculated to have the desired effect. This 
 would leave it still an open, unsettled, exciting question, enabling a few 
 old seamen, most of them foreigners, to influence many of the younger and 
 inexperienced men to use this portion of their ration against their better 
 judgment. In this case, also, the expense to the government, and incon 
 venience to the ship of filling the spirit-room without knowing what por 
 tion would be required, is another objection. On the other hand, strike 
 the whisky unqualifiedly from the ration - table ; pay the men $1 per 
 month in lieu thereof, and it will prove acceptable to the men, econom 
 ical to the government, and in all respects beneficial to the service. 
 " Respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Lieutenant U. S. Navy. 
 
 " Hon. Geo. P. Rockwell." 
 
 To continue the extracts from Commodore Smith's letters: 
 
 " August 20, 1847. 
 
 " I have yours of the 18th inst.; am glad to hear you are getting on 
 so well at your station, and particularly of your successful progress with 
 your improved propeller. You will have a host of competitors from the 
 engineers, I fear; but if the improvement is valuable, it will put down op 
 position. I fear you have not calculated the effect of the centrifugal 
 force, or rather the spiral force of the water after leaving the propeller 
 and coming in opposing contact with the vessel. However, experiment 
 is the only proper test in such matters." 
 
 E 
 
64 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 "December 29, 1847. 
 
 ' " From Tattnall I received your model of a scull not skull. You are 
 right about the Indian paddles. The shape of these paddles, or floats, 
 or sculls, should be of the same shape as Indian paddles, instead of being 
 circular. But you are behind the times, my friend, in this, for in En 
 gland this kind of paddle has been in use, or rather experimented upon, 
 for five years, on each quarter instead of the bow, as yours is intended. 
 
 " Dahlgren is at home on a visit. He is in tall grass now ; has full 
 swing, and will make for himself an enviable reputation. He has won 
 golden opinions from the whole eighty-five middies at the school for 
 the manner and course of his instructions." 
 
 "April 13, 1848. 
 
 " I trust you will have full credit for all your exertions in bringing and 
 keeping the Yard in good order and wholesome discipline, and much is 
 due to you for the excellent state it is in, as all say. You must be a com 
 modore, at least, before the retired list brings you up." 
 
 "April 25, 1848. 
 
 " Your organization of the fire department is excellent, as almost every 
 thing you do is. The only fault, or rather imperfection in the system, is 
 your too great zeal. When I see you with a project in hand to develop 
 its usefulness, I think of the Nack stain, and call to mind, or rather it 
 comes instinctively, what the pastor of the parish where I was reared 
 used to say ' What is violent can not be lasting.' "* 
 
 "August 31, 1848. 
 
 " Go on in your course of talking and writing in the cause of temper 
 ance and all good things. While doing those good deeds, God will 
 bless the means to restore your eyes to perfect health. Dahlgren is pro- 
 
 * This reference to " the black stain," which occurs in many of Admi 
 ral Smith's letters, is thus explained by him : " The story of the ' black 
 stain' originated in the Cumberland, by Foote's (who was executive offi 
 cer) scraping the paint off the gun-carriages to the bare oak wood, and 
 applying a black dye or stain. This caused many quaint remarks from 
 officers and sailors, as it did not at first promise success. Characteristic 
 of the man, whose will was indomitable, Foote persisted in his experi 
 ment, and by oiling and frequently rubbing, a beautiful black polish was 
 produced, which, after all the jokes which had been employed to damp 
 en .the inventor's ardor, was much admired ; hence the frequent quota 
 tion afterward, ' Like Foote's black stain,' when a doubtful experiment 
 was in question." 
 
Improved Propeller. 65 
 
 gressing finely, and will give the Navy some interesting results in ord 
 nance." 
 
 "I trust your Dr. Elliott will effect a perfect cure, and that your 
 eyes, which were always bright and sharp, will not be less effective and 
 useful to you than any other of your faculties. The political horizon 
 looks as if the wind would change and haul around in favor of old 
 Rough and Ready.' He heads up for the White House, and if no un 
 favorable flaw strike, he will fetch the mark." 
 
 11 June 25, 1849. 
 
 " I trust the chastisement will be a lesson to you not to carry things to 
 excess, as you, in your zeal to do good and work righteousness, are, or 
 have been, prone to do. I may speak plainly now that you are on your 
 pins again, and say I fear you have been a victim to your ' water cure.' 
 Bless God for his unbounded mercies. You have a new lease of life, and 
 have much more to see of this wicked world than you have seen, and 
 more good to do than you have done." 
 
 . In regard to the invention of the bow-propeller, to which 
 reference is made in these extracts, there was a correspond 
 ence on the subject in the years 1846 and 1847, between Lieu 
 tenant Foote and Commodore Morris, Chief of the Bureau of 
 Construction, which correspondence is recorded in the minute- 
 book of the bureau, but does not seem to have led to an adop 
 tion of Foote's invention. As explained by the inventor, the 
 object of placing the propeller in the bow is to produce by 
 its motion a partial vacuum or eddy, throwing the water 
 aside that would otherwise rise in front and around, and offer 
 resistance to the bow of the vessel in proportion to the vessel's 
 velocity ; which theory, he maintained, was fully sustained by 
 actual experiment, and one fourth, or at least a fifth more 
 velocity was secured by the bow-propeller over the stern-pro 
 peller ; as in the first the water which offers such resistance to 
 the bow is thrown aside or broken up, while the stern-propel 
 ler takes the water from the stern, where it is needed to buoy 
 the vessel, and causes her to go, as it were, upon an inclined 
 plane. 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 
 CRUISE OF THE " PERRY 5 ' ON THE AFRICAN COAST. 
 
 ON September 28, 1849, Lieutenant Foote was assigned to 
 the command of the brig Perry, and ordered to the coast of 
 Africa, for the protection of American commerce and the sup 
 pression of the slave-trade. The squadron to which the Perry 
 belonged was under the command of Commodore Gregory, 
 whose flag-ship was the John Adams, and with whom, it will 
 be remembered, he made his first voyage as a midshipman in 
 1823. 
 
 As this was one of the notable periods of his life, and had 
 decisive results upon the infamous slave-trade, it should be 
 treated deliberately; and for this purpose free use will be 
 made of Lieutenant Foote's own papers, log-book, private jour 
 nal, and especially of his work entitled "Africa and the 
 American Flag." 
 
 A good idea of the nature and extent of the cruising-ground 
 of the Perry is given in the following extract from Admiral 
 Foote's book, and this will also serve as a sample of the style 
 and character of that work : 
 
 " If a chart of the Atlantic is spread out, and a line drawn from the 
 Cape Verde Islands toward the southeastern coast of Brazil ; if we then 
 pass to the Cape of Good Hope, and draw another from that point by 
 the Island of St. Helena, crossing the former north of the equator, the 
 great tracks of commerce will be traced. Vessels outward bound follow 
 the track toward the South American shore, and the homeward bound 
 are found on the other. The vessels often meet in the centre of the At 
 lantic ; and the crossing of these lines off the projecting shores of Central 
 Africa renders the coasts of that region of great naval importance. 
 
 " The wide triangular space of sea between the homeward-bound line 
 
Cruising-Ground of the "Perry? 67 
 
 and the retiring African sea-board around the Gulf of Guinea constitu 
 ted the area on which the vigilance of the squadron was to be exercised. 
 Here is the region of crime, suffering, cruelty, and death from the slave- 
 trade ; and here has been at different ages, when the police of the sea 
 happened to be little cared for, the scene of the worst piracies which 
 have ever disgraced human nature. 
 
 " Vessels running out from the African coast fall here and there into 
 these lines traced on the chart, or sometimes across them. No one can 
 tell what they contain from the graceful hull, well-proportioned masts, 
 neatly trimmed yards, and the gallant bearing of the vessel. This deceit 
 ful beauty may conceal wrong, violence, and crime the theft of living 
 men, the foulness and corruption of the steaming slave-deck, and the 
 charnel-house of wretchedness and despair. 
 
 " It is difficult in looking over the ship's side to conceive the trans 
 parency of the sea. The reflection of the blue sky in these tropic re 
 gions colors it like an opaque sapphire, till some fish startles one by sud 
 denly appearing far beneath, seeming to carry daylight down with him 
 into the depths below. One is then reminded that the vessel is suspend 
 ed over a transparent abyss. There for ages has sunk the dark-skinned 
 sufferer from ' the horrors of the middle passage,' carrying that ghastly 
 daylight down with him, to rest until ' the sea shall give up its dead, 1 
 and the slaver and his merchant come up from their places to be con 
 fronted with their victim."* 
 
 The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were the era of 
 the greatest woe in the slave-trade. Then it became cruelly 
 and murderously systematic. The question what nation should 
 be most enriched by the abominable traffic was a subject of 
 diplomacy. England secured the greatest share of the crimi 
 nality and of the profit, by gaining from her other competitors 
 the right by contract to supply the colonies of Spain with ne 
 groes. But our own country entered largely into this business, 
 and in later times chiefly by means of small and ill-found 
 vessels, which, as they were watched by the cruisers, were 
 crowded and packed with negroes, at any risk of loss by death, 
 
 * "Africa and the American Flag," p. 14-16. The ending of this pas 
 sage calls to mind Ruskin's powerful description of Turner's still more 
 powerful picture of the " Slave-ship," in his "Modern Painters. 
 
68 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 so that a successful voyage might compensate for many cap 
 tures. In olden times there were vessels fitted expressly for 
 the purpose large Indiamen or whalers. Lieutenant Foote 
 says : 
 
 " If ever there were any thing on earth which, for revolting, filthy, heart 
 less atrocity, might make the devil wonder and hell recognize its own 
 likeness, it was on one of the decks of an old slaver. The sordid cupid 
 ity of the older, as it is meaner, was also more callous than the hurried 
 ruffianism of the present age. In fact, a slaver now has but one deck ; 
 in the last century they had two or three. Any one of the decks of the 
 larger vessels was rather worse, if it could be, than the single deck of 
 the brigs and schooners now employed in the trade. Then the number 
 of decks rendered the suffocating and pestilential hold a scene of un 
 paralleled wretchedness."* 
 
 In bad weather, when the hatches were closed, the death of 
 numbers from suffocation would necessarily occur, and in the 
 efforts of the more athletic to get at the air, the weaker would 
 be strangled. The height between decks was so small that a 
 man of ordinary size could hardly sit upright. The slaves 
 were obliged to lie on their backs, and were shackled by their 
 ankles, the left of one being fettered to the right of the next, 
 so that the whole number, in one line, formed a single living 
 chain. When one died, the body remained during the night, 
 or in stormy weather for a longer time, and until it was in a 
 putrid state secured to two living bodies. 
 
 We are not, however, to suppose that the horrors of " the 
 middle passage " were essentially diminished in modern times ; 
 and the diabolical atrocity of those who, in the middle of this 
 century, dealt in " ebony " some of them New England cap 
 tains, from homes where the religion of Christ w r as taught 
 was increased tenfold by the light of humanity diffused 
 abroad. Here was the fountain-head of the slave-supply in the 
 Southern States ; and it is a cause of gratitude that our hero 
 
 * " Africa and the American Flag," p. 27. 
 
The West African Coast. 69 
 
 was enabled to do some serious work toward the permanent 
 destruction of this original evil before lie actually came to 
 contend with the slave-power in its final assault upon the life 
 of the government. 
 
 In Lieutenant Foote's -notices of Africa, before entering 
 upon the detail of his special work, there is much that shows 
 an observing and penetrative, we might almost say, scientific 
 mind ; for example, he thus discourses at length of the philos 
 ophy of storms on the West African coast : 
 
 " The vast radiator formed by the sun beating vertically on the plains 
 of tropical Africa, heats and expands the air, and thus constitutes a sort 
 of central trough, into which gravitation brings compensating currents, 
 by producing a lateral sliding inward of the great trade-wind streams. 
 Thus, as a general rule, winds which would normally diverge from the 
 shores are drawn in toward them. They have been gathering moisture 
 in their progress ; and when pressed upward, as they expand under the 
 vertical sun, lose their heat in the upper regions, let go their moisture, 
 and spread over the interior terraces and mountains a sheet of heavily 
 depositing cloud. This constitutes the rainy season, which necessarily, 
 from the causes producing it, accompanies the sun in its apparent oscil 
 lations across the equator. 
 
 " The Gulf of Guinea has in its own bosom a system of hurricanes and 
 squalls, of which little is known but their existence and their danger. A, 
 description of them, of rather old date, specifies as a fact that they begin 
 by the appearance of a small mass of clouds in the zenith, which widens 
 and extends till the canopy covers the horizon. Now if this were true 
 of any given spot, it would indicate that the hurricane always began 
 there. The appearance of a patch of cloud in the zenith could be true 
 of only one place out of all those which the hurricane influenced. If it 
 is meant that wherever the phenomenon originated, there a mass of cloud 
 gradually formed in the zenith, this would be a most important particu 
 lar in regard to the proximate cause of the phenomenon, for it would 
 mark a rapid direction upward of the atmosphere at that spot as the first 
 observable incident of the series. That the movements produced would 
 subsequently become whirling, or circumvolant, is a mechanical neces 
 sity ; but the force of the movement ought not to be strongest at the 
 place where the movement had its origin. 
 
70 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " The squalls, with high towering clouds, which rise like a wall on the 
 horizon, involve the same principles as to the formation of the vapor, and 
 are easily explicable. They are not necessarily connected with circular 
 hurricanes ; but the principles of their formation may modify the inten 
 sity of the blasts in a circumvolant tornado. Since in the Gulf of Guinea 
 they come from the eastward, it is to be inferred that they are ripples or 
 undulations in an air current. In regard to all of this, it is necessary to 
 speak doubtfully, for there is a great lack of accurate and detailed obser 
 vation on these points. 
 
 "Its position and physical characteristics give to this continent great 
 influence over the rest of the earth. Africa, America, and Australia have 
 nearly similar relations to the great oceans interposed respectively between 
 them. Against the eastern sides of these regions are carried from the 
 ocean those strange, furious whirlwinds on the shallow film of the earth's 
 atmosphere which constitute hurricanes. It is evident that these oceans 
 are mainly the channels in which the surface winds move which are 
 drawn from colder regions toward the equator. The shores are the banks 
 of these air streams. The return currents above flow over every thing. 
 They are thus prevalent in the interior, so that the climatic conditions 
 there are different from those on the sea-board. These circumstances in 
 the southern extra-tropical regions are accompanied by corresponding 
 differences in the character of the vegetable world. 
 
 " These winds are sometimes drawn aside across the coast-lines, consti 
 tuting the Mediterranean sirocco and the African harmattan. Vessels 
 far off at sea, sailing to the northward, are covered or stained on the 
 weather-side of their rigging (that next to the African coast) with a fine, 
 light-yellow powder. A reddish-brown dust sometimes tinges the sails 
 and rigging. An instance of this occurred on board the Perry on her out 
 ward-bound passage when five hundred miles from the African coast."* 
 
 In another place Lieutenant Foote happily describes the 
 physical conformation of the African sea-coast, which has had, 
 and will ever have, its influence upon the commerce of that 
 continent : 
 
 " The sea-shore is generally low, except as influenced by Atlas, or the 
 Abyssinian ranges, or the mountains of the southern extremity. There is 
 not uncommonly a flat, swampy plain bordering on the sea, where the 
 
 * " Africa and the American Flag," p. 32-34. 
 
The African Slave -Trade. 71 
 
 rivers push out their deltas, or form lagoons by their conflict with the 
 fierce surge upon the shore. The sea does not deal kindly with Africa, 
 for it wastes or guards the shores with an almost unconquerable surf. 
 Tides are small, and rivers are not safely penetrable. The ocean offered 
 to the negro nothing but a little food, procured with some trouble and 
 much danger. Hence ocean commerce was unknown to them." 
 
 But it is time that the real business should be spoken of 
 which the commander of the little brig Perry took in hand 
 to do. 
 
 After the great European war, when, in the language of 
 Lieutenant Foote, " the matured villainy of the w r orld " was 
 assembled on the African coast to re-establish the slave-trade, 
 England commenced a vigorous system of cruising by her war 
 ships to suppress the trade. In 1839 the corrective was still 
 more stringently applied. Permission had then been wrung 
 from the slave - trading powers to capture vessels outward 
 bound for Africa when fitted for the slave-trade. The treaties 
 provided that vessels equipped for the traffic might be cap 
 tured. A slaver was to be taken because she was a slaver: 
 just as it is better to shoot the wolf before he has killed the 
 sheep than afterward. If a vessel, therefore, were found on 
 the African coast with slave-irons, water in sufficient quantity 
 for a slave-cargo, with a slave-deck laid for packing slaves, she 
 was seized and condemned before committing the overt act. 
 Under this arrangement double the number of captures was 
 made during the next ten years than in the twenty years pre 
 vious. The efforts of the English squadron were conjoined 
 with those of France and the United States, although England 
 took the laboring oar, and was, it must be confessed, the most 
 in earnest in this business. A treaty with Great Britain was 
 signed at Washington in the year 1842, stipulating that each 
 nation should maintain on the African coast a force of naval 
 vessels of suitable numbers and description, to carry in all not 
 less than eighty guns, to enforce, separately and respectively. 
 
72 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 the laws, rights, and obligations of each of the two countries, 
 for the suppression of the slave-trade. These, together with 
 other subsidiary means (such as the substitution of legal trade, 
 the conversion of old slave-factories and forts into positions 
 defensive against their former purpose, etc.), reduced the ex 
 port of slaves in 1849 from one hundred and five thousand 
 to about thirty-seven thousand. Still the evil was great, and 
 .the laxity on the part of the American government to fulfill 
 its portion of the treaty was sorely felt ; and since the Ameri 
 can flag was inviolable to any foreign nation, in the case of 
 falling in with a British cruiser, an American slaver, on pre 
 senting her register, or sea-letter, as a proof of nationality, 
 could not be searched nor detained. The American flag came 
 thus to be greatly abused, and was deeply involved in the 
 slave-traffic. This was further aided by the artful device of 
 legal trading : with a cargo corresponding to the manifest, and 
 all the ship's papers being made out in form. American slav 
 ers, under the disguise of doing a legal business, swarmed on 
 the African coast, and escaped almost with impunity. There 
 was sometimes a pretended sale when the slaver was ready 
 to start from the African coast : the American captain and his 
 crew going on shore as the slaves were coming off, while the 
 Portuguese or Italian passengers, who came out in her, all 
 at once, as by a kind of devilish jugglery, became the mas 
 ter and crew of the vessel. There is evidence in the records 
 of the Consulate of slaves having started from the shore, 
 and at the same time the master and crew from the vessel, 
 carrying with them the flag and ship's papers ; when, the 
 parties becoming frightened, both pulled back ; the slaves 
 were returned to the shore, and the American master and 
 crew went on board the vessel. The stars and stripes were 
 a;ain hoisted over her, and kept flying until the cause of 
 the alarm (an English cruiser) departed from the coast, and 
 the embarkation was safely effected. The American minis- 
 
Abuse of the American Flag. 73 
 
 ter at the court of Brazil in 1844 wrote to the Secretary of 
 State : 
 
 " I regret to say this, but it is a fact not to be disguised nor denied that 
 the slave-trade is almost entirely carried on under our flag in American- 
 built vessels, sold to slavers here, chartered for the coast of Africa, and 
 there sold, or sold here delivered on the coast. And, indeed, the scan 
 dalous traffic could not be carried on to any great extent were it not for 
 the use made of our flag, and the facilities given for the chartering of 
 American vessels to carry to the coast of Africa the outfit for the trade 
 and the material for purchasing slaves." 
 
 The question as to the deplorable effects arising from the 
 abuse of the American flag was brought into discussion in 
 1842 between England and America, and the treaty before re 
 ferred to was established; but the question was still left un 
 settled How is a vessel to be ascertained to be American ? 
 The plea that any vessel hoisting any flag is thereby secured 
 against all interference in all circumstances never could be se 
 riously maintained as a principle of international law. Neither 
 the United States nor any other power has ever acted on a 
 dogma of this breadth. The United States government, while 
 asserting the inviolability of its flag (this very question being 
 the origin of the War of 1812), did not claim that its flag 
 should give immunity to those who were not American ; for 
 such a claim would render it a cover to piracy, and to acts of 
 the greatest atrocity. " But any vessel which hoists the Amer 
 ican flag claims to be American, and therefore, while she may 
 be boarded and examined by an American cruiser, this right 
 is not conceded to a foreign cruiser ; for the flag is prima 
 facie evidence, although not conclusive proof of nationality ; 
 and if such vessel be really American, the boarding officer 
 will be regarded in the light of a trespasser, and the vessel 
 will have all the protection which that flag supplies. If, on 
 the other hand, the vessel prove not to be American, the flag 
 illegally worn will afford her no protection. Therefore a for- 
 
74 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 eign officer boarding a vessel under the flag of the United 
 States, does it on his own responsibility for all consequences."' 55 
 Thus complicated and unsatisfactory was the condition of 
 things ; and although after the treaty the United States gov 
 ernment sent an organized naval force to the coast of Africa, 
 which was the means of capturing many slavers and of re 
 leasing hundreds of wretched negroes, yet the evil was not 
 checked ; and at the time the Perry came on the coast the 
 trade was. at its height, and perhaps was never more brisk. A 
 kind of immunity was given to British cruisers to search Amer 
 ican vessels by this implied permission to do so on the respon 
 sibility of the searching party. Blundering mistakes and ar 
 rogant assumptions on the part of British war -vessels not 
 unfrequently occurred ; while the greater evil still remained, 
 that the slavers themselves continued to escape in great num 
 bers even from British vigilance and determination to root 
 out the infamous traffic carried on under the protection of 
 the banner of the United States. 
 
 * " Africa and the American Flag," p. 233. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 THERE is reason to think that Lieutenant Foote, after so 
 much hard sea-service, did not greatly desire to go to this 
 harassing post of duty on the African coast, but he was al 
 ways ready for honest work ; and where there was a disagree 
 able piece of work to do, or a difficult post to fill, it was quite 
 the custom of the Navy Department, instead of sending a re 
 luctant officer, or of running the risk of an absolute refusal, to 
 say, " Why, send Foote ; he will go." When Foote did go, it 
 was to do good work, putting heart and soul into it. Thus it 
 fell out that a great deal of the hard service of the Navy in his 
 day came upon this energetic officer ; and perhaps, in the end, 
 though full of labor and care, no w T ork that he ever did gave 
 him more satisfaction than the effective part he performed in 
 the suppression of the African slave-trade, for it was directly 
 in the line of his own character and convictions as a fighter 
 against every form of evil. The following letter, dated Oc 
 tober 15, 184-9, was written to him before sailing, by his old 
 commodore, Joseph Smith : 
 
 "I have your two letters of the 12th instant. I have done my best 
 with the Secretary for your brig and for your own convenience, but I 
 can't make a dent upon him. He says he will order a purser this day ; 
 but no person whatever, and nothing not on the allowance-book, will be 
 granted to you. I wished to have Kelly you remember him in the 
 Cumberland as quartermaster ordered to you as acting-boatswain. He 
 was in the Perry when she was stranded, and never let go the helm for 
 twenty-nine hours. He has been through the Gulf war as acting-boat 
 swain of a small craft. I am a little selfish in your orders to the Perry, 
 for I wished to hold you back on shore duty till I went to sea; but the 
 
76 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Secretary jumped at you the moment lie discovered you were well enough 
 to command. We want such persons as yourself to represent us abroad 
 (and at home, too), and your aid to Gregory will be peculiarly oppor 
 tune. You are a better man and a better Christian than I am, therefore it 
 would be useless for me to tender you advice. Before you take your 
 crew from the receiving ship, beat up for volunteers to commute the 
 spirit-ration ; if you can, get them entirely to relinquish it. Leave the 
 poison behind you ; if not, get as many as you can to start fair with, if 
 you must lay in the devil's fuel. Keep up your regular Sunday service, 
 and oftener if convenient; Saturday for mending day, and Sunday for 
 meditation and reading. Each officer and man to have his place and 
 duty. Impose as much responsibility upon the petty officers as they will 
 bear. Your command will be happy, healthy, and efficient in proportion 
 as those under you engage with all their mind in their duties, and are 
 made to feel that reliance is placed in them. Do not spare the lash when 
 the exigency demands it, but throw as many guards around it as will 
 make its use a matter of absolute necessity. As to etiquette, you are as 
 aufait in it as I am. Should you meet a flag-ship at sea, haul up courses, 
 down jib, and salute. When you arrive in port, send a boat to our con 
 sul, and offer him a conveyance on board ; and salute him when he ar 
 rives with seven guns the consul-general with nine. When a foreign 
 ship sends a boat and offers services, etc., send a boat to acknowledge 
 the compliment, and afterward pay your respects to him in person. The 
 last arrived salutes first (except our own flag-officers) and calls first. 
 Salute the place first, and afterward the flag-officer, if any is in port." 
 
 How much good advice in a short space (excepting the 
 " lash," which belonged to the older and more barbarous days 
 of the Navy) is contained in this letter ! It is a kind of ma 
 rine pastoral epistle rough, indeed, but sound, honest, apos 
 tolic. A letter written at this time by his friend Dahlgren 
 
 is also interesting : 
 
 " WASHINGTON, October 30, 1849. 
 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND, Your very acceptable letter of the 17th reached 
 me to-day, for which I am much indebted to you. 
 
 " The impression remained on my mind that the last letter between us 
 was by myself, and that the condition of your sight forbade your writing. 
 
 " In two instances I was on the point of visiting you at New Haven 
 (the last time in May of this year), when, being in Boston on duty, Dr. 
 
Letter from J. A. Dahlgren. 77 
 
 Wheeler and myself had arranged to make the trip together, for you 
 were often the subject of our conversation, and we felt sorrowful for the 
 state of your health. By the way, there is no one in whose love and re 
 gard your remembrance is more fixed than in that of the doctor. 
 
 " I regret to see the desponding tone of your letter. Five or six years 
 passed with me in mental torture that no one can understand save a fel 
 low-sufferer; and yet my eyes now are so unexpectedly changed that 
 last summer I dispensed with glasses for the first time in ten years. They 
 are still weak, and unequal to much exertion ; but think how much bet 
 ter. Homoeopathy has been the agent of this beyond doubt, and I regret 
 truly that you had not been induced to try this at an early period. 
 
 " If the master is inefficient, you had better get him out of the vessel 
 as soon as you can without trouble to yourself. And now let me advise 
 you whether the master is good or bad to procure a ship's book of suit 
 able size, and cause the master there to record and work every observa 
 tion. I do not mean the clean copy of either, but the original figures just 
 as made and corrected not in pencil, but ink. This, with any memo 
 randa showing the ship's position from other sources, should be present 
 ed daily. As the case now stands, a commander takes a result without 
 knowing the data. First the master is to mention the chronometer with 
 the observation rates. Before leaving them he verifies these rates by 
 other observations with the sextant. These are to be recorded; at sea, 
 the time and latitude, the rate and error, and so on. In almost every 
 department of a ship save this the record has been systematized. 
 
 " I have little doubt of the action of Congress in respect to flogging, 
 and I am utterly at a loss to imagine a substitute. Last session it would 
 have been brought about, but that a few doubtless, like the Dutch gov 
 ernor, felt alarmed. On one occasion the chairman of the Senate Naval 
 Committee spoke to me about it. I told him that there seemed to be an 
 impression that naval officers were partial to the system for its own sake. 
 This was not so it was a most unpleasant duty ; and the fact that they 
 submitted to the painful necessity of inflicting it proved how strong 
 the necessity was. I told him that demagogues argued as if the Navy 
 were created for the special benefit of officers not as if it were an insti 
 tution for the common good. For great as might be the personal inter 
 est of any officer, it was slight in comparison to that which the planter, 
 the farmer, and the merchant had in the existence of a force afloat com 
 petent to protect national and individual rights. 
 
 " I wish I could say something in favor of the force of a vessel like the 
 
78 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Perry. Her battery is perhaps as good as she can carry. Unless the 
 change were radical, I would prefer to arm her with two heavy pivot- 
 guns (say 8-inch). 
 
 " Your largest pieces are 32-pounders of 33 cwt. If so, they are good 
 guns, and at half a mile would tell effectively ;* even beyond that they 
 would not be comfortable customers for an enemy. Always ricochet the 
 shot when the water is smooth enough ; but with the shells keep the 
 gun up about half a degree, so that the shot may not touch first nearer 
 than 500 yards, as the water is apt to extinguish the priming of the fuse. 
 In a second this is accomplished, and then neither water nor wood will 
 put out the fuse. 
 
 " I wish much that I had known earlier of your appointment to the 
 Perry, as I should have liked a boat howitzer to go with you on trial. 
 Now I have none suitable, and there is not time to cast and finish one. 
 
 "The kind which I have proposed is now intended by the Bureau 
 to be essayed in such vessels as have boats to carry them. They consist 
 of 12 -pounders of two sizes, 400 Ibs. and 800 Ibs., and 24 -pounders 
 of 1300 Ibs., for launches of sloops, frigates, and liners respectively. The 
 model is after my own notion, and I am allowed to make them. The 
 ammunition is spherical case (that is, a thin iron shell charged with mus 
 ket-balls, and burst near the boats or men fired at by a fuse and bursting 
 charge). The English term is shrapnel. They were used at Buena Vista 
 and Palo Alto, and alone saved our forces. I have so arranged the car 
 riage that no breaching is required, and this facilitates the use, so that 
 a howitzer can be fired seven times in a minute. This has been done 
 often in the presence of the Secretary of the Navy, Dupont, Buchanan, 
 and others ; though it would not be practicable in a boat for want of 
 room. 
 
 " I have now a very important proposition on hand, which, in my view, 
 will work great changes. I shall soon be furnished with pieces of the 
 right character required to prove it, and at some future time you will 
 hear of it. 
 
 " And now, my valued friend, you have in these two sheets some evi 
 dence of my pleasure in hearing from you. While you are absent you 
 shall continue to have some remembrance from me. Let me entreat you 
 to take good care of your health, and be cheerful and hopeful. When 
 you get wet, have the circulation assisted by a good rubbing, and never 
 
 * That is, will strike almost every shot. 
 
The "Louisa Beaton? 79 
 
 lay aside flannel change it often. Use no more meat than is absolutely 
 necessary when the breathing organs are tender. "With you goes every 
 wish that a friend can offer. Ever affectionately, 
 
 " JOHN A. DAHLGREN." 
 
 On the 21st of December, 1849, the Perry arrived at Porto 
 Praya, Cape de Yerde Islands, the rendezvous of the American 
 squadron. She was immediately ordered on a cruise south of 
 the equator ; and after the vessel had reached the southern 
 point of destination, she was to cruise along the coast, examin 
 ing the principal points or slave-stations, such as the Salinas, 
 Benguela, Loanda, Ambriz, River Congo, and intermediate 
 places, back toward Monrovia. She reached St. Philip de Ben 
 guela after a passage of forty-one days, and none too soon, 
 since but five days previous an English cruiser had captured 
 near this place a brig with eight hundred slaves on board. 
 This vessel came from Rio de Janeiro, under American colors 
 and papers, with an American captain and crew, and had 
 been transferred, when on the coast, to a Brazilian captain 
 and crew. Still other captures were announced of similar 
 character. 
 
 Lieutenant Foote, who was heartily welcomed to the station 
 by the English commanders, set about at once to right mat 
 ters, and began active cruising off Ambriz, a noted slave-mart, 
 in company with the English war-steamer Cyclops. He insti 
 tuted prompt inquiries in relation to those slavers captured 
 under American colors and adjudicated upon in English courts. 
 In the case of the Louisa Beaton he acted with independence 
 and energy. This was an American brigantine, which had 
 been boarded and examined by the Perry, and proved to be a 
 legal trader. She afterward ran out of Ambriz under Amer 
 ican colors, having awakened suspicion that she had stealthily 
 shipped a cargo of slaves. Two boats from the Perry were 
 immediately dispatched in pursuit. They did not succeed in 
 overhauling the vessel. Thereupon Lieutenant Foote request- 
 
 F 
 
8o Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 ed the commander of the Cyclops to take his (Foote's) second 
 lieutenant on board and steam after her. The proposal was 
 readily complied with ; but after running out forty miles with 
 out obtaining sight of the Beaton, she returned. The com 
 mander of the Cyclops addressed a letter to Lieutenant Foote, 
 saying that he had noticed the sailing of the Louisa Beaton ; 
 that he had suspected her of being a disguised slaver; and 
 had there been no American man-of-war present, he should 
 have considered it his duty to have overhauled her and satis 
 fied himself that her nationality had not been changed by sale 
 at Ambriz not taking it for granted that the flag displayed by 
 any vessel was a sufficient evidence of her nationality. Lieu 
 tenant Foote replied, stating that he had in the mean time 
 found the Louisa Beaton at St. Paul de Loanda, and ascer 
 tained her legal character ; and that the principle assumed by 
 the British commander could not for a moment be allowed, 
 but that, in words which have been already quoted, the flag 
 which a vessel wears is prima facie though not conclusive 
 proof of her nationality; that those who lawfully displayed the 
 flag of the United States should have all the protection it sup 
 plies; and when a cruiser boarded a vessel under this flag, 
 she did it upon her own responsibility. Again, a few months 
 afterward, in the case of the same Louisa Beaton, the com 
 mander of the Perry insisted upon the principle in respect to 
 the inviolability of the flag in an instance of palpable outrage, 
 when the British cruiser Dolphin boarded and detained the 
 Louisa Beaton, seventy miles off land, sailing under Amer 
 ican colors, and having a proper national register and all her 
 papers good, with the exception of the absence of a sea-letter, 
 usually given by consular officers to legal traders after trans 
 fer of masters. 
 
 The protracted correspondence of nearly a year which en 
 sued between Lieutenant Foote and the British commander 
 of the southern division, Hon. Captain Hastings, was published 
 
Diplomatic Questions. 81 
 
 in the " Blue-Book," or Parliamentary Papers of 1851, and re 
 sulted in the British commander's disavowal of the act of the 
 captain of the Dolphin, his offer to make pecuniary restitu 
 tion, and his apology to the master of the Louisa Beaton for 
 the detention ; and, above all, the important principle of the 
 inviolability of the flag was established. English commanders 
 abstained from even going alongside a legal American trader 
 without the assent of an American naval commander. 
 
 Lieutenant Foote was thus called upon to settle nice points of 
 international law without help from any quarter. In his own 
 words : " We have cruised ten months on this southern coast, 
 where, with the exception of two months by the ship John 
 Adams and one month by the Portsmouth, there has been no 
 American man-of-war ; neither has there been a consul, nor 
 any public functionary but myself to supervise our commercial 
 interests and suppress the slave-trade as carried on by Amer 
 ican vessels and American citizens ; while the English, French, 
 and Portuguese, with less commerce, have their commissioned 
 consuls, commodores, and squadrons, with whom I have been 
 in frequent correspondence ; and many new and delicate points, 
 which might have been more appropriately assigned to an ex 
 perienced diplomatist, than added to the cares and responsi 
 bilities of a lieutenant in command of the only national vessel 
 on the coast."* 
 
 But Lieutenant Foote did not spend his time in diplomatic 
 correspondence ; he was at the same time actively engaged in 
 real work. The Perry and her boats were constantly at sea 
 in search of slavers, boarding many legal traders, and chasing 
 suspicious vessels, the boats sometimes being absent for a long 
 time, lost in fog and overtaken by squalls, the commander 
 sharing the severest hardships with his men in this laborious 
 service ; oftentimes approaching shore where the roar of the 
 
 * Private letter to Hon. Truman Smith. 
 
82 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 tremendous surf on the low African coast could be heard for 
 twenty miles, passing the breakers, and running up unhealthy, 
 jungle-bordered rivers to the slave-barracoons. 
 
 Provisions being nearly exhausted, the Perry went north 
 coastwise to Prince's Island, and there had orders from the 
 commodore to make requisitions upon the flag-ship for provi 
 sions, and prepare again for service on the southern coast. 
 After a stay of a few days, the brave little brig turned her 
 prow southward a second time to resume her cruising-ground. 
 On the 7th of June, 1850, between Ambriz and Loanda, a 
 large ship, with two tiers of painted ports, was made to wind 
 ward, standing in for the land. The vessel was overhauled, 
 having the name Martha, New York, registered on her stern. 
 The Perry had no colors flying. The ship, when in range of 
 the guns, hoisted the American ensign, shortened sail, and 
 backed her maintop-sail. The first lieutenant, Mr. Rush, was 
 sent to board her. As he was rounding her stern, the people 
 on board observed, by the uniform of the boarding-officer, that 
 the vessel was an American cruiser. The ship then hauled 
 down the American, and hoisted Brazilian colors. The offi 
 cer went on board, and asked for papers and other proofs of 
 nationality. The captain denied having papers, or log, or any 
 thing else. At the same time something was thrown over 
 board, which was picked up by another boat sent from the 
 Perry, and proved to be the writing-desk of the captain, con 
 taining sundry papers and letters identifying the captain as 
 an American citizen ; also proving the owner of three fifths of 
 the vessel to be an American merchant, resident in Rio de 
 Janeiro. After obtaining satisfactory proof that the ship Mar 
 tha was a slaver, she was seized as a prize. 
 
 There were found on board this vessel one hundred and sev 
 enty-six casks filled with water, containing from one hundred 
 to one hundred and fifty gallons each ; one hundred and fifty 
 barrels of farina for slave-food ; several sacks of beans ; slave- 
 
Capture of the Slave-Ship "Martha" 83 
 
 deck laid ; four iron boilers for cooking slave-provisions ; iron 
 bars, with the necessary wood-work for securing slaves to the 
 deck ; four hundred spoons for feeding them ; between thirty 
 and forty muskets, and a written agreement between the owner 
 and captain, with the receipt of the owner for two thousand 
 milreis. 
 
 The captain claimed that the vessel could not lawfully be 
 subjected to search by an American man-of-war while under 
 Brazilian colors. But on being informed that he would be 
 seized as a pirate for sailing without papers even were he not 
 a slaver, he admitted that she was on a slave voyage; add 
 ing that, had he not fallen in with the Perry, he would dur 
 ing that night have shipped eighteen hundred slaves, and be 
 fore daylight in the morning been clear of the coast. 
 
 The crew of the Martha were immediately put in irons; 
 a force of twenty-five men, with the first and second lieuten 
 ants, was placed on board, the ship provisioned, and in twenty- 
 four hours after her capture the vessels exchanged three cheers, 
 and the Martha was on her way to New York, where she was 
 condemned in the United States District Court as a slaver. 
 
 The British commissioner soon afterward at Loanda offered 
 his congratulations on the capture of the Martha, remarking 
 that she was the largest slaver that had been on the coast for 
 many years; and the effect of sending all hands on her to the 
 United States would prove a severe blow to the iniquitous 
 traffic. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Ambriz the Perry chased and cap 
 tured the American brigantine Chatsworth, bearing every proof 
 of being a slaver, but evidence which would be required in the. 
 United States courts essential to her condemnation being want 
 ing, she was reluctantly released. She was afterward boarded 
 by the Perry under still more suspicious circumstances ; and 
 additional proofs being obtained of her true character, notwith 
 standing her having two sets of papers, passing alternately un- 
 
84 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 der different nationalities, eluding detection from papers be 
 ing in form, and trading with an assorted cargo, she was pro 
 nounced a prize, and was sent to America, where, after a long 
 trial, she was condemned as a slaver in the United States Dis 
 trict Court of Maryland. By the capture of the Chatsworth, 
 in whose case the ingenuity of these unscrupulous villains had 
 taxed itself to the utmost as far as the American flag was con 
 cerned, a severe and unexpected blow was struck at the slave- 
 trade. Four thousand slaves were waiting at the barracoons 
 of Ambriz, ready for shipment, at the time of the seizure ; and 
 Lieutenant Foote in his private journal relates that the captain 
 of the Louisa Beaton, who had given information respecting 
 the true character of the Chatsworth, went on shore at Am 
 briz, at the request of Foote, to procure some papers, and from 
 the time elapsing before his return there was reason to suspect 
 foul play from the slavers in revenge for his informing upon 
 them. Mr. Foote adds : " My plan would have been, had there 
 been foul play, to march at the head of my men out four miles 
 to the slave-barracoons, and let four thousand of the ( oppressed 
 go free,' and thus made free soil and free-soilers." 
 
 In a private letter to a friend in Cheshire, dated September 
 25, 1850, Lieutenant Foote remarks : " Our orders are so strin 
 gent that no commander will capture a slaver unless he assume 
 great responsibility. I took the Chatsworth in the face of a 
 protest of $22,000 from her captain and supercargo ; still she 
 and the Martha must be condemned." 
 
 A visit was made at this time by the commander and offi 
 cers of the Perry to a native potentate in the interior, the 
 Queen of Ambrizette, who is thus described: "A little withered 
 woman then appeared, having, in addition to her native cos 
 tume, an old red cloak, drawn tight around her throat, and so 
 worn as to make her look like a loose iimbrella with two han 
 dles." After a long palaver, the prime-minister of the queen, 
 wearing as his chief garment an old French full-dress navy 
 
Third Southern Cruise. 85 
 
 uniform coat, suggested that he considered his services on the 
 occasion to be worth two bottles of rum. Compliance with 
 this request was totally impracticable, as the spirit-room casks 
 of the Perry had been filled only with water. 
 
 The cruises of the Perry were made upon the total-absti 
 nence principle; and this probably will account for the good 
 health of the crew on that unwholesome coast. 
 
 On the 8th of January, 1851, the Perry again reported her 
 self to the commander-in-chief at Porto Praya, after one year's 
 service on the African coast. Here she made preparations for 
 a third southern cruise. As the slave-trade had been pretty 
 much driven out of Ambriz, and had shifted itself to the Congo 
 River, the Perry proceeded thither, encountering on the pas 
 sage a heavy tornado. Lieutenant Foote thus describes the 
 Congo River : 
 
 u The river is more than two leagues broad at its mouth. At the dis 
 tance of eight or ten miles seaward, in a northeasterly direction, the wa 
 ter preserves its freshness ; and at the distance of fifty and even sixty 
 miles it has a black tinge. Here are often seen small islands floating 
 seaward, formed of fibrous roots, bamboo, rushes, and long grass, and 
 covered with birds. The banks of the Congo are lined with low man 
 grove bushes, with clumps of a taller species interspersed, growing to the 
 height of seventy feet. Palm-trees, and other trees of a smaller growth, 
 are seen with a rich and beautiful foliage. In going up the river, the 
 southern shore should be hugged, where there is plenty of water close to 
 the land. The current is so strong often running six miles an hour off 
 Shark's Point that an exceedingly fresh sea-breeze is necessary in order 
 to stem the stream. The greatest strength of this current, however, is 
 superficial, not extending more than six or eight feet in depth. The 
 Congo, like all the rivers of Africa, except the Nile, is navigable but a 
 short distance before reaching the rapids. The great central region be 
 ing probably not less than three thousand feet in altitude above the sea, 
 these rapids are formed by a sudden depression of the surface of the coun 
 try toward the sea, or by a bed of hard rock stretching across the basin 
 of the river."* 
 
 * "Africa and the American Flag," p. 346. 
 
86 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 A paper of considerable hydrographical interest in relation 
 to the Congo River and the navigation of the southern equato 
 rial coast of Africa was drawn up by the first lieutenant of 
 the ship, Mr. Porter, and, after having been carefully supervised 
 by the commander, was dispatched to the United States Ka- 
 tional Observatory, and has since been published in " Maury's 
 Sailing Directions." 
 
 This third cruise of the Perry revealed the fact that the 
 slave-trade had received an effectual check within the past 
 year. Only one suspected American vessel had been seen on 
 the south coast since the capture of the Chatsworth. 
 
 In a letter from Sir George Jackson, British commissioner at 
 Loanda, addressed about this time to Lord Palmerston, it was 
 stated that the languishing state of the slave-trade was owing 
 to the activity of British cruisers, the co-operation of part of 
 the American squadron on the southern coast, within the year 
 the capture of two or three slavers bearing the flag of that na 
 tion, together with the measures adopted by the Brazilian gov 
 ernment ; so that it might be said that the trade on this south 
 ern coast was now confined to a few vessels bearing the Sar 
 dinian flag. How much of this was due to the energetic ef 
 forts of Lieutenant Foote, the reader himself is now, it is hoped, 
 capable of judging. 
 
 In a private letter of Sir George Jackson to Lieutenant 
 Foote this direct personal allusion is made : 
 
 " The zeal and activity displayed by yourself and brother officers, and 
 the seizures which were the results of them, at once changed the face of 
 things. The actual loss which the traffic has sustained, and still more 
 the dread of those further losses which they anticipated on seeing the 
 United States squadron prepared to confront them at those very haunts 
 to which they had been accustomed to repair with impunity, and deter 
 mined to vindicate the honor of their insulted flag, which they had too 
 long been allowed to prostitute, struck terror into those miscreants on 
 both sides of the Atlantic. And from the date of those very opportune 
 captures not a vessel illicitly assuming American colors has been seen on 
 the coast." 
 
The "Perry" Ordered Home. 87 
 
 The Perry continued to cruise vigilantly for some months, 
 only varying the hard monotony of the service by a visit to 
 St. Helena, where Lieutenant Foote and his officers, like sea- 
 worn Ulysses and his crew at some pleasant isle of the ocean, 
 were treated with marked kindness and courtesy. 
 
 Late in the autumn the Perry sailed for the north coast to 
 her old rendezvous at Porto Praya, where she awaited the com 
 ing of the American squadron, one at least of whose vessels, 
 the John Adams, had done good service also on the coast. 
 Commodore Gregory, in an official letter to Lieutenant Foote, 
 wrote : " The course you have pursued meets my fullest com 
 mendation; and the zeal, ability, and energy with which you 
 have discharged the important duties assigned you, commands 
 my highest respect, and I have no doubt will be most favor 
 ably considered by the Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 Upon the commodore's arrival, the Perry was relieved of 
 her duty upon the African station and ordered home, arriving 
 at New York, after a rough winter passage, on the 26th of De 
 cember, 1851. The appreciation of the services of the com 
 mander by the Navy Department was expressed to him through 
 the Secretary (Hon. J. C. Dobbin) in high terms of satisfaction. 
 
 Commodore (now Rear- Admiral) Smith, who ever rejoiced 
 in an -opportunity to award his friend praise, thus writes to him 
 from Washington : 
 
 " It affords me great pleasure to say that the Department, so far as I 
 can learn, is highly gratified with your doings. Your vigilance, discre 
 tion, activity, and talents are duly appreciated, and, not least of all, your 
 moral training of those under your orders is, and ought to be regarded 
 as reflecting honor upon the Navy. You have won honor and glory 
 enough to rest upon your laurels for some time." 
 
 Mr. Webster also officially signified his approval of the 
 course pursued by the captain of the Perry in his negotiations 
 with the English and other foreign powers in the delicate and 
 difficult business intrusted to his hands. 
 
88 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 A few additional observations of a personal nature respect 
 ing this service on the African coast, drawn from the journal 
 and notes of Lieutenant Foote, are reserved for the next chap 
 ter. It was so cold and stormy when the brig came upon the 
 American coast that, supposing he might be driven off to sea 
 again if he waited for a pilot, the commander, assuming the 
 responsibility, acted as his own pilot, and brought the vessel 
 into port without assistance. It might here be added that 
 our hero reaped more fame than money from his prizes, since 
 he once told a friend that one gold watch was all the mate 
 rial fruit, over and above his regular pay, of his two anxious 
 years' cruising on the coast of Africa. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 PRIVATE JOURNAL ON THE " PERRY." 
 
 IN an address, delivered January 18, 1855, by Commander 
 Foote before the American Colonization Society, he sums up 
 what was done by the Perry in these words : " In my own 
 vessel the Perry we were cruising for two years, much of 
 the time exposed in boats frequently absent from the vessel 
 days and nights ; boarded seventy vessels, and captured two or 
 three slavers, yet not a single death occurred among the offi 
 cers and crew. The only sanitary measures adopted were 
 not to be on shore during the night, and issuing no grog-ra 
 tions during the cruise." 
 
 Upon a fever-smitten coast where it is thought to be death 
 for any but the black man to live ; exposed to a blazing sun by 
 day and malarious exhalations by night ; tossed about in the 
 open sea, and sometimes caught in the hurricane sweeping- 
 down from the African highlands over the Gulf of Guinea 
 in all these varied perils and hardships for two long years, 
 there was not a death on board the Perry. 
 
 It was not only a temperance ship, but a ship where the 
 rulership of the Most High was acknowledged in public wor 
 ship and private devotion ; and, above all, in the care of its 
 master for the best good of his men. 
 
 A few extracts from his "sea- journal" evidently meant 
 for no eye but his own give us a glimpse into the economy 
 of the good ship, and of the good man's heart who command 
 ed her. These are not always cheerful extracts. They some 
 times reveal conflict ; but is the real hero one who has no 
 warfare ? 
 
9O Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 November 29, 1849." Carried all studding-sails and royals from the time 
 the pilot left us. Vessel behaving as well as a frigate ; perfectly easy 
 in her roll and decks dry, although quite a heavy sea on. Officers and 
 men contented and happy ; the latter believed to be more so from having 
 all of them stopped their whisky-ration." 
 
 December 4, 1849. " Sea heavy, and vessel very uneasy. Thus far the 
 passage has been exceedingly rough, except in crossing the Gulf Stream. 
 All the officers are sea-sick, and a great number of the men. Surgeon has 
 been reading to me Neander's Church History. We have frequent con 
 versations on the subject of religion. This day have been twenty-seven 
 years in the Navy." 
 
 December 5, 1849. " Fresh gales and squalls. Carried sail very heav 
 ily to ascertain the qualities of the brig, which stood up uncommonly 
 well under a large press. Toward night close-reefed the top-sails. From 
 eight to twelve, very heavy sea, with thunder, lightning, and rain. Vessel 
 very uncomfortable all night ; I did not get more than four hours' sleep, 
 being on deck until after 1 A.M. My eyes suffer from great exposure and 
 watching." 
 
 December 9, 1849. " Gale increasing and sea very heavy, but the brig 
 exceedingly comfortable under the circumstances ; takes in a great deal 
 of spray, but not as much sea as when the wind was ahead. At three called 
 all hands on deck to witness punishment, when I was under the painful 
 necessity of giving seaman twelve lashes with the cats for hav 
 ing gone below when it was his watch on deck. I said a few words to 
 the crew in relation to duty, etc. Made eight inches of water in one hour, 
 which excited apprehension lest the leak might increase as fast as the 
 pumps could free her ; but after midnight the gale abated and the leak 
 diminished, showing it to have been in a measure produced by the heavy 
 weather." 
 
 December 16, 1849. " I read divine service to all hands, during which 
 time a quantity of spray came over me, and the wind was so fresh that I 
 was obliged to read very loud." 
 
 December 31, 1849." Climate affecting my eyes, and debilitating the 
 system generally." 
 
Private Journal. 
 
 January 1, 1850. Porto Praya. " A new year has commenced. May 
 God forgive, for his Son's sake, all my sins, and grant me his continual 
 presence during the year to come. One year ago an illness of the most 
 painful and dangerous character confined me to my bed for five months. 
 Now the next five months are to be spent in a most unhealthy climate in 
 the most unhealthy season." 
 
 January 8, 1850. " On Sunday I had one of my severe headaches. I 
 was in consequence unable to read the service, although I had invited 
 several officers from the flag-ship to be present." 
 
 January 12, 1850. At sea. " Found bottom in one hundred fathoms. 
 The master had the morning watch, and ought to have reported the dis 
 coloration of the water ; but he is ill-qualified to perform his duty (espe 
 cially in taking reckoning), which imposes a severe tax upon my eyes. 
 Carried away, or parted, the lead-line, which was an old one, and the 
 only deep-sea line we have, except one much smaller of sixty fathoms. 
 We were fitted out miserably in Norfolk. The master and passed mid 
 shipman differed much in their reckoning. Found we were farther east 
 than I had anticipated. Spent an anxious and uncomfortable day. Such 
 a command is no sinecure. Ah ! this life in its most enviable state satis 
 fies not the soul. May God enable me in faith to look to him for help in 
 all things. 
 
 " This is the anniversary of my dear mother's death. I have not dwelt 
 much upon it, as my mind has been necessarily occupied with the vessel. 
 She was a lovely character, and her life was a labor of love. How blessed 
 and happy she is now how enviable her state compared with mine! 
 If our friends who are gone look down upon us, I trust that her smiles 
 may encourage me in the path of duty. I may lose this vessel and lose 
 much of my professional reputation, or I may succeed in taking slavers, 
 and do humanity some service ; but, with the exception of doing good 
 to my fellow-men, of how little value is every thing in this life. May 
 God make me to live near him from love to him." 
 
 January 14, 1850. "Yesterday, Sunday, we had service, when I read 
 a sermon by Rev. Sydney Smith on ' Self-examination.' The day was 
 warm, but not oppressive. All was quiet, and I hope it was a profitable 
 Sunday for me. This morning, in fact during the- night, the weather was 
 unsettled ; but having seen so much thunder and lightning and heavy 
 
92 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 rain so near the equator, I thought but little of it. At eight, going on 
 deck in Lieutenant Rush's watch, I saw ahead a dark, ugly looking cloud, 
 with the arch just above the horizon, denoting a tornado. By the time 
 we could get studding-sails and all sail in it struck us blew heavily, but 
 rained more so, with the heaviest peals of thunder and more vivid forks 
 of lightning than are ever seen out of the tropics, away from Africa. 
 The weather prevented our taking observation ; for which we were very 
 sorry, as we are so near Cape Ann Shoals. Accomplished nothing more 
 than looking out for the vessels." 
 
 January 29, 1850. "My views are not carried out. While the greater 
 part of the officers are ready to sustain me, and do all in their power to 
 render the vessel effective, and all hands comfortable and happy, a few 
 are adverse and derange every thing ; and this, added to the intolerable 
 climate, makes the situation unenviable. I am determined, however, to 
 carry out my own system where I command." 
 
 February 27, 1850. "Progressing favorably, and much relieved in re 
 lation to the passage ; but very anxious about the coast, as we are in want 
 of proper charts, and have to run in close to examine all places where 
 there are slavers." 
 
 April 3, 1850. " I am quite ill with lumbago and fever. I write this 
 as I may not be able to write any thing more, for I feel that rny health is 
 failing me. I have had too much excitement of late ; but I trust in God, 
 if it is his will that I die in this foreign land or at sea. I have tried to 
 act well my part, but fear that as a follower of the Lord I have been sadly 
 remiss ; still, I cling to him." 
 
 Aprils, 1850. " I went out in chase of a vessel, passed the Cyclops, and 
 stood for an American brig ; fired two guns, not shotted ; but on kept the 
 trader till I overhauled and boarded him. He was from New London, 
 loaded with Yankee notions. The English steamer Pluto attempted to 
 cut off the chase for us, but our boats had reached her. Thus we have 
 caught every thing which we have seen." 
 
 May 29, 1850. " Some days since my pains were so excessive that I lit 
 erally gave up and took to my bed. The doctor administered quinine 
 and blisters. I have obtained no relief for many days, but I have still 
 
Private Journal. 93 
 
 exercised in bed the duties of captain. I feel satisfied that God does for 
 us better than we could do for ourselves. My illness and disappoint 
 ments have had a good effect upon me in a spiritual sense." 
 
 June 17, 1850. " I wished to remain in port but four days ; and, going 
 into my old business of first lieutenant, I had upward of three thousand 
 gallons of water brought on board, ship painted, and rigging overhauled 
 on the fourth day. Double the work in half the time was performed by the 
 vessel's officers and men, who were reduced nearly one half on account of 
 captures, showing how effective my system is compared with the driving 
 system adopted by one of the first lieutenants. I shall in future insist 
 upon my own system being followed. The Martha produced quite a sen 
 sation here. Our men did not taste a drop of liquor, but all behaved like 
 good men. Hon. Captain Hastings, of the Cyclops, called on me, and 
 congratulated me on taking a big prize, and said : ' I am delighted ; it is 
 the heaviest blow given to the slave-traders since I have been on the 
 coast.' He thought the moral effect upon Brazilian and American slave- 
 traders, of my having sent all hands to America, would .be great. I 
 cruised off Ambriz for a day or two, and was boarded by the captain of 
 H. M. steamer Pluto, with whom I had an hour's pleasant chat. My health 
 is improving physically, and I pray it may be spiritually also." 
 
 June 28, 1850. "Employed in getting up cappings, whipping haws 
 ers, etc. Am contented and happy the doctor reading to me Neander. 
 Lumbago worse than usual to-day, but health and spirits, thank God, 
 much better. All hands are happy, and brig efficient." 
 
 July 23, 1850." On the morning of the 2d of July, at half-past three 
 o'clock, I was called and informed that a vessel was standing down for 
 us. I at once sent word to the officer of the deck to clear away the bat 
 tery and send the men to the guns. While dressing I heard a musket 
 fire, and at once ordered a return fire. The brig passed our stern, when 
 we exchanged names and a few words in a courteous manner. I felt as 
 if the commander of the other vessel, having fired first (although we re 
 turned it), ought to have explained himself; and, on reflection, concluded 
 to go after him for the purpose of demanding an explanation. I proceeded 
 to Benguela, and remained two days, and then sailed for the Flying Fish, 
 the name of H. M. brig for which I was in search. We spoke the Water 
 Witch, and were told that she was cruising but a short distance to the 
 
 G 
 
94 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 northward. Had our guns all cast loose ready for firing, and cruised for 
 the vessel two or three days, when I was informed by the captain of the 
 brig Spy that he had relieved the Flying Fish, and that she had gone 
 north of the equator. I then proceeded to Ambriz ; and supposing that 
 the Flying Fish had really gone north, I wrote the following letter to her 
 captain, which I read to Jlon. Captain Hastings, and requested him to for 
 ward it to Captain Paty : 
 
 " ' SIK, On the morning of the 3d of July, as you approached us, a 
 musket was fired from the brig under your command, which was returned 
 by a similar fire from this vessel. 
 
 ' ' I regarded the occurrence as a mistake on your part arising from the 
 obscurity of the night, and supposed that you would avail yourself of the 
 earliest opportunity to explain it. 
 
 " ' Subsequently, as the vessels passed each other, you made no offer of 
 explanation. 
 
 " ' I therefore now call upon you for an apology, explaining the circum 
 stances which led to your exceptionable course toward a national vessel 
 of the United States.' 
 
 " Captain Hastings informed me that Captain Paty was cruising but a 
 short distance to the northward, and I could see him myself. He asked 
 me if Commander Paty fired after I did. I told him no ; if he had, I 
 would have opened our battery upon him. I then left Captain Hastings 
 and cruised for the Flying Fish several days, and at length fell in with 
 the object of my search. I sent the purser, Mr. Watmough, on board to ask 
 an apology and an explanation, telling him if it were not promptly made, 
 to hand my letter to Commander Paty. The commander, on receiving 
 Mr. W., at once expressed his regrets that he had fired first, and said he 
 would go on board and see Captain Foote, which he did ; and in my cabin 
 apologized fully, and stated that as we had accidentally come up in the 
 wind and were going round, he thought we were trying to get clear of 
 him ; and, suspecting that we were a slaver, fired to bring us to, and he 
 stopped when we fired. He said all that he could have said, and fully 
 satisfied me that he regretted the affair, and was ready to make any amend 
 in his power ; and this, together with our having returned his musket-fire, 
 satisfied me." 
 
 September 28, 1850. " One year ago to-day I was ordered to the com 
 mand of the Perry. Much has been endured and accomplished. I do 
 not regret having accepted the command ; still no one can imagine what 
 
Private Journal. 
 
 I have been through. In God may my trust be for guidance ; and I 
 hope, if it be his will, that on the next anniversary I shall be at home 
 with those I most love." 
 
 July 14, 1851. "Our men, or at least a large part of them, wish to 
 have their grog on account of their bad treatment for hard service and 
 good conduct, and the officers also are in a great state of excitement and 
 indignation. In fact, if we had done nothing we should have fared bet 
 ter. But I am satisfied to go without credit, as I did not act on that prin 
 ciple, but a higher one. 
 
 " After staying ten days at Porto Pray a, I took the store-keeper aboard, 
 who was almost dead with fever, and sailed for Madeira. I ran through 
 the islands some distance, and went near the wreck of the YorJctown. 
 We beat some six or eight vessels in sailing. I feel jaded, worn out, dis 
 heartened, and truly 'tired, sad, and weary.' Oh, I am glad that nearly 
 forty-five years of my life have passed. God grant that I may be prepared 
 for a better world." 
 
 September 17, 1851. " I feel great relief on the dark blue sea, away from 
 the sultry coast of Africa, its dangerous reefs and pestilential vapors." 
 
 October 25, 1851. "Last night at sunset saw nine islands, one of them 
 one hundred and ten miles distant. The atmosphere was perfectly clear 
 a rare phenomenon." 
 
 December 12, 1851. " Thus adieu to the coast of Africa. I hope from 
 my heart to realize the 'goodness of our heavenly Father in directing me 
 thus far in my course of duty. I shall never perhaps in life be called 
 upon to act again so responsible a part on my own judgment." 
 
 These extracts might be multiplied. In their groanings and 
 bitter cries they show the man's inmost spirit. They prove 
 him to be jealous of his country's honor, but noble withal 
 
 "As the flint bears fire, 
 Which much enforced shows a hasty spark, 
 And straight is cold again." 
 
 They prove him indomitable in sickness, in weariness, in the in 
 competence and opposition of subordinates, in every difficulty, 
 
Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 peril, and discouragement. He had a " system," and he carried 
 it out. He had principles, and he stuck to them " off sound 
 ings." He might have erred in over-zeal, but never in coward 
 ly laxness. These extracts prove him to be a first-rate seaman 
 and a most energetic commander. They prove, more than all, 
 that his motives were high and unselfish. He loved the repu 
 tation of doing a great deed ; he was vividly sensible to the 
 fame it brought, but duty was deeper with him than fame ; and 
 from the manner in which he ever afterward spoke of and dwelt 
 upon this African service, it was evidently the thing that gave 
 him most pleasure in life. He had done some good. He had 
 aided the cause of humanity. He had " let the oppressed 
 go free." And however the approval of his superiors in rank 
 caused him lively gratification, and however much he enjoyed 
 the public praise which he had deservedly won, he cherished 
 more than all the simple thought that he had done his duty to 
 his Master, and wrought deliverance for his suffering poor. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LITERARY LABORS. 
 
 THE beginning of the year 1852 found Lieutenant Foote at 
 home with his family in New Haven ; and for a period of more 
 than four years he remained ashore, being the longest time up 
 to that date that he had spent on land since he had been in the 
 service. It was a time of general inactivity in naval matters, 
 disturbed only by a little breeze now and then on the fishery 
 question, but not enough to produce a serious movement in the 
 way of naval preparation or reform. Congress had an eco 
 nomical fit; there was much talk about reducing the Navy, 
 naval boards and bureaus were cut down, salaries of officers 
 were discussed, and promotion was slow. Under these circum 
 stances the active mind of Foote sought employment in writ 
 ing, and in lecturing to public bodies upon temperance and 
 kindred themes. His old friend Commodore Smith thus writes 
 to him : " I congratulate you on your success in your lecture. 
 Being perfectly familiar with the subject, your genius had full 
 scope. No doubt while on the way you made good prepara 
 tion for the meeting ; in traveling one has time to charge his 
 battery for the occasion. You could tell the old' Jacks how 
 the high officials who legislate for them are disposed to kill 
 King Alcohol." The following is the newspaper report of this, 
 or of a similar lecture : 
 
 " Captain A. H. Foote, of the United States Navy, apologized for his 
 lack of preparation for speaking. 
 
 " He sketched the character of seamen in the Navy, as affected by various 
 causes under his own observation. He remembered when every seaman 
 was allowed a half-pint of whisky, and he himself proposed the reduc- 
 
9 8 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 tion of the allowance to one gill, which was at last effected, and money 
 being paid in place of grog to such as did not draw it, the amount con 
 sumed became much reduced. The greatest barrier to the improvement 
 of the moral and spiritual condition of the sailor was intemperance. 
 That sailors would not work without their grog was a great mistake. 
 He had had command in ten vessels of war : for the first six there 
 were no religious services, and they had the ' liquor-rations ;' in the re 
 mainder they had religious services, and in two of them every man had 
 voluntarily given up his rations of spirits. There were not better or 
 ganized or more orderly and efficient crews on the ocean. He regretted 
 that while merchantmen were doing away with the grog allowance, our 
 government continues to deal out intoxicating drinks to sailors in its em 
 ploy, and he called upon the press to present the condition of affairs in 
 the strongest light possible." 
 
 The following is also a newspaper report of a lecture he 
 delivered before the American Colonization Society : 
 
 " Captain Foote of the United States Navy then addressed the audience at 
 length, stating what he knew of Liberia, from having visited it and spent 
 considerable time there and on the coast of Africa. He spoke highly of 
 President Koberts, and said that when he was in Washington the President 
 asked him how President Roberts succeeded ; and he was about to say, 
 in reply, as well as any president ; but he thought that would institute 
 too direct a comparison, and he therefore said as well as governors gen 
 erally. The trade of Liberia amounts to half a million annually. No 
 white man is eligible to office there. Iron ore is found at a distance of 
 twenty miles from the coast in abundance, which is malleable without 
 smelting. The climate is healthy for blacks, and the state of morals such 
 that on one occasion, a short time since, while walking home from church 
 in the city of New Haven in company with a gentleman who had spent 
 some time in Liberia, his friend remarked that he knew no place where 
 the Sabbath was so well observed as it was in New Haven, except at 
 Monrovia, in Liberia. He visited President Roberts often, and had seen 
 the whole people in their various avocations, and he was struck with the 
 great change which they exhibit for the better. There is no person whom 
 he would more cordially welcome to his hospitality and home than Pres 
 ident Roberts. He spoke of the interest Great Britain had taken in the 
 colony, and of the fact that its independence has been acknowledged by 
 her as well as by France, Prussia, and Brazil, while we refuse still to ac- 
 
Christian Missions. 99 
 
 knowledge it. He thought that the squadrons which our government 
 kept on the coast had done much good, and should be continued there. 
 Colonization had destroyed the slave-trade for five hundred miles. The 
 English are acting in good faith in keeping their squadrons on the coast. 
 Colonization and the keeping of an efficient coasting squadron must go 
 together, in order to sustain Liberia and suppress the African slave- 
 trade." 
 
 From a more elaborately written lecture upon Christian 
 missions delivered during this period, this extract is taken : 
 " Such are the grounds, my friends, upon which I expressed 
 the opinion that in a few years the Christian religion would 
 rise upon the view of the heathen mind in India; and such 
 also was the impression conveyed to me by the governor-gen 
 eral and several other officers of high intelligence." When we 
 read the accounts of the progress of Christianity in India, and 
 the enlarged and hopeful operations of Christian missions in 
 that vast peninsula ; and when we read, too, the words and 
 doings of the disciples of the Brahmo Somaj, although their 
 faith lacks the divine light, we feel that the prophecy of this 
 earnest lover of Christ was not groundless, but that Christian 
 ideas are penetrating the deepest thought of India, and that 
 the popular heart must soon follow the lead of the higher in 
 telligence. Captain Foote was true to the cause of Christian 
 missions, although he had seen their imperfections and dis 
 couragements, and was by no means backward in expressing 
 his criticisms; but he cast the whole weight of his influence 
 in favor of this work, and the single-minded, faithful mission 
 ary of the Cross always knew where to look, while he was liv 
 ing, for a strong friend and champion of the good cause. 
 
 During this period of home life Captain Foote wrote the 
 book to which reference has been made, entitled "Africa and 
 the American Flag."* This volume was dedicated to his true 
 
 * Published by the Appletons of New York in 1854. 
 
ioo Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 and loving friend Commodore Smith, who acknowledged the 
 compliment in the following note : 
 
 "BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS, May 13, 1854. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I received your book two days since, and was sensi 
 bly struck with the Dedication, which I had not anticipated. For this 
 modest but kind manifestation of your friendship and regard for me, ac 
 cept my unfeigned acknowledgments. 
 
 " I have but cursorily run through the book. I pronounce it to be ex 
 cellent in matter and arrangement. This to me will place you in high 
 standing both in and out of the Navy. My kindest regards to your 
 household. I am very truly yours, JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
 " Commander A. H. Foote, U. S. Navy, \ 
 Naval Asylum, Philadelphia, Pa." \ 
 
 Commodore Smith's estimate of the work is in the main 
 well sustained by the book itself. Although Captain Foote's 
 forte was not writing, but fighting, he succeeded in making a 
 clearly methodized and valuable book, that interweaves in a 
 quiet way the narrative of his own achievements on the Afri 
 can coast with much that is of general interest respecting 
 Africa and the slave-trade, and that has been cited as authority 
 from the bench of United States Courts. The following are 
 some brief extracts from the many criticisms and encomiums 
 which the book brought forth from the press, and which are 
 here introduced as bearing testimony to the public estimation 
 in which the author was held at that time ; 
 
 " The work is written in excellent spirit, and in an unpretending style 
 that does much credit to the author's good taste, while the religious re 
 gard for truth, and the liberality of sentiment manifest in every chapter, 
 win the reader's confidence and esteem. A considerable portion of the 
 volume is devoted to an account of the operations of the American Col 
 onization Society, and all who take an interest in the colonization cause 
 will derive satisfaction from the strongly favorable testimony which 
 Commander Foote bears to the condition of Liberia as a nation."* 
 
 * N. T. Commercial Advertise)'. 
 
"Africa and the American Flag? 101 
 
 " The speculations of the author regarding the future of Africa are more 
 cheering than those we are accustomed to hear, and as they are based on 
 positive facts and investigations, they are not merely prophecies of a 
 philanthropic heart, but conclusions of a logical mind."* 
 
 " The American people may well be proud of their naval officers. Such 
 men as Ingraham, Maury, Kane, Lynch, Foote, and others who might be 
 named, confer honor upon the flag under which they sail, and which 
 their gallantry is ever ready to protect. "While looking after the interests 
 of commerce, they have proved themselves awake to the interests of hu 
 manity ; and while familiar with the arts of war, they have shown them 
 selves equally familiar with the sciences by which the horrors of war may 
 be mitigated or prevented."! 
 
 " The ethnographical chapter in this work is worth the books of some 
 authors we might name. The poor despised Bushman, forming to himself 
 with sticks and grass a lair among the low-spreading branches of a shrub, 
 or nestling at sunset in a shallow hole amid the warm sands of the des 
 ert, with wife and little ones, like a covey of birds, sheltered by some 
 ragged sheepskins from the dew of the clear sky, has an ancestral and 
 mental relationship to the builders ot the pyramids and the colossal tem 
 ples of Egypt, and to the artists who adorned them."J 
 
 " It contains, in a compendious shape, a complete account of the conti 
 nent of Africa in all its relations to the United States, physical, commer 
 cial, political, and religious. The account of the active cruise in which 
 Commander Foote was engaged for two years is full and circumstantial 
 too much so, perhaps, for one who reads merely for amusement, but 
 very satisfactory to one who wishes to get complete and reliable informa 
 tion on the important question touching the value of our African squadron. 
 The book has been published in an evil hour for those who are design 
 ing, whether by a cowardly connivance or by open and direct sanction, 
 to revive the African slave-trade ; but most opportunely for the cause of 
 justice and philanthropy, and (we intend no irony) national honor and 
 faith. We agree with most of the criticisms upon the book which we 
 have seen in commending its literary execution. Commander Foote's 
 style has a sailor-like simplicity, but is wanting neither in elegance nor 
 
 * Graham' 1 s Magazine. t Philadelphia Presbyterian Banner. 
 
 I N. T. Independent. 
 
IO2 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 liveliness. Some of his descriptions, indeed, are full of humor and quiet 
 satire."* 
 
 Lieutenant W. B. S. Porter, U. S. K, thus writes in a pri 
 vate letter : 
 
 " I am surprised at the amount of information contained in so small a 
 compass, which at the same time forms a complete exposition of the de 
 vices of the slave-trader for conducting the traffic and escaping the vig 
 ilance of our cruisers. If taken as a guide, it will relieve our command 
 ers of many difficulties in their intercourse with suspected vessels under 
 the American flag. The difficulty which our officers had was to interpret 
 their instructions, which seemed contradictory ; but in your work they have 
 the true spirit and the practical illustration of the conduct to be pursued." 
 
 Commander Davis, U. S. N., writes : 
 
 " To have brought out such a result from an African cruise, from which 
 so many bring nothing, is a proof that your thoughts and sympathies are 
 expanded far beyond the narrow sphere of ship duties it is proof of an 
 enlarged comprehension and an elevated spirit. Our old friendship gives 
 me the right to praise you without the suspicion of flattery." 
 
 A letter from the Rev. Geo. W. Bethune and a notice from 
 the London Spectator are all we will add to these extracts. 
 Dr. Bethune says : 
 
 " Your notice of Buchananf is a just tribute to his worth. I knew him 
 well better than any one else knew him and he has never yet received 
 an estimation sufficiently high for a combination of admirable qualities 
 mingled with but few faults. You have correctly estimated the diffi 
 culty and danger of his acting against the slavers, as he did without 
 legal or any authority, and when he was liable to extreme prosecution 
 before any admiralty court. The last night I saw Buchanan he bade me 
 farewell at midnight. He came, he said, to state his difficulty and ask 
 my advice, which he said he was determined to follow, as to his assum 
 ing or not the responsibility of seizing and punishing slavers. My answer 
 was, ' Buchanan, authority or no authority, if you find a slaver on land- 
 or on sea, Now Mm sky JiigJiT 
 
 * The New-Englander. 
 
 t Buchanan was one of the black founders and presidents of the colony 
 of Liberia. 
 
"Africa and the American Flag" 103 
 
 " He grasped my hand, looked me steadily in the face for at least a 
 minute, and then, without a word, left me. I never saw him again ; but 
 among the earliest letters I had from him was one inclosing an account 
 of the battle of the barracoons, and these words, ' Dear Dominie, I have 
 blown him sky high.' 
 
 " I thank you again for your capital book, which is, I trust, design 
 ed for great usefulness." 
 
 The opening and concluding paragraphs of the critical arti 
 cle from the London Spectator are these : 
 
 " This quaint-looking title indicates the contents of the volume exact 
 ly. The book contains a geographical and historical sketch of Africa, or 
 rather of Negroland, and an account of the doings of the American 
 squadron on the slave-coast. It is the result of much African experi 
 ence, w'hich infuses into the volume living knowledge, definite ideas, and 
 a certain degree of vigor. * * * 
 
 " Captain Foote lays it down broadly that unless the American squad 
 ron is efficiently kept up, the slave-trade will become as active as ever 
 under the American flag. The best mode of proceeding is for a British and 
 an American ship to sail together, so as always to be within easy commu 
 nication. In this way every thing can be overhauled : the American tak 
 ing vessels sailing under the American flag, the British those of her own 
 or any other nation with which she has right-of-search treaties ; for the 
 Americans only meddle with their own people. Indications frequently 
 turn up of the delicacy required in dealing with American vessels, from the 
 difficulties springing from the techiness of their naval officers, and the 
 over-zeal of British officers, not always free from a desire to make prizes." 
 
 It is not necessary to speak further in detail of the book it 
 self, but only to say that, with some faults of repetition and of 
 ambitiousness of style, and here and there of an appearance of 
 its having been compiled rather than created, it is work well 
 done surprisingly well done considering that its author had 
 studied ships and gunnery more than making books ; and it is 
 a genuine and manly contribution to the literature of an im 
 portant subject from personal observation ; and when the 
 names of those who have thought and suffered for Africa 
 shall be gathered into a bright crown, the name of Andrew 
 Hull Foote will not be forgotten. 
 
IO4 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 We also find Commander Foote, in January, 1855, deliver 
 ing an address upon the "Ashburton Treaty" and "Consular 
 Sea-letters," which was afterward published in pamphlet form, 
 and which gained him much credit as a brief, forcible,' and 
 pointed argument setting forth and sustaining these proposi 
 tions : 1st. That our consuls abroad should not be allowed to 
 give sea-letters, as they are called, to American vessels sold 
 abroad, when such vessels are bound to Africa, 2d. That the 
 expense of our African squadron is not nearly so large as has 
 been commonly represented. 3d. That most beneficial results 
 may be expected from a cordial co-operation between our own 
 and British cruisers for the suppression of the slave-trade, and 
 that in no other way can the disgraceful abuse of the American 
 Hag be suppressed. 4th. That if any change in the Ashburton 
 Treaty is to be made, it should be to alter the terms, so that in 
 stead of a stipulated number of guns to be kept by us upon that 
 coast, we should employ a number of small steamers, as being 
 much better adapted to that service ; but that in any case, treaty 
 or no treaty, a hearty co-operation with the British squadron is 
 all important. 
 
 It is needful that a word should be said in regard to the offi 
 cial rank and special professional services of Captain Foote 
 during this four years' period of life ashore, which interval 
 appears to have been by no means uselessly spent when viewed 
 in a purely professional light. In December (19) of 1852 
 Lieutenant Foote was promoted to the rank of commander; 
 and in the year 1854 (March 9) he was ordered to the Naval 
 Asylum in Philadelphia as executive officer under Commodore 
 Storer, governor of the asylum, where he remained for fifteen 
 months ; and he is said to have introduced some valuable re 
 forms in the practical working and discipline of the institu 
 tion. In 1855 (June 20) he was appointed to a membership of 
 the "Naval Efficiency Board" at Washington, under Act of 
 February 28th, 1855, together with Shubrick, Perry, McCow- 
 
Reminiscence of Hon. J. A. Foote. 105 
 
 ley, Stribling, Bigelow, Pendergrast, Missroon, Buchanan, Du- 
 pont, Ban-on, Godon, Page, W. L. Maury, and Biddle. He at 
 tended to the duties of that office until he took command of 
 the Portsmouth. During all this time his correspondence in 
 dicates a desire for sea-service, although there is abundant 
 proof of his activity for good in the more quiet positions 
 which for a time he then occupied. 
 
 Hon. John A. Foote relates that he once rather unexpectedly 
 visited his brother while he was stationed at the Naval Asylum 
 in Philadelphia. He was told by the sentinel that at that hour 
 Commander Foote was at his regular weekly religious meet 
 ing. Before reaching the door of the apartment, he caught 
 the voice of the speaker, and listened outside to hear what he 
 was saying. He was speaking plainly and earnestly of the pe 
 culiar temptations of the sailor, and telling his audience that 
 he himself was as a brand plucked from the burning ; but that 
 happily there was room and time for repentance given to all, 
 and that they who were now in this snug harbor had a most 
 favorable opportunity for reformation. He closed his remarks 
 with a fervent prayer. After the meeting, John walked into 
 the room, and received from his brother a friendly but pretty 
 severe blow for not letting himself be known, and was im 
 mediately introduced by the commander to the old tars as 
 his brother from Ohio, who would deliver a temperance ad 
 dress to them that evening, to which superimposed appoint 
 ment he was rigidly held. 
 
 During all this comparatively long period of his stay on 
 shore, Foote was not unobservant of public affairs, especially 
 those that related to his own department, as may be seen from 
 a strong letter addressed by him in the winter of 1855 to 
 Senators Seward, Clayton, Chase, and Sumner in regard to the 
 " Navy Efficiency Bill," protesting against this important meas 
 ure's being killed by amendments, and urging public men to 
 their duty in this regard. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CRUISE OF THE " PORTSMOUTH " AND TAKING OF THE "BARRIER 
 
 FORTS." 
 
 COMMANDER FOOTE received his appointment to the Ports 
 mouth ordered to the East India station to join Commodore 
 Armstrong's fleet April 5, 1856. He was already tired of 
 life on shore, and longed to see blue water again. He had 
 applied for a Mediterranean station, but, fortunately for his 
 naval reputation, a cruise involving more responsibility and 
 more arduous professional service was now opened to him. 
 
 The sloop-of-war Portsmouth was one of the finest vessels 
 at that time in the American Navy. She was a ship of splen 
 did qualities, a very fast sailer, and with a new and heavy 
 battery. 
 
 In this "battery" of the Portsmouth, Dahlgren, who had 
 already developed his talent for scientific gunnery, felt a spe 
 cial pride ; and we forestall the order of events a little to insert 
 here a long letter addressed to Foote by Dahlgren upon the 
 subject of ordnance, which, to professional men at least, will 
 prove interesting : 
 
 "ORDNANCE OFFICE, WASHINGTON, January 8,1857. 
 
 " MY DEAK FOOTE, Your letter from Hong-Kong came to me in good 
 season, and I was much pleased to hear that you made the trip out so 
 satisfactorily. I had previously seen your letters to the commodore and 
 to the bureaus. From all, I infer that the new battery was so far an im 
 provement as to locate the burden most favorably ; for no ship, not even 
 a clipper, could bowl off ten, eleven, twelve knots for days in succession, 
 and reach even fourteen and a half, unless the weights she carried were 
 right in quantity and place. The complaining of the decks only proves 
 that service and time had unfitted it for bearing the burden in guns 
 
Letter from J. A. Dahlgren. 107 
 
 which it had always carried to this time ; and if renewed, as it should 
 have been, would not have complained. The other inconveniences are 
 not so readily disposed of, for I fear the length of the gun is too much 
 for the width of deck, particularly in the gangways, where boats and 
 spars 'are stowed. One foot between muzzle and side is necessary for a 
 convenient recoil, and eighteen inches would be better still ; for the ac 
 tivity of the piece has been inconveniently increased by the use of 
 lignurn-vitae trucks in lieu of ordinary ones ; it may yet be requisite to 
 come to the shorter 8-inch (of 55 cwt.). The power of the battery is, 
 however, unquestioned, and with a fair chance for the ship's fine sailing, 
 she would be an ugly customer for many larger ships. The results with 
 the new ships are entirely satisfactory as regards the ordnance. The 
 Merrimack was well overhauled in England, and all accounts, private and 
 public, concur that the guns made much impression. Jones, who you 
 know is a competent witness, says they ' were particularly admired, the 
 naval and military men admitting that they were constructed on proper 
 principles.' ' Somehow or other it became known that I knew some 
 thing of them, and repeated applications were made for their dimen 
 sions, etc.' The Chief of Bureau also showed me a letter from Sir How 
 ard Douglas asking information of them. The Navy Department has 
 finally recognized my service in the matter, and in terms which are as 
 complimentary as any one could desire. Still I have had to wait for 
 many weary years, and when the Merrimack left the United States, it was 
 not known beyond oflicial circles that I had any particular concern in 
 her battery ; so that I am not chargeable with having obtruded myself 
 on the public attention. Jones tells me that he had 'conversed with 
 many of the ofiicers who served actively in the late war, all of whom ex 
 press themselves very decidedly in favor of heavy calibres, though they 
 differ as to the relative value of shot and shell. I should judge, howev 
 er, from the changes now taking place, that the shells are gaining favor ; 
 for instance, the Princess Royal was just recommissioned, having been 
 paid off only a few days before, and her entire gun-deck battery is now 
 composed of eight 65-pounder guns.' Before there were 32-pounders on 
 that deck. There is, moreover, a marked sentiment growing up in En 
 gland favorable to heavy guns, and a disposition to rival us. In the Ex 
 cellent, Jones saw a long 68-pounder, of 95 cwt., mounted on a broadside 
 carriage. ' Eighteen men worked it with as much ease as the crews of the 
 other guns worked theirs.' He adds, ' Captain Peel, of the Shannon (their 
 new crack frigate), told me that he had applied to have his main-deck 
 
io8 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 battery of 8-inch changed for them (68-pounders, of 95 cwt.), gun 
 for gun.' That is going it heavy, and rather bluffs the notion of some 
 of our own officers, who opposed even 9-inch guns, on the ground 
 that they were too heavy, and stick to it still, though they weigh 9000 
 pounds, and the English 68-pounder weighs 10,600 pounds. 'Prove 
 all things, and hold fast that which is good,' says the Book. Mr. Bull 
 is stirred, however, as one would judge, when our officers saw a gun 
 manned in the Excellent by lieutenants ; their zeal must be rampant. The 
 spirit of inquiry is clearly abroad, and we frequently meet persons sent 
 here by other governments to take note of our progress. Lately I have 
 been visited by a scientific officer from France and two from Russia, be 
 sides a commission from England previously, and officers from Sweden, 
 etc. These chaps ask to see every thing without apology, while they are 
 precious particular to show nothing to those (few enough) whom we send. 
 Indeed, it is said that the French Minister of War was rude to our com 
 mission. 
 
 " The Merrimack was five weeks at Portsmouth, ten days at Brest, two 
 weeks at Lisbon, and at the last accounts had reached Cadiz, whence she 
 will come back by way of the West Indies. The Wdbash gets along well. 
 She has taken a relief to the St. Mary's, at the Isthmus, and will soon be 
 in the United States with the old crew. I am told she is fast under sail. 
 The other ships are gradually being prepared for sea, and the Secretary 
 told me that he would send one to the Pacific. Hudson is to command 
 the Niagara, with Pennock as first ; but the ship will hardly be ready 
 before April the steam is behindhand. The French constructor who 
 was here had examined her closely, and told me that he considered her 
 strength ample. Our constructors say not. I wonder who is right ? The 
 death of Mr. Steers was most deplorable ; a brief moment sealed his plans 
 and his hopes here forever. 
 
 The Niagara is now in dock to receive the propeller, and has been all 
 in order for some months. I confess she pleases my eye, though officers 
 generally are averse to her entirely. The difference comes of taking a 
 different view of the subject. I agree that she requires much to perfect 
 her as a man-of-war, and no one officer of the Navy did more than my 
 self to remedy the deficiency of the battery, and the result was only pre 
 vented by the fact that the original plan had been too far carried out to 
 introduce an armament on the gun-deck. But I go beyond the short 
 comings of the Niagara herself, in order to consider how far her unques 
 tioned merits can be turned to account in building other ships. Present 
 
Letter from J. A. Dahlgren. 109 
 
 notions do really proceed on the basis that clipper lines and clipper speed 
 are incompatible with the carrying of a heavy battery. I have believed 
 otherwise, with the proviso that the ends be not loaded with guns or 
 other freight. Now if the Niagara have the speed her builder claimed, 
 and will preserve her form as well as other ships, the main point is set 
 tled, and any carpenter can raise her gun-deck and pierce ports when 
 the course of service takes the repair so low. With thirty 9 -inch 
 guns below, and the twelve 11-inch above, she will have a broadside of 
 2000 pounds nearly equal in weight, and superior in all else to any 
 three-decker in the British Navy. It is, indeed, to be regretted that the 
 stiif-neckedness of Navy constructors have forced us outside to solve the 
 problem; but so it is, and officers must take a comprehensive view of 
 the subject, and not admire the Niagara for her single deck of heavy 
 guns, nor condemn her for the want of the lower tier. The true question 
 is elsewhere ; and had Steers lived, no one would have taken the lesson 
 more aptly, for the man whose second sailing-ship was the Niagara must 
 have been of no ordinary stamp. 
 
 " I have now to tell you somewhat of the Plymouth. In course of last 
 summer the Secretary decided to assign her to me as an ordnance ship, 
 and she came up here in October as soon as the midshipmen were land 
 ed. I am to have a fair sweep, and have begun. The light deck is 
 to remain, and the new battery is to be four 9-inch guns and one of 
 11 inches on pivot, giving a broadside of 279 pounds, or one fourth 
 less than before in weight thrown, but much superior in all else. The 
 third, fifth, and eighth ports are occupied, which removes the weight 
 of four 32-pounders forward, and of six abaft. Weight of guns and car 
 riages thirty tons, or just one half that formerly carried. Now if the in 
 novations of the Portsmouth have stirred the waters, what may be said of 
 the Plymouth ? It has to go for all that. As things now look, it will be 
 May before I get into the broad Atlantic, and then good luck, I hope. 
 The folks are puzzled, probably, that a man with a snug berth should 
 insist on pushing out to sea, when he is not asked to do so. Even the 
 Chief of Bureau thinks the anchors ought to be down ; but I would never 
 be content to aim below the mark, and if I am to manage the craft she 
 must take her tour of sea duty. Then I am asked, ' Well, what are you 
 going to do ?' To which the answer is, * I will tell you when I come in.' 
 I wish you were nearer within visiting distance; but I shall not cross 
 the line. * * * The Senate bill to overhaul the retired list has been re 
 ported by the House Committee unaltered, but will have a hard fight to 
 
 H 
 
no Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 get through. Tom Turner is woefully exercised, and wrote to me to stop 
 it right off, instead of voyaging this way and stopping it himself. Very 
 easy to encourage others, as was done before at long range. Let each 
 man take his trick, and Jupiter may help the concern. 
 
 "January 13. Well, the bill was taken up yesterday, and so far from 
 a hard fight, as I expected, it passed off-hand by a vote of three to one. 
 Its details I am not acquainted with, but I believe it offers a court of in 
 quiry to any of the retired who may apply. Whatever may be thought 
 of the Efficiency Bill itself, or of its amendment, there can be little doubt 
 that Congress is entirely unfit to deal with the question. First they in 
 sisted on a most extreme clause (that of dropping) as a sine qua non, and 
 now they wheel right about and eat dirt, as the Turk says. The final 
 effect, as matters now stand, will be the gain for the nonce of those who 
 have actually fingered the parchment ; those who have not, may hug the 
 hope of some future reform. 
 
 " The disposition of ships in our own waters, or soon to return, are : 
 Merrimack, on the way home from Cadiz through the West Indies ; Wa- 
 ~bash, just in New York from the Isthmus flag-ship of home squadron ; 
 Roanoke, nearly ready for sea ; Colorado, about the summer ; Niagara, in 
 the spring ; Minnesota, went to Philadelphia by her own steam, to be 
 coppered not to go to sea till after the others; Franklin, not yet 
 launched; Powhatan, refitted with new ordnance (9-inch and 11-inch), 
 at Norfolk, nearly ready; Cumberland, razeed to carry 9-inch and 10-inch, 
 progressing at Boston. It is supposed that the Ten Sloop Bill will pass 
 the house, in which case we ought to look for something fine. The new 
 French frigates are not so large as ours, with batteries as usual, and 
 a great increase of steam-power; they talk of twelve knots. The 
 English, too, are on the lookout; but as there is no war, will probably 
 feel the way well before going in too largely. 
 
 " January 21. After an unusual scarcity of snow, it has come down with 
 a vengeance, as the paper says twelve inches on the level, and three feet 
 in drifts. Pleasant, news from Wdbash : yards square, ship rolling, the 
 muzzles on gun-deck under cast loose, and practiced. Captain and 
 first lieutenant report that the 9-inch guns were perfectly under con 
 trol, though the sea washed in on the 1 deck and wet the cartridges 
 while loading. So another bugbear is disposed of, and it is ascertained 
 that guns of this weight on broadside carriages are not unmanageable, 
 as the growlers would have it. Per contra, a fall parted while setting up 
 .lower rigging in heavy weather; killed one man, and hurt several others 
 
Letter from J. A. Dahlgren. 1 1 1 
 
 captain among them. I wonder that the growlers are not opposed to 
 lower rigging. When new, it is apt to stretch, and if a ship is caught in 
 a gale, and setting up has to be done, why some accident is possible. 
 Many applications from the retired list have been made, and there is 
 much speculation as to results. Some supposed that but few would 
 apply, and that fewer will return ; others are of the opposite notion. 
 The Secretary is said to be busy in arranging the programme. 
 
 " The steamer just in at Halifax telegraphs news of the British attack 
 on Canton, and says also that the Portsmouth has been filibustering, which 
 I deny, of course, as you were even opposed to the annexation of Texas. 
 However, they will let you off, if you have made good gunnery. And, 
 my good friend, you have the best evidence in my power that I often 
 think of you. Such a document as a letter of seven pages from me is 
 certainly not extant. Write when you can, and believe me that my best 
 wishes for health and prosperity ever attend you. 
 
 " Sincerely and warmly your friend, 
 
 " J. A. DAHLGREN. 
 
 " P. S. I forgot to say that your kind arrangement for some of the 
 books will be borne in mind in case I should be driven to the necessity 
 of looking to dollars and cents ; but I hope that they will reach the offi 
 cers without cost to them. Much to my annoyance, constant attention 
 to other affairs than my own has embarrassed me. Each book has 
 taxed my pocket more or less, while the number taken and price paid 
 by Uncle Sam is but a partial relief. However, the book is complete, 
 and will soon be in the binder's hands; the size of page is equal to that 
 of Douglas's ' Gunnery,' and the number about 450. 
 
 " I am much pleased to hear that Mr. Simpson has a turn for gunnery, 
 and I should like much if he were disengaged and near the Plymouth. 
 My best regards to all the officers of the P." 
 
 To return now to the narrative of the actual cruise of the 
 Portsmouth. That vessel sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, May 
 4, 1856 ; and after a passage of ninety-five days, in which she 
 encountered heavy gales, reached Batavia, where the officers 
 were most hospitably entertained by the Dutch authorities and 
 people. From Batavia the Portsmouth proceeded directly to 
 Hong-Kong, and remained there for a month or so ; then, from 
 
ii2 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 the fact of not finding Commodore Armstrong at that port, 
 and also from the fact of a difficulty having arisen between 
 the English and Chinese (on account of the contemptuous 
 treatment of the British flag), which threatened to result in 
 war, Commander Foote took his ship up the Canton River to 
 Whampoa. While at Hong-Kong, Captain Foote had a cor 
 respondence with Sir John Bowring in regard to the sum 
 mary trial of an American seaman by British authorities, 
 which, however, needs no further notice. 
 
 These were troublous times in the Chinese waters ; but, as 
 a proof of the disposition of our officers to avoid difficulty with 
 the Chinese in the war which had already sprung up between 
 them and the English, the following circular, issued by Com 
 mander Foote, may be adduced : 
 
 " The undersigned has been informed that the American flag was this 
 day borne on the walls of Canton through the breach effected by the 
 British naval forces. This unauthorized act is w r holly disavowed by the 
 undersigned, in order that it may not be regarded as compromising in 
 the least degree the neutrality of the United States. 
 
 " The United States naval forces are here for the special protection of 
 American interests ; and the display of the American flag in any other 
 
 connection is hereby forbidden. 
 
 " ANDREW H. FOOTE, 
 
 " Senior Officer, commanding U. S. Naval Forces at Canton. 
 " CANTON, October 29, 1856." 
 
 On arriving at Whampoa, Commander Foote, in view of the 
 unsettled state of affairs, at once organized a force of eighty 
 men into companies, and established and fortified posts in 
 Canton in a manner best fitted to protect the lives and prop 
 erty of American residents of that city. He was also enabled 
 incidentally to afford aid and protection to French residents, 
 for which he was formally thanked by the French Charge 
 d> Affaires at Macao. He issued an order to American senti 
 nels to avoid firing upon the Chinese except when directly as- 
 
Foote s Boat fired upon. 113 
 
 sailed ; and he enjoined upon all under his command scrupu 
 lously to keep the peace. He seems, indeed, to have done 
 what he could to prevent Americans from being drawn into 
 the English and Chinese imbroglio, although fighting was go 
 ing on all around him, and his own ship was endangered from 
 flying shots and combustibles; and thus for three weeks he 
 preserved an armed neutrality, and protected American inter 
 ests. In the mean time Commodore Armstrong had arrived at 
 Hong-Kong from Shang-Hai. In order to avoid the danger 
 of compromising our neutrality, the commodore ordered the 
 removal of the American force from the city of Canton. To 
 expedite these arrangements, Commander Foote was actively 
 engaged ; and on one occasion, while returning from Canton 
 to the San Jacinto, then lying at Whampoa, his boat was fired 
 upon by the Chinese, which uncalled-for and outrageous act 
 resulted in the capture and destruction of the Chinese "Bar 
 rier Forts" in the Canton River. A detailed though modest 
 account of this affair, in which the fiery bravery and military 
 skill of Commander Foote were so conspicuous, is given in his 
 own words in an official report to his commanding officer. It 
 contains some unimportant particulars, but we have preferred 
 to give the whole letter on account of its intrinsic interest to 
 American readers : 
 
 "UNITED STATES SHIP ' PORTSMOUTH,' ) 
 
 Off the ' Barrier Forts,' near Canton, NOD, 26, 1856. f 
 
 " SIR, Agreeably to your orders of the 15th instant to return to Can 
 ton and resume my duties in command of the force placed there for the 
 protection of American residents in their persons and property, I pro 
 ceeded the same day, with one of our boats, in company with Lieutenant 
 Macomb of this ship, Assistant-Surgeon Gibson of the Levant, and Messrs. 
 Sturgis and Macy of Canton, for the purpose of directing Commander 
 Smith to return and take his ship (the Levant} to that city, preparatory 
 to the withdrawal of our force from the foreign factories. 
 
 " When within point-blank range of the fort commanding the passage, 
 a shot was fired, which fell a short distance from the boat ; this was soon 
 
Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 followed by another, which struck still nearer the boat, and ricochetted 
 far beyond it Mr. Sturgis in the mean time waving the flag that it might 
 be fully displayed, and I firing my revolver toward the fort, and giving 
 the order to pull away. We soon passed beyond range of the fort ; and 
 
 THK "BABBIEB FOKTS." - , 
 
 when within two hundred yards of the next, it opened upon us with 
 two successive discharges of round shot and grape, which fell thick 
 and fast around us, one of them striking the water within two blades of 
 the oars ; the last discharge was made after the boat's head was turned 
 toward the ship. I then returned and reported the occurrence verbally 
 to you. 
 
 " As the removal of this ship and the Levant to this place was under 
 your own orders and personal supervision, and as you yourself were an 
 eye-witness of the cannonading between the Portsmouth and the forts on 
 Sunday, the 16th instant, it is unnecessary in this report to make further 
 allusion to those events. 
 
 "During the day succeeding your departure to Whampoa, the two 
 ships were in position to open upon the forts on the recommencement of 
 active hostilities on the part of the enemy although the narrow channel 
 and strong tide rendered it necessary to move them abreast of, instead of 
 in a line with each other. 
 
 " Your last communication of the 19th instant contained the following 
 clause : 
 
 '"I am glad to hear that you are at this instant strong enough to ac 
 complish any thing I may direct ; and although, pending negotiation, I 
 
Storming of the "Barrier Forts? 1 1 5 
 
 do not wish to take aggressive steps without a sufficient cause, yet I re 
 peat my wish to have the enemy prevented from increasing his means of 
 defense or assault, in the most expedient and efficient manner your judg 
 ment and means may warrant, even though you may be led to the cap 
 ture of the forts.' 
 
 " As there were no other means in my power effectually to prevent the 
 enemy from strengthening his defenses, I immediately determined to 
 storm his forts, and would have done so the same evening if it had been 
 possible to complete the necessary arrangements before dark. 
 
 " At 6.30 on the morning of the 20th instant, both ships being in posi 
 tion and in all respects ready for action, we beat to quarters, and simul 
 taneously opened on the two nearest forts. After an interval of five min 
 utes the fire was briskly returned until 7.45, when it materially slackened. 
 The storming-party, consisting of two hundred and eighty-seven persons 
 officers, seamen, and marines with four howitzers, commanded by my 
 selfCommanders Bell and Smith leading respectively detachments from 
 the San Jacinto and Levant then left the ships, and pulled in three col 
 umns for the shore. The company of marines was most efficiently led 
 by Captain Simms. While landing, Louis Hetzel and Thomas Krouse 
 (apprentice boys) were killed by the accidental discharge of a Minie rifle. 
 The party formed, and marched toward the fort, dragging three howitz 
 ers with them across the rice-fields, and wading a creek waist deep. In 
 order to attack the fort in the rear it was necessary to pass through a 
 village, in which several shots were fired upon us, till the howitzers 
 cleared the streets, and secured for us an unobstructed progress. When 
 near the fort the soldiers were seen fleeing from it, many of them swim 
 ming for the opposite shore. The marines, being in advance, opened fire 
 upon the fugitives with deadly effect, killing some forty or fifty. The 
 American flag was planted on the walls of the fort by a lieutenant from 
 the Portsmouth. As the fort opposite was playing upon us, the guns we 
 had captured fifty-three in number were several of them brought to 
 bear upon and soon silenced it, but not before a shot had struck the 
 Portsmouth? 's launch and sunk her. She floated, however, at the flood, 
 and was soon rendered efficient for further service. The city of Canton 
 being only four miles distant, a portion of its army, variously estimated 
 at from five to fifteen thousand, and which I believe to have numbered 
 at least three thousand, was stationed near. This force twice advanced ; 
 but they were both times repulsed by the marines, with ten or twelve 
 killed ; and, as they were retreating, a deadly fire was opened upon them 
 
1 1 6 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 from one of the howitzers. During one of these skirmishes a man belong 
 ing to the Portsmouth received a shot-wound in the leg. While firing at 
 the opposite fort, a boatswain's mate from the Portsmouth was wounded 
 in the head and foot by the bursting of a gun. 
 
 " A small portion of the force was withdrawn at night, and the fort 
 was occupied by the commander of the San Jadnto with the remaining 
 force till morning. 
 
 " At three A.M. the next day an 8-inch shot from one of the forts 
 struck the Portsmouth and lodged in the bends. This was instantly re 
 turned by three of her shells, and the fort was at once silenced. At four 
 A.M. the commander of the San Jadnto, with the force which had occu 
 pied the captured fort during the night, embarked and returned to the 
 ship. At six o'clock both ships opened their fire on the three remaining 
 forts, which was at first briskly returned. During the action Edward 
 Kiley (O. S.) wa& mortally wounded aboard the Levant, and died this 
 evening. The fort nearest the ships having been silenced, at seven 
 o'clock the boats in tow of the American steamer Cum Fa, temporarily 
 in the charge of Mr. Robinet, left the ship and proceeded toward the ob 
 ject of attack. While passing the barrier, a ricochet 64-pound shot from 
 the farthest fort struck the boat abreast of my own, completely raking 
 it, and instantly killing James Hoagland, carpenter's mate, and mortally 
 wounding William Mackia and Alfred Turner, who died soon after. 
 Seven others were also wounded more or less severely. The boat struck 
 was the launch of the San Jacinto, in charge of the first lieutenant of that 
 ship. The steamer stood in with the boats in tow, till they were cov 
 ered by an intervening neck of land, on which the party landed. After 
 wading a ditch waist deep, and receiving several shots from gingals and 
 rockets, the fort was carried, with one of the marines severely wounded, 
 in presence of a thousand or more Chinese soldiers just beyond howitzer 
 range. A corporal of marines, the standard-bearer of the company, 
 planted the American flag upon the walls. Several of the guns of the 
 fort, with our own howitzers, were brought to bear upon the centre fort, 
 commanding the river, which had opened fire upon us. It was soon 
 silenced. The other guns in the fort we had captured, which were alto 
 gether forty-one in number, were spiked, their carriages burned, and ev 
 ery thing destructible, by the means in our power, destroyed. 
 
 " At four P.M. the marines advanced on the bank of the river and 
 captured a breastwork mounting six guns ; a party of Chinese soldiers, 
 some hundreds in number, advanced toward them, but were soon re- 
 
Storming of the "Barrier Forts" 117 
 
 pulsed by two companies of sailors, led by their lieutenants. In the 
 mean time one of the howitzers played upon a still greater number, who 
 were drawn up in front of and around a pagoda, until they were dispersed, 
 and retreated carrying off their killed and wounded. The boats, under 
 fire from the fort on the opposite side of the river, had been tracked up 
 to the breastwork, and now, under cover of its guns and those of the 
 fort just captured, they crossed with the party to the island, and took 
 possession of its fort, containing thirty-eight guns ; one of these was a 
 brass gun, of 8-inch calibre, and twenty-two feet five inches in length. 
 The standard-bearer of marines was again the first to plant the American 
 flag upon the walls. The same work of destruction was here renewed. 
 The only fort remaining in the possession of the enemy on the Canton 
 side of the river at once opened upon us. Accordingly the guns in the 
 fort we occupied were brought to bear, and, with the assistance of the 
 howitzers, silenced it in the course of half an hour. It now being 
 dark, it was thought expedient to suspend further operations till morn 
 ing. Active preparations were making by the enemy during the night, 
 showing a determination to make a vigorous resistance. 
 
 " The following morning, Saturday, the 22d instant, at four o'clock, all 
 hands were called, and arrangements made preparatory to the attack in 
 front of the fourth and last fort. At early daylight, every thing being 
 ready, the first lieutenant of the San Jacinto, who was left in charge of 
 the fort, was directed to fire a single howitzer, for the purpose of draw 
 ing, the fire of the enemy. As this did not succeed, another discharge 
 was made, with no better result. Three howitzers were left in the fort to 
 cover the landing, and prevent the enemy from firing the guns trained on 
 the point which we were to double. Our launch, with the howitzers, 
 preceded the other boats, which followed in three columns. The how 
 itzers commenced playing briskly to divert the fire of the fort from us. 
 But, from the moment we doubled the point, and during the time inter 
 vening until we reached within musket-shot and gave three cheers not 
 withstanding the rapid and effective fire of the howitzers in the fort and 
 the launch the hostile fort opened and continued a brisk fire upon the 
 boats with round shot, grape, and gingals. The shot passed closely over 
 our heads, with the exception of three, one of which passed between the 
 two boats, and each of the others striking an oar. 
 
 " As the boats could not be brought close to the shore, our party jumped 
 into the water, and thus entered and took possession of the fort, just in 
 time to fire upon the last of the enemy in their retreat. It was discovered 
 
1 1 8 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 that they had, before evacuating, loaded the guns, and trained them upon 
 the boats with a slow match ignited. Those of our men who were in 
 advance cut the train. A boatswain's mate from the Portsmouth was the 
 first to enter the fort and plant the American flag upon its walls. The 
 number of guns which it contained was thirty-eight. The fort was de 
 molished. 
 
 " The forts contained a total of 176 guns, many of them of the largest 
 calibre. I am told that they have always been considered as among the 
 strongest defenses of the empire, as well as the key to the city of Canton. 
 
 " The commander of the San Jacinto is to-day at work in the fort last 
 captured, preparing utterly to demolish that part of the walls facing the 
 river ; these are of massive granite, and eight feet in thickness. As soon 
 as this work is accomplished, we shall proceed in the same way with the 
 other forts. An attack was made upon the rear of the fort occupied by 
 our force at three o'clock this morning by a body of Chinese, who threw 
 several rockets and stink-pots. The assailants were provided with scal 
 ing-ladders. They were soon dispersed by a brisk fire of musketry and 
 the howitzers, leaving two ladders behind them in their retreat. 
 
 " The ships received during the cannonading of the 16th, 20th, and 
 21st instants forty shots in their hulls and rigging the Portsmouth 
 eighteen, the Levant twenty-two ; and their fire was most satisfactorily 
 effective, as may be witnessed on the demolished parapets of the nearest 
 forts and their appearance within the walls. 
 
 " Previous to all the attacks I counseled freely with the commanders 
 of the San Jadnto and Levant; and as the latter's officer performed such 
 effective service by the cannonading of his ship previous to the storm 
 ing, and as the other was present without his ship, I may be permitted 
 to say of the former that I found him ready to suggest and to execute at 
 any moment and in all exigencies. I ought to mention that the com 
 mander of the Levant, previous to the action of the 20th and 21st instants, 
 had brought his ship into position nearer the forts, so that she received 
 the hottest of their fire, and he has now brought her close to the fort 
 which we are undermining. From the other officers also I received very 
 important suggestions. In short, the bearing of all the officers, sailors, 
 and marines was creditable to them in the highest degree. 
 
 " The readiness and coolness with which Captain Curry, of the Amer 
 ican steamer Willamette, towed this ship into position, on the 16th instant, 
 under fire from the nearest fort, exposing himself and his vessel, and not 
 ' casting off' till so ordered, excites our highest admiration. Mr. William 
 
Storming of the "Barrier Forts? 1 1 9 
 
 M. Robinet, of Maryland, now a resident merchant in Canton, gave his 
 services as pilot and commander of the Cum Fa, when that steamer towed 
 the boats inshore to attack the second fort. This gentleman also, by his 
 knowledge of the country, was able to point out the course adopted in 
 the attack of the second and third forts, and suggested the time of the 
 attack upon the third and last. 
 
 "Captain Henry Devens, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, voluntarily 
 acted as my aid in the capture of the last three forts, and was ready to 
 render good service. Captain Sewall, of the American ship Flyaway, 
 occasionally took charge of the steamer Cum Fa, and repeatedly volun 
 teered to serve in any capacity wherein he could promote the success of 
 the expedition. Several other American gentlemen, whose names have 
 not been mentioned, volunteered their aid, and rendered important assist 
 ance. 
 
 " It may be seen in this report how efficient our marines are in service 
 of this kind ; and the inference is inevitable that an increase of that 
 corps, and of the number of officers and men attached to our ships, would 
 tend to insure success in like expeditions. In all the advances, the men 
 were ready, in perfect order and discipline, to respond to the call of their 
 officers. 
 
 "It is but just also to the sailors to say that their order and subordina 
 tion, as well as their bravery, most favorably impressed me ; and I was 
 convinced that when the two bodies acted in co-operation, in skirmish 
 ing parties and otherwise, they were capable of successfully resisting any 
 Chinese force which they might encounter. 
 
 " The howitzers contributed greatly to I may say secured the suc 
 cess of the expedition, not only by their destructive qualities, but by the 
 fear which their appearance inspired among the enemy. 
 
 " I can not help believing that the heavy and prolonged cannonading 
 of the Portsmouth, on the 16th instant, was most important in preparing 
 the way for the operations which succeeded. The powerful battery of 
 this ship, consisting of sixteen 8-inch shell-guns, each of 63 cwt., so par 
 alyzed the nearest fort, which was within a range of four hundred and 
 eighty yards, that it was never afterward able to do the injury which it 
 might otherwise have inflicted. I am disposed to believe, too, that a 
 ship with guns of smaller calibre could not have sustained alone the hot 
 fire to which this vessel was that day exposed from the four forts com 
 bined ; and much less could have silenced the two nearest of those forts, 
 as she did after a brisk cannonading of between two and three hours. 
 
1 20 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 I am happy to add that the new elevating screws of Constructor Hartt, 
 with which her guns are fitted, stood the severe test of the heavy firing 
 during the several actions to my entire satisfaction. 
 
 " It is, of course, impossible to ascertain definitely what loss the Chi 
 nese have sustained. Their own rumors make it, at the least estimate, 
 five hundred although I am inclined to believe that it will not exceed 
 one half that number. It is said, on good authority, that a hundred and 
 twenty Chinese sailors, recently discharged from a foreign man-of-war, 
 and who have thus had the advantage of European training and disci 
 pline, were among those who served the guns of the forts. This accounts 
 for the superior gunnery displayed by the enemy. 
 
 " It becomes my painful duty to add the following list of killed and 
 wounded (seven killed and twenty-two wounded) ; and I can only ex 
 press in this place my feeling of sorrow for the loss which their own 
 friends have sustained, and which the country and the service to which 
 they belonged have also suffered. It is proper for me to mention that, by 
 request of the fleet-surgeon, the surgeons of the ships were not permitted 
 to accompany the storming-parties on shore, as the most important oper 
 ations could not be performed on the field, but on board ship. All that 
 medical skill could do to relieve the sufferings and save the lives of the 
 wounded was promptly and successfully accomplished. 
 (Surgeon's report omitted.) 
 
 " I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " (Signed) ANDKEW H. FOOTE, 
 
 " Commander and Senior Officer present commanding U. S. Naval 
 Forces, off the Barrier Forts, near Canton. 
 
 " Commodore James Armstrong, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, ) 
 East Indies and China Seas. ) 
 
 " P. S. Subjoined is a list of the officers of the several storming- 
 parties : 
 
 " Commander Andrew H. Foote .... Portsmouth, Commanding. 
 
 " Henry H. Bell San Jacinto. 
 
 " William Smith Levant. 
 
 Lieutenant Henry H. Lewis San Jacinto. 
 
 " John Rutledge ..... " 
 
 " S. P. Carter " 
 
 Assistant-Surgeon R. P. Daniel .... " 
 
 Captain's Clerk William S. Aske ... " 
 
Storming of the "Barrier Forts" 
 
 121 
 
 Brevet-Captain John D. Simms, Marines . San Jacinto. 
 
 Lieutenant William H. Macomb . . 
 
 " Henry K. Davenport . . 
 
 " Edward Simpson . . . 
 
 " Pendleton G.Watmough. 
 
 " George E. Belknap . . . 
 Master Francis E. Sheppard .... 
 3d Lieut., Marines, Wm. W. Kirkland 
 
 Purser John V. Dobbin 
 
 Assistant-Surgeon John Vanzant . . 
 Carpenter Joseph G. Meyers .... 
 Master's Mate Peter McAvoy . . . 
 Lieutenant George Colvocoresses . . 
 
 " John J. Guthrie .... 
 
 " Earl English 
 
 Master H. A. Adams 
 
 Assistant-Surgeon A. S. Gihon . . . 
 2d Lieutenant, Marines, H. Tyler, Jr. . 
 Captain's Clerk S. A. Coale, Jr. . . . 
 Carpenter Edward Williams . . . 
 
 Gunner H. M. Gordon 
 
 Master's Mate Fitch Taylor . . % . 
 
 Portsmouth. 
 
 Levant. 
 
 "A. H.F.' 
 
CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 EEMAKKS ON THE TAKING OF THE " BAEEIER FORTS." CRUISE OF 
 
 THE "PORTSMOUTH" CONCLUDED. 
 
 THE action narrated in the preceding chapter, in the judg 
 ment of competent witnesses, was, in a military point of view, 
 a brilliant one. The English and French were loud in their 
 praises ; and as the gallant Portsmouth dropped down the 
 river, the ship of the British admiral, Sir Michael Seymour, 
 as well as his commodore's vessel, manned the rigging, and 
 gave three rousing cheers for the Portsmouth^ while the bands 
 struck up "Hail Columbia" and "Yankee Doodle" a com 
 pliment rarely paid to our ships by rival nations. 
 
 This action made a deep impression. In China, to this day, 
 Commander Foote is well remembered ; and the storming of 
 the " Barrier Forts " taught the mandarins a lesson which they 
 never forgot, made the American flag respected even by that 
 stolid and peculiar people, and led the way to the advanta 
 geous treaties of Mr. Reed and Mr. Burlingame. 
 
 The battle was varied in its emergencies by sea and land, 
 and called forth the best judgment as well as courage of the 
 commanding officer; and although he was opposed by semi 
 barbarians, the odds in respect to numbers were great on the 
 side of the Chinese some 5000 to 280 Americans. The forts 
 were strong, and capable of doing immense mischief if further 
 strengthened. But Foote did not wait for this. He urged 
 upon the commodore the necessity of immediate reprisals for 
 the insult to our flag and the wanton assault upon the boats, 
 feeling that a lesson should be given. The commodore was on 
 board the Portsmouth during the first cannonading, but, being 
 
Approval by the Government. 123 
 
 ill, he withdrew, leaving all in the hands of Foote. He, in 
 fact, took the responsibility and carried the thing, through. 
 The boldness with which his vessels were laid alongside the 
 forts, up to the very teeth of the cannon, and the straight, im 
 petuous storming work which followed their cannonade, re 
 mind us of a scene more fresh in our memories, and are char 
 acteristic of the man and of his mode of going to work. 
 
 The American Government added its approval of the con 
 duct of her Navy on this occasion. The following is an ex 
 tract from Secretary Dobbin's dispatch to Commodore Arm 
 strong of February 27, 1857 : 
 
 " Our national flag was borne by American officers on waters where it 
 was legitimate to show it. The mission of those bearing it in the small 
 boat was peaceful. No notice had been given by the Chinese, no shot of 
 warning was fired over the boat ; but shot and shell were fired deliberate 
 ly at the officers and men, with a view to their destruction. My reflec 
 tions upon the whole case convince me that it was indispensably neces 
 sary promptly to vindicate the sacredness of our national flag, and to in 
 flict a degree of punishment sufficiently impressive to deter these people 
 from again rashly and recklessly insulting us. Had the offensive act been 
 temporarily submitted to and referred to the tardy process of Chinese ex 
 planations, this trifling with our flag would probably have been repeated, 
 and led to still more serious consequences. 
 
 " I approve, therefore, of the course pursued by you and those under 
 your command. The brave and energetic manner in which the wrong 
 was avenged is worthy of all praise. The gallantry, good order, and 
 ' intelligent subordination ' displayed by all engaged in the various con 
 flicts with the enemy ; the precision and admirable success with which 
 the guns were managed, are highly creditable to the service. Be pleased, 
 sir, to communicate to the officers, seamen, and marines the Department's 
 high appreciation of their good conduct." 
 
 In the " Blue-Book " presented to the British Parliament, 
 the notices of the capture of the "Barrier Forts," made by 
 Consul Parkes and Eear- Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, were 
 in marked terms of commendation both of the skill and the 
 gallantry displayed by the Americans. 
 
1 24 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 There were not wanting those who criticised both privately 
 and publicly the conduct of the American Navy in this affair, 
 as involving itself hastily and unnecessarily in the English 
 and Chinese difficulty. A most indignant and caustic letter, 
 written by Commander Foote himself to Chaplain James 
 Beecher, shows that he could fight with the pen as well as 
 with the sword. In this letter he defends himself from every 
 charge. On the point of the Chinese firing upon the boats, 
 which, it had been intimated, was a natural thing for them 
 to do in their indiscriminate and unintelligent hatred of for 
 eigners, he says : 
 
 " The fact ot the trade of all nations being suspended ; the fact that 
 we are not at war with China; that French armed boats, as well as boats 
 of different nationalities, were passing the ' Barrier Forts ' unmolested, as 
 they had a treaty right to do, before and after my own boat was fired 
 upon, show your general views to be as crude as they are perverse where 
 the honor of your country's flag is involved." 
 
 It may be that Mr. Beecher and others were right in their 
 criticisms ; it may be that Commander Foote was over-ready 
 to fight in this instance (a failing of his) ; it may be that a 
 longer forbearance would have resulted in more good ; but it 
 is difficult, with the facts before us, to see these things. We 
 should be the last to defend him in that which is wrong ; but 
 we must in this instance fall back upon his superior knowl 
 edge of the facts of the case, and upon his established charac 
 ter as a man of high principle and humanity. His profes 
 sional duty pressed him to act energetically. He did so act. 
 and we are not aware that by truly competent authority, both 
 civil and military, he has been adjudged to have acted rashly, 
 or to have merited aught but praise. 
 
 A letter written about this time makes mention of one of 
 these newspaper notices of his conduct to which reference 
 has been made ; and as it bears directly on the main point in 
 the case, it is quoted in full : 
 
Letter of A. H. Foote. 125 
 
 "U. S. SHIP 'PORTSMOUTH,' HONG-KONG, June 27, 1858. 
 
 " MY DEAR BRADFORD, I have read your letter published in the Phil 
 adelphia Press. It does you intellectually great credit, and certainly I 
 believe it to have been written, notwithstanding its wholesale errors about 
 our force in Canton, with that moral sentiment which I always have con 
 sidered as a feature in your character. 
 
 " You were not in Canton when our force was there. Consequently the 
 assertion in your letter that it was not asked, but, on the contrary, that a 
 request was made that it might be withdrawn, as it was unnecessary for 
 protection, must have been made on other authority than your personal 
 knowledge. The credibility of that authority may be seen by the in 
 closed copy of a letter addressed to me by Consul Perry, showing that 
 the force was officially and immediately urged by the highest American 
 functionary in Canton Dr. Parker, the commissioner, being with you at 
 that time in Shang-Ha'i. And so far from the force not being wanted by 
 the Americans, and they having requested its withdrawal, I need only to 
 remark that, after having been in Canton a fortnight, I received orders 
 from the commodore to proceed with the ship to Shang-Ha'i. On making 
 these orders known, one of the merchants said that he hoped I would not 
 leave them ; that a letter signed by the Americans, showing the necessity 
 of a force for their protection, would, if I wished it, readily be furnished. 
 I declined the proposal, remarking that in the existing state of affairs I 
 should not leave Canton, and had no doubt but that the commodore 
 would, as he afterward did, fully approve my course. Besides this, every 
 American house in Canton I do not remember a single exception im 
 portuned me for sentinels to be posted within their premises. And still 
 further, I call upon your informant, or any American then in Canton, to 
 say that he gave me the slightest intimation that our force might be 
 withdrawn, until it had been there more than a fortnight, and accom 
 plished fully the object for which it was placed there for the protection 
 of our citizens, and their persons and property ; when I announced my 
 intention of conferring with the commodore on the propriety of with 
 drawing the men, and having the Levant brought up to the city as a 
 place of refuge in case of emergency. 
 
 " Although the government has unqualifiedly approved our Course, as 
 may be seen in the copy of a letter in my possession, still, if there re 
 main a doubt on the subject in the minds of persons whose opinions are 
 worthy of my regard, I hope that the whole matter may be reopened by 
 agitation, investigation, probing, and sifting, so far as my own agency in 
 
 I 
 
126 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 taking the force to Canton is involved, as well as the subsequent course 
 of the squadron at the ' Barrier Forts.' 
 
 " I still feel, as I often have expressed myself, that had I not promptly 
 taken the force to Canton, amd in counsel and deed approved the cap 
 ture of the ' Barrier Forts ' for having on three different occasions fired 
 upon our flag, I ought to be turned out of the Navy as one wholly un 
 worthy of holding a commander's commission in it. Had you been 
 there, holding my commission, I believe also that your course would 
 have corresponded with my own. 
 
 " I thus have freely commented, as I am justified in doing, on that part 
 of your letter referring to acts in which I bore a prominent part ; and 
 now take the liberty of a friend in remarking that our sentiments toward 
 the English are antipodal. I hold them to be a nation altogether in ad 
 vance of any European in promoting Christian civilization and the high 
 est interests of mankind. Your Anglophobia, pardon the expression, 
 often leads you, though no doubt unintentionally, to do them an injus 
 tice. I am quite proud of our ancestry, even with all their faults, when 
 I compare them with the other nations of Europe. 
 
 " I am truly yours, 
 " (Signed) A. H. FOOTE." 
 
 The Portsmouth lay off the " Barrier Forts " for some days, 
 to carry out the work of demolition. In one of his dispatches 
 to the commodore, Foote says, " We don't work, of course, to 
 day. I have preached aboard and in the fort." The destruc 
 tion of the forts was completed in ten working days. Some 
 men were unfortunately killed, and others wounded, by a prem 
 ature explosion. Of this work of demolition, Commander 
 Foote writes to a friend : 
 
 " The governor (Yeh) in his correspondence with the commodore has 
 given no satisfaction, and therefore we have taken it by utterly demol 
 ishing his forts. He now says that he also desires peace, and matters 
 look more pacific, at least till the pleasure of our government is known. 
 American merchants here, and missionaries too, unanimously regard our 
 course as having been necessary to show the Chinese that the Americans 
 are as powerful as some other nations with whom they have been in con 
 flict. It is the first display of American force in China, and it was desir 
 able that it should be effectual." 
 
Letter of Canton Merchants. 127 
 
 In certification of what Commander Foote here says of the 
 opinion of other Americans then in Canton and vicinity in 
 regard to his course of action, the following letter to Captain 
 Foote, signed by influential American residents in China, is of 
 
 value : 
 
 "MACAO, February 9, 1858. 
 
 " DEAK SIR, We have been informed that in some of the American 
 newspapers it has been stated in a communication from China that the 
 force taken by you to the factories at Canton, in the month of October, 
 1856, while difficulties existed between the English and Chinese authori 
 ties, was not only not necessary there, but that you were requested to 
 withdraw it. In justice to yourself, we beg to say that of the necessity 
 for the force there, at the period in question, we are fully satisfied, and 
 that it imparted great confidence and security to the Americans gener 
 ally in Canton. We, of course, can not know if you were requested to 
 remove it, but are convinced that had you done so, the danger to life and 
 property would have been greatly increased. 
 
 u We are happy also to avail ourselves of this opportunity to express 
 to you our acknowledgment for the prompt and willing manner in which 
 you have given your assistance and support to your countrymen in this 
 part of China, whenever it seemed to you that you could be of any possi 
 ble service or that circumstances required them. We remain, dear sir, 
 your friends and countrymen, 
 
 " JAMES PURDON & Co. (of Canton)," and others. 
 
 The remainder of the cruise of the Portsmouth must be 
 more briefly treated. She dropped down to Hong-Kong, and 
 stayed there until the 1st of January, 1857, when she was sent 
 north to Shang-Ha'i ; and after remaining twenty days at that 
 port, she came south to Mngpo, on account of alleged disturb 
 ances there. Commander Foote and his officers were invited 
 to an entertainment by the governor, or Taontai, who pledged 
 himself to protect American lives and property. From Ning- 
 po the Portsmouth proceeded to Foo-Chow, where it was 
 found that the Canton difficulties had not extended to the det 
 riment of our interests. Amoy was the next stopping-place ; 
 thence they returned to Hong-Kong on March 14th, having 
 
128 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 visited all the Chinese ports north of Canton opened by 
 treaty. 
 
 On the llth of April the Portsmouth sailed once more 
 from Hong Kong to Singapore, her commander being charged 
 with orders to obtain full information in regard to the case of 
 the Dutch bark Henrietta Maria, that had been abandoned at 
 sea by her officers and most of her men, and brought into that 
 port by the American ship Cceur de Lion, in a perilous and 
 constructively. piratical condition, for adjudication. The diffi 
 culty was one of salvage with the British civil officer, and in 
 volved a somewhat lengthened correspondence between the 
 Governor of Singapore, Edward A. El un dell, Esq., and the 
 commander of the Portsmouth. This business being attended 
 to with his usual thoroughness, Foote set sail May 21st for 
 Bangkok, taking on board Dr,, Bradley, bearer of the treaty to 
 the King of Siam. While at Bangkok the officers of the 
 Portsmouth were presented to both kings, and were treated 
 with the highest consideration. 
 
 The second king of Siam having made many inquiries about 
 the ship, and manifesting a good deal of interest in ordnance 
 and fire-arms, Commander Foote invited him to visit the ves 
 sel, which he did, although this was the first time that a king 
 of Siam had been aboard a foreign man-of-war. The king 
 came down from Bangkok, forty miles, to where the Ports 
 mouth was anchored, with a suite of twenty princes and no 
 bles, and remained during the day. A grand banquet, taxing 
 the artistic powers of the Portsmouth'^ this line to the ut 
 most, was got up for the occasion. 
 
 The treaties of Siam with the United States, England, and 
 France are fast developing the agricultural resources of the 
 country, especially the culture of sugar ; and Commander 
 Foote remarks : " It is due to the American missionaries to 
 say that, owing to their indirect influence, favorable treaties 
 have been negotiated. Previously to their coming, the Siamese 
 
Visit to Japan. 129 
 
 were almost as exclusive in their commercial policy as the 
 Japanese. Our consul, the Rev. Mr. Mattoon, in consequence 
 of his personal popularity with the kings and officers of state, 
 his knowledge of the language and business habits, has exer 
 cised a stronger influence upon the government and people 
 than any other foreigner, and to him we are chiefly indebted 
 for the good opinion of Americans which prevails in Siam." 
 While in Siam, Foote visited the missionaries in state, in order 
 that the natives might be led to pay them more respect. 
 
 The Portsmouth returned to Hong-Kong, arriving on the 
 26th of June, whence she departed a second time for Shang- 
 Ha'i, to carry Consul Bradley to that post. After dry-docking 
 and repairs at Shang-Ha'i, the good ship, which had seen such 
 continual service, meeting in these long voyages in the China 
 seas many severe storms and typhoons, and once being aground 
 in a dangerous condition in the Min River, set sail from Shang- 
 Hai on the 22d of August for Simoda and Hakodadi in Japan. 
 The day before reaching Simoda, breakers ahead were discov 
 ered in latitude 34 14' K, longitude 138 IT E., not laid 
 down in the charts, and were named " Portsmouth Breakers." 
 If they had been running at night, the cruise of the Ports 
 mouth would have been brought to an abrupt termination. 
 Commander Foote says of Simoda : 
 
 " The appearance of Simoda, in fact the entire country around, is beau 
 tiful. Deep ravines lie between the mountain ranges, while the highly 
 cultivated terraced fields stretch up to the very hill-tops. Again, green 
 thickets were seen creeping up the valleys ; and lawns of verdant turf 
 here and there overlapped the precipices. The town added no beauty to 
 the scenery. As soon as we had anchored, a large boat came alongside, 
 with four officials high in rank, who in the name of the governors bear 
 in mind the duality of the Japanese gave us a courteous and cordial 
 welcome. These representatives were inquisitive, and manifested a de 
 gree of intelligence corresponding to their courtesy. We were favorably 
 impressed with the cleanliness of the officials and of their men and boat, 
 which their ' celestial' neighbors might do well to copy." 
 
1 30 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Many incidental remarks occur in Foote's journal respect 
 ing the Japanese, whom he seems to have studied, and their 
 history, with great interest in the brief time he was in Japan 
 some of which seem almost to have suggested the wonderful 
 development of that people in these late years. He writes 
 that on a visit to the Governor of Simoda, " one of them re 
 marked that he hoped the day was not far distant when the 
 Japanese would visit America; they readily admit our supe 
 riority, and seem to be strongly impressed by our country." 
 Hakodadi was also visited, which place pleased the commander 
 even better than Simoda. He remarks upon its spacious har 
 bor, completely land-locked, and capable of containing two 
 hundred sail in an anchorage of from five to twelve fathoms. 
 He thought it the most desirable harbor, in point of security 
 and health, for a man-of-war that he had ever visited. Its po 
 sition in relation to California, and to Russia and the Amoor 
 River, make it a port of trade and supply of great importance 
 to our government, far preferable to Simoda, whose harbor is 
 too small to admit of more than five or six vessels obtaining a 
 good anchorage. A feast was given to the Governor of Ha 
 kodadi and his suite on board ship > where the oblique-eyed 
 natives did straight justice to their fare, and handled knife 
 and fork, with an intuitive dexterity. The hospitality was not, 
 however, very generously returned. The supply of bullocks 
 fell short, and since, as Commander Foote remarks, "beef 
 sometimes involves a principle," a peremptory demand for 
 fresh beef, with the guns of the Portsmouth to back it, brought 
 at once an abundant supply. Our hero was shorter than some 
 in his diplomacy with the Orientals, and, it may be added, 
 more successful. After placing a buoy at the termination of 
 the spit which forms the harbor of Hakodadi, rendering the 
 entrance easier than when Commodore Perry visited this port, 
 Foote sailed for Hong-Kong, which he reached October 26th, 
 after a passage of sixteen days. On his passage, he speaks of 
 
Correspondence with the Kings of Siam. 1 3 1 
 
 the phosphorescent appearance of the sea in a heavy gale of 
 wind at night as resembling immense banks or shoals of snow 
 in constant motion. At Hong-Kong he learned of the fall of 
 Delhi, and of the approaching end of the Indian rebellion. 
 While lying here he also received an interesting letter from 
 the second king of Siam, the English of which is remarkably 
 good. In his answer to this royal epistle, he says : " It is im 
 possible to say where we shall cruise for the future. We all 
 hope to go home in the course of five or six months. A sea- 
 life is monotonous as well as dangerous in these seas of ty 
 phoons and currents and shoals. I presume that your majesty 
 will cruise about the Gulf of Siam in the man-of-war yacht. 
 You will certainly work chronometer and meridian observa 
 tions well. You will also take lunar observations. The vessel 
 will be as well navigated as any in the China seas should your 
 majesty handle the instruments." Our bluff sailor knew how 
 to pay a compliment when the time for it came. A letter was 
 addressed by him to the first king of Siam in acknowledg 
 ment of the gift of a gold and silver cigar-case, which was 
 accompanied by an autograph letter ; and still another epistle 
 to the second king, dated January 11, 1858, informing him of 
 the bombardment and capture of Canton by the combined 
 forces of the English and French, with a stately letter from 
 the first king, received during the civil war in America, de 
 ploring the war, but giving all his sympathies to the cause of 
 the Union, closed this curious correspondence, which seems to 
 have originated purely from personal liking or friendship, and 
 had nothing of an official character. 
 
 In December, 185Y, the Portsmouth ran twice over to Macao, 
 once to carry Mr. Reed, the American minister, and suite, and 
 a second time to protect American citizens during the assault 
 of the English forces on Canton. In February, Commander 
 Foote left Hong-Kong for Manilla, and there quite unexpected 
 ly received orders for home. He sailed March 5th for Anjer, 
 
132 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 island of Java, where the ship took in water and supplies ; 
 thence to St. Helena ; and from St. Helena to Portsmouth, 
 New Hampshire, United States, where they arrived on Sunday, 
 June 13th, 1858, having sailed since leaving the United States 
 more than forty-nine thousand miles. 
 
 A few letters, written and received during her home voyage, 
 will conclude the narrative of the eventful cruise of the Ports 
 mouth. 
 
 " U. S. SHIP ' PORTSMOUTH,' } 
 
 " At sea, lat. 5 S., long. 107 E., March 23, 1858. ) 
 
 " MY DEAR WIFE, We ought three days ago to have been in Anjer, 
 and been ready with our water and chickens to leave ' Java Head,' home 
 ward bound via St. Helena. We hurried off from Manilla in order to save 
 the monsoon and avoid the coming typhoons. The latter we must be ex 
 posed to when off the Mauritius, Isle of France. The commodore and Mr. 
 Reed sent me two handsome letters. I left the squadron on the best of 
 terms. We ran under the commodore's stem, and gave him three cheers, 
 and then hauled up the courses and fired a salute ; then ran under the 
 Minnesota's stern, and they gave us three cheers, which we heartily answer 
 ed ; and then, in the dark night, we stood out for the narrow entrance 
 into the bay, and passed it at daylight next morning. I had but little sleep. 
 We have had light winds, making only one hundred miles on an average 
 daily. I was up all night in running through Gaspar Strait intricate 
 navigation. Next day, Sunday, read service and a sermon on deck, and 
 delivered a lecture at berth-deck service. We hope to anchor to-morrow, 
 when I will resume this. Write on the 20th of June, and address the letter 
 to me at Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire. Tell Mr. Bacon that 
 I have written to have his things sent on to New York by the San Jacinto. 
 Of course, we did not expect to go home before returning to Hong-Kong, 
 or I should have taken his things on board. I wished myself to return 
 to Hong-Kong in order to buy some china, grass-cloth handkerchiefs, and 
 other things. But if we had gone back, it would have delayed us three 
 months. I feel very anxious to have to wait until six months expire with 
 out hearing from you. I commend you all to God's grace. I would have 
 addressed this to Josephine, but your name was down before I was aware 
 of it. Tell her it is for you both. You will receive a bill in my name 
 for seven hundred dollars. I have certainly economized to the utmost 
 this cruise hardly keeping up my position." 
 
Correspondence. 133 
 
 "Anjer, March 25, 1858. "We arrived early this morning, and, as you 
 may imagine, in these straits of tacks and shoals I was up most of the 
 squally night. We are nineteen and a half days from Manilla, but have 
 beaten the clipper ships, one of which I wrote you sailed eight days be 
 fore us, and is not here yet. I ran inside of all the shipping, and the cap 
 tain of the port says I am rather close to the shore. 
 
 " We hear that an attempt has been made on Louis Napoleon's life, 
 also that Paulding has seized Walker. I go ashore to breakfast with the 
 port officer. We sail to-night or at daylight in the morning. May God 
 watch over you and the dear children, and enable us to meet and see 
 each other. I wish the boys were here to see the monkeys and parrots, 
 and eat the pine-apples and other fruit. A splendid banyan-tree that 
 would cover your garden is close at hand. There is a delicious sensation 
 in this balmy climate and tropical scenery." 
 
 " ' SAN JACINTO,' MANILLA, March 4, 1858. 
 
 " MY DEAR FOOTE, Our association afloat on duty has been very short, 
 but has been rendered by you so agreeable that I could wish it were to be 
 longer ; but the wish could be scarcely generous, as you leave the arid 
 shores of China for happy old Connecticut and your family. I wish you 
 with all my heart a happy reunion with them, and I trust that your good 
 ship, in which you have so long and so faithfully served, may prove true 
 to you to the last. 
 
 "My kindest regards and remembrance to your family, and believe 
 
 me, very sincerely your friend, 
 
 " JOSIAH TATNALL, Commodore. 
 
 " Captain Andrew H. Foote, U. S. Ship Portsmouth." 
 
 " DEAR SIR, Pray add to your autographs this most earnest expression 
 of my gratitude for all you have done and all you are going to do for me 
 and mine. I am a good deal disturbed at parting with my son more 
 than I thought I should be ; but my decision is a wise one, for all reason 
 ing fails if three months' association with you, and such as you have 
 about you, do not do him good. He is a good-natured boy, with no 
 defects of temper. Treat him, for my sake, as a son, and correct him if 
 he do wrong, which I think he will not do intentionally. If you are in 
 Philadelphia, try to see Mrs. Reed, who will welcome you as my friend. 
 The record of my good opinion is of little value, but you shall have it. It 
 is no flattery, but exact truth, that the service has not an officer better 
 
1 34 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 worthy of confidence for any duty than him to whom these few words of 
 earnest farewell are written. God bless you, my dear sir. 
 
 " Ever truly yours, WILLIAM B. REED. 
 
 " To Captain A. H. Foote, MANILLA, March 4th, 1858." 
 
 These are extracts from Commander H. H. Bell's letters 
 from Whampoa, dated April and May : 
 
 " I have visited the burying-grounds three or four times, and could not 
 discover that the graves of our dead had been molested otherwise than 
 by the removal of the wooden head-boards except in one instance, where 
 three graves bordering upon a paddy-field had been dug away for the 
 extension of said field ; the wretches betraying themselves in this pecul 
 iarly Chinese theft by leaving the heads of the graves say six inches 
 deep showing in the bank which they had cut away, though no part of 
 the coffins remain this does not look like malicious desecration. Mr. 
 Everett's monument remains intact, having Chinese characters written on 
 
 it ; yet the grave of 's little boy is said to have been broken 
 
 up. , they say, was much disliked by the natives. The tombs of 
 
 the English were entirely destroyed." 
 
 " I accompanied our consul as a passenger and guest ; the ' Barrier 
 Forts ' are as we left them, no attempt having been made to renew them. 
 The French frigate Capricieme lay there. The city of Canton, along the 
 line of the river as well as in the interior, is a sad spectacle, most of the 
 houses having been deserted, and presenting nothing but ruins and deso 
 lation to the view the broken walls and torn roofs giving melancholy 
 evidence of the ruthless bombardments in the several attacks on the city. 
 I found the streets quite deserted for a Chinese city, the people looking 
 cowed and dejected, and apparently of the worst class. All who were able 
 have retired to the neighboring cities and villages, under the terror of 
 British guns." 
 
 " Weritworth, the leper, whom you left here, is said to be a putrid mass. 
 It is feared we shall have to receive him, for your charities excite no little 
 feeling on the part of those who have to do the nursing." 
 
 We close these two fighting Portsmouth chapters with an 
 extract of a pleasant letter of Commander Foote to his eldest 
 son, Augustus, then a little boy, dated Bangkok, June 7, 1857 : 
 
Letter to his Son. 135 
 
 " It is not every young gentleman who can say lie has a correspondent 
 in this far land. Our sitting or reception room here is sixty feet square 
 and thirty-five feet high, with a great deal of gilding about it, and some 
 twenty large mirrors on its walls. We have every thing furnished us by 
 the king. The attendants come in crawling on all fours, much as Willie 
 did when he was a baby, and then they knock their heads on the floor as 
 they approach you. The king lately lost five hundred out of fifteen hun 
 dred elephants in a fight. We have put up a flag-pole in our yard as 
 high as the one on the New Haven Green, and have hoisted the American 
 flag upon it." 
 
 Recent occurrences in China have cast a new light on the 
 policy of foreign nations with that empire. It is the testi 
 mony of intelligent residents in China who have watched the 
 course of events, that the failure of England and France to 
 exact reparation on the spot for injuries done by the Chinese, 
 and the reference of these to the slow action of diplomacy, 
 has been totally misunderstood ; has given the impression to 
 the Chinese that foreign nations were afraid of them, and 
 without doubt was the real cause of the late terrible massacre. 
 This tends indirectly to the justification (if aught more were 
 needed) of the prompt action of the commander of the Ports 
 mouth in attacking the Chinese forts in Canton Eiver. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. BROOKLYN NAVY YARD. BEGINNINGS OF 
 
 STRIFE. 
 
 JUDGED by the estimate of ordinary lives, a period had now 
 come when the subject of this memoir might have retired hon 
 orably from public service to a well-earned repose. After 
 twenty-one years and three months of wearisome sea-service, 
 under all suns and climes, reaping little more from the barren 
 fields of ocean than bare reputation, this veteran wanderer and 
 lighter might have said 
 
 "Is there any peace 
 In ever climbing up the climbing wave?" 
 
 It is true that the end had come of his actual sea-life, but 
 something remained for him to do that was still worthier and 
 greater : 
 
 "Old age hath yet his honor and his toil; 
 Death closes all: but something ere the end, 
 Some work of noble note, may yet be done, 
 Not unbecoming men that strove with gods." 
 
 A hearty letter from his true friend, Commodore Smith, 
 greeted him in Portsmouth, N. EL, on his return, congratulat 
 ing him " on the termination of a successful cruise, reflecting 
 additional honor upon your commission and character." 
 
 He did not yet have, and probably never did have, a dream 
 of idle ease. He w T as really too restlessly ambitious a man to 
 be inactive ; though his ambition was of a fine quality, ending 
 not in self, but in the public good. After a few months' rest 
 he received an appointment to the command of the United 
 
Philanthropic Labors. 137 
 
 States Navy Yard in Brooklyn, K Y., October 26, 1858. Be 
 fore he entered upon the duties of this station, while at his 
 home in New Haven, and also during the time he lived in 
 Brooklyn, his thoughts were much engrossed in public affairs 
 benevolent, religious, and political. His correspondence, 
 which was naturally for the most part professional, and con 
 cerned itself with matters which had engaged his mind in the 
 past, still had the great objects of the public welfare in view. 
 He wrote and spoke much on the subject of the suppression 
 of the slave-trade. 
 
 His grand panacea, which was good as far as it went, and 
 to which he clung until, with thousands of others, he was 
 taught a better lesson, was African colonization. He was, 
 however, persevering in his collection of facts, and in his ap 
 peals to the government on the subject of a vigorous suppres 
 sion of the trade at its original source, the African coast. He 
 thought that the responsibility rested in a great measure with 
 our country. He would have our government, like England, 
 cleanse its hands of all that iniquity, and, having clean hands, 
 it could act with power with other nations in its negotiations 
 on this subject. One of his correspondents, Captain Le Roy, 
 commanding the steamer Mystic, then cruising off the African 
 coast, seems to have had less confidence than himself in the 
 pure benevolence of England. This officer thus writes : 
 
 " I like your article much, and when I fall in with Calhoun and Godon, 
 will send it to them. I believe a few more such articles will have the 
 effect of drawing public attention in such a way toward this nefarious 
 traffic as may cause the establishing of measures to break it up. I regret 
 that my response to your inquiry about the palm-oil in the Congo should 
 have been incorrect ; but, as I subsequently stated, palm-oil within the 
 last year has begun to be an article of manufacture and export from the 
 Congo. With regard to the ' right of search,' as a general rule I am op 
 posed to its exercise by foreign vessels, especially by our English breth 
 ren. I must confess that, with all my regard for John Bull, I am not so 
 perfectly satisfied that he would always do the clean thing, and unless he 
 
138 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 were held to a strict accountability, our legitimate traders might be sub 
 jected to great annoyances. 
 
 " As to the idea of the suppression of the slave-trade being a matter of 
 philanthropy with Master John, I don't believe it, and I do not believe 
 one hundredth part of the zeal would be exhibited by him if he did not 
 receive so much per ton for every vessel captured, and so much a head for 
 every slave ; in fact, I have known an English captain honestly to confess 
 that he came out here to make money ; and when it has been suggested 
 that it would be a good plan to put an officer and boat's crew from an 
 English man-of-war aboard of our ships, and the opposite, so as to make 
 possible the more complete identification and interruption of the illegal 
 traffic, the response has been, * But will you share prize-money with us ?' 
 Prize-money is what they are after, and without it poor nig may be a 
 slave to the end of his life for all they care. As to cruising in company 
 with our vessels, they do not wish it. If there is a suspicious craft about 
 that will not deny its American nationality, so as to enable Master John 
 to seize him, he will possibly, in the exercise of his magnanimity, dis 
 cover that ' the grapes are sour,' and inform one of our cruisers ; but if the 
 fellow has cargo aboard, he will endeavor to persuade him to haul down 
 his flag and deny his nationality by promising to let him land, or work 
 upon his fears by threatening to hand him over to some American man- 
 of-war. Of course, knowing his offense is punishable by our laws with 
 death, the slaver does not long hesitate. We must change our laws upon 
 the subject. It must no longer be declared piracy, and punishable with 
 death, but a penal offense. Does it ever occur to the vaunters of British 
 philanthropy that few or none of all the slaves captured by British cruis 
 ers ever return to their native soil that they are taken to British colonies 
 and apprenticed ? And what is the nature of that apprenticeship ? Poor 
 abused Brother Jonathan puts his big hand into his pocket and sends 
 captured slaves back to Africa, and supports them there until they can 
 do something for themselves ; yet honest old John, who steals the slaves 
 from the slavers, and calls them apprentices, rolls up his eyes and groans 
 over American insincerity in countenancing the slave-trade, and thinks 
 complacently of how much he is doing for the suffering negro race. Our 
 friend Monsieur goes to work systematically, and has extensive and com 
 fortable barracoons put up ; Twys his apprentices, and has them decently 
 cared for, and sent in a regular way to his colonies. Though called 
 apprentices, they are still slaves. For some time past a great rivalry 
 has existed between the French factories and the slave-traders, which 
 
Philanthropic Labors. 139 
 
 has resulted in the price of slaves advancing some fifty or a hundred 
 per cent." 
 
 This writer, as well as Captain (afterward Commodore) 
 Borneo, his other correspondent from Africa, constantly ex 
 press to Captain Foote the obligations of those actually en 
 gaged in the work of putting a stop to the African slave-trade 
 to himself for what he had done, and evidently regard him as 
 authority on all these questions. He did what he could. He 
 worked and watched at sea, and wrote and agitated on shore ; 
 and if his views were not always the most comprehensive, he 
 must be looked upon as one who with an untiring life-long 
 zeal labored for the happiness of the colored race. 
 
 In the temperance reform, especially among seamen, and in 
 purely religious matters, he remained true to his convictions ; 
 and he seemed to delight in the opportunity of being at home 
 once more, in order to throw himself into these good works. 
 In private religious meetings his voice was heard in exhorta 
 tion. One of his warm-hearted naval friends writes to him 
 from Cincinnati in the midst of the revival scenes of 1858 : 
 
 " While voices from multitudes are going up from this goodly land in 
 praise and blessing for the outpourings of His Holy Spirit in these days 
 on our country, I was sure you would be glad to hear mingling with 
 them a voice from the ocean. I was enabled this morning by strength 
 from above to stand up and speak to speak about our glorious ship ; to 
 do what you, sir, have done and are doing. I should like to receive 
 from you a letter on the subject of religion among us sea-faring men 
 of this n6w and wonderful working of God's Spirit with us as well as 
 ashore. How they would rejoice to hear from an experienced head and 
 Christian heart tidings of these things, and would thank God and take 
 courage." 
 
 "While in charge at Brooklyn, Commander Foote established 
 and carried on, as he did in former years at the Philadelphia 
 and Boston Yards, a regular system of religious instruction 
 and of mission-schools among the operatives of the Yard, and 
 
140 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 in the neglected outlying districts; and there are many poor 
 families, sailors, and workingmen now living in and about that 
 neighborhood to testify of the good that he did to their bodies 
 and souls during his brief military rule at the New York har 
 bor. In the winter of 1859-60 there was quite an interest in 
 religious matters on board the receiving-ship North Carolina, 
 and a prayer-meeting was held nightly for months on the or 
 lop-deck of that vessel, upon which meeting Foote was a reg 
 ular attendant; and so frank, cordial, and confiding, as well 
 as energetic, was the tone of his piety, and his efforts for the 
 spiritual good of others were so earnest, that he was thought 
 to be immediately instrumental in the conversion of many. 
 He believed in George Herbert's words 
 
 "Be useful where thou livest." 
 
 He did not wait for impossibilities to clear up like mists, but 
 he steered straight into and through them. He began to do 
 what he could. He saw no impossibilities. Difficulties acted 
 upon him like stimulants. His methods were old and unva 
 ried, but he believed in them, and he applied them unhesitat 
 ingly. He meant to regulate matters, to begin the work of 
 improvement, to clear away old abuses, and leave the world 
 better than he found it; and his grand principle of action was 
 to begin at once at the religious nature, and try to implant a 
 new life there. 
 
 One of his old Portsmouth officers (Pendleton G. Wat- 
 mough), about to leave the Navy, writes : 
 
 " It is a long parting from one who represents all that is good in a 
 service where I have spent seventeen years ; and though about leaving 
 it, I shall always cherish a remembrance, and a fond one, of my associa 
 tions with many in it particularly of our brilliant cruise in the ' saucy 
 
 Portsmouth: "* 
 
 * In the same year of the return of the Portsmouth, a neat and hand 
 some monument, designed by a New York artist, costing $1000, whicli 
 was contributed " by their shipmates " of the San Jacinto, Portsmouth, and 
 
Correspondence. 1 4 1 
 
 Another fellow-officer of the East India cruise, Captain 
 Macomb, writes : 
 
 " The men like to hear of you. They know that you afforded them all 
 the ' pigeon,' as they call it, on the cruise, and that you had full swing in 
 that squadron. The old Portsmouthers are proud of being remembered 
 by Captain Foote. Could you not write to them, and give them some of 
 your good advice ?" 
 
 Commodore Smith sends a characteristic letter, which may 
 serve to diversify this uneventful but by no means unprofita 
 ble portion of Commander Foote's life : 
 
 "WASHINGTON, February 4, 1860. 
 
 "MY DEAR CAPTAIN, Yours of yesterday's date, with a douceur for 
 Anna, just received. She is a sturdy beggar, and seems to think the or 
 phans are especially under her charge. The object is good none bet 
 ter ; but I have cautioned her against troubling my non-Catholic friends 
 to contribute to Tier Catholic charities. She gets enough out of me to 
 suffice for the Protestant part of the Navy. But as you seem to be so 
 popular with the ladies, it emboldens them to take liberties. You are 
 more liberal than I should be under similar circumstances. My opinion 
 is favorable to the institution of widows' and orphans' homes of all re 
 ligions. Nevertheless I bear in mind what my priest reads at our offer 
 tory ' Never turn your face from any poor man. If you have no penny 
 to give, hear his story and judge charitably.' You are a good Samar 
 itan. You not only give the pennies, but you pour the oil and wine 
 of consolation into the wounds of the conscience and heart. I wish I 
 were so endowed ; but I am not. I do not possess the quality of pathos 
 which brings the stray sheep into the fold again. Such sacred oratory is 
 rare. It is not taught at the forum nor learned in the pulpit, but in pri 
 vate, with ' labor and intercourse with men.' Go on in your course. If 
 your military commission should fail you in any sense, your zeal and 
 ability to teach and speak will not. At last a Speaker is chosen. Next 
 
 Levant, was erected in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the memory of those 
 who fell in the capture of the Canton " Barrier Forts." The names of 
 these are inscribed upon the monument, with a representation of the 
 ships and the forts, with flags, wreaths, and other appropriate devices. 
 It is one of the finest marine monuments in the country, and forms an 
 interesting feature of the Yard. 
 
 K 
 
142 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 week I presume Congress will proceed to business, after squandering two 
 months in nonsensical squabbling. We hope a calm may succeed the 
 storm ; in the nature of things it must ; but the storm will not subside 
 until after March, 1861. I have no Navy news. I hear a vessel is to sail 
 next Tuesday for Brazil. You must be getting slack of work at your 
 Yard, which will make you uneasy. Yours truly, in haste, 
 
 "JOSEPH SMITH. 
 " Captain A. H. Foote, U. S. Navy Yard, New York." 
 
 There is a new and separate phase of Admiral Foote's life 
 which it would be interesting to dwell upon, but which we 
 would only indicate here. A large portion of the document 
 ary matter left by him is taken up with bulky notes of court- 
 martials in which he was personally engaged, both while 
 stationed on shore and while at sea. Owing to his great prac 
 tical energy and executive talent, he was often called upon to 
 act as the presiding officer in these courts ; and owing also, it 
 must be confessed, to his exceptionally rigid ideas of disci 
 pline, he was, in his own command, sometimes involved in bit 
 ter controversies and litigations with officers. While he went to 
 the root of matters while he was searching and unsparing, 
 and perhaps even at times erring in severity whenever insub 
 ordination, disrespect, and wrong was to be dealt with, never 
 swerving for fear of making an enemy he was unusually hu 
 mane where infirmities of character were involved, especially 
 among common sailors, so that he was considered to be quite 
 democratic, or too much inclined to take the part of the sea 
 man, or apprentice, or petty officer who was delinquent. He 
 was, in fact, rather too popular among the men for the aristo 
 cratic standard of the officers of the Navy. He befriended, 
 encouraged, and defended those whom he thought had no 
 friends. This trait is noticed by one of his brother -officers, 
 who says : 
 
 " I am very much grieved that your purser is ' infirm of purpose.' I 
 feel assured you have done your duty toward him, and that your kind 
 
Educational Matters. 
 
 feeling for the weaknesses of the weak a characteristic point in you 
 lias rather prompted you to go further in covering this vulnerable spot 
 than many others would." 
 
 As it is not desirable to stir up old controversies which have 
 now entirely passed away, it does not seem necessary to men 
 tion particular instances of court-martial trials in which Foote 
 was conspicuous at the time ; merely saying that his firmness 
 and general impartiality, with now and then a singular dis 
 play of roundabout good sense and kindly tact, are noticeable 
 in the history of these oftentimes protracted and difficult cases; 
 and from the testimony of all, in this judicial or juridical de 
 partment of his profession he was very valuable, having, in 
 deed, from a natural love of controversy, a partiality for its 
 excitements, and for all its elaborate forms and details, though 
 he was kept by his sound head and good heart from widely 
 erring in judgment. 
 
 Admiral Foote was a friend of education. In a correspond 
 ence with Lieutenant (now Commodore) Simpson, who was 
 then stationed as a teacher of gunnery at the Naval Academy 
 in Annapolis, he defends the system of professional instruction 
 against the vigorous assaults of that young officer, who was in 
 favor of a more practical teaching by purely naval men who 
 had seen actual service at sea. Foote expresses himself in fa 
 vor of a proper and equal combination of the two kinds of 
 teachers, thereby securing a thorough and scientific training, 
 as a basis upon which to build practical seamanship. This in 
 telligent view, coming from one so intensely practical as Cap 
 tain Foote was, certainly shows comprehensiveness and breadth 
 of mind. He was, in fact, a progressive man in all matters of 
 education, and was never so superstitiously in love with the 
 old as not to seize with eagerness upon new methods and 
 ideas, as he did. for example, upon the use of iron in naval 
 warfare. In fitting out the Portsmouth for her East India 
 cruise, the following letter was addressed by him to the Sec- 
 
144 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 retary of the Navy, which goes to prove his hearty interest in 
 scientific investigations : 
 
 " During the cruise of the Portsmouth abundant opportunities are likely 
 to occur to make collections in natural history. The surgeon of the 
 ship, Dr. Henderson, will collect specimens for the Academy of Natural 
 Sciences in Philadelphia, and perhaps also for Yale College. It is de 
 sirable, therefore, that a copy of Professor Dana's * Report on Crustacea' 
 (Exploring Expedition under Captain Wilkes) should be in the vessel. 
 Believing myself, in common with two or three scientific gentlemen here, 
 that it will meet the views of the government to encourage officers to 
 contribute when abroad to the cause of science, I respectfully request 
 that it may be purchased for the use of the Portsmouth during her ap 
 proaching cruise." 
 
 The letter of Lieutenant Simpson, shortly before referred 
 to, seems to have been sent for. perusal by Foote to his friend 
 Dupont, and called forth this expression in his reply : 
 
 , " But let me say how rejoiced I should be to see you, my dear Foote, 
 take hold of this establishment (Annapolis Naval Academy), from which 
 the last hope must spring of our giving the country an efficient Navy by 
 rearing officers of capacity and moral worth. I have ever followed the 
 fortunes of the academy with deep interest, increased perhaps by the fact 
 that I was a member of the first two boards which organized the school. 
 It has steadily progressed, like "West Point, which is the creation of over 
 half a century. Yet you would find an abundant scope for your active 
 and intelligent energies in developing improvements still needed, and 
 which no one man could cover heretofore in the brief period allotted 
 him there." 
 
 Both of these gallant men were soon to be summoned to a 
 more stirring and arduous service. 
 
 We have called this brief period of Commander Foote's 
 life when he had in charge the New York Navy Yard an 
 "uneventful" one; but this is not literally true. The period 
 of great events was rapidly drawing on, and they had already 
 begun to cast their shadows over the scene. It was a time of 
 agitation and popular excitement. Those especially who held 
 
Beginnings of Political Agitation. 145 
 
 offices of responsibility under the government were compelled 
 to the exercise of constant watchfulness from foes within and 
 without. The trial time, in fact, of this government was ap 
 proaching. It was to be proved whether a republic was a 
 strong or a weak government. It was to be proved whether 
 there existed a principle of vital national unity, or whether this 
 nation was but a loose confederation of independent States, 
 bound together by a. mere selfish tie easily dissolved. There 
 is a principle of growth in a nation as in a man an aspira 
 tion toward a higher civilization ; in fact, a true moral life 
 and it was to be seen if a century's apparent growth were no 
 true life after all, but a false existence and progress. Was it 
 a social compact or a living state ? Could the republic die by 
 simple disintegration or falling away of disaffected portions? 
 Had it a life which was strong enough to throw off corrup 
 tion, and which contained within itself the means of its own 
 cure and preservation ? 
 
 The election of Abraham Lincoln on the 6th of November, 
 1860, to the Presidency, brought an end to the hopes of plot 
 ters in regard to the future control of the national govern 
 ment ; but they had still six months to work out their schemes 
 during the waning administration of an imbecile executive, 
 who held the view that it was constitutionally forbidden to 
 protect the government against rebellion. Men in high offi 
 cial position were busily engaged in secretly undermining the 
 national power. While faithful servants, of whom Commander 
 Foote was one, were almost despairingly striving for the up 
 building and concentration of the Navy, the Secretary of the 
 Navy was sending off our ships to distant regions, or render 
 ing them useless for defense, and an easy prey to conspirators. 
 Both in the Army and in the Navy there were treacherous men, 
 who at heart were traitors while they nominally remained in 
 the pay of a government they had deliberately resolved to de 
 stroy. Then came in rapid succession the actual events of the 
 
146 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Secession drama the withdrawal of the Southern States one 
 after another from the Union ; the seizing upon navy yards, 
 arsenals, and forts ; the inauguration of a Southern Confeder 
 acy ; and the open insults offered to the national flag. At the 
 North as well as the South the atmosphere was surcharged 
 with disloyal sentiment. Even good men were in a state of 
 hallucination in regard to duty. One hardly knew his neigh 
 bor for a friend or a foe. Compromise was still the cry when 
 the sacred treasures and household gods were stolen away by 
 bold enemies of the state. 
 
 President Lincoln was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 
 1861, in the deepest period of gloom. He came to the admin 
 istration of a government whose resources were crippled, and 
 which, indeed, had been rendered almost powerless in every 
 department. Not to speak of the Army, the Navy w r as at an 
 extremely low ebb. Its vessels of war were either away at 
 foreign ports, or those at home were unready for action and 
 but half-manned. " At the beginning of the year 1861, the 
 total Navy of the United States was ninety vessels, carrying, 
 or designed to carry, 2415 guns. Of this number only forty- 
 two were in commission. Twenty-eight ships, bearing in the 
 aggregate 874 guns, were lying in ports dismantled, and none of 
 them could be made ready for sea in less than several weeks' 
 time ; some of them would require at least six months."* The 
 most of those in commission had been sent away to distant 
 seas, and, with the exception of the store-ship Relief, of 2 
 guns, the steam-frigate Brooklyn, of 25 guns, which had just 
 before arrived at Norfolk after a three-years' cruise, was ab 
 solutely the only armed vessel on the Atlantic coast ; and the 
 Brooklyn, moreover, drew too much water to enter Southern 
 harbors, or to operate with efficiency in the first scenes of the 
 war. Many of the naval officers, who were born at the South 
 
 * "Lossing's Civil War in America, 1 ' vol. i., p. 299. 
 
Letter of S. F. Dupont. 147 
 
 left their posts at the critical moment. No less than sixty, in 
 cluding eleven at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, resigned 
 their commissions; and there were also continual desertions. 
 In the Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the next year 
 there were two hundred and fifty-nine desertions and dismiss 
 als of officers from the Navy alone. At length the thirteenth 
 of April and the surrender of Sumter awoke the country, and 
 the war began. These are facts fresh in the memory of this 
 generation ; and we live now to bless the day when the first 
 gun was fired on Sumter, whose flash opened the eyes of the 
 nation to see its peril. 
 
 We subjoin two or three letters addressed to Commander 
 Foote while at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, from fellow- officers, 
 which go to show the intense disturbance in the Navy before 
 the war had actually commenced and at its earliest begin 
 ning, and which also show that there were noble and loyal 
 souls in the Navy as well as in the Army : 
 
 " NAVY YARD, PHILADELPHIA, January 25, 1861. 
 
 " MY DEAR FOOTE, I had intended writing you a ' New- Year's ' let 
 ter, but about that time I had many irons in the fire. 
 
 "A previous order to that which brought me here carried me imme 
 diately after to Annapolis as president of an examination board. From 
 this duty I only returned home last Saturday, finding our whole family 
 circle in deep grief from the loss of Mrs. Dupont's eldest sister, who had 
 been for many years a second mother to her. 
 
 " On reaching here on Tuesday I found your letter of the 16th instant, 
 which should have been forwarded to me at Annapolis. At that place 
 I saw your friends the Rodgerses and Simpson, who always spoke of you 
 with earnest admiration, and seemed to think the coast was clear for you 
 to come to the academy when Blake left. 
 
 " But, alas ! my dear friend, are we to have any academy ? My own 
 belief is that the drift is all one way. I have very little more faith in the 
 Border States than in the Cotton States ; there are any number of traitors 
 in Maryland. The Chief Justice is a Secessionist. 
 
 " I still hope against conviction, and that is about all that is left for a 
 man to do. 
 
148 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " We have been living under a delusion that we had a national gov 
 ernment, which has toppled over at the first breeze ; and secession, dis 
 union, and treachery are made the rule instead of the exception so safe 
 has it been made for a state to go out that the novelty alone encourages 
 the attempt. 
 
 " What has made me most sick at heart is to see the resignations from 
 the Navy. I had occasion to go to Washington the last week in No 
 vember, and was astounded to find the extent of the demoralization, not 
 only in every department of the government, but among the officers of 
 the Navy. I spoke out plainly, I tell you ; told them I had never be 
 lieved that I had been serving two masters ; that I had been nourished, 
 fed, and clothed by the general government for over forty years ; paid 
 whether employed or not ; and for what ? why, to stand by the coun 
 try, whether assailed by enemies from without or from within ; that my 
 state had had no part or lot in this support ; that my oath declared alle 
 giance to the United States as one to support the Constitution. 
 
 " But if I feel sore at these resignations, what should a decent man feel 
 at the doings in the Pensacola Navy Yard ? Here I can not trust myself 
 to speak ; and the Department accepting these resignations, not waiting 
 for a single particular after hearing that the Yard had been surrendered ! 
 So that, on a reconstruction, these two affairs will come back into the 
 Navy by treaty, of course. 
 
 " Thank you for your kind congratulations about my orders here ; they 
 are very acceptable, particularly if we hold together. 
 
 " I stick by the flag and the national government as long as we have 
 one, whether my state do or not, and well she knows it. 
 
 " I have Lardner and Drayton in the Yard with me nice men ; there 
 is no nonsense about the latter, though he is from South Carolina. 
 
 " I have a thousand things to tell you, but must close for the present. 
 Please remember me to Commodore Breese. 
 
 " Ever yours most truly, S. F. DUPONT. 
 
 " Captain Foote, U. S. N. 
 
 " I see you had no idea of being surprised by mobs. Oh, why was 
 not some one like you at Pensacola ? I pass no judgment on the old 
 commodore ; he was in a tight place, and if he had only ironed well the 
 traitors under him before he gave up, I should have been thankful." 
 
Letter of Samuel Mercer. 149 
 
 " U. S. FRIGATE ' WABASH,' HAMPTON ROADS, August 7, 1861. 
 
 "MY DEAR FOOTE, I received your kind and very welcome letter by 
 the Rhode Island, and am thankful to you for it. We met the Rhode 
 Island off the Frying-Pan Shoals, while we were securing two vessels by 
 getting prize-masters and crews on board of them. One was the Mary 
 Allen, a prize to the rebel privateer Dixie, and the other an American 
 vessel under English colors, just out from Wilmington, North Carolina. 
 These Englishmen in the rebel states are playing a deep game. The 
 consuls of Her Majesty are giving American vessels provisional regis 
 ters, and are loading them for English ports with the products of these 
 Southern States. I sent both vessels to New York, but fear they will 
 be recaptured before they get there. The papers we received previous 
 to these captures led me to believe that our coast from the capes of Vir 
 ginia to Cape Fear was lined with our cruisers in consequence of the ex 
 citement occasioned by the depredations of the Jeff Dams. But on my 
 arrival here I learn such is not the case. Acting under my false impres 
 sion, I directed the vessels to keep in shore, and if they are not captured 
 it will be a miracle, as I learn that small privateers are ready at every 
 inlet along the whole coast of North Carolina to run out in a moment 
 and capture any poor devil who may show himself along the coast. I 
 begin to believe that our press is a curse to our country. It was its ma 
 lign influence which caused our disaster at Bull Run. These two cap 
 tures and touching on Frying-Pan Shoals without damage are the events 
 of the passage from Charleston. I think if we could hang about half 
 a dozen editors and as many members of Congress, we should get along 
 better. I am afraid our President is not equal to the times, and I begin 
 to think the Cabinet is badly constructed. Seward seems to be disposed 
 to truckle to the English, and the President made a great mistake that 
 he did not close all the rebel ports entirely by an edict forbidding all 
 commercial intercourse with them whatever. This would have prevented 
 Lord Lyons and Mr. Mercier troubling us about the blockade. It seems 
 to me that the results of our exertions are by no means commensurate 
 with the enthusiasm of our people and the unlimited means placed at 
 the disposition of our government. But I will growl no more. 
 
 " I congratulate you most heartily, my dear Foote, on your promotion. 
 Get a smart, active vessel at once, and come and help us. I wish you 
 would give my love to Mrs. Foote and Miss Josephine, not forgetting the 
 smaller fry, and believe me most truly your friend, 
 
 "SAMUEL MERCER. 
 
 " To Captain A. H. Foote, Navy Yard, New York." 
 
150 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 These letters, which do honor to the Navy, might, if we 
 had the room, be greatly multiplied ; but we will only add 
 the following extracts from letters of a little earlier date 
 than the preceding, from an officer who a short time before 
 had retired from the service to become a farmer at the 
 West: 
 
 " Events which have followed each other for the last month so rapid 
 ly, and all tending to the disruption of our government, and even the 
 bonds of society itself, have naturally turned every one's attention to the 
 appalling state of aifairs likely to arise in the future. You will not be 
 surprised to hear that my desires look back to my profession. My faith 
 in the Union gives me an intense desire to lend my service, such as it is, 
 to the support of the Constitution. I am most satisfactorily situated here, 
 with excellent promise of future content and of a peaceful and prosperous 
 life, and the idea of returning to the Navy would otherwise never have 
 suggested itself. I want to hear from you and get your advice. I am 
 inclined to view the failure of the Star of the West to get to her destina 
 tion as a circumstance reflecting discredit upon the government. I must 
 confess to having wished, with all my heart, that your old command 
 had been commissioned with that job. My father says, ' Oh that Foote 
 had had command of that Star of the WestP He feels keenly the 
 shade of indignity put upon his old arm of the service, the artillery, 
 and hardly allows himself to speak of the outrage upon the flag by 
 those crazy men at Charleston. If you hear of any thing which would 
 argue a solid and great action of the Executive in defense of the gov 
 ernment which he holds in his weak hands, let me know, and I will 
 take steps." * * * 
 
 " I was much gratified, my dear captain, by the receipt of your card, 
 which appeared in the Tribune a few days since. I heard of it, and was 
 anxious to see it. Our papers here, as well as your own, were filled with 
 accounts of the ' Navy Yard excitement,' and just such exaggerated sen 
 sational articles as appear in reference to any matter of our day. I was 
 quite persuaded, and told my friends, that in a few days we would prob 
 ably arrive at the truth, and we would then find that ' our Navy ' had 
 done nothing subjecting them to ridicule or censure. I had almost de 
 termined to write to you myself and get the truth, when your letter came. 
 Allow me to say it is a characteristic letter, just such a one as you can 
 write frank, good-humored, truthful, and fearless the case made clear, 
 
Correspondence. 151 
 
 and criticism itself disarmed.* Yesterday I sent a letter to the Presi 
 dent, tendering my services to the government in my old position as 
 lieutenant ; but I will give you the letter. My object is to have it on 
 file. It was as follows: 'In the spring of 1859, when the government 
 was at peace and seemed secure in the loyalty of the people, I resigned 
 my commission as lieutenant in the Navy, after a service of eighteen 
 years. Recent revolutionary acts in portions of the territory, and the 
 many cases of desertion from the service, fill me with a desire to assist in 
 maintaining the integrity of the Union and the honor of its flag, and 
 impel me to tender my services to the government. I am ready at a mo 
 ment's notice to return to the Navy, should contingencies arise which 
 shall make my services needed.' The letter has not been acknowledged ; 
 but as the feeble individual at the head of the government seems to 
 have lost his head, this carries no special sting. I suppose a few days 
 will decide our fate now. I await them with intense impatience. A 
 great fear for Sumter possesses the public mind here. Should it fall, woe 
 to that old man in his native community !" 
 
 " The eve of the eventful day has arrived, and millions have read the 
 inaugural of our new President. I need hardly say that many in this our 
 city lament its tone, and show no disposition to recognize or support the 
 high, and, in my view, the only true position assumed by him. For my 
 part, I should heartily despise a government which took other grounds, 
 and should despair of the people who failed to support it. My letter to 
 Buchanan has been passed by without notice. I am ready to renew the 
 offer in truth, feel that it is a duty for every citizen to uphold, to the 
 whole extent of his ability, the high position assumed by the President. 
 I am willing to risk life and all in what seems to me the only salvation 
 of the nation when its integrity is attacked. If we shrink from the 
 execution of laws the moment they are rebelled against, what is to be 
 come of us ? I despise such a course, which causes a bitterness of feel 
 ing in me which I never fancied I could have. Under any party, I 
 would take the same course to give my services to uphold the govern 
 ment." 
 
 " It would be a happy day in my life to find myself once again asso 
 ciated with you in upholding the honor and integrity of our beloved 
 
 * Reference here to a letter of Captain Foote's published in the Brook 
 lyn Eagle (January 30th), in reference to a little flurry in regard to the 
 alleged exceeding of his official authority for the protection of the Navy 
 Yard. 
 
152 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 flag. Selfishness, cowardice, and depraved party necessities seem to be 
 arrayed against the purity and unity of our once glorious nation." 
 
 This has the true ring. It must have gone home to the 
 heart of his former commander. While it can not be denied 
 that Foote struggled for a time, as a great many did, with the 
 political problems of the hour, and even strove, as did Critten- 
 den and others, to discover some impossible compromise- 
 ground, yet when the time for action came he was found at 
 his post of duty. He had no hesitation as to his own course. 
 That was clear as the sun in heaven. One day, while dis 
 cussing these matters with his brother John, he said : " Well, 
 brother John, tell me plainly, do you mean to fight ? If you 
 don't mean to fight, then don't express your opinions so loudly. 
 As for me, I intend to fight." 
 
 Although he had now held for some time the title of cap 
 tain, yet he did not receive his actual commission to the cap 
 taincy until June 29, 1861. His worth and capacity were then 
 also fully recognized. In this hour of need the government 
 gladly turned to him and to the few who were like him. He 
 received an order, August 23d, to proceed to Washington, and 
 report in person to the Naval Department. He was removed 
 from the Navy Yard August 26th, and was appointed to the 
 command of the naval operations in the Western waters. 
 The following is the order of his appointment: 
 
 " NAVY DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, August 30, 1861. 
 
 " Sm, You have been selected to take command of the naval opera 
 tions upon the Western waters, now organizing under the direction of 
 the War Department. 
 
 "You will therefore proceed to St. Louis, Missouri, with all practi 
 cal dispatch, and place yourself in communication with Major-General 
 John C. Fremont, United States Army, who commands the Army of 
 the West. You will co-operate fully and freely with him as to your 
 movements. 
 
 " Requisitions must be made upon the War Department through Gen- 
 
Transferred to the West 153 
 
 eral Fremont, and whatever the Army can not furnish the Navy will en 
 deavor to supply, having due regard to the operations on the coast. 
 
 " The Western movement is of the greatest importance, and the De 
 partment assigns you this duty, having full confidence in your zeal, fidel 
 ity, and judgment. I am, respectfully, 
 
 " GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 " Captain Andrew H. Foote, U. S. Navy, Washington, D. C." 
 
 As we now commence a new period, by far the most im 
 portant and brilliant one of Admiral Footers life, we reserve 
 further details respecting the new field for the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 APPOINTMENT TO COMMAND OF NAVAL OPERATIONS AT THE WEST. 
 THE WESTERN FLOTILLA. 
 
 THE official account of Captain Foote's appointment to the 
 command of naval operations on the Western waters is thus 
 briefly given in Secretary Welles's Report of December 1, 
 1862: 
 
 " Besides these large squadrons on our maritime frontier, it became a 
 necessity at an early period of the insurrection to have an organized 
 naval force on the Mississippi and its tributaries. On May 16, 1861, 
 Commander John Rodgers was directed to report to the War Depart 
 ment, which in the preliminary stages assumed the chief expense, for the 
 purpose of initiating an armed flotilla on the Western waters, and imme 
 diately entered upon his duties. Proceeding to the West, he purchased 
 steamers which, under his supervision, were fitted, armed, and armored 
 as gun-boats, and thus was commenced the organization of the Mississip 
 pi flotilla, which a few months later made itself felt in a succession of 
 achievements that electrified the country. But before Commander 
 Eodgers had an opportunity of completing his arrangements and taking 
 his vessels into action, he was succeeded by Captain A. H. Foote, whose 
 energies and talents were exerted in creating and preparing that Navy on 
 the Western waters which he soon made so serviceable to the countrv. 
 Painfully wounded at Fort Donelson, he was relieved the 9th of May by 
 Captain Charles H. Davis, who was soon after appointed Chief of the Bu 
 reau of Navigation, and in October relinquished the command. By or 
 der of Congress the gun-boat fleet was transferred to the Navy, and now 
 constitutes an important squadron, under the command of Acting Rear- 
 Admiral D. D. Porter, who entered upon his duties the 15th of October. 
 
 " When Flag-Officer Foote arrived at St. Louis, and on the 6th of Sep 
 tember, 1861, assumed command of the Western flotilla, the forces con 
 sisted of three wooden vessels in commission, which had been pur 
 chased, equipped, and armed as gun-boats by Commander John Rod- 
 
Naval Preparations. 155 
 
 gers ; and there were nine iron-clad gun-boats and thirty-eight inortar- 
 boats in course of construction. 
 
 " The service was anomalous in its character, and there was with many 
 great incredulity as to the utility and practicability of gun-boats in car 
 rying on hostilities on the rivers, where it was believed batteries on the 
 banks could prevent their passage. There were also embarrassments for 
 want of funds and of material for naval purposes, there being no Navy 
 Yard or naval de"pot on the Western waters. All these difficulties were 
 met and surmounted by the energetic and efficient officer to whom the 
 duty was intrusted, whose perseverance and courage in overcoming the 
 obstacles that impeded and retarded his operations in creating a river 
 Navy were scarcely surpassed by the heroic qualities displayed in subse 
 quent well-fought actions on the decks of the gun-boats he had, under 
 so many discouragements, prepared." 
 
 The disasters with which the beginnings of the war were 
 signalized aroused the government to a sense of the vastness 
 of the work which was before them ; and preparations both 
 for the increase of the Army and Navy were begun on a 
 scale of commensurate magnitude. Additions were made to 
 all the squadrons, the outlying ships were called in, a fleet of 
 steam gun-boats was built, armed steamers, constructed for 
 speed,* were added to the blockade service, and the recruiting 
 for the Navy was carried forward with an enthusiasm and a 
 success that never before were witnessed in the history of the 
 American Navy. 
 
 But the marked feature in the history of our Navy in the 
 
 * In reference to swift steamers of light draught, the following order 
 was sent to the commanding officer of the New York Navy Yard : 
 
 "NAVY DEPARTMENT, April 21, 1861. 
 u COMMODORE SAMUEL L. BREESE, Navy Yard, New York : 
 
 " SIR, By order of the President of the United States, you will forth 
 with procure ten steamers capable of mounting a 9-inch pivot gun, with 
 light draught, about nine or twelve feet, having particular reference to 
 strength and speed. You will consult with Commodore Foote, the naval 
 constructor, and such other persons as are capable of giving information 
 and advice. Charter on the best possible terms for three months, with 
 the option of the government purchasing them within that time at a 
 
156 Life of A dmiral Foote. 
 
 year 1861 was the introduction of iron-plated steam-ships, 
 armed with a few guns of the very heaviest calibre the gen 
 uinely American idea of uniting the smallest vulnerable sur 
 face with the greatest destructive power. On the 3d of Au 
 gust, 1861, Congress passed an act authorizing the Secretary 
 of the Navy " to appoint a board of three skillful naval offi 
 cers to investigate the plans and specifications that may be 
 submitted for the construction and completion of iron-clad 
 steam-ships or steam-batteries, and on their report, should it 
 be favorable, the Secretary of the Navy will cause one or 
 more armored, or iron or steel clad steam-ships or floating 
 steam-batteries to be built ; and there is hereby appropriated, 
 out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
 the sum of $1,500,000." Commodores Joseph Smith and H. 
 Paulding, with Captain C. H. Davis, were appointed to this 
 board, and their report was presented of the date of Septem 
 ber 15. The result of this was the construction of those ar 
 mored vessels and monitors contracted for by Ericsson, Mer- 
 rick & Sons, and S. C. Bushnell & Co., whose services were so 
 wonderfully timely. It is altogether possible that iron-plated 
 vessels and batteries will be superseded, since already project 
 iles have been invented under whose impact solid 4^-inch 
 armor splits like glass, and nothing in the shape of iron or 
 
 stipulated price ; these vessels to be immediately removed to the Navy 
 or private yards, with the necessary alterations and equipments to render 
 them efficient for the service required. 
 
 " I am your obedient servant, 
 
 " GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 Similar letters were sent to Boston and Philadelphia. When it is con 
 sidered that, comparatively speaking, with no Navy, or material for one 
 to begin with, the immense number of six hundred vessels most of 
 them steamers required to close up three thousand five hundred miles 
 of blockade, and the fleets for outlying service and upon the Western 
 waters, were, in a space of time to be reckoned by months, made ready 
 for efficient service, we are justly amazed at the energy exhibited by the 
 Naval Department during the war. 
 
Naval Preparations at the West. 157 
 
 steel can resist them ; but for the emergency of our war, the 
 original genius that adapted iron to the system of naval at 
 tack and defense can not be too gratefully remembered. 
 Upon the little turreted monitor of Ericsson on the 9th of 
 March, 1862 an untried craft, at which old sailors looked 
 askant, and about which the most hopeful had serious doubts 
 the fate of the Navy, the safety of the national capital, and 
 the existence of the republic, seemed to be suspended; but 
 after that four-hours' fight with the Merrimack, the question 
 was settled, and a total revolution was wrought in the defen 
 sive capacity and relative strength of nations. The vast crop 
 of monitors and their huge contemporaries, such as the New 
 Ironsides, Weehawken, Dictator, Monadnoek, and Miantono- 
 mah, clad with invulnerable scales, and pointed with destruc 
 tive rams, swarmed our Atlantic waters, and made the threat 
 of foreign invasion an empty breath. They literally " warned 
 off" all interrneddlers. But the same principle was also ap 
 plied to operations on our Western rivers and waters. Soon 
 after taking charge of the Western Department, Major-Gen 
 eral Fremont became convinced of the necessity of preparing 
 a fleet of gun-boats for the purpose of acting with the Army, 
 and of commanding the Mississippi and its tributaries. The 
 fleet, when finally completed, under the successive commands 
 of Rodgers and Foote, especially the last, who brought it. to 
 perfection and carried it into operation, consisted of twelve 
 gun-boats, seven of them iron-clad, and able to resist all ex 
 cept the heaviest solid shot, and costing on an average 
 $89,000 each. The boats were built very wide in proportion 
 to their length, so that on the smooth river waters they might 
 have almost the steadiness of stationary land batteries when 
 discharging their heavy guns.* This flotilla, carrying one 
 hundred and forty-three guns, was as follows : 
 
 * Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 198. 
 
 L 
 
1 58 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 
 16 guns 
 
 St Louis . . 
 
 ... 13 guns. 
 
 
 9 " 
 
 Cairo . 
 
 ... 13 " 
 
 Mound City .... 
 
 13 " 
 
 Pittsburg. 
 
 ... 13 " 
 
 Cincinnati 
 
 13 " 
 
 Lexington . . 
 
 ... 9 " 
 
 Louisville 
 
 13 " 
 
 Conestoga . 
 
 ... 9 " 
 
 Carondelet 
 
 13 " 
 
 Taylor . . . 
 
 . . . ,9 " 
 
 Some of these guns were 64-pounders, some were 42-pound 
 ers,* and none were less than 32-pounders. Each boat also^ 
 carried a Dahlgren 10-inch shell gun, the Benton, Foote's 
 flag-ship, having two of these in her forward battery. But 
 we will speak more particularly of the construction and his 
 tory of these boats before the close of the chapter. 
 
 When Captain Foote went to his head-quarters at St. Louis, 
 on the 6th of September, 1861, he at once took up the work 
 which had been commenced by his predecessors. It can not 
 be denied that he went to this Western field from a simple 
 sense of duty, his decided preference being to have a purely 
 naval command, in which he doubtless would soon have made 
 his mark on the Southern coast. He loved blue water and 
 plenty of sea-room. He was every inch a sailor, and had little 
 taste for soldiering and for amphibious operations in swamps 
 and rivers. This work on Western waters was a "hybrid 
 service," part on land and part on water something demand 
 ing totally new expedients. It was an untried field, involv 
 ing in every part and aspect of it immense perplexities, diffi 
 culties, and, to any but the most energetic man, impossibili 
 ties. Of course the preparation of the boats was his first 
 care. He could do nothing until these were ready, and fitted 
 for their work on waters of a peculiar character and beset 
 with peculiar obstacles. The creation of this fleet, which be- 
 
 * Wherever 42-pounders are spoken of, it should be understood that 
 they were really 7 -inch rifle guns; the guns were old 42-pounders, 
 smooth bore, that had been rifled, and the shells used in them weighed 
 some eighty pounds. 
 
Preparation of the Flotilla. 159 
 
 came the terror of rebeldom on the Mississippi, Cumberland, 
 and Tennessee rivers, he himself regarded as the greatest 
 achievement of his life. The fighting of them he looked 
 upon as a secondary matter. 
 
 The work already done upon these boats, such as the Lex 
 ington and the Conestoga, which were handed over to him 
 when he assumed the command, was, in some important re 
 spects, bungling and imperfect. Captain Foote, in a letter 
 addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, thus speaks of the 
 condition of the fleet at that time : 
 
 " On assuming the command, September 6, 1861, the force consisted 
 , of three wooden vessels in commission, purchased, equipped, and armed 
 as gun-boats by Commander Rodgers. There were also nine iron-clad 
 gun-boats and thirty-eight mortar-boats in process of building. Seven 
 of these gun-boats had been contracted for by Quartermaster-General 
 Meigs, under authority of the War Department ; and the two remaining 
 boats were purchased and converted into gun-boats by order of Major- 
 General Fremont. The thirty-eight mortar-boats were also built by order 
 of General Fremont ; these were built of solid timber, without motive 
 power, and were each designed to carry a single mortar. The iron-clad 
 boats had less than one half of the vessel plated, while its most vulner 
 able part had on it but two and a half inches of plate." 
 
 In consequence of wanting money, credit, and material, 
 neither gun nor mortar boats could be completed within 
 the time specified by contract. "If they had been finished 
 two months earlier than they were," says Captain Pennock, 
 " there would have been no Columbus, no Island No. Ten, 
 no Memphis, no Yicksburg, and the Western forces might 
 all have been sent East. Every thing turned on those two 
 months." 
 
 But new vigor was now infused into the work. Every thing 
 was left in Foote's hands, as the following letter testifies : 
 
 " ST. Louis, September 16, 1861. 
 
 " Sra, In consequence of the duties which press upon my attention, 
 I am necessarily forced to trust much to your discretion. You will, there- 
 
1 60 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 fore, in the duty confided to you, use your own judgment in carrying out 
 the ends of government. 
 
 " Spare no effort to accomplish the object in view with the least possi 
 ble delay. J. C. FREMONT, Major-General Commanding. 
 
 " Captain A. H. Foote, Commanding U. S. Naval ) 
 Forces on the Western Waters, St. Louis." ) 
 
 Material improvements were made in the plating and arm 
 ing of the vessels ; the casting of the guns at the Fort Pitt 
 Foundery, Pittsburg, was expedited ; mortars and shells were 
 largely contracted for, although at first Foote was somewhat 
 doubtful in regard to mortar-boats without motive power, as 
 being unserviceable in waters with rapid current ; but he 
 seems to have been convinced by the arguments of Assistant- 
 Secretary Fox and of his experienced subordinates, and, more 
 than all, afterward by actual use. Some more vivid idea of 
 the questions, small and great, that had to be settled may be 
 obtained from the business letters of those under his com 
 mand, especially the letters of that active officer Lieutenant 
 S. L. Phelps, who, in Rodgers's as well as in Foote's time, had 
 an important part in getting the fleet ready. Lieutenant 
 Phelps says, writing from Louisville before the boats were 
 floated down the Ohio : 
 
 " The carpenters have left the Lexington and the Conestoga. There is no 
 paint for the boats. The Lexington has exhausted the supply put on 
 board by contractors. I find the people have got an idea that there is a 
 chance for contract upon which our country has gone mad, and about 
 which it is worse than dishonest to get the vessels over the bars. Any 
 one of these river men is ready to enter into a contract to do it, even if 
 there is not a particle of chance to succeed, knowing well that it is an 
 easy matter to get relief from Congress for two or three times the amount 
 of their outlay, whether successful or not, as the government is liberal, and 
 only needs the show of having undertaken to serve it for a good basis to 
 recover largely. I make it my business to gather all the information I 
 can about the river below, and I am satisfied the steamers can not now 
 be floated out in any manner. The officers have not a cent to send to 
 market and start the messes. What shall be done ?" 
 
Details in regard to Gun-boats. 161 
 
 At another time the lieutenant writes : 
 
 " The more I examine the work on the C&nestoga, the more disgraceful 
 patching it seems to be. The Lexington is best done, but none well ; and 
 the joiner-work all around is more like the work of common laborers 
 than of mechanics. The boat davits are not up, and no attempt made 
 to put them up ; the same of the iron ties and bars over the boilers. In 
 the Taylor you can not get from aft forward without walking over the 
 boilers. No attempt has been made to deck over for a gangway. The 
 contract calls for swinging booms none are provided. I am persuaded 
 that you will find it necessary to get authority to issue navy rations, and 
 to have navy regulations in regard to commutation, etc. It will be the 
 only way to save annoyances and losses to us. The army is not fit for 
 shipboard, and won't do at all." 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' TAYLOR,' MOUND CITY, October 3, 1861. 
 
 " SIR, A draft on the assistant-quartermaster of St. Louis for two thou 
 sand dollars, indorsed by me and discounted by the Cairo City Bank, 
 enabled me to pay a small amount to the officers and some of the more 
 needy of our crew ; but we are sadly in want of funds to complete and 
 equip our boats for service, and pay the bills already incurred in altera 
 tions and repairs. Mr. Hamilton complains that the burden is more than 
 he can bear. Government has failed to pay him toward the construction 
 of the new gun-boats according to contract, and the bills for the repairs 
 of the Lexington and Conestoga are still unpaid. I hope, therefore, for his 
 sake as well as our own necessities, you may succeed in obtaining some 
 money forthwith. 
 
 " Commander Stembel called at the bank to have a draft discounted, 
 the same- as ours, and was informed by Mr. Safford that the one we sent 
 had not been honored, and until it was he should not feel as if he could 
 extend the amount. He, however, after some arguing, consented to let 
 Commander Stembel have one thousand dollars, but refuses further ac 
 commodation until our draft is paid, and so the matter stands. Mr. Saf 
 ford accommodated us more on the faith of the Navy than from any con 
 fidence he had in the Quartermaster's Department ; and I trust through 
 your influence, and for the benefit of the others, that our draft will be 
 met immediately. 
 
 " May I ask of you the trouble to ascertain if our requisitions for sun 
 dry articles countersigned by General Grant, and forwarded from the 
 
1 62 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Quartermaster's Department at Cairo reached the Department at St. 
 Louis ? and, if so, if they have been attended to ? We need the articles 
 for immediate use, and are suffering without them. The articles of lard 
 and coal-oil are selling at Cincinnati at prices far below the range here, 
 and it would be a great saving to government if we could make imme 
 diate requisition for a supply for the three vessels. 
 
 " Matters are very quiet about Cairo. The Conestoga has gone up the 
 river under orders to Owensboro. General Grant informed Commander 
 Stembel that he had nothing for him to do, and desired that he might 
 cruise up and down the river a few miles either way, to let the rebels 
 know we were moving. Under these circumstances I shall remain here 
 till the vessel is completed, unless otherwise ordered. 
 
 " It is approaching winter ; it will be necessary to have some means of 
 heating our apartments. I would suggest the use of steam-pipes. The 
 main supply could come from the escape-pipe, and thus appropriate to 
 good use what would be lost. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " H. WALKE, Commander U. S. N. 
 
 " Captain A. H. Foote, commanding Naval Forces ) 
 on Western Waters, St. Louis, Mo." J 
 
 (Telegram.) 
 
 " CAIRO, Nbjember 22. 1861. 
 
 " To COMMODORE FOOTE, I would inform you that the Mississippi is 
 falling, with scant six feet. Would it not be well to send the gun-boats 
 while it is possible ? U. S. GRANT." 
 
 (Telegram.) 
 
 " CAIRO, November 30, 1861. 
 
 " To COMMODORE FOOTE, Two or three rebel gun-boats have made a 
 reconnoissance down the Tennessee. General Small requests that a gun 
 boat from here be sent. I have none. U. S. GRANT." 
 
 (Telegram.) 
 
 " WASHINGTON, December 23, 1861. 
 
 " To CAPTAIN A. H. FOOTE, The general-in-chief has directed Gen 
 eral Halleck to send to the gun-boats eleven t undred men from unarmed 
 regiments. M. C. MEIGS." 
 
Details in regard to the Fleet. 163 
 
 (Telegram.) 
 
 " CAIRO, December 17, 1861. 
 
 " To A. H. FOOTE, General McClellan will order to-day eleven hun 
 dred men to be detailed for your boats. We have vessels waiting for 
 men. A great many of our ships go to sea without any Navy officer on 
 board ; but we can give you Lieutenants Bryant and Thompson, dates of 
 eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, and possibly some commanders. 
 
 "G. A. Fox, Assistant-Secretary of Navy." 
 
 (Telegram.) 
 
 " WASHINGTON, December 30, 1861. 
 
 " To FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE, After waiting four days, I have had an 
 interview with Meigs, presenting accounts for more than three hundred 
 thousand dollars. I can obtain no assurance of receiving a dollar, and 
 must return as I came. Will leave this evening for Cairo. 
 
 " JAMES B. EADS." 
 (Telegram.) 
 
 " WASHINGTON, January 10, 1862. 
 
 " To A. H. FOOTE, The President desires immediately a full report 
 of the number of your gun-boats, armament, crew, etc., and full particu 
 lars in relation to the mortar-boats, the number in commission, number 
 of mortars mounted, number of mortars ready to mount, and the. time of 
 completion of all the boats. 
 
 " G. V. Fox, Assistant-Secretary of Navy." 
 
 (Telegram.) 
 
 " CAIRO, January 29, 1862. 
 
 " To CAPTAIN A. H. FOOTE, The President orders if Flag-Officer Foote 
 can find a suitable boat which he can purchase at a fair price, let him 
 purchase it at once. You will be governed accordingly in procuring a 
 boat for the mortar-flotilla. M. C. MEIGS." 
 
 (Telegram.) 
 
 " CINCINNATI, February 3, 1862. 
 
 " To FLAG-()FFICER A. H. FOOTE, Can not buy Western for less than 
 twenty thousand dollars. Shall I buy her ? It is absolutely necessary 
 that Mr. Magee come here immediately. How many men and shells is 
 the steamboat to be fitted for ? Answer immediately. 
 
 " J. P. SANFORD." 
 
1 64 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 These are specimens of the great number of such letters, 
 telegrams, and communications some of them still more urg 
 ent, and relating to more important and difficult matters that 
 might be given, showing the multiplicity of detail, and the 
 perplexing questions of all kinds that were constantly coming 
 up and requiring immediate decision questions in regard to 
 ordnance, to money supplies, to the obtaining of fit mechanics, 
 to the equipping and manning of the vessels, and especially in 
 relation to the work to be done upon the vessels themselves, 
 which, peculiar in their build and novel in their adaptation of 
 iron-plating to river steamboats, required close watching and 
 the greatest scientific skill. It remains only to speak more 
 definitely than has yet been done of the origin of this famous 
 flotilla. 
 
 As early as April, 1861, the government was convinced of 
 the military importance of the Western rivers and waters. 
 Attorney-General Bates wrote to James B. Eads, of St. Louis, a 
 man of great mechanical genius and energy of character, who 
 had been engaged in removing obstructions from the Missis 
 sippi and its great tributaries, respecting the use of steam gun 
 boats upon the rivers. Mr. Eads's plan was referred to Com 
 modore Paulding, who reported favorably upon it, and a naval 
 officer, Captain John Rodgers, was detailed to go to the West 
 and consult with Mr. Eads. The result of this consultation 
 was that in the latter part of May and in June the f reight-and- 
 passenger Ohio steamers Conestoga, Taylor, and Lexington 
 were altered at Cincinnati, and armed as gun-boats. These 
 vessels were not plated, but were protected by oak bulwarks 
 against musket-balls. 
 
 During the month of July following, the quartermaster- 
 general advertised for proposals to construct a number of en 
 tirety new iron-clad gun-boats for the service of the Missis 
 sippi River. The same Mr. Eads was the successful bidder. 
 " The Department decided to construct seven of these vessels, 
 
History of the Gun-boats. 165 
 
 each of about six hundred tons, to draw six feet, to carry thir 
 teen heavy guns, to be plated with iron two and a half inches 
 thick, and to steam nine miles per hour. They were one hun 
 dred and seventy-five feet long, and fifty-one and a half feet 
 wide ; the hulls of wood ; their sides projected from the bot 
 tom of the boat to the water-line at an angle of about thirty- 
 five degrees, and from the water-line the sides fell back at 
 about the same angle to form a slanting casemate, the gun- 
 deck being but a foot above water. This slanting casemate 
 extended across the hull, near the bow and stern, forming a 
 quadrilateral gun-deck. Three 9 or 10 inch guns were placed 
 in the bow, four similar ones on each side, and two smaller 
 ones astern. The casemate inclosed the wheel, which was 
 placed in a recess on the stern of the vessel. The plating was 
 two and a half inches thick, thirteen inches wide, and was 
 rabbeted on the edges to make a more perfect joint."* 
 
 These seven vessels were begun and carried forward with 
 immense energy, and were finished and ready for armament 
 within one hundred days after the signing of the contract. 
 The first of them, and, indeed, the first United States iron 
 clad, with her boilers and engines on board, was launched in 
 Carondelet, Missouri, on the 12th of October, 1861. She was 
 named the St. Louis by Admiral Foote ; but when the fleet 
 was transferred from the War Department to the Navy, this 
 name was changed to the De Kalb, there being another com 
 missioned vessel at that time named the St. Louis. Then 
 followed the Carondelet, Cincinnati, Louisville, Mound City, 
 Cairo, and Pittsburg. Shortly after, the most powerful ves 
 sel of them all, and which played an important part in the 
 war as the flag-ship of Admiral Foote the Benton was 
 altered and plated from the basis of a very large and stout 
 snag-boat that had borne the same name. Some smaller 
 
 * Boynton's " History of the Navy during the Rebellion," vol. i.. p. 501. 
 
i66 
 
 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 THE "BENTON." 
 
 boats, partially armored, were added, and thus, in an incred 
 ibly short time, there was prepared "a powerful squadron, 
 aggregating five thousand tons, capable of steaming at nine 
 knots per hour, each heavily armored, fully equipped, and 
 ready for their armament of one hundred and seven large 
 guns." 
 
 This rapid generalization does not convey any conception 
 of the incessant detail and the wearing toil, night and day, 
 week-days and Sundays, of those who were chiefly concerned 
 in the getting up, or extemporizing, as it were, of this fleet, 
 whose peculiar character necessitated the invention of new 
 machinery, and the establishment of new navy yards, dock 
 yards, rolling-mills, machine-shops, foundries, forges, and saw 
 mills. " The timber to form the hulls of the vessels was as yet 
 uncut in the forests, and the engines to drive them were un 
 built." Of course the general supervision of this work cer 
 tainly during the latter half of it and the impelling will that 
 carried it all forward, and brought it up to a point where it 
 was wrought into a most complete and formidable instrumen 
 tality of destruction, without which the power of rebeldom at 
 the West could not have been broken this undoubtedly was 
 
Anxieties and Encouragements. 167 
 
 his who mainly bore its responsibility ; but, like the labors of 
 Perry in constructing his gun-boat fleet on Lake Erie, while 
 the work was arduous, it was the sure means of final success. 
 
 The letters of Captain Foote betray the intense anxiety that 
 he felt, but they bespeak at the same time the unflinching 
 spirit of the man in carrying on this, anomalous work, which 
 was, as has been remarked, wholly uncongenial to him. He 
 wished to surround himself with naval men, and he succeeded 
 in doing so to a considerable extent; but his sailor soul was 
 harassed by having to operate through the Army Department, 
 through Army agents and civil contractors, and landsmen and 
 river men of all kinds, some of the latter being most finished 
 specimens of Western Yankees intensified. 
 
 But there were some encouraging features. The whole 
 country was looking on with interest; and at Washington 
 Secretary Welles, and, above all, Foote's warm personal 
 friends, Gustavus Yasa Fox, the Assistant - Secretary of the 
 Navy, one of the most able and far-sighted men in the govern 
 ment, and Commodore Joseph Smith, who from the earliest was 
 a main promoter of the iron-clad innovation->-these, as far as 
 they had time and opportunity, were unwearied in their aid. 
 
 A few extracts from Commodore Smith's letters, written at 
 this period, will close the chapter. Under the date of Octo 
 ber 25, 1861, he writes : 
 
 " Great excitement prevails on account of the fall of Lexington, and it 
 seems that General Fremont has incurred the displeasure of many for 
 not supporting Colonel Mulligan better. What the result may be is yet 
 to be seen. We are behind in equipment, for want of guns of the proper 
 kind. Rifled cannon may be very useful in certain positions and cases, 
 but my opinion is that heavy shot from smooth bores will be more de 
 structive than the rifled projectiles. Some of each may be well. Mis 
 souri and Kentucky seem now to be the most interesting points, and we 
 should have double the men in those regions that we have. I think the 
 Department will be disposed to favor you, for none in the Navy stand 
 before you. You see what changes in squadrons have been made a 
 
1 6 8 Life of A dmiral Foote. 
 
 lieutenant in command of one of our largest ships ! It is said that our 
 Navy officers are too old be it so ; I am ready to be put into the hop 
 per to be ground over again. Don't know what the Board will do, and 
 care less. 
 
 " Pity our elite of the Navy could not have let well enough alone, and 
 left the Department to furlough inefficient officers while it had the 
 power to do so. Oh, my country ! I feel for her misfortune and fear 
 for her destiny. But there is a higher Power, and I trust after He has 
 sufficiently scourged us we shall return to our duty and to peace. We 
 are too sordid for patriotism, and until the selfish principle shall be 
 eradicated we shall continue to suffer." 
 
 Under October 31st he writes : 
 
 " I understand all your embarrassments ; but if any man can overcome 
 them, you can. I spoke to the Secretary about sending men to you, and 
 I understand they will be taken from Fort Ellsworth, near Alexandria, 
 and sent to you forthwith and good men' they are. We are pressed 
 here for supplies, all transportation being cut off except by the Baltimore 
 Railroad. Supplies now are at a most ruinous price, but we hope soon 
 to open the Potomac by upsetting the batteries studded on the Virginia 
 bank of that river. What are to be the next movements of the Army of 
 the Potomac I do not know. I hope when they do move they will 
 sweep clean as they go. I have seen the man here who furnished the 
 iron for plating your boats ; it is sufficient to break, or stop, or turn the 
 enemy's shot, I think." 
 
 He says, December 31 : 
 
 " I submitted your general orders to Dahlgren, who said they could 
 not be criticised. It is difficult to prepare a flotilla in the circumstances 
 in which you are placed ; but you will master it, and come out all right. 
 We are going at the rate of $200,000 per diem, and upon the rag system. 
 You have read Seward's reply to Lord John Russell's demand. It is in 
 genious, gassy, too long, but able. Our diplomacy with England stands 
 * Wilkes, m Apology.' We shall, I trust, strike a death-blow to the Confed 
 erate hopes before many months pass ; if we do not, our country will be 
 hi a lamentable condition. The black clouds around us look threaten 
 ing ; but I trust they have a silver lining which will dispel them after a 
 time." 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 FIRST OPERATIONS OF "FOOTED FLOTILLA." THE ACTION AT 
 
 LUCAS'S BEND, AND RECONNOITRING EXPEDITIONS. 
 
 Now that the war is over, we can afford to give our whilom 
 Southern foes the credit of great ability in military affairs, 
 and to recognize the truly formidable nature of the rebellion 
 that was organized against the national life. They certainly 
 far surpassed us at the more calm and sluggish North in the 
 force, rapidity, and skill of the early operations and disposi 
 tions of the war. From the fact also that there was a real 
 despotism at the South, and a spirit of intense, passionate con 
 centration upon one subject, the Southerners hurled themselves 
 with desperate energy into the struggle. In point of territory, 
 also, the country was about equally divided ; for the Ohio 
 River really formed the northern defensive line of the rebel 
 states. Kentucky's neutrality was of such a nature as to give 
 free scope to the enemy's operations; the Mississippi River 
 below Columbus was entirely sealed up; in Missouri the re 
 bellion had a strong basis for attack upon the Northwestern 
 States ; and, in fact, the rebel line presented an almost un 
 broken front of fortified posts from the mouth of the Ohio to 
 the mouth of the Potomac. Success in Virginia alone could 
 avail but little to break this line of defense unless at the West 
 it was penetrated and cut in two. Vast masses of Southern 
 troops were concentrated in Tennessee between Nashville and 
 the Mississippi River, and also in Eastern Tennessee ; but how 
 to come at these, and how to project and maintain Northern 
 armies in hostile states, so far from the base of supplies, was a 
 difficult question, and, at the time, one wholly incapable of 
 
170 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 being answered so long as the great river communications of 
 the West were in the power of the enemy. The Ohio River 
 was to be kept open through its entire length; the Cumber 
 land and Tennessee rivers were to be cleared of their formi 
 dable fortifications ; Kentucky and Tennessee were to be held 
 possession of with a strong grasp ; Columbus was to be flank 
 ed, and the Mississippi River to be opened to its mouth 
 these were the problems that presented themselves to our gov 
 ernment to be solved before it could hope to deal successfully 
 with the rebellion at the West, or with the rebellion at all in 
 its essential strength. 
 
 We have in this country been put to school by the hard 
 schoolmistress, War, and have learned a great deal of the ge 
 ography of our own country that we did not know before; 
 and, above all, we have come to understand better than before 
 the magnificent system of inland water communication that 
 traverses our vast territory, and makes it available, not only to 
 the peaceful offices of commerce, but the sterner uses of war. 
 The inhabitants of the rebel states grasped the idea sooner 
 than we at the North did, and they promptly seized upon the 
 Western rivers as they had done upon the Potomac ; but they 
 evidently did not anticipate the creation and powerful charac 
 ter of the Northern gun-boats, although upon the Mississippi 
 they themselves had commenced at an early date the con 
 struction of iron-clads and the armoring of river steamers al 
 ready in use. 
 
 The first operations of " Foote's Flotilla," now that the gun 
 boats were fast becoming prepared for action, were wholly 
 tentative, and chiefly directed to exploring expeditions and 
 reconnoissances on the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee riv 
 ers. They were at this time under the immediate control of 
 the War Department, and were more especially to act in co 
 operation with the army force under General Grant, whose 
 head-quarters were at Cairo ; but Captain Foote, strenuous for 
 
SCENE OF OPERATIONS AT THE WEST. 
 
Fight at Lucas s Bend. 171 
 
 the independence and freedom of his command, while at the 
 same time prompt to co-operate with the Army, seemed at first 
 to be busy in trying the capacities of his fleet before attempt 
 ing great things. He sent his grim river-dogs, singly or two 
 in company, up and down these waters on short excursions to 
 spy out the enemy's position, and sometimes to give them a 
 little taste of what was to come. It was characteristic of him 
 not to attempt any thing important until he was perfectly 
 ready, and then he moved swiftly. 
 
 One of these early minor but not unimportant expeditions, 
 made in conjunction with the land forces, is what is called the 
 fight of " Lucas's Bend." Eight miles below Cairo, at Norfolk, 
 a town in Missouri, there was a body of rebel troops whom 
 General Grant determined to dislodge, and two vessels of the 
 flotilla the Lexington and the Conestoga were at once put 
 in requisition. The narrative of this action is briefly given in 
 the following letter, written by Lieutenant Phelps, command 
 ing the Conestoga : 
 
 " TJ. S. GUN-BOAT * CONESTOGA,' CAIRO, ILL., i 
 September 10, 1861. V 
 
 ' CAPTAIN A. H. FOOTE, U. S. N., commanding .Naval Forces, "Western 
 
 Rivers : 
 
 " SIR, I have to inform you that this morning I got under way with 
 this vessel, in company with the Lexington, at the request of Colonel 
 Waggoner, and went down the river to cover an advance of troops from 
 Norfolk in that direction. After passing considerably below the forces 
 on shore, the Lexington turned back to be nearer them. I proceeded on 
 farther down to examine the head of Island No. Two for a reported bat 
 tery, but failed to find it. I, however, discovered the enemy in force on 
 the Missouri side at Lucas's Bend, and at once opened fire upon their ar 
 tillery and cavalry. The enemy had about sixteen pieces of field artil 
 lery, and, it is believed, one heavy piece in battery. Several of their 
 pieces were rifled cannon, and ranged to and beyond this vessel, striking 
 all about her. In a short time Commander Stembel, hearing our guns, 
 came down with the Lexington, and joined in the fight. The rebels 
 moved their batteries from point to point, while we availed ourselves of 
 
 M 
 
172 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 our motive power to move up stream as the enemy would attempt to 
 move up, back from the banks, and bring their several batteries out at 
 different places to fire a few rounds, and then gallop to some other point. 
 Their force of cavalry was considerable, and I fired several shells among 
 them with great apparent effect. The shell and shot of both our vessels 
 were lodged among their batteries. Both the Lexington and this vessel 
 retired out of range for a short time about one o'clock, hoping to lead 
 the enemy up higher, to where our land forces were. Two steamers of 
 the enemy had come up from Columbus, one of them the gun-boat Tan- 
 Tcee, which also opened fire on us ; but I found our guns could not reach 
 them where they lay below the batteries. At about two o'clock I again 
 dropped down with this vessel, determined to try a shot again at the reb 
 el gun-boat. The first shot must have struck her on the ricochet, as it 
 touched the water close alongside, and she at once started down stream. 
 " The Lexington again came up, and, it is believed, succeeded in land 
 ing an 8-inch shell in the Yankees wheel-house and side, where it burst. 
 At all events, the vessel appeared to be greatly injured, and went off 
 with but one engine working. She retired under the batteries at Colum- 
 bus > where the other one had previously gone. Our boats again opened 
 fire upon the enemy's batteries, and before five o'clock we had silenced 
 them entirely, driven their force out of reach, and without any injury to 
 ourselves. I am satisfied we did great damage to the enemy. While 
 retiring, this boat was fired upon with musketry by an enemy conceal 
 ed in a thicket, and one man, Nelson Castle, quartermaster, was shot 
 through the arm and in the forehead. I think he will recover, but an 
 operation will be required upon his skull. I at once opened with canis 
 ter upon the thicket, and quickly cleared it of the rebels. Some of 
 them were shot by our small-arms men. I can not speak too highly of 
 the spirit and will of the crew, scarcely one of whom had been under fire 
 before. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " S. L. PHELPS, Lieutenant U. S. N." 
 
 Captain Foote makes the following report to General Fre 
 mont of a reconnoitring expedition which he himself con 
 ducted : 
 
 " OWENSBORO, KY., Sept. 25, 1861. 
 
 " GENERAL, Agreeably to your orders per telegram of the 22d instant, 
 and further instructions from General Grant, commanding at Cairo, to 
 proceed to Owensboro with the gun-boats for the purpose of keeping the 
 
Expedition to Owensboro. 173 
 
 Ohio River open, and to dislodge the rebels supposed to have been in 
 possession of that place, I proceeded to Paducah on the morning of the 
 23d in the steamer Bee, before the gun-boat Lexington, Commander Stein- 
 bel, was ready to leave Cairo, for the purpose of calling on General Smith, 
 and of having the gun-boat Conestoga, Lieutenant Phelps commanding, 
 ready on the arrival of the Lexington to accompany me up the river. 
 
 " On reaching Paclucah, I ascertained from General Smith that the 
 Conestoga had gone on a short cruise ; consequently, on the arrival of the 
 Lexington, I immediately proceeded with her alone up the river, taking 
 with us the steamer See, as the water was low and the river falling, that 
 we might have the means, if necessary, of getting afloat more readily. I 
 also sent the Bee up the Cumberland River fifteen miles in a vain search 
 for the Conestoga. After grounding twice, at one o'clock on the morning 
 of the 24th we were compelled to anchor and lie over till 8 A.M., when, 
 in company with the Bee, and she towing us, we proceeded up the river 
 to Evansville, from whence I telegraphed you at 11 P.M. 
 
 " This morning we reached Owensboro ; found no batteries, but were 
 boarded by Colonel McHenry, who, with Colonel Hawkins, had a skele 
 ton Kentucky regiment, which had arrived the previous morning. I 
 sent for the authorities of the place, and directed them to prevent the 
 display of secession flags. A strong disunion sentiment is manifest in 
 the place, but no disrespect was shown me, although I have been much 
 among the people ; but I directed Commander Stembel to hold as little 
 communication with the shore as practicable. The colonels, with their 
 force, as previously designed, left the town during the day, although I 
 strongly importuned them to remain, as I did the Cincinnati company ; 
 but they declined on the ground of not being properly equipped, nor 
 having been mustered into the service. Under these circumstances, and 
 the water requiring the Lexington soon to leave, I ran down to Evansville 
 on the Bee, and telegraphed to General Morton at Vincennes, Indiana, 
 asking for five hundred men for Owensboro. If I get no answer, I pur 
 pose telegraphing General Anderson at Louisville for the same number. 
 On returning to Owensboro in the evening, I again communicated with 
 the shore ; after which, and giving my orders to Commander Stembel to 
 remain till the low water required him to leave in order to reach Cairo 
 safely, I ran down to Evansville, meeting and boarding the Conestoga on 
 the way, and giving her instructions ; and here have telegraphed to Gen 
 eral Anderson for five hundred men to be sent to Owensboro. Having 
 done all in my power in this quarter, and the preparations of the gun- 
 
174 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 boats in St. Louis demanding my immediate attention, I leave for that 
 place at 10 A.M. to-morrow, and trust that I may personally communicate 
 with you in the evening. In haste. 
 
 " I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, A. H. FOOTE. 
 " Major-General Fremont, Commanding Western Army, ) 
 St. Louis, Mo." f 
 
 The Conestoga proceeded to Owensboro, and remained there 
 as long as it was safe to do so, even going farther up to Haws- 
 ville and Cannelton, quelling by her presence some symptoms 
 of disturbance, but leaving suddenly on account of the alarm 
 ingly low state of the river, and having great difficulty in get 
 ting over the bars, there being three inches too little of water. 
 The commander of this vessel, Lieutenant Phelps, was, as has 
 been remarked, one of the most energetic of Foote's officers. 
 He ably seconded his chiefs incessant labors to bring the gun 
 boats to a higher state of efficiency. He writes (October 5) : 
 
 " I would ask your attention to the armament of this vessel. Had 
 there been a rifled cannon, or even a heavy 32-pounder on board on the 
 evening of the 1st, we could, in all probability, have destroyed the rebel 
 gun -boat Jeff Davis, near the batteries above Columbus, under which 
 she found protection. The rifled 32 or 42 pounder, one on either end, 
 would render this vessel infinitely more efficient. General Grant offered 
 to exchange a heavy 32-pounder for one light one carried aft, but the 
 carriage we have will not answer. I would quite as soon have the 
 32-pounder at present on board as the 64 -pounder shell-guns on the 
 other boats. With solid shot our range is better. I feel confident that 
 this change of armament especially for one heavy rifled piece is of 
 importance enough to justify my urging it upon your attention." 
 
 In another letter (October 18), Lieutenant Phelps gives an 
 interesting account of a reconnoissance up the Tennessee 
 River, even as far as Fort Henry. He says : 
 
 "On the following day (12th) we ascended the Tennessee River to 
 near Fort Henry, where we lay over night. The next morning I exam 
 ined the fort carefully at a distance of two to two and a half miles, the 
 rebels not opening fire upon us. 
 
Reconnaissance up the Tennessee. 175 
 
 " One mile below a small body of men had fired at the vessel with 
 small-arms ; but a shot put an end to further demonstrations of the kind. 
 The fortification is quite an extensive work, and armed with heavy guns, 
 mounted ' en barbette,' and garrisoned by a considerable force. It is sit 
 uated about half a mile above the head of Panther Creek Island, and 
 where the Tennessee state-line leaves the right bank and crosses the river. 
 There is no channel upon one side of the island (western), and a narrow 
 and somewhat crooked one upon the other, which continues so till within 
 a mile of the fort, where the water becomes a good depth from bank to 
 bank some six hundred yards. It is credibly reported that the rebels, 
 at a point about five miles above the fort, are converting three steamers 
 into gun-boats, and are plating them with iron. There are extensive 
 iron works on the river. They have one of the finest and fastest steam 
 ers in the West the Eastport. If desirable, it will be an easy matter to 
 render their boats almost useless by obstructing the channel in a narrow 
 spot a few miles above Paducah. On the 14th instant I entered the 
 Cumberland, and ascended it sixty miles, where the water became shoal, 
 and then dropped down to anchor over night at Eddyville a strong 
 secession town, and a neighborhood where Union men have been driven 
 from their homes. It was reported that the rebels were building a bat 
 tery below the town. I found it necessary to use strong language to the 
 citizens in regard to the persecution -of Union people. The more active 
 Secessionists fled at the approach of the gun-boat. 
 
 " I yesterday again ascended the Tennessee to Aurora, where the state- 
 road from Columbus east, passing through Hopkinsville, etc., crosses the 
 river, and seized the steam ferry-boat Henry, bringing it to this port 
 (Paducah). It is evident that each time this boat is shown along these 
 waters there is an increased confidence and sense of security on the part 
 of the Unionists." 
 
 The new flotilla was thus feeling its way to more important 
 results, exciting alarm among the ranks of secession people 
 along the banks of the great rivers, and giving new strength 
 to the enfeebled national cause, while at the same time it 
 was gradually finding out its own deficiencies and its own 
 power. It was not as yet clearly defined where the Western 
 flotilla belonged to the Army or to the Navy and this con 
 tinued to be a cause of great embarrassment; but Captain 
 
1 76 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Foote, by constant and strenuous requisitions, as far as his 
 authority went, on the credit of the government, for men, 
 money, and supplies, finally succeeded in equipping his fleet. 
 If, instead of continual appeals to Washington, and now and 
 then unfortunate interferences on the part of civil and army 
 authorities, the whole thing had been left in his hands, and 
 the power and the money intrusted to him unconditionally, 
 there would have been more rapid progress ; but, under the 
 circumstances, that could not well be done ; and, as it was, 
 patience and will wore through all difficulties, and the time 
 was now near at hand when all these anxious and wearing 
 toils were to be rewarded with important and even splendid 
 success. 
 
CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 ACTION AT EDDYVILLE. DOCUMENTS RESPECTING THE FLOTILLA. 
 
 DEFECTIVE GUNS. BATTLE OF BELMONT. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 THAT the gun-boats, or those that were prepared for action, 
 were not suffered to remain idle, the following letter will tes 
 tify; and this is one of many written during the closing 
 months of the year 1861, giving accounts of similar expedi 
 tions by different officers in command of vessels of the West 
 ern Navy. Many of the details may seem unimportant, but 
 they afford a true view of the character of the service in 
 which these vessels were engaged: 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' CONESTOGA,' PADUCAH, KY., i 
 
 October 28, 1861. 
 
 " CAPTAIN A. H. FOOTE, U. 8. Navy, commanding Naval Forces, Western 
 Rivers : 
 
 " Sm, On the afternoon of the 26th instant, by order of General 
 Smith, I left this place in company with the steamer Lake Erie, No. 2, on 
 board of which were three companies of the Ninth Illinois Regiment, 
 under command of Major Phillips, and proceeded up the Cumberland 
 River upon an expedition to surprise a rebel camp near Eddyville, Ken 
 tucky, and have the honor to make known to you that the result was in 
 the main successful. 
 
 " I went, with Major Phillips on board, in advance to Smithfield, to 
 procure guides and pilots, expecting that the transport would not ap 
 proach the wharf-boat ; but the captain ran her to it, which rendered a 
 change of plan necessary, and caused the force to reach the rebel camp 
 at a later hour than was designed. The distance from Smithland to 
 Eddyville by land is not half that by water ; and the rebels have a com 
 plete system of runners established in that section of the country. The 
 transport was, therefore, sent up the Ohio a few miles, and the Conetftoga 
 followed, an hour later, with two heavy barges in tow. These were cast 
 
178 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 off on reaching the transport, which was then taken in tow,, with all 
 lights out, fires screened, and engines stopped, by which precautions we 
 succeeded in dropping down to Smithland and passing into the Cum 
 berland, without its being suspected, in the darkness of the night, that 
 we had the steamer in tow. The two boats, after passing to a safe dis 
 tance, made all speed up the narrow and crooked stream, but did not 
 reach and disembark the troops at the point selected, two miles below 
 Eddyville, till half-past three o'clock A.M. I then had the transport 
 moved to near the town and concealed behind a wooded point, while 
 this boat was quietly anchored off the main street, as had been done sev 
 eral times before in the past few weeks. 
 
 " As soon as I felt satisfied that Major Phillips had had time to reach 
 the rebel camp a march of seven miles over an exceedingly rough coun 
 try, and in lanes and foot-paths and that information of the force was 
 reaching the citizens, I threw a force on shore and surrounded the town 
 with picket-guards, to prevent the escape of rebel citizens, or the en 
 trance and concealment of refugees from the rebel camp. 
 
 "About 10 A.M., Major Phillips reached town with a number of pris 
 oners, horses, wagons, arms, etc. He had got to within four hundred 
 yards of the enemy after daylight before being discovered, when the 
 rebels formed in line. Our troops were moved at a double-quick to 
 within one hundred yards, when they delivered their fire and charged 
 bayonets upon the rebels, who broke and fled in every direction, leaving 
 seven killed on the field. Two of our soldiers were severely wounded, 
 and one or two slightly among these a captain of a company. 
 
 "I seized a flat-boat belonging to a noted Secessionist, and it was 
 freighted with the prisoners and plunder and towed to this place. The 
 horses and mules were first placed on the wharf-boat at the town, also 
 Secession property ; but the boat was found to be too leaky and rotten 
 for towing, and the animals were embarked on the transport, and one 
 hundred of the troops were transferred to the Conestoga. There were 
 taken in the rebel camp and brought to this place, where we returned 
 last evening, twenty-four prisoners, seven negroes, thirty-four horses, 
 eleven mules, two transport wagons, a large number of saddles, muskets, 
 rifles, shot-guns, sabres, knives, etc. A number of valuable horses were 
 unavoidably killed in the skirmish at the camp. 
 
 " Eddyville is sixty -two miles from Paducah, and the camp was four 
 miles back of the town, at a place known as Saratoga Springs. We were 
 absent from Paducah twenty-nine hours. 
 
Cost of the Gun-boats. 1 79 
 
 " Major Phillips and the volunteers deserve the greatest credit for their 
 successful daylight surprise. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 " S. L. PHELPS, Lieutenant Commanding U. S. Navy." 
 
 While services like the above were being rendered by the 
 boats, before we relate their further operations it would be 
 well to present some additional documents having special rela 
 tion to the business matters of the fleet. Great difficulty con 
 tinued to be experienced in raising men to man the fleet, and, 
 at last, strenuous requisitions had to be made upon the West, 
 upon barge-men, river-men, lake-men, and landsmen of all 
 sorts (and some of the worst), to fill up the vacancies ; the 
 clothing and supplies of the crews were still greatly deficient, 
 and the pay of officers and men was woefully in arrears; 
 some of the boats were as yet unfit for service ; good subor 
 dinate officers, foremen, firemen, engineers, and pilots were 
 scarce ; and, from the parting of a hawser to the buying of a 
 steamboat, every thing had to go through the head and hands 
 of the commanding officer. That all was done with the 
 greatest economy might be proved from the competent testi 
 mony of Paymaster Captain George D. Wise (May 25, 1862) : 
 " Notwithstanding all this, our gun-boat flotilla has not cost, 
 including the building of the gun-boats, $3,000,000 to this 
 date. When we look at the results it has accomplished, the 
 money has been well laid out; and if we balance it by the 
 destruction and capture of the enemy's property, we shall be 
 largely in pocket." 
 
 " NAVY DEPARTMENT, October 28, 1861. 
 
 "My DEAR SIR, We have been drilling some three hundred men 
 here for you, and will send them when you so write or telegraph. We 
 have also given orders to ship landsmen in New England for you. They 
 are good men mostly fishermen but without drill. If you wish any of 
 your officers ordered away, or can spare any of them, write me word. 
 " Respectfully, G. Y. Fox, Assistant-Secretary. 
 
 " Captain A. H. Foote, U. S. N." 
 
180 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " WASHINGTON, D. C., November 17, 1861. 
 
 " MY DEAR FLAG-OFFICER, We have sent you off five hundred men, 
 but I am inclined to think it is all we can do. Every means is being 
 used to recruit, but the large number of vessels put afloat absorbs them. 
 Be sure that you shall have the first fifty men to spare from this coast ; 
 but it looks now as if it would be impossible to do more. If you wish 
 or can spare any officer, drop me a private note, for we are ashore for 
 commanders. We shall not disturb you unless you agree, but rather go 
 to the merchant service. I made several calls upon the War Department 
 about the money, and they tell me it was remitted. What a magnificent 
 piece of seamanship Dupont has given us it wipes out the disgraceful 
 transaction on board the Richard in the Mississippi. Wise showed me 
 your note about the gun-boats. I suppose if they barely float they may 
 do, unless they draw too much water. It will be a blow upon the Navy 
 if they fail. Can't camels be made of rubber to lift them over ? 
 
 " Most truly your friend, G. V. Fox." 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' LEXINGTON,' CAIRO, ILL., i 
 Nwember 22, 1861. > 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor herewith to inclose duplicate requisitions for 
 $1250. I am induced to make this requisition, in addition to the $5000 
 already received, in order to pay my crew the two thirds of their wages 
 faithfully promised them at the time of their enlistment. Most of my 
 men are married, and have families to provide for, and are in great need 
 of their wages. I was forced, by the necessity of the case, to reduce the 
 payment twenty-five per cent., in order to make the $5000 hold out, and 
 give each an equal proportion ; their clothing and small stores account 
 was also deducted from the two thirds, and this left but a small amount 
 to each. Some of my men have been shipped now nearly five months, 
 and have received but one small payment previous to this. I should be 
 much pleased if you can consistently approve this requisition, and much 
 oblige, Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " R. N. STEMBEL, Commander U. S. N. 
 
 " To Commodore A. H. Foote." 
 
 It is pleasing to learn from other sources how willingly 
 and faithfully these ill-provided and ill-paid men continued 
 to work, with rare instances of desertion. The men sent at 
 various times from the East also came, with very few losses, 
 
The Mortar-boats. 181 
 
 promptly to their posts, and served with that heartiness which 
 characterized all departments of our patriotic forces in the 
 
 great struggle. 
 
 "WASHINGTON, November 1, 1861. 
 " COMMODORE A. H. FOOTE, U. S. N., commanding Gun-boats, St. Louis : 
 
 " I am instructed to say that General Halleck has instructions in re 
 gard to the gun-boats. 
 
 " The appropriation not being sufficient to complete and equip more 
 than three altered and seven built gun-boats, the Department is embar 
 rassed by the action of the commanding general West in ordering so 
 many mortar-rafts, tugs, and altered boats, in addition to those contract 
 ed for by this Department. All can not be completed without further 
 appropriations, and, for the present, at least, this Department can not 
 remit money except for those contracted for under its authority. 
 
 " Respectfully, M. C. MEIGS, Quartermaster-General." 
 
 The complete outfit of the mortar-boat department, requir 
 ing a great many implements and needing a long time to 
 manufacture them, gave rise to a long correspondence both 
 with officials at Washington and ordnance officers and manu 
 facturers at Pittsburg. It will not be necessary to give this 
 correspondence ; but the following is a private letter of Cap 
 tain Foote's, which sets forth some of the facts of the case 
 from his point of view : 
 
 " CAIRO, January 11, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I send the report herewith which your telegram of 
 the 10th, but not received till this morning, required for the President. 
 I have endeavored to keep the Department fully informed of our prog 
 ress, with all incidental circumstances. I have worked incessantly since 
 I have joined or assumed command here. The contractor, in not being 
 up to time, and for want of men, has kept the gun-boats from being com 
 missioned. I have had all things in my power, and over which I had 
 control, in readiness long since. With reference to the mortar-boats, I 
 only wish that you could see them. Their magazines are merely square 
 holes in the timbers, banded together, forming the boat, and of course 
 most of them leak. The mortar-boats would require, if all fitted out, 
 about eight hundred men. There are no conveniences for living aboard. 
 
1 8 2 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 They will leak more and more. Some of our best officers have no better 
 opinion of these rafts or boats than I have ; still this is unofficial. It is 
 my business to let the government judge, and I am to obey orders ; and 
 while I can not consider these boats as well adapted to the purposes for 
 which they were designed, still, as I said to General Meigs, so much has 
 been expended upon them, they ought not to be cast aside, or ' words to 
 that effect,' and I certainly would not presume to throw obstacles in the 
 way of having them fitted, armed, and equipped. I obtained authority 
 to this effect from General Fremont ; but General Curtiss, when he sent 
 for me and asked for my orders and instructions (which I reported, to 
 show how every brigadier might interfere with me, and by way of illus 
 trating the necessity of the appointment of a flag-officer), said that Gen 
 eral Fremont's orders were, or would be, now of no avail. Still, on 
 General Halleck's arrival, I called on him, and said that I had selected 
 Captain Constable, who, with Lieutenant Sanford, under my direction, 
 could have good mortar-boats made in fourteen days in St. Louis, while 
 I could send Captain Pike, who had been an engineer appointed by 
 Fremont, to Pittsburg, to have the mortars there made, and sent or 
 shipped here before navigation closed. I asked General Halleck to 
 allow me to do this, and I would have the mortar-boats armed in twenty 
 days. He declined, as he had no authority, and in a few days sent Cap 
 tain Constable to join his company. He was averse to helping me at all. 
 General Meigs, on referring to him, said that General Halleck had 
 instructions with reference to gun and mortar boats, as shown in his 
 letter to me. I left St. Louis under those circumstances, while after 
 ward the quartermaster sent down the mortar-boats, asking me to re 
 ceive them. Such is a brief history of these boats. I have here had no 
 men nor officers, nor means to attend to them ; yet had I supposed that 
 it was the intention of the Department for me to fit them out or to move 
 in the matter, I would have found a way of doing it. But under the cir 
 cumstances it could not be expected of me to have done differently from 
 what I have done. I am aware that an officer in command is considered 
 culpable by the public when any thing is wanting in the Department 
 where he is the chief, irrespective of the question of his right or power 
 to do it, but I trust you judge otherwise. I have to-day telegraphed to 
 Pittsburg to learn how many beds and mortars are or can soon be 
 ready, and I am ready as I have always been. I know that an officer 
 of great resources can overcome almost insuperable obstacles ; but away 
 from a navy yard, and with the limited means I have at hand in this 
 
Defective Guns. 183 
 
 wilderness of naval wants, I must say that no one could have done more 
 than I have done. Very truly yours, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " G. V. Fox, Assistant-Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 " I have made every effort to ship men in the West, but have secured 
 only about two hundred. The river-men enlisted in June, or went South ; 
 and as our pay is eighteen dollars per month, and their old pay thirty 
 dollars, the remaining men are indisposed to ship in the gun-boats. 
 
 " A. H. F." 
 
 The following letters are interesting as showing the straits 
 into which the government was forced in the early periods of 
 the war. Most of the defective guns mentioned were thrown 
 out ; but some of them continued to be a source of annoyance 
 and actual damage from bursting during the operations of the 
 gun-boats under FlagTofficer Foote and Captain Davis, who 
 succeeded him. 
 
 " COMMANDANT'S OFFICE, U. S. NAVY YARD, 
 
 January 20, 1862. 
 
 " CAPTAIN A. A. HARWOOD, Chief of Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrog 
 raphy : 
 
 " SIR, I beg leave to call the attention of the Bureau to the fact that 
 certain 9-inch guns have been sent to the Western flotilla which were 
 made for the Navy in 1855, and rejected for want of strength. As one 
 of these guns burst as low as 121 fires, it is evident they are unsafe. I 
 am aware that at the time they were sent West there seemed to be an 
 immediate need of some ordnance, and it not being possible to procure 
 any others, there was a justification for the risk incurred. But this is no 
 longer the case ; and as the gun-boats on which these guns are may be 
 in action before long, I would urge the Bureau to lose no time in replacing 
 the 9-inch guns sent West by others which have been fully proved. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " JOHN A. DAHLGREN, Comniandant." 
 
 " BUREAU OF HYDROGRAPHY, NAVY DEPARTMENT, ) 
 WASHINGTON, January 23, 1862. i 
 
 " SIR, You were telegraphed on the 21st instant (1) not to send more 
 9-inch guns to New York until further orders, and to get ready with all 
 
1 84 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 possible dispatch sixteen of the same class for a special purpose. (2) 
 The Bureau now informs you that the sixteen guns are intended for the 
 gun-boat flotilla at Cairo ; and you will please forward the guns by the 
 quickest means of transportation, one by one, as fast as they can be de 
 livered. (3) You will please inform the Fort Pitt founders that the Bu 
 reau especially and urgently requests that every possible exertion may be 
 made to expedite the work for the purpose indicated at the earliest prac 
 ticable moment. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " ANDREW A. HARWOOD, Chief of Bureau. 
 " Commander J. R. M. Mullany, U. S. K, ) 
 Asst. Ins. Ordnance, Pittsburg." ) 
 
 But it is time that we should speak of the remaining oper 
 ations of the gun-boats during the year 1861, from the date of 
 the action at Eddyville, October 26th. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that the whole Western mili 
 tary field, comprising both land and water, was up to this time 
 under the command of Major- General Fremont, and thus, 
 generally speaking, of the Army Department. General Grant, 
 having seized upon Paducah, gained a footing near the moutli 
 of the Ohio River, and established his head-quarters at Cairo, 
 with a force rapidly increasing in numbers. Combined with 
 him in the control of operations in the Mississippi Yalley was 
 that very able commander, General C. F. Smith ; and with 
 these two army leaders Foote, with the title and authority of 
 flag-officer,* which ranked him with a major-general in the 
 army, was appointed specially to co-operate with his gun-boat 
 fleet ; having, it is true, an independent command, but at the 
 same time being more or less under the direction of the army, 
 and his subordinate commands being liable at any moment to 
 be peremptorily ordered to "perform some duty required in 
 carrying out the plans of General Smith or General Grant. 
 This state of things, in which the authority and responsibility 
 
 * His official naval rank as " flag-officer " dates actually from November 
 13th, 1861, although before this he was the regularly appointed com- 
 rnander-in-chief of the Western waters. 
 
Battle of Belmont. 185 
 
 were at best but vaguely defined, was, as has been more than 
 once hinted, a source of annoyance to so high-spirited a man 
 as Foote ; and it grew to its height under General Halleck, 
 who, two days after the battle of Belmont, succeeded Fremont 
 in the control of the Western Department. Foote felt this to 
 be so great a grievance that he at one time solicited a trans 
 ference to a separate naval coast command ; but his value at 
 the post where he had been placed was so great that the gov 
 ernment refused his request, having unlimited confidence in 
 his ability and his adaptation to the work assigned him. The 
 wisdom of its choice was confirmed by the result; but the 
 subject of it nevertheless was subjected to a cruel trial, which, 
 however, he nobly bore, suffering it to have no evil influence 
 upon his actions. He went straight on in spite of all ob 
 stacles, sacrificing his personal feelings to the public good. 
 
 On the 1st of November, 1861, Major-General Fremont or 
 dered Grant to make demonstrations on both sides of the Mis 
 sissippi River. This order was countermanded ; but w r as re 
 newed on the 5th, and was carried into effect by Grant. Hav 
 ing learned on the 7th that there was a movement of the rebels 
 from Columbus to Belmont, to cut off Colonel Oglesby, whom 
 he had sent with three thousand men toward the St. Francis 
 River, Grant immediately resolved to attack Belmont, and to 
 surprise General Polk, who was there with a force of seven 
 thousand men, thus preventing him from sending reinforce 
 ments into Missouri. Grant's troops, consisting of about three 
 thousand men, were swiftly embarked on transports at Cairo ; 
 and the gun-boats Taylor and Lexington were ordered to con 
 voy them down the river .to a point two miles above Belmont, 
 where they were landed ; but as we do not intend to give an 
 account of the battle of Belmont, but only of the part that the 
 flotilla, which had been prepared for action and, as it were, 
 created by Foote, took in it, we simply subjoin Cpmmander 
 Walke's report : 
 
1 86 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' TAYLOR,' MOUND CITY, Nov. 9, 1861. 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to report that on the evening of the 6th in 
 stant I received instructions from General Grant to proceed down the 
 river, in company with the Lexington, under Commander Stembel, for a 
 reconnoissance and as convoy to some half-dozen transport steamers. We 
 proceeded opposite to Norfolk, near the Kentucky shore, where we round 
 ed to, and anchored for the night. I then learned for the first time the 
 extent of the reconnoissance. 
 
 " At three o'clock the following morning, at the request of General 
 Grant, the Taylor and Lexington started down the river for the purpose 
 of engaging the rebel batteries at Columbus ; but after proceeding a few 
 miles we were met with such a dense fog as to render any farther prog 
 ress hazardous ; we therefore rounded to, and returned to the point from 
 whence we started. At six o'clock we all got under way, our two gun 
 boats taking the lead, and convoying the steamers containing Generals 
 Grant and McClernand and their aids, and some three thousand troops, 
 two companies of cavalry, and some artillery. "We proceeded down the 
 river to the extreme end of Lucas's Bend, and just without, as I thought, 
 the range of their guns on Iron Banks. After the troops had disem 
 barked, and were under marching orders (half-past eight o'clock), our 
 two boats proceeded to engage their batteries on Iron Banks, each ex 
 pending several rounds of shell, and returning to the transports. Their 
 shot passed over us, though in some instances coming very close to us. At 
 this time, with their long-range rifled cannon, they sent a large number 
 of shot half a mile above the transports. I requested the captains of the 
 transports to move up and out of the range of their shot, which they did. 
 At ten o'clock, the engagement having commenced at Belmont, we again 
 engaged the Iron Bank batteries, expending still more shell, their shot 
 flying around us, but doing no harm, while our shells seemed to go where 
 they could be effective. We returned, after an engagement of about 
 twenty minutes, to the transports. 
 
 " At about noon, hearing the battle of Belmont still going on, our two 
 gun-boats made a third attack upon their batteries, this time going nearly 
 a quarter of a mile nearer to them. We opened a brisk fire of shell, and 
 seemingly with good effect. While in this engagement one of their 24- 
 pounders struck us on the starboard bulwarks, and, continuing obliquely 
 through the spar-deck, took off the head of Michael Adams, seaman, and 
 broke the arm and otherwise seriously injured James Wolfe, seaman, and 
 slightly wounding a third. Acting-Surgeon Kearney, who was cool and 
 
Battle of Belmont. ^ 187 
 
 assiduous in the discharge of his duties, immediately dressed Wolfe's 
 wound, but considers him in a critical condition. We fired a few more 
 shell and returned, keeping up the fire from our stern guns as long as we 
 were within reach of them. 
 
 " It is providential that we have escaped with so little damage. A 
 fragment of one of their shells struck us on the stern, but doing little 
 damage. 
 
 " When nearly all our troops had re-embarked, or were about ready to 
 start, a sudden attack was made upon the transport vessels by a large 
 force coming in from above. Our gun-boats being in good position, we 
 opened a brisk fire of grape, canister, and S^-shells, silencing the enemy 
 with great slaughter. After the transports were under way we followed 
 them, throwing a shell occasionally to repel the enemy's approach to the 
 banks. When a few miles up the river, we met one of the transports 
 (Chancellor} with Brigadier-General McClernand on board, who stated 
 that some of their men were left behind, and asked that we might return 
 with our gun-boats, and see if we could find them. We did so, the Lex 
 ington accompanying us, and between us we succeeded in securing nearly 
 all that were left behind, together with about forty prisoners, including 
 some badly wounded. 
 
 " We then proceeded up to Island No. One, when the Rob Roy met us, 
 with instructions from General Grant to turn over all the troops and 
 prisoners, and to remain until Colonel Cook, who was down the Ken 
 tucky shore on a reconnoissance, should return. He returned at ten 
 o'clock, and at eleven I weighed anchor and returned to Cairo, having 
 sent the Lexington on before me. 
 
 " It is but an act of justice to the officers and crew to state that they 
 acted throughout all our engagements with perfect coolness, ability, and 
 courage, the crew answering the calls to quarters with an alacrity be 
 coming earnest co-operators for the government. I was astonished, with 
 the apparently new materials we have, to see with what zeal and effi 
 ciency they all performed their parts. 
 
 " The Lexington, under Commander Stembel, as consort, supported me 
 throughout the day with the most commendable energy and efficiency. 
 " Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " H. WALKE, Commander U. 8. N. 
 
 " Captain A. H. Foote, TJ. S. N., commanding > 
 Naval Forces on Western Waters." f 
 
 There is no doubt but that the gun-boats performed a sig- 
 
1 88 iLife of Admiral Foote. 
 
 nal service at Belmont, and by covering with well-directed 
 fire the final retreat, prevented our troops from being almost, 
 if not entirely, cut to pieces. The action of the boats was by 
 no means intended to be an assault upon Columbus a fortifi 
 cation containing 40,000 men, and more than one hundred 
 guns of large calibre but it was simply to reconnoitre the 
 enemy's position and to convoy the transports; yet, as it 
 turned out, the gun-boats proved to be, in this instance, the 
 salvation of the Army. Our loss, notwithstanding the early 
 brilliant success of the attack, was five hundred men; and 
 what might it not have been, with an overwhelmingly supe 
 rior force from Columbus coming down suddenly upon our 
 troops hastily re-embarking, if the watchful gun-boats had not 
 been at hand to keep the foe at bay with their slaughterous 
 discharges of grape and canister ? 
 
 In the flag-officer's correspondence about this time with his 
 active officers there are many interesting things mentioned, 
 and facts that bring before us vividly the state of the times. 
 Running up the rivers, coming suddenly upon small villages, 
 surprising farm-houses, and appearing without announcement 
 in secession districts, the gun-boats gained a sort of omnipres 
 ent reputation. One of the lieutenants writes : 
 
 " On arriving at Linton, two signal guns were fired, and about sixty 
 loyal refugees came in during the night, in small parties, from the back 
 country. Just before dark a negro ran down to the river bank, near the 
 boat, chased by blood-hounds in full cry after him, and begged to be 
 taken on board. I sent a boat to his rescue, and learning by his state 
 ment, confirmed by Kentuckians on board, that he was being chased by 
 rebel cavalry he had run eighteen miles I received him on board and 
 brought him away. His master is a Secessionist. The cavalry did not 
 show themselves, and the hounds were taken from the track ; but we 
 saw three of them." 
 
 This poor fellow must truly have blessed the hour 
 " Wen de Lirikum gun-boats cum." 
 
Letter to his Wife. 189 
 
 A letter of Captain Foote to his wife, dated December 13, 
 1861, written upon the back of a letter of General Grant to 
 himself, asking his aid in an anticipated attack by the rebels 
 upon Fort Holt, and addressing him as " Dear Commodore," 
 breathes the weary, anxious, yet brave spirit of a man almost 
 overborne by cares, but still hopeful : 
 
 " CAIRO, December 17, 1861. 
 
 " MY DEAR WIFE, Weary days are my lot. Sanford is better to-day, 
 and may be up and about in a week. Pennock, the only one left good 
 for any thing, is on the Board examining mortar -and gun boats with 
 two generals and a colonel. I have been hard at work all day, but the 
 Board have capsized every thing, and will keep us back for several 
 days. If I could be fitted out at a navy yard, I would not care ; but 
 this fitting out vessels where no one knows any thing is discouraging. 
 But I can now and then see light aloft. I feel clearer of head oppression 
 than usual, though I may be prostrated at any minute. I sleep nicely at 
 night, which is a blessing, and I don't mean to fret. General McClellan 
 is to give us 1100 men have just heard of it by telegram from Fox. 
 Things brighten a little ahead. Ever affectionately, A. H. F." 
 
CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR ATTACKING FORT HENRY. THE ASSAULT 
 
 AND CAPTURE. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the history of the Western flotilla is part and 
 parcel of the biography of Admiral Foote, and although its 
 achievements belong, in a true sense, to his renown, and all 
 that it was and did is thoroughly identified with him, who 
 was the main cause and promoter of its efficiency, yet we 
 do not think it necessary to dwell further upon those minor 
 movements and expeditions in which he was not present or 
 personally engaged, and which were undertaken at the sug 
 gestion of the Army Department ; and we turn now to those 
 greater and more splendid operations where Foote himself 
 was the prime directing and inspiring force. 
 
 The first strong line of the rebel defense at the West 
 stretched from the Mississippi River at Columbus to the 
 Cumberland Mountains. It was necessary to break through 
 this at the most feasible point, which could not be on the Mis 
 sissippi River on account of the immense strength of the for 
 tifications at Columbus, neither could it be done by sending 
 an Army across the Ohio into Kentucky, so far from the base 
 of supply ; and Foote, as well as the two Army commanders, 
 Grant and Smith, early appreciated the strategic importance 
 of seizing the strongholds on the Tennessee and Cumberland 
 rivers, thus letting them far into the Southern line, and estab 
 lishing a base whereby both Columbus and Bowling Green 
 could be made untenable to the enemy, the railroad commu 
 nications cut, and the rebel line of defense pushed farther 
 down, leaving Kentucky and Tennessee at the command of 
 
Reconnaissance of Fort Henry. 191 
 
 the Union forces. Foote was earnestly bent upon this idea, 
 and hastened forward his preparations during the month of 
 January, 1862. He was particularly careful as to the perfect 
 condition of his gun-boats. The whole thing was novel and 
 untried. It had not yet been ascertained how iron-clads 
 would compete with land-batteries. This, in fact, was the 
 first trial of iron-clad vessels. The strength of forts Henry 
 and Donelson in guns and men was known only by rumor. 
 It was therefore necessary to make cautious reconnoissances, 
 without awakening the least suspicion of what was intended 
 to be done. One of these expeditions, undertaken January 
 7th, is thus reported by Lieutenant Phelps of the Conestoga : 
 
 " Yesterday I ascended the Tennessee River to the state line, return 
 ing in the night. The water was barely sufficient to float this boat, 
 drawing five feet four inches, and in coming down we dragged heavily 
 in places. The Cumberland is also too low above Eddyville. 
 
 " The rebels are industriously perfecting their means of defense both 
 at Dover and Fort Henry. At Fort Donelson (near Dover) they have 
 placed obstructions in the river, one and a half miles below their bat 
 tery on the left bank, and in the bend where the battery comes in sight. 
 These obstructions consist of trees chained together and sunk across the 
 river, with the butts up stream, the heads floating near the surface, and 
 pointed. Placed as they are reported to be, any attempt to remove 
 them must be made under a severe fire, and where there is very little 
 room for covering boats. The bend is a very sharp one, and the river 
 not more than one hundred and fifty yards wide. The battery upon the 
 right bank is upon a hill half a mile back from the river, and consider 
 ably below the fort upon the left bank. It can be seen, I am told, but 
 one mile. Four weeks since they had four 32-pounders mounted on the 
 hill, and had a large force of negroes at work. The fire of gun-boats 
 here would be at a bad angle. On these narrow streams, with their 
 usually contracted channels, it would appear to one very necessary to 
 have the assistance of mortars in reducing earth-works as strong and 
 complete as those on the Tennessee and Cumberland have been made. 
 The forts are placed, especially on the Cumberland, where no very great 
 range can be had; and they can only be attacked in one narrow and 
 fixed line. Shot can dislodge their guns (all en larbette) nothing 
 
192 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 more. The shells must burst at the moment, or they pass harmless, 
 while there is little room to regulate distance nicely. There is no ad 
 vantage to be gained by moving in circles or otherwise. Some of the 
 disadvantages of narrow streams would be partially removed by a high 
 stage of water. 
 
 "Fort Henry I have examined, and the work is formidable. Fort 
 Donelson can only be seen from an easy range of its guns. There are a 
 thousand rumors; but I conclude that the batteries upon both sides 
 their situation, the character and location of the obstructions may be 
 considered as known. It is now too late to move against the works on 
 either river, except with a well-appointed and powerful naval force." 
 
 Another still more important and extensive reconnoissance 
 was undertaken on the 16th of January by the gun-boats, ac 
 companied by an Army force, in which a feigned assault was 
 made upon Fort Henry. It is thus narrated by Lieutenant 
 Phelps : 
 
 " On the 16th we proceeded up the river, accompanied by the trans 
 port-steamer Wilson, having on board a force of five hundred men 
 infantry and artillery under command of Major Ellston, and anchored 
 for the night near where the Tennessee line strikes the right bank of 
 the river. A few miles above Paducah the Lexington struck a rock, and 
 lay upon it over an hour, but was not apparently much injured. In the 
 morning (17th) we proceeded up to near Fort Henry the transport re 
 maining a little below and shelled the river bank at a point where all 
 informants have uniformly reported a masked battery of two rifled 
 guns; but we did not succeed in drawing its fire, although we ap 
 proached to abreast the place. We also fired a few shells at Fort Henry 
 two and a half miles too distant for effect. Having complied with 
 General Smith's wish in feigning an attack, at early morn, with the 
 whole force in view, we dropped below to Aurora, where the troops dis 
 embarked and marched for Murray. The transport returned down 
 stream, while the two gun-boats again returned to the neighborhood of 
 Fort Henry, and remained overnight at anchor about three and a half 
 miles by water below the fort. The rebels made numbers of signals in 
 the evening. In the morning we left there, coming directly down. A 
 charge of slugs was fired yesterday at a group of officers, and Mr. Ham 
 ilton, gunner, was slightly wounded in the neck. 
 
Correspondence about Mortar-boats. 193 
 
 " There was a coal-barge lying at a landing some three miles below 
 Fort Henry, on the Kentucky side, evidently taken there to freight a 
 quantity of wood thrown down from the banks in readiness, and the 
 wood could only have been intended for use at the fort. I therefore 
 seized the barge, loaded the wood on it, and brought it down. The 
 barge, or flat, is a very fine one, and might be of service at Cairo. I also 
 cut adrift a small wood-boat at the same landing, to prevent its use in 
 transporting supplies to the rebels." 
 
 The use of mortar-boats for the reduction of the forts on 
 the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers became now an earnest 
 question between Foote and the government. General Hal- 
 leek, who had been appointed to the command of the West 
 ern Department, was the medium of communication. 
 
 " ST. Louis, January 17, 1862. 
 " FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE, Cairo : 
 
 " COMMODORE, General McClellan wishes to know if it would be of 
 much advantage in any expedition up the Tennessee and Cumberland to 
 have the mortar-boats armed. Can they be used with advantage on such 
 an expedition ? Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " H. W. HALLECK, Major-General." 
 
 The flag-officer replied in favor of the effectiveness of mor 
 tar-boats; but the difficulty seemed to lie in the Ordnance 
 Department, which, for some reason or other, was behind 
 hand in its preparations so much so that Fox, the Assistant- 
 Secretary, writes (January 27th) : 
 
 " The President is very much exercised in the matter, and I do not 
 blame him. He telegraphed to Pittsburg, and they replied that two 
 beds were ready. I doubt if the history of any war ever furnished such 
 an exposure. The plan matured and commenced last summer, the boats 
 built, the gun-boats in good condition, the river high, the time come to 
 make the movement coincide with others, and only two beds ready. The 
 
 President has determined to remove from the Ordnance, and it 
 
 has shaken his confidence in many others. The result of the whole mat 
 ter is a delay and change of programme. Our twenty mortar vessels 
 have partly sailed, and will probably all be off in the course of ten days. 
 
194 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 I think their success under Porter will shame the Army people for their 
 great crime in neglecting these boats. Halleck seems to take no inter 
 est in your part of the expedition, but I advise him to obey orders about 
 furnishing you with men. Your daily telegraph to Wise goes to the 
 President, who very wisely has taken this matter into his own hands." 
 
 Quartermaster H. A. Wise also writes (January 31st) : 
 
 " With respect to the mortar-rafts, and the amount of shells required, 
 the President remarked that he thought it would be expedient to re 
 ceive all the mortars and shells sent to Cairo, so as to be able to meet 
 any probable amount of work that may be demanded ; that he wished 
 you to be sure, when you opened fire on Columbus, ' to rain the rebels 
 out,' as he desired to ' treat them to a refreshing shower of sulphur and 
 brimstone.' The President added his commendation of the energy you 
 have displayed in the matters intrusted to your charge. He is evidently 
 a practical man, understands precisely what he wants, and is not turned 
 aside by any one when he has his work before him. He knows and ap 
 preciates your past and present ardent services, and is firmly resolved to 
 afford you eveiy aid in the work in hand." 
 
 The question of the use of mortar-boats on the Tennessee 
 and Cumberland rivers was practically decided by Foote's 
 attacking the forts without waiting for their assistance. 
 
 When all was ready, the following dispatch was sent, the 
 proposition contained in it having come from Foote to Grant : 
 
 " CAIRO, January 28, 1862. 
 
 " General Grant and myself are of the opinion that Fort Henry, on the 
 Tennessee River, can be carried with four iron-clad gun-boats and troops, 
 and be permanently occupied. Have we your authority to move for that 
 purpose when ready ? (Signed) A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " Major-General Halleck." 
 
 Information had come that there were five thousand men 
 at Fort Henry, it having been reinforced ; add to these the 
 force at Dover, and there would be about six thousand men. 
 Evidently there was an expectation of an attack, although 
 many movements on the Mississippi and the other rivers had 
 served to confuse and blind the enemy. They did not know 
 
Fort Henry. 195 
 
 where the blow would be struck ; but they felt that it must 
 come soon and come heavily, and great anxiety was mani 
 fested to be ready for it. 
 
 Fort Henry* was situated on low, marshy land on the east 
 ern or right bank of the Tennessee River, in Stewart County, 
 Tennessee, about sixty miles above Paducah. It lay in a 
 bend of the stream, and was at times almost surrounded by 
 water; its guns commanded a reach of the river below, to 
 ward "Panther Island," for about two miles. It was a strong 
 earth-work, constructed with much scientific skill, covering 
 ten acres, with five bastions from four to six feet high, the 
 embrasures knitted together firmly with sand-bags; and its 
 armament consisted of seventeen heavy guns, one of them a 
 10-inch colurnbiad (120-pounder), one 24-pounder rifle, twelve 
 32-pounders, one 24-pounder siege-gun, and two 12-pounders.f 
 The fort had accommodations for an army of fifteen thou 
 sand men, but at the time of its capture was defended by 
 probably about three thousand troops, including those that 
 were encamped outside of the main works, who, during the 
 battle, retreated precipitately to Fort Donelson. It was com 
 manded by Brigadier-General Lloyd Tilghman, a Marylander, 
 and a graduate of West Point. 
 
 On the 30th, an order came from General Halleck to the 
 combined forces to proceed to the attack of Fort Henry. 
 Active operations were immediately commenced, and on the 
 morning of Sunday, 2d of February, Foote left Cairo with a 
 small fleet of seven vessels, four armored and three wooden. 
 The fleet moved up the Ohio to Paducah, and that evening 
 was in the Tennessee River. 
 
 Grant's army, composed of the divisions of Generals 
 
 * For map of Fort Henry, see p. 200. 
 
 t Authorities differ in some particulars in their description of the fort. 
 I have mainly followed Lossing's account of the fort and the battle, to 
 gether with the official reports issued by the Secretary of the Navy. 
 
196 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 McClernaud and C. F. Smith, were embarked in transports, 
 and proceeded to Paducah, whence they were convoyed the 
 next day by the gun-boats to a point a few miles below the 
 fortification, out of range of its guns, where they were landed. 
 From Paducah, Foote wrote to the Secretary of the Navy a 
 letter which gives some idea of his own view of his state of 
 preparation for the contest : 
 
 "U. S. GUN-BOAT 'TAYLOR,' PADUCAH, February 3, 1862. 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to inform you that I left Cairo yesterday 
 with this vessel, having ordered the armored gun-boats Essex, Caronde- 
 let, Cincinnati, and St. Louis to precede me to Paducah, and arrived here 
 last evening. 
 
 " To-day I propose ascending the Tennessee River with the four new 
 armored boats, and the old gun-boats Taylor, Conestoga, and Lexington, in 
 convoy of the troops under General Grant, for the purpose of conjointly 
 attacking and occupying Fort Henry and the railroad bridge connect 
 ing Bowling Green with Columbus. The transports have not yet arrived, 
 although expected last night from Cairo, which causes detention ; while, 
 in the mean time, unfortunately, the river is falling. I am ready with 
 the seven gun-boats to act offensively whenever the Army is in condition 
 to advance ; and have every confidence, under God, that we shall be able 
 to silence the guns of Fort Henry and its surroundings, notwithstanding 
 I have been obliged, for want of men, to take from the five boats remain 
 ing at Cairo all their men, except a sufficient number to man one gun 
 boat for the protection of that important point. 
 
 " I have left Commander Kilty as senior officer in charge of the gun 
 and mortar boats at Cairo, ordering him, with the assistance of Fleet- 
 Captain Pennock, to use every effort in obtaining more men and for 
 warding the early equipment of the mortar-boats. It is peculiarly unfor 
 tunate that we have not been able to obtain men for the flotilla, as they 
 only are wanting to enable me to have at this moment eleven full- 
 manned, instead of seven partially manned gun-boats, ready for efficient 
 operations at any point. The volunteers from the Army to go in the 
 gun-boats exceed the number of men required ; but the derangement of 
 companies and regiments, in permitting them to leave, is the reason as 
 signed for not more than fifty of the number having been thus far trans 
 ferred to the flotilla. 
 
Order No. l. 197 
 
 " I inclose a copy of my orders to the commanders of the gun-boats, 
 in anticipation of the attack on Fort Henry ; also a copy of orders to 
 Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, who will have more especial charge of 
 the old gun-boats, and operate in a less exposed condition than the 
 armored boats. I have the honor to be, etc., 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 u The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 The orders referred to are the following, which, as they 
 were strictly carried out, form, as it were, Foote's plan of 
 
 operations : 
 
 (Order No. 1.) 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' TAYLOK,* OHIO RIVER, February 2, 1862. 
 
 " The captains of the gun-boats, before going into action, will always 
 see that the hoods covering the gratings of the hatches at the bows and 
 sterns, and elsewhere, are taken off; otherwise great injury will result 
 from the concussion of the guns in firing. The anchors also must be un- 
 stocked if they interfere with the range of the bow guns. 
 
 " In attacking the fort, the first order of steaming will be observed, as 
 by the vessels being parallel they will be much less exposed to the ene 
 my's range than if not in a parallel line ; and by moving ahead or astern, 
 which all the vessels will do by following the motions of the flag-ship, it 
 will be difficult for the enemy to get an accurate range of the gun-boats. 
 
 " Equal distances from one another must be observed by all the ves 
 sels in action. The flag-ship will, of course, open the fire first, and then 
 others will follow when good sight of the enemy's guns in the fort can 
 be obtained. There must be no firing until correct sights can be obtain 
 ed, as this would be not only throwing away ammunition, but it would 
 encourage the enemy to see us firing wildly. The captains will enforce 
 upon their men the absolute necessity of observing this order ; and let it 
 be. also impressed upon every man firing a gun that, while the first shot 
 may be either of too much elevation or too little, there is no excuse for 
 a second wild fire, as the first will indicate the inaccuracy of the aim of 
 the gun. Let it be reiterated that random firing is not a mere waste of 
 ammunition, but it encourages the enemy when he sees shot and shell 
 falling harmlessly. 
 
 " The great object is to dismount the guns in the fort by the accuracy 
 of our fire, although a shell in the mean time may occasionally be 
 thrown in among a body of the enemy's troops. 
 
1 98 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " When the flag-ship ceases firing, it will be a signal for the other ves 
 sels also to cease. As the vessels will be all so near one another, verbal 
 communication will be held with the commander-in-chief when it is 
 wanted. The commander-in-chief has every confidence in the spirit and 
 valor of the officers and men under his command, and his only solicitude 
 arises lest the firing should be too rapid for precision, and that coolness 
 and order, so essential to complete success, should not be observed ; and 
 hence he has, in this general order, expressed his views, which must be 
 observed by all under his command. A. H. FOOTE, 
 
 " Flag-Officer Commanding Naval Forces on Western Waters." 
 
 (Order No. 2.) 
 "U. S. GUN-BOAT ' TAYLOR,' OHIO RIVER, February 2, 1862. 
 
 "The division of the three gun-boats not armored, and, consequently, 
 not prepared to encounter at so short a range the batteries of the fort as 
 the four armored boats, will take a position astern, and, if practicable, 
 inshore of the right of the main division. Lieutenant-Commanding 
 Phelps, in charge of this division, from his great experience and success 
 ful charge of our interest for most of the time on the Tennessee and 
 Cumberland rivers, will, I trust, be enabled to throw shells into Fort 
 Henry, with no greater exposure of his division, comparatively, than to 
 that of the armored boats, while the main divisio^ more directly in the 
 . face of the fort, attempts to dismount its guns in close range. The cap 
 tains of this division will also see that no gun is fired without accurate 
 aim, as we have no ammunition to throw away. 
 
 " Great care must be observed lest our troops should be mistaken for 
 the enemy. When the main division ceases firing, it will be an indica 
 tion that the fort is ready to surrender. A. H. FOOTE." 
 
 (Order No. 3.) 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT * TAYLOR,' PADUCAH, February 2, 1862. 
 
 " Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps will, as soon as the fort shall have 
 surrendered, and upon signal from the flag-ship, proceed with the Con- 
 estoga, Taylw, and Lexingt&n up the river to where the railroad bridge 
 crosses, and if the Army shall not already have got possession, he will 
 destroy so much of the track as will entirely prevent its use by the rebels. 
 
 " He will then proceed as far up the river as the stage of water will 
 admit, and capture the enemy's gun-boats, and other vessels which might 
 prove available to the enemy. A. H. FOOTE." ' 
 
Moving of Combined Forces on Fort Henry. 1 99 
 
 It was necessary to move cautiously up the Tennessee on 
 account of torpedoes. After some delay from this source, 
 under the skillful direction of Lieutenant Phelps, eight of 
 these "floating mines" were successfully fished up in the 
 channel off Panther Island. " They were cylinders of sheet- 
 iron, five feet and a half long, pointed at each end, each con 
 taining in a canvas bag seventy-five pounds of gunpowder, 
 with a simple apparatus for exploding it by means of a per 
 cussion-cap, to be operated upon by means of a lever, extend 
 ing to the outside, and moved by its striking a vessel. These 
 were anchored in the river a little below the surface."* 
 
 As the vessels moved on, the woods were shelled to dis 
 cover concealed batteries. 
 
 On the night of the 5th there was a severe storm, which 
 put the troops who had been landed to great inconvenience 
 and suffering, and also flooded the neighboring region, caus 
 ing the river to rise rapidly. 
 
 But on the morning of the 6th all was in readiness for the 
 attack of the combined forces. 
 
 McClernand's division moved first, up the eastern side of 
 the Tennessee, to get into position between forts Henry and 
 Donelson, and be in readiness to storm the former from the 
 rear, or to intercept the retreat of the Conf ederates x while two 
 brigades of Smith's division, that were to make the attack, 
 marched up the west side of the river, to assist and capture 
 half-finished Fort Hieman, situated upon a great hill, and 
 from that commanding point to bring artillery to bear upon 
 Fort Henry, f 
 
 The rain of the preceding night had swollen every little 
 stream, so that it was necessary to build bridges to get the 
 artillery over, and the roads were in such a condition that, 
 
 * Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 202, note. 
 t IUd., vol. ii., p. 203. 
 
200 
 
 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 though the distance was but five miles, and never men worked 
 harder, they were still some considerable distance from their 
 destination when the battle had commenced. General Lewis 
 Wallace, who was with Smith's division, wrote : " The guns 
 of the fleet opened while we were yet quite a mile from our 
 objective. Our line of march was nearly parallel with the 
 line of fire to and from the gun-boats. Not more than seven 
 
 hundred yards separated 
 us from the great shells, 
 in their roaring, fiery pas 
 sage. Without suffering 
 from their effect, we had 
 the full benefit of their 
 indescribable and terri 
 ble noise. Several times 
 I heard the shots of the 
 fort crash against the 
 iron sides of the boats. 
 You can imagine the 
 excitement and martial 
 furor the circumstances 
 were calculated to in 
 spire our men with." 
 
 At about ten o'clock 
 on Thursday morning, 
 February 6th, the little 
 flotilla started slowly and 
 steadily up the river, 
 along the west channel, 
 by Panther Island, the 
 four iron-clads leading 
 abreast the flag-ship in 
 the centre and as they 
 drew near the fort firing 
 
The Attack. 201 
 
 occasionally from their bow guns. The three wooden boats, 
 according to Foote's orders, ranged themselves abreast, and 
 followed half a mile or so to the rear. At half-past twelve 
 the armored boats steamed up to a position just diagonally 
 across the river, within six hundred yards of the batteries, 
 and opened their bombardment. This was responded to 
 vigorously from the fort. The firing, at so short a dis 
 tance, was destructively accurate, especially on the side of 
 the gun-boats. It was, in fact, terrific. An officer within 
 the fort relates that it exceeded in terror any thing that the 
 imagination had pictured of the power of shot and shell, 
 plowing complete roads through the earth-works and sand 
 bags, dismounting heavy guns and crippling others, setting on 
 fire and bringing down buildings within the fortification, and 
 cutting in two as with a scythe large trees in the neighbor 
 hood. Such a hurtling tempest of shot and shell was rained 
 incessantly upon the enemy's works from those black floating 
 batteries, which, however, in their turn were exposed to a hot 
 fire from heavy guns well worked. Perceiving by her broad 
 pennant that the Cincinnati was the flag-ship, and that her 
 range and firing were better than that of the other boats, the 
 rebels concentrated upon her a storm of solid shot, striking 
 her thirty times. One 68-pound conical shot struck, bounding 
 in the centre of the front part of the pilot-house, in w r hich 
 Commodore Foote, Captain Stembel, a midshipman, and the 
 tw r o pilots were standing ; it did not perforate the vessel, but 
 indented its side deeply. The shot that pierced or took ef 
 fect were chiefly in the front sides of the vessel, which were 
 not sheathed, and in the chimneys and works of the upper 
 deck. The chimneys were perforated by eight or ten cannon- 
 balls, but were still serviceable after the fight. A 32-pound 
 ball came through the forward angle of the starboard side, 
 killing one seaman, and passed through the whole length of 
 the lower deck without further damage. Many sailors were 
 
2O2 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 seriously wounded, and why no more were killed is extraor 
 dinary, as the Cincinnati stood up nearest the batteries one 
 account says within four hundred yards and took their full 
 brunt. 
 
 The other vessels also were frequently hit with serious ef 
 fect; and at about twenty minutes before one o'clock a 32- 
 pound shot struck the Essex just above one of her bow guns, 
 killing a young officer, Samuel B. Brittan, master's mate; 
 then going through the bulkhead in front of the boiler, it 
 passed into the flue of the centre boiler, occasioning an escape 
 of the steam and hot water, and dreadfully scalding all on the 
 forward gun-deck, and the two pilots, who were almost imme 
 diately over the front of the boilers. Twenty men and officers 
 were instantly killed or scalded by this explosion ; and, among 
 them, the brave Captain Porter himself was severely injured. 
 The Essex was completely disabled, and was obliged at once 
 to withdraw from the combat. 
 
 But the fire from the fleet, both of the armored and wooden 
 vessels, was so tremendous that the gunners of the enemy 
 were driven from their posts, the 10-inch columbiad and other 
 heavy guns silenced, and nothing could withstand its fury; 
 and after a hot conflict, lasting an hour and twenty minutes, 
 in which the forces raider General Tilghman made a most 
 determined resistance, the rebel flag was lowered, and, amid 
 the wildest excitement and cheers of the crews, the victory 
 was declared for the gun-boats. 
 
 It was indeed a brilliant naval victory. By the force of 
 circumstances that could not be foreseen nor prevented, the 
 glory as well as the suffering of this battle belonged entirely 
 to the naval forces. The Army strove earnestly to share in 
 the fight, but the impetuosity of the sailors, combined with 
 the heavy state of the roads, rendered it impossible for them 
 to come up in time ; and when they did come up, the thing 
 was accomplished, and the fort, with all that it contained, 
 
Scene at the Fort. 
 
 203 
 
 was quietly handed over by Commodore Foote to General 
 Grant. 
 
 " A few minutes before the surrender," says the Southern 
 historian, Pollard, " the scene in and around the fort exhibited 
 a spectacle of fierce grandeur. Many of the cabins were in 
 flames. Added to this were the curling and dense wreaths of 
 smoke from the guns ; the constant whizzing of fragments of 
 crashing and bursting shells ; the deafening roar of artillery ; 
 the black sides of five or six gun-boats, belching fire at every 
 port-hole; the volumes of smoke settled in dense masses 
 around the surrounding back-waters; and up and over that 
 fog on the heights, the army of General Grant deploying 
 around our small army, attempting to cut off its retreat. In 
 the midst of the storm of shot and shell, the small force out 
 side of the fort had succeeded in gaining the upper road, the 
 gun-boats having failed to notice their movements until they 
 were out of reach. To give them further time, the gallant 
 Tilghman, exhausted and begrimed with powder and smoke, 
 stood erect at the middle battery, and pointed gun after gun. 
 It was clear, however, that the fort could not hold out much 
 longer. A white flag was raised by the order of General 
 Tilghman, who remarked, 'It is vain to fight longer. Our 
 gunners are disabled our guns -dismounted. We can't hold 
 out five minutes longer.' As soon as the token of submission 
 was hoisted, the gun-boats came alongside the fort and took 
 possession of it, their crews giving three cheers for the Union." 
 
 It is related that, on meeting Foote, the rebel general re 
 marked, "I am glad to surrender to so gallant an officer." 
 Foote replied, " You do perfectly right, sir, in surrendering ; 
 but you should have blown my boat out of the water before I 
 would have surrendered to you." This is the newspaper ac 
 count ; but Foote's own account of the interview, as related to 
 a friend,* is different from this. " The facts are these," he 
 
 * Mr. E. H. Leffingwell. 
 
2O4 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 said : " General Tilghman came on board my boat, evidently 
 in deep distress, wringing his hands and exclaiming, * I am in 
 despair ; my reputation is gone forever.' I replied, ' General, 
 there is no reason that you should feel thus. More than 
 two thirds of your battery is disabled, while I have lost less 
 than one third of mine. To continue the action would only 
 involve a needless sacrifice of life, and, under the circum 
 stances, you have done right in surrendering. Moreover, I 
 shall always be ready to testify that you have defended your 
 post like a brave man.' I then added, 4 Come, general, you 
 have lost your dinner, and the steward has just told me that 
 mine is ready ;' and, taking him by the arm, we walked to 
 gether into the cabin. This is all that passed between us." 
 Admiral Foote rarely, if ever, forgot that he was a gentle 
 man, and especially with those whom the fate of war had 
 made prisoners. 
 
 We subjoin the modest report of the commander of the 
 victorious fleet, giving the authentic details of the battle, and 
 which may serve to correct errors in the foregoing brief ac 
 count, that has been drawn mostly from other sources : 
 
 " CAIRO, ILL., February 7, 1862. 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to report that on the 6th instant, at half-past 
 twelve o'clock P.M., I made an attack on Fort Henry, on the Tennessee 
 River, with the iron-clad gun-boats Cincinnati, Commander Stembel ; the 
 Essex, Commander Porter ; the Carondtlet, Commander Walke ; and St. 
 Louis, Lieutenant-Commanding Paulding ; also taking with me the three 
 old gun-boats Conestoga, Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps ; the Taylor, Lieu 
 tenant-Commanding Gwin, and the Lexington, Lieutenant-Commanding 
 Shirk, as a second division, in charge of Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, 
 which took position astern and inshore of the armored boats, doing 
 good execution there in the action, while the armored boats were placed 
 in the first order of steaming, approaching the fort in a parallel line. 
 
 " The fire was opened at seventeen hundred yards' distance from the 
 flag-ship, which was followed by the other gun-boats, and responded to 
 by the fort. As .we approached the fort under slow steaming till we 
 reached within six hundred yards of the rebel batteries, the fire, both 
 
Report of the Battle. 205 
 
 from the gun-boats and forts, increased in rapidity and accuracy of aim. 
 At twenty minutes before the rebel flag was struck, the Essex, unfortu 
 nately, received a shot in her boiler, which resulted in the wounding, by 
 scalding, of twenty-nine officers and men, including Commander Porter, 
 as will be seen in the inclosed list of casualties. The Essex then neces 
 sarily dropped out of line astern, entirely disabled, and unable to con 
 tinue the fight, in which she had so gallantly participated until the sad 
 catastrophe. The firing continued with unabated rapidity and effect 
 upon the three gun-boats as they continued still to approach the fort 
 with their destructive fire, until the rebel flag was hauled down, after a 
 severe and closely contested action of one hour and fifteen minutes. 
 
 " A boat, containing the adjutant-general and a captain of engineers, 
 came alongside after the flag was lowered, and reported that General 
 Lloyd Tilghman, the commander of the fort, wished to communicate with 
 the flag-officer, when I dispatched Commander Stembel and Lieuten 
 ant-Commanding Phelps, with orders to hoist the American flag where 
 the Secession ensign had been flying, and to inform General Tilghman 
 that I would see him on board the flag-ship. He came on board soon 
 after the Union had been substituted by Commander Stembel for the 
 rebel flag on the fort, and possession taken. 
 
 " I received the general, his staff, and some sixty or seventy men as 
 prisoners ; and a hospital ship containing sixty invalids, together with 
 the fort and its effects, mounting twenty guns, mostly of heavy calibre, 
 with barracks and tents capable of accommodating fifteen thousand men, 
 and sundry articles, which, as I turned the fort and its effects over to 
 General Grant, commanding the army, on his arrival in an hour after we 
 had made the capture, he will be enabled to give the government a 
 more correct statement of than I am enabled to communicate from the 
 short time I had possession of the fort.* The plan of the attack, so far 
 as the army reaching the rear of the fort to make a demonstration simul 
 taneously with the Navy, was frustrated by the excessively muddy roads 
 and high stage of water preventing the arrival of our troops until some 
 time after I had taken possession of the fort. 
 
 " On securing the prisoners and making necessary preliminary arrange 
 ments, I dispatched Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, with his division, 
 up the Tennessee River, as I had previously directed, and, as will be seen 
 in the inclosed order* to him, to remove the rails, and so far render the 
 
 * It was estimated that more than a million dollars' worth of property 
 was captured at Fort Henry. 
 
2o6 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 bridge incapable of railroad transportation and communication between 
 Bowling Green and Columbus, and afterward to pursue the rebel gun 
 boats, and secure their capture, if possible. This being accomplished, and 
 the army in possession of the fort, and my services being indispensable at 
 Cairo, I left Fort Henry in the evening of the same day with the Cincin 
 nati^ Essex, and St. Louis, and arrived here this morning. 
 
 " The armored gun-boats resisted effectively the shot of the enemy when 
 striking the casemate. The Cincinnati (flag-ship) received thirty-one 
 shots; the Essex fifteen ; the St. Louis seven; and the Carondelet six ; kill 
 ing one and wounding nine in the Cincinnati, and killing one in the 
 Essex; while the casualties in the latter amounted to twenty-eight in 
 number. The Carondelet and St. Louis met with no casualties. 
 
 " The steamers were admirably handled by their commanders and offi 
 cers, presenting only their bow guns to the enemy, to avoid exposure of 
 the vulnerable parts of their vessels. Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, 
 with his division, also executed my orders very effectually, and promptly 
 proceeded up the river in their further execution after the capture of the 
 fort. In fact, all the officers and men gallantly performed their duty ; and, 
 considering the little experience they have had under fire, far more than 
 realized my expectations. 
 
 " Fort Henry was defended with the most determined gallantry by 
 General Tilghman, worthy of a better cause, who, from his own account, 
 went into action with eleven guns of heavy calibre bearing upon our 
 boats, which he fought until seven of the number were dismounted or 
 otherwise rendered useless. I have the honor to be, etc., 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 RESULTS OF THE CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY. FURTHER MOVE 
 MENTS OF THE GUN-BOATS. PREACHING AT CAIRO. 
 
 THERE were far greater battles during the war, both on land 
 and water, than that sharp fight on the narrow river which re 
 sulted in the fall of the earth-work of Fort Henry there was 
 the siege and taking of the almost impregnable Yicksburg, 
 and there was the splendid crowning naval victory of Admiral 
 Farragut at New Orleans but there were few battles of more 
 vital importance to the Union arms than this earliest success 
 of the Western flotilla. It was a moment of great gloom and 
 uncertainty in the country's affairs; and this was almost the 
 first marked success success of such a kind as had a sure 
 prophecy of the future in it or, as a Confederate officer, Col 
 onel Gilmer, said in his report, " it was for the enemy a great 
 success, as it emboldened him to make the attack on Fort 
 Donelson." It was the triumph of a new agency in war of 
 a power the development of which was of incalculable value, 
 not only to the Northern cause, but to the cause of all peoples 
 who were called upon to fight for their freedom. The people 
 who had iron and coal at their command were hereafter to be 
 deemed unconquerable they could not be subjected or de 
 stroyed. Above all, Fort Henry was the key of the rebel po 
 sition in the West. Its subdual, with that of Fort Donelson, 
 unlocked to our armies the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, 
 leading General Halleck (who, though bigoted in favor of the 
 Army, was an earnest patriot) to express himself in his bul 
 letin of the victory in these words : " The flag of the Union is 
 re-established on the soil of Kentucky. It will never be re- 
 
208 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 moved." By it the first strong rebel line of defense the 
 spinal column, as it were was broken. The control of the 
 direct line of railroad which connected the great rebel force 
 of Columbus with that at Bowling Green was secured, a point 
 far in the rear of both of these was seized, and the road was 
 opened for the southward advance of our armies. Bowling 
 Green was soon after evacuated. The desperate battles of 
 Pittsburg Landing, Shiloh, and Corinth were the logical con 
 sequence of the capture of Fort Henry, being the struggle on 
 the part of the rebels to establish a new line of defense run 
 ning from Memphis and Island No. Ten to Pittsburg Land 
 ing, on the Tennessee, and Chattanooga. Foote was happy in 
 taking the initiative of victory. The movement was begun 
 which, with wavering and alternate success, and after many 
 severe conflicts, was in the end slowly to bear down and crush 
 the power of the rebellion at the Southwest, where its great 
 est and final strength lay. 
 
 The military qualities and skill which were displayed in the 
 battle of Fort Henry need not be dwelt upon, for they were 
 very simple and thoroughly characteristic of the commander, 
 in whose conduct of the affair we are vividly reminded of the 
 past, and especially of the qualities exhibited in the Chinese 
 "Barrier Forts" engagement, viz., a cool, scrupulous, perhaps 
 over-cautious preparation, and rapid, concentrated, desperately 
 close fighting. The boats drew nearer and nearer to the bat 
 teries in a fiercer death-hug. It was the Connecticut sailor cal 
 culating every chance and every mishap, and then throwing 
 away all care and fear, and fighting with incredible fury. It 
 was undoubtedly anticipated by Grant and the Army that if the 
 gun-boats were capable of weakening or even reducing the 
 fort, that it would be only after many hours, in which time 
 they 'would have ample opportunity to bear an equal if not 
 predominant part ; but the matter was settled in somewhat 
 over an hour; while the forces engaged were about equally 
 
Letter of General Me demand. 209 
 
 balanced, since, in the whole conflict, Foote brought to bear 
 but eleven heavy guns against as many or more of the same 
 weight on the part of the enemy. 
 
 The country and the government received the news of the 
 fall of Fort Henry with enthusiasm. The loyal papers over 
 the whole country were full of the details of the conflict and 
 congratulations upon the happy event which was one of 
 those events not in itself of great proportions, but whose 
 " singular felicity " depends upon its time, circumstances, and 
 consequences. One of the most generous acknowledgments of 
 the victory, and one that must have been personally gratify 
 ing to Foote, was the letter of General McClernand, written 
 the day after the battle : 
 
 " HEAD-QUARTERS, FIRST DIVISION, FORT FOOTE ] 
 (LATE HENRY), TENN., Feb., 1862. ( 
 
 " COMMODORE FOOTE, Flag-Officer, Western Waters : 
 
 " DEAR SIR, As an acknowledgment of the consummate skill with 
 which you brought your gun-boats into action yesterday, and of the ad 
 dress and bravery displayed by yourself and your command, I have taken 
 the liberty of giving the late ' Fort Henry ' the new and more appropriate 
 name of ' Fort Foote.' 
 
 "Please pardon the liberty I have taken without first securing your 
 concurrence, as I am hardly disposed to do, considering the liberty which 
 you took in capturing the fort without my co-operation. 
 " Very respectfully yours, etc., 
 
 " JOHN A. MCCLERNAND, Brig.-Gen., Com. First Division." 
 
 From the mass of other letters and testimonials of honor 
 and gratitude which speedily flowed in, we select but these 
 two, as expressive at the same time of the value set by the gov 
 ernment upon our commander's services and of warm personal 
 
 friendship : 
 
 "NAVY DEPARTMENT, February 13, 1862. 
 
 " SIR, Your letter of the 7th instant, communicating the details of 
 your great success in the capture of Fort Henry, is just received. I 
 had previously informed you of the reception of your telegraphic dis- 
 
2 1 o Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 patch announcing the event, which gave the highest satisfaction to the 
 country. 
 
 " "We have to-day the report of Lieutenant-Commanding S. L. Phelps, 
 with the gratifying result of his successful pursuit and capture and de 
 struction of the rebel steamers, and the dispersion of the hostile camps 
 as far up the Tennessee River as Florence. 
 
 " I most cordially and sincerely congratulate you, and the officers and 
 men under your command, on these heroic achievements, accomplished 
 under extraordinary circumstances, and after surmounting great and al 
 most insuperable difficulties. The labor you have performed, and the 
 services you have rendered in creating the armed flotilla of gun-boats 
 on the Western waters, and in bringing together for effective operation 
 the force which has already earned such renown, can never be overesti 
 mated. The Department has observed with no ordinary solicitude the 
 armament that has so suddenly been called into existence, and which 
 under your well-directed management has been so gloriously effective. 
 " I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "GIDEON WELLES. 
 
 " Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, U. S. N., commanding | 
 Gun-boat Flotilla, etc., Cairo, 111." ) 
 
 "NAVY DEPARTMENT, February 8, 1862. 
 
 "DEAR FLAG-OFFICER, You have been rewarded for the trials and 
 sublime patience of the labors you have given to your work, and crowned 
 w T ith victory. Of yourself, we all knew that the hour of trial for you was 
 but the hour of success. Another fort knocked over by the Navy is my 
 reward. The victory is very important, as this stage of the river, I pre 
 sume, gives you access even to Nashville if you take the Cumberland. 
 You will also strengthen the branch of the service with the great West, 
 where the empire soon will be. Your telegraph came at noon, and we 
 sent it immediately to Congress, where it gave intense satisfaction. Be 
 lieving that you will carry our arms wherever your flag can penetrate, 
 I am sincerely yours, G. V. Fox. 
 
 " Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, U. S.N., commanding Western Flotilla." 
 
 The following letter shows on the part of Commodore Foote 
 a characteristic courtesy, as well as a positive assertion of prin 
 ciples : 
 
Expedition up the Tennessee. 211 
 
 " CAIKO, February 10, 1862. 
 
 " Sm, Your note of the 9th instant, referring to my official telegram 
 to the Navy Department, and requesting me to correct an error where 
 mortars are referred to, has been received. 
 
 " I have as you will see by the inclosed letter to the Secretary of the 
 Navy, stated to him that I did not speak of mortars at all in my tele 
 gram, which was probably introduced by the printer by mistake. 
 
 " The haste in which my dispatch was prepared, or, rather, the short 
 time I remained after .the fort surrendered, I find has led me into several 
 little errors referred to in my letter to the Secretary. Still, to show that 
 I intended to represent matters fairly, I did not, either in my telegram or 
 report, speak of our four armed boats having, I believe with a single ex 
 ception, fired or used but the eleven bow guns two in the Essex, and 
 three in the other three boats. I appreciate your high qualities of cour 
 age and other characteristics (always excepting your disunion views and 
 conduct) too highly not to wish to do you every justice. 
 
 " I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " General Lloyd Tilghman, Paducah, Kentucky. 1 ' 
 
 In accordance with the special order of his chief, Lieutenant 
 Phelps, when the surrender of Fort Henry took place, started 
 at once up the Tennessee to cut the railroad track between 
 Memphis and Bowling Green, and to capture rebel gun-boats 
 and steamers upon the river. His report, as showing the state 
 of the country, and in many other respects, though long, is so 
 
 interesting and valuable, that we give it in full: 
 
 
 
 "UNITED STATES GUN-BOAT 'CONESTOGA,' TENNESSEE } 
 
 RIVER, February 10, 1862. j 
 
 SIR, Soon after the surrender of Fort Henry, on the 6th instant, I 
 proceeded, in obedience to your orders, up the Tennessee Eiver, with the 
 Taylw, Lieutenant-Commanding Gwin * Lexington, Lieutenant-Command 
 ing Shirk, and this vessel, forming a division of the flotilla, and arrived 
 after dark at the railroad crossing, twenty-five miles above the fort, hav 
 ing on the way destroyed a small amount of camp equipage abandoned 
 by the flying rebels. The draw of the bridge was found closed, and the 
 machinery for turning it disabled. About a mile and a half above were 
 several rebel transport steamers escaping up stream. 
 
212 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " A party was landed, and in one hour I had the satisfaction to see the 
 draw open. The Taylor being the slowest of the gun-boats, Lieutenant- 
 Commanding Gwin landed a force to destroy a portion of the railroad 
 track, and to secure such military stores as might be found, while I di 
 rected Lieutenant-Commanding Shirk to follow me with all speed in 
 chase of the fleeing boats. In five hours this boat succeeded in forcing 
 the rebels to abandon and burn three of their boats loaded with military 
 stores. The first one fired (Samuel Orr) had on board a quantity of sub 
 marine batteries, which very soon exploded. The second was freighted 
 with powder, cannon, shot, grape, balls, etc. Fearing an explosion from 
 the fired boats there were two together I had stopped at a distance of 
 one thousand yards ; but even there our skylights were broken by the 
 concussion, the light upper deck was raised bodily, doors were forced 
 open, and locks and fastenings every where broken. 
 
 "The whole river, for half a mile about, was completely k beaten up r 
 by the falling fragments and the shower of shot, grape, balls, etc. The 
 house of a reported Union man was blown to pieces, and it is suspect 
 ed that there was design in landing the boats in front of the doomed 
 house. The Lexington having fallen astern, and being without a pilot, I 
 concluded to wait for botli of the boats to come up. Joined by them, 
 we proceeded up the river. Lieutenant -Commanding Gwin had de 
 stroyed some of the trestle-work at the end of the bridge, burning with 
 them a lot of camp equipage. L. N. Brown, formerly a lieutenant in the 
 Navy, now signing himself ' Lieutenant C. S. N.,' had fled with such pre 
 cipitation as to leave his papers behind. These Lieutenant-Commanding 
 Gwin brought away, and I send them to you, as they give an official 
 history of the rebel floating preparations on the Mississippi, Cumberland, 
 and Tennessee. Lieutenant Brown had charge of the construction of 
 gun-boats. 
 
 " At night, on the 7th, we arrived at a landing in Hardin County, 
 Tennessee, known as Cerro Gordo, where we found the steamer Eastport 
 being converted into a gun-boat. Armed boat crews were immediately 
 sent on board, and search made for the means of destruction that might 
 have been devised. She had been scuttled and the suction-pipes broken. 
 These leaks were soon stopped. A number of rifle-shots were fired at 
 our vessels, but a couple of shells dispersed the rebels. On examination 
 I found that there were large quantities of timber and lumber prepared 
 for fitting up the Eastport ; that the vessel itself some 280 feet long 
 was in excellent condition, and already half finished ; considerable of the 
 
Expedition up the Tennessee. 213 
 
 plating designed for her was lying on the bank, and every thing at hand 
 to complete her. I therefore directed Lieutenant-Commanding Gwin to 
 remain with the Taylor, to guard the prize and to load the lumber, etc., 
 while the Lexington and the Conestoga should proceed still higher up. 
 
 " Soon after daylight, on the 8th, we passed Eastport, Mississippi ; and 
 at Chickasaw, farther up, near the state-line, seized two steamers the 
 Sallie Wood and Muscle the former laid up, and the latter freighted with 
 iron destined for Richmond and for rebel use. We then proceeded on 
 up the river, entering the State of Alabama, and ascending to Florence, 
 at the foot of the Muscle Shoals. On coming in sight of the town, three 
 steamers were discovered, which were immediately set on fire by the 
 rebels. Some shots were fired from the opposite side of the river below. 
 A force was landed, and considerable quantities of supplies, marked ' Fort 
 Henry,' were secured from the burning wrecks. Some had been landed 
 and stored. These I seized, putting such as we could bring away on our 
 vessels, and destroying the remainder.' No flats or other craft could be 
 found. I also found more of the iron and plating intended for the East- 
 port. 
 
 " A deputation of citizens of Florence waited upon me ; first, desiring 
 that they might be able to quiet the fears of their wives and daughters 
 with assurances from me that they would not be molested ; and, secondly, 
 praying that I would not destroy their railroad bridge. As for the first, 
 I told them we were neither ruffians nor savages, and that we were there 
 to protect from violence and to enforce the law ; and with reference to 
 the second, that if the bridge were away we could ascend no higher, and 
 that it could possess no military importance, so far as I saw, as it simply 
 connected Florence itself with the railroad on the south bank of the 
 river. 
 
 "We had seized three of their steamers one the half-finished gun 
 boat and had forced the rebels to burn six others loaded with supplies ; 
 and their loss, with that of the freight, is a heavy blow to the enemy. 
 Two boats are still known to be on the Tennessee, and are doubtless hid 
 den in some of the creeks, where we shall be able to find them when 
 there is time for the search. We returned on the night of the 8th to 
 where the Eastport lay. The crew of the Taylor had already got on board 
 of the prize an immense amount of lumber, etc. The crews of the three 
 boats set to work to finish the undertaking, and we have brought away 
 probably 250,000 feet of the best quality of ship and building lumber, 
 and the iron, machinery, spikes, plating, nails, etc., belonging to the rebel 
 
214 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 gun-boats ; and I caused the mill to be destroyed where the lumber had 
 been sawed. 
 
 "Lieutenant -Commanding Gwin had r in our absence, enlisted some 
 twenty-five Tennesseans, who gave information of the encampment of Col 
 onel Drew's regiment at Savannah, Tennessee. A portion of the six or 
 seven hundred men were known to be 'pressed' men, and all were badly 
 armed. After consultation, with Lieutenants - Commanding Gwin and 
 Shirk, I determined to make a land attack upon the encampment. Lieu 
 tenant-Commanding Shirk, with thirty riflemen, came on board the Cones- 
 toga, leaving his vessel to guard the Eastport; and, accompanied by the 
 Taylor, we proceeded up to that place, prepared to land 130 riflemen and 
 a 12-pounder rifle howitzer. Lieutenant-Commanding Gwin took com 
 mand of the force when landed, but had the mortification to find the 
 camp deserted. 
 
 " The rebels had fled at one o'clock in the morning, leaving consider 
 able quantities of arms, clothing, shoes, camp utensils, provisions, imple 
 ments, etc., all of which were secured or destroyed, and their winter-quar 
 ters of log-huts were burned. I seized also a large mail-bag, to send you 
 the letters giving military information. The gun-boats were then drop 
 ped down to a point where arms, gathered under the rebel ' press-law,' 
 had been stored ; and an armed party, under Second-Master Gondy, of 
 the Taylor, succeeded in seizing about seventy rifles and fowling-pieces. 
 Returning to Cerro Gordo, we took the Eastport, Sallie Wood, and Muscle 
 in tow, and came down the river to the railroad crossing. The Muscle 
 sprang aleak, and all efforts failing to prevent her sinking, we were 
 forced to abandon her, and with her a considerable quantity of fine lum 
 ber. We are having trouble in getting through the draw of the bridge 
 here. 
 
 " I now come to the, to me, most interesting part of this report one 
 which has already become too long ; but I must trust you will find some 
 excuse for this in the fact that it embraces a history of labor and move 
 ments, day and night, from the 6th to the 10th of the month, all of which 
 details I deem it proper to give you. We have met with the most gratify 
 ing proofs of loyalty every where across Tennessee, and in the portions of 
 Mississippi and Alabama which we visited. Most affecting instances greet 
 us almost hourly. Men, women, and children several times gathered in 
 crowds of hundreds, shouted their welcome, and hailed their national flag 
 with an enthusiasm there was no mistaking it was genuine and heart 
 felt. These people braved every thing to go to the river bank, where 
 
Expedition up the Tennessee. 215 
 
 a sight of their flag might once more be enjoyed ; and they have experi 
 enced, as they related, every possible form of persecution. Tears flowed 
 freely down the cheeks of- men as well as of women; and there were 
 those who had fought under the stars and stripes at Moultrie who in this 
 manner testified their joy. 
 
 " This display of feeling and sense of gladness at our success, and the 
 hopes it created in the breasts of so many people in the heart of the Con 
 federacy, astonished us not a little ; and I assure you, sir, I would not 
 have failed to witness it under any consideration. I trust it has given 
 us all a higher sense of the sacred character of our present duties. I was 
 assured at Savannah that of the several hundred troops there, more than 
 one half, had we gone to the attack in time, would have hailed us as de 
 liverers, and gladly enlisted with the national force. 
 
 " In Tennessee the people generally, in their enthusiasm, braved Seces 
 sionists, and spoke their views freely ; but in Mississippi and Alabama, 
 what was said was guarded. * If we dared to express ourselves freely, 
 you would hear such a shout greeting your coming as you never heard. 1 
 4 We know there are many Unionists among us, but a reign of terror 
 makes us afraid of our shadows.' We are told, too, ' Bring us a small 
 organized force, with arms and ammunition for us, and we can maintain 
 our position and put down rebellion in our midst.' There were, it is 
 true, whole communities who, on our approach, fled to the woods ; but 
 these were where there was less of the loyal element, and where the flee 
 ing steamers in advance had spread tales of our coming with firebrands, 
 burning, destroying, ravishing, and plundering. 
 
 " The crews of these vessels have had a very laborious time, but have 
 evinced a spirit in the work highly creditable to them. Lieutenants- 
 Commanding Gwin and Shirk have been untiring, and I owe to them 
 and their officers many obligations for entire success. 
 " I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " S. T. PHELPS, Lieutenant-Commanding U.S.N. 
 
 " Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, commanding 1 
 Naval Forces, Western Waters." ) 
 
 It is not surprising that special commendations should have 
 been added to the report of this officer ; and it might be said 
 that no man was better supported by his officers than was 
 Foote while at the West. Porter, Phelps,Walke, Gwin, Shirk, 
 Sanford, Pennock, and others, called, as they were, from their 
 
 P 
 
2 1 6 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 business on broad ocean to do unaccustomed work, did the 
 Navy great credit by their patient and courageous services 
 in storm and fog, cold and heat on those turbid rivers, in 
 clumsy vessels that seemed, like mud-turtles, made to court 
 sandbanks, snags, low water, rapid currents, to say nothing of 
 torpedoes, ambuscades, and infernal machines. 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER * ST. Louis,' PADUCAH, ) 
 February 12, 1862. f 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor and high gratification to forward to the 
 Department the official report of Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, by 
 which it will be seen that he has, with consummate skill, courage, and 
 judgment, performed a highly beneficial service to the government, 
 which, I doubt not, will appreciate it. I can not too highly commend 
 the conduct of Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps for this his signal service 
 in his long cruise to the head of navigation on the Tennessee River. 
 
 " I am now, with three iron-clad steamers, ascending the Cumberland 
 River, to co-operate with General Grant in an attack on Fort Donelson. 
 Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, with his division, accompanies me. In 
 great haste. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
 
 tk A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 We give here a semi-official letter written by Lieutenant J. 
 P. Sanford, ordnance officer of the flotilla, showing the efforts 
 and needs of another branch of the gun-boat service, no less 
 important than others, and, in fact, forming the striking arm 
 of this formidable power : 
 
 " CINCINNATI, February 12, 1862. 
 
 "MY DEAR FLAG-OFFICER, I have but a few moments in which to 
 write. I am so busy that I have not had the leisure even to take my 
 regular meals. You have my most hearty and cordial congratulations 
 on your recent victory, and I have to regret at the same time that I was 
 not with you. 
 
 " I am pushing up the work on the arks, and expect to leave here Sat 
 urday evening. 
 
 " I telegraphed to Pittsburg and Washington for 8-inch guns imuiedi- 
 
Letter respecting Ordnance. 217 
 
 ately on receipt of your telegram, and have them, from Washington, 
 ready to be expressed. One of the guns I intend for the St. Louis. She 
 has but two. 
 
 "I have just got a telegram from Captain Pennock. About two hun 
 dred additional rounds to be put up at Pittsburg Arsenal, making in all 
 five hundred for each gun. I pity the poor guns ! 
 
 "The ammunition-boats have large and splendid shell-rooms and 
 magazines. I trust that what I have done to these boats will meet with 
 your approval. It is no small matter to fit up such things as these river 
 boats for eight hundred men and magazines. Permit me to suggest the 
 propriety of a guard of thirty soldiers being obtained from the Army to 
 do duty as marines. The boats will, in my judgment, absolutely need 
 them. I shall want about five sentries on mine to make all secure. A 
 lieutenant could be placed over them. 
 
 " I wrote to General Ripley a few days since for three hundred more 
 swords two hundred of them to be distributed to gun-boats, addi 
 tional to what they have, and fifty to each of the ammunition-boats. I 
 am putting a stiff piece of timber on the guards on either side of fore 
 castle, to receive bolts for breechings, side tackles, etc., for a 32-pounder. 
 If you did not think it absolutely necessary for me to come down with 
 the boats, I would go to Pittsburg about the ammunition ; but I suppose 
 it is proper I should come down with them. 
 
 " I can't get flat-boatmen. They have all gone into the Army. I pro 
 pose sending a first-rate man to Pittsburg to drum up some. I am told 
 my best chance is there. 
 
 " I shall have to leave nearly all my accounts here unsettled, as the 
 moment I can get stores, etc., on board, I shall be off. 
 
 " I have had fifty mess cloths made by Haggerty on a venture for the 
 ammunition-boats not enough, but Captain Pennock might have some 
 spare ones, as I would not load the government with unnecessary extras. 
 u Yours sincerely, J. P. SANFORD, Ord. Officer of Flotilla." 
 
 In regard to the feeling developed at the South after the 
 battle of Fort Henry, the Richmond Dispatch of February 
 13th says: "Our Tennessee exchanges give us gloomy pros 
 pects for the future in that part of the Confederacy. Several 
 leading journals intimate plainly that there is really a threat 
 ening state of affairs in East Tennessee, growing out of the 
 idolatrous love of many of these people for the old Union. 
 
218 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 The correspondent of the Memphis Avalanche writes that the 
 condition of the interior provinces is not improved, and the 
 people apprehend an immediate advance of the Northmen." 
 
 While the flag-officer was at Cairo, the first Sunday after 
 the capture of Fort Henry, the incident of his " preaching " 
 took place, which caused much remark at the time, and has, 
 indeed, become one of the stock anecdotes of the war. The 
 matter excited no astonishment to those who knew him well ; 
 and to the readers of this volume, who have followed him 
 from his youth up, and have become acquainted with his out 
 spoken religious character and habits, it can cause no surprise. 
 On this Sunday he went to attend divine worship at the Pres 
 byterian Church, and found a full congregation assembled, 
 but no preacher present. "With his promptitude for business, 
 seeing that no one else took the lead in the emergency, he went 
 to the deacons, and endeavored to persuade them to conduct 
 the service. Failing in this, he himself mounted the pulpit, 
 read the Scriptures, made a prayer, and preached a short dis 
 course from the words, " Let not your hearts be troubled ; ye 
 believe in God, believe also in me." When the sermon, 
 which was listened to attentively by a delighted audience, 
 was concluded, an Army chaplain, who had in the mean time 
 entered the house, stepped up to the commodore and express 
 ed himself greatly pleased with the discourse. The commo 
 dore replied pleasantly (in no sharp terms of rebuke, as it was 
 represented by some) that the chaplain should have come for 
 ward and taken his place. These are the simple facts of the 
 case as given by eye-witnesses; and with such "lay-preach 
 ing," by one who showed his faith by his works, we, on our 
 part, are not disposed to find fault. He himself often de 
 clared, however, that this was the last time he should ever 
 attempt lay-preaching. 
 
 We can not forbear adding one of the letters of his hearty 
 old friend, Commodore (now Rear-Admiral) Joseph Smith : 
 
Vote of Thanks by the Ohio Legislature. 219 
 
 "February 14, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR FOOTE, I have yours of the 9th instant. I hardly know 
 for which vocation to award you the meed of greatest praise, as a first- 
 rate flag-officer, or as a ' preacher ' no matter which, as you are in high 
 estimation in both. 
 
 " The Burnside expedition has done nobly. Goldsborough got glory 
 enough to satisfy even his longings. Our cause looks cheering, and I 
 apprehend, if only the roads were passable, we should soon be in posses 
 sion of all Virginia. Porter has departed with his mortar-boats, and ex 
 pects to meet you with yours at New Orleans. I have but a faint idea 
 of your boats, that they fight end on only bow and stern guns to be 
 used, and I presume you can use but two at either end. You see a bill 
 reported for reorganizing the Navy Department. Nobody says any 
 thing to me on the subject. Fox is the moving power. I could make a 
 better bill, and organize a Board of Admiralty. 
 
 " Your successes will bear you up against all the pressure your posi 
 tion loads you with. Anna thinks her bauble will carry you through vic 
 toriously. You are on the top round of the ladder, and therefore you 
 have very little more to do. 
 
 " I hope you will make the Benton go, as you were authorized to incur 
 the expense to do so. Yours truly, in haste, JOSEPH SMITH." 
 
 The following vote of thanks was passed (February 14, 
 1862) by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio : 
 
 " Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that the 
 thanks of the people of Ohio be, and through their representatives are 
 hereby tendered to General Grant and Flag-Officer Foote, and the brave 
 men under their command, for the courage, gallantry, and enterprise 
 exhibited in the bombardment and capture of Fort Henry a victory no 
 less brilliant in itself than glorious in its results, giving our Army a foot 
 hold in Tennessee, and opening the way for an early advance to the cap 
 ital of that state. 
 
 " Resolved, That the governor transmit copies of these resolutions to 
 said officers, with the request that the same be read to the men under 
 their command. 
 
 " JAMES R HUBBELL, Speaker of House of Representatives. 
 B. STANTON, President of the Senate." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DONELSON. HE IS WOUNDED. CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 As soon as Fort Henry fell into our power, great efforts 
 were made by the rebels, now thoroughly aroused and alarm 
 ed, to strengthen the corresponding fortified post upon the 
 Cumberland River. Russelville and Bowling Green were 
 virtually evacuated, and great numbers of troops, to the 
 amount of some twenty-five thousand, were immediately con 
 centrated at Fort Donelson. General Btishrod Johnson, with 
 Buckner, Pillow, and Floyd, threw themselves into the place, 
 and every thing looked like a most determined resistance, as 
 if the fate of the whole war were to be staked upon it. And, 
 in some respects, this was true. The post was one of vast 
 strength, both by nature and art. Floyd wrote to Richmond, 
 with more of sincerity, probably, than was customary with 
 him: "Have no fear about us. The place is impregnable; 
 the enemy can never take it." 
 
 Fort Donelson* was situated twelve miles southeast of Fort 
 Henry, upon the west bank of the Cumberland, a mile below 
 Dover, where the stream makes a sudden turn to the west 
 ward, and then again to the northward. It is a broken, 
 irregular country, and the hills, or knolls, rise from the river 
 quite abruptly to a hundred or a hundred and fifty feet in 
 height. Upon one of these eminences stood the fort, con 
 taining a hundred acres. It was surrounded by creeks and 
 deep ravines. Its own works were strong, and line beyond 
 
 * For map of Fort Donelson, see p. 222. 
 
Movement on Fort Donelson. 221 
 
 line of intrenchrnents, redoubts, and rifle-pits stretched far 
 around over the neighboring hills and valleys. The water- 
 line of batteries, for commanding the river approaches, with 
 their guns trained down stream, formed the most powerful 
 means of defense, and consisted of three tiers of batteries, the 
 lower one near the water, the second fifty feet above, and the 
 third fifty feet above that, the lower or principal battery being 
 armed with eight 32-pounders and one 10-inch colurnbiad; 
 another bore a heavy rifled cannon that carried a 128-pound 
 bolt, flanked by two 32-pound carronades.* These were to be 
 tested by. the gun-boats in a combat of brief but terrible se 
 verity. 
 
 On the morning of the 12th of February General Grant set 
 his army in motion upon the three roads leading from Fort 
 Henry to Dover ; and in the afternoon, without meeting with 
 resistance, the different bodies came in sight of the fort, drove 
 in its pickets, and took up their several positions, to be ready 
 for the next day's assault. The forces within and without the 
 fort were probably nearly equal. On the same day Foote 
 was moving up the Cumberland with his gun-boats, convoy 
 ing transports filled with troops that were to constitute Wal 
 lace's Third Division.f One boat, however, the Carondelet, 
 Captain Walke, had been sent forward two days in advance 
 of the other vessels ; and on the morning of the 13th, in con 
 nection with a movement by a portion of the land force, 
 this vessel made a gallant diversion in favor of the Army, 
 and had the honor of opening the siege. Although in the 
 rapid current she could use only her bow guns, she fired one 
 hundred and thirty-eight shots, until a 128-pound shot enter 
 ed one of her ports and injured her machinery, compelling 
 her to withdraw. She renewed firing in the afternoon, but 
 
 * Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 209. 
 t IUd., vol. ii., p. 210. 
 
222 
 
 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 against such heavy batteries, single-handed, and at a compara 
 tively long range, could effect little. 
 
 The fighting on the part of the Army during that day was 
 severe and indecisive. There was, indeed, no general attack 
 made, as Grant, feeling the need of all his power, was await 
 ing the presence of the gun-boats and of Wallace's Third Di 
 vision ; but an assault was ordered by McClernand upon one 
 of the principal redoubts, which developed into a battle of 
 considerable magnitude, with varying fortune, though ending 
 in the repulse of the National forces. That night, in cold 
 and sleet, without tents and without provisions, the weary 
 and dispirited troops lay upon the frozen ground, anxiously 
 looking for the coming light to renew the combat, and for 
 the hoped-for arrival of the flotilla and the transports. 
 
 These having come up, and also a reserved force from Fort 
 Henry, Grant proceeded, as well as he was able, to complete 
 the investment of the place, and prepare for the decisive battle. 
 At about three o'clock on the afternoon of the 14th, the flotil 
 la, consisting of the armor 
 ed vessels St. Louis, Ca- 
 rondelet, Pittsburg, and 
 Louisville, forming the 
 first line, accompanied by 
 the wooden gun-boats Con- 
 estoga, Taylor, and Lex 
 ington the flag -ship St. 
 Louis taking the lead 
 made a direct attack upon 
 the water batteries (Foote 
 giving orders not to regard 
 the batteries on the bluff), 
 and steaming straight up, 
 in the usual bold manner 
 of this commander, to be- 
 
 FT.DONELSON 
 FEB,14TH,1862 
 
Disasters to the Fleet. 223 
 
 tween three and four hundred yards of their teeth. His in 
 tention was to silence the batteries and pass them, so as to gain 
 a position to enfilade the faces of the fort with broadsides.* 
 The firing on both sides was soon very accurate, rapid, and 
 destructive. The shot and shell from the fleet plowed into the 
 lower batteries, dismounting guns and driving away the gun 
 ners, while the heavy cannon of the fort played incessantly 
 upon the sides and decks of the boats. "Never was a little 
 squadron exposed to so terrible a fire. Twenty heavy guns 
 were trained upon it, those from the hill-side hurling plung 
 ing shot with awful precision and effect, while the boats could 
 reply with only twelve guns."t Notwithstanding this furious 
 fire from the fort at a higher level, and at so great an advan 
 tage, raking the broadsides of the boat obliquely, in which 
 some of the 128-pound shots crushed through the iron armor, 
 carrying destruction with them, the boats held on constantly 
 to their work, until the upper battery of four guns was 
 silenced, and the men were distinctly seen flying from the 
 lower battery, and the vessels were just on the point of shoot 
 ing by and gaining a favorable position. It is said (and we 
 give this as an unauthenticated report) that at this time of the 
 height of the combat Pillow telegraphed to Governor Harris : 
 " The Federal gun-boats are destroying us. For God's sake, 
 send us all the help you can immediately. I don't care for 
 the land force of the enemy; they can't hurt us if you can 
 keep those iron hell-hounds in check." At this critical mo 
 ment, when things looked as if victory were almost in their 
 grasp, the Louisville was disabled by a shot which cut away 
 her rudder-chains, making her totally unmanageable, so that 
 she drifted with the current out of action. Yery soon after 
 the St. Louis was disabled by a shot through her pilot-house, 
 
 * Lossing's "Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 213. 
 
 t 
 
224 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 rendering her steering impossible, so that she also floated 
 down the river. The other two armored vessels were also ter 
 ribly struck, and a rifled cannon on the Carondelet burst, so 
 that these two could no longer, by themselves, sustain the 
 action; and after fighting for more than an hour, the little 
 fleet was forced to withdraw. The immediate object of the 
 attack of the gun-boats, viz., to silence the formidable river 
 batteries, and to obtain a good position to bombard the upper 
 works in co-operation with the assault of the land forces, 
 which was all, in fact, that the flotilla had the power of 
 doing, since there was a whole army within the fortifica 
 tions to be dislodged and conquered, and the boats could 
 not walk upon land this object of the attack was on the 
 point of being successfully attained, when the unforeseen 
 casualties that have been related occurred. It was indeed a 
 hard disappointment after such persistent fighting. Foote, it is 
 said, wept like a child when the order to withdraw was given. 
 
 The St. Louis was struck fifty-nine times ; the Louisville 
 thirty-six times; the Carondelet twenty-six; the Pittsburg 
 twenty; and the four vessels receiving no less than one hun 
 dred and forty-one wounds. The attack was repulsed, but it 
 was through the imperfection of the boats themselves in not 
 having sufficient protection to their machinery, wheels, and 
 steering apparatus; but the demoralizing influence of their 
 fierce bombardment upon the fort could not have been small, 
 and must have helped toward the great but hard-won success 
 of the next day. At all events, the gun-boats did what they 
 could, and, until rendered entirely helpless for action, drifting 
 like logs in the rapid current, they were fought with a deter 
 mined energy that looked, even to the last moment, only to 
 victory. 
 
 The fleet, gathering itself together, and rendering mutual 
 help to its disabled members, proceeded to Cairo to repair 
 damages, intending to return immediately with a stronger 
 
Surrender of Fort Donelson. 225 
 
 naval force to continue the siege. General Grant decided to 
 await their return, and also the coming of reinforcements to 
 his army; but events took place of sudden and rapid evolution, 
 compelling him to change his plans, and bringing on the gen 
 eral battle of the next day. Early on the morning of the 15th, 
 two grand sorties by the enemy, the one led by Generals Pil 
 low and Johnson, and the other by Buckner, effected a com 
 plete surprise of the National forces, caused most sanguinary 
 lighting, and seriously menaced the whole of Grant's right 
 wing. It was only the prompt valor of Generals Wallace and 
 McClernand (in the absence of Grant, who was in consulta 
 tion with Foote), backed by the dogged bravery of the West 
 ern troops, that prevented a total rout. When the whole 
 battle hung in the balance, wavering and uncertain, Grant 
 himself came up, and by a bold inspiration that snatched vic 
 tory from defeat, he ordered McClernand to retake the hill 
 he had lost, and Smith to make a simultaneous attack on the 
 Confederate right.* By desperate lighting, intrenchment 
 after intrenchment was carried, and that night Grant knew 
 that the ultimate triumph was his. Then took place those 
 extraordinary and hurried councils in the camp of the enemy 
 which resulted in the escape of Floyd and Pillow, and the 
 unconditional surrender the next morning by Buckner of the 
 stronghold with its army of fifteen thousand or what re 
 mained of its army of twenty-five thousand who did not run 
 away and its immense amount of military stores. 
 
 As our business has been to give an account mainly of 
 those operations in which Foote and the naval forces under 
 his command were engaged, we have not entered into a de 
 tailed history of the assault and taking of Fort Donelson. It 
 is, however, but just and right to give the flag-officer's own 
 report of his share in that siege : 
 
 * Lossing's u Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 217. 
 
226 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " FLAG-SHIP ' ST. Louis,' NEAR FORT DONELSON, i 
 CUMBERLAND RIVER, February 15, 1862. f 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to report to the Department that, at the 
 urgent request of General Halleck and General Grant, who regarded the 
 movement as a military necessity, although not, in my opinion, properly 
 prepared, I made an attack on Fort Donelson yesterday, the 14th instant, 
 at three o'clock P.M., with four iron-clad and two wooden gun-boats 
 the St. Louis, Carondelet, Louisville, and Pittsburg, and the Taylor and Con- 
 estoga. After a severe fight of an hour and a half, being in the latter 
 part of the action less than four hundred yards from the fort, the wheel 
 of this vessel, by a shot through her pilot-house, was carried away ; the 
 tiller-ropes of the Louisville were also disabled by a shot, which rendered 
 the two boats wholly unmanageable, and they drifted down the river, 
 the relieving tackles not being able to steer or control them in the rapid 
 current. The two remaining boats, the Pittsburg and Caronddet. were 
 also greatly damaged between wind and water, and soon followed us, as 
 the enemy rapidly renewed the fire as we drifted helplessly clown the 
 river. This vessel, the St. Louis, alone received fifty-nine shots, four of 
 them between wind and water; one in the pilot-house, mortally wound 
 ing the pilot; and others, requiring some time to put her in repair. 
 There were fifty-four killed and wounded in the attack, which, notwith 
 standing our disadvantages, we have every reason to suppose would, in 
 fifteen minutes more, could the action have been continued, have result 
 ed in the capture of the two forts bearing upon us. The enemy's fire 
 had materially slackened, and he was running from his batteries, when 
 the two gun-boats helplessly drifted down the river from disabled steer 
 ing apparatus, as the relieving tackles could not control the helm in 
 the strong current; and the fleeing enemy, returning to their guns, 
 again boldly opened fire upon us from the river batteries, which we had 
 silenced. 
 
 " The enemy must have brought over twenty guns to bear upon our 
 boats from the water-batteries and the main fort on the side of the hill, 
 while we could only return the fire with twelve bow guns from the four 
 boats. One rifle-gun aboard the Carondelet burst during the action. 
 
 "The officers and men in this hotly contested but unequal fight be 
 haved with the greatest gallantry and determination, all deploring the 
 accident which rendered two gun-boats suddenly helpless in the narrow 
 river and swift current. 
 
 " On consultation with General Grant and my own officers, as my serv- 
 
Foote Wounded. 227 
 
 ices, until we can repair damages by bringing up a competent force from 
 Cairo to attack the fort, are much less required here than they are at 
 Cairo, I shall proceed to that point with two of the disabled boats, leav 
 ing the two others here to protect the transports, and with all dispatch 
 prepare the mortar-boats and the Benton, with other boats, to make an 
 effectual attack upon Fort Donelson. 
 
 " I have sent the Taylor to the Tennessee River to render impassable 
 the bridge, so as to prevent the rebels at Columbus reinforcing their 
 army at Fort Donelson. I am informed that the rebel batteries were 
 served with the best gunners from Columbus. I transmit herewith a list 
 of casualties. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, 
 
 " Flag-Officer, commanding U. S. N. Forces, Western Waters. 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C." 
 
 A second dispatch announces the capture of the fort by 
 
 General Grant: 
 
 " CAIKO, February 17, 1862. 
 " To THE HON. GIDEON WELLES : 
 
 " The Carondelet has just arrived from Donelson, and brings informa 
 tion of the capture of the fort by the land forces yesterday morning, with 
 fifteen thousand prisoners, including Buckner and Johnson. Loss heavy 
 on both sides. Floyd escaped with five thousand men during the night. 
 I go up as soon as possible with the gun-boats. Will proceed to Clarks- 
 ville. Eight mortar-boats are on the way, with which I hope to attack 
 Clarksville. My wound is painful, but not dangerous. 
 
 " The army behaved gloriously. I shall be able to take but two iron 
 clad gun-boats with me, as the others are disabled. The trophies are 
 immense. The particulars will soon be given. 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer." 
 
 The commodore's wound was not considered severe at the 
 time, although it was painful, and he made light of it, not suf 
 fering it to interfere with his active duties. But as it was the 
 immediate cause of his being compelled some months later to 
 throw up his command at the West, and as it is probable, com 
 bined with the great burdens laid on him, that it was a remote 
 cause of aggravating his last fatal disease, therefore, by reason 
 of this and other valuable lives that were forfeited, a mourn- 
 
228 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 ful interest is attached to the siege of Fort Donelson, the then 
 greatest victory of the war. Commodore Foote was, in fact, 
 twice wounded, both times apparently slightly though it 
 proved not to be so in the end in this battle. He had step 
 ped into the pilot-house to see that the boat was kept in posi 
 tion. A solid shot, hurled at a distance of less than four hun 
 dred yards, struck the pilot-house at an angle of forty -five 
 degrees which gives some idea of the fort's elevation and 
 the immense disadvantage at which the gun-boats fought 
 penetrated the wood, thirteen inches in thickness, and the iron, 
 an inch and a quarter thick, and filled the pilot-house with 
 broken fragments of iron and missiles of destruction. The 
 pilot was instantly killed, and the commodore was struck by 
 a fragment on the foot. At that moment a second shot, fired 
 by the wooden gun-boat Taylor, that lay behind, came across 
 the tiller-ropes, disabling the " relieving tackle " at the helm ; 
 and it was this shot that rendered the boat unmanageable. One 
 account says that the commodore was taken up senseless, his 
 leg bruised almost to a jelly from his ankle to his hip ; but as 
 the versions of this whole affair vary considerably in their de 
 tails, we give his own brief letter to his wife in which he 
 speaks of the circumstance : 
 
 " CAIRO, TELEGRAPH OFFICE, February 16, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR WIFE, I telegraphed you from Paducah last night that 
 Fort Donelson was not taken, but that I was slightly wounded, once at 
 a gun and once in the pilot-house. It was by a piece of spent shot once, 
 and a splinter once, but only slightly, on my left arm and left foot, which 
 puts me on crutches for a few days ; but I will be running about in 
 less time than a week. I will not go so near again, although at Fort 
 Henry I produced an effect by it. We ought to have been victorious at 
 Donelson, as we fought harder than at Henry. I went into it against my 
 judgment by order of Halleck. We had fifty-four killed and wounded, 
 and fifty-nine shots in one vessel a thing never before heard of in a 
 naval fight. I have sent up four mortars, and hope to go again myself 
 to-night ; but we will lay off at a long distance. I shall not go near until 
 
Telegram from G. B. McClellan. 229 
 
 the Benton is ready, and they can't hurt her ; so don't feel uneasy about 
 ine. I consider my personal danger almost over. Upon my word, you 
 are cool in response to Fort Henry ; but, never mind, ' you are a humbug.' 
 
 tt I don't feel depressed much about Fort Donelson, only in its effect 
 upon our cause ; for I fought desperately, but against my judgment, and 
 I am above all blame. I have an avalanche of complimentary letters from 
 all quarters, from strangers as well as friends ; but I suppose that the 
 Donelson affair will check them but we deserve even more credit for 
 that than for Fort Henry. But God's will be done in all cases. 
 
 " I am now at the telegraph office by request of General McClellan, to 
 talk with him by cipher. I send you his first telegram, which you may 
 read if you can. I had a severe headache in the last action, but fought it 
 coolly and determinedly, without a moment's flinching ; and officers and 
 men have unbounded confidence in me, and I tell them, 'Not unto us,' etc. 
 
 " I will, if I can, add a few words, and do you remain quiet and easy 
 till you hear further from me. To Emily kisses, and love to ' folks ' and 
 friends who inquire after me. 
 
 " Just as I wrote * me ' I received the inclosed telegram from McClel 
 lan. We are now talking. I may go back to-night or to-morrow morn 
 ing if I can be spared. I have been too much absorbed in war matters 
 for Sunday still hope in God in all things. 
 
 " Ever affectionately yours, A. H. F." 
 
 One of the telegrams referred to in the above is the fol 
 lowing : 
 
 " WASHINGTON, February 16, 1862. 
 " To FLAG-OFFICER A. H. FOOTE : 
 
 " Sorry you are wounded. How seriously ? Your conduct was mag 
 nificent. With what force do you return ? I send six hundred sailors 
 for you to-morrow. Give me details. 
 
 " G. B. MCCLELLAN, Com.-in-Chief U. S. A." 
 
 These two additional letters of Commodore Foote to his 
 wife at this time, written as they were with unconstrained 
 freedom, let us into his inmost feelings : 
 
 " FLAG-STEAMER ' CONESTOGA,' NEAR PADUCAH, | 
 February 17, 1862. j 
 
 " MY DEAR WIFE, The steamer trembles as we are pressing her hard 
 up to fourteen knots for Fort Donelson. I take Plielps, a glorious offi- 
 
 Q 
 
230 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 cer, as flag-captain of the Benton, and will then have an easy time myself. 
 He is bold and cautious.* 
 
 " You need have no fears about us now, as we will keep off a good dis 
 tance from the fort at Clarksville, and let the mortar-boats do most of 
 the work. I hope to find two of your letters, which are adrift somewhere, 
 as they were sent to me at Fort Donelson. I have but little idea that 
 the rebels will make a stand at Columbus ; they will abandon it now 
 that the Tennessee and Cumberland are about being cleanly swept out. 
 
 " I hope in a week or two to throw away my crutches and be well 
 again. My two little wounds at the gun and the pilot-house would give 
 me no trouble if one of them had not been on the foot. I can not write, 
 we are so much shaken up. 
 
 " I have hosts of papers sent me, as well as letters ; but I will be a nine- 
 days' lion only, as this war brings out men too fast for any one to attract 
 attention long. 
 
 " I shall have a good sleep to-night with a wet cloth on my left foot, 
 and I hope to be rid of its bother soon. 
 
 " May God watch over and preserve you all is the prayer of 
 
 " Ever your affectionate husband, A. H. FOOTE." 
 
 "U. S. FLAG-STEAMER * CONESTOGA,' FORT DONELSON, } 
 CUMBERLAND RIVER, Feb. 18, 1862. f 
 
 " MY DEAR WIFE, Yours of the 7th reached me to-day. I telegraphed 
 at the close of the fight at Fort Donelson, where we so demoralized the 
 rebels that the fort fell a prey to the army the next day, as they are 
 afraid to see the black boats coming into their teeth and belching forth 
 shot and shells. A rebel colonel told one of our officers to-day that the 
 army never could have taken the fort had it not been for the gun-boats. 
 We came within an ace of getting it, as two hundred yards farther would 
 have placed us so that their guns could not bear upon us, and then we 
 would have mowed them down ; but I am satisfied and rather glad that 
 the army did take the fort, as they have fought like tigers and lost al 
 most two thousand men. It was a horrid fight ; and Aunty would think 
 so if she saw the mutilated dead. It is an exceedingly strong fort, and 
 the rebels had no idea it could be taken. One of the gun-boats has 
 burned John Bell's iron rolling-mill, with property worth two hundred 
 thousand dollars, and took his partner prisoner. I go up with this vessel 
 and an iron-clad to-morrow on a reconnoissance as far as Clarksville. 
 
 * A man evidently after his own heart. 
 
His Opinion concerning Fort Donelson. 231 
 
 Had I had time to do this before I made the attack on Fort Donelson, I 
 should have taken it. On Friday we hope to try our hand on Clarks- 
 ville with four boats and eight mortars. They can not stand it long. I 
 consider that our danger is past, and you need not in the future be at all 
 uneasy. Generals Grant and Smith have been to see me to-day. We are 
 all friendly as brothers ; and I have strong faith and hope, under God, 
 that we now shall have victory upon victory. 
 
 "I will not describe the scene here the taking off of twelve thousand 
 prisoners the dead and wounded on the shore the bands playing all 
 the while the good spirits and life of our people the number of steam 
 boats the battered forts and riddled houses in Dover, etc., etc. I have 
 for you a pair of double heavy rebel blankets. I have also for the boys 
 a double-barreled gun. I am tired ; still on crutches, but am getting bet 
 ter. Kisses and love to the children. Affectionately, A. H. F." 
 
 There can be no doubt, judging from these letters and other 
 evidences, that Foote truly thought he had with his gun-boats 
 nearly accomplished the subdual of the fort, even as he had 
 done in the case of Fort Henry. He said more than once that 
 within ten or fifteen minutes he would have done it. He prob 
 ably may have erred in this, since the two cases were not en 
 tirely parallel, owing to the greatly superior strength of Fort 
 Donelson, and the much larger army force within its walls. 
 But we have his own opinion in the case distinctly averred, 
 and he was certainly no incompetent judge. He went into 
 the fight, as he says, " against his own judgment." He did not 
 consider his boats ready for the conflict, and the event showed 
 he was right ; and, moreover, he had not time to get up his 
 mortar-fleet, which he had confidently depended upon in this 
 second more important and difficult service. On the llth of 
 February he wrote to Secretary Welles : 
 
 " I leave again to-night with the Louisville, Pittsburg, and St. Louis, to 
 co-operate with the army in the attack on Fort Donelson. I go reluct 
 antly, as we are very short of men ; and transferring men from vessel to 
 vessel, as we have to do, is having a very demoralizing effect upon them. 
 Twenty-eight men ran off to-day, hearing that they were to be sent out 
 of their vessels. I do hope that the six hundred men will be sent imme- 
 
232 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 diately. I shall do all in my power to render the gun-boats effective in 
 the fight, although they are not properly manned; but I must go, as Gen 
 eral Halleck wishes it. If we could wait ten days, and I had the men, I 
 would go with eight mortar-boats and six armored boats." 
 
 If, instead of this thoroughly equipped fleet, with mortar- 
 boats to support at a distance and to shell the upper works, 
 and gun-boats for the lower batteries, we remember that he 
 had but four armored boats, and these not well-fitted and 
 manned, we can not cease to wonder at the audacity of the at 
 tack. It was truly a sacrifice to a dire war necessity ; and the 
 valor and skill with which the fight was made were the only 
 reasons why they were not wholly destroyed. 
 
 The orders of General Halleck, which precipitated the gun 
 boat attack, were the two following telegrams : 
 
 " February 11, 1862. 
 
 "FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE, You have gained great distinction by the 
 capture of Fort Henry. Every body recognizes your services. Make 
 your name famous in history by the immediate capture of Fort Donelson 
 and Clarksville. The taking of these places is a military necessity. Delay 
 adds strength to them more than to us. Act quickly, even though only 
 half ready. Troops will soon be ready to support you. 
 
 " (Signed) H. W. HALLECK, Major-General." 
 
 "FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE, Push forward the Cumberland expedition 
 with all possible dispatch. In addition to the land forces at Paducah 
 and on their way from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, I shall send 
 one regiment from here on Thursday, one on Friday, and one on Satur 
 day. Push ahead boldly and quickly. I will give you plenty of support 
 in a few days' time. Now every thing for use. Don't delay an instant. 
 " (Signed) H. W. HALLECK, Major-General." 
 
 But other services remained to be done. With a spirit of 
 cheerful alacrity, in spite of disappointments and sufferings, 
 Foote girded himself anew to the work, and we hear of him 
 shortly after farther up the Cumberland, busily issuing proc 
 lamations, and zealous to push on to Nashville and the heart 
 of the Southern Confederacy. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 :LLE. FOOTE'S PROCI 
 
 MITTED TO TAKE NASHVILLE. ARMED RECONNOISSANCE 
 
 DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. FLAG OF TRUCE. 
 EVACUATION OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 THE ablest of the rebel generals who commanded at the 
 Southwest, Albert Sidney Johnston, declared that he " fought 
 for Nashville at Fort Donelson." Commodore Foote was also 
 among the first to perceive the truth of this; and he urged 
 Halleck and Grant, at the moment when the panic occasioned 
 by the fall of the forts was at its height, to send a detachment 
 of troops to Nashville, or to let him go at once with his gun 
 boats. For some reason this request was not complied with 
 by Halleck, and Foote was not suffered to proceed farther 
 than Clarksville, a fortified post some sixty miles north of 
 Nashville. The river was open above this point, and his fleet, 
 carrying with it so formidable a prestige, might easily have 
 taken possession of the important city of Nashville, with its 
 immense amount of military stores, which was not actually 
 taken possession of until the 25th or 27th of February, when 
 it was entered without opposition by an army force under 
 General Buell, accompanied by two gun-boats. 
 
 After burning the " Tennessee Iron Works," six miles from 
 Dover, on the 19th of February the commodore, with two 
 gun-boats, ascended the Cumberland to Clarksville, to attack 
 the rebel fort at that place, situated at the mouth of a small 
 stream called Eed Kiver; but the report of the commander 
 will best tell the storv : 
 
234 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " U. 8. FLAG-STEAMER, ' CONESTOGA,' CLARKSVILLE, ) 
 TENNESSEE, February 20, 1862. f 
 
 " We have possession of Clarksville. The citizens being alarmed, two 
 thirds of them have fled ; and having expressed my views and intentions 
 to the mayor and the Hon. Cave Johnson, at their request I have issued a 
 proclamation, assuring all peaceably disposed persons that they may with 
 safety resume their business avocations, requiring only the military stores 
 and equipments to be given up, and holding the authorities responsible 
 that this shall be done without reservation. 
 
 " I left Fort Donelson yesterday, with the Conestoga, Lieutenant-Com 
 manding Phelps, and the Cairo, Lieutenant-Commanding Bryant, on an 
 armed reconnoissance, bringing with me Colonel "Webster, of the engineer 
 corps, and chief of General Grant's staff, who, with Lieutenant-Command 
 ing Phelps, took possession of the principal fort, and hoisted the Union 
 flag. A Union sentiment manifested itself as we came up the river. The 
 rebels have retreated to Nashville, having set fire, against the remon 
 strances of the citizens, to the splendid railroad bridge across the Cum 
 berland River. 
 
 " I return to Fort Donelson to-day for another gun-boat and six or 
 eight mortar-boats, with which I propose to proceed up the Cumberland. 
 The rebels all have a terror of the gun-boats. One of them, a short dis 
 tance above Fort Donelson, had previously fired an iron rolling-mill be 
 longing to the Hon. John Bell, which had been used by the rebels. 
 
 "A. H. FOOTE, 
 " Flag-Officer, commanding Naval Forces, Western Waters. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 The proclamation to the citizens of Clarksville was as fol 
 lows: 
 
 " To the Inhabitants of Clarksville, Tennessee. 
 
 "At the suggestion of the Hon. Cave Johnson, Judge Wisdom, and the 
 mayor of the city, who called upon me yesterday, after our hoisting of 
 the Union flag and taking possession of the forts, to ascertain my views 
 and intentions toward the citizens and private property, I hereby an 
 nounce to all peaceably disposed persons that neither in their persons 
 nor in their property shall they suffer molestation by me or the naval 
 force under my command, and that they may in safety resume their busi 
 ness avocations, with the assurance of my protection. 
 
 " At the same time, I require that all military stores and army equip- 
 
The Proclamation at Clarksville. 235 
 
 inents shall be surrendered, no part of them being withheld or destroyed; 
 and further, that no Secession flag, or manifestation of Secession feeling, 
 shall be exhibited ; and for the faithful observance of these conditions I 
 shall hold the authorities of the city responsible. 
 
 " ANDREW H. FOOTE, 
 
 " Flag-Officer, commanding Naval Forces, Western Waters. 
 " U. S. FLAG-SHIP ' CONESTOGA,' February 20, 1862." 
 
 This document is, we think, a model of its kind, exhibiting 
 kindness and firmness, brief, modest, positive, and reminding 
 us of the sharp-cut though courteous letters written by our 
 hero in his diplomatic correspondence on the African coast. 
 He refers with considerable self-satisfaction to his Clarksville 
 visit in a letter of the same date to his wife : 
 
 " I have just returned from Clarksville a beautiful city where I is 
 sued the inclosed proclamation. Old Cave Johnson, who knew my fa 
 ther so well, came to me. The Clarksville affair will do me credit. Give 
 one of the proclamations to Dr. Bacon. I am off to Cairo to-night to 
 procure more gun-boats for Nashville. They are held in terror, and we 
 will easily take it." 
 
 He assuredly had reason to feel chagrined at not being per 
 mitted to carry into execution his feasible plan in regard to 
 East Tennessee and Nashville. He was, in fact, deeply in 
 jured in his feelings at what seemed to be a robbery of that 
 opportunity for fair fame that justly belonged to him ; and, 
 more than all, for the injury done to the cause. General Hal- 
 leek's peremptory telegram was as follows : 
 
 " To GENERAL GRANT : 
 
 " Don't let the gun-boats go higher than Clarksville ; even then they 
 must limit their operations to the destruction of the bridge, and return 
 immediately to Cairo, leaving one at Fort Donelson. Mortar-boats to be 
 sent back to Cairo as soon as possible. 
 
 -" H. W. HALLECK, Major-General. 
 
 " Official. S. A. Hurlbut, Brigadier-General U. S. A." 
 
 The exact truth of the matter is, when Commodore Foote 
 
236 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 returned from Clarksville to Fort Donelson (after taking pos 
 session of the former place on the 20th of February), an ar 
 rangement was made between him and General Grant for a 
 joint movement upon Nashville, and all the troops that could 
 be transported were to have been embarked and ready to leave 
 at 4 A.M. on the 21st, under convoy of the gun-boats. This 
 would have placed them in Nashville by or before noon of the 
 21st of February four days before the Cairo reached Nash 
 ville with Nelson's command. At midnight on the 20th the 
 commodore and General Grant were together part of the 
 troops had already embarked when the general received a 
 telegram from Halleck positively ordering him not to push his 
 forces beyond Clarksville, nor to permit the gun-boats to go 
 higher up the river than that place. On receiving the tele 
 gram, the general handed it to the commodore without re 
 mark ; the latter read it, and said, " I suppose this ends our 
 movement." General Grant himself was severely annoyed 
 that the full fruit of his victory at Donelson should not have 
 been gathered. Had it not been for the great number of pris 
 oners to be sent away to places where they could be cared for, 
 and for his limited means of transportation, he would have gone 
 on to Nashville in twenty-four hours after the capitulation of 
 Fort Donelson ; and the delay to follow up the victory was of 
 immense value to the rebels. We might say that if it had not 
 been for this unexpected and unfortunate check, Grant's future 
 operations would have been by the way of Nashville, and a 
 wholly different and undoubtedly more advantageous turn 
 would have been given to the war in the Southwest. 
 
 At Nashville itself it was confidently expected that Foote 
 would be up immediately with his whole flotilla, and there 
 was great excitement there, and a rapid clearing out of obnox 
 ious Secession leaders. Floyd, on hearing that Foote's gun 
 boats were coming, gave orders on Monday (it was supposed 
 by the Confederates that the Nationals would push on toward 
 
Foote expected at Nashville. 237 
 
 East Tennessee, and it was for the purpose of opposing such a 
 movement that Johnston took position at Murfreesboro) for 
 the Confederate stores to be thrown open to the public; two 
 steam-packets, which were being changed into gun-boats, to be 
 burned; and the two bridges at Nashville to be destroyed. 
 Against the last act the citizens most vehemently protested, 
 and it was postponed until Tuesday night, when they were 
 both burned by Floyd's order; and he and Pillow literally 
 scampered a.way southward by the light of the conflagration. 
 During the remainder of the week Nashville was the theatre 
 of the wildest anarchy, and neither public nor private property 
 was safe for an hour. Happily for the well-disposed inhabit 
 ants, Colonel Keaner, of the Fourth Ohio Cavalry, of Mitchell's 
 division, entered the city on Sunday evening, the 23d, and en 
 deavored to restore order. He was immediately followed by 
 the remainder of his commander's force, who encamped at 
 Edgefield, opposite Nashville, and there awaited the arrival of 
 General Buell. That officer came on the 25th, and on the 
 same morning the Cairo arrived from Clarksville, as, a convoy 
 to transports bearing a considerable body of troops under 
 General Nelson. These had not been opposed in their passage 
 up the river, for the only battery on its banks between the two 
 cities was Fort Zollicoffer, on a bluff, four or five miles below 
 Nashville, which was unfinished, and was then abandoned. 
 Pursuant to previous arrangement, the mayor of Nashville (K. 
 B. Cheatham), and a small delegation of citizens, crossed over 
 to Buell's quarters at Edgefield, and there made a formal sur 
 render of the city. General Buell at once issued an order 
 congratulating the troops " that it had been their privilege to 
 restore the national banner to the capitol of Tennessee." On 
 the following day, General Grant and staff arrived, and he and 
 General Buell held a consultation about future movements.* 
 
 * Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 233. 
 
238 Life of A dmiral Foote. 
 
 On reading the above, a sensible person would be struck by 
 the fact that there was a totally uncalled for delay in captur 
 ing the city, and that if Foote, as he desired, had gone up at 
 once, much property would have been saved, much disorder 
 prevented, and extensive movements of National troops ren 
 dered unnecessary. This certainly is the appearance on the 
 face of things, whatever occult reasons there might have ex 
 isted for a contrary course. These reasons have never trans 
 pired. 
 
 The final settling up of the Cumberland and Tennessee 
 war matters, as far as Foote and his fleet were concerned, 
 seems to be contained in this general telegraphic order from 
 Halleck: 
 
 " ST. Louis, February 25, 1862. 
 " To COMMODOKE FOOTE, Cairo : 
 
 * " The possession of Nashville by General Buell renders it necessary to 
 countermand the instructions sent to Foote and Sherman yesterday 
 morning, dated 23d. Grant will send no more forces to Clarksville; 
 General Smith's division will come to Fort Henry, or to a point higher 
 up on the Jennessee River ; transports will be collected at Paducah and 
 above ; all the mortar-boats to be immediately brought back to Cairo ; 
 two gun-boats to be left at Clarksville, to precede Nelson's division up 
 the river to Nashville having done this, they will return to Cairo ; two 
 gun-boats to be left in the Tennessee River with General Grant ; the lat 
 ter will immediately have small garrisons detailed for forts Donelson 
 and Henry, and all other forces made ready for the field. 
 
 " H. W. HALLECK, Major-General." 
 
 It may be that the following letter, being that of a warm 
 personal friend, and for that reason, perhaps, somewhat preju 
 diced, should remain unpublished ; but, after due considera 
 tion, we have concluded to make it public, although in this 
 biography we have no desire to rake up old jealousies and dis 
 putes, which, in the peculiar relations of the Army and Navy 
 at the West, where both were striving to do the most gallant 
 deeds, were unavoidable, and which, among brave men, are 
 
Correspondence. 239 
 
 now either laid to rest in their silent graves, or are buried in 
 noble and patriotic hearts : 
 
 "NAVY DEPARTMENT, March 1, 1862. 
 " FLAG-OFFICER A. H. FOOTE : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, As we are just receiving your letters of the 31st of 
 December, 1861, 1 fancy you never get any of my notes. I observed that 
 you were taken down from Clarksville when bound to Nashville, and I 
 imagined the reason at once. I also noticed your proposition about 
 first going ^to Fort Henry. I will take care that these matters shall be 
 placed publicly to your credit. Carter has raised you one hundred men 
 at Erie, and fifty seamen go from New York. We do this for five ships 
 waiting for crews, and for the Narragansett, not yet relieved, though their 
 time is up. Please keep us posted with official documents and copies 
 of telegrams, as in the Henry and Donelson affairs, so that I can have 
 copies in the hands of naval friends. Your reputation is that of the 
 Navy and the cause, and well you have sustained it under difficulties 
 that placed the entire credit on your head. I wish some trophy of yotlr 
 noble fight at Fort Henry. With the warmest wishes for your health 
 and safety. Success you will win. Yours most truly, G. V. Fox." 
 
 Commodore Smith, still more plain-spoken, writes : 
 
 "March 1, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR FOOTE, I have yours of the 24th ult., with its inclosures. 
 Mrs. " Jesse " Benton will be elated, I think, at your notice of her by 
 naming the Bentorts tender for her. 
 
 "I had hoped the excitement would keep away the headache from 
 you.; but active brains like yours must have a safety-valve. You are cut 
 out of a dash upon Nashville ; but enough is left for you to do yet. I 
 infer you were on better terms with Fremont than with Halleck; but 
 you quarrel with nobody unless the party play foul, and then the 
 ' black-stain ' perseverance will be brought to bear on your opponents. 
 Gregory says you 'pray like a saint and fight like a devil.' It seems to 
 me the Army, or some portions of it, are jealous of you. Why should 
 they send such riff-raff to you, that are only in your way. I would 
 not take them, or, if I did, I would place them where David put Uriah. 
 I have no doubt the gun-boats hurt Fort Donelson and created a panic ; 
 pity you could not have had your mortar and other boats there. What 
 we have apprehended as a defect in iron-clad boats has been demon- 
 
240 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 strated by you that is, the exposure of the rudder and steering gear. 
 What guns have you condemned ? The rifled cannon are becoming of 
 doubtful endurance. The 80-pound rifles have been ignored, and 100- 
 pounders substituted where they can be used. Breese is by me, and de 
 sires regards. Mrs. Foote is sharing your glory by receiving the applause 
 of your townsmen and a flag.* Congress is tearing the Navy to pieces 
 by a multiplicity of bills. Three more bureaus are proposed, and the pay 
 of all to be cut down alike. I have worked to the full stretch of my 
 brains, and I get no credit for it. I like the idea of promotion for gal 
 lant acts, but I do not think the former war-services of officers should be 
 overlooked. 
 
 " Our Army of the Potomac is stirring, but I know not the pro 
 gramme. I think we are doing up Secesh, and I hope the rebels will be 
 tired of such an unprofitable and wicked war without justification. 
 
 " Yours very truly, JOSEPH SMITH." 
 
 On the 21st of February, 1862, the Kentucky House of 
 Representatives passed the following resolutions: 
 
 " The nation has been compelled, by every patriotic motive, to call 
 upon her true sons to arrest rebellion and preserve the government. 
 Military men must put down rebellious politicians, who have created 
 the existing evils which threaten our destruction. Reason and entreaty 
 having failed, the sword is now to settle our destiny. While we feel 
 sentiments of the highest admiration for all the brave officers and sol 
 diers engaged in the cause of the Union, wherever their field of opera 
 tions may be, we entertain a peculiar gratitude to those who are driving 
 our invaders from the soil of Kentucky ; therefore, 
 
 fiesolved, by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 
 that General Albin Schceff, General William Nelson, General George H. 
 Thomas, Colonel J. A. Garfield, General U. S. Grant, and Commodore 
 
 * This has reference to a pleasant and enthusiastic gathering of the 
 students of Yale College (February 22d) in front of Mrs. Foote's resi 
 dence, and the presentation to her of a National flag, which was raised 
 soon after on the commodore's house. The Hon. Pelatiah Perrit respond 
 ed to the address of the students. At the same time a letter was ad 
 dressed to the commodore, signed by many eminent citizens of New Ha 
 ven, such as the venerable Jeremiah Day, Professor Benjamin Silliman, 
 President Theodore D. Woolsey, and others, warmly congratulating him, 
 as townsmen, on his successes, and urging him on to greater victories. 
 
Reconnaissance of Columbus. 241 
 
 A. H. Foote, together with the brave officers and men in their respective 
 commands, deserve the thanks of Kentucky, and the same are hereby 
 most cordially tendered to every man of them for their brilliant victories 
 achieved at "Wild Cat, Ivy Mountain, Logan's Fields, Mill Spring, Pres- 
 tonburg, Fort Henry, and Fort Donelson. While we thus offer our heart 
 felt tribute to the officers and soldiers who have exposed their lives on 
 the field of battle, we can not withhold the expression of our most grate 
 ful thanks to Generals Halleck and Buell, the commanders-in-chief of 
 their respective departments, for their admirable arrangements, which 
 have resulted in these glorious and effective victories. 
 
 " Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the clerk 
 to each of the officers herein named, with a request that they have the 
 same read to their respective commands. 
 
 " Which were adopted. Attest : W. L. SAMUELS, 
 
 " Clerk of House of Representatives." 
 
 The Western fleet was now, as a body, quickly recalled from 
 its operations on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, and 
 was assembled at Cairo for further services in another quar 
 ter. Foote's dispatch of February 21st to his navy command 
 ers urged them to activity, and closed with these words : 
 
 " The gun-boats and mortar-boats must leave immediately for Cairo, 
 to be prepared instantly for service. Hasten ! hasten ! ' bear a hand ' to 
 follow me." 
 
 The National successes in Tennessee had served to isolate 
 the enemy's stronghold at Columbus, called " the Gibraltar of 
 the West," and in one sense rightly called, for before it was 
 rendered strategically untenable, it was judged impregnable 
 to direct assault. It was situated upon high bluffs, with ev 
 ery advantage that skillful engineering and heavy munitions 
 could add, and had an army of twenty thousand troops in its 
 walls. Of course it was not known but that this formidable 
 fortification would stand siege. Early on the morning of the 
 23d of February, Commodore Foote, with four iron-clads, two 
 mortar-boats, and five transports partially filled with troops, 
 left Cairo and steamed down the Mississippi on an armed 
 
242 
 
 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 FT. COLUMBUS, 
 1861 &1862. 
 
 reconnoissance of Columbus. As they drew in sight of the 
 batteries, a steamer bearing a flag of truce from General Polk 
 came out to meet them. The account is given in the follow 
 ing report of the commodore : 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' CINCINNATI,' MISSISSIPPI RIVER, ) 
 NEAR COLUMBUS, KY., February 23, 1862. ) 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to report that, in company with General Cul- 
 lum, chief of General Halleck's staff, with four iron-clad boats, two mor 
 tar-boats, and three transports, containing one thousand men, I made 
 this day a reconnoissance in force toward Columbus to ascertain its con 
 dition ; and when near the batteries a flag of truce came out to commu 
 nicate with us, the result of which will be seen in the inclosed papers. 
 The object of the reconnoissance being attained, and finding that fire 
 from the mortars would lead the enemy to plant guns where they could 
 
Newspaper Correspondence. 243 
 
 reach ,them with their batteries should we again open upon them with 
 a larger number of mortars, I concluded to return to Cairo ; and there 
 we must remain until the gun and mortar boats are completed, as other 
 wise the flotilla will be demoralized for want of time and means to prop 
 erly prepare for active service. The army will not move without gun 
 boats, yet the gun-boats are not in a condition to act offensively at pres 
 ent. On this subject I will soon write more fully. A telegram will be 
 sent to the Department on my arrival at Cairo, referring to the events of 
 to-day. I am your obedient servant, A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 u The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 " P. S. Columbus evinces no signs of an evacuation or dismounting 
 of guns. The batteries seem to be intact, and we saw great numbers of 
 tents and troops." 
 
 Before noticing a correspondence with General Polk on the 
 subject of a " flag of truce," which forms a curious episode of 
 itself, we introduce a part of the letter of a newspaper corre 
 spondent, dated February 24th, which gives a lively, chatty 
 description of this sail down the Mississippi and its sudden 
 termination : 
 
 " A little after daylight the gallant Commodore Foote hobbled pain 
 fully aboard the Cincinnati, and almost immediately after the whole fleet 
 was steaming down the river. From the moment of starting, the regular 
 line of battle was observed, the four iron-clad boats leading, abreast, the 
 Cincinnati a mile to the rear, and close behind this the transports and 
 mortars. The five transports seemed more for show than use. However, 
 it was the Sabbath, and beneath the warm beams of the first sun we had 
 seen for weeks, we pushed merrily ahead, absorbed in our devotions and 
 the weather, and not caring to be captious, or to ask too many questions. 
 
 " A little before noon we steamed into Lucas's Bend, and saw, two 
 miles below, across a promontory that ran out from the right bank, the 
 tent-crowned bluffs of Columbus. A shot from a heavy gun came boom 
 ing over the water, conveying to us an invitation seemingly to fight. An 
 other followed, and then another the latter a cogent invitation of some 
 one hundred and twenty-eight pounds in weight, that plunged into the 
 river a short distance to the left of us, and sent the water splashing sky 
 ward like a water-spout. A heavy gong sounding in the boats sent the 
 men to quarters; guns were run in, every thing and every body was in 
 
244 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 place, the mortar-boats were hugging the shore to gain uninterruptedly a 
 position a little lower; and from all appearance I expected in another 
 instant to witness a repetition of the Fort Henry and Donelson tragedies. 
 However, just as the guns seemed on the eve of belching their sulphu 
 reous thunders against Columbus, a rebel transport steamer rounded the 
 point of the promontory with a flag flying from her jackstaif. She 
 rounded the point close under the guns of the iron boats, and com 
 menced whistling, as if asking permission to hold a conference. A whis 
 tle from the flag-boat gave the permission ; a tug ran down to her, lay- 
 alongside a short time, ran back, and then the Cincinnati ran down, took 
 position between her and the Columbus batteries, and dropped her anchor. 
 
 " A deputation was soon after seen to leave the rebel transport the 
 Red River and go aboard the National gun-boat. For three long hours 
 the boats lay there, and many and wild were the conjectures as to what 
 was going on. All agreed unanimously that a surrender was going on 
 none doubted that he would take dinner or supper in Columbus. Fi 
 nally, a stir was observed in the gun-boat, and the tug put off, carrying 
 back some officers to the transport. 'Now for Columbus,' said every 
 body ; and in imagination we had already penetrated the securities of 
 that stronghold, and were rambling among its water batteries, its land 
 batteries, rifle-pits, breastworks, redans, abatis, bastions, redoubts, pali 
 sades, lunettes, and the Lord only knows what else, when three flags 
 
 glided up the staff on the flag-boat, and Master , of the Carmdelet, 
 
 with the remark, * That's to close up, probably,' opened his signal-book, 
 and, with a look of incredulity, read, * Fall in line.' 
 
 " But there seemed to be no mistake. The Cincinnati bore straight up 
 the river for Cairo black, grim, and uncommunicative ; and shortly after 
 we had all taken our places, and were slowly following our leader. 
 
 " Arriving at Cairo, a rush was made for the commodore. No use. 
 Never was a drum tighter than the hero of Henry and Donelson, and 
 the sorrowing crowd departed." 
 
 The flag of truce, to all appearance, was simply an expedient 
 to obtain knowledge of the strength of the National forces. 
 Whether it were so or not, its result was favorable to our cause, 
 as it was at once followed by the evacuation of Columbus. 
 The reader can form his own judgment of the case from the 
 facts and the correspondence. General Polk sent by the trans 
 port this letter : 
 
A Flag of Truce. 245 
 
 " HEAD-QUABTEBS, FIRST DIVISION, WESTERN DEPARTMENT, ] 
 COLUMBUS, KY., Feb. 22, 1862. f 
 
 " Presuming you will be willing to reciprocate the courtesy shown to 
 the families of officers of the United States Army, after the battle of Bel- 
 mont, in allowing them to visit those officers who were prisoners within 
 my lines, I take the liberty of sending up, under a flag of truce, the fam 
 ilies of several of our officers who were captured at Donelson. These 
 are the families of General Buckner and Colonels Hawson and Medeira. 
 They are accompanied by Colonel Russel and Messrs. Vance and Stock- 
 dale as escorts ; also by Mr. Mass. 
 
 " Hoping you may find it convenient to send these ladies forward to 
 their husbands, I have the honor to remain, respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, L. POLK, Major-General, commanding. 
 
 " To Commanding Officer U. S. Forces, Cairo, 111." 
 
 This was answered as follows : 
 
 " UNITED STATES FLAG-STEAMER ' CINCINNATI,' MISSISSIPPI j 
 RIVER, NEAR COLUMBUS, KY., Feb. 23, 1862. j 
 
 "GENERAL, Your letter of the 22d instant, received to-day by the 
 hands of Captain Blake under a flag of truce, nearly within range of your 
 guns and in the presence of our armed forces, at half-past twelve o'clock to 
 day, will be answered to-morrow by a flag of truce at the same point of 
 the river at which this was received. 
 
 " Very respectfully, your obedient servants, 
 
 " ANDREW H. FOOTE, 
 " Flag-Officer, commanding Naval Forces, Western Waters ; 
 
 " GEORGE W. CULLUM, 
 
 " Chief of Staff and Engineers, Department of Missouri. 
 " Major-General L. Polk, commanding at Columbus, Ky." 
 
 On the same day came this second letter from General Polk : 
 " HEAD-QUABTEBS, FIBST DIVISION, WESTEBN DEPABTMENT, ] 
 COLUMBUS, KY, Feb. 23, 1862. ) 
 
 " To A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer, commanding Naval Forces, Western Wa 
 ters ; GEO. W. CULLUM, Brig.-General, Chief of Staff and Engineers : 
 " GENTLEMEN, I have received your note of this date, acknowledging 
 mine of yesterday asking permission for the wives of certain Confederate 
 States officers to visit their husbands who had been made prisoners of 
 war at Fort Donelson. 
 
 B 
 
246 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " The application was based on the fact that I had on a former occa 
 sion granted a similar request made of me in behalf of the wives of Col 
 onels Dougherty and McClerkin, captured at Belmont, and the assurance 
 of the commanding general at Cairo that he would reciprocate the court 
 esy if events should make it desirable. 
 
 " I note that you say my letter was received under a flag of truce, 
 ' nearly within range of your (my) guns, and in the presence of our (your) 
 armed forces? 
 
 " As to the flag appearing in the presence of your armed forces, and 
 nearly within range of my guns, it was purely accidental. The ladies, 
 whose safe conduct the flag was intended to secure, arrived at this post 
 from Nashville on the evening of the 21st instant. Preparations were 
 made to send them up under a flag on the 22d, and my letter was writ 
 ten and intrusted to Captain Blake. The departure of the flag was pre 
 vented by the heavy fall of rain. They left this morning, the boat tak 
 ing its departure from a point considerably below my batteries, from 
 whence your position in the river (five miles above) was not visible. It 
 appears that several guns were fired from the fort prior to the departure 
 of the boat ; but as my artillery officers are constantly practicing, the 
 firing attracted no particular attention ; and the presence of your armed 
 forces in the river, it seems, was not known to the officer in charge of 
 the flag until after his boat had passed around the point. 
 
 " This statement of facts, I am informed, has already been made to you 
 by Captain Blake ; and it is repeated here only because of the remark 
 above quoted, which you have taken pains to underline. 
 
 " Allow me to assure myself that officers of your rank and reputation 
 could not impute any improper motive in sending a flag of truce. I 
 would be unwilling to believe such a suspicion could be entertained by 
 any mind except one conscious of its capacity to venture upon such an 
 abuse. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 
 
 "L. POLK, 
 " Major-General, commanding Confederate Forces." 
 
 The next day this dignified though sharp response was sent 
 by a flag of truce from the National head-quarters : 
 
 " CAIRO, ILLINOIS, February 24, 1862. 
 '" MAJOR-GENERAL L. POLK, commanding at Columbus, Ky. : 
 
 " GENERAL, In answer to your request ' to reciprocate the courtesy 
 shown to the families and officers of the U. S. A., after the battle of Bel- 
 
A Flag of Truce. 247 
 
 mont, in allowing them to visit those officers who were prisoners,' by ask 
 ing permission to have passed through our lines ' the families of General 
 Buckner and Colonels Hawson and Medeira,' captured at Fort Donelson, 
 accompanied by certain gentlemen as escorts, we have to inform you that 
 we will cheerfully comply with your request, subject to the approval of 
 the President, but limited to the wives and children of those officers, and 
 excluding their escorts ; but to provide them with a protector, Colonel 
 Thorn, an aid-de-camp of Major-General Halleck, and one of the bearers 
 of our flag of truce, has offered to take them in charge as far as St. Louis, 
 where they will learn the destinations of the captured officers, which are 
 unknown to us. 
 
 " The flag of truce will wait, if necessary, long enough to obtain your 
 action on this proposition. 
 
 " Before concluding this note, we feel constrained to make some re 
 marks upon your abuse yesterday of the sacred character of a flag of 
 truce. 
 
 " Upon approaching the batteries of Columbus with armed forces, and 
 when within supposed range of your artillery, you fired three heavy 
 guns ; and, to add to this hostile demonstration, one of your gun-boats 
 rounded Belmont Point apparently to give battle ; but immediately, upon 
 discovering our strength and position, retired. Soon after there appeared 
 an armed steamer, with Captain Blake bearing your flag of truce, accom 
 panied by many officers and citizens, upon the frivolous pretext above 
 stated, evidently with the intention of discovering our force and inten 
 tions. Under these circumstances, by the usages of war, the dispatch- 
 bearer and those with him were subject to be made prisoners and the 
 steamer captured ; and we felt it our duty to inform you that a repetition 
 of such an unwarrantable abuse of a flag of truce will not again be toler 
 ated. 
 
 " Your letterfthough dated the 22d, evidently was not dispatched till 
 after the firing of your first gun, near eleven o'clock, more than an hour 
 before your flag of truce was seen about two miles from your batteries, 
 and certainly dispatched after the gun was discharged. 
 
 " Kegretting that we have to animadvert on this flagrant departure 
 from the established usages of flags of truce, 
 
 " We are, very respectfully, your obedient servants, 
 
 " ANDREW H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer, etc. ; 
 " GEORGE W. CULLUM, Chief of Staff, etc." 
 
 In a letter to his wife, dated the 23d, Commodore Foote 
 
248 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 thus speaks of this "flag of truce" affair, which perhaps has 
 already taken up too much space : 
 
 " "We had been to Columbus, and had got the two mortars in position to 
 open upon Belmont, when a flag of truce came out with several ladies, as 
 you will see by General Folk's letter, and we hoped it was to surrender; 
 but, instead, it was a mere artifice to discover our strength. We shall 
 write a letter to the Right Rev. General to-morrow, charging him with 
 violating all military rules of propriety by his remarkable act. We were 
 glad it was done, however, as we ran within sight of his heavy batteries, 
 and attained the object of our reconnoissance still, we shall give the 
 bishop a rub." 
 
 He says in this same letter: 
 
 " I am still on crutches, but my foot is rapidly improving. I have no 
 objection to the wound either in the foot or in the arm, as they are hon 
 orable wounds ; but the last was a hard fight. I stood one side of a gun 
 when five out of six men were knocked down, and I only escaped serious 
 wounds. I was touching the pilot with my clothes when he was killed." 
 
 The following dispatches tell the story of the speedy break 
 ing up of the enemy's strong position at Columbus, which, to 
 gether with Nashville and Bowling Green, was really con 
 quered at forts Henry and Donelson : 
 
 " CAIRO, March 1,1862. 
 
 " SIK, Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, sent with a flag of truce to 
 day to Columbus, has this moment returned, and reports that Columbus is 
 being evacuated. He saw the rebels burning their winter-quarters, and 
 removing their heavy guns on the bluffs ; but the guns in the water-bat 
 teries remain intact. He also saw a large force of cavalry drawn up os 
 tentatiously on the bluffs, but no infantry were to be seen as heretofore ; 
 and the encampment seen in our armed reconnoissance a few days ago 
 has been removed. Large fires were visible in the town of Columbus and 
 upon the river banks below, indicating the destruction of the town, mili 
 tary stores, and equipments. 
 
 " I shall consult General Cullum, and we shall probably proceed to Co 
 lumbus with the force we have already soon after daylight. General 
 Polk informs us that he will send a flag of truce at meridian to-morrow 
 to the point where the flags of truce met to-day, in reference to which 
 
Evacuation of Columbus. 249 
 
 
 we shall be governed according to circumstances. But as General Cul- 
 lum has not been fully consulted, I can give no particular information of 
 our movements to-morrow. I have the honor to be, etc., 
 
 u A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' CINCINNATI,' COLUMBUS, ] 
 March, 4, 1862. j 
 
 " SLR, I have the honor to forward a copy of the telegram sent to the 
 Department to-day announcing the fall of Columbus. 
 
 " The fleet not being in a condition to proceed down to Island No. Ten 
 and to New Madrid, where the rebels are represented as fortifying, I leave 
 for Cairo immediately to make the necessary preparation for going down 
 the river with a suitable force of gun-boats and mortar-boats in a proper 
 condition for effective service. I am fully impressed with the importance 
 of proceeding to New Madrid as soon as possible, where General Pope 
 has arrived with ten thousand men ; but such is the condition of my com 
 mand that I shall decline moving, as I informed Generals Sherman and 
 Cullum, unless I am ordered to do so by the Secretary of the Navy, as I 
 must be the judge of the condition of the fleet, and when it is prepared 
 for the service required. 
 
 " It is due to Commander Pennock, the fleet captain, and to Mr. San- 
 ford, the ordnance officer of the flotilla, to say to the Department that 
 these efficient officers earnestly entreated me to permit them to go on this 
 expedition, as well as up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers ; but their 
 services in preparing the gun and mortar boats at Cairo being absolutely 
 necessary, I reluctantly denied their application from a sense of duty to 
 the government; yet their services should be regarded as equally im 
 portant to the ojjject of the expedition as if they had participated in the 
 different actions. A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
 In his report of the evacuation, March 4, he says : 
 
 " My armed reconnoissance, on the 3d instant, caused a hasty evacua 
 tion, the rebels leaving quite a number of guns and carriages, ammuni 
 tion, and a large quantity of shot and shell, a considerable number of 
 anchors, and the remnant of a chain lately stretched across the river, with 
 a large number of torpedoes. Most of the huts, tents, and quarters are 
 destroyed. 
 
250 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " The works are of very great strength, consisting of formidable tiers 
 of batteries on the water side, and on the land side surrounded by a ditch 
 and abatis. 
 
 u General Sherman, with Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps, not know 
 ing that the works were last evening occupied by four hundred of the 
 Second Illinois Cavalry, on a scouting party sent by General Sherman 
 from Paducah, made a bold dash to the shore under the batteries, hoist 
 ing the American flag on the summit of the bluff, greeted by the hearty 
 cheers of our brave tars and soldiers. 
 
 " The force consisted of six gun boats, four mortar-boats, and three 
 transports, having on board two regiments and two battalions of infantry, 
 under command of Colonel Buford General Cullum and General Sher 
 man being in command of the troops. The former, leaving a sick-bed to 
 go ashore, discovered what was evidently a magazine on fire, and imme 
 diately ordered the train to be cut, and thus saved the lives of the gar 
 rison. A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
 There was every evidence, in the great amount of ordnance 
 and military property left behind, and the vindictive plan, 
 happily foiled, of destroying the victorious forces, that the en 
 emy suddenly and reluctantly left this strong fortification. 
 The powerful show of grim iron-clads and mortar- boats no 
 doubt hastened this decision. Foote probably felt some dis 
 appointment at not being able to try his mortar-boats upon the 
 heavy fortifications of Columbus. The Assistant-Secretary of 
 the Navy, in a private letter, seems to have felt the same dis 
 appointment : 
 
 " NAVY DEPARTMENT, March 5, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR COMMODORE, Last night, at a party at Mr. Welles's, your 
 dispatch was received giving an account of the occupation of Columbus 
 after its evacuation by the rebels. I felt a pang that the mortar-boats 
 were thus deprived of a participation in the work. As Fremont started 
 these at my suggestion, I naturally feel a deep interest concerning them, 
 and hoped their first use would have been made in the Western waters 
 by yourself; but the vagabonds have not given you a chance at Colum 
 bus. Perhaps Porter will give us the first trial ; but, in either case, God 
 
A Friendly Caution. 251 
 
 speed you. I have no fears of the result. I notice how publicly you 
 
 praise . Will you pardon a friend for observing that he is on the 
 
 staff of the general who holds you back and ignores you. These en 
 gineer officers are puffed up with a contempt for the Navy, and have all 
 their lives been trying to prove impossible what you have demonstrated 
 possible, viz., to attack forts successfully with vessels. If I did not feel 
 for you sincere admiration and friendship, and have your reputation 
 most dear to me, I should not beg of you to be careful and not lavish 
 praise upon any person in your dispatches, unless for distinguished con 
 duct that must also be apparent to those who are distant from the scene. 
 I don't know how the mail now is between here and Cairo, but it has 
 been bad ; and Mr. Blair has sent out two agents to right matters. We 
 all feel proud of your work, attained without the efficient co-operation 
 of any one, which renders your labors the more faithful. If you do rain 
 13-inch shells upon them, be sure to give us full particulars early. 
 
 " Very truly yours, G. V. Fox. 
 
 "Flag-Officer A. H. Foote." 
 
 We have noticed, and shall notice frequently hereafter 
 what it would be folly to ignore the soreness that Foote felt 
 at what he considered the great injustice done him, and the 
 false position in which he was placed by those high in com 
 mand, whose sympathies were wholly given to the other arm 
 of the service the Army. He had, indeed, come to the de 
 cision to obey no more orders issuing from Army officers. The 
 Secretary, whose watchful eye was over the Navy, and who 
 exercised a judicious rule of its affairs, notices with anxiety 
 the development of this feeling, and cautions him against it. 
 Mr. Welles says to him in a letter dated May 7th : 
 
 " Step by step I have watched your proceedings, and marked the per 
 sistency, patience, and determination, under many and great discourage 
 ments, with which yourself and those associated with you have met and 
 surmounted every difficulty. Rest assured the country knows and justly 
 appreciates your services. I am confident you will permit no jealous 
 feeling, or any appearance of such feeling, against our branch of the serv 
 ice to annoy you ; and I trust that it will at no time be cause of embarrass 
 ment. Under your orders and acts the Navy has vindicated its charac- 
 
252 Life of A dmiral Foote. 
 
 ter before the country, and contributed its full share in planting again 
 the Union standard, and restoring the Union feeling in the great central 
 valley. The rapid and successive blows you have struck with such effect 
 have electrified the nation, and animated our people with higher hopes 
 than I have before witnessed since the outbreak of this rebellion. This 
 very hasty letter I have written, and so send it because of inexcusable 
 delay in saying to you privately and as an old schoolmate ' Friend, how 
 gratified I have been and am with what you have done.' " 
 
CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 E SCENE OF OPERATI 
 
 MOVEMENTS AT NEW MADRID. CHARACTERISTIC 
 
 ORDER. CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 THE two gun-boats Taylor and Lexington had been sent by 
 the commodore back to the Tennessee River, to guard capt 
 ured posts and to act as patrols in preventing the enemy from 
 erecting new fortifications upon the shores. A spirited little 
 engagement took place at Pittsburg, Tennessee, on the 1st of 
 March, and another at Chickasaw, Alabama, at a later date, 
 between the gun-boats and small detachments of the enemy's 
 troops, who were attempting to fortify at those places, result 
 ing in the breaking up of their plans, and showing the ability 
 of the iron-clads not only to open the river, but to keep it 
 open. But the vessels belonging to the Western flotilla were 
 now called to a greater achievement to unlock the Missis 
 sippi itself, that it might be a free stream in all its vast 
 extent. 
 
 The Mississippi has been frequently described, but we doubt 
 if any powers of description would be equal to convey an im 
 pression of this "Great River," as its name signifies. The 
 words of the Psalmist occur to one as he sails upon its broad 
 bosom : " Thou visitest the earth and waterest it ; thou greatly 
 enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water. 
 Thou preparest the corn and wine when thou hast so provided 
 for it." It rolls along its exhaustless abundance of water like 
 a sea, through territories of boundless agricultural wealth, while 
 hundreds of cities, some of them already of considerable mag 
 nitude, and many of them destined to be densely populated, stud 
 
254 Life of A dmiral Foote. 
 
 its banks. When one is at St. Paul, in Minnesota, with a great 
 river still above him, there are more than two thousand miles 
 of river below him ; and that part of it which is called the 
 " Upper Mississippi," from Dubuque to St. Paul, where the 
 water is clear and pure, is equal in some respects to the Rhine 
 or the Danube in beauty, and will hereafter be visited and 
 built upon for its noble scenery. At St. Louis, a thousand 
 miles and more above its mouth, and at points where was the 
 chief scene of operations of "Footers Flotilla," the river at 
 places is more than two* miles wide, turbid with the yellow 
 flood of the muddy Missouri, and strong in current with the 
 mingled force of two mighty streams. It is a thoroughly 
 masculine river, an impetuously rolling and uncontrollable 
 flood, sometimes devouring in its insatiate, destructive will 
 large sections of the land, and changing its channel at pleas 
 ure. Its banks are like those of the Nile mud-banks that 
 break off suddenly, not slope off gradually and one can fre 
 quently see great masses of soil detaching themselves and fall 
 ing into the river. For hundreds of miles continuously there 
 is sometimes nothing but forest sombre, almost impenetrable 
 primeval forest; and through such as this the men of Foote 
 and Pope had to hew their way at Island No. Ten. The 
 broad current at times separates into three or four channels, 
 now chafing the foot of high bluffs on one side, and losing it 
 self on the other in swampy forests or bayous, in whose endless 
 vistas the eye vainly wanders. Upon the shores of this river 
 an empire is growing, and the dullest mind can see that in the 
 future the great rivers of the East the Nile, the Euphrates, 
 and the Ganges will be equaled, perhaps surpassed, in what 
 will probably be here realized in the populousness and magni 
 tude of its magnificent states. It is now comparatively with 
 out a history it runs for hundreds of miles through almost 
 savage and unrecorded wildernesses; but already, since the 
 last war, it is becoming an historic river, and a human inter- 
 
The Mississippi. 255 
 
 est, romantic and powerful, is blending with the majesty of its 
 natural features. New Orleans, Yicksburg, Island No. Ten, 
 have fastened the charm of valor, faith, and patient endurance, 
 for the sake of great principles and the interests of humanity, 
 upon its shores. 
 
 Henceforth to return to our narrative the short remain 
 ing active career of Commodore Foote is confined to his unre 
 mitting efforts to clear away the forts and barriers that the en 
 emy had placed upon this pathway of the nation, which the 
 West had decreed should be free, and had consecrated to free 
 dom forever. He expected to do this with his own fleet. He 
 declared more than once that he intended to descend the Mis 
 sissippi to its mouth ; and this accounts for the deliberateness 
 of all his preparations for a task that he knew, better than 
 others, was so great. He fairly began this work, which was 
 finished by Farragut, together with the blows of Grant at 
 Vicksburg, so that the names of the two naval heroes must 
 hereafter be associated with the mighty stream which they 
 were instrumental in opening anew to freedom, sweeping away 
 every obstruction upon its broad waters. He was not permit 
 ted to do all he wished to do, but what he did was genuine 
 work, and was what gave the impulse to final complete success. 
 
 After Columbus was made untenable by the breaking up of 
 the first line of the Southern defense, or, in view of this antic 
 ipated event, the rebel leaders had pitched upon a position 
 some forty miles below, on the river, at the now famous Island 
 No. Ten, which they fortified with every device of military en 
 gineering skill, under the immediate personal supervision of 
 General Beauregard, who had been then recently appointed to 
 the command of the Department of Mississippi. 
 
 Island No. Ten* is situated at the turn of a long bend in the 
 
 * Below the mouth of the Ohio River the islands in the Mississippi are 
 designated by successive numbers. 
 
256 Life of A dmiral Foote. 
 
 river fifty-five miles below Cairo, and by nature and art was 
 perhaps the strongest position on the river. It could not 
 readily be reached by land forces; and field batteries were 
 placed along the shores approaching it for ten or twelve miles 
 commanding the channel, where the current of the Mississippi 
 was so swift and strong that it was with the utmost difficulty 
 that cumbrous iron-clads like those commanded by Commo 
 dore Foote, with deficient steam-power, could hold their own ; 
 and they had to be managed with the greatest caution, lest, 
 becoming unmanageable, they should drift down under the 
 enemy's batteries. This fighting down stream, with their 
 sterns up stream, or "bow on, and with only the forward 
 guns," in the uncontrollable and sea-like Mississippi, with 
 clumsy arks of boats that were really little more than huge 
 floating batteries, was a very different duty from fighting up 
 stream in the smaller Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, where 
 the boats could be brought into close range, and, if disabled, 
 would of themselves float away from the enemy's reach. 
 Some seventy heavy guns upon the island and its opposite 
 shores were so trained that, though set in batteries wide apart, 
 which necessitated their being assailed separately, they were 
 still enabled to direct their fire simultaneously upon one spot. 
 The whole side of the island fronting the Missouri shore bris 
 tled with cannon, and the stream itself narrowed at this point. 
 At Island No. Ten the river, after making a sudden bend, runs 
 to the northwest several miles, and at the turn of the northern 
 bend, where it begins to take once more a southerly direction, 
 at the junction of a large bayou and the Mississippi, is situated 
 New Madrid, on the Missouri shore. In order to prevent the 
 island's being attacked by land forces from the Missouri side, 
 the rebels had strongly fortified at New Madrid, and stationed 
 there a large number of troops, drawn partially from the now 
 abandoned stronghold of Columbus ; and they had also fortified 
 a few miles below New Madrid, upon the Tennessee side. 
 
Island No. Ten. 
 
 257 
 
 
 Between New Madrid and Island No. Ten, on both sides of 
 the Mississippi, extend immense swamps or bayous, which for 
 bade military operations, and which also hemmed in the rebel 
 forces themselves, and prevented their escape in case the isl 
 and should be captured.* It was, in fact, a huge and compli 
 cated system of water-locked defenses, at the centre of which, 
 and guarding the channel of the Mississippi, lay the strong 
 and almost unassailable fort of Island No. Ten, like a dragon 
 of fable, coiled in the heart of its swampy fastnesses ; and, to 
 carry out the illustration, belching forth sulphureous flames. 
 In order to completely invest this fortification, it was neces 
 sary first to obtain possession of New Madrid, and thus cut it 
 off from below, as the river ran, though really above, geo- \ 
 graphically speaking. This task was assigned to General 
 John Pope, who proved himself an able and energetic com 
 mander, with great resources and perseverance. As early as 
 the 22d of February, General Pope was dispatched by General 
 Halleck from St. Louis, with a considerable body of Ohio and 
 Illinois troops, to attack New Madrid. His transports landed 
 at Commerce, in Missouri; and his main column, toiling 
 through miry swamps, on the same day that Columbus was 
 evacuated (March 3d), appeared before New Madrid, where 
 Pope found to oppose him, in addition to a large rebel force, 
 Hollins's flotilla of gun-boats on the river, f He retired out 
 of reach of their cannon, and sent to Cairo for heavy siege- 
 guns. He also planted successfully a battery twelve miles 
 down the river, at Point Pleasant, in the rear of Island No. 
 Ten. As soon as his heavy artillery arrived, being laboriously 
 dragged through the swamps, after " a quick, sharp siege," in 
 which the Confederates suffered greatly, they fled precipitate 
 ly, leaving New Madrid in Pope's possession. 
 
 * Boynton's "History of the Navy during the Rebellion," vol. i., p. 535. 
 t Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 239. 
 
258 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 The morning that the National troops under General Pope 
 entered New Madrid (March 14), Commodore Foote left Cairo 
 with his fleet, to co-operate with him at Island No. Ten ; but 
 before giving an account of his operations at that point, there 
 are a few matters of previous occurrence and some correspond 
 ence to be taken notice of. 
 
 We mentioned the spirited services of the gun-boats Taylor 
 and Lexington on the Tennessee River, undertaken to prevent 
 the rebels from refortifying at Pittsburg and Chickasaw. 
 This gallant conduct drew forth the lively praise of the flag- 
 officer, who, beyond almost any commander in the war, was 
 generous to render his subordinates their full honor, but it 
 also called forth this sailor-like order : 
 
 " CAIRO, March 4, 1862. 
 
 " SIR, I have received your report, and have forwarded it to the Sec 
 retary of the Navy, with commendatory remarks. But I give a general 
 order that no commander will land men to make an attack ashore. Our 
 gun-boats have no more men than are necessary to man the guns ; and as 
 the army must do the shore work, and as the enemy want nothing better 
 than to entice our men ashore and overpower them with superior num 
 bers, the commanders must not operate ashore, but confine themselves to 
 their vessels. In haste, respectfully, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " Lieutenant-Commanding Gwin. 
 
 " P. S. Be cautious, as it is an element equally necessary to bravery, 
 and life must not be risked without a prospect of success." 
 
 It is but right to presume that if Foote had lived long 
 enough he would have organized the Navy Department of the 
 West into a more homogeneous body, doing its own work 
 more exclusively but effectively, and having its own position 
 and rights more clearly understood, so that the Army would 
 have looked upon it in the light of an ally and equal, not of a 
 mere auxiliary, and that something of the high and united 
 spirit of the American Navy would have been breathed into 
 it. We are perhaps even now inclined to think of the Navy 
 
Correspondence. 259 
 
 as confined wholly to the ocean coast, and to forget the im 
 mense extent of inland waters over which a well-regulated na 
 val organization should extend; although it is the desire of 
 every patriotic heart that civil war will never again require the 
 services of fighting vessels so far within our own borders. It 
 is to be fervently hoped that the broad realms of North and 
 South, united by the Mississippi Eiver, by nature, by origin, 
 by kinship, by liberty, shall be evermore one happy nation. 
 
 The two following letters at this time relating to things im 
 mediately past and present betoken much anxiety and de 
 spondency of mind, and we insert them for the reason that 
 this is not intended to be a eulogy, but a real life, with its 
 lights and shadows. Yet some of the statements in these let 
 ters are important, as coming from a man of strict truth and 
 honesty. The first is addressed to a relative of his family : 
 
 "CAIRO, March 9,1862. 
 
 " MY DEAB SIR, I place a high value on your letter, independently of 
 the source from which it comes, as it is an effort for you to write. I 
 wish I had the time, if I have the ability, to respond by one as good. 
 
 " I send Augusta the certificate of the best surgeon here, who is at the 
 head of the Sanitary Committee, relative to my wounded foot, or, per 
 haps, I might more properly call it a diagnosis. I have pain in my foot ; 
 but you will see from the certificate that there is no danger to be appre 
 hended, unless it is to the government from my not being able to give 
 personal attention to my varied duties. Still every moment of my time 
 from seven A.M. till eleven P.M. is occupied with office duties. I am 
 on crutches, and should be happy at the idea of being able to lay them 
 aside. 
 
 " I have to work against a good deal of opposition. Not even a Navy 
 officer at home can conceive of the magnitude of my work navy-yard 
 and fleet duties ; and I would not again pass through the mental agony 
 and bodily effort, certainly for all the credit I do or can receive from the 
 public. It is a bitter cup, and I can hardly drink it. It has added ten 
 years .to my age, and it is quite enough to break any man down. I do 
 not like the course that has been pursued in regard to me. On the 28th 
 of January I suggested the attack on Fort Henry, and gave my orders 
 
260 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 two days before the fight for Lieutenant-Commanding Phelps to proceed 
 up the Tennessee, and destroy the rebel gun-boats and their property as 
 far as the river was navigable, and off he went to Mississippi and Ala 
 bama without a word from Halleck. Yet he and McClellan got the 
 credit of the thing. The rebels and many of our Army officers say that 
 our desperate fight demoralized the rebels at Fort Donelson, so much so 
 that they could not even cut their way through the lines the next day in 
 their attempt to escape ; and if they had not been demoralized, why, a 
 military man would ask, did they not hold on in their intrenchments ? 
 Still I fought Fort Donelson four days before I was ready, as I wanted 
 my six mortar-boats ; but General Halleck urged me, and I determined 
 to take the only course, by a close action, which could secure us a vic 
 tory without the mortar-boats. Then I went up and took possession of 
 Clarksville, hoisting our flag and issuing the proclamation, and General 
 Halleck says in his official dispatches it was four days afterward occupied 
 by General Smith, making no allusion to my command. I was then ready 
 to proceed on and take Nashville, and was about starting when I re 
 ceived an order not to do it, which if I had done, the Assistant-Secretary 
 of the Navy says, I would have saved a million dollars' worth of rebel 
 arms and a factory for making percussion-caps. The citizens expected 
 the gun-boats, and General A. S. Johnston advised them to leave and 
 abandon the city, as I was coming hence the panic; and, after all, 
 Buell could not march in until he got a gun-boat first off the city. Now 
 I am wanted to go, even if not prepared, to the attack of Island No. Ten 
 and New Madrid, and Assistant-Secretary Scott urges me ; but I have re 
 fused positively to do it, and will wait till Wednesday, when I will 
 have the mortar-boats and the Benton, and can, God willing, who gives 
 the victory, do it easily. I have no fears for this week's work. 
 
 " Oh, how I long for this war to terminate ! I have had enough of it, 
 and I think the South will also have been taught to respect Yankee 
 pluck. I pray that God may soon send us peace and prosperity. As 
 for myself, wonderful to say, excepting my foot, I am in remarkable 
 health. 
 
 " Excuse my haste, as I have more than I can possibly attend to in the 
 way of business, and I may have to delay writing to Augusta ; if so, 
 please show her this. I hope to return here after going down about 
 sixty miles to attack No. Ten and New Madrid. In the mean time, let 
 Augusta write as usual, and I will write when I get a chance. With 
 love to all. Very truly yours, A. H. FOOTE." 
 
Correspondence. 261 
 
 " 4 BENTON,' CAIRO, March 12, 1862. 
 
 "MY DEAK WIFE, Your excellent letter and William's came this 
 morning like sunbeams just as I was writing a letter of sympathy and 
 condolence to our dear friend Commodore Smith on Joe's death.* It 
 was a sad affair ; but such things will happen in war. I can not express 
 my horrible pressure of responsibility; and now, honestly, I am almost 
 crazy that no troops have been furnished to accompany me and occupy 
 
 * This promising young officer went down in the Cumberland at Hamp 
 ton Roads, March 8th, 1862. Senator Grimes, of Iowa, spoke thus of him 
 in the United States Senate, March 13 : 
 
 " But while I would thus honor the gallant living, I would bear my 
 tribute of affectionate respect for the memory of the heroic dead who fell 
 in the engagement in Hampton Roads. Let the remembrance of that 
 brave young officer, whose obsequies are now being performed in another 
 part of this city, who, when his vessel was sinking beneath his feet, re 
 plied to a summons to surrender that he would never give up the flag 
 intrusted to his keeping, and the next moment met death with compos 
 ure, be cherished by his countrymen. The name of Smith, already illus 
 trious in the annals of the American Navy, will be added to the bright 
 galaxy of those who have freely laid down their lives at the call of their 
 country." 
 
 We can not refrain from adding the father's response to the letter re 
 ferred to, for its manly pathos . 
 
 "March 21,1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR FOOTE, I duly received your kind note of condolence, and 
 now I have to sympathize with you in your bereavement and loss of a 
 darling boy. We must bow our heads and lick the dust, and say. 'Though 
 He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' I was relieved by receiving the 
 mutilated remains of my son, and I deposited them with those of his 
 mother. We are looking most anxiously for reports of your success at 
 No. Ten. God give you the victory. 
 
 " I have just received a letter from my only son, and he inclosed one 
 for you, which I forward herewith. He has a hard time with his gun 
 boat, but I pray he may be spared to me. I fear Farragut has a difficult 
 task to ascend the Mississippi his vessels draw too much water ; but I 
 hope you may meet him at New Orleans. 
 
 " Our arms seem to be victorious every where except in the untoward 
 event at Newport News. We have been too indifferent about the monster 
 Merrimack. I am glad to know my son performed his duty as well as 
 any man could under the circumstances. I am almost crazy with the 
 cares that rest upon me, which I shall endeavor to dispose of to the best 
 of my ability ; but I am old, and my mind is somewhat impaired ; yet I 
 shall stick to rny post, and do all I can for the cause of the Union and 
 the defense of liberty. 
 
 " I am taxed to the utmost of my power. God bless you. 
 
 " Yours as always, JOSEPH SMITH. 
 
 " Flag-Officer A. H. Foote." 
 
 s 
 
262 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Island No. Ten, if we take it, since, if I leave it unoccupied, the rebels 
 will come back to their batteries and reoccupy it, and keep our supplies 
 from coming to us from here. I do not understand such movements. 
 I would not, my dear, be in the position I am the vast responsibility of 
 this river, which, if disaster occur to my boats, the rebels could retake 
 Columbus, capture St. Louis, and command the Mississippi River for 
 all the world can give. The mere fight, my mere life, is nothing in the 
 consideration. An officer said truly this morning that no man in the 
 nation had the dreadful responsibility upon him that I had. Cullum is 
 sick, and gone to St. Louis, and Scott ordered home, and Governor 
 Strong, a citizen volunteer, is in command here. Thus it goes. I am ap 
 prehensive of disaster for want of management on the part of the Army. 
 I write, my dear, that if disaster come, you may know the reason, and 
 have my vindication ; for I have done all that should be done to avert 
 it. You will know the result by telegram before this reaches you, and 
 you need not caution me against being spoiled by success, as I was never 
 more humbled. I would this moment give all I am worth could I be 
 on the Atlantic a captain of a good steam-frigate, instead of being out 
 here under a pressure which would crush most men ; and how I have 
 stood it thus far I can only account for by the fact that ' God has been 
 my helper.' I have not time to answer yours in detail. All is confusion, 
 and I am almost in despair. Oh, my dear, if our affairs, if our ' house 
 were put in order,' and our children older and doing well, what a relief 
 it would be to quietly wait God's time, and joyfully leave this world for 
 the glories of a blessed immortality. That is the bright spot the sun 
 shine amid the gloom and darkness. Here we must do our duty, and I 
 pray for strength to do mine, and to God let us commend ourselves and 
 our children and all whom we hold dear. He has placed me here, and I 
 hope I may in a proper spirit perform his will. To your parents and 
 cousins my love, and love and kisses to the children. Am glad to hear 
 darling Emily is more free from pain. 
 
 " Ever affectionately your dear husband, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " Beauregard and General Bragg are here. 
 
 "Later. General Halleck telegraphs 'not to make an attack on No. 
 Ten till further orders, as he wishes to wait till General Pope gets his 
 heavy guns in position to cut off the enemy's retreat.' This may induce 
 the rebels to evacuate it. At all events, we shall go better prepared; 
 so don't give yourself uneasiness about me." 
 
Longings. 263 
 
 The writer of these letters was not a man who loved war 
 for war's sake. He was ready to use it, and use it with terri 
 ble effect, for great ends; but he would have been glad at 
 any moment to retire from its troubled scenes. He was a 
 man, at heart, of peace, of kindly domestic affections, and of 
 humane ideas and desires for the highest happiness of his fel 
 low-men. The war-worn fighter murmured in his heart 
 
 "But we grow old. Ah! when shall all men's good 
 Be each man's rule, and universal Peace" 
 Lie like a shaft of light across the land, 
 And like a lane of beams athwart the sea, 
 Through all the circle of the golden year 2" 
 
CHAPTEK XXI. 
 
 INVESTMENT AND BOMBARDMENT OF ISLAND NUMBER TEN. 
 
 DEATH OF SON. CUTTING CANAL ACROSS PENINSULA. 
 
 IN order to understand clearly the history of naval opera 
 tions at Island No. Ten,* the following letters are important : 
 
 "DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI, CAIRO, March 8, 1862. 
 "FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE, U.S.N., commanding Flotilla, Western Waters: 
 
 " FLAG-OFFICER, Major-Gen eral Halleck desires that a demonstration 
 by gun and mortar boats should be made by Monday morning next upon 
 Island No. Ten, and then upon New Madrid, in order to relieve the com 
 mand of General Pope, now in front of that place. The forces of General 
 Pope are needed for movement up the Tennessee, and must be ordered 
 back without results unless we can bring them by river early next week, 
 after capturing Island No. Ten and New Madrid. To effect these impor 
 tant results, I desire to know whether you can have ready for service by 
 Tuesday night four gun and four mortar boats; if so, I will provide 
 transports for movement by land forces for as many as may be necessary 
 to remove from New Madrid such portion of General Pope's forces as can 
 be safely spared after capturing New Madrid and Island No. Ten. 
 
 " Your immediate attention will greatly oblige, 
 " Yours respectfully, and most obedient servant, 
 
 " GEO. W. CULLUM, Brig.-Gen., Chief of Staff, and Engineer." 
 
 " CAIRO, March 8, 1862. 
 
 " GENERAL, I have repeatedly stated to you, and to Assistant-Secre 
 tary Scott, that I shall not be ready with the flotilla, to move on Island 
 No. Ten and New Madrid, until Wednesday, leaving here in the course 
 of that day with gun and mortar boats. 
 
 " If I am peremptorily ordered to move before that time by Assistant- 
 Secretary of War Colonel Scott, I shall try to do it, but under a remon- 
 
 * For map of Island No. Ten, and its surroundings, see p. 267. 
 
Military Correspondence. 265 
 
 strance that I shall deem it an act involving, in all probability, the most 
 disastrous consequences to the flotilla, and to the service which it was 
 designed to perform. 
 
 " The pilot-houses are unsafe, and the vessels are not in a condition 
 which would enable them to make any thing of a stand against such a 
 resistance as the rebels have made in every instance. I can not, there 
 fore, except under this strong remonstrance, be a party to an act which I 
 believe would terminate in the utter demoralization of my command. 
 
 " I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " Brig.-Gen. Geo.W. Cullum, Chief of Staff and Engineer." 
 
 In a letter of the same date to Lieutenant Henry A. Wise 
 (Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, Washington) he 
 speaks of his preparations : 
 
 " The Benton is under way, and barely stems the strong current of the 
 Ohio five knots per hour in this rise of water, but I hope by putting 
 her between two iron-clad steamers to-morrow she will stem the current 
 and work comparatively well. On Wednesday I hope to take down seven 
 iron-clads and ten mortar-boats to attack Island No. Ten and New Mad 
 rid. A portion of iron plating for pilot-houses and chains got aboard 
 a steamer from Cincinnati, which was prepared to go up the Cumber 
 land, but will be here to-morrow or next day. As the current is in some 
 places in the Mississippi seven miles per hour, the iron-clad boats can 
 hardly return here ; therefore we must go well prepared, which detains 
 us longer than even you would imagine necessary from your navy-yard 
 and smooth-water stand-point." 
 
 General Pope had just seized New Madrid with his land 
 forces, and planted his batteries so as to command the stream 
 down the river; and when the gun-boats assailed Island No. 
 Ten from above, the place would be thoroughly invested, and 
 the siege so full of picturesque and wonderful incidents, as 
 it proved to be would fairly commence. 
 
 This order from General Halleck was received March 12th : 
 
 "To FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE: 
 
 " You will not make an attack on Island No. Ten till further orders. 
 I wish to wait till General Pope gets his heavy guns in position to cut 
 oif the enemy's retreat. H. W. HALLECK, Major-General." 
 
266 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 The following letter, of the same date, shows the writer's 
 state of mind in regard to the enterprise : 
 
 "'BENTON,' March 12, 1862. 
 
 "My DEAR SIR, I am grateful beyond expression for your kind letter 
 of the 7th, and beg to be excused for this hasty answer, as we leave to-day 
 for No. Ten and New Maddd, and I trust that God will give us the vic 
 tory. Island No. Ten is very strongly fortified, and we shall have a hard 
 fight. I shall be very cautious, as I appreciate the vast responsibility of 
 keeping our flotilla from falling into the rebels' hands, as it would turn 
 the whole tide of affairs against us. 
 
 " I will not show, nor have I shown jealousy against the Army. I am 
 on the best of terms with Generals Grant, Smith, McClernand, and with 
 all the junior officers. I thank you for your valuable friendship, and will 
 strive to retain it. Respects to your family. I can hardly get through 
 my work, so excuse this. 
 
 " I have the honor to be your friend, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
 On the morning of the 14th Foote moved down the river 
 with his flotilla, consisting of seven iron-clad gun-boats and 
 ten mortar-boats. He was joined at Columbus on the same 
 day by Colonel Buford, in command of some twelve hundred 
 troops, and reached Hickman that evening with the flotilla 
 and transports. The boilers of the Louisville were here found 
 to leak badly, and she was sent back to Columbus for repairs. 
 We continue the narrative of events for the next two days in 
 the flag-officer's own words, in his report to the Secretary of 
 the Navy : 
 
 " On the 15th instant, at daylight, the flotilla and transports moved 
 down the river r arriving in the vicinity of Island No. Ten at 9 A.M. 
 The rain and dense fog prevented our getting the vessels in position, 
 other than two mortar-boats, for the purpose of ascertaining their range. 
 
 " Early on the morning of the 16th instant I placed the mortar-boats in 
 as good a position as the circumstances would admit, when they shelled 
 several regiments out of their encampments, and, at extreme range, 
 reached the batteries on No. Ten, the floating battery, and the five bat 
 teries on the Tennessee shore. The mortar-boats are in charge of Cap- 
 
Bombardment of Island No. Ten. 
 
 267 
 
 Army of Genl.Pope 
 
 . _A A M A.A AA AA.Q A A 
 
 tain Maynard, United States Army, as ordnance officer, assisted by Act 
 ing Lieutenant-Commanding J. P. Sandford, United States Navy, who 
 volunteered his services. 
 
 "This morning, the 17th instant, soon after daylight, the mortar-boats 
 being in position, I had the Bent&n lashed between two other steamers 
 the Cincinnati and the 8t. Louis and with the remaining iron-clad 
 steamers made an attack on the forts, at a distance of two thousand 
 yards or more, on account of the rapid current rendering the boats too 
 unmanageable to come within a shorter range> without endangering their 
 being carried under the enemy's guns, and as a nearer approach would 
 expose the bows and quarters of the vessels their most vulnerable points 
 to a fire of six other batteries, mounting forty-three guns. We opened 
 fire on the upper fort on the Tennessee shore at meridian, and continued 
 to give and receive quite a brisk fire from this and also four other bat- 
 
268 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 teries on the same shore until darkness obscured the forts from view. 
 The ten mortars, in the mean time, shelled the troops out of range, ex 
 cepting those manning the batteries. 
 
 " The upper fort was badly cut up by the Benton and the other boats 
 with her. We dismounted one of their guns, and the men, at times, ran 
 from the batteries. 
 
 "Colonel Buford has been busily and I trust profitably engaged in 
 making reconnoissances, and is preparing to mount his siege-guns. 
 
 *' In the attack of to-day this vessel (Benton} received four shots, while 
 a rifle-gun burst aboard the St. Louis, killing and wounding fifteen, offi 
 cers and men. I inclose a list of casualties. The Cincinnati has had her 
 engines injured, which may render it necessary for me to send her to 
 Cairo for repairs. 
 
 " I hope to be able to silence the upper battery to-morrow, after which 
 we can plant the mortars in a position where we expect to be able to 
 shell the rebels out of their batteries. The place is even stronger and 
 better adapted for defense than Columbus has ever been. Each fortifica 
 tion commands the one above it. We can count forty-nine guns in the 
 different batteries, where there are probably double the number, with ten 
 thousand troops. 
 
 " From exhaustion, arising from continuous service and want of sleep, 
 you will excuse this incoherent, discursive report. 
 
 " Our shells bursting prematurely, we have to drown them before load 
 ing the guns. The fuses many of which, I am informed, were made be 
 fore the Mexican War ought to have been condemned." 
 
 This was really a spirited and well-fought engagement, al 
 though it resulted in nothing definite. The Benton was fre 
 quently struck. The vessels at one time drew quite near to 
 the batteries, and attacked them in something of the old dash 
 ing, desperate style, although this method could not possibly 
 be carried out under the circumstances, since the boats were 
 really not adapted to fighting in the strong and rapid Missis 
 sippi ; but we must pause a moment in these warlike scenes to 
 take notice of a sorrowful and touching event. On the day 
 (the 14th) when Commodore Foote set forth from Cairo in all 
 the pomp and circumstance of his numerous and powerful 
 command upon his expedition against Island No. Ten, his sec- 
 
Death of Son. 269 
 
 ond son, William Leffingwell, died at his father's house in 
 New Haven. He was a manly and promising boy of thirteen 
 years, who had already developed noble traits of character. 
 He had been ill a week, and but a few days before he was the 
 image of health a handsome, rosy-cheeked lad. He was to 
 his father as the apple of his eye. He received the telegram 
 of his son's death during the thick of the battle. The follow 
 ing was the brief telegram to his wife, sent in response to the 
 sad tidings, and the telegram was received in New Haven on 
 the afternoon of the 17th : 
 
 " NEAR ISLAND No. TEN. 
 
 " May God support us. The shock stuns me in midst of fight. Thy 
 will be done to us and ours. A. H. FOOTE." 
 
 It was followed by this letter, written a day or two after 
 ward : 
 
 "'RENTON,' OFF No. TEN, March 19, 1862. 
 
 " MY BEAR WIFE, I know how you feel ; I feel it all myself. I want 
 all the time to be writing to you ; still I know that our dear boy has 
 escaped great evil, and no doubt he is far better off than in this life ; 
 but Nature mourns. Let us have consolation in our bereavement. I do 
 hope it will be the means of doing us all good, and making us live near 
 er to God. It is all right, my dear ; for God, our kind, heavenly Father, 
 has done it, and, as Sanford said yesterday, * You ought, flag-officer, to 
 rise above your grief, and not dwell so on it.' Nothing but a death in 
 the family could at this critical moment, when so much is upon me, so 
 draw off my mind from my duties ; it shows the power of my grief. It 
 is much on your account I so feel ; but we must pray to God that he 
 will enable us to submit with Christian faith, even if he take more of us 
 away. . 
 
 " We are not making much progress, firing almost beyond the enemy's 
 range. I hope to have General Pope here soon from New Madrid, and 
 attack upon the rear of the enemy. This place is stronger than Colum 
 bus in all respects ; still, if we can get General Pope here, we will take 
 it. We are throwing mortar-shells into the forts at night, which, show 
 ing the burning fuse, makes a beautiful sight, like a shooting star in a 
 parabola ; but how little do I enjoy it, or any thing else ! I feel that 
 
270 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Willie is better off, and therefore my intense feelings must in a good 
 measure be sympathy for you. 
 
 " I am well and have no headache, although I am only five hours in 
 my bed. 
 
 "If I can get General Pope's army here in a week, I think we will 
 have a grand victory. 
 
 " Love to all, kisses for children, and again tell our dear boy Augustus 
 to love and fear God, and believe me, as always, 
 
 " Your devoted husband, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " P. S. I do not feel myself in special danger. Still, should I fall, it 
 will be in a holy cause, and I shall die content. So do not mourn on my 
 account. You know my feelings. I have never kept any thing from 
 you, and God will provide for you and yours. While I talk thus, I do 
 not consider myself in any more danger than I have been before. Still 
 we are at war, and I am under fire. Again I commend you all to God 
 and his grace. A. H. F." 
 
 Death and Life how closely are their black and gold 
 threads commingled ! At the very time when he received the 
 news of his great bereavement, this joint resolution, expressive 
 of the thanks of Congress, was passed : 
 
 (Public Resolution, No. 22.) 
 
 " Resolved ~by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
 of America in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress and of the 
 American people are due, and are hereby tendered to Captain A. H. 
 Foote, of the United States Navy, and to the officers and men of the 
 Western Flotilla under his command, for the great gallantry exhibited 
 by them in the attacks upon forts Henry and Donelson, for their effi 
 ciency in opening the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Mississippi rivers to 
 the pursuits of lawful commerce, and for their unwavering devotion to 
 the cause of the country in the midst of her greatest difficulties and 
 dangers. 
 
 "Approved March 19, 1862." 
 
 While this resolution was under consideration by the Sen 
 ate, in Committee of the Whole, Hon. James W. Grimes, Sen 
 ator from Iowa, made a speech, in which he elaborately re 
 viewed the origin, history, and achievements of the Western 
 
Speech of Senator Grimes. 271 
 
 Flotilla, and gave the credit due to the American Navy in the 
 war. He said : 
 
 " I am anxious that the people of this entire country may feel that the 
 exploits of the Navy, wherever performed, are their exploits, that its 
 glory is their glory, and that while they are taxing themselves to sup 
 port it, they are supporting the right arm of the National defense. I 
 desire the citizen of the most remote frontier to feel that he is equally 
 protected and equally honored by the brave deeds of our naval' officers 
 with the citizen of the Atlantic coast. I wish the men of Iowa and Min 
 nesota to know that they are as effectually defended in their liberties at 
 home and in their honor abroad, by the achievements of Dupont and 
 Goldsborough and Stringham and Foote on the water, as they can be by 
 any victories won by our armies on the land." 
 
 Senator Grimes quoted, with strong approval, a letter fur 
 nished him by Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, written by a 
 gentleman of high military authority at the West, from which 
 this is an extract : 
 
 " When Fort Henry surrendered, the gate was opened by which the 
 rebellion will be finally and utterly crushed. In a few days Commodore 
 Foote will open the Mississippi, provided he is not hampered, and also 
 provided he is properly supported by government. He has done a great 
 work for his country a work which, I am sorry to say, has not been 
 properly appreciated. He has improvised a navy with almost insur 
 mountable obstacles against him. I see it stated in the papers that the 
 gun-boats did but little service at Donelson, which is a monstrous mis 
 take. They silenced nearly all the enemy's guns, and had not the wheel 
 of one boat and the tiller-ropes of another been shot away, in fifteen 
 minutes more the batteries would have been flanked, and the entire 
 rebel army exposed to the broadsides of the fleet. He would have 
 mowed them clown like grass. As it was, he made the work of the 
 army in the fight of Saturday much easier than it otherwise would have 
 been. Several of the Mississippi officers (prisoners) informed rne that 
 the shells of the gun-boats had a demoralizing effect upon their men. 
 The Memphis Appeal says it dispirited them. 
 
 " I have had a fair opportunity to observe the operations of both 
 Army and Navy, and I can say with emphasis that there are no more 
 self-denying, patriotic, hard-working, faithful men than the flag-officer 
 
272 Life of A dmiral Foote. 
 
 and his captains Stembel, Pennock, Phelps, and others. I make these 
 statements from my own sense of justice and honor, and not from any 
 man's prompting or request." 
 
 But neither public praise nor private sorrow were permitted to 
 interfere for one moment with the pressing duties of the hour. 
 
 The following reports continue the narrative of naval oper 
 ations : 
 
 " FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF ISLAND No. TEN, ) 
 
 March 19, 1862. ) 
 
 "SiR, On the 17th instant I communicated to the Department an 
 account of our leaving Cairo for the purpose of attacking Island No. 
 Ten, and expressing the hope that to-morrow (yesterday) we should be 
 able to capture the upper fort at this point. 
 
 " Yesterday we were firing on the upper fort at long range, reaching 
 it occasionally, and dismounted another gun, while the mortars were 
 playing on the lower fortifications, having driven the encampments 
 down the river, just out of range of our shells. As the forts are distinct 
 from each other, and occupy but little space, and have been mostly con 
 structed for four or five months, it is impossible to use the mortars with 
 as much effect as could have been done at Columbus, where the batteries 
 were more compact and exposed, and the troops having less shelter than 
 here. We are, however, keeping up an occasional fire day and night, to 
 prevent the enemy from repairing his damages, gradually approaching 
 his strongest holds, and I trust we will be able, in co-operation with 
 General Pope's army, soon to get possession of the place. This position 
 was selected by the rebels on account of its being inaccessible by land, 
 in a high stage of waters, on the Missouri side, which side General 
 Pope's army occupies at New Madrid ; and he has no transports of any 
 kind with which to cross over to the Tennessee side and march in upon 
 the rear of the rebels. I have this morning sent him two tugs, and hope 
 to be able to get two gun-boats also through the same bayou or slough 
 to him. If we can do this, with the gun-boats coming up and attacking 
 the forts from below, with the land attack, I have no doubt but that we 
 shall secure a complete victory. We must proceed here slowly and cau 
 tiously, which alone can prove effective, especially bearing in mind the 
 rapid current and certainty of falling into the hands of the enemy in 
 these slow boats if we run as close to the batteries as we might do were 
 the rebels up stream. Colonel Buford, commanding the troops here, 
 
Operations at Island No. Ten. 273 
 
 amounting to about fifteen hundred, will be ready to perform all service 
 required until the arrival of General Pope in force. We shall not be 
 able to make the grand attack for several days. This will depend upon 
 the arrival of General Pope. Your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 "The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 " FLAG-STEAMER * BENTON,' OFF ISLAND No. TEN, ) 
 March 20, 1862. j 
 
 " SIR, Most of the iron-clad steamers, including this vessel, are still 
 lying within long range of the rebel forts, and occasionally, with the 
 mortar-boats, are throwing shells into the enemy's batteries, which have 
 induced them to withdraw all their superfluous men not required for 
 serving their guns. To-day the upper battery opened upon us, but was 
 silenced in half an hour, this ship dismounting a gun. I send, to-night, 
 a boat to sound in a narrow and shallow channel, in hopes the present 
 rise of water in the river will enable me to dispatch a small steamer w r ith 
 light draught to General Pope, near New Madrid, who, as I have already 
 informed the Department, has several times requested that I would send 
 him two or three gun-boats, to enable him to cross over to the Tennessee 
 side, with the view of attacking the rebels in the rear at this point, while 
 we make the attack in front or on the river side. I am apprehensive, 
 however, from our ill-success thus far, that this project may not prove 
 feasible. To-day, for the first time since I have been in command of the 
 flotilla, I called a council of war, with the view of ascertaining the opin 
 ions of the officers with reference to sending, or attempting to send, aid 
 to General Pope. The officers, with one exception, were decidedly op 
 posed to running the blockade, believing it would result in the almost 
 certain destruction of the vessels which should attempt to pass the six 
 forts, with fifty guns bearing upon them. I have been seriously dis 
 posed to run the blockade myself with this vessel, which is better pro 
 tected than the other boats, although she is slow, and works sluggishly ; 
 but, upon reconsideration, as her loss would be so great if we failed, and 
 my personal services here are considered so important with the fleet and 
 transports, I have, for the present, abandoned the idea. 
 
 " This place is admirably chosen for defense by the rebels, as its rear 
 can only be approached, in this stage of water, by the river opposite 
 New Madrid, it being surrounded by bayous or sloughs, while its long 
 line of six forts, commanding one another from the river front, render it 
 
2 74 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 almost impregnable from an attacking force. General Pope has no 
 transports, and, without our reaching him by running the blockade, is 
 unable to cross over to the Tennessee side from New Madrid, where he 
 now is in force ; and it is impossible for him, from the inundated state 
 of the country, to send or march his troops to this point. Were we to 
 attempt to attack these heavy batteries with the gun-boats, or attempt 
 to run the blockade and fail, as I have already stated in a former com 
 munication, the rivers above us Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland 
 would be greatly exposed, not only frustrating the grand object of the 
 expedition, but exposing our towns and cities bordering those rivers; 
 especially so should General Pope be unable to hold his position at New 
 Madrid. Under these circumstances, and our boats being so ill adapted 
 to fighting down the river, with two rifle-guns having burst and our 
 shells imperfect, I am induced to act with great caution, and expose the 
 flotilla less than under more favorable circumstances it would be my 
 duty to do, for the great object for which the fleet was created. For the 
 future, in the absence of instructions from higher authority, I shall be 
 governed by circumstances as they may arise. When the object of run 
 ning the blockade becomes adequate to the risk, I shall not hesitate to 
 do it. The place may be occupied by us in a short time without an 
 assault, as the rebels must be cut off from their necessary supplies. Still, 
 if this do not soon take place, it may become necessary to force the 
 blockade, or adopt some other measures which have not yet suggested 
 themselves. Your obedient servant, A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 Island No. Ten was a hard nut to crack, giving pause to 
 the most experienced military men. It was a characteristic 
 sentence in the last of the above reports, " When the object of 
 running the blockade becomes adequate to the risk, I shall. not 
 hesitate to do it." That time according to the commodore, 
 whether he erred or not in judgment had not yet arrived; 
 but it could not for a moment be doubted that, whatever the 
 risk, either by himself or by a subordinate commander, the 
 thing, when he thought it ought to be done, would be done. 
 
 The mortars used by Foote were formidable ordnance, each 
 carrying a shot weighing 215 pounds, and itself weighing 
 
The Mortars. 275 
 
 17,280 pounds. It was a 13-inch mortar that is, it would 
 receive a bomb-shell thirteen inches in diameter. The boats 
 were firmly moored to the bank, and a derrick was used on 
 shore to drop the immense ball into the mouth of the mortar. 
 Twenty-three pounds of powder were required for a charge, 
 and the concussion was so heavy that the men were forced to 
 take refuge behind the timber works when a mortar was fired ; 
 while the distance was so great, and the object aimed at so 
 comparatively small, that the slightest disturbing cause was 
 enough to destroy the accuracy of the aim. Nevertheless, the 
 bombardment was kept up. The roar and hiss of the heavy 
 mortar-shells were heard along the sombre shores of the river 
 night and day. Foote did not come, however, to close en 
 counter with the forts, and kept his boats in good trim, not 
 exposing or weakening his fleet, because he learned that the 
 rebels had a force of thirteen gun-boats, independent of the 
 five below New Madrid, arid the much-talked- of Manassas at 
 Memphis. They might come up at any moment, and dispute 
 the possession of the Mississippi above Island No. Ten, and he 
 thought it best to be careful of his boats. General Halleck, 
 judging from the following dispatch, seems to have concurred 
 in this opinion : 
 
 " HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ) 
 ST. Louis, March 21, 1862. ( 
 
 " SIR, I have just received your report (without date) of your opera 
 tions against the enemy's batteries in the vicinity of Island No. Ten. 
 While I am certain that you have done every thing that could be done 
 successfully to reduce these works, I am very glad that you have not un 
 necessarily exposed your gun-boats. If they had been disabled, it would 
 have been a most serious loss to us in the future operations of the cam 
 paign ; whereas the reduction of these batteries, this week or next, is a 
 matter of very little importance indeed. I think it will turn out in the 
 end that it is much better for us that they are not reduced till we can 
 fully cut off the retreat of their troops. 
 
 " Every thing is now progressing well on the Tennessee River toward 
 
 T 
 
276 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 opening your way down the Mississippi. The reduction of these works 
 is only a question of time, and we are in no hurry on that point. Noth 
 ing is lost by a little delay there. I am directing all my attention now to 
 another object, and when that is accomplished the enemy must evacuate 
 or surrender. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " H. W. HALLECK, Major-General Commanding. 
 " Flag-Officer Foote, commanding Naval Forces." 
 
 Foote himself came to the conclusion that the only effectual 
 way of taking the island was to send boats and transports to 
 General Pope, in order that he might cross the river from be 
 low, and attack the rebel works from the Tennessee shore. 
 But how to get them to him was the question. To pass the 
 forts was generally considered impracticable. Two councils 
 of all the captains of the fleet were called together by Foote, 
 and they voted that the thing was too hazardous. This plan 
 therefore, for the time, was abandoned. The other plan was 
 to send boats around the forts and island, through the swamps 
 on the western side of the Mississippi, bringing them out at 
 New Madrid. He thus reports concerning this : 
 
 "U. S. FLAG-SHIP 'BENTON,' ISLAND No. TEN, ) 
 March 26, 1862. j 
 
 " SIR, Since my communication of the 20th instant we have been 
 lying off the forts at long range, occasionally giving a rifle-shot, and more 
 frequently throwing mortar-shells upon the island and at the fortifica 
 tions on the Tennessee shore. The rebels still hold the forts, but the en 
 campments are moved beyond range, with a sufficient number of men to 
 serve their heavy guns, which seem to be well protected from our shells 
 by their breastworks. A communication from General Halleck (a copy 
 of which is inclosed) leads me to hope that we may yet derive support 
 from the Army, irrespective of General Pope's force, which will cross over 
 from New Madrid and attack the enemy in the rear, while we make the 
 attack in front, in case we succeed in getting two steamers and several 
 cutters, which are now working their way toward that point, through the 
 bayous or sloughs. Should this effort be successful, I hope to hear that 
 a land force of some ten thousand men will be in the rebels' rear in the 
 course of five or six days. With the exception of a ridge of higher land 
 
Operations at Island No. Ten. 277 
 
 on the river bank of the Tennessee side, from directly opposite New 
 Madrid to nearly opposite Island No. Ten, the whole country is inunda 
 ted, or at least so much so as to prevent troops from other points reach 
 ing the rebels' rear, showing how admirably their position has been 
 chosen for defense. 
 
 " We now have here six iron-plated gun-boats, one wooden gun-boat, 
 the Conestoga, and sixteen mortar-boats ; one iron-clad gun-boat being at 
 Nashville, one guarding Columbus and Hickman the two wooden boats 
 up the Tennessee ; while the Essex, Commander Porter, is repairing at St. 
 Louis. We have all the mortar-boats we can use to any advantage, and 
 still want two tow-boats for these, of greater force, as we have a strong 
 current, requiring the greatest vigilance to prevent them and the gun 
 boats from being carried down stream, from the want of steam-power of 
 the latter. Colonel Buford, commanding the troops, has a force of be 
 tween nineteen hundred and two thousand men ; but who, in fact, living, 
 as they necessarily do, aboard the transports the banks being over 
 flowed, and they surrounded by water can not accomplish any thing of 
 consequence. Thus we are waiting to open communication with General 
 Pope at New Madrid. 
 
 " I forward herewith a copy of a letter sent me by General Strong, 
 commanding at Cairo, from which it will be seen that the rebels have 
 thirteen gun-boats, independent of the five below New Madrid, and the 
 Manassas, or ram, at Memphis. I presume that these boats are not equal 
 to ours ; still we have no means of ascertaining their character, especially 
 those at New Orleans. I have ordered the rifle-guns as they arrive at 
 Cairo to be sent to us, as our rifles are unsafe, and must be condemned as 
 soon as others can be supplied. The rifle-shells, as well as those of the 
 8-inch guns and thirty-twos, also burst prematurely, and I have been 
 obliged to drown all fuses for a distance exceeding one thousand yards. 
 
 " I shall proceed with caution in our work here, being fully aware of 
 our disadvantages. If, however, any disaster should occur from circum 
 stances beyond my control, I have ordered the two iron-clad gun-boats 
 Cairo and Louisville, with the wooden boats Taylor and Lexington, to meet 
 at Cairo, or as far down as Columbus, and even Hickman, to prevent the 
 rebel gun-boats from ascending the river beyond Cairo, which place is 
 now so nearly overflowed as to render it necessary for us to remove all 
 our ammunition. I have the honor to be, etc., 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
278 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 The opening of the canal, fifty feet wide and twelve miles 
 long, from the bend of the Mississippi near Island No. Eight, 
 across the neck of the swampy peninsula, to the neighborhood 
 of New Madrid, was the joint work of the Army and Navy, 
 and was one of the most energetic and remarkable achieve 
 ments of the war. It was actually suggested by General 
 Schuyler Hamilton, and was executed in the space of about 
 two weeks, under the command of Colonel Bissel. Three 
 fourths of a mile was through solid earth, and six miles of the 
 way was hewn through a dense growth of heavy timber, 
 which had to be cut off in some places four feet under water. * 
 Advantage was taken of narrow channels connecting bayous, 
 or places with more open water, and near New Madrid a small 
 stream ran down from the swamp, which aided the enterprise ; 
 but it was a herculean task, and for nineteen days soldiers and 
 sailors worked and floundered together in water and mud, cut 
 ting down and dragging out trees and stumps, with capstans, 
 saws, and axes. Four light steamers and two or three gun- 
 barges aided them in this. It was impracticable to make a 
 passage deep enough for the great gun-boats; but, after in 
 credible labor, the canal was finished, and in the first week of 
 April a small fleet of light steamers and transports, gliding 
 through the depths of a Mississippi forest, reached New Mad 
 rid, with the almost wild rejoicings of the troops there. In 
 .ihe mean time, on the 1st of April, a gallant feat was done by 
 a boat expedition manned by seamen of the Benton and four 
 other gun-boats, with fifty soldiers, the whole under the com 
 mand of Colonel George W. Roberts, of the Second Illinois 
 Volunteers. At eleven o'clock at night they started, rowing 
 softly, and hugging the eastern shore in the shadow. They 
 proceeded to the upper (Eucker's) battery, or the first of the 
 seven forts on the Tennessee shore, and as they approached 
 
 * Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 244. 
 
Spiking of a Rebel Battery. 279 
 
 within thirty feet the sentinels perceived them, uttered a cry 
 of surprise, fired, and fled. The alarm was also communicated 
 to the rebel steamer Grampus; but the movements of the in 
 vaders were rapid ; they landed, threw out a detachment of 
 twenty men between the battery and the rebel camp, and pro 
 ceeded to spike the guns, which they did successfully, and re 
 turned without loss to the fleet, although the rebel steamer 
 was already bearing down upon them. This shore-battery, 
 consisting of eleven guns, one of them a 10-inch columbiad, 
 was one of the most formidable batteries of the enemy, and 
 was so situated that for a boat to run by it it must pass within 
 three hundred yards of the fort. The commodore speaks of 
 this expedition in a letter to his wife : 
 
 " FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF ISLAND No. TEN', ) 
 April 2, 1862. j 
 
 " MY DEAR WIFE, The mail arrived at 9 P.M. last night, but brought 
 me no tidings from you, which leaves me in a feverish state of excite 
 ment, as your letter three days ago spoke of your own and the children's 
 illness. The Cmestoga will soon be down with the mail, and I pray God 
 that the news from you may be good, or more favorable. 
 
 " The expedition last night was entirely successful, as you will have 
 heard from my telegram before receiving this. We have spiked all the 
 guns in No. One, or the first fort on the Tennessee shore above No. Ten. 
 The sentinels fired on our boats and ran, while our men jumped from the 
 boats into the fort and spiked their guns, and got safely off. Just as they 
 reached this vessel, a squall of thunder and lightning of the most terrific 
 character struck us, as if it would destroy our fleet; but, thank God, no 
 serious damage has been done except to two steamers, which fouled the 
 Cincinnati. The rebels are firing briskly upon us this morning, which 
 we are returning. I suppose they are indignant and demoralized some 
 what at the spiking of their guns. No other news. I will write more 
 when the mail comes. In the mean time, rest assured that, next to God, 
 you and the dear children are in my thoughts. I send from a rebel pa 
 per a good piece, which you must apply to yourself and children. I 
 know vou will. Sanford is in my cabin, and dines with us to-day. He 
 is in tolerable spirits. We all feel a little more encouraged from putting 
 
280 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 to rest Fort No. One. The men are singing psalin tunes near the cabin, 
 but, I am sorry to say, I hear more oaths than praises among them. 
 Secretary Scott has been to see me this morning. He, as well as Colo 
 nel Buford, rather urge me on to a fight, but I resist and am cautious, 
 and they have great confidence in my judgment. Read the rebel slip, 
 and tell me if you do not fully indorse it, come what will. William often 
 expressed Christian sentiments. I will add a word if the mail come be 
 fore this goes, which is doubtful. Affectionately, A. H. F." 
 
 One of the obstacles in the way of sending a gun-boat down 
 the river past the forts was removed, and another formidable 
 obstacle was the next day also done away by the destruction 
 of the enemy's floating battery, moored at the head of the isl 
 and. The flag-officer thus speaks of it in his dispatch : 
 
 " CAIRO, April 4, 1862. 
 
 " This morning the Benton, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg, with three mor 
 tar-boats, opened, and continued more than an hour, a fire on the rebels' 
 heavy floating battery at Island No. Ten, when the latter, having received 
 several shells from the rifles and mortars, cut loose from her moorings 
 and drifted down the river two or three miles. The shells were thrown 
 from the rifles into the different forts of the island, and into the rebel 
 batteries lining the Tennessee shore. The return fire produced no effect 
 on the squadron. No more men than were actually necessary to man the 
 batteries were visible. A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 Thus the flag-officer was gradually feeling his way, in his 
 own method and time, toward making the move which should 
 secure the capture of Island No. Ten. It is true that General 
 Pope, waiting unemployed after his struggle and success at 
 New Madrid, began to be extremely impatient ; it is true that 
 the country itself began to think that it was time for the 
 downfall of the defiant stronghold the key of the Mississip 
 pi, as it was considered ; it is true that our naval Marcellus 
 seemed to have suddenly become a very Fabins in his cau 
 tion ; it is true that Farragut had turned his prow up stream 
 
Grown Cautious. 281 
 
 at New Orleans, and had sent word that he would meet Foote 
 coming down the Mississippi; yet it is also true that up to 
 this point Foote (whether he erred or not in judgment) did 
 not think that the time had come to safely try the last experi 
 ment, to make the grand throw ; and it is also true that what 
 he there did, and at the time he did it, won the long-contested 
 prize, and it dropped like ripened fruit into his waiting hand. 
 It is not impossible that the desired end might more speedily 
 have been attained by the same means that was finally em 
 ployed but we defer the account of the completion of this 
 hard contest to another chapter. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CAPTURE OF ISLAND NUMBER TEN. 
 
 FOOTE was now waiting for a favorable moment, or, in other 
 words, for a dark night, to carry out the plan, of the necessity 
 of which he had become fully convinced, and which was also 
 earnestly urged by General Pope, to send a gun-boat down 
 past the batteries. He had lessened the difficulties of the feat 
 by silencing the rebels' upper and floating batteries ; and he 
 had issued the following general order to Commander Walke, 
 of the Carondelet : 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF ISLAND No. TEN. ] 
 March 30, 1862. j 
 
 " 8m, You will avail yourself of the first fog or rainy night, and drift 
 your steamer down past the batteries on the Tennessee shore and Island 
 No. Ten until you reach New Madrid. 
 
 " I assign you this service, as it is vitally important to the capture of 
 this place that a gun-boat should soon be at New Madrid for the pur 
 pose of covering General Pope's army while he crosses at that point to 
 the opposite shore, or to the Tennessee side of the river, that he may 
 move his army up to Island No. Ten, and attack the rebels in rear while 
 we attack them in front. 
 
 " Should you succeed in reaching General Pope, you will freely confer 
 with him, and adopt his suggestions, so far as your superior knowledge 
 of what your boat will perform and enable you to do, for the purpose of 
 protecting his force while crossing the river. 
 
 " You will also, if you have coal, and the current of the river will per 
 mit, steam up the river while the army moves, for the purpose of attack 
 ing their fortifications. Still, you will act cautiously here, as your own 
 will be the only boat below. 
 
 "You will capture or destroy the rebel steam gun-boat Grampus and 
 the transports, if possible, between this place and Island No. Ten, at such 
 
Running the Blockade. 283 
 
 time as will not embarrass you in placing yourself in communication with 
 General Pope at the earliest possible time after leaving this place. 
 
 " On this delicate and somewhat hazardous service to which I assign 
 you, I must enjoin upon you the importance of keeping your lights se 
 creted in the hold or put out, keeping your officers and men from speak 
 ing above a whisper when passing the forts, and then only on duty; and 
 of using every other precaution to prevent the rebels suspecting that you 
 are dropping below their batteries. 
 
 " If you successfully perform the duty assigned you, which you so 
 willingly undertake, it will reflect the highest credit upon you and all 
 belonging to your vessel ; and I doubt not but that the government will 
 fully appreciate and reward you for a service which, I trust, will enable 
 the army to cross the river and make a successful attack in rear while 
 we storm the batteries in front. 
 
 " Commending you and all who compose your command to the care 
 and protection of God, who rules- and directs all things, I am, respect 
 fully, your obedient servant, A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " Commander H. "Walke, commanding Octrondelet. 
 
 " P. S. Should you meet with disaster, you will, as a last resort, de 
 stroy the steam machinery ; and, if impossible to escape, set fire to your 
 gun-boat or sink her, and prevent her from falling into the hands of the 
 rebels. A. H. F." 
 
 After comparing together many accounts, both official and 
 private, and after personal conversation with Admiral Walke, 
 the chief actor in the scene, we have thought that all the facts 
 and features of this extraordinary passage of the Carondelet 
 are so accurately and graphically given in the following nar 
 rative that we could not do better than to transfer it in ex- 
 tenso into our pages : 
 
 " On the morning of the 4th of April preparations were begun for exe 
 cuting the above order,* should the state of the weather permit. The 
 deck was defended somewhat against plunging shot by planks stripped 
 from the wreck of an old barge. All surplus chains were coiled over 
 the most vulnerable parts of the boat a device employed soon after at 
 New Orleans on a larger scale. A very large hawser (11-inch) was wound 
 
 * The order referred to is the one which has just preceded. 
 
284 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 around the pilot-house as high as the windows; the hammocks were 
 stowed in the nettings; and, for greater security still, cord -wood was 
 piled up around the boilers on the exposed side ; and every other pre 
 caution that ingenuity could suggest was used to render the boat safe 
 during her short but perilous voyage. Each changing aspect of the 
 heavens was anxiously studied during the day, for in a bright, clear 
 night the passage would have been nearly as dangerous as at midday ; 
 and the moon was at a stage when her light would have revealed the 
 boat as fully, for every purpose of the rebel gunners, as the sun itself. 
 
 " Late in the afternoon there was every prospect of a clear, moonlight 
 night, and it was determined to wait until the moon was down, and then 
 to make the attempt, whatever the prospect might be, because, after such 
 extensive preparations had been made, the moral effect of abandoning 
 the scheme would be nearly equal to a failure. At sundown, however, 
 there were signs of an approaching change in the weather. A haze be 
 gan to spread itself over the more distant scene, and to creep along the 
 river. The wind shifted, and, as evening drew on, dark clouds, indi 
 cating a thunder-storm, began to lift themselves above the northwestern 
 horizon. The precautions adopted were very minute, and the orders for 
 observing them were positive and strict. No lights were to be allowed 
 where they could be visible ; the guns were all run in, and the ports 
 were closed. The sailors were all heavily armed ; pistols, cutlasses, mus 
 kets, and boarding-pikes were within reach on all sides or in hand, on 
 the supposition that, if the vessel should be partially disabled, there 
 would be an attempt to capture her by boarding. Hand-grenades were 
 provided, and hose was attached to the boilers for throwing scalding wa 
 ter over any who might attempt to board. 
 
 " It was decided to sink the boat rather than burn her, if it should 
 be found impossible to save her, because the loss of life would probably 
 be very great by the explosion of her magazine. At dusk, twenty 
 sharpshooters came on board from the Forty-second Illinois Regiment, 
 under Captain Hollenstein. At eight o'clock the gun-boat went up the 
 river about a mile for a barge containing baled hay, which was to be 
 lashed to the exposed side. One course of bales was laid over the stern 
 casemates, as these would be exposed for a long distance after the bat 
 teries had been passed. The barge and the piled hay reached as high as 
 the broadside port-holes ; but as the batteries on shore were some twenty 
 feet above water, the protection thus given was not very important. 
 
 " At ten o'clock the moon had gone down, and the sky, the earth, and 
 
Running the Blockade. 285 
 
 the river were alike hidden in the black shadow of the thunder-storm 
 which had now spread itself over all the heavens. The time seemed most 
 opportune for starting: the order was given, the lines cast off, and, with 
 her barge of hay on one side, and another with coal on the starboard side, 
 the gun-boat rounded out heavily and slowly, and laid her course down 
 the river. In order to avoid the puffing sound of the high-pressure en 
 gine, the escape-steam was led into the wheel-house, where its harsh voice 
 was muffled a device which probably led to their discovery by the fire 
 from the chimneys. For half a mile every thing went smoothly and 
 quietly, and all thought they might succeed in passing the batteries un 
 observed, when suddenly a bright, steady flame rose several feet high 
 from each chimney-top, and for a moment it seemed as if the steamer 
 was carrying aloft two immense torches to light her on her way. Her 
 upper decks and all about her brightened for a moment in the red glare. 
 Strange as it may appear, what was deemed by all a serious accident, 
 which would bring upon them at once the enemy's fire, created no move 
 ment in the rebel batteries. When nearly opposite the upper fort the 
 chimneys again took fire, and at once the sentinels there gave the alarm 
 to the fort below by firing their muskets. 
 
