Mental and Moral Qualities.

385

the battle, and not have prayed for it; but he did, and hé 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 account; 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 Cæsar's household," or men true to their convictions of duty in circumstances of peculiar difficulty 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 examplehe 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 Recruiting, had reference to the question of temperance reform on board government vessels. The venerable Admiral Smith writes: "Rear-Admiral Foote's character is well known in the Navy. One of the strongest traits of his char

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 before him."* There are hosts of good men; but of those who stand by their colors as an enthusiasm and a life, and who advance 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 commensurate 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 capable 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 toward 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 extraordinarily 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 overcautious 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 driven 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

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 denied 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 interests, and brought down upon himself the peril of unpopularity, 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 represent 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 belonged 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."

He has been

His personal courage can not be doubted. 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 sailors 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, as well as upon others, this letter, coming from such a source, must be regarded as most valuable: