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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 engineering on shore, and the most scientific form of heavy ordnance afloat. His Mississippi gun-boats for the time, and in an aggressive 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 down 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 conclusion, 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 extract, had by this time made itself pretty generally known both to the government and the people. The war had witnessed some lamentable failures in its leaders and great men; and although most important successes had crowned the North

The Right Man Wanted.

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ern 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 Emancipation Act, which sent fresh hope through the land, and although 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 discouraged and disappointed; the dreadful battle of Chancellorsville, 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 interference of foreign powers was, in the view of the least timid, inevitable. At the South and West, Banks was operating in Louisiana and its neighborhood with more enterprise than success; the Mississippi was still closed up between Fort Hudson and Vicksburg; and Vicksburg, proud and defiant, baffled the most strenuous efforts of our 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 ironsides, 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.

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.

home to New Haven,

As early as April he sent his family coming himself with them as far as New York, and then returning 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 rebellion."

On the 4th of June, 1863, he was detached from his position as Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, and appointed to take Admiral Dupont's place as commander of the South Atlantic blockading squadron.

One of the leading newspapers, commenting upon this appointment, said:

"Admiral Foote is a progressive man. He has inventive capacity sufficient 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 formidable 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.

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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 expected either to die in battle or from the effects of coast malaria acting upon his enfeebled frame. It had been a common 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, 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.

in

"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 personally, 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 information about that fort and the defenses, and has discussed the matter with General Totten. If three or four monitors could have effected any

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 he was to join the squadron and co-operate with the land forces upon Charleston. 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 vessels, 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 visitors. After incessant occupation all day, he started at night for Washington, transacted business in that place all the following 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 necessary 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 kidneys, 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.

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