 " Signal-rockets were sent up both from the mainland and the island, 
 and a cannon-shot came from Fort No. Two. It was evident that the 
 alarm was now thoroughly given. Not. a shot, however, came from the 
 upper battery a fact which showed how thoroughly its dangerous guns 
 had been silenced, by the party that had landed and spiked them.* This, 
 and the drifting away of the floating battery, had had very much to do 
 with the safety of the Carondelet. 
 
 " But one course was now possible for the officers of the gun-boat. 
 The vessel was at once put under full head of steam, and was urged down 
 the river at her utmost speed, for the rebels were now making swift prep 
 arations at every gun that could be brought to bear. The storm was 
 then at its height ; and its fearful character, which would have been 
 thought dangerous at any other time, was welcomed as increasing the 
 chances of escape. The darkness was so intense as to shut out earth and 
 heaven alike, except as lighted momentarily by the lightning's glare. 
 The gleam and roar of the guns of the batteries could scarcely be dis- 
 
 * This is not entirely correct, as it is known that Fort No. One fired 
 shots within twenty-four hours after the spiking, and fired at the boat 
 this night. 
 
286 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 tinguished from the flash and the thunder of the cloud. The fires of 
 heaven and earth were mingled, and none could tell whether the deck 
 were shaken by the explosion above or the cannon below. The rain fell 
 in the sweeping torrents of a summer shower. Shot and shell, and rule 
 and musket balls, sang and shrieked and roared around so as to be heard 
 above the storm. Each flash of lightning revealed the rebels loading, 
 training, and firing their guns as the boat came within range. The 
 steamer also was disclosed for a moment ; but as she was moving swiftly 
 with the current, it was nearly impossible to get her range ; it was evi 
 dent that what is called a chance shot would strike her. Most of the 
 balls and shells flew high above her, owing to the fact that the alterna 
 tions of light and darkness were so rapid as to deceive the enemy's gun 
 ners as to the gun-boat's position. She was much nearer to them than 
 they supposed, and they fired at a wrong elevation. The boat was guided 
 as close along the bank as she could safely run where, indeed, it would 
 have been difficult to depress their guns so as to strike her, even had she 
 been plainly seen. At this point their greatest danger was not from the 
 rebel batteries : the current was not only rapid, but shifted from side to 
 side with the sharp curve of the stream ; and bars also ran out from 
 either shore. The intense darkness prevented the pilots from knowing 
 the exact position of the boat ; and the pilots learned their position only 
 as they caught glimpses of the shore by the flashes of lightning. On the 
 forecastle the lead was kept going, and the depth of water was constantly 
 reported. It contributed largely to the steamer's safety that she had on 
 board Captain Hoel, first-master of the Cincinnati, who had been engaged 
 in navigating the Mississippi for more than twenty years. This gentle 
 man stood on the deck, exposed to the double torrent of rain and bul 
 lets ; and, watching for each momentary revelation which the lightning 
 made, gave directions for steering the boat. The gleams of lightning, 
 the momentary report of the soundings, and his intimate knowledge of 
 localities, enabled Captain Hoel to judge correctly, in the main, of the 
 gun-boat's position. Once, however, during the passage she was in great 
 danger of being lost. The steamboat and her barges, of course, presented 
 a very large surface to the current, and this gave her occasionally a heavy 
 sheer. In the darkness and the blinding rush of the storm this was 
 not always on the instant noticed. Caught in this manner by the swift 
 stream, she was drifting toward a dangerous bar, where she would have 
 grounded under the guns of the batteries, when a broad flash lit up the 
 river a moment, followed instantly by the sharp, repeated command, 
 
Running the Blockade. 287 
 
 4 Hard a-port !' and she obeyed her helm, and regained the current just 
 in season to save her. 
 
 " Contrary to expectation, they found no battery at the foot of the isl 
 and, where it was reported that one of the long-range guns had been 
 planted. The floating battery, which had drifted from its moorings at 
 the head of the island, was three miles below, and this remained to be 
 passed. As the Carondelet was not in a fighting trim, she kept close to 
 the Missouri shore, the battery firing only a few harmless shots as she 
 passed ; and then the peril of the passage was over, and exulting shouts 
 burst from the crew and the soldiers; and the signal-guns were fired 
 announcing their safety to the fleet above ; and soon the gun-boat round 
 ed to at New Madrid, welcomed by bonfires and every possible exhi 
 bition of joy. All felt that the fate of Island No. Ten at length was 
 sealed. In rounding to, a slight accident occurred, through a misun 
 derstanding of an order by the engineer, and the boat was run hard 
 aground ; but after an hour of effort, by shifting some of the bow guns 
 to the stern and bringing all the men aft, she was safely backed off, and 
 the perilous voyage was over at 1 A.M."* 
 
 Foote sent the following dispatch to Pope : 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-SHIP ' BENTON,' OFF ISLAND No. TEN, ) 
 April ^ 1862. ) 
 
 " GENEEAL, The gun - boat Carondelet, Commander Walke, left her 
 anchorage this evening at ten o'clock, in a heavy thunder-storm, for the 
 purpose of running the fire of the batteries on Island No. Ten and those 
 lining the Tennessee shore, to join your forces at New Madrid. By a 
 previous concerted signal of three minute-guns, twice fired at intervals 
 of five minutes, which have since been heard, as near as the heavy thun 
 der would enable us to ascertain, leads me to hope that the blockade has 
 been run successfully, although the batteries opened upon her with forty- 
 seven guns while passing. 
 
 " I am, therefore, so exceedingly anxious to hear the fate of the noble 
 officers and men who were so readily disposed to attempt the hazardous 
 service, that I beg you will immediately inform me by bearer if Com 
 mander Walke have arrived with his vessel, and the condition in which 
 you find her and her ofiicers and men. I am, respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " Major-General Pope, commanding Army at New Madrid, Mo." 
 
 * Boynton's "Hist, of the Navy during the Rebellion," vol. i., p. 549 seq. 
 
288 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 General Pope at once answered this, and accompanied his 
 answer with a strong request that another gun-boat should 
 be sent down to guard the transports in conveying over the 
 troops, which request was complied with by the Pittsburgh 
 running the batteries and the fire of seventy-three guns on the 
 night of the 6th, also in a heavy thunder-storm. Commander 
 Walke's dispatch to his flag-officer relative to the Carondeletfs 
 achievement was as follows : 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' CARONDELET,' NEW MADRID, ) 
 April 5, 1862. j 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to report my arrival here last night about 
 one o'clock all well. On our way all of the rebel batteries and a large 
 number of infantry opened fire upon us, which was continued until we 
 were out of range. Providentially, no damage was done to the vessel or 
 the officers and crew, who conducted themselves with admirable courage 
 and fidelity. The terrible storm which prevailed at the time rendered it 
 impossible to make any reliable observation. 
 
 " Most respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 " H. WALKE, Commander U. S. Navy. 
 " Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, commanding U. S. ) 
 Naval Forces, Western Waters." ) 
 
 In a letter to his wife at this time, the running of the Pitts- 
 burg past the batteries is spoken of by Commodore Foote : 
 "FLAG-STEAMER 'BENTON,' April 7, 1862. 
 
 "MY DEAR WIFE, 'Anxious night,' as Dr. used to say when 
 
 he charged five dollars for his visit. Commander Thompson, whom 
 you well know, ran the blockade last night in a heavy thunder-storm 
 with the Pittsburg, under a fire of seventy-three heavy guns. We don't 
 know yet whether he is hurt vitally or not ; but the scene was terrific 
 and grand, as you may imagine. At two A.M. Thompson started, and 
 we could only see him as the lightning flashed. I am anxious to hear 
 from him, though I slept well. A terrible cannonading is going on 
 near New Madrid, caused, no doubt, by Walke and Thompson fighting 
 the rebel batteries where General Pope must land to get here. They 
 will prove too much for the rebels in my opinion. Thus we go ahead 
 slowly, and God grant that we soon may take No. Ten, and all in and 
 
Surrender of Island No. Ten. 289 
 
 around it. The crisis is close at hand, and we are anxious to meet after 
 this long^ suspense. My foot is statu quo. A chronic tenderness and 
 swelling, uncomfortable up to the knee at times. I have no apprehen 
 sion of a serious result ; but it greatly impairs my activity and efficiency, 
 as I can not inspect the steamers or make alterations. Still, we must 
 submit to all that God sends us. 
 
 " I have a great deal of writing to do, and much in the way of grant 
 ing interviews and giving orders, which, as I trust nobody else to do, 
 you will excuse my short and hurried letters. I will add, if any thing 
 corne up before mail. I write you, and have done so for ten or twenty 
 days, every day. Do you get all my letters ? I send some of Prentice's 
 criticisms in the Louisville Journal. 
 
 " Mail ready. Very affectionately, with kisses and love to all, 
 
 "A. H. FOOTE." 
 
 On the 7th, in the morning, the two gnn-boats that had run 
 the batteries went down the river and attacked and silenced 
 the enemy's field-guns that had been stationed to prevent the 
 crossing of the land forces. Thereupon the transports with 
 the troops immediately prepared to cross the river; but be 
 fore this was accomplished, the rebels saw that their works 
 were rendered defenseless, and they commenced abandoning 
 the batteries along the Tennessee and Kentucky shores that 
 Foote was on the point of attacking with a grand assault in 
 co-operation with the Army. Equal consternation prevailed 
 at Island No. Ten ; and at twenty-five minutes past three on 
 the morning of the 7th of April a flag of truce came to Com 
 modore Foote, surrendering to him the island. The surrender 
 was made even before the news had arrived at the island of 
 the silencing of the field-guns below, and the crossing of Gen 
 eral Pope's army to the Tennessee side. Pope's forces, as 
 soon as they were landed, were marched toward Tiptonville, 
 to intercept the rebels retreating from the batteries and from 
 Island No. Ten. They were successful in this, and drove the 
 fleeing enemy into the swamps, and on the 8th made them 
 prisoners in large numbers, but few escaping. Thus, although 
 
 U 
 
290 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 the Army and Navy were co-operative in the capture of this 
 important stronghold, and both were essential to this end, 
 Island No. Ten was at the last actually surrendered to the 
 gun-boats. The following are Flag-Officer Foote's official re 
 ports of the event : 
 
 " FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF ISLAND No. TEN, ) 
 April 81 A.M. j 
 
 " My telegram, three hours since, informed the Department that Island 
 No. Ten had surrendered to the gun-boats. Captain Phelps has this in 
 stant returned, after having had an interview with the late commandant. 
 I have requested General Buford, commanding the troops, to proceed 
 immediately, in company with two of the gun-boats, and take possession 
 of the island. The batteries on the Tennessee shore have been hastily 
 evacuated, where we shall find, no doubt, in the morning, large quanti 
 ties of munitions of war. 
 
 " I communicate with General Pope, Nwho has, under cover of the two 
 gun-boats which gallantly ran the blockade, crossed the river in force, 
 and was ready, as well as the gun and mortar boats, with General Bu 
 ford and his troops, to make .a simultaneous attack upon the rebels, had 
 they not so hastily evacuated the Tennessee shore and surrendered Island 
 No. Ten. A full report will be made as ;soon as we can obtain possession 
 of the land-batteries, and I am able to communicate with General Pope. 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary -of the Navy." 
 
 BENTON,' ISLAND No. TEN, ) 
 April 8, 1862 (via Cairo). f 
 
 " I have the honor to inform the Department that since I sent the tele 
 gram last night announcing the surrender to me of Island No. Ten, pos 
 session has been taken of both the island and the works upon the Ten 
 nessee shore by the gun-boats and the troops under command of General 
 Buford. Seventeen officers and three hundred and sixty-eight privates, 
 besides one hundred of their sick and one hundred men employed on 
 board the transports, are in our hands, unconditional prisoners of war. 
 
 " I have caused a hasty examination to be made of the forts, batteries, 
 and munitions of war captured. There are eleven earthworks, with sev 
 enty heavy cannon, varying in calibre from 32 to 100 pounders, rifled. 
 The magazines are well supplied with powder, and there are large quan- 
 
Official Correspondence. 291 
 
 titles of shot, shells, and other munitions of war, and also great quanti 
 ties of provisions. Four steamers afloat have fallen into our hands, and 
 two others, with the rebel gun-boat Grampus, are sunk, but will be easily 
 raised. The floating battery of sixteen heavy guns, turned adrift by 
 the rebels, is said to be lying on the Missouri shore below New Madrid. 
 Two wharf-boats, loaded with provisions, are also in our possession. 
 
 " The enemy upon the mainland appears to have fled with great pre 
 cipitation after dark last night, leaving, in many cases, half-prepared 
 meals in their quarters; and there seems to have been no concert of 
 action between the rebels upon the island and those occupying the 
 shore; but the latter fled, leaving the former to their fate. These 
 works, erected with the highest engineering skill, are of great strength, 
 and, with their natural advantages, would have been impregnable if de 
 fended by men fighting in a better cause. 
 
 " A combined attack of the naval and land forces would have taken 
 place this afternoon or to-morrow morning had not the rebels aban 
 doned this stronghold. To mature these plans of attack, absolutely re 
 quired the last twenty-three days of preparation. General Pope is mo 
 mentarily expected to arrive with his army at this point, he having suc 
 cessfully crossed the river yesterday under a heavy fire, which, no doubt, 
 led to the hasty abandonment of the works last night. I am unofficially 
 informed that the two gun-boats which so gallantly ran the fire of the 
 rebel batteries a few nights since, yesterday attacked and reduced a fort 
 of the enemy opposite, mounting eight heavy guns. 
 
 " I am, sir, respectfully, etc., 
 
 "A. H. FOOTE, 
 " Flag-Officer, commanding Naval Forces, Western Waters. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 In regard to the operations below the island of the two 
 gun-boats, the Carondelet and the Pittsburg, that were so 
 effective in the final result, this is the commodore's report : 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER * BENTON,' OFF ISLAND No. TEN, ) 
 April 11, 1862. j 
 
 g IRi I have the honor to inclose a report from Commander Walke, 
 
 of the gun-boat Carondelet, detailing the services rendered by him and 
 the Pittsburg, Lieutenant - Commanding Thompson, in the vicinity of 
 New Madrid, from which it will be seen that the boats opened upon and 
 
292 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 effectually silenced and captured several heavy batteries on the Tennes 
 see side of the river, on the 6th and 7th instant, without which destruc 
 tion it would have been impossible for General Pope to have crossed the 
 river for the purpose of attacking the rebels in the rear at Island No. 
 Ten, while the gun and mortar boats would make the attack in front. 
 
 "There has been an effective and harmonious co-operation between 
 the land and naval forces, which has, under Providence, led to the glo 
 rious result of the fall of this stronghold, Island No. Ten, with the gar 
 rison and munitions of war ; and I regret to see in the dispatches of 
 Major-General Halleck, from St. Louis, no reference is made to the capt 
 ure of forts, and the continuous shelling of gun and mortar boats, and 
 the Navy's receiving the surrender of Island No. Ten, when, in reality, it 
 should be recorded as an historical fact that both services equally con 
 tributed to the victory a bloodless victory more creditable to hu 
 manity than if thousands had been slain. 
 
 " I also inclose reports from Lieutenants-Commanding Gwin and Shirk, 
 of the gun-boats Taylor and Lexington, on the Tennessee, giving a graphic 
 account of that great battle, and the assistance rendered by these boats 
 near Pittsburg ; stating that ' when the left wing of our army was being 
 driven into the river, at short range, they opened fire upon the enemy, 
 silencing them, and, as I hear from many army officers who were on the 
 field, totally demoralizing their forces, and driving them from their posi 
 tion in a perfect rout in the space often minutes.' 
 
 "These officers and men, as well as those of the CarondeUt and Pitts- 
 burg, behaved with a degree of gallantry highly creditable to themselves 
 and the Navy. 
 
 "I proceed to-day, with the entire flotilla, to New Madrid, and leave 
 to-morrow for Fort Pillow, or the next point down the river which may 
 attempt to resist the raising of the blockade. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 "The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C." 
 
 Foote was extremely jealous of the reputation of his little 
 fleet, and we can not blame the pertinacity with which he in 
 sists upon justice being rendered to the brave men who did so 
 much to clear Kentucky and Tennessee and the Mississippi 
 River of all the obstacles that the enemy, with their utmost 
 effort and skill, could rear. The capture of Island No. Ten 
 
Fruits of Victory. 293 
 
 concerning which the enemy is reported to have said, " Thus 
 far shalt thou go and no farther " was a great event ; and 
 coming simultaneously with the hard- won battle of Pittsburg 
 Landing on the 6th and 7th, in which the gun-boats so effi 
 ciently participated, it produced a profound impression North 
 and South ; and once more the Southern line of defense was 
 broken, and the hopes of a northern advance of the rebel 
 arms at the West totally and forever frustrated. 
 
 The taking of Island No. Ton was a triumph of the most de 
 cisive character. " The number of prisoners taken by Pope 
 and Foote together was seven thousand two hundred and sev 
 enty-three, including three generals and two hundred and sev 
 enty-three field and company officers. The spoils of victory 
 were nearly twenty batteries, with one hundred and twenty- 
 three cannon and mortars, the former varying from 32 to 100 
 pounders; seven thousand small-arms; an immense amount 
 of ammunition on the island and in magazines at points along 
 the Kentucky and Tennessee shores ; many hundred horses 
 and mules with wagons, and four steamers afloat."* 
 
 This most valuable victory, shared by the Army and Navy, 
 the result of patience, mingled w r ith timely action, and not 
 even marred by the sorrow of sanguinary slaughter a blood 
 less victory was a fitting end to the active military career of 
 him who was not a man of blood, though a man of the sword. 
 But a few days more of honorable responsibility, anxiety, and 
 suffering, and the longed-for rest came. 
 
 * Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 247. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIIL 
 
 GIVING UP OF ACTIVE COMMAND. 
 
 THE reception of the news of the fall of Island No. Ten by 
 the government and country, although waited for long and 
 with much impatience, was most enthusiastic. The following 
 letter of congratulation was telegraphed to the commodore on 
 the 9th of April : 
 
 " FLAG-OFFICER A. H. FOOTE, commanding Gun-boats, Western Waters : 
 " SIR, A nation's thanks are due to you and the brave officers and 
 men of the flotilla on the Mississippi, whose labors and gallantry at Island 
 No. Ten, which surrendered to you, have for weeks been watched with 
 intense interest. Your triumph is not the less appreciated because it 
 was protracted, and finally bloodless. 
 
 " To that Being who has protected you through so many perils, and 
 carried you onward through successive victories, be the praise for his 
 continued goodness to our country, and especially for this last great suc 
 cess of our arms. 
 
 " Let the congratulations to yourself and your command be also ex 
 tended to the officers and soldiers who co-operated with you. 
 
 " GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 So greatly was confidence in the Union cause restored by 
 these victories at the West that government securities, which 
 were two and a half and three per cent, below par, immedi 
 ately commanded a premium. Panic prevailed among the 
 Confederates on the Mississippi, even to New Orleans. Mar 
 tial law was proclaimed in Memphis, and the specie in the 
 banks was removed to places of supposed safety.* 
 
 * Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 249. 
 
Engagement with Hollinss Fleet. 295 
 
 Foote and Pope did not rest upon their victory, but on the 
 13th of April an army of twenty thousand men was con 
 voyed by the gun-boats down the river, and landed in the vi 
 cinity of Fort Pillow, just above Memphis, and the combined 
 naval and land forces prepared to attack that fortification. 
 Five rebel gun-boats of Hollins's fleet that came out to oppose 
 them before they reached Fort Pillow were engaged, and were 
 chased in under the protection of the guns of the fort. 
 
 This engagement took place on Sunday morning, and when 
 the hour for reading the service came, the commodore sug 
 gested that the firing should cease, and the crew be mustered 
 for a brief space. He himself read the service ; and, after a 
 short extemporaneous prayer, he set forth in clear and concise 
 terms to the men that duty to one's country often called 
 them to do, as they were doing, something entirely opposed 
 to the usual proper manner of observing the sacred day, and 
 the reasons for this. The men listened attentively, as they 
 always did, to his remarks, and then they were piped down 
 to their work at the batteries. Several shells burst over the 
 ship during this remarkable service. 
 
 The plan marked out in these operations by Foote and Pope 
 was that the mortar-boats, protected by the gun-boats, were to 
 be placed on the Arkansas shore within range of the enemy's 
 batteries, while General Pope was to strive to get into the 
 rear of the fort, the boats attacking in front. 
 
 During these active preparations for assault the following 
 telegram reached the flag-officer, showing how useful and in 
 dispensable were his gun-boats in another quarter : 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT * TAYLOR,' PITTSBURG, TENNESSEE, ] 
 April 14, 1862. ) 
 
 " I have the honor to inform you that the Tayl&r and Lexington con 
 voyed two transports, containing two thousand troops, infantry and cav 
 alry, under the command of General Sherman, to Chickasaw, Alabama, 
 where they disembarked, and proceeded rapidly to Bear Creek Bridge, 
 
296 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 the crossing of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, for the purpose of 
 destroying it, and as much of the trestle-work as they could find. 
 
 " I am happy to state that the expedition was entirely successful. The 
 bridge, consisting of two spans, one hundred and ten feet each, was com 
 pletely destroyed (i. e., the superstructure), together with some five hun 
 dred feet of trestle-work, and half a mile of telegraph line. 
 
 " The rebels made a feeble resistance to our cavalry, one hundred and 
 twenty in number ; but soon made a hasty retreat, losing four killed ; 
 our loss, none. 
 
 " I regret to state that, in firing a salute on the 12th, John D. Seymour, 
 boatswain's mate, was so much injured by the premature discharge of a 
 gun as to cause his death yesterday morning. 
 
 " Allow me to congratulate you, and those under your command, on 
 your great success at Island No. Ten. Inclosed I send you Lieutenant- 
 Commanding Shirk's report. Very respectfully, etc., 
 
 " WILLIAM Gwra, Lieutenant, 
 " Com. Division of Gun-boats on Tennessee River. 
 
 " Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, com. Naval Forces, Western Waters." 
 
 It was necessary to destroy the lines of railway communi 
 cation southward from Tennessee and Virginia, and thus to 
 prevent the rapid reforming of the broken lines of rebel de 
 fense ; and the value of the gun-boats in this work, both in 
 conveying troops and in affording protection to transports, was 
 great. These gun-boats the Taylor and the Lexington we 
 have seen, were an important means of saving our army from 
 destruction at the terrible battle of Shiloh. If this almost 
 equal battle had been decisively won by the Confederates, the 
 gun-boats on the Tennessee, Cumberland, and Mississippi riv 
 ers would have been forced to play a prominent part in de 
 fending conquered territory, and in holding back the furious 
 rebel advance; hence the cautiousness of Commodore Foote 
 in not rashly exposing his vessels at Island No. Ten seemed to 
 be far-sighted and wise. These vessels were also destined to 
 perform much valuable additional service on the Mississippi ; 
 and the names of the Benton, Cincinnati, Carondelet, Louis- 
 
Operations at Fort Pillow. 297 
 
 , figure in many hard-fought battles and sieges after their 
 old flag-officer had been compelled to retire from their com 
 mand. As the Trojan fleet become almost like living person 
 ages to the reader of Virgil, so these black gun-boats of our 
 American "piiis jfineas" with their varied qualities and for 
 tunes, grow vividly familiar in the memory of one who studies 
 the history of this little flotilla. 
 
 In regard to the operations in front of Fort Pillow, which 
 were actually the last that Commodore Foote was permitted 
 to take an active personal share in, we give his own accounts 
 of them, for we have already discovered that much of the pub 
 lished history of the military operations at the West during 
 the period when Foote w r as a prominent actor therein, is really 
 nothing more than an embodiment of his letters and reports ; 
 for he was the pen as well as the sword of many of the scenes 
 in which he was engaged. These are also interesting as being 
 the last of his official papers : 
 
 " FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, ) 
 April 14, 1862. j 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to report that on the llth instant I proceeded 
 with our flotilla from Island No. Ten to New Madrid, and left that place 
 with all our force on the 12th instant, and anchored the same evening near 
 and just below the Arkansas line, fifty miles distant from New Madrid. 
 
 " Early in the morning, General Pope, with transports conveying his 
 army of twenty thousand men, arrived from New Madrid. At eight 
 o'clock five rebel gun-boats rounded the point below us, when the gun 
 boats, the Benton in advance, immediately got under way and proceeded 
 in pursuit ; and when within long range opened upon the rebels, fol 
 lowed by the Carondelet, Cincinnati, and other boats. After an exchange 
 of some twenty shots, the rebel boats rapidly steamed down the river, 
 and kept beyond our range until they reached the batteries of Fort Pil 
 low a distance of more than thirty miles. We followed them to within 
 a mile of Fort Pillow, within easy range of their batteries, for the purpose 
 of making a good reconnoissance, at considerable expense, however ; but 
 it was not till we had rounded to and ran some distance up the stream that 
 
298 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 the enemy opened upon us, and then with no effect, their shot, most of them, 
 going beyond us. Having accomplished our object, I tied the flotilla up to 
 the banks of the Tennessee side, out of range of the forts, for the night. 
 
 " General Pope, with Assistant-Secretary Scott, came aboard at 3 P. M., 
 when it was arranged that the mortar-boats should be placed in the 
 morning on the Arkansas shore, within range of the forts, to be protected 
 by the gun-boats ; and General Pope, with most of his force, should land 
 five miles above, with the view of getting his army, if possible, to the 
 rear of the fortifications, and make the attack in rear, while we should, 
 with gun and mortar boats, attack them in front. 
 
 " This place has a long line of fortifications, with guns of heavy cal 
 ibre ; their number and the number of their men I have not yet been able 
 to ascertain. The secession feeling here, as I learn from several persons 
 coming on board, is very strong ; and they express the opinion that the 
 resistance will be very determined. 
 
 " Three P. M. General Pope has returned with his transports, and in 
 forms me that he is unable to reach the rear of the rebels from any point 
 of the river above, and proposes to cut a canal on the Arkansas side, 
 which will enable us to get three or four of the gun-boats below, and 
 thus enable him to cross the river below the upper forts, and thus cut 
 off the batteries. "We shall thus have three iron-clads above and four 
 below, which, I presume, will be all that will be required in case the six 
 gun-boats of the rebels make an attack upon either division, as three of 
 our gun-boats ought successfully to cope with six of theirs. 
 
 " The mortars are now firing, and have driven the rebel gun-boats out 
 of range down the river. 
 
 . " I shall continue to keep the Department advised of our movements. 
 
 " The effects of my wound have quite a dispiriting effect upon me, 
 from the increased inflammation and swelling of my foot and leg, which 
 have induced a febrile action, depriving me of a good deal of sleep and 
 energy. I can not give the wound that attention and rest it absolutely 
 requires until this place is captured. 
 
 " I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 "We here insert a private letter, of which and similar let 
 ters Secretary Welles says: "I send herewith half a dozen 
 letters written by Admiral Foote in the spring of 1862, when, 
 
Correspondence. .299 
 
 suffering from wounds and domestic afflictions, with a load 
 of care and responsibility upon him, he displayed the forti 
 tude, heroism, and resignation of the soldier and the Chris 
 tian in these unofficial communications. They were written, 
 I apprehend, in the most interesting and critical period of his 
 life. They exhibit his devotion to his country under great 
 trials and severe personal suffering. In them the character 
 and qualities of the man and officer are displayed. " 
 
 " STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, April 17, 1862. 
 
 "Mr DEAR SIR, I am grateful to you beyond expression for your 
 kind and sympathizing letter of the 9th instant. I feel it the more from 
 our early intimate friendship, and especially at this time of affliction and 
 bodily suifering, increased by our peculiar position to-day through the 
 unexpected withdrawal of the army before this stronghold. I was quite 
 hopeful last evening that in four days we should have this place, and be 
 in Memphis in two more ; but General Pope's departure has really left us 
 in quite a forlorn condition, comparatively speaking. The two regiments 
 left are not of the right kind, and have no tools to work with. I will 
 do all I can, but have little hope of doing much in the face of such forts. 
 It is the most trying position that a man can be placed in, as we can not 
 reinforce, while the enemy is receiving troops and gun-boats. 
 
 " I did not foresee all this when I so truthfully stated my case to you, 
 and left it with the Department to decide whether to keep me here or 
 relieve me in view of the public interest, for I am ready to die for my 
 country ; but I do hope that if disaster come you will vindicate my mem 
 ory, as I have been and am doing all that a man could do, although now 
 I am suffering so much I can not well attend to my duties, and am un 
 able to move except in case of great necessity or, rather, to go on deck 
 on crutches with my foot raised causes increased inflammation. 
 
 " I am sorry to respond to your kind letter in such a dolorous strain ; 
 but really I am weak, and have more to do than my strength enables me 
 to perform properly. 
 
 " We have seven iron-clads and one wooden gun-boat here, two wooden 
 ones up the Tennessee River, and one iron - clad at Hickman, near Co 
 lumbus. Please excuse this poor note. 
 
 " With high esteem, yours truly, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
300 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, ) 
 April 17, 1862. j 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to inform the Department that yesterday and 
 the day preceding I had, with General Pope, made such arrangements, 
 by combining my own with the forces of the army, that our possession 
 of this stronghold seemed to be inevitable in less than six days. I had 
 stronger hopes of this desirable result than I even entertained at Island 
 No. Ten, till the actual surrender was tendered. Our object then, after 
 leaving a force to garrison the place, was to proceed to Memphis imme 
 diately, where, I have good authority for stating, we would have been re 
 ceived without opposition. But the sudden withdrawal of the entire 
 army of General Pope this morning, under orders to proceed directly up 
 the Tennessee River to join General Halleck's command at Pittsburg, has 
 frustrated the best -matured and most hopeful plans and expectations 
 thus far formed in this expedition. Two volunteer regiments, under 
 command of Colonel Fitch, were left here by General Pope to co-operate 
 with the flotilla. While I deeply regret the withdrawal of General Pope's 
 command, I am not at all questioning the propriety, and even the neces 
 sity, of its presence at Pittsburg; and I shall use every exertion with the 
 force remaining to accomplish good results. 
 
 "It is a very great object to obtain early possession of this place and 
 Memphis, as ten of the rebel gun-boats are now at Fort Pillow, and ten 
 others are reported as en route to Memphis, and daily expected at that 
 place. It is reported that Commodore Hollins left Fort Pillow on Sun 
 day to bring up the heavy gun-boat Louisiana, now about completed at 
 New Orleans. With the exception of this vessel, however, we have little 
 to apprehend from the other rebel gun-boats, according to the represen 
 tations of the four or six deserters lately coming to us from the gun-boats 
 at Fort Pillow. At all events, the Department may rest assured of every 
 exertion being made on our part to accomplish the great work intrusted 
 to this expedition. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy,Washington, D. C." 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, ) 
 April 19, 1862. f 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to inform the Department that since my last 
 communication of the 17th instant we have been occasionally throwing 
 shells into the rebel fortifications from the mortar-boats, which have been 
 
Operations at Fort Pillow. 301 
 
 returned from their rifled guns, without producing any effect. Ours have 
 compelled one encampment to remove its quarters ; and from several de 
 serters we learn that they have otherwise disturbed them. 
 
 " One or two examinations made by Colonel Fitch, commanding the 
 two regiments left to co-operate with the flotilla by General Pope on 
 withdrawing his army, have been unsuccessful thus far in finding a bayou 
 for our boats, and a position below Fort Pillow where a battery can be 
 placed to command the river below. I shall again render him assist 
 ance by sending over small boats, in hopes that at a distance farther up 
 the river we may be able to discover a bayou leading into a lake, in 
 which water sufficient may be found for our gun-boats, with a view of 
 erecting a battery under their protection, which will blockade the river 
 below, and enable his force, although not exceeding fifteen hundred men, 
 to come upon the rebels in the rear, while, with the remaining gun-boats 
 here, we attack them in front. 
 
 " I am greatly exercised about our position here on account of the with 
 drawal of the army of twenty thousand men, so important an element to 
 the capture of the place. Fort Pillow has for its defense at least forty 
 heavy guns in position, and nine gun-boats six of them, however, being 
 wood,en boats, but armed with heavy guns with a force of six thousand 
 troops. Our force consists of seven iron-clads and one wooden gun-boat ; 
 sixteen mortar-boats, only available in throwing shell to a distance, and 
 even worse than useless for defense ; and a land force of two regiments, 
 not exceeding fifteen hundred troops. Under these circumstances, an 
 attack on our part, unless we can at first establish a battery below the 
 fort under the protection of the gun-boats, and to co-operate with it after 
 its completion, would be extremely hazardous, although its attempt might 
 prove successful, and even be good policy under the circumstances ; but 
 it can hardly be now so regarded, as a disaster would place all that we 
 have gained on this and other rivers at the mercy of the rebel fleet, un 
 less the batteries designed to command the river from below are com 
 pleted at No. Ten, or at Columbus, which I very much doubt. I there 
 fore hesitate about a direct attack upon this place now, more than I 
 should were the river above properly protected, although by it and loss 
 of time the rebels may succeed in getting up to Fort Pillow their entire 
 fleet of gun-boats. As I stated in my last communication, had not Gen 
 eral Pope's army been withdrawn, we have every reason for believing 
 that a plan we had adopted would have insured the fall of Fort Pillow 
 in four days, and enabled us to have moved on Memphis in two days aft- 
 
302 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 erward. It has always been my expectation that a large army would 
 co-operate with the gun-boats ; and now the fall of Corinth and move 
 ments of our troops on to Memphis seem to be essential to our holding 
 this place, and reaching Memphis with the flotilla. * * * 
 
 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C." 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' BKNTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, | 
 April 23, 1862. ) 
 
 " SIR, I have the honor to inform the Department that since my last 
 communication, with the exception of a day or two, when the heavy rains 
 caused the mortars to recoil dangerously on the wet platform, we have 
 been shelling the rebel batteries at Fort Pillow, and most of the time 
 kept their gun-boats beyond our range. Colonel Fitch, in command of 
 the twelve hundred infantry left here by General Pope, has been examin 
 ing bayous and creeks, with a view of getting guns to blockade the river, 
 and prevent the new gun-boats from coming up from New Orleans and 
 Memphis ; but, as the rebels are in great force, and no tools or conven 
 iences for cutting through the swamps were left by General Pope when 
 his army, so unfortunately for us, was withdrawn, he has made as yet no 
 satisfactory progress. 
 
 " I am doing all in my power toward devising ways and means pre 
 paratory to a successful attack on the forts, and shall continue to do so ; 
 but as the capture of this place was predicated upon a large land force 
 co-operating with the flotilla, or its being turned by the army march 
 ing upon Memphis, and considering the difficulties of fighting the flotilla 
 down stream with our slow boats compared with up-stream work, the 
 Department will not be surprised at our delay, and at our having made 
 no further progress toward the capture of this stronghold. I shall, 
 however, do all in my power to be successful here, and exert myself, 
 even beyond my impaired health and strength, toward the accomplish 
 ment of this great object. 
 
 " The rebels are strongly fortified on land, and have eleven gun-boats 
 lying near, or rather below their fortifications. A resident of the place 
 informs me this morning that thirteen gun-boats are now here, seven of 
 which, however, are mere river steamers, with boilers and machinery sunk 
 into their holds, and otherwise protected ; but they carry from four to six 
 or eight guns of heavy calibre, some of which are rifled. The other boats 
 
Operations at Fort Pillow. 303 
 
 are iron-plated or filled in with cotton. The large steamer, of sixteen or 
 twenty guns, being plated, and named the Louisiana, has not arrived ; 
 but is daily expected from New Orleans. 
 
 " I have thus given the Department the best information I can obtain 
 from the most reliable sources from resident Union men, and the twelve 
 deserters from the enemy; whose accounts, however, are conflicting, 
 many of them giving fabulous numbers of men, guns, and gun-boats. 
 We have not force enough to hold the place if we take it. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C. 
 
 " P. S. In a picket skirmish yesterday the rebels lost one killed and 
 one or two wounded. No loss on our side. A. H. F." 
 
 This private note followed these official communications : 
 
 " STEAMER ' BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, 
 April 24, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I have given you, in my official letters, the state of 
 things here as correctly and fully as my state of health would enable 
 me to do. I am very much prostrated by the continuous draft on my 
 physique from my inflamed foot, which appears to be slowly but steadily 
 growing worse, till I am confined mostly to my cabin with a swollen, 
 painful leg, affecting my whole system, and rendering it impossible for 
 me to give that attention to my duties which circumstances require. I 
 have, however, substantially stated all this, indorsed by the surgeons; 
 and it is for the Department to decide whether I shall remain under 
 these circumstances. If I am to do so, I trust that I shall not be held re 
 sponsible for matters, as if I had health to perform my duties. I wanted 
 to see this expedition reach New Orleans ; but still I deemed it my duty 
 to represent my case as it is to the government, and let it judge how to 
 dispose of it. 
 
 "Entre nous, Colonel Fitch, who is a celebrated surgeon, and commands 
 the small force left here by General Pope, examined my case yesterday, 
 and said that a suppuration might take place in my foot, which would 
 probably permanently injure or destroy it. I feel discouraged about it, 
 and it has taken most of the energy out of me. Excuse this incoherent 
 note. With high respect, your obliged friend, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles. 
 
304 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " P. S. We are shelling the forts with mortars, and the rebels are re 
 plying with gun for shell. When I sent the surgeon's opinion, General 
 Pope was here, and I confidently expected that yesterday we should be 
 in Memphis, and no serious obstacle would intervene from thence to New 
 Orleans ; but General Pope left the next evening, and all my plans were 
 frustrated ; and although my foot goes from bad to worse, I stood up 
 against it to the very last. A. H. F." 
 
 While thus condemned to keep watch and ward of Fort 
 Pillow, without the possibility (deprived as he was of the 
 army's assistance) of taking it, he received many pleasant and 
 cheering letters, of which the following from one of his officers 
 
 is a good specimen : 
 
 " CAIRO, April 22, 1862. 
 
 "MY DEAR FLAG-OFFICER, I deeply regret to learn that your foot 
 troubles you so much, and that your general health is affected by it. Do 
 give yourself a little more rest. You need it, and should take it, not 
 only for your own sake, but also for that of your country. A great deal 
 depends upon you. It would be a calamity if you were obliged to give 
 up your command, and it would create confusion and disorganization in 
 the flotilla. I hope to hear that you are better, and are taking good care 
 of yourself. 
 
 " The weather here has been exceedingly disagreeable, but it has not 
 kept us fr6m working. I was greatly relieved when our Cairo magazines 
 were emptied. 
 
 " I sent you by the De Soto the articles you desired ; call upon me al 
 ways, for it gives me great pleasure to attend to your wants. 
 
 "I am snugly domesticated on board the wharf- boat. I have two 
 rooms nicely fitted up thanks to friend Wise, who is never so happy as 
 when he is contributing to the comfort of others. Mrs. Wise, Mrs. Stem- 
 bel, and Mrs. Pennock enjoy their new home. We are decidedly more 
 comfortable than we were at the hotel. If the river continue high, we 
 may have to take to salt grub, but no one will mind that. 
 
 "We commenced to-day getting on board Porter's 9-inch guns pre 
 paratory to shipping them to St. Louis ; dragging them through mud 
 and water is no easy task. If the Department do not give us official in 
 formation with regard to the rams now building at Pittsburg and Cin 
 cinnati, and there is delay on that account, we must not be blamed for it. 
 It will take time to select suitable pilots and masters for them. I have 
 
Correspondence. 305 
 
 telegraphed to Wise that if you were expected to officer the rams, timely 
 notice should be given. If I can secure good masters and pilots for the 
 Eastport* had I not better do so ? If Captain Porter have no need of the 
 services of Lieutenant McGunngle, had he not better be ordered here ? I 
 do not hear of any rams being built at St. Louis. Remember me kindly 
 to Phelps. Sincerely your friend, A. M. PENNOCK." 
 
 Paymaster-Captain Wise writes also from Cairo : 
 
 " There is considerable apprehension that the levee will give way, as at 
 our landing the water is only a foot or two from the top. From my room 
 I can look down upon Cairo ; and sociable visiting is carried on in boats, 
 while first floors are used as bath-rooms and fish-ponds. The St. Charles 
 Hotel will probably for once be cleansed, as the river is expected to make 
 a new channel through it. There is much alarm among the boarders, and 
 Mrs. Stembel and Mrs. Pennock have both taken refuge on board our ark." 
 
 We can well imagine the grim jokes and fun among those 
 sea-dogs at thus being cooped up and nearly drowned like rats 
 in these fresh- water towns. 
 
 The following letter of the commodore's is in a more hope 
 ful and cheerful vein, evidently from the fact that something 
 positive had been decided upon by the government : 
 
 "'BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, April 27, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I have but a moment of time to respond to your ex 
 ceedingly kind note of the 21st instant, referring to Captain Davis and 
 my services, as the mail leaves for Cairo in a few minutes. 
 
 " I am greatly relieved by your letter and the manner in which you 
 have disposed of my case. I considered it to be my duty to take the 
 step I did, and then leave the issue with the Department. I shall strive 
 to do my duty to the last ; and in the mean time will take the best possi 
 ble care of my wound, and hope in Him who has hitherto been my Helper 
 for wisdom to guide me in my duty. 
 
 " Like all great men, I see that you have your detractors. I have even 
 myself been asked why the Navy Department did not render me more 
 aid. But I have invariably said that as this flotilla was a hybrid concern, 
 
 * The captured rebel steamer that Foote had been authorized by tlie 
 President to put in fighting trim. 
 
 X 
 
308 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 whose skill and bravery, and even diplomatic ability, have been produc 
 tive of the best results to our interests here ; and may I respectfully, in 
 view of this officer's services, ask for him promotion to the grade of com 
 mander, as I know of no one in the Navy whose services could have been 
 greater to the government. If, therefore, any promotions for gallantry 
 and general merit are made, I trust that he will be among the first thus 
 honored. 
 
 " A report came to me last evening that the steam-ram Louisiana, of 
 sixteen guns, had arrived at Memphis ; and that in ten days she would 
 be up here and clear the river to a certainty. We shall make as good a 
 fight as we can with the means we have. I saw Colonel Fitch in con 
 sultation to-day in reference to this report, which may be exaggerated. 
 I forward a letter found at Island No. Ten ; but so much time has elapsed 
 that we have concluded that this report of the readiness of the vessel 
 to come up here has been greatly overdrawn. By telegraphing in Cipher 
 to Commander Pennock at Cairo, he will send a steamer to me in twenty 
 hours after its receipt. 
 
 " In haste, truly and respectfully yours, A. H. FOOTE." 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
 Commodore Smith also refers to the reported sending of 
 Davis to Foote's assistance : 
 
 "MY DEAR FOOTE, I have yours of the 16th instant, with its adden 
 dum of the 17th. I regret exceedingly that you have been disappointed 
 in losing the services of General Pope ; but the impending battle at Cor 
 inth, I presume, is the cause. 
 
 " I have talked to the Secretary about your health. He has ordered 
 Davis to help you, as he seems to be the man you select, and I trust and 
 hope he may meet your expectations of him. When he arrives, if I were 
 in your place, I would not remain, if you are to sacrifice your life by it. 
 You have done your share. But, God willing. I trust you will meet the 
 Atlantic squadron at New Orleans or higher up the river, where, after 
 the taking of New Orleans, the force of Farragut is ordered to proceed. 
 I regret the Army does not work more kindly with you, or at least that 
 General Halleck seems to pass over your services, and to notify those un 
 der him that they are not under your orders. Certainly, then, you are 
 not under his orders. The Navy will work its way anyhow. We are 
 expecting in a few days the great battle at Yorktown to come off. God 
 
Letter of Sympathy. 309 
 
 grant us victory. If we are successful, I think the war will come to a 
 close. I have been so pressed with work that I have no time to think 
 of any private affairs. The Secretary puts a heavy load upon us, which I 
 will try to bear to the best of my ability. You are considered by the 
 community the man of the war. Nothing can wipe that out. The glo 
 rious news from New Orleans through Secesh source is refreshing. I 
 have been at work getting up iron-clad boats for the rivers don't know 
 their requirements, but I know it is impossible to shield them properly 
 with iron and have light draft of water ; so we must do the best we can. 
 " Yours very truly as always. In haste, 
 
 "JOSEPH SMITH." 
 
 A letter of sympathy was also received at this time from his 
 former pastor at Brooklyn, Eev. Dr. Budington, from which 
 we extract the following : 
 
 " I have wished to express to you my sympathy on the occasion of 
 the death of your dear Willie, an event which was announced to me on 
 Sabbath morning upon entering the pulpit, and which led me to ask the 
 prayers of the congregation on your behalf. Be assured you have them, 
 and that the hearts of our people have followed your late series of suc 
 cesses. You know that you are surrounded by the thanks and admira 
 tion of your countrymen, and it can not fail to be a solace and satisfaction 
 to you, in the discharge of your high trust, at this solemn crisis of our 
 country's history ; yet outward glory, as it can not shield the heart from 
 the shafts of affliction, so it can not prevent an aching heart nor eradicate 
 a pang. I rejoice to know that for this you can go to One who is able, and 
 will do for you what the world with its best wishes can not. May you 
 find Him unspeakably near and precious to you in the endurance of this 
 great and unlooked-for bereavement ; and while God is filling your largest 
 ambition for service to your country, may the benefits of a sanctified af 
 fliction defend you from the temptations of wordly applause, and keep 
 undisturbed the equipoise of a soul truly consecrated to God, and holding 
 earthly distinctions in their true relations to eternal issues. At the same 
 time you were bereaved, General Casey, of the Army of the Potomac, a 
 member of our church, lost his wife in Washington, and public prayers 
 were offered for both of you at the same time. Amid the deep and wide 
 spread sorrows of our country in this war, it seems to be God's will that 
 our leaders, who are leading us out of it so triumphantly, should them 
 selves be partakers of tribulation." 
 
308 Life of Admiral Fooie. 
 
 whose skill and bravery, and even diplomatic ability, have been produc 
 tive of the best results to our interests here ; and may I respectfully, in 
 view of this officer's services, ask for him promotion to the grade of com 
 mander, as I know of no one in the Navy whose services could have been 
 greater to the government. If, therefore, any promotions for gallantry 
 and general merit are made, I trust that he will be among the first thus 
 honored. 
 
 " A report came to me last evening that the steam-ram Louisiana, of 
 sixteen guns, had arrived at Memphis ; and that in ten days she would 
 be up here and clear the river to a certainty. We shall make as good a 
 fight as we can with the means we have. I saw Colonel Fitch in con 
 sultation to-day in reference to this report, which may be exaggerated. 
 I forward a letter found at Island No. Ten ; but so much time has elapsed 
 that we have concluded that this report of the readiness of the vessel 
 to come up here has been greatly overdrawn. By telegraphing in^cipher 
 to Commander Pennock at Cairo, he will send a steamer to me in twenty 
 hours after its receipt. 
 
 " In haste, truly and respectfully yours, A. H. FOOTE." 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
 Commodore Smith also refers to the reported sending of 
 Davis to Foote's assistance : 
 
 "MY DEAR FOOTE, I have yours of the 16th instant, with its adden 
 dum of the 17th. I regret exceedingly that you have been disappointed 
 in losing the services of General Pope ; but the impending battle at Cor 
 inth, I presume, is the cause. 
 
 " I have talked to the Secretary about your health. He has ordered 
 Davis to help you, as he seems to be the man you select, and I trust and 
 hope he may meet your expectations of him. When he arrives, if I were 
 in your place, I would not remain, if you are to sacrifice your life by it. 
 You have done your share. But, God willing, I trust you will meet the 
 Atlantic squadron at New Orleans or higher up the river, where, after 
 the taking of New Orleans, the force of Farragut is ordered to proceed. 
 I regret the Army does not work more kindly with you, or at least that 
 General Halleck seems to pass over your services, and to notify those un 
 der him that they are not under your orders. Certainly, then, you are 
 not under his orders. The Navy will work its way anyhow. We are 
 expecting in a few days the great battle at Yorktown to come oif. God 
 
Letter of Sympathy. 309 
 
 grant us victory. If we are successful, I think the war will come to a 
 close. I have been so pressed with work that I have no time to think 
 of any private affairs. The Secretary puts a heavy load upon us, which I 
 will try to bear to the best of my ability. You are considered by the 
 community the man of the war. Nothing can wipe that out. The glo 
 rious news from New Orleans through Secesh source is refreshing. I 
 have been at w T ork getting up iron-clad boats for the rivers don't know 
 their requirements, but I know it is impossible to shield them properly 
 with iron and have light draft of water ; so we must do the best we can. 
 " Yours very truly as always. In haste, 
 
 "JOSEPH SMITH." 
 
 A letter of sympathy was also received at this time from his 
 former pastor at Brooklyn, Bev. Dr. Budington, from which 
 we extract the following : 
 
 " I have washed to express to you my sympathy on the occasion of 
 the death of your dear Willie, an event which was announced to me on 
 Sabbath morning upon entering the pulpit, and which led me to ask the 
 prayers of the congregation on your behalf. Be assured you have them, 
 and that the hearts of our people have followed your late series of suc 
 cesses. You know that you are surrounded by the thanks and admira 
 tion of your countrymen, and it can not fail to be a solace and satisfaction 
 to you, in the discharge of your high trust, at this solemn crisis of our 
 country's history ; yet outward glory, as it can not shield the heart from 
 the shafts of affliction, so it can not prevent an aching heart nor eradicate 
 a pang. I rejoice to know that for this you can go to One who is able, and 
 will do for you what the world with its best wishes can not. May you 
 find Him unspeakably near and precious to you in the endurance of this 
 great and unlooked-for bereavement ; and while God is filling your largest 
 ambition for service to your country, may the benefits of a sanctified af 
 fliction defend you from the temptations of worclly applause, and keep 
 undisturbed the equipoise of a soul truly consecrated to God, and holding 
 earthly distinctions in their true relations to eternal issues. At the same 
 time you were bereaved, General Casey, of the Army of the Potomac, a 
 member of our church, lost his wife in Washington, and public prayers 
 were offered for both of you at the same time. Amid the deep and wide 
 spread sorrows of our country in this war, it seems to be God's will that 
 our leaders, who are leading us out of it so triumphantly, should them 
 selves be partakers of tribulation." 
 
3io Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 The matter of being relieved of his active duties by Captain 
 Davis was at this time the uppermost question, and he wishes 
 to have the exact grounds of that action (unselfish in its mo 
 tives on his part) clearly understood, as will be seen in the fol 
 lowing private communication to the Secretary : 
 
 "FLAG-STEAMER 'BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, | 
 April 29, 1862. ) 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, Your unofficial note of the 23d, referring to Captain 
 Davis being ordered to report to me, but on no account to relieve me in 
 command, has been received. As you will perceive from my letter of 
 yesterday, I have had no idea of leaving the squadron at any time, unless 
 the Department should consider me, with my wound and its effects, less 
 efficient than some other officer who might be chosen to relieve me. I 
 placed my remaining or leaving solely on public considerations what 
 would best promote the cause of the Union not on private grounds ; for 
 in former letters I stated that I should remain, and give my life to the 
 vindication of the flag. 
 
 " I am pained to see myself represented in the papers as having applied 
 to be detached on account of my wound, implying that I want to leave 
 the command on personal grounds. This is doing me great injustice ; 
 and may I beg of you to have this impression removed, by its denial, as 
 publicly as the misrepresentation has been made ? for I would far rather 
 die in the harness from sickness or a shot, than to leave my post in face 
 of the enemy on personal grounds. This would be so unofficer-like, if 
 not even pusillanimous, that I can not quietly rest under the imputation. 
 
 " I have no idea of leaving now to go up to Cairo or St. Louis ; still I 
 am happy to learn that Captain Davis is coming out, as I am really un 
 able to cope, in my ill-health, with the heavy duties of flag-officer, or 
 ganized and conducted as this service is, involving far more work and 
 care than a regular squadron elsewhere. 
 
 " Several deserters came to us yesterday, and informed me that thirteen 
 rebel gun-boats below were to attack us at 3 o'clock this morning, six or 
 seven of which were rams. We made some further preparations by tying 
 four gun-boats stern up stream to the banks, so as to bring the head down 
 stream ready for a fight ; the Benton being farthest down toward the forts, 
 and where the gun-boats and rams would approach. We were on our 
 arms all night, ready for a hard fight, but the rebels did not make their 
 appearance. This morning three more deserters came, and report that the 
 
Evacuation of Fort Pillow. 3 1 1 
 
 rebels were ready to make the attack, when a council of war was held, 
 and it was voted to be impracticable to make the attack. Still we are as 
 well prepared, night and day, as our means will allow us to be, and our 
 officers and men are in good heart. 
 
 " The deserters paid me the compliment to say that my name was as 
 much among them as Beauregard's but we know deserters are not to 
 be depended upon in their statements. I only report this in a private 
 letter, as you kindly alluded to the prestige of my name ; but I am now 
 but a comparatively weak officer. I am not what I have been even ; 
 still I know that I possess the confidence of the flotilla. You will excuse 
 my egotism. 
 
 " I seriously thought of running the blockade last night, and attacking 
 the rebels' gun-boats and rams ; but now it is well we did not. A disas 
 ter would have exposed the upper rivers. Our means render our position 
 very embarrassing ; but I look to Him who reigns in all worlds for wis 
 dom and strength to do my duty. Excuse my hasty letter. 
 
 " With great respect and esteem, your obliged friend and servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
 " Fort Pillow, afterward Fort Wright, was on the first Chick- 
 asaw bluff, about eighty miles above Memphis, and was in 
 command of General Yillepique, a Creole of New Orleans, who 
 was educated at West Point as an engineer, and was regarded 
 as second only to Beanregard. The fort was a very strong 
 one, and the entire works occupied a line of seven miles in cir 
 cumference. Jeff. Thompson was there with about three thou 
 sand troops, and Hollins had collected there a considerable 
 flotilla of gun-boats."* Such was the problem, after he had 
 driven the boastful Hollins under the guns of the fort, that 
 Foote was left, alone and unaided, to solve. But he was not 
 to have that satisfaction, for the problem solved itself, after the 
 flight of Beauregard from Corinth, when the garrison, on the 
 night of the 4th of June, evacuated this strong position. In 
 the mean time, on the 22d of April, Captain C. H. Davis, who 
 
 * Lossing's " Civil War in America," vol. ii., p. 296. 
 
312 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 had done good service with Dupont at Port Royal, was, at 
 Foote's own request, appointed to assist him. Although Foote 
 retained the command of the flotilla until June 17 so that 
 Fort Pillow was actually captured while he was still in com 
 mand he left the fleet in Davis's hands as early as the 9th 
 of May. His letter to Davis was as follows : 
 
 "FLAG-SHIP ^BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, ) 
 May 9, 1862. ) 
 
 " SIR, In consequence of the state of my health, the Secretary of the 
 Navy has directed you to report to me for the purpose of performing 
 such duties as the circumstances of the flotilla require. 
 
 " By authority of the Secretary of the Navy, and the advice of a board 
 of surgeons, I leave the flotilla this day temporarily, for the purpose of re 
 cruiting my health at Cleveland, Ohio ; and you will be pleased, during 
 my absence, to perform all the duties of the flag-officer; and as such, 
 and being hereby invested with flag-officer's authority, all officers and 
 others attached to and connected with this flotilla will obey your orders 
 and act under your instructions. 
 
 " I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " (Signed) A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 
 " Commodore Charles H. Davis, U. S. N., commanding pro tern. ) 
 U. S. Naval Forces, Western Waters." j 
 
 Soon after this date, Hollins's flotilla came out to challenge 
 combat, and after a brilliant fight, in which Commodore Davis 
 showed great skill as a commander, the rebel boats were sig 
 nally defeated with heavy loss, although on our side the brave 
 Captain Stembel, of the Cincinnati, was severely wounded, 
 and his vessel sunk. For three weeks more the two fleets lay 
 watching each other at Fort Pillow, momentarily awaiting an 
 encounter, when suddenly the fort was abandoned and the 
 rebel gun-boats left. Reinforced by Ellet's "ram fleet," the 
 National vessels followed down the river, and Memphis was 
 attacked by them on the 6th of June, and another desperate 
 engagement with the enemy took place, in which the powerful 
 Benton distinguished herself, giving the finishing blow to the 
 
Fall of Memphis. 313 
 
 fight. In this purely naval combat the rebel fleet was badly 
 cut up, there being but one sole survivor, the Van Dorn, 
 which escaped ; and Memphis, at the demand of Davis, was 
 forced to surrender to the gun-boats. This battle brought to 
 an end the naval power of the rebels on the Mississippi. We 
 now return to him who, in feebleness and pain, had been com 
 pelled to forego these triumphs, which his foresight and patient 
 skill had prepared, and which, as far as human prescience went, 
 he had fully anticipated for himself. Notwithstanding all he 
 had done, the disproportion between his aspirations and his 
 achievements, to so generously ambitious a nature, could not 
 but be a source of keen disappointment. But he was a thor 
 oughly Christian man, and no loss of this kind could trouble 
 him overmuch. 
 
CHAPTEK XXIV. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE AT CLEVELAND. DETACHED FROM THE COM 
 MAND OF THE WESTERN FLOTILLA. 
 
 WHEN Commodore Foote left the scene of action on the 
 Mississippi, he went at once to Cleveland, Ohio, the home of 
 his brother, Hon. John A. Foote, where he was joined by his 
 wife, and where he would have quiet and rest, but at the same 
 time could exercise a general supervision over the fleet, and 
 receive the reports of his officers. The citizens of Cleveland 
 welcomed him among them with great delight, tendering him 
 a public reception and the hospitalities of the city. In his re 
 ply to their communication, he said : 
 
 " Sympathizing as you do with my physical condition and impaired 
 health, and sharing with me, as you so feelingly express, my desire to 
 rejoin my command at the earliest possible moment, I know you will per 
 mit me to decline these distinguished honors. 
 
 " I should be as able to renew the fight with my flotilla as to be the 
 recipient of your favors ; and I know too well the intelligent citizens 
 of Cleveland to doubt for a moment that they would esteem this my 
 duty. 
 
 " If I were in better health, and had completed the mission with which 
 I am charged, nothing would give me greater pleasure. We are, however, 
 in the midst of our work, and my brave comrades may this day be en 
 gaged in deadly strife for the vindication of our flag ; therefore I could 
 not, consistently with my views of duty, accept your kind invitation." 
 
 Commodore Foote's relations to the flotilla now became a 
 matter of earnest thought to him, and many letters passed be 
 tween him and Secretary Welles. Mr. Welles was willing to 
 grant him a temporary release, but not willing that he should 
 
About giving up the Command. 315 
 
 be wholly detached from the command. He says in one of 
 his letters, dated April 21 : 
 
 " Your life and services are too valuable to be put in jeopardy, even if 
 great events are dependent on your continued active duty. I do not 
 think it necessary or expedient, however, to detach you from the com 
 mand of the flotilla : you must have a respite. 
 
 " I propose, therefore, to send Captain Davis to you, agreeably to your 
 request, to relieve you from active physical and mental exertion. He can 
 take temporary charge while you are off duty, and with the aid of the 
 skill and experience of Lieutenant-Commanding P-helps, and your general 
 direction and advice, I trust matters will go forward efficiently and well. 
 Unless it is absolutely indispensable, I should be reluctant to have you 
 leave a position where you have earned such just renown, and where 
 the whole country desires you to remain. No other man can inspire the 
 people with equal confidence in the position you occupy ; and it is no 
 disparagement to others to say no one has the experience and right com 
 prehension that you have of the required service. I can not express to 
 you how much I have been gratified with your labors and efforts. They 
 have given heart to the whole country, and I, personally, have been sus 
 tained and encouraged by them." 
 
 Again he says (April. 23) : 
 
 " I mentioned that Captain Davis would be ordered to report to you, 
 but on no account do I wish to detach you from the position you occupy. 
 If you deem it necessary to go to Cairo or St. Louis, you will still remain 
 flag-officer in command, and Captain Davis will be next in command 
 under you. Your name and prestige I deem important, and therefore do 
 not wish the rebels to know that you are disabled even. Let the enemy 
 know that they have you to combat them." 
 
 When Foote reached Cleveland, letters from the Secretary 
 followed him, full of friendly expression, and yet earnest that 
 he should recover his health entirely and thoroughly, in order 
 to resume his command. Knowing his spirited and excitable 
 temperament, he warns him against allowing the deeds of 
 Farragut to destroy his rest, and to incite him to a rash and 
 
3 1 6 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 hasty resumption of active duty ; but urges him to get well, to 
 fight the enemy again in his gun-boats. 
 
 On the other hand, his good old friend Commodore Smith 
 counsels him to give up at once. His letter is characteristic 
 
 for its blunt sincerity : 
 
 " May 30, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAK FOOTE, I have yours of the 27th inst. You ask for my ad 
 vice ; I give it cheerfully. Take care of yourself. You have done enough. 
 Your duty is to your country, and to yourself and family. As the sum 
 mer will bear hard upon you, even if you recruit, I would not run any 
 risk of the climate in your present state of health. You require repose 
 and retirement ; therefore I would retire and go home, and leave Davis 
 who was your choice, not mine as your successor. Every body knows 
 that you encountered every kind of obstacle, and surmounted them all. 
 Wlriie was here for months preparing his squadron and expedi 
 tion, and had the choice of ships and the pick of the Navy List, you were 
 sent off without notice or much consultation, and officers sent to you not 
 of your selection ; funds and men were not furnished ; you were thwarted 
 in many of your plans by others ; and yet you overcame all with your 
 tact and talent, and won a glorious victory. After all this, it will be an 
 unthankful task for you to return to the flotilla, and contend with a sum 
 mer climate on the river, in your state of body and mind. Therefore re 
 linquish it, and let others take a hand and do what you have left undone 
 which is not much, I apprehend, in the way of fighting. 
 
 " You are not bound to 4 die in harness.' Nobody would thank you 
 for doing so in your present condition, and, as I said before, the country 
 may require you another day.* We are in perilous times, great events 
 are in embryo. God only knows what is to be the end. We hope for a 
 peace, but it does not appear to me to be at hand to-day or to-morrow. 
 I have just seen the Secretary. He says you had better remain where 
 you are for the present ; that you can come East or go where you please, 
 but prefers to have your name cover the flotilla, and so I suppose you 
 must keep to your tethers. My kind regards to Mrs. Foote. 
 
 " Yours, as always, in haste, JOSEPH W. SMITH." 
 
 There is an interesting series of letters from Lieutenant- 
 Commanding S. L. Phelps to Commodore Foote while the 
 
 * Referring to war with England, which the writer strongly anticipated. 
 
Correspondence. 317 
 
 latter was in Cleveland, reporting the movements of the gun 
 boats, some of which we give in full, as they contain much of 
 the history of the fleet with which Foote was so vitally con 
 nected. The first letter recounts the naval fight at Fort Pil 
 low: 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, j 
 May 11, 1862. ) 
 
 " FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE, U. S. K, Cleveland, Ohio : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, You will have heard of the fight yesterday morning. 
 Eight rebel gun-boats came up to the point, and four or five of them 
 proceeded at once toward the Cincinnati, then covering the niortar- 
 boat, one of the rebel boats, with masts, being considerably in advance. 
 Captain Stembel in the most gallant manner steamed up, rounded to, 
 and, opening fire, stood down for the rebel. As he approached, the 
 fire was withheld, the ram striking Stembel's vessel in the quarter, 
 and swinging broadside to, when, the muzzles absolutely against the 
 rebel boat, a broadside was poured into her, making a terrible crashing 
 in her timbers. The rebel, swinging clear, made down stream, with a 
 parting salute of other guns, in a helpless condition. By this time the 
 Benton, Mound City, and Carondelet were far enough down, half-way at 
 least, to Stembel's assistance, to open an effective fire. The Pittsburg, 
 not yet clear of the bank, and the Cairo just sending a boat out to cast 
 off her hawsers. The St. Louis came down pretty well. Two rams 
 were making for the Cincinnati, and once again hit her in the stern, 
 receiving the fire of the stern guns. That boat struck Stembel twice, 
 doing little damage, but using sharpshooters to such effect as to danger 
 ously wound Stembel, and the fourth master, Mr. Reynolds, and one man 
 in the leg. By this time we were in their midst, and I had the satisfac 
 tion to blow up the boilers of the ram that last hit the Cincinnati by a 
 shot from our port bow 42-pound rifle. I fired it deliberately with that 
 view, and when the ram was trying to make another hit. Another ram 
 had now hit the Mound City in the bow, and had received the fire of 
 every gun of that vessel in the swinging that followed the contact. We 
 interposed between another and the Mound City, and the fellow, afraid to 
 hit us, backed off", where he also blew up from a shot hitting a steam- 
 pipe or a cylinder. All the rams drifted off disabled, and the first one 
 that blew up could not have had a soul remaining alive on board, for 
 the explosion was terrific. We could have secured two or three of them 
 
3 1 8 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 had we had steam-power to do so; but, as it was, we saw them drift 
 down helpless under the fort, and one is said to have sunk in deep wa 
 ter. The mortar-boat men acted with great gallantry, firing away to the 
 end. The rebels fired two 32-pound shots through the mortar-boat, and 
 two volleys of musketry into her, without hurting a man. 
 
 " The Mound City had her bow pretty much wrenched off, and was run 
 into the shoal opposite where we had been lying. The Cincinnati ran to 
 the bank below where we lay when you left, and sank in eleven feet of 
 water. The Champion steamer fortunately arrived, having on board a 
 20-inch steam-pump, and the Mound City is now afloat, but greatly dam 
 aged. The Cincinnati will be raised in twenty-four hours. My plan of 
 suspending logs is immediately to be tried. The wounded of the squad 
 ron are five ; killed, none. Stembel we hope will recover. He did splen 
 didly. The loss of the rebels must be very heavy. Their vessels were 
 literally torn to pieces, and some had holes in their sides through which 
 # man could walk. Those that blew up it makes me shudder to think 
 of them. I have written very hastily, knowing that you would find ex 
 cuses for my style in remembering by what busy circumstances we are sur 
 rounded just now ; and I am nervous from an unwonted amount of exer 
 tion. I count off the days, anxious for them to roll round, when you 
 will return with the Eastport with some (steam) power. Come to the 
 squadron with your flag flying. 
 
 " All hands went into the fight with a will. We have no news from 
 below. Colonel Fitch will land his force in the morning. 
 
 " This, I believe, is the first purely naval fight of the war. May heaven 
 bless you, and restore you to us in health very soon. 
 
 " Respectfully and very truly yours, S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' BENTON,' OFF FORT PILLOW, ] 
 May 17, 1862. j 
 
 "Mr DEAR SIR, Since my hurried letter after the fight the other 
 morning, I have been absolutely unable to write. The Cincinnati was 
 only raised night before last, and got off for Cairo. 
 
 " The bell boat had no crew, and we had trouble about the machine. 
 Mr. Hoel was left alone. One master killed, and two sick. We ran the 
 Benton to the stern of the Cincinnati, and remained there till she left, and 
 I assisted Mr. Hoel, besides getting logs, chains, railroad iron, etc., with 
 which to secure the boats against rams. We are putting railroad iron 
 about the stern of this boat, which is her weak part. General Quimby is 
 
Correspondence. 319 
 
 coming down with some artillery, cavalry, and infantry, and a combined 
 attack is to be made on the fort in about three days' time. Every thing 
 has been quiet about the fort and where the gun-boats lie below. Two 
 of their rams are missing. Deserters say that one hundred and eight 
 were buried from their vessels after the fight. A good many deserters 
 and refugees are coming in and passing up to Cairo some thirty to fifty 
 per day. 
 
 " We are now anchored across the river a little below where we lay 
 when you left. Captain Dove is here with the Louisville. Now we have 
 the Cairo, Pittsburg, and Louisville to count among the six vessels of the 
 fleet. Kilty did handsomely in the fight. Neither the Pittsburg nor 
 Cairo got into it, and the St. Louis can hardly be said to have done so. 
 Commodore Davis has got the run of matters very well. The plan of 
 attack proposed is the old one land on the bluff, open heavy mortar 
 fire, and follow up with attack by gun-boats. What the rebel boats can 
 do remains to be seen. The great craft building in Memphis has been 
 taken up the Yazoo to be finished, and a mechanic from there says it will 
 be fifteen days before she will be ready. We must catch her, then, be 
 fore she can be fitted out. I have not time this morning, being so much 
 interrupted, to write about all the little matters of the fleet, of which I 
 know you would like to be informed. Suffice it to say that things go 
 on much as before. I miss you a great deal ; though, of course, with 
 such a gentleman as Captain Davis, there could be nothing but the most 
 agreeable relations. Captain Pennock writes that the Eastport will be 
 ready in thirty days. I trust then you may be entirely recovered, and 
 come to realize a little pleasant cruising in what will be the dashing 
 vessel of the fleet. Thirty days make but a little count, and will soon 
 pass. I am respectfully and very truly yours, S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' BENTON,' NEAR FORT PILLOW, > 
 May 21, 1862. f 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I had the pleasure to receive your kind letter writ 
 ten from Cleveland several days since. I am exceedingly gratified with 
 its contents, and reciprocate with a warm heart the friendship it evinces. 
 How great has been the error of all naval commanders who have relied 
 upon power rather than upon generous consideration and sympathy to 
 develop and arouse the energies and active co-operation of subordinates 
 upon which the superior's success so much depends. 
 
 " I have been really unfortunate in my efforts in writing to you. This. 
 
 Y 
 
3?o Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 is ray third note the two first written in great haste, at times when I 
 really had my hands full. Now I write with a sore and heavy head. 
 Day before yesterday, while on board the De Soto, looking to their way 
 of getting guns on board, a spar broke, the pieces falling some fifteen 
 feet. I found myself knocked over and my head badly cut. I have suf 
 fered with headache and nausea a good deal since, but these are becom 
 ing less. I am thankful to have escaped so easily, and, for me, I have 
 been very patient. 
 
 " Some four of the so-called ' rams ' are here, and one or two more are 
 expected to arrive soon. General Quimby came down yesterday with a 
 battery of artillery and some infantry and cavalry. I think now the plan 
 adopted in the proposed attack will be what you and General Pope had 
 agreed to undertake. There is a flag of truce here this morning, mak 
 ing bitter complaint that two of the two hundred and two exchanged 
 prisoners sent down by the Army for the commodore to deliver at Fort 
 Pillow were sick of the small-pox. Nothing, of course, was known 
 of the condition of the men by the commodore. They were sent down 
 in the boat in which they came from Cairo. Lieutenant McGunngle 
 now has the St. Louis. Mr. Erben is adrift again. Lieutenant Hall, 
 who went to New York by summons of the Retiring Board, has returned 
 
 to Cairo. Captain came down to the fleet, arriving just in time 
 
 to witness the fight, and applied to be sent to Cairo to superintend work 
 on the Eastport, or to St. Louis to perform similar duty, and thither he 
 has gone. This looks as if pressure of public opinion in Boston sent 
 him out. There is a good deal of sickness. I shall have to stop, as I am 
 increasing my headache. There are many inquiries for the news from 
 you. You carry with you the earnest wishes of the entire flotilla for your 
 speedy recovery and quick return. While I, who must needs feel your 
 absence more than all others, desire greatly to see you return to finish the 
 work that is of right yours to do, I am exceedingly anxious that you 
 should not return too soon. The climate is a trying one, and you should 
 feel quite sure that you are entirely recovered before you come. 
 
 " Respectfully and most sincerely your friend, S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 " U. S. GUN-BOAT ' BENTON,' NEAR FORT PILLOW, ) 
 May 22, 1862. j 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, This morning I had the pleasure to receive your most 
 welcome letter of the 19th inst, and avail myself now of a quiet mo 
 ment, before going to bed, to give you what little gossip I can recall re- 
 
Correspondence. 321 
 
 lating to the fleet, that may serve to interest you, and to thank you for 
 your letter. I am feeling very comfortable for the time, the doctor having 
 just bathed my sore head, and put me in good-humor for the nonce. I 
 have been about a good deal to-day, and by to-morrow I shall be myself 
 again, ready for any thing but long exposure to the sun. 
 
 " The Mound City is now here, ready for service again, and the Cincin 
 nati will be ready in about one week. It is strange how that inevitable 
 month in the case of the Eastport drags its slow length along; never 
 beginning always one day in advance of present time. To-day's mail 
 informs us that she will be ready in one month so did the mail on the 
 22d of April last. General Quimby examined the river bank opposite 
 Fulton to-day, and the guns have arrived to put in battery there, so that 
 by the day after to-morrow we may hope to have something doing. 
 The commodore sent Captain McGunngle down with the party reconnoi 
 tring. Seven gun-boats are reported at Fulton. Driving those and the 
 rams away with a battery, so as not to be in our way while under the 
 fort, is, of course, leaving us free for the main work. Some of the boats 
 are secured to a considerable extent about the bow and stern, and all 
 have logs suspended along the sides where there is no plating. We are 
 putting railroad iron on the stern and quarters of this vessel. The rebels 
 have dismounted nearly every gun on their vessels, depending on small- 
 arms and rams. Jeff. Thompson, the nightmare of every port comman 
 der on the Mississippi, is the commodore of the rebel fleet just below us. 
 Yet the commandant at New Madrid this night lies in an unquiet bed, 
 assured that the immortal Jeff, is after him with those naked and starved 
 swamp-rats. The Taylor* and Lexington are forced out of the Tennessee 
 by low water, and will join the fleet here, being much needed. Will you 
 believe it, application was made for them to remain at Cairo to protect 
 that place, there being considerable apprehension ? The Conestoga is to 
 look after Hickman and Columbus, and will be within call of Cairo. 
 Affairs go on much as usual with the squadron. Some few changes 
 among the lower officers caused by sickness. Mr. Parker has gone as 
 fourth master to the ouisville. Mr. Reed has applied for a master-mate- 
 ship on board the Great Western. I suggest sending Mr. Wilkins there, 
 and keeping Mr. Reed here as the best of the two for our purposes. Cap- 
 
 * This was the original name of the boat, which was called after Gen 
 eral and President Taylor ; but toward the close of the war she began to 
 be called the Tyler, which makes some confusion even in official reports. 
 We have chosen to call her uniformly by her original title. 
 
322 Life of A dmira I Foote. 
 
 tain Walke I have not seen for several days. Little Thompson is very 
 busy getting his vessel secured so that when the rebels ' come around the 
 Point ' again he can ' pitch into them.' Of the Cairo nothing is known, 
 except that she was heard of to-day as wanting coal, being about out of 
 that commodity, and pretty much ashore for provisions. The St. Louis I 
 am satisfied will now be found up to time every where. That hospital- 
 boat has not yet come down. It takes so long to do any thing ! There 
 are a good many sick in this vessel more than one in ten. 
 
 " Sanford is not here, having gone to look after the ordnance at Cairo 
 and St. Louis, and now is gone to the latter place. I can not, therefore, 
 deliver your messages. I, too, wish an exception could be made in his 
 case without a dangerous and ruinous precedent. I received notice from 
 Mr. Grimes, through Mr. Whittlesey, of the action of the Naval Committee 
 on the nominations before it was published. I should most certainly let 
 
 's vanity have full swing. It will yet hang him. He only follows 
 
 his master in attacks on the flotilla. We can afford to let both go unno 
 ticed. If familiar with Sancho's ' saws,' you will remember one applica 
 ble to his case. 
 
 " May 23. There is nothing new this morning. Mrs. Phelps will prob 
 ably have the pleasure of seeing you in Cleveland, as she is about leaving 
 Paducah to go to my father's in Ohio. I trust you are improving as 
 rapidly and surely as the universal desire of the flotilla would have you. 
 You could wish no more. 
 
 " Very respectfully and truly yours, S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-SHIP ' BENTON,' OFF FOKT PILLOW, | 
 May 28, 1862. ) 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I was a good deal disappointed this morning not to 
 have heard from you either directly or through Commodore Davis. I, 
 however, have seen a paragraph taken from the Cleveland papers stating 
 that you are improving in health since causes of excitement have been 
 removed. 
 
 " I am like the host twice made glad glad because the people mani 
 fest an appreciation of your character and services, and glad because the 
 same people have concluded to let you get well and in a fit condition to 
 return to us. All the gun-boats are being secured as far as possible 
 against rams, by putting railroad iron about the bows and sterns, and 
 slinging logs about the sides. This vessel is being secured extensively. 
 I have had three bars of railroad iron secured between and along: the 
 
Correspondence. 323 
 
 fan-tails, so as to prevent cutting there, and also heavy frames inclosing 
 rudders, and ironed. Along the casemate, where the iron is light, I have 
 had i-inch plate flanged and firmly bolted, to increase the strength of 
 the angle at that vulnerable point. If we have time to secure the bows 
 with |-inch plates already here, we will be able to split any boat that hits 
 us there. 
 
 " Colonel Ellet is here now with some half-dozen rams. I am exceed 
 ingly glad that no naval officers were asked to take these same rams. 
 They serve to count as it is ; and if we can get among the rebel fleet, and 
 by our fire prevent the use of their guns, these rams ought to be of serv 
 ice in sinking the rebel craft, which, on account of their being so stuffed 
 with cotton, ig a difficult thing to accomplish with shot alone. I have 
 written this amid great confusion and many interruptions. I have been 
 thinking how much I had reason to be thankful for in the fortune that 
 has befallen me in this war. The success with the crazy Conestoga, the 
 transfer to this fine command, with you as commander-in-chief, and now, 
 in your temporary absence, with Commodore Davis in your place, is a se 
 ries of good luck that I am fully sensible of, and, I trust, duly grateful for. 
 Few, if any, have been so favored. 
 
 " Respectfully and very truly yours, S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 Ellet's rams, according to the writer's testimony, did effect 
 ive work a few days after this at the great fight at Memphis ; 
 but the following extract from a letter, dated June 4th, is very 
 amusing : 
 
 " Our Ram Colonel is as crazy as our friend Sturges. He has been writ 
 ing absurd things to the commodore, quoting his instructions from the 
 War Department to prove that he is not under orders of the naval officer 
 commanding ; and he proposed running the fire of the fort and attack 
 ing the rebel fleet below. In his letters to the War Department, he 
 styles his mode of warfare as peculiar, and not likely to be approved of 
 by naval officers ; and that, therefore, it is not possible that he should be 
 restrained by their authority. The War Department is cautious in reply 
 ing ; but, upon the whole, desires that the naval commander should not in 
 terfere, unless the operations of the Ram Colonel would greatly interfere 
 with the regular naval operations, or imperil public interests, or to that 
 effect. The Ram Colonel wrote that he proposed immediately to proceed 
 against the rebel fleet, passing the fire of Fort Pillow. The commodore 
 
324 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 replied that while he did not approve of the enterprise, he would offer 
 no opposition, and wished him all luck. Two or three days after, sure 
 enough, the Ram Colonel got under way in a rain-squall, and started down 
 around Craighead Point, followed by the junior rams. Head ram had 
 not passed from our view before a fire was opened from the fort, and 
 ram's head came around double quick, and all the rams paddled back, 
 followed by a sharp fire from the fort, though we could not in the rain 
 judge of how the shot fell. A few minutes after our rams had come up, 
 two rebel rams appeared round the Point, and, as plainly as rams ever 
 talked, said, ' Come on, Yankee rams ; we are here on neutral ground 
 ready to butt our difficulties out ;' but Yankee rams said not a word. 
 The conclusion is, we shall hear no more from our Ram Colonel about 
 running batteries." 
 
 Paymaster Wise writes, May 25th : 
 
 " As long as you remain in Cleveland, we feel that you are yet our dear 
 flag-officer, only away for a short time ; but if you go to New York, we 
 fear they won't let you come back." 
 
 Quartermaster-General Meigs says at the close of a business 
 letter : 
 
 "I regret that your wound should have compelled you to leave the 
 flotilla, built up by your exertions, and led to victory, before its work was 
 all completed by a junction with the fleet from below ; but congratu 
 late you upon the successes you were allowed to obtain, and upon the 
 love and admiration which you have secured from all true Americans." 
 
 Although sick and weak, he seems during his stay at Cleve 
 land to have written much, especially in favor of the claims 
 of certain naval officers, to obtain for them positions and com 
 mands which he thought were deserved for past faithful serv 
 ices. He did not forget his friends; he followed up their 
 claims with great persistency until he had secured the prize. 
 They knew they could depend upon his practical support in 
 the struggle for honorable advancement, and this knit him to 
 them with hooks of steel. One of them says : 
 
 " It is no fault of yours that I am not to be confirmed indeed, you 
 have labored hard for it ; and if it should be so decided that we do not 
 
Vote of Thanks. 325 
 
 meet again in the flotilla, accept my thanks for past kindnesses, with the 
 assurance that I shall always entertain the strongest possible friendship 
 and esteem for you." 
 
 At the May session of the Connecticut Legislature, the fol 
 lowing vote of thanks was passed : 
 
 " STATE OF CONNECTICUT GENERAL ASSEMBLY, } 
 May Session, A.D. 1862. ) 
 
 " Resolved, That the State of Connecticut has abundant reason to be 
 proud of her heroes in the Army and Navy of this nation; and that 
 while history can not fail to do justice to our fallen martyrs, we, without 
 invidious motives, do now accord to Commodore Andrew H. Foote, of 
 the Navy, our earnest and unqualified praise for the great energy, perse 
 verance, and patience which he has exhibited while in command of the 
 Federal flotilla on the Western rivers ; and especially for the great brav 
 ery and skill with which he has fought and won his successive battles. 
 And most cordially do we sympathize with him while suffering from 
 wounds received in battling for the right. 
 
 " Resolved, That as a testimonial of our kind regard for him, the clerks 
 of this General Assembly be directed to prepare and transmit to him a 
 copy of these resolutions." 
 
 The main features of the naval battle of Memphis have al 
 ready been briefly mentioned ; but the particulars of this com 
 bat are given in a letter of Phelps to Foote in a way that one 
 could not give who had not been himself an actor : 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' MEMPHIS, 7 
 June 9, 1862. ) 
 
 " FLAG - OFFICER A. H. FOOTE, U. S. N., commanding Flotilla, Western 
 
 Waters, Cleveland, O. : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I have been most anxious to write to you since our 
 battle on the 6th instant, but must in justice to myself confess that I have 
 hardly known whether I have been on my head or heels since that date. 
 I had two days and nights of hard work and anxiety before the fight 
 took place ; have had prizes war vessels and transports to save, send 
 off, repair, and provide with people, to say nothing of a thousand wants 
 of the people of Memphis to look after. 
 
326 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " I sent you yesterday a copy of the Memphis Appeal, containing a really 
 fair statement of the fight, which was witnessed by thousands on the 
 bluflf. The rebel boats insisted on remaining before the city, notwith 
 standing that we were an hour under way half a mile above, giving a 
 fair opportunity for them to come up to the attack if they intended fight 
 ing away from the city, or to drop below where we could follow and at 
 tack them. The rebels forced us to fire on them without regard to the 
 consequences to Memphis by opening upon us. We exchanged a num 
 ber of shots, when Colonel Ellet, with the Ocean Queen and Monarch, 
 dashed down at the enemy, we at the time turning one ' slow length ' 
 around for the same purpose. The rebels were evidently disconcerted by 
 this move ; and the Ocean Queen failing to hit the Beauregard, made a 
 pass at the General Lovell, cutting her through ; and that vessel sunk in 
 a few minutes, many of her crew going down with her; and she is en 
 tirely out of sight. This is all the rams did, except the confusion created 
 by them gave us better chances at the rebel craft. The Monarch missed 
 the General Price, and the Beauregard, missing the Monarch, cut away en 
 tirely the port-wheel and wheel-house of the General Price. This ended 
 the rams' doings, as rams, on either side. The Beauregard, in backing 
 out from the General Price, gave me a broadside shot, at close range, 
 with a 42-pounder, and I sent a shot into her boiler, blowing her up. 
 Some fourteen of the scalded people are on our hands. How many were 
 killed we do not know. The vessel soon sank, and has since gone to 
 pieces. The Benton then, as throughout the action, was considerably in 
 advance of the other vessels, seemingly the most speedy of them all, and 
 pursued the now retreating rebels with an accuracy of fire and an execu 
 tion really terrible. The Jeff. Thompson was disabled and set on fire by 
 shells, and was destroyed in a splendid explosion. The Sumter was soon 
 disabled, and then the Bragg- which vessel had been fired by one of our 
 rifled shot bursting in her cotton protection. The Little Rebel received 
 a shot in the boiler about the same time the Beauregard did, and her 
 fate was sealed. Mr. Bishop has command of the General Bragg, Mr. 
 Erben of the Sumter, and Mr. Hoel will have the Little Rebel. The Gen 
 eral Van Dorn escaped, but was badly injured. If the rams had done 
 their duty, she would have been captured also ; but after the first dash 
 we saw no more of them. Colonel Ellet was wounded by a pistol-shot 
 in the leg, and his vessel was disabled. His dash was bold and well 
 executed. There was some firing of small -arms from the woods, and 
 at the same time cheers from the banks. This is a destruction of 
 
Correspondence. 327 
 
 their fleet which there is no dodging. Fifteen thousand people wit 
 nessed it. I carried the demand for the surrender of the city to the 
 mayor, and was saluted by a number of ladies ; and passed through the 
 immense crowd without molestation, or evidence of an exasperated or 
 bitterly hating people, and saw no scowling women. The city is quiet, 
 and things go on smoothly. I have been much distressed to hear of your 
 continued ill-health. I had hoped that by this time you would have 
 been entirely recovered and ready to return to your fleet ; but I fear this 
 is as remote in prospect as at any time heretofore. I have not heard from 
 you since about the 27th ultimo. Do let me hear as frequently as you 
 can. You must know that my anxiety to hear of your condition is very 
 great, being bound to you alike by personal attachment and a grateful 
 sense of continued kindness and assistance. S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 When we think that the Benton, so powerful in fight, had 
 been prepared by Commodore Foote especially for his own 
 flag-steamer, we can not but imagine that these letters, recount 
 ing her force and success, must have gone home to the heart 
 of the sick man laid aside almost hopelessly; while at the 
 same time he rejoiced at his fleet's efficiency, thus making its 
 way conqueringly down the river. 
 
