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 addressed to one who had not the power of drawing out the confidence 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 summer 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 account 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 Cincinnati leaked badly after coming off the stocks; the Carondelet 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 Eastport 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 Mississippi squadron, and then we must dismiss the fortunes of that flotilla which has necessarily occupied so much of our attention:

"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

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 (Benton) 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 Vicksburg; it was a fearful place they went through, with double their number opposed to them. They drove the rebels like sheep, who fired into their own 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 brigade 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 experiment. 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 unassailable, 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.

"Rear-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., signifying their desire to present him a sword as a token of personal esteem and of admiration for his public services, and requested him to name a time for the presentation. About the middle of the following September the presentation took place in the Brooklyn Athenæum, in the presence of many distinguished 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 sword was an elegant one, having cost $3500. It is thus described: "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 bassorelievo of Neptune returning triumphant on his car. The figure of Neptune, 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 bassorelievo 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 scries of relievos, illustrating some of the prominent exploits of the bold sailor to whom this was given. First is exhibited Foote's bombardment of Chinese forts, with appropriate ornamental emblems and scenery. The second exhibits skillful and daring operations in the bombardment of Island No. Ten, wherein the uncouth mortarboats are wrought out in great perfection-the slanting sides, smokestacks, port-holes, etc., of the bomb-ketches being set forth with great accuracy. There are also various incidents of operations on the Cumberland 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 character, 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 creation of a flotilla, and of his brilliant and intrepid bombardment therewith of the rebel fortifications of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Mississippi.' The sword-blade is richly covered with artistic designs, and

his reply to the address which was made to him he made reference to those scenes represented upon the sword, saying, among other things, that "the difficulties of creating the flotilla-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 walks 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 supremacy of the Constitution and the laws-at home and abroad-against internal 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 enemies in the East, as in my efforts toward crushing this atrocious rebellion in the South. I say this atrocious rebellion; and is it not an atrocious 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 immediately arises in its might, laying aside all other considerations, and concentrates 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 patriæ.'"