not alone in the line of his official duty, but he sought to promote their temporal good, and above all to make them followers 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 familiar 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 an 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 opportunities on a long voyage of seeing his commander just as he was -in his weakness as well as strength: "PARSONAGE, ORANGE VALLEY, NEW JERSEY, "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 Sunday-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 Portsmouth 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 reduction 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 subject 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 purpose 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, recognizing 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 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 cruising-ground. And I remember 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 management 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 straightway appeared how far he was from being an ordinary man. The superficial 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 became an intense and wary vigilance which was an almost certain assurance 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 Perry 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 no 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 faithfulness 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 captain'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 sometimes 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 influence 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 showing his colors. When the Second King of Siam came down from Bangkok 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 endeavors 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 successful he was, on one or two notable occasions, in accomplishing this 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 becoming a merely technical, routine officer, knowing his profession and knowing 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; but 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 organization, 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." |