 A letter from Captain Paymaster Wise brings into view an 
 other side of the flotilla its needful but quiet hospital work : 
 
 " OFFICE OF THE NAVAL DEP6T, CAIRO, June 12, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR COMMODORE, Your letter of May 30, and your note, by Mr. 
 Henriques, of the 5th of June, I duly received. We all regret that you 
 do not improve more rapidly, and think that a little mountain air would 
 help you. 
 
 " Mr. Henriques is here, and Paymaster Dunn and myself will do all we 
 can to effect a speedy and proper settlement of his affairs. Mr. Hen 
 riques is improving in health. I will see that his pay accords with your 
 wishes. 
 
 " I wish that you could see our hospital-boat, the Bed Rover, with all 
 her comforts for the sick and disabled seamen. She is decided to be the 
 most complete thing of the kind that ever floated, and is every way a 
 success. The Western Sanitary Association gave us in cost of articles 
 $3500. The ice-box of the steamer holds three hundred tons ; she has 
 
328 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 bath-rooms, laundry, elevator for the sick from the lower to the upper 
 deck, amputating-room, nine different water arrangements, gauze blinds 
 to the windows to keep the cinders and smoke from annoying the sick, 
 two separate kitchens, for sick and well, and a regular corps of nurses. 
 
 " We think that the gun-boats have nearly finished tlreir work, and 
 that a different kind will be required for the future. The old boats will 
 be used as floating-batteries, to be stationed at New Orleans, Vicksburg, 
 Memphis, and Island No. Ten. Fast boats, with light, powerful arma 
 ments, will act as river police and keep the river open. I see the Act 
 transferring the flotilla to the Navy has passed the House of Representa 
 tives, and will no doubt pass the Senate. This change will be for the 
 better. 
 
 " Captain Pennock is as busy as usual. Winslow has gone down the 
 river to take command of the Cincinnati. Sanford is now in Cairo. Por 
 ter is getting the Essex ready, and if she do not draw too much water, she 
 will be a very efficient vessel. I send you Porter's official seal. 
 
 " Hoping scon to hear good accounts of you, and again to see you and 
 thank you for all your kindness to me, 
 
 " I am respectfully and truly yours, GEORGE D. WISE." 
 
 Commodore Foote did not continue to grow stronger ; on 
 the contrary, he became so reduced that, in the language of an 
 other," he was but a shadow of himself," and much of the time 
 he was forced to keep his bed. His physicians urged the en 
 tire giving up of care in order to save his life ; and at length, 
 after submitting to the examination of a surgical board, he 
 sent the following letter to the Secretary of the Navy : 
 
 " CLEVELAND, June 13, 1862. 
 
 " SIR, It becomes my unpleasant duty to inform the Department that 
 my health, in the estimation of the best medical advice of this city, is 
 such as would imperil my efficiency were I to resume my duties on the 
 Mississippi River for two or three months to come. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, I submit to the decision of the Depart 
 ment whether I shall return immediately to my duty in the flotilla, or re 
 ceive a three-months' leave of absence, or even be detached altogether 
 from my command, for the purpose of trying the effects of salt air, as rec 
 ommended, with the hope of an early restoration to health. 
 
 " I am aware that, while there seems to be little or no prospect of fur- 
 
Detached from Command of Flotilla. 329 
 
 ther fighting on the Western rivers, which may now be said to be cleared 
 of their powerful rebel batteries and gun-boats, the reorganizing, arrang 
 ing, and distributing of the flotilla to protect the peaceful commerce of 
 the rivers against a guerrilla warfare, superadded to the great difficulties 
 incident to the settling of accounts, require an officer of experience ; yet 
 may I not, without detriment to the service or to my professional stand 
 ing, be permitted to have the necessary time to recuperate my exhausted 
 health ? 
 
 " If it will not be considered premature, I wish further to remark that 
 when this rebellion is crushed, and a squadron is fitted out to enforce the 
 new treaty for the suppression of the African slave-trade, I should be 
 pleased to have command ; but so long as the rebellion continues, it will 
 be my highest ambition to be actively employed in aiding its suppression. 
 
 " Inclosed is the certificate of my attending physicians. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " A. H. FOOTE, Flag-Officer. 
 " The Hon. Gideon Welles." 
 
 The report of the physicians referred to in the above was as 
 follows : 
 
 " The undersigned, having been in professional attendance on Commo 
 dore A. H. Foote during his visit to this city, deem it due to him to say 
 that, in our opinion, he will not be able to return to active service for 
 some three or four months without seriously jeoparding his health. The 
 inflammation following his wound, his inability to take exercise except 
 on crutches, and the debilitating effects of a diarrhoea and fever, have 
 reduced his strength and flesh to a great degree. The wound evidently 
 was the predisposing cause, superinducing the attack of diarrhoea and 
 hemorrhoids sequents of an enlarged liver and malarious influences. 
 
 " Although in some respects his symptoms are more favorable, he still 
 continues much emaciated, having left his bed but a few times for the 
 past fortnight. We therefore unite in the opinion that a change of posi 
 tion to the sea-coast would materially expedite his recovery. 
 
 " (Signed) THOMAS L. RODMAN, M.D. 
 
 E. GUSHING, M.D. 
 
 " Cleveland, O., June, 1862." 
 
 Flag- Officer Foote was, therefore, at his own request, de 
 tached from his command of the Western flotilla on the 17th 
 
330 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 of June, 1862. The following note, from the Secretary of the 
 
 Navy, came soon after : 
 
 " WASHINGTON, June 17, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I can not be satisfied with a mere formal official let 
 ter detaching you from the flotilla, where you have rendered such great 
 service to the Department and the country, without expressing in a more 
 earnest and friendly manner my appreciation of your labors and achieve 
 ments. The country feels and acknowledges its indebtedness to you ; 
 but few know, as I do, the difficulties you have been compelled to en 
 counter and overcome, in first creating the flotilla, and then carrying it 
 into a series of successful actions, which have contributed so largely to 
 the suppression of the rebellion throughout the Southwest. 
 
 " It was with some reluctance that I gave the orders which carried you 
 to the field where you have acquired so great and just renown ; for, aware 
 of some of the embarrassments by which you would be tried, I saw also 
 that the Army failed to estimate the necessity and value of the naval 
 branch of operations on the Western rivers. Some of these matters we 
 talked over before you left ; but I did not express to you all the discour 
 agements that appeared to me then, and which you have so well sur 
 mounted. The history of these matters is yet to be written, for only the 
 results are nojv patent to the country. 
 
 " I have watched and participated in every movement that has been 
 made, uninfluenced, I believe, by censure or complaint or denunciation 
 from the thoughtless and the designing, which has been inflicted on the 
 Department from the commencement of hostilities ; and every victory ob 
 tained and advance made cheered my heart scarcely less than your own. 
 
 " Most sincerely do I regret the necessity which compels you to seek 
 rest, and ask to be detached from that command which you have so much 
 honored ; but I am consoled with the belief that you will be able in a 
 brief period, with vigor and renewed health, to again elevate your flag 
 and render additional service. 
 
 " I shall bear in mind your request ; and, remembering our associations 
 in boyhood, be happy, as a friend and an officer, to exhibit at all times 
 my confidence and abiding friendship. 
 
 " Please make my respects to your brother ; and wishing you speedy 
 restoration to health and to active duty, 
 
 " I remain very truly and sincerely your friend, 
 
 "GIDEON WELLES. 
 " Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, Cleveland." 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. RETURN TO THE EAST. VOTE OF THANKS BY 
 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 COMMODORE FOOTE remained until the 23d of June in Cleve 
 land, when he left that place with his wife for the East, and 
 arrived at their home in New Haven on the 25th. Their quiet 
 departure from Cleveland and their arrival in New Haven, as 
 well as their rapid transit, though meant to escape popular no 
 tice, were accompanied by every mark of public respect. While 
 still in Cleveland, he is thus spoken of by a visitor who saw 
 him: 
 
 " The commodore was on his crutches, but he hastened across the hall 
 and gave us a cordial greeting. His fine, manly countenance and bright 
 black eyes are lighted up with genius and intelligence ; his soul glows 
 with patriotic ardor, and he longs to return to his command. He thinks 
 he will be able soon to do so, but he must go on his crutches. The 
 quietness of his manner while telling us how he was wounded at Fort 
 Donelson I can not convey ; but his story was something like this : ' The 
 shells were flying about pretty thick, and I stepped into the pilot-house 
 to see that the boat was kept in position. Just then a shell came in and 
 killed one of the men at the wheel ; the other man seemed to lose his 
 presence of mind, and I seized the wheel to keep her right ; but it was 
 not till some time after that I discovered that I was seriously hurt." 
 
 Since Admiral Foote's personal appearance is alluded to 
 in the above, and as the photograph from which the frontis 
 piece was drawn was taken about this time, this seems a 
 good place to speak a word concerning it. His countenance 
 was indeed a fine one : his forehead was broad and full, and 
 his large, bright black eyes, restless and piercing, took in all 
 
33 2 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 things at a glance ; his firm-shut mouth had a grip and strength 
 that showed the invincible will of the man. His stature was 
 of medium size, but square-built and compact. He was always 
 very neatly dressed, carrying his professional notions in this 
 respect to a nicety. He had a sailor-like alertness of step, and 
 his motions were quick and nervous ; yet his address was ex 
 ceedingly suave and gentle. He gave the impression of a 
 man of active brain and of great energy, though held well in 
 restraint. At one time he had a hobby that he had weak eyes, 
 and he wore large green goggles, giving his naval friends much 
 amusement. He was, in fact, quite apt to ride hobbies ; and 
 these " charming foibles," as one of his friends calls them, made 
 him a most fascinating man to all who knew him and loved 
 him. 
 
 His correspondence with his subordinate officers, especially 
 with Lieutenant-Commander Phelps, continued to be frequent 
 and of much general interest, as containing details of military 
 matters not found in historical works. We select a few let 
 ters : 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' MEMPHIS, ) 
 June 17, 1862. ) 
 
 " FLAG-OFFICER FOOTE, U. S. N. : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, It has occurred to me that you would be interested 
 in knowing what we found Fort Pillow to be on close examination. It 
 would be much more proper to say that this examination was simply a 
 hurried glance at the main features. The commodore directed me to re 
 port on ' an hour's examination.' We were there but a short time. I will 
 copy my report from the files of the Department : ' The outer line of in- 
 trenchments, flanking upon Coal Creek at the point some six hundred 
 yards above the upper river battery, ascends the bluff in an irregular zig 
 zag to a prominent and narrow ridge, lying between the River Hatchie 
 and the Mississippi, whence the lines trend away, at a sharp angle, along 
 the ridge in the direction of Fulton, and flank upon the bluffs on the 
 Mississippi above that landing, making a circuit of from four to five miles. 
 These lines consist of a heavy embankment, planked upon the inner face, 
 with a dry ditch of an average of about eight feet depth and width. 
 
Correspondence. 333 
 
 Considerable numbers of pieces of artillery had once been mounted along 
 this extended line. An abatis of fallen timber, of six hundred yards in 
 width, is cut throughout the entire length. There is an inner line of 
 works of similar construction, though not of one unbroken circuit, as in the 
 case of the outer line ; and it is estimated that the total length of the in- 
 trenchments is ten miles. The entire land embraced within the circuit of 
 these works is exceedingly rough and broken sharp ridges, deep gorges 
 and valleys, with small springs and rivers that traverse it in all direc 
 tions ; while a greater part of the surface is covered with a heavy forest 
 growth. There are prominent batteries along the inner line of defense, 
 from which artillery swept the outer works ; while intrenchments and 
 rifle-pits were disposed to enfilade and command the approaches offered 
 by the broken surface. Two crescent batteries are also erected near the 
 summit of the river bluffs to assist in the landward defenses. 
 
 " ' The water-batteries are constructed at the base of the bluff, in the 
 face of it, and in the gorges by which it is broken. The water-battery 
 proper consisted often guns, but was much injured by the late flood. A 
 heavy columbiad was mounted on a casemated work, constructed in a 
 ravine above the level of the ten-gun battery. This work was destroyed 
 by fire. To the left and higher up is a sunken battery of six heavy guns. 
 Still higher up, occupying another ravine, is a 10-inch columbiad, sweep 
 ing over a great arc. Below the water-battery on the river, and con 
 structed by heavy excavations from the bluff at some elevation, is a bas- 
 tioned work of six heavy guns in front, and several flanking. In this is 
 a 13-inch mortar, bursted. Still higher up the bluffs are other colum- 
 biads, mounted mostly in works across ravines, and in batteries of one 
 and two guns. Single guns (32-pounders) are also placed in position 
 along the bluff as far as Fulton, three miles below the fort. 
 
 " ' These works are constructed and disposed with great skill and with 
 vast labor ; but a fatal mistake had been made in the depression that 
 could be given the guns in all save the water-battery, since in a moder 
 ate stage of the river our boats could have hugged the shore and passed 
 under their fire. 
 
 " ' I will here mention that Colonel Fitch, commanding the Forty-sixth 
 Indiana Regiment, had constructed a road through swamps on the upper 
 side of Coal Creek, where no such attempt seems to have been antici 
 pated ; and had made preparations for crossing the creek, and entering 
 the works within the lines while the fleet should open fire in front. 
 From thence he could easily have captured, by a rear attack, the crescent 
 
334 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 battery on the bluff above ; after which the different river batteries would 
 have been entirely exposed to his riflemen firing from above and in rear. 
 The movement was made in accordance with this plan, adopted and pre 
 pared several days in advance ; but the rebels had fled from the works 
 during the night, burning every thing in their power.' 
 
 " You will acknowledge that this is evidently the result of a very im 
 perfect examination. When I went on shore I did not understand that I 
 was expected to make any report whatever. The work is of immense 
 strength, and a place from which gun-boats would find it difficult to dis 
 lodge troops. 
 
 " Captain Kilty you know has gone to White River with the Mound 
 City, St. Louis, Lexington, and Conestoga. Yesterday he sent up a splen 
 did steamer as a prize. The rebels are filling the river with rafts, trees, 
 etc., to obstruct navigation. 
 
 " To-day we have reports that the rebel ram and gun-boat Arkansas, 
 of which we heard so much, sailed down the Yazoo on Sunday last, and 
 is expected to destroy the entire Yankee fleet. The rebels boast that she 
 is another Merrimack. We hear nothing from the fleet below Vicksburg. 
 
 "I suspect they find trouble in the navigation, and no doubt will be 
 obliged to proceed down to that point. When will these craft get back ? 
 the distance is now four hundred miles ! 
 
 " I have been very busy with prizes, and the like. We now have the 
 De Soto, Kentucky, and Victoria for mail-boats. The Hill is a spare boat. 
 We hear that a prize agent is to be sent out. I am encouraged to think 
 that we may still see you out here again by the accounts given us by two 
 gentlemen from Cincinnati who saw you very recently in Cleveland. As 
 much as we like Commodore Davis, we all look to you as the natural and 
 rightful head. It would give so much pleasure to see you back in the 
 health you were enjoying at Fort Henry ! Captain Walke desired me 
 this evening to remember him to you very warmly ; and the commodore 
 charges me to give ' his love ' to you. 
 
 " Yours respectfully and most truly, S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 " CAIRO, June 21, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR FLAG-OFFICER AND FRIEND, Your kind letter of the loth 
 was received, and ought to have been replied to immediately, but I had 
 not the energy to undertake letter-writing. I have not been at all well 
 for over two months the ' Mississippi River disease' having clung to me 
 with great fondness. As usual, I devote all the energy I possess in my 
 
Correspondence. 335 
 
 particular duties. I hear that you do not contemplate returning to take 
 command again of the ' Foote Flotilla' is this so ? The news comes in 
 a questionable shape, through some indefatigable newspaper reporter or 
 other. I regret that you were not at the taking of Memphis ; it would 
 have been your province to be there ; but you have done enough to let 
 the balance go to some one else. I hope we may see you again among 
 us, if it be for never so brief a period. I was not satisfied with your 
 leave-taking of the fleet. Would you not come back and do it, at any 
 rate, more formally and distinctly presuming, of course, that you pur 
 pose giving up the command ? Very sad news reached us last night. 
 The Mound City received a shot through her steam-drum, up the White 
 River, on the 16th, and lost about one hundred and twenty men and offi 
 cers. Dear old Kilty was badly scalded about the face and hands. All 
 the engineers were killed; and the only officers saved were Kilty, Dom- 
 iny, and a purser's steward, Brown. Master-mate Brown's and Paymas 
 ter Gunn's bodies were brought up last night the last now lies near me 
 at the ordnance store-room door. The rebels shot our poor boys when 
 in the water ; and fired a large sjiot at a boat of the Conestoga that was 
 filled with the scalded, picked up. Several were killed. This was an 
 inhuman act, not to be forgotten by any man in the fleet. The men on 
 board the gun-boats swore vengeance. Colonel Fitch took the batteries 
 that exploded the steam-drum of the Mound-City at the point of the bay 
 onet, killing about a hundred and twenty out of a hundred and fifty 
 rebels. Fry formerly of the Navy who commanded the rebels, was 
 wounded and made prisoner. He, it is said, gave orders to shoot the 
 men in the water. When he was being carried down to the Conestoga's 
 boat, he said, ' I don't wish to be touched by a private.' No sooner said 
 than a soldier drew out his revolver, aimed and fired ; his arm was struck 
 up just in time to save Fry's life. He is now on board the Conestoga. The 
 people of Memphis are becoming reconciled to things as they are. There 
 are not so many nostrils offended by the presence of the Yankees as there 
 were. Coffee, tea, and edibles are coming into use there. This seems to 
 have a pleasant effect. Pennock is quite sick, but nothing serious. Mrs. 
 Wise and Mrs. Pennock left for New York last Monday morning. We 
 miss their faces at our table. We keep you, my dear commodore, always 
 in our remembrance. 
 
 " Yours, sincerely and cordially, J. P. SANFORD." 
 
 z 
 
336 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' MEMPHIS, June 23, 1862. 
 " FLAG-OFFICER A. H. FOOTE, U. S. K : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I have been influenced to-day with varied feelings by 
 the arrival of an appointment as flag-officer for Commodore Davis. I had 
 foreseen that the Department would relieve you upon the certificate of 
 * necessity,' because you would give yourself no rest, but let an uneasy 
 mind and an anxious heart prey upon your feeble strength. Once free of 
 all care or thought of responsibility, and with no hope deferred as to when 
 you would return to the command, we may hope that you will mend 
 apace. I have feared this hope might not be realized, yet now I look 
 forward with confidence. There can be no contradiction in saying that, 
 while I esteem it great good fortune to be associated as I am with so 
 superior an officer as the commodore, and one too whom I so much like, 
 I yet feel a disappointment, that there is no shaking off, in the breaking 
 up of relations formed in a fullness of purpose and cemented by kindness. 
 We all probably indulge the imagination in pictures of what is to come, 
 and mark out a future associated with the friends about us. I have done 
 this in this war with an intensity the greater because of its stern realities, 
 and the entire manner in which the sense of duty had taken possession 
 of my mind. When you induced me to withdraw that application, I 
 did it designing to return to my duty in these waters with still greater 
 earnestness of purpose ; but the whole future was to be inseparably con 
 nected with you. Whatever I might hope the flotilla would accomplish, 
 it was with you as leader. All we have passed through since you left us 
 has not sufficed to turn my thoughts from the plans and wishes for the 
 future confidently built upon months since. It does not yet seem natural 
 that some one else should appear as chief actor in the scene. I have 
 more reason than all others combined to feel your absence, and I have 
 more acts of benefit and kindness to remember and cherish than they ; 
 and I too have more reason to feel grateful for the foresight and solici 
 tude that so soon led you to apply for and secure Commodore Davis for 
 your relief. I have fallen upon a strange strain, terribly egotistic, in 
 which I shall fail to make myself understood. A few words would have 
 told all better. 
 
 " The hospital-boat was dispatched from here last evening to get the 
 poor sufferers from the Mound City to more comfortable quarters. That 
 has been the most terrible event known in these waters. No imagina 
 tion can picture to itself the condition of those burned, scalded, and 
 wounded who still live. It is the most piteous spectacle human Buffering 
 
Correspondence. 337 
 
 could present. Poor Kilty was, they said, doing well; but he suffers 
 terribly. His heart is as tender as a woman's. Scarcely any of them are 
 recognizable. Dr. Jones is more prostrate than Captain Kilty, and less 
 likely to survive. Mr. Dominy, first master, happened to be on deck, 
 and escaped. One engineer, the carpenter, and one other officer are still 
 alive, but most sadly burned. One hundred and twelve have died thus 
 far. The Sisters of Charity, who came down at once, advised all being 
 sent to the Mound City Hospital, which they represent now as very per 
 fect for its purposes. The Cincinnati is in White River with the St. Loui* 
 and Lexington. A crew is here for the Mound City, and will be sent down 
 to-morrow. The White River has fallen so much that our vessels are 
 obliged to leave it. I presume we will move down the river soon, as this 
 place may be considered safe. General Grant arrived here last evening, 
 and takes command. Our troops are not very strong here, but will soon 
 be increased. Colonel Webster is military commandant at Memphis (lo 
 cal). The place has rapidly improved since our arrival. There is one 
 thing very evident that it was unfortunate for the rebel cause that the 
 gun-boats should have chosen this spot for their fighting ground. There 
 were too many witnesses. Captain Dove flourishes here. Walke is a 
 perfect ship-keeper. There is a prospect that the Eastport will be ready 
 in ' one month.' I flatter myself that I have arranged our quarters on 
 board of her so as to promise the greatest amount of comfort. The 
 Bragg has been fitted up with extra accommodations for the flag-officer 
 in case of need. The Price will be repaired is now in Cairo so that 
 we shall have to thank the rebels for three rams, to say nothing of the 
 Little Eebel. I will now arrange with Commodore Davis about the mess 
 affairs, and will have the ration matters settled, so as to send to you the 
 proper amount. Your kind proposition, so far as regards myself my 
 share is so like you that I recognize the same spirit of increasing kind 
 ness. The mortars I will send to New Haven by express. Is there any 
 thing else here ? I do trust this will find you greatly improved. 
 
 " Respectfully and very truly yours, S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 "WASHINGTON, June 24, 1862. 
 
 "My DEAB Sm, I regret that through any inadvertence or informality 
 you should have suffered a moment's uneasiness. On receiving your let 
 ter proposing to relinquish your command, I gave the matter full consid 
 eration ; and while I deeply regretted the necessity, I came to the con 
 clusion that you had acted wisely, and that it was due to you and to the 
 
338 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 service that you should be relieved from all care until your system had 
 recovered its vigor. When this decision was reached, the mere routine 
 letters were prepared and sent ; but when I reached home that evening, 
 and had a moment to myself, I felt it right to express my feelings and 
 opinions in a free and less formal manner in regard to the great service 
 you had rendered. This I followed up with an additional line the next 
 morning. 
 
 " I might, perhaps, have embodied some of the views and thoughts 
 that naturally presented themselves in my official letter, but I think it 
 better as it is. The history of events that have occurred during your 
 active command on the Mississippi and its tributaries is yet to be writ 
 ten ; and if my life and health are spared to a season of greater leisure, I 
 hope I may be able to do yourself and others justice. Should it not sur 
 vive, the hasty notes I have addressed to you will be testimony from one 
 who, better than any one else perhaps, knows of the difficulties and em 
 barrassments which beset you ; and there were some connected with the 
 anomalous organization of the flotilla that (even) you can hardly be 
 aware of. Every step I have watched with inexpressible solicitude ; for 
 I was, of course, held accountable for your success. Had you made a 
 false step, or been unfortunate, the censorious would have held me re 
 sponsible for your acts. I was willing to assume that responsibility, and 
 have not been disappointed. 
 
 " I believe the public justly appreciate your labors and sufferings, and 
 will be ready to manifest it. They should ; for all honor to the men who 
 peril their lives for their country. Those of us who labor in another 
 sphere must be content to witness the applause bestowed on those w T hom 
 we have had the good fortune or sagacity to select, for it reflects credit 
 on ourselves. I have been very proud of your achievements in every 
 respect. 
 
 " 27th. I was interrupted the other evening, and meeting your broth 
 er the following morning, I had discarded my letter ; but finding it on 
 my table this evening, I conclude to send it. 
 
 " I was extremely glad to meet your brother, and to hear from him that 
 you are so rapidly improving. We shall, I trust, have the pleasure of 
 seeing you here before a great while, but first take care of your health ; 
 get that fully re-established and your wound well. There is a good deal 
 yet to be done, I apprehend, before this causeless and wicked rebellion 
 is suppressed. Certainly our Navy has great labor in future, and its best 
 men will be required to give it efficiency and character. It is evident 
 
Correspondence. 339 
 
 from what has transpired on our Western waters, that the Navy, as a means 
 of national unity and strength, has an importance that few had anticipated 
 before these domestic troubles developed its capabilities. "We all know 
 its value and necessity for exterior purposes, but were not aware of its 
 internal strength in sustaining the government. Our armies in the West 
 would have been comparatively powerless without the gun-boats, and no 
 future conspiracy can make such formidable headway, if, availing our 
 selves of the wisdom derived from experience, we shall be prepared with 
 a proper naval armament on the interior waters. 
 
 " I trust it will benefit you to get home and visit old scenes, breathe 
 the natal air, and meet early friends. You will have more leisure than 
 myself, and must write ine freely and without reserve, making such 
 suggestions and giving such advice as your experience and observation 
 authorize, and as you believe will be valuable. 
 
 " Hoping we may see you before a great while, and glad to learn that 
 your health continues to improve, I am very truly and sincerely yours, 
 
 " GIDEON WELLES." 
 
 " WASHINGTON, July 4, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, Congress has just passed a bill for reorganizing the 
 Navy Department. You will have seen it perhaps; but if not, you will, 
 from your familiarity with the service, understand its general provisions. 
 I am desirous of gathering here as our Board of Admiralty the very 
 best men that we have. The Chiefs of Bureaus must constitute the ad 
 visory and suggestive counselors of the Department. Our country is 
 to be one of the great maritime powers of the world, and must have a 
 Navy commensurate with its strength and position as a nation. This 
 domestic war and attending events are creating a revolution in many 
 respects in our Navy, and it becomes important that we take a new de 
 parture. The bill alluded to is a pioneer measure, and if we can get the 
 Department properly officered and manned, we shall make a successful 
 beginning. 
 
 " I doubt if you would render more valuable service to the country 
 elsewhere than in Washington at this juncture, or perhaps at any period. 
 The Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting is one requiring administrative 
 ability, and must necessarily be one of the most important, if not the 
 most important, pillars of the Department and the service. 
 
 " Are you disposed to take this position, and give us your talents and 
 experience in the creation and government of a Navy that shall be wor- 
 
34 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 thy of the country ? Take the matter into consideration, and write me 
 as soon as you conveniently can on the subject. 
 
 "The hard fighting at Kichmond has not given us all we wished. 
 The loss on both sides has been very severe. 
 
 " Hoping to hear from you soon, I am very truly your friend, 
 
 "GIDEON WELLES. 
 " Commodore Foote, New Haven, Conn." 
 
 "WASHINGTON, July 5, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAK FOOTE, I have yours of the 2d instant. I have no time 
 to write. I am sad at our reverse at Richmond. The gun-boat came to 
 the rescue, after all. I fear if we do not capture Richmond in twenty 
 days, we shall have more trouble than we bargained for or expected. 
 
 " The Secretary has invited you to the Bureau of Equipment. I hope 
 you will take it but you can have any thing you want. How Congress 
 cut at the Navy pay, while nothing is said of the respect the Army receives 
 over the Navy. I am getting old and useless, besides am troubled with 
 vertigo. Regards to madam. 
 
 " Yours as always, in haste, JOSEPH SMITH." 
 
 " U. S. STEAMER ' BENTON,' NEAR VICKSBURG, } 
 July 6, 1862. \ 
 
 " FLAG-OFFICER A. H. FOOTE, U. S. N., New Haven, Conn. : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, Now that the ' Line Bill ' has passed at least one of 
 the Houses of Congress, I may hope soon to escape the annoyance of 
 writing so awkward a title before your name. 
 
 " I have missed you so much in this meeting of the two fleets, an event 
 so strange in all its historical bearings. Though not here, your works 
 are here to represent you. The Benton, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Caron- 
 delet, with the provision and ordnance boats and six mortar-boats, left 
 Memphis on the 29th, arriving here on the 1st inst. The Conestoga has 
 since come down from White River. This is our force. At this point, 
 some five or six miles above Yicksburg, we found Flag-Officer Farragut's 
 fleet, which had run the blockade some three days before or, rather, eight 
 vessels of his fleet his flag flying on board the Hartford. You may sup 
 pose there was great cheering at the 'meeting.' The lower fleet has 
 vessels of the class of the Richmond, Iroquois, and Winona, all beautiful 
 specimens of their class. How great the contrast of the two forces ! We 
 found the officers discouraged about the place they had passed, and all 
 of the opinion that nothing could be done except with the aid of a land 
 
Correspondence. 341 
 
 force. The batteries are on bluffs, much scattered, and covered by a large 
 army. These bluffs do not rise abruptly, but with a slope such that the 
 batteries, placed at some distance from the river, sweep the slope and river 
 shores. The fleet had suffered considerable loss, and had inflicted little or 
 no injury ; and the question is asked, ' For what purpose did the fleet come 
 above the batteries ?' The flotilla already controlled the river above. I 
 shall surprise you very much by telling you that the ' New Orleans fleet ' 
 is ' at sixes and sevens.' Farragut's system seems to be embraced in the 
 order to Captain Preble : ' Follow the Kennebec, and fire at any thing you 
 see.' His vessels can not attack down stream any better than ours, and 
 can not fire ahead ; they must, therefore, again run the gauntlet, and, 
 turning below, attack again batteries made stronger than when the fleet 
 came up. There is a great deal of gossip among the officers. Captain 
 Craven has differed with the flag-officer, and, after failing to get by the 
 batteries the other day, has demanded leave, and has actually gone home. 
 There are criminations and recriminations. I am happy to inform you 
 that our flotilla manifests its lessons under your hands, and has no outside 
 gossip in return for the abundance offered by the lower fleet. It is pre 
 sumed that the fleet will not linger here, but will run back to below the 
 batteries very soon. One thousand negroes are working hard upon a 
 canal across the point here (one and a quarter miles long), which, if suc 
 cessful, will leave Vicksburg some four or five miles from the river. Com 
 modore Porter is shelling the batteries and town from below, and Mayna- 
 dier from above. We are soon to go up the Yazoo to destroy the Arkan 
 sas and clear the river out. It is expected that a large land force will 
 reach here from above. The Lexington is in White River. Colonel Fitch 
 has some 3000 or 4000 men, but will have to retire, the river being too low 
 for navigation. Nothing of the Essex yet. The Eastport will be ready in 
 time if enough be given. The Sumter is on the way down, and the Bragg 
 leaves Cairo to-day. The St. Louis and Mound City are at Memphis, and 
 the Cairo at Fort Pillow. The Pittsburg is at Cairo for repairs. Commo 
 dore Davis desires me to give you his best love, and to say that he gladly 
 accepts your proposition about the mess. I have some ration-money be 
 longing to you ; as soon as it is settled with Henriques, I will forward it 
 to you. I have written at length, but I hope not to tire you. I am most 
 anxious to hear from you, and learn how the change has effected you, and 
 how your recovery progresses, as are all in the flotilla. 
 
 " Respectfully and most sincerely yours, 
 
 " S. L. PHELPS." 
 
342 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 We see by this letter that there can be anger in celestial 
 minds, and that our naval heroes, like those of the Homeric 
 fleet, had their little bickerings and rivalries among themselves ; 
 but these letters from Foote's officers, and those that follow, 
 prove how deep a hold their late commander had of their af 
 fections. They show how kind-hearted and great-hearted was 
 the man who could call forth such expressions. He still led 
 them in spirit ; they still looked to him for encouragement and 
 inspiration. There is a genuine ring of the heart in these let 
 ters ; they are not servile flatteries of one who no longer con 
 trolled them, or from whom they expected to gain any thing. 
 They came from real esteem and love, and from the grateful 
 memory of long-continued kindness and friendship. It is not 
 often that a military leader has such a profound personal rela 
 tionship to those under him, which shows something more than 
 a confidence in his ability or an admiration of his courage 
 it shows the possession in him of high moral qualities. We 
 will give at this time but one other brief extract from the let 
 ters of his officers from the brave Captain Gwin, who soon 
 after was killed in a naval combat on the Mississippi : 
 
 " You may rest assured that the laurels won by the flotilla under your 
 command will never be tarnished." 
 
 Those who saw Commodore Foote when he first returned 
 from the West were struck by the excessive pallor of his face, 
 the unnatural brilliancy of his eyes, and the sternness of his 
 expression. It seemed as if he had passed through a fiery or 
 deal, and had not yet escaped the sense of its tremendous press 
 ure. He had come home with a work unfulfilled. He had 
 come with a prophet's burden on him to arouse the country to 
 greater exertions for its salvation. While cheerful and gentle, 
 and courteous far beyond his strength in seeing and entertain 
 ing his friends, it was evident that his mind was preoccupied 
 with a great purpose ; and this, combined with his ill-health 
 
Thanks of Congress. 343 
 
 and constant suffering from his wound, produced a high-strung 
 state of mind and body, which both awed and saddened those 
 who knew and loved him best. 
 
 Public invitations, honors, and ovations began to pour in 
 upon him, some of which will be noticed in the following chap 
 ter ; but he declined most of them, or those of them which 
 did not have a direct bearing upon popular sentiment, and the 
 stirring up of the public mind to more devoted love of the 
 Union and to greater sacrifices in carrying on the war. 
 
 In the beginning of July the President sent to the Senate 
 and House of Representatives the following recommendation : 
 
 u I most cordially recommend that Captain Andrew H. Foote, of the 
 U. S. Navy, receive a vote of thanks of Congress for his eminent services 
 in organizing the flotilla on the Western waters, and for his gallantry at 
 Fort Henry, Fort Donelson. Island No. Ten, and at various other places, 
 while in command of the naval forces, embracing a period of nearly ten 
 months. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 " Washington, July 1, 1862." 
 
 This was acted upon in the following resolution : 
 
 " Resolved ly the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
 of America, in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and the 
 same are hereby tendered to Captain Andrew H. Foote, of the United 
 States Navy, for his eminent services and gallantry at Fort Henry, Fort 
 Donelson, and Island No. Ten, while in command of the naval forces of 
 the United States. 
 
 "SEC. 2. And le it further resolved, That the President of the United 
 States be, and he is hereby requested to transmit a certified copy of the 
 foregoing resolution to Captain Foote. 
 
 " Approved July 16, 1862." 
 
CHAPTEE XXYI. 
 
 APPOINTED CHIEF OF BUREAU OF EQUIPMENT AND RECRUITING. 
 
 SPEECHES AND LETTERS AT ENLISTMENT MEETINGS. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. ALUMNI MEETING AT YALE 
 
 COLLEGE. APPOINTED REAR-ADMIRAL. 
 
 ON the 22d of July Commodore Foote was made Chief of 
 the " Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting ;" but he did not 
 go at once to his post in Washington. His physical system 
 was in a totally unstrung and wretched state, and he hoped 
 by good nursing at-home to be brought into a better condition 
 for public ser\ 7 ice. The government, as w r ill be seen by the 
 following letter, was, under the circumstances, willing to wait 
 for him : 
 
 " WASHINGTON, July 24, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I have yours of the 22d, and am glad to learn that 
 you are so rapidly improving. Under the circumstances, I should ad 
 vise that you should remain until the time specified by you the 6th of 
 August. We should be glad to have you here, but there is no sufficient 
 reason to jeopard or retard your permanent cure. Until you come, the 
 Construction Bureau will discharge the duties of Equipment as hereto 
 fore, and we will attend to Recruiting in the Department proper ; so that 
 you can remain satisfied and undisturbed. I shall be glad to have your 
 counsel and advice on many matters, for concentrated wisdom and the 
 results of many good minds strengthen measures and insure good action. 
 
 "How effective light -draft boats, which can not carry heavy arma 
 ment, may be on the Western rivers, in low stages of the water and the 
 banks high, is a question. They can do some service doubtless; but 
 more, I apprehend, would be expected than they could perform. Instead 
 of being incidental to land operations, the Navy is, from events, consid 
 ered primary and indispensable to Army operations. They tell us the 
 Navy took New Orleans ; why can it not take Richmond ? It overcame 
 
Presiding at an Enlistment Meeting. 345 
 
 obstructions on the Mississippi ; why can it not overcome them on James 
 River ? Having clone more than was expected, it is now expected we 
 will do impossibilities. 
 
 " But to revert to the object of this letter. It is best that you should 
 take your own time to come on. I know you will do it at such time as 
 you are satisfied it will be best for yourself and the service. 
 
 " Very respectfully, GIDEON WELLES." 
 
 But our wearied veteran was not suffered to enjoy perfect 
 rest even at home. It was a time of uncommon excitement, 
 uncertainty, and despondency in war matters. The cry was 
 " On to Richmond ;" but the Union armies seemed to advance 
 no nearer to Richmond than they had done months before. 
 Vast preparations and expectations had been bitterly foiled. 
 Great numbers of troops were needed to fill up the voids made 
 by sickness and battles in our hosts. Immense war-meetings 
 were organized in all our large cities, and every means was 
 taken to arouse popular enthusiasm and to swell enlistment. 
 At one of these great enlistment meetings, called on the even 
 ing of the 8th of July, in New Haven, Commodore Foote pre 
 sided. In the newspaper account of this meeting the presiding 
 officer is thus spoken of : 
 
 " The meeting in Music Hall last evening, called by a number of 
 prominent citizens, to take into consideration the subject of raising the 
 Connecticut quota of the troops called for by the President, was fully 
 attended and very enthusiastic. Commodore A. H. Foote, as before an 
 nounced, presided. His entrance upon the stage was the signal for pro 
 longed and vociferous cheering. The meeting was called to order by N. 
 D. Sperry, who proposed three cheers for the gallant commodore of the 
 "Western waters, which were given with a will. 
 
 " Commodore Foote briefly addressed the audience. He was pleased 
 to see so many ladies present. It was an encouraging sign. He felt diffi 
 dent in attempting to preside at so large an assembly. His life had been 
 mostly upon the water, and his speaking had been confined to giving a 
 few peremptory orders. He spoke in complimentary terms of Governor 
 Buckingham, who sat near him. He spoke in terms of highest praise of 
 Secretary Welles. Connecticut was honored by such a son. He referred 
 
346 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 to Commodore Gregory, who regretted that he could not be here to 
 night his duty in superintending some monitors, that will give the 
 English, French, and every body else who may have the temerity to in 
 terfere with us, a warm reception, calling him away from the city. The 
 commodore concluded his remarks with an expression of his belief in the 
 justice of the cause of the Union, and his firm reliance upon divine Prov 
 idence for ultimate success." 
 
 Earnest and patriotic speeches were made by Governor 
 Buckingham and others, and at the close the following resolu 
 tion was passed : 
 
 " Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting are due, and are hereby 
 most heartily tendered to our presiding officer, Commodore Foote not 
 only for his dignified and courteous demeanor this evening, but also for 
 the invaluable services which he has rendered to our country." 
 
 In a day or two after, a similar war-meeting was held in 
 Hartford, during which the president of the evening read, 
 amid great applause, this letter : 
 
 " NEW HAVEN, July 9, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, Your kind and complimentary note of invitation, in 
 behalf of the committee, to attend a meeting in the city of Hartford to 
 morrow evening for the purpose of encouraging enlistments, has been re 
 ceived. 
 
 " In view of the condition of the country, requiring immediate rein 
 forcements to the Army of the Potomac to secure the possession of Rich 
 mond, the great stronghold of the rebels, I would, under other circum 
 stances, most joyfully be with you, and add my mite toward forwarding 
 the grand object of your meeting ; but having been forced away from 
 my command on the Mississippi, on the eve of consummating its grand 
 object of clearing the Western rivers of all rebel obstructions in con 
 sequence of a wound received at Fort Donelson ; and suffering to-day 
 from the effects of presiding at the large, enthusiastic meeting here last 
 evening, render it my duty to decline your kind invitation. But, al 
 though necessarily absent, I shall be with you in sympathy ; and in an 
 other field I hope soon, in action, to do my part, as I hope and beg that 
 every citizen will also do his, either in person or by finding a substitute, 
 toward speedily and forever crushing this wicked, causeless rebellion. 
 
C orrespondence. 347 
 
 Let the ladies urge the young men to the field by their persuasive influ 
 ence ; or, if necessary to secure the quota assigned our state, let them 
 decline the attentions of young gentlemen until they shall go and return , 
 from the field of battle having vindicated the honor of our flag, and 
 contributed their part toward transmitting to posterity the rich legacy of 
 that free government which our fathers have bequeathed to us at the sac 
 rifice of much of their best blood and treasure. 
 
 " We ask nothing for the Navy, which, under the efficient administra 
 tion of Secretary Welles, of whom Hartford, the State of Connecticut, and 
 the nation may justly be proud, is ready to do its part in the future, as it 
 has done it in the past, toward vindicating our flag and sustaining the su 
 premacy of the laws. And shall we now, after so many glorious victories, 
 suffer an ignominious defeat for want of a timely reinforcement to the 
 Army ? No ! we spurn the thought. We will furnish the gallant McClel- 
 lan with men ; and, patriots of Connecticut, let us rush to the rescue, and 
 the God of Battles will continue to crown our arms with victory en 
 abling us to sustain our proud position, against enemies internal and ex 
 ternal, as one of the most powerful nations of the earth. 
 
 " I am respectfully and very truly yours, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " Hon. William J. Hamersley, Mayor of Hartford." 
 
 We will not mention other meetings, which, were character 
 istic of the times, and in which the letters of the fighting com 
 modore whatever may be thought of them in other respects 
 were "weighty" were full of spirit and fire, and stirred 
 the country like the blast of a trumpet. 
 
 In the mean time letters from the West, detailing in full the 
 operations of the flotilla, continued to come, as if distance and 
 separation made no difference in the feeling of unity between 
 him and his " old command." We have space but for extracts 
 from one of these : 
 
 " U. S. FLAG-STEAMER ' BENTON,' MISSISSIPPI RIVER, ) 
 July 29, 1862. j 
 
 " FLAG-OFFICER A. H. FOOTE, U. S. N., New Haven, Conn. : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I had the great pleasure to receive your letter of the 
 19th instant this morning, and I am most grateful to you for it. I am 
 attempting to answer it under difficulties, having a felon upon the fore- 
 
348 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 finger of my right hand. I am very glad, indeed, to hear of your im 
 proved health, and that the foot is mending. Count the months since 
 you were wounded ; does it not seem an age ? and all so different now 
 from what we hoped for after the fall of Donelson. ... I wrote to you a 
 short time since, which letter, I believe, shared the fate of the Sallie Wood, 
 fired into and burned on her way up to Memphis. Should I be in error, 
 you will know why I go back over most of our stay at Vicksburg. 
 
 "Before we went down, a plan had been made by Flag-Officer Da 
 vis for an expedition up the Yazoo River, intending to destroy the 
 enemy's vessels there, and especially the Arkansas. . . . Refugees brought 
 very contradictory reports about the Arkansas; but Commodore Davis, 
 seeing that the lower fleet remained quietly above, resolved upon a 
 move up the Yazoo, and first dispatched a reconnoitring force to as 
 certain the strength of the batteries covering the obstructions, and to 
 learn generally what force to send up. The Taylor and ram Queen of the 
 West were to go on this reconnoissance, while the Carondelet should go 
 up to the mouth of the ' old' river, and remain till the return of the first 
 two. The boats left here at 4 A.M., and before 6 A.M. began firing, as 
 we supposed, on guerrillas, bushwhackers, or the like. We, however, 
 soon ordered steam up. It appears that the boats met the Arkansas very 
 soon ; that she had a few minutes' fight with the Carondelet at close quar 
 ters, in which she (the Arkansas) seems to have got holes below the water- 
 line, as they were seen pumping and bailing ; and that, after shoving the 
 Carondelet on shore, she pushed on, now using her two bow guns with 
 effect on the old Taylor's square stern at some two hundred yards' dis 
 tance. Gwin made a good fight. The ram Queen ran away on the begin 
 ning of the firing. They were soon down upon us. Not one of the 
 lower fleet had fires kindled. The old Benton smoked vigorously; still 
 there was not steam to move her huge hulk ; and other vessels had so 
 crowded about us that we could not slip and drop down with the cur 
 rent till such time as steam was ready, and by the time we began to 
 move the rebel was a mile below. He had received the fire of Farragut's 
 fleet, scarcely one doing him harm except the Richmond, Captain Alden, 
 whose broadside made the iron fly splendidly whole bars going up 
 twenty feet in the air. It was hard times with the rebel evidently. None 
 of his shot hurt any one on board the vessels at anchor, or did damage 
 worth mentioning. One cut away a stanchion for us, and left its traces 
 on the back of my sack-coat so much for the favors of my friend Brown. 
 We followed the Arkansas down till fired upon by the batteries. She 
 
Correspondence. 349 
 
 had escaped. ... It was settled that we at six o'clock should engage the 
 upper batteries while the lower fleet was passing, which would leave am 
 ple daylight for them to see the rebel gun-boat, which is painted an earth 
 color, not distinguishable at night. Anchors were suspended from main- 
 yards, and grapplings from the cross-jack yards ; in short, most elaborate 
 preparations were made for the advantage of the rebel intruder, and none 
 could doubt of its immediate destruction. One grand ram, the Sumtw, 
 was loaned for the occasion. At six o'clock we were under way ; and, 
 while the sun still blazed in his glory, were again in hot exchange of 
 compliments with the enemy's battery of six rifled guns. No vessels of 
 the other fleet moved yet, and for three quarters of an hour we were still 
 watching to see them come. At last, as the twilight began, they started, 
 and we could scarcely tell when the foremost vessel passed the upper 
 battery, and saw nothing of the hindmost ones. The thing was a failure. 
 We had no need of reports from below to tell us that. . . . The next night 
 came and passed undisturbed by one sullen sound. The day after there 
 were still threats of destruction to the horned enemy ; and this went 
 on till, finally, the Essex and ram Queen of the West made their attempt. 
 This was against Commodore Davis's judgment. Flag -Officer Far- 
 ragut himself came up, spent most of the day with Commodore Da 
 vis, and matured a plan of attack, which was this : The Essex and ram 
 Queen of the West were to go down and attack the Arkansas at daylight 
 next morning, we covering them at the upper batteries, while the lower 
 fleet should attack the lower batteries, and prevent them firing with ef 
 fect on the attacking boats. The Sumter was also to go up to assist. 
 . . . Morning came ; we engaged the upper batteries ; the Essex and 
 ram Queen in due time passed down. No guns from the lower fleet 
 could be heard ; we continued to listen in vain, and our hearts grew 
 heavy. Our two vessels, unsustained, could not endure the fire of both 
 batteries and rebel gun-boat. The rebel fire was very heavy. Presently 
 the Queen came up badly shattered. She had struck the rebel, but not 
 effectively; and in the terrible fire upon her could not renew the at 
 tempt. The Essex had poured her fire into the enemy, but in the swift 
 current could not be managed well enough to lay by the fellow, enduring 
 the while the terrible raking fire of those lower batteries as well as of the 
 others. The lower fleet was at anchor ; the Sumter not to be seen. It is 
 a fact worthy of notice that when the Queen struck the Arkansas, half the 
 crew jumped overboard. The Essex's shot made big holes in her sides, 
 and cries were heard on board. No explanation was made of the failure 
 
35 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 of the lower fleet to do its part in the attack. The Sumter's orders re 
 quired her to wait till that fleet should open upon the lower batteries, 
 which was to have been simultaneous with our fire upon the upper works, 
 when she was to push up to the attack. Erben waited vainly for the 
 concerted signal. I am told that Commodore Davis's letter was construed 
 as a request to make no attack on the lower batteries. Knowing the plan, 
 as I have described it to you, however imperfectly, is it possible to render 
 it in that manner ? It was no part of the plan to pass those batteries, but 
 to attack them at twelve hundred or fifteen hundred yards from below. 
 The whole thing was a fizzle. My growl is done. The lower fleet left, 
 and not a vessel was sunk in the attempt to take the Arkansas. The land 
 force also left. Of three thousand two hundred men, only eight hundred 
 remained on duty. It now became proper to consider the state of the 
 flotilla, and what it could effect. Five of the thirteen vessels were un 
 dergoing repairs ; two of them had got below Vicksburg, uselessly on the 
 failure of the lower fleet, and of course could not get back. Of the six 
 remaining vessels, one is at Fort Pillow, another at Memphis, and four 
 with us. Evidently we could do nothing with Vicksburg without a land 
 force. Forty per cent, of our people were already sick with the fever. 
 General Curtis had been forced from the interior of Arkansas back upon 
 the Mississippi, at Helena, and evidently is pressed by superior numbers. 
 Our vessels on the river were being fired into at various points by field 
 batteries. We had no gun-boats with which to convoy, or even to keep 
 open communications. No good could arise from remaining where we 
 were; but co-operation with General Curtis offered a field, and the cli 
 mate at the same time would no doubt be beneficial to our numerous 
 sick. Evidently our vessels were soon to be entirely disabled by sick- 
 ness if we should remain where we were. For these reasons we are now 
 on our way to Helena, Arkansas. 
 
 " However much this long letter may bore you, I trust you will give me 
 credit for persistence, at least, for writing it has been a painful undertak 
 ing. I feel keenly what reflects upon the flotilla. The escape of the Ar 
 kansas is very annoying. It should, however, be remembered that it was 
 impossible to keep steam up to 120 or 130 Ibs., while the low,er fleet 
 put out fires. 
 
 " I have read with interest your speech at New Haven and your pub 
 lished letters. You have planted yourself firmly in the hearts of the peo 
 ple, and I have no doubt you will always be foremost there. When will 
 you go to Washington ? Do not forget the flotilla when you have the 
 
Letter from Commodore Paulding. 351 
 
 cares of the Bureau upon you. I am ever mindful of the debts I owe 
 your friendship, and trust I shall not prove unworthy to retain my place 
 in your esteem. 
 
 " Respectfully and most truly yours, S. L. PHELPS." 
 
 The foregoing is an inside view, written evidently with a 
 sore mind, of the unsuccessful attempts of the gun-boats, sin 
 gle-handed, to do any thing toward the capture of Vicksburg 
 it remained for General Grant to throw the weight of his 
 sword into the scale. The Arkansas fairly caught the vessels 
 napping, and, coming upon them so unexpectedly, was able to 
 drive her furious, and, as it actually proved, destructive way 
 through the fleets. The first attempt of Farragut to destroy 
 her was unsuccessful, doubtless owing to the darkness; and 
 the second attempt by Davis was not followed up by a general 
 attack of the lower fleet, owing, it would seem, to a misunder 
 standing; however, this letter of an able officer and honest 
 man, written though it may be from a partisan stand-point, 
 is one of the data upon which reliable history must be formed. 
 His strictures are not to be carelessly disregarded or con 
 temned. 
 
 This friendly letter from Commodore Paulding is a sample 
 of the hearty and brotherly style of correspondence and inter 
 course that, for some reason or other, prevails in the Navy, in 
 which, if we mistake not, there is more of real esprit de corps 
 than even in the Army ; the heart speaks right out, and there 
 is an almost womanish tenderness among men who have seen 
 danger and toil in their sternest aspects : 
 
 " NAVY YARD, NEW YORK, July 27, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR FLAG-OFFICER, I was charmed to get your letter yester 
 day, which I scarcely deserved for having so long omitted to tender you 
 my congratulations on your safe return to your home, family, and friends. 
 For one, I long felt great solicitude about you, and feared there were 
 many chances against a partial recovery even of your limbs ; and when 
 you told me of swelling, fever, and loss of appetite, I feared greatly for 
 
 AA 
 
352 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 the gallant friend whose deeds have swelled my heart with pride and 
 pleasure. 
 
 " I am glad they have paid you the compliment of placing you at the 
 head of a Bureau, and am sure that any place you may assume will be 
 well filled ; and yet for your health, and for the service that we want you 
 to perform, might well question the propriety of your doing any thing 
 just now to irritate your lameness or hazard your permanent cure at an 
 early day. To go from your home in Washington, wherever it may be, to 
 the Department, in the condition your foot is in, may do this ; and, with 
 all my interest in what may concern your present pride and dignity, I 
 could have wished they had let you alone until you had time to get well. 
 You could well help on at the West when there was so much to be done 
 fighting and working on crutches while there was any thing left of you ; 
 but now, in a different position in public life, they should let you alone, 
 or give you the nominal supervision of your Bureau. 
 
 " I have tried to write every day since your letter came, but my inter 
 ruptions are so continual that I am eye and head weary. 
 
 " I had a letter from yesterday from Mosquito Inlet, where he 
 
 is commander-in-chief, and so desperately in love with his wife that 
 nothing but a fight, I should think, would take the homesickness out of 
 him. 
 
 " I read to Leonard what you said of him. He made no reply, but 
 is always full of admiration of your naval skill and cool, determined 
 valor. 
 
 " The only picture I have in my house is yours. Come and see it, if 
 you can, when you pass on. I will give you good quarters and hearty wel 
 come. Your friend Captain Boggs, of the tug, has just stepped in. He 
 says there is nobody like you. I write in some haste. My kind congrat 
 ulations and all my good wishes to Mrs. Foote, Petite, and the boy. * 
 
 " Your friend, H. PAULDING." 
 
 During these years of the war, and especially the eventful 
 year 1862, when the country was passing through its profound- 
 est crisis, every convocation of the people political, religious, 
 or educational partook of the warlike and patriotic character 
 of the times. The country's safety was the uppermost topic. 
 The toga then yielded to arms. The men of action went 
 before the men of thought. The churches were assemblies of 
 
Commencement Day at Yale College. 353 
 
 those who prayed for the success of the Union arms or sought 
 strength to make great sacrifices. The colleges and schools 
 of learning were filled with this patriotic and martial spirit. 
 The Commencement Day of Yale College in New Haven 
 this year occurred on the 30th of July. There was a large 
 gathering of the alumni of the college ; and although the usual 
 business of the meeting was duly dispatched, evidently the 
 great controlling object of the assembly was that of the coun 
 try's condition. This was the gravitating current of every ad 
 dress and the intense thought of every heart. Those present 
 will not forget the impressive scene when, advancing slowly 
 through the crowd of scholars and civilians, Commodore Foote 
 made his way on crutches and took his seat upon the platform. 
 For a moment there was a hush of silence, and then a burst of 
 enthusiastic greeting. He was dressed in full uniform. His 
 head, carried erect and proud, his full, black eye, his earnest 
 brow, his pale face, his form bearing the marks of wounds 
 and sufferings, contributed to make a picture both noble and 
 pathetic. 
 
 After a resolution in relation to the public exigency had 
 been introduced and spoken upon by Hon. W. W. Ellsworth, 
 Prof. Thacher rose and quoted the Latin phrase, " Ex pede 
 Herculem" which the audience translated by loud cries of 
 "Foote!" 
 
 He thereupon arose and spoke briefly. He referred to the 
 advantages of a college education in every department and 
 business of life, and paid a tribute to Yale as not forgetting 
 the claims of a practical nature upon every true man, and 
 the good of the country and of humanity, in her method of 
 education. He spoke also of the Western campaign, gave 
 high praise to General Halleck, and urged on educated young 
 men the necessity of engaging at this critical hour in the serv 
 ice of the country. He concluded by an allusion to his old 
 friend President Roberts, of Liberia, who was seated near him. 
 
354 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 On that day, 30th of July although the appointment dated 
 back to the 16th he officially received the appointment of 
 Hear- Admiral on the Active List. 
 
 He had thus risen to the highest rank belonging to his pro 
 fession, and risen, not by a sudden leap, but by regular steps, 
 by filling every subordinate position, by hard labor and toil, 
 by actual worth and noble deeds. ' 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 CONGRATULATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE. SWORD PEESENTATION 
 AT BROOKLYN. 
 
 CONGRATULATORY letters from old friends in great numbers 
 followed upon his new appointment, of which we subjoin two 
 
 or three : 
 
 " WASHINGTON, August 2, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR ADMIRAL, It was my intention to have sent my congratu 
 lations on your promotion with the commission, but my time is not within 
 ' my control. You know that my congratulations and regard are none the 
 less sincere than if earlier tendered. Long may you live to bear the title 
 and wear the honors you have so gallantly earned. 
 
 " I trust your health and wounds continue to improve. It has occurred 
 to me that, under the circumstances of your debility, it might be impru 
 dent for you to come from the North, at this early period, to such an un 
 healthy place as Washington is at this season. Should such be the case, 
 and you would prefer to delay your entrance upon your Bureau duties, I 
 do not think any particular inconvenience would result therefrom for the 
 present. I mention this in order that you may take your own time to 
 come here, for affairs can go on as heretofore for a few weeks without se 
 rious injury. 
 
 " I am in hopes I shall be able to leave Washington the latter part of 
 the month for a week or two. Respectfully, GIDEON WELLES." 
 
 "'SABINE,' NEW LONDON, August 1,1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR ADMIRAL, It is a source of deep regret that I could not 
 make you a visit. A dispatch from the Secretary yesterday, directing 
 me to send ' every available man on board to Cairo, 111., immediately,' gave 
 me, as you may suppose, occupation, and necessitated my foregoing the 
 pleasure of visiting you. 
 
 " My good ship has really created an excitement in New London ; and, 
 touching the facilities of the harbor for naval purposes, it promises great 
 
356 Life of A dmiral Foote. 
 
 advantages. I wish you could have seen my ship. To have had her in 
 spected by you, and to have given you your first salute as an admiral, 
 believe me when I say it, would have been to me most gratifying. Rest 
 ing as the Sdbine does in the waters of your own state, there appears to 
 me something peculiarly appropriate in this, and I lament that your de 
 parture will prevent me having the pleasure of extending the hand to 
 you. Allow me to ask the favor to be very kindly presented to Mrs. 
 Foote, and I wish you to know how pleased I am to address you as Ad 
 miral. Very truly your friend, C. RINGGOLD." 
 
 "FORTRESS MONROE, VA., August 4, 1862. 
 " ADMIRAL FOOTE, U. S. N., New Haven, Conn. : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, It is with great joy I hasten to congratulate my old 
 and esteemed commander and the service and country as well on his 
 well-merited promotion to the high grade of Admiral. I felt when I read 
 the news as if I myself had been honored ; and I think I will hold on 
 to the notion, since I declared when you were put in command at the 
 West that you were the right man for the place, and I accordingly in 
 vested in you my entire stock of confidence. Success is almost certain 
 where professional skill, heroism, and Christian faith are combined. I am 
 sure you will be greatly encouraged to go on in setting us all a high ex 
 ample of what constitutes the true officer. 
 
 " I am paymaster in charge of stores for the squadron, with my stores 
 and clerks on board of s^tore-schooners scattered over all this now exten 
 sive station. I wish you could come here as admiral of the squadron. 
 I learn that Admiral Goldsborough has applied to be relieved. I have 
 been hoping you might come. 
 
 " Very truly and respectfully yours, THOMAS H. TOOKER. 
 
 " P. S. I trust your wounds are healing rapidly." 
 
 "ALBANY, August 12, 1862. 
 
 " REAR-ADMIRAL FOOTE, Is not that a good title ? And how heartily 
 I congratulate you on it, you very well know. 
 
 " I wrote you a few days ago at New Haven, and hope you received the 
 precious document. I leave here on Monday next for Cairo. I go witli 
 heavy heart, in view of the acting-lieutenancy that I still hold ; neverthe 
 less, I go with mind brimful of patriotism. 
 
 " The last pay-bill gives to acting-lieutenants $1875, and a ration when 
 at sea. Is there no way that I can be regarded as on sea-service ? I think 
 
An Appeal from a Son. 357 
 
 I ought to be placed on the sea-list, as all my stores are afloat. I shall be 
 the only sea-officer in the Western flotilla who receives shore pay. You 
 know how responsible my duties are, and how constant they are, and that 
 I deserve the increased pay. I have hope that the next Congress will do 
 me justice. 
 
 " If you get the command of a fleet, recollect that I must go with you. 
 I expect to hear of your having the Hampton Roads fleet any day. I 
 have had such quiet and domestic happiness in my visit hence, that it is 
 hard to leave my family. When leisure and inclination prompt, let me 
 hear from you. Sincerely yours, 
 
 " J. P. SANFORD, Ordnance-Officer of Flotilla." 
 
 The following is a letter of more sombre hue ; and, as a son 
 pleading the cause of a father, it is so noble that we insert it 
 
 here: 
 
 " MISSISSIPPI FLOTILLA, CAIRO, ILL., August 28, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR, ADMIRAL, I have just learned, what you have probably 
 known before, that my father has been considered by the late Advisory 
 Board unfit for promotion to the rank of Commodore in other words, has 
 been overslaughed. 
 
 " I have taken the liberty to address you, for I know you are one of my 
 father's fast friends. By the Retiring Board of 1854, which scrutinized 
 the merits of officers far more strictly than the present Board could have 
 had time to do, nothing was alleged against him. From that time until 
 the breaking out of the present war he was not on duty, notwithstanding 
 repeated applications, because his position in the list obliged him to wait, 
 as you well know, until others above him had been served in turn. 
 
 "At the breaking out of the war father was assigned to the Mississippi. 
 He continued in command for some nine months, when he was suddenly 
 relieved by Captain Melancthon Smith, and ordered home. Upon reach 
 ing Washington, he was informed by the Department that he had been 
 relieved ' upon vague and indefinite rumors ' in relation to the ram Ma- 
 
 " The facts in this instance were, that when the Mississippi was blockad 
 ing off Pass a 1'Outre, the Manasses remained in sight of the Mississippi 
 two days, but all the while inside of the bar. Some newspaper corre 
 spondent reflected severely upon father for not attacking her. There 
 were seventeen feet of water on the bar ; the Mississippi drew twenty-one 
 feet. At the time of the attack upon New Orleans, with every thing out of 
 
358 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 her, it required all her power and that of two other steamers to force her 
 over. Admiral Farragut never made any report in the case, and the whole 
 rests upon the bare statement of an ignorant newspaper correspondent. 
 
 " My father was terribly mortified and chagrined. He told Secretary 
 Welles, and I believe he meant it, that he would rather have been shot 
 than ordered home. 
 
 " You have all the facts as far as I believe that any thing rests against 
 him. 
 
 " No officer in the Navy loves his profession better, or has sought to do 
 his duty more strictly than my father I feel you will agree with me. By 
 accident I happened to see him on his return from the Gulf, and the deep 
 depression of spirits and mortification, which he could not seem to throw 
 off, make me fear that this last blow will be almost too much for him to 
 bear. But there is a good God who rules all things, and it is my prayer 
 that He will not try him without giving to father divine strength to meet 
 this undeserved disgrace with resignation. 
 
 " I would make a personal request of you, my dear sir that you would 
 see the Secretary, and obtain decided information whether father will now 
 be retained in command of the San Francisco for three years or not. It 
 was mother's intention to have joined him in California, with some of the 
 family, the coming October. It will save her much expense, and a long 
 and arduous journey, if you can obtain this information and let her know, 
 directing to the care of J.I. Soley, Esq., Boston. 
 
 " I trust you will excuse this long letter from me. I feel deeply very 
 deeply this blow at father's reputation, because I know it is so entirely 
 undeserved. Father's professional path has in the later years of his life 
 been strewn with thorns ; and to one to whom professional reputation 
 has been so great an object, this last injustice, I know, will bring him in 
 sorrow to the grave. 
 
 " With renewed hopes that you may soon recover that health whose 
 loss you have suffered in the service of our beloved country, 
 
 " I have the honor to be most sincerely your obedient servant, 
 " THOMAS O. SELFRIDGE, Jr., 
 
 " Lieutenant-Commanding U. S. N." 
 
 Such a letter as the foregoing could never have been ad 
 dressed to one who had not the power of drawing out the con 
 fidence of others who had not great simplicity and sympathy. 
 It could not have been written to a mere official, who looked 
 
Letter of David D. Porter. 359 
 
 at things in a routine way, and who had lost the true feelings 
 of a man in a merely quarter-deck view of authority. 
 
 In regard to the flotilla, the correspondence during the sum 
 mer and autumn of 1862, more fitful and far between, is still 
 kept up between Foote and his former associates at the "West. 
 In point of discipline, efficiency, and fighting power, the fleet 
 rather degenerated after the battle of Memphis, chiefly on ac 
 count of the changes among and loss of old officers. The 
 Benton still remained formidable ; the Cairo and Pittsburg 
 were of little use, and the Louisville hardly better ; the Cin 
 cinnati leaked badly after coming off the stocks ; the Caron- 
 delet had been badly cut up by the Arkansas, while the Mound 
 City remained without a crew, until Captain Gwin took her 
 and made her an efficient vessel. The Benton and the East- 
 port were really the only effective iron-clads left on the river. 
 We would anticipate a few months, and give a letter of David 
 D. Porter, who succeeded Davis in the command of the Missis 
 sippi squadron, and then we must dismiss the fortunes of that 
 flotilla which has necessarily occupied so much of our atten 
 tion: 
 
 " U. S. MISSISSIPPI SQUADRON, YAZOO RIVER, ] 
 January 3, 1863. ) 
 
 " MY DEAR ADMIRAL, I have not had time to answer your letter in 
 
 relation to . I appointed him a master-mate, and he got 
 
 drunk the first night he went on shore, and broke his liberty ; so says the 
 report of his commander, who recommended him for promotion. I could 
 not overlook the offense, and keep up my character for consistency. We 
 have had lively times up the Yazoo imagine the Yazoo becoming the 
 theatre of war. We waded through sixteen miles of torpedoes to get at 
 the forts (seven in number) ; but when we got thus far, the fire on the 
 boats from the riflemen, in pits dug for miles along the river, and from the 
 batteries, became very annoying ; and that gallant fellow Gwin thought 
 he could check them, which he did until he was knocked over with the 
 most fearful wound I ever saw. He could not advance, the torpedoes 
 popping up ahead as thick as mushrooms, and we have had pretty good 
 evidence of their power for mischief. I never saw more daring displayed 
 
360 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 than by the brave fellows who did the work. The forts are powerful 
 works, out of the reach of ships, and on high hills, plunging their shot 
 through the upper deck, and the river is so narrow that only one vessel 
 could engage them until the torpedoes could all be removed. The old 
 war-horse (Bentori) retained her ancient renown, and, though much cut 
 up, is ready for any thing. Gwin there is little hope for : no man could 
 live with such a wound. He is a noble, gallant fellow. I have him in 
 my cabin, and do all I can for him ; his sufferings are terrible. 
 
 " The same day the army made an assault on the forts back of Vicks- 
 burg ; it was a fearful place they went through, with double their num 
 ber opposed to them. They drove the rebels like sheep, who fired into 
 their ewn fugitives, and knocked them over like nine-pins. That helped 
 our party some ; but our reserve (a new regiment) fired into our own 
 troops while they were going to the batteries, and the supporting bri 
 gade did not come up to the scratch. The men on the batteries were 
 cut off by the rebels when they saw them unsupported, and were cut to 
 pieces. We lost fifteen hundred men in about ten minutes. Vicksburg 
 was at one time ours, but we had not men enough to repeat the experi 
 ment. The result has been, in two days Vicksburg has been reinforced 
 by twenty thousand men from Grenada, and ten thousand from Jackson, 
 and we can do nothing until reinforced. In front, Vicksburg is unassail 
 able, as it is fortified in every direction with the best of guns. I don't 
 know what the army will do now. 
 
 " McClernand has just arrived, and will take command. Our plan was 
 for Sherman to arrive here on the 25th, while Grant pushed on to Canton 
 with fifty thousand men, to come in on the rear of Vicksburg. Grant has 
 not been heard from, and it was deemed necessary to attack Vicksburg 
 before it could be reinforced ; now it will take a large army to capture 
 it. The rivers are all too low for the Navy to operate with any thing but 
 light-draft boats, but in a month we will begin to have water. The old 
 iron-clads are all breaking down; but in two months I expect to get 
 some of the new ones, which are pretty good vessels. I have to send 
 away four vessels to-morrow, in consequence of fears entertained by some 
 generals about invasion. Don't be astonished at the list of darkies I send 
 you. I could get no white men, so I work them in. They do first-rate, 
 and behave far better than their masters. Give my kindest regards to 
 Mrs. F., and believe me very sincerely yours, DAVID D. PORTER. 
 
 " Kear-Admiral Andrew H.Foote, U. S. N., Chief of Bureau ) 
 
 of Equipment and Recruits, Washington, D. C." 
 
Presentation of a Sword. 361 
 
 In the month of May, 1862, Commodore Foote received a 
 note from a number of gentlemen in Brooklyn, N.Y., signi 
 fying their desire to present him a sword as a token of per 
 sonal esteem and of admiration for his public services, and re 
 quested him to name a time for the presentation. About the 
 middle of the following September the presentation took place 
 in the Brooklyn Athenaeum, in the presence of many distin 
 guished naval officers and of a brilliant assembly of citizens. 
 The sword was ornamented with devices having reference to 
 the exploits of our hero in various parts of the world.* In 
 
 * The sworcl was an elegant one, having cost $3500. It is thus de 
 scribed : " The pummel represents a^golden hemisphere, studded with 
 stars, on which rest branches of olive and oak, beneath a group of trophies. 
 The guard, which is part of the chief feature of the whole, contains a basso- 
 relievo of Neptune returning triumphant on his car. The figure of Nep 
 tune, bold and spirited, stands in his car, leaning upon his trident ; at his 
 feet are the spoils of victory. Two vigorous horses draw the car of the 
 god, attended by sea-nymphs and tritons blowing trumpets. This basso- 
 relievo is encircled by open scroll-work, forming a rich and harmonious 
 arrangement of lines, the effect of which is exceedingly pleasing. At the 
 bottom of the guard is a boldly modeled head of a dolphin. On the 
 scabbard are a series of relievos, illustrating some of the prominent ex 
 ploits of the bold sailor to whom this was given. First is exhibited 
 Foote's bombardment of Chinese forts, with appropriate ornamental em 
 blems and scenery. The second exhibits skillful and daring operations 
 in the bombardment of Island No. Ten, wherein the uncouth mortar- 
 boats are wrought out in great perfection the slanting sides, smoke 
 stacks, port-holes, etc., of the bomb-ketches being set forth with great 
 accuracy. There are also various incidents of operations on the Cumber 
 land and Tennessee rivers. Lower down are emblematic allusions to 
 Foote's experience on the African coast. The following inscription is cut 
 on the scabbard in beautiful characters : ' Presented by the citizens of 
 Brooklyn to Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote, as a testimonial of their high 
 personal regard, of their appreciation of his eminent professional char 
 acter, distinguished public services, and moral influence in a long career 
 of active duty ; and especially of his efficiency in the suppression of the 
 slave-trade on the coast of Africa; his gallant conduct in the destruction 
 of the Barrier Forts in China ; his masterly skill and energy in the crea 
 tion of a flotilla, and of his brilliant and intrepid bombardment therewith 
 of the rebel fortifications of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Mis 
 sissippi.' The sword-blade is richly covered with artistic designs, and 
 
362 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 his reply to the address which was made to him he made ref 
 erence to those scenes represented upon the sword, saying, 
 among other things, that " the difficulties of creating the flo 
 tilla the days and nights of mental agony in its preparation 
 rendered the subsequent fighting, speaking comparatively, a 
 pleasant episode ;" and he closed his speech with these words, 
 which were received with great applause : 
 
 " Again, then, I thank you for this beautiful sword, which I shall ever 
 regard as a personal gift of friends who have elevated and ennobled the 
 walkf of civil life. I shall carefully preserve it. I shall endeavor to be 
 worthy of it. And I shall hope to transmit it to my latest posterity as 
 an evidence of your friendship and appreciation, and as an inducement 
 to them to be faithful in vindicating our glorious Union, and the suprem 
 acy of the Constitution and the laws at home and abroad against in 
 ternal and external enemies. I will wield it for the whole country against 
 any state aye, even the State of New York or Connecticut should either 
 prove recreant in attempting to withdraw their star the emblem of 
 their state from the blue union of our glorious old flag. 
 
 " To this end I pray that I may be enabled to act as faithfully in the 
 future as I humbly hope I have done in the past when meeting our ene 
 mies in the East, as in my efforts toward crushing this atrocious^ rebell 
 ion in the South. I say this atrocious rebellion; and is it not an atro 
 cious rebellion, when the South is presenting the mournful spectacle to 
 the civilized world of having voluntarily gone into the election of the 
 Presidency as prescribed by the Constitution, and, finding itself in the 
 minority, attempts to rule or ruin the government it had, in common 
 with the North, fought to establish ? 
 
 " The occasion and circumstances have led me to revert to past scenes 
 and personal services. Having done this, permit me, in this solemn crisis, 
 to add that a glorious future is assuredly open to us and to our country, 
 under Providence, on the condition that the entire loyal North immedi 
 ately arises in its might, laying aside all other considerations, and concen 
 trates its power to the work of crushing this monster rebellion finally and 
 forever." 
 
 near the hilt, surrounded with graceful scroll-work, is the motto 'Ducit 
 amor patricB." 1 " 
 
Sword Presentation. 363 
 
 One of the papers of the day, in its account of this affair, 
 
 " As soon as the noble sailor made his appearance, the audience arose 
 and gave cheer upon cheer, waving their hats and handkerchiefs with a 
 patriotic enthusiasm seldom witnessed. Admiral Foote is not only a good 
 fighter, but an eloquent impromptu speaker, with a full, rich voice, and a 
 ready command of language. In person, he is of ordinary stature, well 
 built, with plump limbs and square shoulders. He has dark brown hair, 
 not silvered enough to be noticed ; but his whiskers are well frosted. 
 His head is finely developed, and when he speaks his eyes flash with elec 
 tric fire. When he raised the beautiful sword and wielded it, saykig, ' I 
 will draw this sword in defense of the Union and the Constitution and 
 the country,' the spell-bound audience broke forth in demonstrations of 
 applause." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LOSS OF CHILDREN. CORRESPONDENCE AT WASHINGTON. AP 
 POINTMENT TO COMMAND OF SOUTH ATLANTIC 
 SQUADRON. LAST DAYS AND DEATH. 
 
 PUBLIC honors were quickly followed by a deep family 
 affliction, the death of the admiral's two youngest daughters, 
 Emily Frederica and Maria Eudocia, within ten days of each 
 other. The first of these was a little blind girl, whom her fa 
 ther regarded with a peculiar tenderness, always asking when 
 he came into the house, before he spoke with any one else, 
 " Where is my little Emily ?" The second was a lovely child 
 of seven years of age ; and thus, within six months, three chil 
 dren were taken from him. The letters of sympathy which 
 came from men overwhelmed with great public cares do honor 
 to their writers' hearts. Admiral Joseph Smith, before little 
 Maria had died, prays that "Petite " may be spared to her fa 
 ther ; and as the following letter has relation also to the move 
 ments and plans of the subject of this memoir, we here give it 
 in full: 
 
 " WASHINGTON, October 15, 1862. 
 
 "MY DEAR SIR, Admiral Smith submitted to me your note to him 
 announcing your affliction, and has doubtless written you my desire that 
 you would, under this dispensation, take your own time and your own 
 way to resume your duties. 
 
 " Believe me, my dear sir, I most deeply sympathize with you as a friend 
 and parent, for I also have been bereaved, having five times followed to 
 the grave those who, in the course of nature, I had anticipated would 
 have done me that sad office. 
 
 " The sufferings and death of our children are hard to endure, and our 
 consolation is not of this world when such sorrows are upon us. To Him 
 
Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting. 365 
 
 who gave and who has taken to himself the gifts that are so precious 
 we must look, and in Him put our trust. 
 
 " Give yourself no thought or care of the duties now. They shall be 
 attended to. 
 
 " With kindest regard and sincerest sympathy to Mrs. Foote and your 
 self, believe me, very truly yours, GIDEON WELLES." 
 
 Although Admiral Foote could not enter as yet entirely 
 upon his duties as Chief of Bureau of Equipment and Recruit 
 ing, he still was in consultation with the government in regard 
 to its affairs, as this extract from a letter dated September 20, 
 1862, emanating from his office, will indicate : 
 
 " I have carefully considered the proposition and views of Mr. de la 
 Montagnie, consul of the United States at Nantes, with reference to ob 
 taining sailors for the Navy. 
 
 " I consider the plan objectionable, especially that part of it mducing 
 the Norwegian sailors in Nantes to leave their vessels in England, as it 
 would involve a responsibility of employing an agent or agents in differ 
 ent ports of England for the transportation of them to the United States ; 
 besides, the number of Norwegian sailors thus obtained would be but 
 comparatively few to the amount 1 of expense and risk of implication. 
 
 " While Norway possesses the largest merchant marine of any country 
 in Europe except England and France, yet comparatively few Norwegian 
 sailors enter our service, and the reason is, they seldom desert their vessels 
 in foreign ports, and are strongly attached to their homes. 
 
 " As emigration is increasing, and our mode of warfare at sea of late 
 has been modified by the iron-clads, we require a less number of sailors. 
 Landsmen are quickly trained in the exercise of guns, etc. I am induced 
 to believe the better plan would be to employ some agent or agents to 
 publish in different parts of Germany and in the North of Europe the 
 high wages, etc., that the United States Government pays to seamen, 
 landsmen, and boys who are entering our Navy ; this might have the ef 
 fect of inducing young men, especially in the North of Europe, to emi 
 grate for the purpose of entering the service. 
 
 " In the free port of Hamburg, more sailors could be procured than 
 in any port in Europe ; and should any effort be made to secure foreign 
 seamen, this free port would afford us the greatest number without im 
 plicating our government. 
 
366 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " Hamburg is, as you know, a free port, and sailors from all nations 
 are there largely represented." 
 
 We are glad to insert here one letter from that noble sea- 
 paladin, Farragut, albeit it is of an entirely business char 
 acter : 
 
 " NEW ORLEANS, March 7, 1863. 
 
 " DEAR ADMIRAL, I have received yours of the 16th ult., in which 
 you give me the pleasing intelligence that you have sent me one hundred 
 recruits by the Circassian. If they had been twenty days sooner, they 
 would have been invaluable to me ; as it is, they are very valuable. I will 
 take the men I want from the Pensacola, and let Commodore Morris 
 supply himself temporarily from the recruits. 
 
 " I am dreadfully in want of both officers and men. I do not wish to 
 place the vessels of war in the hands of inexperienced men, and yet I do 
 not know how to avoid it. Very truly yours, 
 
 " D. G. FARRAGUT, Rear-Admiral. 
 
 " Rear- Admiral A. H. Foote, Chief of Bureau of Equip- J 
 ment and Recruiting, Washington, D. C." f 
 
 At the end of the year 1862, and the beginning of 1863, we 
 find the admiral settled with his family in Washington, busy 
 with the duties of his new office, apparently throwing himself 
 into them with the same ardor that he did into active service ; 
 and we hear little in regard to his health, although it was in 
 no sense reassured, but continued growing perhaps gradually 
 worse. Much of his time and attention seems to have been 
 taken up with the matter of furnishing naval vessels at all 
 
 * O 
 
 occupied stations on our extended coast with coal, and fighting 
 with contractors, public carriers, and owners of freight-vessels 
 and chartered vessels in regard to their exorbitant war-prices. 
 It was his habit to carry through his measures at any cost, but 
 the old Connecticut blood in him prompted him to the great 
 est economy practicable. He was strict and scrutinizing in 
 business matters, and was ever in favor of retrenchment. He 
 never gave way to the feeling of irresponsibility in the lavish 
 
Incessant Activity. 367 
 
 expenditure of the public funds even in times of great public 
 demoralization and peril, but kept a shrewd eye to the main 
 chance. 
 
 In the midst of these busy scenes at the heart of the war- 
 activity of the country, he still found time for a large corre 
 spondence both of a public and private nature. He forgot no 
 one, and interested himself, though unsuccessfully, to procure 
 a situation in his Department commanding a good salary for 
 his colored friend, John H. Brooks, whom he soon afterward 
 employed as a personal attendant to go with him to Charles 
 ton. He gave advice in regard to the management of naval 
 academies; he was active in his duties as President of the 
 Connecticut Soldiers' Aid Society; he pressed his matters of 
 naval reform and temperance, and the better observance of 
 the Lord's day, with his usual persistency ; he found time and 
 heart to write in a playful strain to his few old friends and his 
 relatives who thoroughly knew him ; but his mind was, for the 
 most part, borne down with sorrow and care, though always 
 hopeful for the country. A strictly private letter speaks 
 somewhat of his feelings : 
 
 
 
 " BUREAU OF EQUIPMENT AND RECRUITING, ) 
 WASHINGTON, January 17, 1863. f 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, It lias been my intention to snatch a few minutes 
 from the heavy pressure of my public duties for the purpose of writing to 
 you. Thus, as the will has been always ready, I know that your high- 
 toned patriotism will not only excuse my silence, but even approve and 
 applaud it. 
 
 " The governor and his good wife are with us, and are doing good, as 
 they always do wherever they are. The governor is sharply looking out 
 for the comfort of the soldiers of your noble and gallant state, which, as. 
 my friend General Buford remarked to him, is ' the banner state in this, 
 war.' 
 
 " My duties are laborious in organizing my new Bureau, but I hope in 
 this Department of which I have charge to render the Navy more effi 
 cient. I want as soon as possible to be afloat again, and there remain till 
 
 BB 
 
368 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 we, under God, crush this atrocious rebellion, which I have the strongest 
 faith God will enable us to do in his good time. 
 
 " I send an interesting discussion which the governor heard, also Sena 
 tor Hales's attack on my old friend Commodore Smith. 
 
 " I am led to make my grateful acknowledgments to you for the kind 
 and encouraging manner in which you have sustained me in my efforts 
 thus far in helping to crush the rebellion. A kind Providence has 
 certainly favored my humble efforts, and to God I would give all the 
 glory. 
 
 " We all send love to the family. Please excuse my haste, as I have 
 no time for private correspondence. 
 
 " Very respectfully your friend and servant, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " Benjamin Hoppin, Esq., Providence, R. I." 
 
 A note of the admiral's to the United States Christian Com 
 mission, in reply to a letter inviting him to be present at a 
 meeting of that body in Philadelphia, was as follows : 
 
 " BUREAU OP EQUIPMENT AND RECRUITING, ) 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 28, 1863. f 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, It is with extreme regret that I am compelled, from 
 a heavy pressure of public business, to decline your kind invitation to be 
 present and participate in the exercises at the meeting of the Christian 
 Commission on Thursday evening. 
 
 " The object and importance of your commission can not be overesti 
 mated. It will supply a want long existing in the Army and Navy, 
 and must enlist the sympathies and prayers of all true Christian patriots. 
 " To supply the spiritual wants of the public service on the battle-field 
 and upon the ocean, and to lead our warriors to go forward valiantly in 
 the fight, acknowledging God as our ruler, and looking to him for suc 
 cess, will, I have no doubt, soon cause this wicked rebellion to culminate 
 in the restoration of our Union. 
 
 " I am, very respectfully, A. H. FOOTE. 
 
 " George H. Stuart, Esq., .Chairman Christian Com- ) 
 mission, etc., Philadelphia." f 
 
 One of the many letters of his friend Captain Simpson, of 
 the Newport Naval Academy, brings up the names of old 
 ships that are familiar to the readers of this book : 
 
Correspondence* 369 
 
 " U. S. ACADEMY, NEWPORT, R. I., November 18, 1862. 
 
 " MY DEAR ADMIRAL, I have received your kind note showing how 
 willingly you undertook to labor for my advancement ; I am very much 
 obliged to you both for your successful and unsuccessful efforts. As to 
 copies of my book, I suppose that Captain Dahlgren will order them 
 from the publisher. 
 
