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 considerable 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 command at the West, and before naval operations in that quarter were decided upon by the government, he advanced the opinion 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 belonging 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 Portsmouth, and who was with him at the West, for much information 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 with 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 beginning 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 weakened, 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 necessity, 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 D D 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 appreciate. "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 be came 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 |