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MEMORIAL 
 
 DAVID DIXON PORTER 
 
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 y^.^i, 
 
 ^v_ 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 DAVID DIXON PORTER 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL 
 
 MDCCCXCI 
 
 V^ 
 

 
 PRESS OF 
 
 
 R 
 
 oc 
 
 kwell and Churchi 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 ill 
 
CITY OF BOSTON. 
 
 In Common CounoiI/, June 25, 1891. 
 
 Okdeked, That the Clerk of Committees be hereby authorized to prepare and 
 publish a memorial volume containing an account of the services in Tremont 
 Temple, May 14, 1891, commemorating the life and character of Admiral Davib 
 D. PoKTEK, together with the eulogy pronounced by Hon. James Russell Solet; 
 that two thousand copies of said volume be printed, and that each member 
 of the City Council be provided with ten copies, the remaining copies to be 
 distributed under the direction of the Committee on Printing; the expense 
 thus incurred to be charged to the appropriation for Printing Department. 
 
 Passed. Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 In Board op Aldermen, July 13, 1891. 
 Concurred. 
 
 The foregoing order was presented to the Mayor, July 14, 1891, and was 
 not returned by him within ten days thereafter. 
 A true copy. 
 
 Attest : 
 
 JOHN M. GALVIN, 
 
 City Clerk. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Death of David Dixon Porter 
 
 Action of the City Government 
 
 Memorial Services m Tkemont Temple 
 Prayer by Eev. Phillips Brooks 
 Ode to our Naval Heroes 
 Poem ..... 
 Eulogy by James Eussell Soley 
 
 Final Proceedings .... 
 
 Page 
 11 
 
 12 
 15 
 16 
 20 
 21 
 25 
 77 
 
DEATH OF DAVID DIXON PORTER 
 
THE DEATH OF ADMIRAL PORTER. 
 
 The death of Admiral David Dixon Poeter took place 
 at his residence, 1714 H street, Washington, D.C., on the 
 sixteenth of February, 1891, and resulted from fatty degenera- 
 tion of the heart, induced by a complication of disorders 
 which had existed since the previous summer. 
 
 The news of his death spread rapidly, and was soon 
 known throughout the country. A message was sent by 
 the President to Congress announcing the sad event, and 
 an order of the same import was issued from the Navy 
 Department to the navy and the country at large. Ar- 
 rangements were made for the funeral to take place on 
 Tuesdaj^ the seventeenth of February, with the highest 
 military honors, and for the interment of the remains at 
 the Arlington National Cemetery. 
 
 The significance and importance of the death of the 
 renowned naval hero was in a measure lost sight of from 
 the fact that, . by a remarkable coincidence, it occurred 
 within a day of the death of the great general ' of the 
 army, the beloved Sherman ; an event which occurred on 
 the fourteenth of February, and which absorbed the atten- 
 tion of the whole country, being fully expected from day 
 to day and awaited with sorrowful anxiety. 
 
 That proper steps might be taken by the City Council, 
 in recognition of the loss which the country had sustained 
 by the death of these two brave and illustrious heroes, the 
 
12 MEMOKIAL OF DAVID DIXOiSr POKTEE. 
 
 following order was introduced in the Common Council on 
 the twenty-sixth of February, by Mr. William B. Mo- 
 Clellan, of Ward 20, namely : — 
 
 Ordered, That a Joint Special Committee, consisting of five 
 members of the Common Council with such as the Board of 
 Aldermen may join, be appointed to arrange for the delivery of 
 eulogies on the lives and services of the late General William 
 T. Sherman and the late Admiral David D. Porter before the 
 city government and citizens of Boston ; the expense for the same 
 to be charged to the appropriation for Incidental Expenses. 
 
 The order was passed by the City Councli unanimously, 
 and received the approval of the Mayor on the fourth of 
 March. The committee was composed of the following 
 members, namely : — 
 
 Aldermen Benjamin F. Stacey, Nathaniel J. Eust, and 
 John H. Lee. 
 
 Councilmen Michael J. Tiekney, Bowdoin S. Parker, 
 Andrew J. Quinn, Frederic Eaton, and James W. O'Brien. 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICES 
 
MEMOEIAL SERVICES. 
 
 Thursday, the fourteenth of May, was the day selected 
 by the committee for the memorial services in honor of 
 Admiral Porter, and by an auspicious choice the duty of 
 pronouncing the eulogy was assigned to Hon. James Eussell 
 SoLEY, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and a Bostonian well 
 known for his literary attainments ; his associations with the 
 Navy Department and extensive knowledge of naval affairs 
 making the committee's selection peculiarly appropriate. 
 
 The trustees of the Tremont Temple, with the generosity 
 displayed by them upon former occasions of like character, 
 tendered to the city the free use of their hall for the 
 services, and their offer was accepted. 
 
 Official invitations to attend the sei^vices were extended 
 to His Excellency the Governor and the members of his 
 staff, the Executive Council, heads of State departments. 
 United States officers, civil, military and naval, located in 
 Boston, the members of the Massachusetts. Naval Battalion, 
 the members of the Kearsarge Association of Naval Veterans, 
 members of the Grand Army of the Republic, officers of 
 the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, the judges of the 
 Supreme, Superior and Municipal Courts, past Mayors of 
 Boston, representatives of the press, members of the City 
 Councils, heads of departments and city officials. 
 
 The platform in Tremont Temple was tastefully decorated 
 
16 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 with plants and flowers ; festoons of smilax intertwined with 
 rosebuds adorned the front, and a beautiful basket of flow- 
 ers covered the speaker's desk. The exercises commenced 
 at three o'clock with a voluntary upon the organ. 
 
 His Honor Mayor Matthews then arose and called upon 
 the chaplain of the occasion, Eev. Phillips Brooks, D.D., 
 who invoked the divine blessing as follows : — 
 
 PEAYER BY EEV. PHILLIPS BEOOKS, D.D. 
 
 O God, our Father, we bless Thee for the life and 
 labor, for the name and fame, of the great man. 
 Thy servant, whom Thou hast taken unto Thyself, 
 and to honor whose memory we have convened to- 
 day. Thou ordainest Thy servants to do Thy work 
 upon the earth; Thou givest them some portion of 
 Thy power; Thou appointest the tasks they are 
 to perform; Thou biddest them work during their 
 appointed day and then Thou reeallest them unto 
 Thyself, and they are gone and are seen no more 
 of men. But they still live on the earth in the 
 work they have done, and we know, O God, that 
 the influence and the example of their deeds and 
 their aims continually go forward for the benefit of 
 future generations of mankind, and that the fruits 
 of their lives, the result of Thy inspiration and 
 guidance, are set. among the treasures of the sons of 
 men, to be continued and preserved forevermore 
 sacred, as a precious heritage, to Thy honor and 
 Thy glory. 
 
 And so it will be with him in whose memory we 
 are assembled to-day. For all Thy servant's life 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICES. 17 
 
 upon the earth, for what he did for the nation's 
 welfare, in following out his convictions of duty, 
 for the outcome of that struggle in which he toot 
 so great a part, we bless Thee, O God, to-day. 
 'We thank Thee for the preservation of this Union, 
 for the firm establishment of this great, united 
 government for which we believe Thou hast ordained 
 the highest purposes for the good of the world. 
 We thank Thee for the purification of our land 
 from the blight and sin which have been upon her 
 in the years past. We bless Thee for all the work 
 Thou hast permitted Thy heroic servant to do in the 
 years of his earnest and strenuous life, and we 
 thank Thee also for the renewed inspiration which 
 has been given to all the institutions throughout the 
 length and breadth of our land by the efforts of 
 him and others, through which we are enabled to 
 know at the present day what it is to live in this 
 land, for which Thou hast appointed such great 
 issues and made possible such a great character. 
 We thank Thee for his fidelity of purpose, for his 
 faithfulness and unswerving devotion to duty, for his 
 simplicity and steadfastness of life. We pray Thee 
 that the generation that now is and generations yet 
 to come may be worthy of the great services ren- 
 dered by him and by others in the generation now 
 passing away. 
 
 May those to whom Thou givest the duties * and 
 burdens of peace be the fit successors of those to 
 whom Thou gavest the strenuous and laborious tasks 
 of war. May we be worthy of our fathers. . May. 
 
18 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTEK. 
 
 those who come after us be taught to keep and 
 treasure in their memories the example of this true 
 hero and free man, who has in his day and genera- 
 tion assisted in doing that which has made possible 
 for them this hour to enjoy the privileges of free 
 men ; and may his influence be continually felt by 
 the peojple of this entire land, by whom he shall 
 be regarded as the type and representation of the 
 men who have made possible a united nation, en- 
 gaged in the arts of peace and rejoicing in pros- 
 perity. 
 
 Father, let Thy blessing rest on our country, — Thy 
 country, — dear to us and, we believe, also dear to 
 Thee. We thank Thee for the great works which 
 Thou hast enabled us to perform and for the great 
 possibilities yet unveiled which we believe Thou art 
 to open up to the people of this land in the mys- 
 terious future. Give to the people of this land such 
 steadfastness in the pursidt of duty, such earnestness 
 of life and work, that they may be lifted up to per- 
 form whatever task Thou hast appointed for the days 
 yet to come, and that they may accomplish Thy pur- 
 pose and do Thy work in the upbuilding of Thy 
 kingdom. 
 
 ISTow, let Thy blessing rest on this occasion. Lift 
 us, we beseech Thee, to the spirit of the hour, to 
 the contemplation of the true purposes of human 
 life, to the conviction that life is not given for sel- 
 fishness, not simply for the purpose of carrying out 
 individual ends and aims, but for consecration to 
 Thy service and for devotion to those great things 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICES. 19 
 
 which are perpetual. May the things for which we 
 live grow clear to us. May we rejoice in the peace 
 for which war may be necessary, but in which war 
 finds its only true result. May we rejoice in purity, 
 truth, and righteousness, in the increasing happiness 
 and perpetual growth of mankind. 
 
 Lift our souls, we beseech Thee, that they may 
 hold communion with Thee and the mighty dead, that 
 we may recognize Thy mercy, wisdom, and strength 
 which rule the world. May this hour bring its inspi- 
 ration to our souls and add something to the strength 
 of our own lives and the life of the community of 
 which we form a part. And O, our Father, as the 
 years go on may every year mark the laying of a new 
 stone in that great structure of human welfare, of 
 human progress, which Thou art making for Thy 
 honor and glory throughout the ages. May Thy king- 
 dom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in 
 heaven. Grive us each day our daily bread, and for- 
 give us our trespasses as we forgive those who 
 trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but 
 deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and 
 power and glory, forever and ever. Amen. 
 
 At the close of the prayer the " Ode to Our Naval 
 Heroes," composed by Mr. Heney O'Meaea, was sung with 
 fine effect by a double quartette of male voices, consisting 
 of the Euggles-street and Boylston Quartettes. 
 
20 MEMOKIAIi OP DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 ODE TO OUR NAVAL HEROES. 
 
 O Victors of war and of ■wave — 
 
 Themes that live in loved vision to-day — 
 Our song rings of valor and life-drops you gave, 
 Our pseans in glory repay ; 
 
 Again with array of their pride, 
 
 Your Argosies burst on our view, 
 To tower above Treason and foes of the Tide, 
 To blaze for a Nation anew ! 
 
 Not with navies in grim palisade, 
 Nor hordes in Armadas hurled, 
 But with armor of Freedom firm guard is made. 
 From our gateways, to ward off a world; 
 In War's ehafings of sea and of strand 
 
 Your Knighthood our honor shall keep ; 
 In their challenge of wrath and of strife to 
 our Land, 
 The brave duel shall dare on the deep. 
 
 Your Record to time shall not yield, 
 
 Bright emblazoned on river and main, 
 With those deeds for the flag shown on deck and 
 on field. 
 That defied aught of rending or stain. 
 
 As great billows now swell, — now are gone, — 
 Pealing long on their reach to the shore, 
 
 Your life-forms recede, but your fame surges on, 
 And in memory resounds evermore. 
 
 Land fused in Liberty's fire, 
 
 Whose heroes are lit in thy flame. 
 Our thought with the pulsing their heart-throbs 
 
 inspire. 
 Is kindled in chanting thy name ; 
 
MEMORIAL SERVICES. 21 
 
 Our tributes aglow to each son, 
 
 With a soul that burned filial and free — 
 
 For the triumphs he -wrought, for the trophies he won — 
 Are rolled up in praise sung to thee ! 
 
 The following poem, written for the occasion by Mrs. 
 Mary E. Blake, was then read by Prof. J. J. Hayes. 
 
 POETEE. 
 
 EooM among the Great Captains ! Eoom 
 
 'Mid those of the land and those of the sea, 
 For one who stood on the quarter-deck. 
 Steering through fury of war and wreck, 
 With thunder of cannon and mortar boom. 
 While haven of peace lay far a-lee. 
 
 Fearlessly steering through danger and strife ! 
 Welcome him Honor, with trumpet tones, 
 Who woke at the cry of his country's need. 
 To flower of valor and fruit of deed. 
 Till the calm, slow pulse of our colder life 
 Thrilled with the ardor of Perry and Jones. 
 
 Child of th ocean ! Trained to prize 
 Air of the sea as his native breath. 
 Soul of its soul it was his to know ; 
 Its passion above and its calm below ; 
 The storm-swift action that strikes and flies, 
 Or holds to its purpose through life and death. 
 
 Brother and friend of chieftains he ; 
 Grant and Sherman and Farragut 
 Knew that the chivalrous hand they clasped 
 Closed like their own on the thing it grasped. 
 Till the shell of the great Confederacy 
 Cracked, as a squirrel might crack a nut. 
 
22 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXOX POKTBR. 
 
 Speak for him, Orleans' letters of fire ! 
 
 When his tree-crowned masts held the shore in 
 sight, 
 — Like the moving woods of Dunsinane, — 
 While prowess and pride of the foe were vain ; 
 And the red levee as a funeral pyre 
 
 Flamed on the gloom of the April night. 
 
 Speak for him. Father of Waters ! Thou 
 Whose waves to victory's crest upbore, 
 By river and plain and castled town, 
 Where Vicksburg brave from her height looks 
 down ; 
 Till the land lay under his conquering prow 
 From Cairo's gates to the tide-swept shore. 
 
 Speak for him louder and clearer than all, 
 Glow of the generous heart and just 
 
 That ever was foremost to wrest from fame 
 Her laurels of praise for the hero's name ; 
 That never was deaf to a comrade's call ; 
 That never was false to a comrade's trust. 
 
 O Morning Land, thou art wondrous fair ! 
 The dawn is glad on thy thousand hills ! 
 Thine is the hope for the future's need. 
 With Freedom for gospel, and Peace for creed ; 
 Stretched are thine arms to save and spare, 
 Balm of sweet healing thy touch distils ; 
 
 Armorless art thou from head to heel ; 
 
 Bare is thy breast to the death-smiting guns ; 
 But who shall dare thee, while love is bold, 
 While treasure of heroes is richer than gold. 
 While stronger than armor of thrice- welded steel 
 Is that of the Nation which beareth such sons. 
 
MEMORIAL SEKVICES. 23 
 
 At the close of the poem the anthem " Eest " was sung 
 by the Ruggles-street Quartette. 
 
 Mayor Matthews then introduced the speaker. 
 
 Mr. SoLBT received a cordial greeting and was listened to 
 with close attention by his audience. 
 
 The eulogy occupied a little over an hour in its delivery, 
 and was an eloquent and fitting tribute to the great naval 
 hero. 
 
 At the close of his address the speaker received a round 
 of applause. A chant, "Let me know my end and the num- 
 ber of my days," was sung by the double quartette, and 
 after the benediction the audience dispersed. 
 
THE EULOGY 
 
 JAMES RUSSELL SOLEY 
 
THE EULOGY. 
 
 Me. Mayor a^td Fellow Citizens : — 
 
 We have met here to-day, by invitation of the 
 City Council of Boston, to commemorate the life and 
 services of one of the most gallant and devoted sons 
 of the Republic, the late Admiral of the !N^avy. Al- 
 though born in Pennsylvania, and resident for the 
 most part at his post in Washington, the admiral 
 was a true scion of Massachusetts stock; and it is 
 fitting, in this city, and in this State, above all 
 others, where the race was bred from which he 
 sprang, that his memory should be held in honor. 
 
 The Porters are preeminently a naval family. They 
 count five generations and more than seventeen mem- 
 bers that have been connected with the naval ser- 
 vice. The admiral's ancestors, as far back as our 
 knowledge goes, were seafaring men of Massachusetts, 
 and they were ready at all times to fight for their 
 country. The earliest of whom tradition speaks, 
 Alexander Porter, born in 1728, became a merchant 
 captain, and did service in the colonial wars. His 
 two sons, David and Samuel, followed their father's 
 calling. Both were commissioned in that embryo 
 navy, organized by Washington, when conducting the 
 
28 MEMORIAL OI' BAVID DIXON POKTEE. 
 
 siege of Boston, to capture the storeships sent to 
 supply the besieged garrison. Samuel Porter died in 
 the Jersey prison-ship, of wounds received in action, 
 and David became captain of the " Aurora," in the 
 Massachusetts navy, and served throughout the Rev- 
 olutionary War. 
 
 Upon the reorganization of the Federal I^^avy, Cap- 
 tain Porter was appointed a sailing-master, and in 
 due time placed his sons in the service. The elder, 
 David, born in Boston in 1780, became a midship- 
 man in 1798. Serving with Truxtun in the " Con- 
 stellation," during the French hostilities, and with 
 Bainbridge in the "Philadelphia," during the- war with 
 Tripoli, he was taken prisoner with the other officers 
 of that ill-fated ship. The outbreak of the War of 
 1812 found him in command of the frigate " Essex," 
 a ship built by the merchants of Massachusetts, and 
 destined under his leadership to win a name and 
 fame only second to that of the " ConstitiTtion." 
 On July 12, three weeks after the war broke out, 
 she met and captured the "Alert;" and thus it fell 
 to Porter to win the first in that brilliant series of 
 naval victories that established, for all time, the tra- 
 dition of American prowess upon the sea. 
 
 In the autumn of 1812, the " Essex " set out on 
 her cruise in the Pacific — that romantic cruise which 
 recalls the voyages of Drake, and Frobisher, and 
 Hawkins, the mighty captains of the old Elizabethan 
 days, when men went forth iipon the distant seas in 
 quest of glory, to live for months upon the enemy, 
 without word from home or kindred. For eighteen 
 
THE EULOGY. 29 
 
 months the " Essex " scoured the Pacific, destroying 
 or capturing the heavily armed English privateers, 
 with which the sea was filled, and which had driven 
 away American commerce. With a fleet of twelve 
 stanch vessels which he had taken from the enemy, 
 Porter established his station at the Marquesas, and at 
 length returned to Valparaiso. Already ships of war 
 had been sent out from England to meet him; and 
 being attacked at a disadvantage by two of these, 
 the " Phoebe " and the " Cherub," after an unequal 
 combat lasting for three hours, with two-thirds of 
 her people killed or wounded upon her decks, the 
 " Essex " surrendered. 
 
 It was on the 8th of June, 1813, ten months 
 after the victory over the "Alert," and while the 
 " Essex " was still away in the Pacific, that David 
 Dixon Porter was born. More than a year was yet 
 to pass before the father, returning home with the 
 fresh fame of his adventurous cruise, could look upon 
 the face of this boy, who was destined, in the ful- 
 ness of time, to achieve a fame beyond his own. 
 The stirring scenes of war, in the midst of which 
 that young life began, were a fit prelude to the 
 drama in which the man was to be the chief actor. 
 His boyhood, passed at his father's new home in 
 Washington, served to crystallize the first fleeting 
 impressions of infancy. The story of the great naval 
 battles, already familiar as nursery rhymes, came to 
 him with deeper meaning from the young captains 
 who had fought them, not the least of whom was 
 the commander of the "Essex." 
 
30 MEMORIAL OP DAVID DIXOK PORTER. 
 
 When the lad was twelve years old, Commodore 
 Porter, now commanding the "West India squadron, 
 took him on his first cruise. The squadron had been 
 engaged in crushing out the pirates of the Spanish 
 Main, and after three seasons of active campaigning, 
 the work was now neai-ly done. It was the commo- 
 dore's last service in the navy. The affair of Fox- 
 ardo, constituting a violation of Spanish territory, led 
 to his recall, and ultimately to his resignation. Un- 
 willing to abandon his profession, he accepted the 
 command of the navy of Mexico, then engaged in 
 its struggle for independence, and, aided by his young 
 nephew, Capt. David H. Porter, and other American 
 officers, and above all by his own indefatigable energy, 
 he brought order out of chaos, and under great diffi- 
 culties created an organization and fitted out a fleet. 
 But the American theory of discipline gave ofience 
 to Mexican officers, and it was idle for any man, and 
 most of all a foreigner, to attempt to reform them. 
 