 " I have written a letter to the Superintendent, calling his attention to 
 the want of a ship with two decks for a practice-ship ; the crew of the 
 John Adams were very much crowded last summer, owing to the amount 
 of the berth-deck that was appropriated to the midshipmen, of whom I 
 carried only eighty. The Plymouth was our old practice-ship, but the 
 rebellion destroyed her. The Portsmouth is the ship that I want as a 
 substitute for the John Adams ; but, to make her perfect for practice pur 
 poses, she must have a light deck put on her. It is this that I have ap 
 plied for in my letter to the Superintendent, and he has promised to 
 send a copy of my letter to the Department. I fear that he will not 
 take much trouble to recommend it, and, as I know the need, I feel the 
 importance of it. If I have the Portsmouth next summer, I can carry at 
 least fifty-five more midshipmen, make my men comfortable, and have 
 many other advantages ; but if nothing is done soon about it, I shall have 
 to go in the old John again, which is a very good old ship, but is not so 
 well adapted for the purpose. 
 
 " It would be necessary to order the Portsmouth home at once from the 
 West Gulf squadron, where I doubt if her loss will be felt. If it is to be 
 done at all, it had better be done at once ; and I will be much obliged to 
 you if you will endeavor to put the old ship, which you commanded 
 with so much credit and distinction, to a useful purpose the most useful, 
 perhaps, that a sailing-vessel can be applied to at present. 
 " Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 " E. SIMPSON, Commandant of Midshipmen." 
 
 How changed the times in respect to naval matters since the 
 Portsmouth pushed up her wooden walls to the side of stone 
 forts in the Canton river ! Iron and earth had taken the place 
 of wood and stone. Dashing boldness in storming and assault 
 was now yielding to more exact, science and calculation as to 
 the resisting quality of iron, and the smashing and dislodging 
 power of shot. Admiral Foote, as has been said before, be- 
 
37 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 longed both to the old and the new periods. His audacious 
 boldness in attack has been compared with that of Paul Jones 
 and Decatur; but he gladly availed himself of the invention 
 of iron-clads, and he looked forward to the time when, in his 
 Benton or Eastport^ or some still more formidable floating 
 battery, he could compete with the highest military engineer 
 ing on shore, and the most scientific form of heavy ordnance 
 afloat. His Mississippi gun-boats for the time, and in an ag 
 gressive sense, were even better than Ericsson's " monitors" for 
 their purpose, though they were not invulnerable, as, in fact, 
 in the progress of science, nothing is or can be. 
 
 To turn to another subject, a naval friend from the Boston 
 Navy Yard brings out amusingly in his letter a prominent 
 trait of the admiral's character. He says : 
 
 " Do you remember when you called at my quarters with a flattering 
 invitation to accompany you to Chelsea to deliver a lecture on China ? 
 You had a cold and a sore throat, and wanted me in case you broke clown 
 
 to take your place with my ' Jerusalem ' lecture. Mrs. M wished to 
 
 know how it went. ' Did Mr. Foote or you lecture ?' ' Why, Mr. Foote, 
 of course. He didn't break down, nor did he mean to do so. Do you 
 think he intended that I should take the wind out of his sails ?' So 
 when you were before Island No. Ten, and all was excitement and anxiety, 
 I said (remembering old times), ' Foote will have No. Ten. He never gives 
 up a job or an argument to any body.' When Island No. Ten was ours, 
 all was rejoicing and exultant, and a great burden of apprehension was 
 removed from the public mind; but with me it was a foregone conclu 
 sion, and I took it very philosophically." 
 
 This self-reliance and persistency of character which led 
 him to do things for himself, and take the lead in all that fell 
 to his hand, though brought out jestingly in the foregoing ex 
 tract, had by this time made itself pretty generally known 
 both to th.e government and the people. The war had wit 
 nessed some lamentable failures in its leaders and great men ; 
 and although most important successes had crowned the North- 
 
The Right Man Wanted. 371 
 
 era arms, yet the first months and the spring of the year 1863 
 did not open brightly for the cause of the republic. At the close 
 of 1862, the battle of Murfreesboro, while ending in victory, 
 crippled the victors almost as much as the vanquished; and 
 although the new year began auspiciously with the Emanci 
 pation Act, which sent fresh hope through the land, and al 
 though there were seven hundred thousand loyal men in the 
 field, the actual successes in a military point of view were 
 few and far between. The Army of the Potomac was dis 
 couraged and disappointed; the dreadful battle of Chancel- 
 lorsville, fought under Hooker in the spring, ended in signal 
 defeat and rout ; and Lee, great general, though in a bad cause, 
 was gathering together his legions, and already meditating that 
 bold invasion of the North which was carried out some months 
 later. Richmond seemed as far off as ever, while the interfer 
 ence of foreign powers was, in the view of the least timid, in 
 evitable. At the South and West, Banks was operating in 
 Louisiana and its neighborhood with more enterprise than suc 
 cess ; the Mississippi was still closed up between Fort Hudson 
 and Vicksburg ; and Vicksburg, proud and defiant, baffled the 
 most strenuous efforts of onr land and naval forces. Above 
 all, Charleston, the fount and heart of the great rebellion, lay 
 safe behind her ring of mighty bulwarks,, with Sumter grimly 
 guarding the harbor's mouth. Dupont in the early part of 
 April had tried his strength against the Charleston defenses, 
 and after a most intrepid fight with his monitors and iron 
 sides, had drawn off completely cut up, and bitterly declaring 
 that the thing, at least in that way of doing it, was impossible. 
 The government and the people, however, whether Dupont 
 were right or wrong, did not agree with him : nothing was 
 impossible to Northern hearts ; and the cry went forth, Who 
 will come to the rescue ? who will lead the forlorn hope of the 
 land ? The right man was all that was asked for. The true 
 instinct of the government and country pointed to but one 
 
 man, and that man was Andrew Hull Foote. 
 
 ' 
 
37 2 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 His indomitable character was then called to mind, and in 
 spite of his physical feebleness and unfit condition, both of 
 body and mind, he must go. It seemed, and thousands will 
 bear us out in this statement, that at that moment the fate of 
 the whole republic hung upon him. He, too, wished to go. 
 As early as April he sent his family home to New Haven, 
 coming himself with them as far as New York, and then re 
 turning to Washington. As he wrote in a private letter which 
 has been quoted, " I want as soon as possible to be afloat again, 
 and there remain till we, under God, crush this atrocious re 
 bellion." 
 
 On the 4th of June, 1863, he was detached from his position 
 as Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, and ap 
 pointed to take Admiral Dupont's place as commander of the 
 South Atlantic blockading squadron. 
 
 One of the leading newspapers, commenting upon this ap 
 pointment, said: 
 
 " Admiral Foote is a progressive man. He has inventive capacity suf 
 ficient at once to estimate the value of new and untried appliances. He 
 is therefore eminently qualified for the position of commander of the 
 South Atlantic blockading squadron, and we trust he will put his for 
 midable fleet of monitors to some immediate and practical use." 
 
 Another journal remarked : 
 
 " He is believed to be the very man to show the full capabilities of the 
 monitors and iron-clads in opposition to fortifications." 
 
 Admiral Gregory wrote to him : 
 
 " I shall be one of the first to hail your return ; your daring will be the 
 best prudence; and I shall ever be proud of the recollection that forty 
 years ago the little boy first dipped his paddle into the great sea under 
 my care." 
 
 After making his final preparations in Washington, he 
 came to New Haven to take leave of his family before re- 
 
Physical Prostration. 373 
 
 pairing to his new post. He evidently did not believe that 
 he should see his family again in this life. Captain Simpson, 
 one of his dearest friends, who knew him best, declared that 
 " he would take Fort Sumter or go to the bottom." He ex 
 pected either to die in battle or from the effects of coast ma 
 laria acting upon his enfeebled frame.. It had been a com 
 mon saying with him, " I can't join in the prayer, Deliver us 
 from sudden death;" and he made the sacrifice cheerfully. 
 The brief time he was in New Haven he was in good spirits and 
 full of hope, though so weak that the signing of his name for 
 autographs for a Ladies' Fair for sick soldiers almost overcame 
 him. He was once, in fact, near falling in the street from a 
 sudden turn of nervous prostration, and was only rallied by 
 strong restoratives. He would sometimes sink into his chair 
 with an air of complete lassitude, and exclaim, with his hands 
 pressed to his head, " Rest oh, for rest ! " It seems now, in 
 looking back upon it, extraordinary that the government, or 
 at least his own friends, should not have seen how very ill a 
 man he was, and that such a burden laid upon so exhausted a 
 frame would be fatal. But it was his spirit that deceived his 
 friends and led them to a delusive hope. His unconquerable 
 mind made all others and himself believe that all things were 
 possible. The following letter, which came to him in New 
 Haven, indicates somewhat of the plans that were discussed 
 between the government and himself in regard to the Southern 
 
 coast : 
 
 " WASHINGTON, D. C., June 12, 1863. 
 
 " DEAR ADMIRAL, I have your note of the 10th inst. The matter of 
 an attack upon Wilmington has been up for the last six months, and Lee 
 has been in constant communication with the Department, sometimes per 
 sonally, upon the subject. The monitors can not get into Wilmington, 
 and the army can not co-operate at present. Fort Caswell is surrounded 
 by a glacis, instead of being exposed to fire like Sumter. Lee has full in 
 formation about that fort and the defenses, and has discussed the matter 
 with General Totten. If three or four monitors could have effected any 
 
374 Ltf e of Admiral Foote. 
 
 thing alone, we should have been in long ago. It must be a joint affair, 
 and there is no army now except at Port Royal. The Tuscarora sailed 
 yesterday for New York. Truly yours, G. V. Fox." 
 
 Port Royal was Foote's objective point, where lie was to join 
 the squadron and co-operate with the land forces upon Charles 
 ton. While waiting in New Haven for orders, he received a 
 sudden summons to embark at once in the Tuscarora from 
 New York. He left New Haven quite early in the morning, 
 his family some of them seeing him then for the last time 
 in life, as he turned in the carriage and made them his parting 
 adieux. When he arrived in New York, he found that the 
 Tuscarora, by some emergency, with a number of other ves 
 sels, had been ordered off a few hours before. He went at 
 once to the Astor House, and telegraphed to his family that 
 his sailing was delayed for two or three days. In company 
 with Admiral Gregory, he inspected monitors that were being 
 constructed ; and when at the hotel attended to numerous vis 
 itors. After incessant occupation all day, he started at night 
 for Washington, transacted business in that place all the fol 
 lowing day, and returned to New York the same night. The 
 next day he was kept in a round of excitement, and that night 
 was taken with the first painful symptoms of his disease. In 
 the morning he felt better, but a return of pain made it neces 
 sary to depart from simple remedies and to send for physicians. 
 Shortly after, there was a consultation of physicians, and it was 
 decided that the case was one of Bright's disease of the kid 
 neys, which had been aggravated by his harassed life at the 
 West, his wound, and especially his exertions and anxieties for 
 the last few days. Upon the 16th came the following : 
 
 " NAVY YARD, NEW YORK, June 16, 1863. 
 
 "ADMIRAL, I am authorized by the Department to charter a steamer 
 to take you and your suite to Port Royal. The Union will sail for that 
 destination on the 18th, and I think you might find her preferable to a 
 chartered steamer. 
 
Fatal Illness. 375 
 
 " Be pleased to inform me which you prefer. I shall be most happy to 
 second your wishes in any manner you shall name. My constant occupa 
 tion here has prevented my calling to see you. Should you determine to 
 go in the Union, it is desirable that the captain should be informed as to 
 what number of officers you take, and what preparation you wish made. 
 " I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 " H. PAULDING, Commandant." 
 
 But by this time he was too ill for such matters. On the 
 18th and 19th he had rallied somewhat, awakening some hopes 
 of his restoration ; but he soon fell back, and he himself de 
 liberately gave up all expectation of recovery. His wife, his 
 daughter, his brother Augustus, with other members of his 
 family and some of his naval friends, had now joined him, and 
 with them he talked freely, and told them as if the order to 
 " cast off moorings " had been sent to him from a higher au 
 thority "My disease is fatal ;.but I am prepared to meet death 
 in this way, if God has so ordered it." Indeed, as his pastor, 
 Dr. Budington, who was also present, writes : " It seemed as if 
 the admiral, as usual, was the chief actor, discharging some 
 difficult duty, and keeping all about him employed under his 
 direction ; but the work he had now in hand was to die, and 
 this he went about as patiently and earnestly as he had ever 
 cleared the decks for action. His life, the mainspring of 
 which was a constant activity in the service of God and coun 
 try, was closing in the energetic performance of his last com 
 mission to die." 
 
 He said to his brother, when he first came into the room, 
 " I'm glad to have one of my brothers with me ;" and then, 
 his face brightening up with almost a gleam of humor, he add 
 ed, " I always told you I should go before you and John, and 
 you see now I was right." His brother replied, " That is not 
 so certain by any means." He rejoined, " You are certainly 
 mistaken I know I am right, and you will see." His brother 
 remarked, pleasantly, "You are the same that you always were, 
 
376 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 and you never will yield your point." The admiral then went 
 on to say : " I wanted to go to Charleston and help the govern 
 ment all I could, but it is just as well. It is only a question 
 of killing more men. I am perfectly resigned to the will of 
 God." 
 
 He was extremely anxious that the government should know 
 the cause of his delay ; and when he understood that an officer 
 had returned from Washington with kind messages from the 
 Secretary of the Navy, he seemed much relieved. He was also 
 anxious that Admiral Dupont should be informed that it was 
 no effort or intrigue on his part that had effected the change 
 in the command of the squadron. After he was satisfied on 
 these points, he quieted himself like a child, and appeared in a 
 great measure to put away from his mind worldly things. He 
 suffered severe pain from the rapid progress of his disease, 
 which was a complicated affection of the liver and kidneys, 
 that had been aggravated by his wound and his constant bur 
 den of mental anxiety ; but he endured his pains with such 
 unmurmuring patience as to draw praise from his attendants. 
 He said once, " If 'twas God's will, I should like to have a lit 
 tle quiet and sleep." 
 
 The simple affectionateness and loving qualities of his warm 
 sailor nature came out in all his words and looks. He greeted 
 those who approached his bedside with a smile ; and when his 
 daughter, Mrs. Reese, was announced, he called her his dear 
 child, and put his arms around her neck and kissed her. 
 
 He gave his last directions concerning his family and his 
 affairs with entire clearness, and as apparently free from all 
 excitement as if he were going upon a short journey. 
 
 Captain Sanford, his old ordnance -officer in the "Western 
 flotilla, and Captain Simpson were with him constantly, and 
 from them and other brother-officers of the Navy, he received 
 the most tender and unwearied attention. Captain Simpson 
 writes : " His sufferings were so great that there were but few 
 
Last Scenes. 377 
 
 opportunities permitted him of saying words that could be 
 stored up by his friends. His door was besieged by callers, 
 but all were denied except a few family relatives. I told him 
 of the frequent callers, but he said he could not see them it 
 was too much effort to speak. One day I told him that an of 
 ficer, who had fought gallantly under him at the West, had 
 asked to see him. He thought for a minute, and then said, 
 < Who knows what a dying man's word may do I will see 
 him.' The officer came to his bed, and Foote spoke to him. 
 I know not what he said, but I saw the man's frame convulsed 
 with emotion, and as he laid down Foote's hand he burst into 
 tears. At one time I was doing something for him, when he 
 looked at me and said, ' Well, and what will you do ?' I re 
 plied, ( I will try and follow you.' He put his arm around 
 my neck and kissed me. I shall never forget that kiss. I 
 spoke to him of his work on board the old Portsmouth, and 
 he rejoined that it was little he had done. He dwelt on the 
 worthlessness of worldly reputation, and said that such deeds 
 as the world gave him credit for he valued now as nothing ; 
 and charged me that nothing would give peace at last but the 
 consciousness of having resisted evil. All thought of worldly 
 vanity, praise of men, and renown had disappeared from his 
 mind." 
 
 He at length became more disturbed, and his speech at 
 times grew incoherent ; but he was rational at intervals. In 
 one of these calm moments he said, " I thank God for all his 
 goodness to me for all his loving kindness to me." He also 
 said to a relative in the earlier stages of his illness, " God is 
 dealing gently with me. He may bring dark hours ; but thus 
 far it grows brighter and brighter with me." He continued 
 in this way, wavering between life and death now growing 
 stronger, and then sinking away again, like the ebb and flow 
 of the tide for some days. 
 
 His faithful colored man, Brooks, toward whom he had ever 
 
37$ Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 manifested great esteem and kindness, testifies to his saying, 
 with much earnestness, on the night of June 20, " We will 
 have them, North and South" repeating this several times. 
 Brooks asked him what he meant by this. He replied, " The 
 colored people. Yes, we will have them ;" and he then added, 
 " We must have charity charity charity." 
 
 For thirty-six hours immediately previous to his death he 
 was probably wholly unconscious, and he gently expired at a 
 quarter past ten o'clock on Friday night, the 26th day of June, 
 1863, at the comparatively early age of fifty-six. 
 
 Surgeon Bache, of the Navy, observed with emphasis to Ad 
 miral Foote's brother, as they were standing together in the 
 chamber of death, "Your brother has literally worn himself 
 out in the public service. He is as truly a victim of this war 
 as if he had perished on the battle-field." 
 
 But now no more of wearing toil, anxiety, and care, of the 
 uproar and confusion of battle, of the terrible mission of war 
 and blood he had at last found rest. The God whom he loved 
 and served so well who is the God of peace as well as the 
 God of battles had given his beloved sleep. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 HONORS TO THE MEMORY OF ADMIRAL FOOTE. FUNERAL OBSE 
 QUIES. 
 
 THROUGHOUT the land the illness of the generous, self-sacri 
 ficing sailor in New York, arrested as he was by a higher hand 
 while on the point of throwing himself into a new and des 
 perate service, excited unbounded sympathy. His death was 
 a shock to the nation. In fact, his death at that time was the 
 death of the greatest man who had yet fallen. The news 
 papers even in that hurried period when important events 
 were taking place and nothing held the public mind long 
 were filled with elaborate notices and eulogies of the departed 
 hero. This official order of the Naval Department was pub 
 lished on the day succeeding his death : 
 
 "WASHINGTON, June 27. 
 " GENERAL ORDER No. 16. 
 
 " A gallant and distinguished naval officer is lost to the country. The 
 hero of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the indomitable spirit that cre 
 ated and led to successive victories the Mississippi flotilla the hero and 
 Christian sailor who, in the China seas and on the coast of Africa, as well 
 as the great interior rivers of our country, sustained with unfaltering fidel 
 ity and devotion the honor of our flag and the cause of the Union, Kear- 
 Admiral Andrew Hull Foote, is no more. On his way to take command 
 of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron a position to which he had 
 been recently assigned, and the duties of which were commanding the 
 earnest energies and vigorous resources of a mind of no ordinary char 
 acter he was suddenly prostrated by disease, and breathed his last at 
 the Astor House in New York on the 26th instant. 
 
 " Among the noble and honored dead whose names have added lustre 
 to our naval renown, and must ever adorn our national annals, few will 
 stand more pre-eminent than that of the gallant and self-sacrificing Chris- 
 
380 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 tian sailor and gentleman whose loss we now deplore. Appreciating his 
 virtues and his services, a grateful country has rendered him while living 
 its willing honors, and will mourn his death. 
 
 " As a mark of respect, it is hereby ordered that the flags at the several 
 navy yards, naval stations, and on the flag-ships of squadrons, be hoisted 
 at half-mast ; and that thirteen guns be fired at meridian on the day after 
 the receipt of this order. GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy." 
 
 To show how events marched on in that time, and how 
 sternly in earnest was the government, it should here be men 
 tioned, and also as completing the official naval biography of 
 Rear-Admiral Foote, that on the day before his death, the 
 25th, he was detached on account of sickness from his com 
 mand of the South Atlantic squadron, and Rear-Admiral Dahl- 
 gren was appointed to fill his place. 
 
 On Saturday afternoon, the day succeeding the death, the 
 vestibule and parlors of the Astor House were thronged by a 
 concourse of people, among whom were many distinguished 
 men of the nation and intimate friends of the deceased. Vis 
 itors poured into the room of death for two hours, and passed 
 out with thoughtful and saddened faces. As the hour ap 
 proached for the transportation of the remains to New Haven, 
 a large crowd assembled in front of the hotel to witness the 
 scene. Two companies of marines, detached from the receiv 
 ing-ship NoTth Carolina, arrived from the Navy Yard, and a 
 great many citizens also joined the escort. Just before the 
 body was removed, a lady stepped forward and laid a cross of 
 white flowers and immortelles upon the coffin-lid. With dirge- 
 like music the train moved on, the bearers who accompanied 
 the body to the boat being Admiral Storer, Admiral String- 
 ham, Captain Sands, Captain Drayton, Captain Mead, Captain 
 Leslie, Captain Eagle, and Dr. Truslow. On the same day 
 civic honors were paid by the city of New York, and resolu 
 tions were passed by the municipal government to the memory 
 of the departed hero. 
 
Funeral Obsequies. 381 
 
 In New Haven the remains of Admiral Foote lay at his 
 home until Tuesday, the day of the funeral, when they were de 
 posited for a while in the rotunda of the State House. There 
 they were viewed by thousands, and it was remarked that the 
 face, while it was more worn and thin than in life, had a nat 
 ural look, though with a singular expression of majesty. 
 
 Earely has there been in this land a more impressive funeral 
 scene than was witnessed on Tuesday, June 30th, in the beau 
 tiful city of New Haven. The day was a calm and bright 
 June day ; the stately elms of the city were in their first luxu 
 riance of foliage ; flags drooped from all the public buildings 
 and many of the private residences ; business was suspended ; 
 and the entire city and the neighboring towns, and it might 
 be said the whole state, flowed in toward the place where the 
 last honors and religious rites were paid to him whom all 
 mourned. Although all felt his loss profoundly at this crit 
 ical hour of the country's history, yet his life had been so pure 
 and his task so well done nothing to human eye imperfect 
 or wanting in that life of obedience to duty and of loyal self- 
 sacrifice that it was impossible to grieve or to be sorrowful 
 overmuch ; therefore a sober cheerfulness pervaded the scene, 
 and men's burdened hearts were purified by this grand exam 
 ple of a true life brought before them, and were lifted above 
 their personal sadness into a kind of calm joy. The human 
 soul, even the most selfish, is so formed that it takes pleasure 
 in goodness, and pays unconscious tribute to true worth that 
 worth, above all, which has in it the elements of love and 
 sacrifice for others. At the religious services in the Center 
 Church, an address was made by Dr. Leonard Bacon, which, 
 after recounting the incidents of the good admiral's career, 
 closed thus : 
 
 " Where or how he was to die he had cared but little ; he had thought 
 much of the privilege of dying among his friends, though he had ex 
 pected to meet his end in the din of battle. Around his bedside, strong 
 
382 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 and warlike men, who had been and soon will be again in the crash of 
 battle, were assembled in tenderness and sympathy. His last words were 
 but few. Once he said : 'God is dealing kindly with me ; he has brought 
 me through dark hours, but thus far it grows brighter.' Again he ex 
 pressed a wish that his life might be blessed to the conversion of many 
 in the Navy ; * but not only in the Navy,' he added, ' but to all.' To an 
 officer who said to him, ' You must not leave us ; your place can not be 
 supplied,' he replied : ' God will supply a better one.' His last words 
 were : ' I thank God for all his goodness to me for all his loving kind 
 ness to me ; he has been very good to me ; I thank him for his kind 
 ness.' We are all here as mourners ; yet this is only a representation of 
 the Government and Navy, which together mourn the loss of our naval 
 Hercules. The nation is the chief mourner of all. Shall we not, in its 
 name, bless God for such an example such a stimulus to thousands of 
 hearts yet to be in the love of country, man, and God ?'' 
 
 The procession which followed the body to its last resting- 
 place was a host for multitude, and was composed of large 
 bodies of state military, of two companies of marines, and a 
 detachment of midshipmen from Brooklyn, of the civil au 
 thorities of the principal cities of Connecticut, of the faculty 
 and students of the University, and a great number of citizens. 
 Four admirals acted as pall-bearers Gregory, Smith, Storer, 
 and Davis accompanied by Captain Glynn, Commander 
 Simpson, Lieutenant Marven, and Ensign McGregor. Admi 
 rals Smith and Davis both his life-long and tried friends, 
 and the last his trusted successor in the command of the 
 Western flotilla were specially deputed by the government 
 to attend the funeral ; and the officer under whom he made 
 his first voyage, and who now went with him on his last brief 
 journey Admiral Gregory was there. The bowed heads 
 and sorrowful faces of these war-worn veterans showed that 
 they felt his loss deeply. His faithful colored man, Brooks, 
 walked behind the hearse carrying his sword. 
 
 Under the shadows of the overarching elms and through the 
 calm sunshine, silently, except when the stillness was broken 
 
Funeral Obsequies. 383 
 
 at intervals by the firing of artillery and the tolling of bells, 
 the long procession moved slowly on to the old cemetery ; and, 
 after the brief and solemn Episcopal service had been read at 
 the grave, the body was laid down in the ground where slept 
 the dust of many great and good men, and some of more recent 
 fame, who were the first martyrs of the war for the Union, 
 among whom was the brilliant young Theodore Winthrop but 
 none nobler and truer than he who had now come to ask a 
 place to rest beside them. 
 
 Co 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 CONCLUDING WORDS AND LETTERS OF FRIENDS. 
 
 IT would seem superfluous to add aught to the simple rec 
 ord that has gone before certainly not in the way of bestow 
 ing praise; for it has been a constant embarrassment to re 
 press the uniform flow of eulogistic remark that has permeated 
 these pages, because it has pervaded almost every letter, docu 
 ment, and public notice that has fallen into our hands. We 
 are conscious, too, of the American fault of exaggeration ; and 
 it must be confessed that were the subject Washington himself, 
 hardly nothing more could be said in the way of encomium 
 than has been said by this one and that one of the subject of 
 this memoir. Much doubtless has been said indiscriminately, 
 and of the nature of mere rhetoric ; but yet, when all this is 
 deducted, there remains a residuum of pure gold. 
 
 Admiral Foote, if not a great man when judged by the 
 highest intellectual standards and how few there are that 
 are truly great in every sense of that word ! surpassed com 
 mon men in some things. He surpassed them in moral force. 
 The central element of his character was this an immutable 
 resolution, under a religious sense of duty, to pursue the right. 
 The principles he had deliberately chosen he carried to sea 
 with him and into public life, and into his intercourse with 
 men every where and under all circumstances. He was an 
 ardent believer in the Christian faith and a believer in prayer 
 these had been wrought into his spirit in his youth, and he 
 sailed under that flag to the day of his death. He wrote to 
 his wife after the capture of Fort Henry that " he had ago 
 nized in prayer for victory." Another man might have won 
 
Mental and Moral Qualities. 385 
 
 the battle, and not have prayed for it; but he did, and he 
 recognized the hand of God in the victory that was gained. 
 Some may doubt whether this had any thing to do with his 
 military efficiency ; but none can doubt that he acted on 
 those principles, and that they formed the deepest spring of 
 his vigor. 
 
 He may be thought to have been too radical in his ideas of 
 reform. Some of his naval friends held this opinion, and did 
 not scruple to tell him so. Indeed, in his early professional 
 career, he often endured contempt and persecution on this ac 
 count ; but all who knew him learned to respect him, because 
 he was in earnest. He was one of the instances in history 
 of " the saints who are in Csesar's household," or men true 
 to their convictions of duty in circumstances of peculiar dif 
 ficulty and temptation. He believed in total abstinence as 
 the sheet-anchor of sailor character; therefore at the East 
 and West he fought out his temperance principles, till at last 
 by his speeches, letters, and, above all, personal example 
 he carried through the temperance reform in the Navy, and 
 abolished spirit-rations. His own crews were noted for their 
 sobriety and good conduct, not only on shipboard, but when 
 they were ashore, at home or in foreign ports. So it was 
 with the observance of Sunday, the prohibition of profanity, 
 and many other things that he had made up his mind about 
 as being right and because he believed them to be right, 
 without much consultation with others, as far as his authority 
 extended, he put them in practice. If reasoning would not 
 do, he did it by command. He held to a principle to the last 
 breath. Some of the latest acts of his life, during the short 
 period that he was at the head of the Bureau of Equipment 
 and Eecruiting, had reference to the question of temperance 
 reform on board government vessels. The venerable Admi 
 ral Smith writes: " Hear- Admiral Foote's character is well 
 known in the Navy. One of the strongest traits of his char- 
 
386 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 acter was great persistence in any thing he undertook. He 
 was a man who could neither be shaken off nor choked off 
 from what he attempted to carry out. He was truly a pious 
 man, severely an honest man, and a philanthropist of the first 
 order. He was one of our foremost Navy officers none be 
 fore him."* There are hosts of good men ; but of those who 
 stand by their colors as an enthusiasm and a life, and who ad 
 vance them into the enemy's line, who make conquests in the 
 realm of evil of such there are few. Admiral Foote was, as 
 his old friend said of him, a true philanthropist. His wish 
 seemed to be his wisdom may not always have been com 
 mensurate with his zeal but his earnest desire seemed to be 
 to raise the character and condition of men about him, of 
 sailors, of his fellow-officers, of all with whom he had any 
 influence. His mental traits, if not extraordinary, were not 
 commonplace. He had a strong, clear head. His mind was 
 practical ; but it had some finer grains that showed him capa 
 ble of a highly scientific and even literary culture, had his 
 career been one of books, and not of arms. He derived his 
 ideas from men rather than books, and if he did not think 
 profoundly, he was by no means wanting in sound ideas. His 
 perceptive faculties were uncommonly acute, and his powers 
 of invention and organization were by no means contemptible. 
 If he did not possess genius, he had that vivific or energic 
 quality of mind that, having clearly seized a point, drove to 
 ward it with power, and carried it by immense strength of 
 will. 
 
 He was not a dry-hearted egotist, either as a Christian or an 
 officer. He was open, cordial, and confiding. He was ex 
 traordinarily social in temperament. When he was in good 
 health and spirits, wherever he was, there was hearty life and 
 hilariousness. He was not, perhaps, a man of real humor, 
 
 * Private letter to author, dated August 13. 1872. 
 
Social Characteristics. 387 
 
 but he was noted for telling a good story, appreciating a good 
 jest, and enjoying a good laugh ; and, until borne down by 
 the burden of care, he was the best company in the world, 
 and to the day of his death his boyish and fun-loving spirit 
 flashed out. A genial temper, thoroughly kind, though not 
 without a sprinkle of the salt of rough ocean, made this hero 
 of iron-clads a delightful man in society. The little that he 
 was permitted to have of this kind of life on shore he was 
 thoroughly happy in ; and when with his own family and in 
 the circle of his friends, both young and old, then he was seen 
 at the best, and his frank, loving, cheerful nature came out 
 to great advantage. Like many men whose professions doom 
 them to the constant companionship of men, he enjoyed all the 
 more the few opportunities he had of mingling in the society 
 of the gentler sex, and he was every whit a sailor in this 
 respect. His intercourse with the world, and with those of 
 the highest position in all parts of the globe, had given his 
 manners great ease and polish. 
 
 He was not, too, without the faults that belong to warm 
 and lively natures. He was sometimes surprised into anger 
 under the sense of wrong, but was very placable, and could 
 not rest, in opposing the will of others, until he had justified 
 himself, if possible, in their minds. Although he possessed 
 great natural hopefulness, yet he was sometimes sadly jangled 
 and out of tune. In times of inglorious inactivity he grew 
 dispirited, but cleared up again like a generous flame at the 
 call of action. He was nervously anxious about results when 
 only thinking of them or imagining them, and therefore over 
 cautious in preparation ; but when the moment came to do, 
 his natural courage drove away all these mists of anxiety and 
 apprehension. He never was so happy as when he was driv 
 en most. He loved praise and distinction. He had in this 
 respect the military temperament, which, for some reason, is 
 even more intense in the Navy than in the Army. He was 
 
388 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 extremely sensitive about his professional reputation. When 
 he did a praiseworthy deed, he wished to have the credit of it, 
 and was jealous of those who he thought would rob him of 
 his just fame. This weakness, if it be such, it can not be de 
 nied that he had ; yet, after all, it did not go deep, and was a 
 weakness rather than a fault. It might have sprung from his 
 strong sense of right. He did not pull down others to build 
 up his own reputation. He was always ready to praise and 
 help those who might in some sense be considered his rivals. 
 As an instance of this, his hearty commendation of General 
 Grant had a great effect in putting a stop to much newspaper 
 abuse which that commander received in the early part of his 
 career. He never suffered this love of distinction to override 
 duty, and more than once in his life, for what he thought was 
 right, he put himself squarely across the path of his own in 
 terests, and brought down upon himself the peril of unpopu 
 larity, and even of official disgrace and ruin. 
 
 A somewhat mercurial vein of conversation, or small talk, 
 which, as a social man, he fell into, and which did not repre 
 sent his real mind, joined to the exhibition at times of an 
 innocent personal vanity, masked his character to some, and 
 they did not perceive the fundamental truth, solidity, and 
 greatness of his nature. But he had no overweening estimate 
 of himself, and he was deeply modest as to his own abilities ; 
 yet he was simple, open-hearted, and pleased with the sound 
 of glory ; yet few, if any, of the leaders of the war were more 
 entirely unselfish in their devotion to country, and, like Mr. 
 Lincoln, he was a type of the American democracy of the 
 true kind, on which the hope of the republic rests, and that, 
 sooner or later, will leaven the whole mass. There was not a 
 purer patriot among them all. His life and all he had be 
 longed to his country. 
 
 Like other men of strong character, he was, as has been 
 often said, positive in his opinions almost to obstinacy. He 
 
Personal Courage. 389 
 
 not only "believed he was right," but "he went ahead." 
 He loved argument for argument's sake. Some vessels are 
 freight-carriers, and some are batteries and rams ; some men 
 are the rich accumulators of knowledge, others the sturdy 
 opposers of wrong. Let not the men of ideas or of words 
 despise the men of action ; the last war showed who occupied 
 then the front rank and who had to take the second place. 
 Each should respect the other. 
 
 As a military man, Admiral Foote was not reticent, nor 
 was he swift of decision. He liked and sought counsel, not 
 to be ruled by it, but to be supplied with the materials of a 
 good judgment, which he arrived at himself independently of 
 all outside influences. It was impossible to know beforehand 
 how he would act in any given case, except that old Polonius's 
 advice was pretty sure to be followed : 
 
 "But, being in, 
 Bear't, that the opposed may beware of thee." 
 
 His personal courage can not be doubted. He has been 
 called "the Stonewall Jackson of the American Navy." 
 Though quiet and almost like a clergyman in his appearance 
 at ordinary times in society, when he was in battle he became 
 a changed man his eye flashed fire, and then the sailors knew 
 what was coming, and prepared for close quarters. It was 
 highly in character when, with a linen umbrella hoisted over 
 his head, he toiled through rice-fields and ditches at the head 
 of his crew in the hot sun, and was among the first to enter 
 the breached Chinese fort. His men would follow him any 
 where, and that is a sure test of bravery. He said of his sail 
 ors at the West, " I have such confidence in my men and they 
 in me, that if I say, Go there, I know they will go if it can be 
 accomplished by flesh and blood." But upon this point, a& 
 well as upon others, this letter, coining from such a source,, 
 must be regarded as most valuable : 
 
390 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 " WASHINGTON, D. C., September 23, 1873. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, Your letter of September 21st is received, and I am 
 extremely pleased to liear that you have ready for the press a work in 
 commemoration of the late Admiral Andrew H. Foote, U. S. Navy. 
 
 " The admiral was in command of the Mississippi flotilla during the 
 operations up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, and down the Mis 
 sissippi during that most important campaign of the winter of 1861-2. 
 At that time I was acting in a sphere too subordinate to enable me to 
 form a judgment of his capacity and power ; but in February, 1862, 1 had 
 occasion several times to see him at Cairo and Paducah, at which latter 
 place I was in command. He was personally very active, and could be 
 seen at all times, either at his office in a wharf-boat at Cairo, or on one 
 of the iron-clad boats of that day, superintending the equipment and 
 armament of his flotilla. He had all the frankness and heartiness of the 
 Old Navy, and was as full of enthusiasm and adventure as a young man. 
 His personal courage at Forts Henry and Donelson (where he was wound 
 ed by a cannon-ball while in the pilot-house) was the subject of universal 
 praise, especially by the army that saw and appreciated the gallantry 
 of his conduct, and its important bearing on the campaign. According 
 to my memory, it was the wound he received at Donelson that disabled 
 him, and forced him to obtain relief from a command for which he was 
 so eminently qualified ; and in his departure we all felt we had sustained 
 a loss almost irreparable. To me he resembled Farragut, in the sim 
 plicity of his mode of life, his intense love of country and profession, 
 and the extraordinary personal courage that made him an example to all 
 the commanders of vessels in his squadron ; who in boats of strange 
 form were subjected to danger from shore batteries and guerrillas firing 
 from behind trees and logs so different from that to which they had 
 been bred on the high seas. .As one who recognizes the most valuable 
 services of the Navy on our Western rivers, and is willing to concede to 
 them a large share in our common victories in that quarter, I again ex 
 press myself gratified that you have in hand the biography of so pure a 
 patriot, so brave an officer, and so kind a gentleman as was the late Ad 
 miral Foote, the pioneer of the Navy on the Western waters. 
 " With great respect, your friend and servant, 
 
 "W.T. SHERMAN, General. 
 
 " Professor Hoppin, Yale College." 
 
 Upon the reasons that led to his appointment to the com- 
 
Letter of the Hon. Gideon Welles. 391 
 
 mand of the South Atlantic squadron, and upon other points 
 in his military career, and in the estimation with which he was 
 held by the government as an officer, as well as in the expres 
 sion of personal friendship and intimate insight into his quali 
 ties as a man, the following communication from one who 
 knew him best will be read with great interest : 
 
 " HARTFORD, October 8, 1873. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I have your letter of the 4th inst., and am gratified to 
 know that you are engaged in writing the life of my friend, the late 
 Rear-Admiral Foote. Whether I can contribute any facts or incidents 
 to give interest to your work, in addition to those you have already col 
 lected, is uncertain. 'We were boys together' at Cheshire Academy 
 more than half a century ago, and the friendship then commenced con 
 tinued to his death. He was three or four years my junior, but some of 
 our studies were the same. After leaving the academy, we corresponded 
 for a time ; but his profession and absence from the country, with the 
 lapse of years, caused it to be interrupted. Occasionally, after long in 
 tervals, we met and kept alive the remembrance of schoolboy days, but 
 we were seldom brought in contact until I was called to administer the 
 Navy Department in 1861. He was at that time the executive officer 
 of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and in that position, at that critical period 
 of our affairs, his services, though not as demonstrative and as generally 
 known, were scarcely less important and valuable to the country than 
 those rendered soon after on our Western waters in the cause of the 
 Union. His labors and efficiency were felt and acknowledged in aiding 
 the Navy Department to create and call into existence that impromptu 
 Navy which, within a few months, to the surprise of our country and 
 the world, established an effective blockade of three thousand five hun 
 dred miles a fact which, when the blockade was ordered, eminent 
 foreign statesmen pronounced a material impossibility, but which the 
 same distinguished authorities within one year admitted to be conclu 
 sive, and that in no previous war had the ports of an enemy's country 
 been so effectually closed by a naval force. 
 
 " At the very commencement of our difficulties, when the expedition 
 to Sumter was ordered, and there was a deficiency of vessels in com 
 mission for the service, he by direction of the Navy Department pre 
 pared the steam-frigate Powhatan for sea in one week, an unparalleled 
 
39 2 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 performance when the condition of that vessel is understood, she having 
 returned but a few days previously from a three years' cruise. Thence 
 forward, until ordered in September to other duties, he labored with an 
 assiduity and zeal which, being quiet and unheralded, the country never 
 realized or fully appreciated. Headly, not always reliable, in his biog 
 raphy of Admiral Porter, represents that officer as sitting for ' six days 
 and nights in Commodore (Commander) Foote's office, directing the dif 
 ferent operations and urging on the work ' of fitting out the Powhatan 
 k shoved the President's orders at Foote so hard, and insisted so pertina 
 ciously on a compliance with them, that the latter had finally to give in, 
 and went to work.' Foote was not a man who needed to be ' shoved ' 
 at any time, nor would he be likely to have a junior officer in his office 
 directing his operations. He was not one who ever hesitated to obey 
 legitimate orders. The statement of Headly does Foote great injustice. 
 The organization and employment of a naval flotilla on the rivers of 
 the West was a question much controverted and discussed in the early 
 days of the rebellion. Military officers had at that time little faith in 
 the utility and power of gun-boats on the inland waters. It was asserted 
 that shore batteries would riddle and destroy vessels faster than they 
 could be brought into service, unless protected by the Army. Boats, it 
 was admitted, would be serviceable as transports, but of little account 
 for fighting purposes. But under the persistent and strenuous urging of 
 Western gentlemen, particularly the Attorney-General, Mr. Bates, and the 
 celebrated engineer, James B. Eads, of St. Louis, the administration de 
 cided that a co-operating naval force would be essential, if not indispen 
 sable to Army movements on the Mississippi and its tributaries. When 
 this decision was reached, it was claimed that the river service would 
 not be strictly naval, and that any flotilla which might be ordered should 
 be an appendage to the Army, and subject to military control that the 
 War Department would make the expenditures, purchase the boats, and 
 furnish the force to man them. This was readily acceded to by the Sec 
 retary of the Navy, who had at that period as much as he could do to 
 create a Navy and establish squadrons on our maritime frontier, It was 
 soon ascertained, however, that while the War Department would pur 
 chase and build boats, naval officers and naval gunners were required to 
 fit out, command, sail, and fight the vessels and discipline the crews. The 
 Secretary of the Navy, therefore, on application, detailed Commander 
 John Rodgers with assistants for that duty. But time was necessary to 
 procure suitable boats, and to prepare and properly arm and equip them, 
 
Letter of the Hon. Gideon Welles. 393 
 
 and there were soon discontent and murmurs at the delay. This had its 
 influence, and General Fremont, on assuming command of the Western 
 Department, asked for another and different naval commander. It would 
 be difficult, however, at any time, to find a more bold and resolute officer 
 than John Rodgers for any service. Besides, the duty was novel, and at 
 that time not popular with the Navy. The officers naturally preferred sea 
 duty, and were reluctant to come under Army control. Moreover, the 
 service actually required a peculiar and high order of talent, for a Navy 
 was to be created without a navy yard and its appliances, and to be 
 manned without sailors. Foote appeared to possess the requisite quali 
 ties, and to have the experience wanted beyond any other officer to build 
 up a Navy was prompt, full of resources, fired with patriotic zeal, and, 
 in active service afloat, had wonderful command and influence over his 
 men in reconciling them to any duty. His labors had been unwearied 
 and unceasing from the beginning of the rebellion. His fidelity to the 
 government was as marked in the purchase, construction, and repair of 
 vessels in the navy yards as in the line of his profession afloat. Prudence, 
 economy, vigilance, and an anxious desire, not only to obey orders, but 
 to serve the country, identify himself with the government, and, if pos 
 sible, anticipate its requirements, were marked traits of his character, 
 and these were precisely the qualities which were wanted in the anoma 
 lous service of the naval commander on the rivers of the West. It was 
 with great reluctance that the Department detached him from the Navy 
 Yard at Brooklyn, where his services had been so useful ; but he seemed 
 to be, and results proved that he was in every respect, the man to be in 
 trusted with the responsible duty of calling into existence and command 
 ing the Mississippi flotilla, which soon became so formidable, rendered 
 such invaluable service, inspired so much confidence in the Union cause, 
 and was the terror of the rebels wherever any of his gun-boats appeared. 
 His battles gave him renown, but his patient and herculean labors in pro 
 curing and organizing the flotilla with which those battles were fought 
 were less known but almost incredible. 
 
 " It is not my purpose in this hasty letter to attempt any description 
 of the achievements which distinguished his brief career while in com 
 mand of the flotilla. Those, as related by himself and his officers in 
 their official dispatches, are published with the Navy Reports of the pe 
 riod, and belong more properly to his biography than to this letter. In 
 stead of being protected by the army, his gun-boats were soon in de 
 mand for the defense of the military. It shortly became evident that the 
 
394 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 two branches of the service would be more effective were they independ 
 ent, but co-operating and acting jointly. Congress at an early day or 
 dered a transfer of the flotilla from the Army to the Navy, but it was not 
 until after Foote had been relieved. With the officers of the Army he 
 maintained a good and friendly understanding. ; though the restrictions 
 which General Halleck, the successor of Fremont, put upon his movements 
 he always felt to be not only a grievance to himself, but an injustice to 
 the country ; and he never hesitated to say that little progress would be 
 made toward capturing Vicksburg, opening the Mississippi, or subduing 
 the insurrection while Halleck was in active command of the Western 
 Department. 
 
 " Wounded at Donelson, he still continued on active duty, unwilling to 
 relinquish his command until I felt compelled, by reason of his debility, 
 to relieve him. While on leave, and suffering from his wound, he was in 
 July promoted to the office of Rear-Admiral ; and Congress having direct 
 ed a reorganization of the Navy Department, with three additional Bu 
 reaus, he was simultaneously with his promotion, and while disabled from 
 service afloat, appointed Chief of the newly authorized Bureau of Equip 
 ment and Recruiting. Some delay attended his assumption of Bureau 
 duty in consequence of the serious nature of his wound, which was long 
 in healing. As soon as his health permitted, he entered upon this work 
 with all the assiduity and zeal he had displayed in the Navy Yard or on 
 the Mississippi. A few months, however, sufficed to show that Bureau 
 duty was not congenial, and that his health suffered from clerical confine 
 ment. He signified to me that service afloat, whenever the Department 
 could give him an appropriate command, would conduce to his health 
 and public usefulness. His wife, though sympathizing with her husband, 
 regretted that he could not remain contented in his position, and ex 
 pressed her repugnance to his again and so soon leaving his family, 
 which had recently experienced severe affliction ; but she at length called 
 on me without his knowledge, and said she was convinced the admiral 
 was suffering in health from confinement to clerical and shore duty. Fre 
 quently and freely, in friendly conversation, she had expressed her wish 
 that he would not again take active command during the war ; but she 
 now felt it necessary to withdraw all objections, and to entreat that, 
 should he be assigned to active duty, it might be to sea and not river 
 service, where the risks were great, disease prevalent, and the labors too 
 exacting. When the admiral learned that she had called on me, he was 
 very much annoyed. He was particularly disturbed that she had made 
 
Letter of the Hon. Gideon Welles. 395 
 
 any exception to river employment, for he considered it a duty to obey 
 orders of any and every kind to go wherever the Department directed 
 or thought he could be most useful, for it could best judge as to the 
 wants of the service. 
 
 " The hesitancy and reluctance of Admiral Dupont, during the winter of 
 1863, to attack Sumter, the failure of the assault when made in April, fol 
 lowed by his total want of confidence in further effort, and an express de^ 
 sire and intention to withdraw the vessels from Charleston harbor, with 
 the injurious effect of his dispiriting influence upon his subordinates, were 
 matters of deep concern to the Navy Department and the administra 
 tion. Foote participated in the general disappointment over the result 
 at Charleston ; his friendship for Dupont, however, prevented him from 
 giving utterance to any opinion adverse to that officer. But personal 
 feeling was not permitted to interfere with public duty. It was finally 
 determined, as a matter of necessity, to relieve Dupont; but there was some 
 difficulty in regard to the selection of a successor. Among three or four 
 names that were canvassed, Foote's was prominent ; but so sensitive were 
 his feelings toward Dupont, and the delicacy of his position in connection 
 with the Department, that he frankly expressed a wish that he might not 
 be called upon to supersede his friend. But after a thorough examina 
 tion of all the circumstances, and with a full knowledge of his views in 
 regard to operations, freely expressed before the failure of Dupont and 
 when success was considered certain, it was decided to give him command 
 of the South Atlantic squadron. To relieve Dupont, who had court 
 friends and admirers, would be likely to cause commotion, though he had 
 indirectly invited it. Foote had shown his ability for the position, and 
 possessed in an eminent degree, beyond any other officer suggested except 
 Farragut, the confidence of the country. Farragut could not be with 
 drawn from his important command in the Gulf and on the Lower Missis 
 sippi. I therefore, on the 29th of May, invited Foote to an interview, and 
 after a frank and free interchange of opinion in regard to the duties ex 
 pected and required of the commander of the South Atlantic squadron 
 the rigid enforcement of the blockade of the entire coast, and particularly 
 of operations against Charleston, and the absolute sealing up of its har 
 bor informed him. that he was designated for that command. On the 
 same day I introduced him to General Gilmore, who had been selected by 
 the War Department to take the place of General Hunter, and was with 
 the military forces expected to co-operate with him and the Navy in joint 
 movements in Charleston harbor. That conference, though interesting, 
 
396 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 was never in its details consummated by Foote. It was arranged that 
 Rear- Admiral Dahlgren, distinguished for his proficiency in ordnance, be 
 tween whom and Foote there was close intimacy and friendship, should 
 be associated with him as second in command for special duty in the an 
 ticipated operations against Charleston. 
 
 " The question being settled, and Foote having received his orders, he 
 entered with alacrity upon his new duties. The necessary details were at 
 once commenced, and on Sunday, the 31st, I met him at the door of the 
 church as I was leaving after the morning service, and we spent some 
 time together on the subject of his command. He proposed to leave that 
 evening for New York with Commander Simpson, whom he had selected 
 as his confidential executive officer. Although noted for his strict relig 
 ious sentiments, he would not permit the sanctity of the Sabbath to inter 
 rupt him in the. necessary discharge of his duty. That week he was en 
 gaged in active preparation for his departure ; but there was unexpected 
 delay on the part of one habitually and proverbially prompt in his move 
 ments in leaving, or in specifying the day on which he would leave for 
 his command. I had a letter from him on Monday, the 8th of June, and 
 its unusually desponding tone, complaining of disability and bad health, 
 alarmed me ; but on the following day (Tuesday, the 9th) he made a flying 
 visit to Washington, when his earnest manner and evident and expressed 
 satisfaction with his new command, dissipated and put at rest any appre 
 hension I might have entertained from his letter. He also explained the 
 cause of his depressed feelings, and the reason why his departure had 
 been delayed. It might also, he said, lead to a further detention of two 
 or three days, unless the necessities of the service demanded his immedi 
 ate departure. Dupont he was aware had been advised that he would be 
 relieved, and it was important that the change of commanders should take 
 place as speedily as possible ; but on reaching home, preparatory to his 
 departure, the appearance of Mrs. Foote, whose delicate and failing health 
 was evidently giving way, alarmed him. On conversing with the attend 
 ing physicians, he was frankly told her case was hopeless that her days 
 on earth were numbered, and she could not long survive. It became nec 
 essary, therefore, for him to make arrangements for his family wholly dif 
 ferent from what he had expected. When he should leave for his station, 
 it would be with the melancholy knowledge on his part that it was a 
 final earthly separation that they would never again meet in this life. 
 Nevertheless he had so far completed his arrangements that he intended 
 to leave on the Tuscarora on Monday, the 15th, for his station. He took 
 
His War Record. 397 
 
 his leave of me that evening to return to New York, expecting to embark 
 on the succeeding Monday. We never met again. On the morning of 
 Thursday, the 18th, I received information that he was lying dangerously 
 ill at the Astor House, in New York, having arrived there on his way to 
 his command. The tidings on that and the succeeding day were alarm 
 ing, and on Saturday Dr. Wheelan, Chief of the Bureau of Medicine, an 
 old friend and admirer, in whom Foote had great faith, left Washington 
 to attend him. Admiral Dahlgren, who was associated with Foote, and 
 had been in New York expecting to accompany him to Port Royal, re 
 turned to Washington, and called on me on Sunday. He said Foote's 
 case was hopeless that he had an interview with him on Saturday, when 
 the admiral told him all was over, that it was ' the last of this world, and 
 he was prepared for the event.' He lingered until the 26th, when he 
 died. His devoted and loving wife, for whom he felt so much solicitude, 
 and from whom he expected an earlier and final earthly separation, at 
 tended him in his last illness, and survived him several months. Next to 
 Farragut, Foote was, unquestionably, at the time of his death the most 
 popular officer in the Navy, and had more fully the confidence, not only of 
 the Navy, but of the government and country. He was proud of his pro 
 fession, and did much, by his example and precept, to elevate the tone 
 and character of the Navy. No man had greater influence over his men. 
 His earnest sincerity inspired confidence which was felt in battle, and led 
 his command to do or die ; in peaceful times it had improved their hab 
 its and elevated their character and self-respect. The unexpected death 
 of this gentleman and truly Christian' sailor was deplored by those who 
 knew him, and was an irreparable loss to the government and country. 
 " Very respectfully, GIDEON WELLES. 
 
 " Professor James M. Hoppin." 
 
 As to what Admiral Foote really accomplished in the last 
 war, nothing need be added to what has been said. The sim 
 ple facts are the best witnesses ; but it is a singular thing in 
 regard to the kind of service that he rendered, that he who 
 passionately loved the sea, and who coveted the fame of the 
 older sea-captains, who fought their ships in blue water, should 
 have been above all a fort-batterer, a fort-taker, and that his 
 principal exploits should have been in this line against earth 
 works and stone-works, such as the Chinese Barrier Forts, 
 
398 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Columbus, Island No. Ten. He 
 had no opportunity to lead a squadron or a single ship to the 
 encounter amid the winds and waves of the open ocean, where 
 seamanship and skill are almost of as much account as valor ; 
 but we may imagine that the same qualities of mingled caution 
 and daring would have characterized his operations, and that, 
 once tackled to an enemy, he never would have released his 
 hold. He was, we would say in this connection, as a seaman, 
 thorough but prudent, and from being overcautious when first 
 in command, he is said by those competent to judge to have 
 grown extremely bold in his seamanship, and ready to do any 
 thing that the circumstances dictated.* 
 
 He is to be judged by the quality of what he did in the war, 
 rather than the quantity he was in active service consider 
 able less than a year. During that time the blows he struck 
 were telling blows there were none more so. He had the 
 sagacity to perceive the right point of attack where the blow 
 would be felt. Before he was thought of as one to take com 
 mand at the West, and before naval operations in that quarter 
 were decided upon by the government, he advanced the opin 
 ion that there would be need of gun-boats on the Western 
 waters ; and when he really took hold of the matter, he saw 
 at once the value of the idea, and threw himself into it with 
 all his force, until it grew to be a mighty fact under his hand ; 
 so that, in the words of another, whereas "not a gun belong 
 ing to the Navy was to be found on the Mississippi or its 
 tributaries at the beginning of the war, before the close of the 
 war there were a hundred steamers armed with new American 
 guns." Not that Foote accomplished all this, but he was a main 
 factor in its accomplishment. When once the instrument was 
 
 * I am indebted to Surgeon S. Henriques of the Bureau of Equipment 
 and Recruiting, one of Admiral Foote's oldest friends, who sailed with 
 him in the Pwtsmouth, and who was with him at the West, for much in 
 formation on professional points. 
 
The Sailor s Friend. 399 
 
 shaped to his hand he used it with great skill. He brought it 
 to bear with tremendous effect. 
 
 He seized w T ith the intuition of genius upon the strategic 
 importance of Fort Henry as a key of the enemy's position in 
 Northern Tennessee, and the impulse as well as the plan to 
 capture that stronghold went from him. That was the be 
 ginning of the end of the Southern power in the Southwest. 
 The permanent hold of the loyal arms upon the South was 
 then established, which was never afterward essentially weak 
 ened, and which slowly but surely from that moment advanced 
 in strength. We quote the following words as including in a 
 comprehensive form a fair statement of the military services 
 that Admiral Foote rendered to his country during the War of 
 the Rebellion : " By these brilliant operations of the Army and 
 Navy, the rebel line of defense was broken at the centre, and 
 this made it a necessity for them to abandon the two wings of 
 this line Bowling Green on their right, and Columbus on the 
 Mississippi. It was one of the great hinge-points of the war, 
 the first great blow which the rebellion received. A forced 
 lodgment in the heart of Tennessee involved, almost of neces 
 sity, the final overthrow of the rebel cause. The naval battles 
 which had been fought on the Atlantic coast were perhaps more 
 brilliant ; but none, unless it were that between the Monitor 
 and the Merrimack, were followed by more important results." 
 
 As a friend of the sailor, Admiral Foote will be long and 
 warmly remembered. He saw the rough diamond in Jack's 
 nature. He knew his wants and temptations. The seaman 
 recognized him instinctively as his friend, and went to him for 
 help in his troubles ; and one of the most touching tributes 
 paid to the admiral's memory was in some resolutions passed 
 immediately after his death by the New York Port Society, 
 in which it was said : " He led the men of his command in 
 battle and inspired them by his valor he led them likewise in 
 the way of Christian truth. His care for the men was marked 
 
 DD 
 
400 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 not alone in the line of his official duty, but he sought to pro 
 mote their temporal good, and above all to make them follow 
 ers of the Captain of salvation. He was wont to proclaim the 
 Gospel to them in public and private. Admiral Foote evinced 
 an earnest interest in behalf of the men of the sea. While we 
 deeply deplore his loss, we confidently believe that our departed 
 friend has now gained the welcome approval of his Lord." 
 
 We now gladly give an interesting letter from one who had 
 rare opportunities to know Admiral Foote in the most familial- 
 relations who sailed with him, and yet who was not a sailor 
 nor a man of war, but a man of peaceful pursuits, and at aij 
 age, too, when persons are the most critical just when youth 
 is turning into manhood. The captain's private secretary, if 
 at all a shrewd observer, must have had pretty good opportuni 
 ties on a long voyage of seeing his commander just as he was 
 in his weakness as well as strength : 
 
 "PARSONAGE, ORANGE VALLEY, NEW JERSEY, j 
 October 1, 1873. ) 
 
 "MY DEAR SIR, My acquaintance with the late Admiral Foote began 
 when he was a lieutenant-commanding, and had just returned from that 
 cruise on the coast of Africa concerning which he has himself written. 
 Coming back to New Haven on furlough, I used to see him in the Sun 
 day-school, where I was a scholar and he a teacher, and in frequent 
 visits at my father's house. Soon afterward, when my impaired health 
 made it necessary for me to abandon my studies for a while, he kindly 
 promised me that I should go with him on his next cruise as captain's 
 clerk. 
 
 " The next cruise turned out to be an eventful one. He was given the 
 command of the Portsmouth sloop-of-war, which at that time (1856) was 
 considered one of the very best among our sailing-vessels. The Ports 
 mouth was fitted out at Norfolk with great care, and carried "a battery of 
 8-inch guns, in the working of which Foote and his friend Dahlgren 
 felt the deepest interest. It was the first time, I believe, that a ship 
 of the Portsmouth's class had been fitted with a battery of such heavy 
 ordnance. And the service which she was called to render in the reduc 
 tion of the Barrier Forts in the Canton river proved to have great value 
 
Letter of the Rev. George B. Bacon. 401 
 
 as showing the efficacy of the heavy metal which a sloop-of-war of her 
 size could carry. The results of that bombardment were made the sub- 
 jec"t of a special report to the Ordnance Department and of private letters 
 to Dahlgren, whose scientific reputation was as highly valued by Foote 
 as if it had been his own. It was an eminently wise choice which, years 
 afterward, in the war of our rebellion, put these two men together in that 
 important service in Charleston harbor to which Foote was ordered when 
 his death occurred. They would have worked together as hardly any 
 other two men in the service could have worked each of them helping 
 out the other's characteristics with his own peculiar qualities. It is idle, 
 of course, to conjecture what might have happened if Foote, had been 
 spared to carry out the plans which the Department had marked out for 
 him. But to those of us who knew him best it seemed that he was 
 standing on the threshold of an opportunity which would have given to 
 him and to the flag for which he fought a renown even more illustrious 
 than his career had yet furnished. 
 
 " The only time I ever saw him engaged in active hostilities was when 
 the Portsmouth was occupied in the reduction of the Barrier Forts. At this 
 distance of time, when almost all the actors in it have passed away, there 
 is no harm in saying that that fight was Foote's from the beginning to 
 the end of it. There were three of our ships engaged in it ; but it was 
 his determination and energy which gave to the action its prompt and 
 vigorous success. I need not repeat the story of the engagement ; but I 
 shall never forget the impression of vehemence and concentration of pur 
 pose which the admiral's conduct produced, not only on me, but I think 
 I may fairly say upon the whole squadron. He was a splendid fighter, 
 with just that combination of audacity and caution, of impetuosity 
 and persistence, of natural combativeness and scientific skill, which 
 makes the very best kind of military or naval leadership. In the fight 
 at the Barrier Forts he exposed himself to the greatest danger ; while he 
 was bringing his ship to anchor at close range, two round shot passed 
 within a foot or two of his head ; and he led in person the landing-party 
 which assaulted the forts at the close of the bombardment. He gave me, 
 I remember, sealed letters to his family, written at the latest moment 
 before starting for the shore, with instructions to forward them if he 
 should not return. And in all his behavior he showed that highest kind 
 of courage which recognizes to the full the peril of the hour, and, recog 
 nizing it, is no way disquieted or hindered by it. Moreover, there was 
 that kind of natural and professional fondness for a fight, for the fight's 
 
402 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 sake, which I suspect a mere civilian can not fully comprehend nor ap 
 preciate. 
 
 " I am not very competent to estimate his seamanship ; but I know 
 that the skillful handling of the Portsmouth was matter of general remark 
 and admiration at the various ports of our cruisiug-ground. And I re 
 member one officer, not personally friendly to Foote, who nevertheless 
 acknowledged that he was the best sailor he ever saw. His vigilant and 
 intelligent oversight of the smallest details in the management of the 
 ship was something which I could not help seeing. He could never put 
 off responsibility on his subordinates. Even when he was prostrated 
 with the sick-headaches which used to torment him at frequent intervals 
 and drive him almost crazy with suffering, he would insist on knowing 
 what was going on. I would hear him groaning with distress in his 
 room one moment, and the next he would be on deck directing the man 
 agement of the vessel. Nothing would excuse him from the personal 
 oversight of all the ship's affairs. His command was never a sinecure. 
 If there were not work enough to keep him busy, and to keep the ship's 
 company busy also, then he would make work. And, somehow or other, 
 his cruises were almost always famous and eventful. 
 
 " It seems to me that the admiral never appeared to the best advantage 
 except when he had upon him the pressure of the very gravest and most 
 responsible duty. So long as his work was easy and commonplace, the 
 superficial defects of his character were evident. He might appear to be 
 a fussy, fidgety man, of inordinate self-consciousness, and with a love of 
 approbation which could easily pass for vanity with those who chose to 
 call it so. But let him have a burden of work and responsibility put 
 upon him which would have crushed an ordinary man, and it straight 
 way appeared how far he was from being an ordinary man. The super 
 ficial defects of his character disappeared. His love of approbation was 
 only a wholesome stimulus to duty. His self-consciousness only gave 
 him the more complete self-mastery. And his restless nervousness be 
 came an intense and wary vigilance which was an almost certain assur 
 ance of success. What would break down most men only served to steady 
 him, and put him in the best trim and attitude for achievement. 
 
 " There was no mistake about the religious character of the man. It 
 was genuine and admirable. He was in earnest to do good, and eager to 
 have his influence felt where it would tell for righteousness. On board 
 the Portsmouth he repeated the experiment which was so successful on 
 board the brig P&rry on his previous cruise the experiment of persuad- 
 
Letter of the Rev. George B. Bacon. 403 
 
 ing the crew to a surrender of their grog -ration. Most of the ship's 
 company agreed to it, after listening to the lively and well-put speech in 
 which Foote stated the case to them just before we sailed from Norfolk. 
 During the voyage out to China, I think n spirit-rations were served. 
 But presently the discontent of a few broke up the plan, and before the 
 cruise was finished the total abstinence had generally come to an end. 
 The good effect of their captain's influence, however, was not lost upon 
 the men. There was no mistaking the kindness and Christian faithful 
 ness of his interest in their welfare, even if this special endeavor in behalf 
 of temperance was partially defeated. 
 
 " So, too, with the religious services on shipboard. It was the cap 
 tain's custom to conduct these in person in the absence of a chaplain 
 reading a part of the service from the Prayer-book of the Episcopal 
 Church, and sometimes a printed sermon. Besides this, he would some 
 times hold a more informal prayer-meeting on the berth-deck, at which 
 the attendance was not compulsory ; or he would gather the apprentice 
 boys in a Sunday-school class, and attempt some simple instruction of 
 them in religious truth. Always when in port he took pains to have his 
 religious profession and endeavor understood. Knowing how often the 
 influence of officers and men is not especially manifest on the side of 
 Christian faith and charity, he went out of his way to show that his in 
 fluence was not to be of that sort ; so that the arrival of the Portsmouth 
 was always as welcome, to say the least, to the missionary families of any 
 port as to the mercantile or diplomatic community. He believed in show 
 ing his colors. When the Second King of Siam came down from Bang 
 kok to visit the Portsmouth, he expressed some courteous surprise when 
 Foote asked a blessing at the table as they sat down to dinner. He had 
 supposed, his majesty intimated, that only missionary folk did that sort 
 of thing. And he received some new light in regard to religious life in 
 Christian lands when the admiral seized the opportunity to class himself 
 among the missionary folk, and to identify their faith and their endeav 
 ors as his own. And so always and in all company, rather than have 
 any thing doubtful or equivocal about his own position, he would make 
 an opportunity to declare it. He never forgot his loyalty to Christ and 
 to his Cross. And he was anxious, if it were possible, to be not only a 
 Christian man, but a Christian officer bringing his flag with him in his 
 religious service, and making the nation which he represented to be 
 known as not in name only, but in fact, a Christian nation. How suc 
 cessful he was, on one or two notable occasions, in accomplishing this 
 
404 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 endeavor, the story of his life, as you have written it, will, I doubt not, 
 abundantly show. 
 
 " It was partly his broad religious spirit which saved him from becom 
 ing a merely technical, routine officer, knowing his profession and know 
 ing nothing else. It was as far as possible from such narrowness. His 
 interest in letters, in science, in politics, was generous and intelligent. 
 His interest in men was kind and thoughtful. In many ways, in little 
 ways as well as in those more important, I was personally indebted to his 
 thoughtfulness and care for me. The two years that I spent with him 
 the first as his clerk in intimate confidential relationship, the second as 
 his purser gave me the opportunity to know him thoroughly.- The 
 wider reputation which he acquired in the War of the Rebellion did not 
 at all surprise me. I am sure that he would have proved equal to any 
 opportunity which a longer life had brought to him. And his example 
 seems to me one most worthy to be studied and to be followed. Brave, 
 skillful, true a good sailor, a good fighter, a good citizen, a good man 
 Christian in word and deed and life the nation, for which he lived 
 and died, needs only to know him better in order to love him more, and 
 to honor his memory as among its choicest treasures. 
 
 " Most truly yours, GEORGE B. BACON." 
 
 Toward the last of May, 1874, the writer of this biography 
 met, by good fortune, Commodore Rodgers, Chief of Bureau 
 of Docks and Yards, at the room of Secretary Robeson in 
 Washington, D. C. The conversation turned upon Admiral 
 Foote. " Foote," said Commodore Rodgers, " had more of the 
 bull-dog than any man I ever knew. He did not, like some 
 men, plan gallant deeds on his bed. and when the pinch came 
 discover he was no hero; bui when the fighting came, then 
 he was in his element he liked it. He had some charming- 
 foibles, which only endeared him the more to those who knew 
 him ; and among these he thought he was an orator, which he 
 certainly was not. He was a man of acute nervous organiza 
 tion, which accounted for some of his impulsive acts. He was 
 a man of deep religious principle, and was one in whom the 
 government entirely confided, and on whom events, turned. 
 He was a splendid naval officer. He was a typical man." 
 
Concluding Words. 405 
 
 Why need we add more words of friends or of our own ? 
 Our grateful task is finished. We have striven to give a plain 
 and straightforward story, without exaggeration, without cov 
 ering up flaws, and without keeping back hearty praise of 
 noble qualities and great actions. Farragut, Foote, Dupont, 
 Goldsborough, Dahlgren, the two Porters, Winslow,Worden 
 are not these worthy to take their place with the sea-captains 
 of the earlier days of the republic yes, with those ancient En 
 glish worthies who, in their nimble little vessels, grappled with 
 invincible tenacity the many-towered ships of the Spanish Ar 
 mada, and saved England to freedom and the Protestant faith ? 
 In them all burned 
 
 "The unconquerable mind, and Freedom's holy flame." 
 
 In one of them, we know, burned a still purer and holier flame. 
 Ko man, says Coleridge, can be in the highest sense a hero 
 who is not a man of faith. It is the overpowering sense of 
 God, of the greatness of the thought of him, of loyalty to 
 his service, that dissipates littleness and selfish fear, raises the 
 mind above material elements, and makes it truly heroic. The 
 faith of a sailor is often one of peculiar power and depth. 
 Where life itself is the price of constant watchfulness, of 
 scrupulous order, of patient endurance, of unflinching obe 
 dience to one governing will, the grand law of duty is apt to 
 be well learned in the school of old ocean. Where, too, the 
 ship is alone on the sea, suspended over a mysterious abyss 
 that stretches like a dim eternity before the eye, the thought 
 of God, and dependence upon him, and final accountability to 
 him, fills the religious mind ; so that the man who spends 
 much of his life at sea is often a man of strong faith. 
 
 And this same ocean, whose storms shake the world, also 
 binds the world closely together. Through its waters pass 
 those lines of national intercommunication which, though they 
 vanish after the track of the ship's keel, are nevertheless the 
 
406 Life of Admiral Foote. 
 
 viewless lines which knit the race of man into one brother 
 hood ; and thus the ocean becomes the means of educating 
 and increasing the love of man. 
 
 Duty to God love to man these were the words written 
 on the colors which he sailed under, the simple and unadorned 
 narrative of whose life has been given in these pages and 
 he never pulled down his flag. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 "Africa and the American Flag," 
 quoted, 66, 68, 69, 70, 74 ; notices of, 
 99, 100. 
 
 Ambrizette, Queen of, 84. 
 
 American Flag, abuse of the, 72. 
 
 Anderson, Dr., quoted, 42. 
 
 Appeal of a son, 357. 
 
 Arkansas, fight with the gun-boat, 348, 
 351. 
 
 "Ashburton Treaty," 104. 
 
 Bacon, Dr. L., 381. 
 
 Bacon, Rev. G. B., letter from, 400. 
 
 Bangkok, 128. 
 
 "Barrier Forts," storming of the, 113. 
 
 Barren, Commodore, 54, 105. 
 
 Beecher, Chaplain James, 124 ; letter 
 
 to, 124. 
 Bell, Commander H. H., letters from, 
 
 134. 
 
 Belmont, battle of, 185. 
 Benton, the gun-boat, 165, 267, 268, 312, 
 
 326, 327, 359. 
 Bethune, Dr. G. W.,102. 
 Biddle, Commodore, 57. 
 "Black stain," story of the, 64. 
 Boldness in attack, 370. 
 Bo\vring, Sir John, 1 1 2. 
 Boyhood, 17. 
 Boynton's " Civil History of the Navy," 
 
 quoted, 165, 257, 287. 
 Brooklyn Navy Yard, 137. 
 Brooks, J. H v 367, 377, 382. 
 Buckingham, Governor, 346. 
 Buckner, General, 220, 225. 
 Budd, Captain, letter from, 33. 
 Budington, Dr., 309, 375. 
 
 " Bureau of Equipment and Recruit 
 ing," 344, 365. 
 Burial, 383. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cairo, head-quarters at, 181, 185, 305. 
 
 Cairo, the gun-boat, 158. 
 
 Canton, 112. 
 
 Canton merchants, letter of, 127. 
 
 Carondelet, the gun-boat, 158, 204, 221, 
 222,224,283,348,359. 
 
 Catholic controversy, 42, 49. 
 
 Character, 385. 
 
 Chatsworth, capture of the slave-ship, 
 83. 
 
 Cheshire, Conn., early home in, 20. 
 
 Christian Missions, 99. 
 
 Cincinnati, the gun-boat, 168, 201, 
 243. 
 
 Clarksville, capture of, 234 ; proclama 
 tion at, 234. 
 
 Cleveland, Ohio, temporary residence at, 
 314, 331. 
 
 Colonization Society, lecture before the, 
 98. 
 
 Columbia, the, 44. 
 
 Columbus, reconnoissance of, 241 ; evac 
 uation of, 249. 
 
 Conestoga, the gun-boat, 158, 159, 171, 
 174, 222. 
 
 Congo River, 85. 
 
 Constitution, the, 40. 
 
 Cooper's Naval History, quoted, 39, 40, 
 41. 
 
 Courts-martial, 142. 
 
 Cruising-ground of the Perry, 66. 
 
 Cullum, Brigadier-General George W., 
 245, 264. 
 
 Cumberland, cruise of the, 58. 
 
408 
 
 Index. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dahlgren, Rear- Admiral J. A., 64, 380; 
 letters from, 76, 106, 1 83. 
 
 Dana, Professor, 141. 
 
 Dana, Richard, quoted, 27. 
 
 Davis, Rear- Admiral C. H., 31, 102, 
 156, 308, 310, 312, 319, 336, 348. 
 
 Death, 378 ; of son, 269. 
 
 Defective guns, 1 83. 
 
 Delaware, voyage of the, 35. 
 
 Detached from command of flotilla, 329. 
 
 Diplomatic questions, 81. 
 
 Dobbin, Secretary, 87, 123. 
 
 Donelson, Fort, description of, 220 ; 
 movement upon, 221 ; attack of, by 
 the gun-boats, 222 ; surrender of, 225. 
 
 Dupont, Rear- Admiral S. F., 105 ; let 
 ter from, 1 47. 
 
 Eads, James B., 163, 164. 
 Economy in business matters, 366. 
 Eddyville, action at, 177. 
 Educational matters, 57, 143. 
 Ellet's "ram-fleet," 312, 323, 326. 
 Enlistment meetings, 345. 
 Essex, the gun-boat, 158, 202. 
 Expedition up the Tennessee, 211. 
 Extracts from sea-journal, 51, 90. 
 
 F. 
 
 False position in regard to the Army, 
 
 251. 
 
 Family, 13, 14. 
 Farragut, Rear-Admiral, 280, 306, 315, 
 
 341,351,366. 
 Fatal illness, 375. 
 Flag of truce, 244. 
 Flotilla, preparation of the Western, 158; 
 
 names of the gun-boats, 158. 
 Flying Fish, difficulty with captain of 
 
 the, 93. 
 Foote, Augustus, 17, 375 ; letter to son 
 
 Augustus, 135. 
 Foote, Caroline, 34. 
 Foote, Caroline Augusta, 57 ; letters to, 
 
 132, 189, 228, 230, 235, 248,269, 279, 
 
 288. 
 Foote, Eudocin, 15. 
 
 Foote, John, 14. 
 
 Foote, John A., 17, 18, 56, 105, 152. 
 
 Foote, Nathaniel, 13. 
 
 Foote, Samuel Augustus, 15, 17, 20, 21. 
 
 "Foote's Resolutions," 15. 
 
 Fort Henry, description of, 195 ; attack 
 
 on, 200 ; military qualities displayed 
 
 at, 208. 
 Fox, Assistant-Secretary G. A., 167; 
 
 letters from, 163, 179, 180, 210, 239, 
 
 250. 
 Fremont, Major-General J. C., 157, 1 60, 
 
 185. 
 Funeral obsequies, 381. 
 
 G. 
 
 Grampus, the, 25. 
 
 Grant, General U. S., 162, 171, 184, 185, 
 
 221, 225, 231, 236. 
 Gregory, Commodore, 25, 66, 87, 372, 
 
 382. 
 
 Grimes, speech of Senator, 261, 271. 
 Gun-boats, history of the, 164 ; cost of 
 
 the, 179. 
 Gwin, Captain, 214, 215, 296, 342, 
 
 Halleck, General, 185 ; letters and dis 
 patches from, 193, 232, 233, 235, 238, 
 265, 275. 
 
 Henriques, Surgeon S., 327, 398. 
 
 Hollins, engagement with his fleet, 295. 
 
 Holy Land, visit to the, 35. 
 
 Hong-Kong, 111, 127. 
 
 Honolulu, 43. 
 
 Honors to Admiral Foote's memorv. 
 379. 
 
 Hornet, the, 31. 
 
 Hull, Commodore, 28. 
 
 I. 
 
 Improved propeller, 65. 
 
 Incessant activity, 367. 
 
 Influences to a sea-life, 19. 
 
 Iron-plated ships, introduction of, 156. 
 
 Island No. Ten, description of, 225 ; 
 bombardment of, 206 ; operations at, 
 276 ; surrender of, 289 ; fruits of vic 
 tory, 293. 
 
Index. 
 
 409 
 
 J. 
 
 Jackson, Sir George, letter from, 86. 
 Japan, visit to, 129. 
 John Adams, cruise of the, 38, 48. 
 Johnston, General A. S., 233. 
 
 Kilty, Commander, 45, 334, 335. 
 
 L. 
 
 L'Artemise, 42, 48. 
 
 Last scenes, 376. 
 
 Le Roy, Captain, letter of, 137. 
 
 Lexington, the gun-boat, 158, 159, 171, 
 185, 222, 296. 
 
 Lima, 30. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 146, 194, 343. 
 
 Literary, labors, 97. 
 
 Loss of children, 364. 
 
 Lossing's "Civil War in America," quot 
 ed, 157, 195, 199, 223, 225, 237, 257, 
 293, 294, 311. 
 
 Louisa Beaton, the, 79. 
 
 Louisville, the gun-boat, 158, 222, 223, 
 224,266. 
 
 Lucas's Bend, the fight at, 171. 
 
 M. 
 
 Macomb, Captain, letter from, 141. 
 
 Mahon, 37. 
 
 Marriage, 34, 57. . 
 
 Martha, capture of the slave-ship, 82. 
 
 McClellan, General G,B., 229. 
 
 McClernand, General, 199, 209, 222. 
 
 Meigs, Quartermaster, dispatches of, 162, 
 163, 181, 324. 
 
 Memphis, fall of, 323, 325. 
 
 Mental qualities, 384, 386. 
 
 Mercer, Captain, letter from, 149. 
 
 Merrimack, the iron-clad, 157. 
 
 Military profession, scruples respecting 
 the, 33. 
 
 Missionaries to be recognized as Ameri 
 can citizens, 47 ; steady friend of, 99. 
 
 Mississippi, the, 253. 
 
 Monument in Brooklyn Navy Yard, 140. 
 
 Morris, Commodore, 65. 
 
 Mortar-boats, 160,. 181, 193,275. 
 
 Mound City, the gun-boat, 158, 317. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nashville, Foote expected at, 236. 
 
 Natchez, the, 31. 
 
 Naval Asylum in Philadelphia, 54. 
 
 " Naval Efficiency Board," 104. 
 
 Naval preparations at the opening of the 
 war, 155. 
 
 Naval reform in Congress, 63. 
 
 Naval schools, 55. 
 
 Navy of the Revolution, 38 ; of the war 
 of 1812, 39 ; increased popularity of 
 the, 39 ; condition of, at the opening 
 of the war, 145 ; of the West, 258 ; 
 esprit de corps in the, 351. 
 
 Navy Yard at Boston, 60. 
 
 New Haven, birthplace at, 13. 
 
 New Madrid, 256, 257. 
 
 "New York Port Society," tribute of, 
 399. 
 
 Ningpo, 127. 
 
 0. 
 
 Official reports, 113, 172, 196, 204, 216, 
 226, 227, 234, 242, 248, 249, 266, 
 272, 273, 276, 280, 290, 291, 297, 
 300, 301, 302. 
 
 Orders, 197, 198, 282,312. 
 
 Owensboro, expedition to, 172. 
 
 P. 
 
 Patterson, Commodore, 35. 
 
 Paulding, Commodore, letters from, 351 , 
 
 374. 
 
 Peacock, the, 27. 
 Pennock, Captain, 159, 304. 
 Perry, cruise of the, 66, 75. 
 Personal courage, 389. 
 Personal relations to other officers, 342. 
 Phelps, Commander S. L., letters from, 
 ; 160, 171, 174, 177, 191, 192, 211, 
 
 317, 318, 325, 332, 340, 347. 
 Philanthropic labors, 137. 
 Pillow, Fort, operations at, 297, 300; 
 
 evacuation of, 311; naval fight at, 3 17. 
 Pirates of the Gulf, 27. 
 Pittsburg, Tenn., gun-boat engagement 
 
 at, 253. 
 Pittsburg, the gun-boat, 158, 222, 28, 
 
 291. 
 
4io 
 
 Index. 
 
 Political agitation, beginnings of, 145. 
 
 Polk, Major-General, 245, 248. 
 
 Pomare, Queen, 49. 
 
 Pope, General John, 257, 282, 287, 289, 
 295. 
 
 Porter, Captain, wounded at Fort Hen 
 ry, 202. 
 
 Porter, Commodore David D., letter 
 from, 359. 
 
 Porto Praya, 85. 
 
 Portsmouth, cruise of the, 106, 122. 
 
 Preaching at Cairo, 218. 
 
 Professional reputation, jealousy for, 388. 
 
 Puritan household, 16. 
 
 Puritan stamp of religious character, 33. 
 
 Read, Commodore, 44. 
 
 Rear-Admiral, appointment to the office 
 
 of, 354. 
 Reconnoissance up the Tennessee, 174 ; 
 
 of Fort Henry, 191 ; of Columbus, 241. 
 Religion, labors in the cause of, 139. 
 Religious character, 384. 
 Religious life, beginnings of, 32. 
 Report of physicians, 329. 
 Right of search, 74, 80. 
 Ringgold, Captain C., letter from, 356. 
 Rockwell, Hon. J. A., letter to, 62. 
 Rodgers, Commodore, Chief of Bureau 
 
 of Docks and Yards, 404. 
 Rodgers, Commodore John, 164. 
 Running the blockade at Island No. Ten, 
 
 283. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sailor, qualities as a, 398 ; friend of the, 
 399. 
 
 Sandwich Islands Mission, 43. 
 
 Sanford, Captain, 376 ; letter from, 216. 
 
 San Jacinto, the, 115. 
 
 School-days, 22. 
 
 Scientific aptitudes, 69, 144. 
 
 Sherman, General, 250 ; letter from, 390. 
 
 Siam, correspondence with the king of, 
 128, 131. 
 
 Siam, visit to, 128. 
 
 Simpson, Commodore E., 143, 373 ; let 
 ters from, 144, 368, 376. 
 
 Slave-trade, the African, 67, 71. 
 
 Smith, General C. F., 184. 
 
 Smith, Rear-Admiral Joseph, letters 
 
 from, 61, 63, 75, 87, 97, 100, 141, 
 
 167, 219, 239, 261, 316, 340, 385. 
 Smith, Truman, letter to, 81. 
 Social characteristics, 387. 
 South America, cruising-ground, 29, 
 
 34. 
 South Atlantic squadron, appointment 
 
 to command of, 372. 
 Spiking rebel battery, 279. 
 Spirit-ration, abolishing the, 61. 
 Stembel, Commander, 201, 312, 317; 
 
 letter from, 180. 
 Stewart, Chaplain, 36. 
 St. Helena, 87. 
 
 St. Louis, head-quarters at, 158. 
 St. Louis, the, 34. 
 St. Louis, the gun-boat, 158, 204. 
 Storms, philosophy of, 69. 
 Street, Augustus Russel, 57. 
 Sunday, remarkable service on, 295. 
 Sword, presentation of a, 361. 
 Sympathy, element of character, 358. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tahiti, 48. 
 
 Tatnall, Commodore, 64, 133. 
 
 Taylor, the gun-boat, 158, 185, 196, 222, 
 228, 252, 296, 321. 
 
 Temperance address, 59, 97. 
 
 Temperance reform in the Navy, 56, 58, 
 62, 97. 
 
 Tilghman, Brigadier-General, 195, 203. 
 
 Total-abstinence principles, o<S5. 
 
 Treaty of United States with Great Brit 
 ain on slave-trade in Africa, 71. 
 
 U. 
 
 United States, the, 28. 
 
 V. 
 
 Valparaiso, 51. 
 
 Vote of thanks by Ohio Legislature, 
 
 219 ; by Kentucky Legislature, 240 ; 
 
 by Connecticut Legislature, 325; by 
 
 Congress, 270, 343. 
 Voyage around the world, 41 . 
 
Index. 
 
 411 
 
 w. 
 
 Walke, Rear-AdmiralH.,221, 283, 287, 
 291 ; letters from, 161, 186, 288. 
 
 Wallace, General Lew., 200, 225. 
 
 War record, 397. 
 
 Washington, residence in, 366. 
 
 Welles, Secretary, letters to, 266, 299, 
 310; letters, private and official, from, 
 23, 153, 154, 156, 210, 251, 294, 298, 
 308, 315, 330, 337, 339, 344, 355,365, 
 379, 391. 
 
 West Point Academy, 24. 
 
 Wilkes, Commodore, 50. 
 
 Wise, Quartermaster Henry A., 194, 
 
 324. 
 Wounded at Fort Donelson, 227. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yale College, Alumni meeting, July 30, 
 
 1862, 353. 
 Yazoo River, operations of gun-boats up 
 
 the, 348. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS 
 
 Book Slip-35m-7,'62(D296s4)458 
 
"^ -^ *T IT 
 
 Hoppin, J.M. 
 
 Life of Andrew Hull 
 
 Foote 
 
 Call Number: 
 
 EU67.1 
 F68 
 
 H7 
 
 E4W.1 
 
 F68 
 
 i-r/ 
 
 253352