 It was in this organization that the fixture Admiral 
 of the I^avy, then a boy of thirteen, saw his first 
 real service. His career as a Mexican midshipman 
 began in the schooner "Esmeralda," commanded by 
 his cousin, who was hardly more than a boy himself. 
 The Mexican crew were little better than the pirates 
 whom the United States had been fighting three years 
 before. They hated their American officers with a 
 fine ruffianly hatred, which soon broke out into open 
 mutiny, and the young captain and his midshipman 
 only saved their lives by the sternest measures. 
 
 After some months of commerce-destroying, Captain 
 
THE EULOGY. 31 
 
 Porter was transferred to the " Guerrero," a 22-gun 
 brig. Taking with hira his kinsman, the boy mid- 
 shipman, he set forth on a roving cruise, and raided 
 the coast of Cuba. The Spanish frigate "Lealtad," 
 a 64-gun ship, put out to meet him, and the 
 " Guerrero," unable to escape, joined battle. It was 
 such a battle as gave delight to the Porter blood, 
 which loved to challenge fate; such a battle as the 
 "Essex" gave the " Phcebe " and the "Cherub" out- 
 side ' of Valparaiso, fourteen years before. For four 
 long hours the brig kept up her fire, until at length, 
 with her crew disabled, her decks a slaughter-house, 
 and her hull riddled with shot, she was compelled 
 to give up the hopeless struggle. A final broadside, 
 fired from the " Lealtad " after the surrender, killed 
 the young captain of the " Guerrero," and the victors 
 stripped their prize, and carried her into Havana 
 with her surviving oflScers and crew. Of most of 
 these the names even are now unknown; biit among 
 them was one boy of fourteen, saved as a brand 
 from the burning, whose fame was destined to live 
 as long as history lasts, and who gained on the 
 bloody decks of the Mexican brig that first lesson 
 of heroic endurance, which was to bear fruit, many 
 years after, on the banks of the Mississippi. 
 
 The death of his nephew, and the hopelessness 
 of further efibrt to reform the Mexican navy, led 
 Commodore Porter, soon after this event, to aban- 
 don the attempt. On his return home, he was 
 appointed Minister to Turkey, at which post he 
 passed the remainder of his life. 
 
32 MEMORIAL or DAVID DIXON POKTER. 
 
 On the 2d of February, 1829, being then but 
 fifteen years of age, but already a veteran in ser- 
 vice, the boy Porter was appointed a midshipman 
 in the navy of the United States. His early cruis- 
 ing was chiefly in the Mediterranean squadron, in 
 the "Constellation," "Congress," and "Delaware." 
 
 The time was one of profound peace, and there 
 was no opportunity, in those great ships of the line 
 and frigates, that basked majestically in the sun- 
 shine at Port Mahon, or made leisurely cruises 
 between the French and Italian ports, to put to 
 use the fierce lessons of naval war that the boy 
 had learned in the "Esmeralda" and "Guerrero." 
 But the lesson had been well learned, and when 
 the hour came the man would be ready. Mean- 
 while, in this period of repose from severer tasks, 
 there was much to give the young ofiicer breadth 
 of view, and a harmonious development of mind and 
 character. Between his two terms of European ser- 
 vice. Porter was for three years attached to the 
 Coast Survey — another sort of school, but one 
 which gave its share of important professional train- 
 ing. As time went on, he was promoted in due 
 course to a passed midshipman, and in 1841 to a 
 lieutenant, a grade in which he remained for the 
 next twenty years, and where we shall still find him 
 at the outbreak of the Civil War. 
 
 In 1846, on his return from a confidential mission 
 to San Domingo, Porter found the war with Mexico 
 in progress, and lost no time in getting into active 
 service. It was at the moment when the revolu- 
 
THE EULOGY. 33 
 
 tion in naval science, consequent upon the introduc- 
 tion of steam, was just beginning, and a few small 
 gunboats had been fitted out for service in the 
 war. To most officers at that time the steam- 
 engine, as applied to warship navigation, was a 
 thing to be avoided and discouraged. Porter, with 
 his quick discernment upon all professional subjects, 
 perceived the coming change, and obtained duty 
 in the steamer " Spitfire," the flagship of the so- 
 called Mosquito Fleet, commanded by the brave and 
 generous Tattnall. She was only a diminutive gun- 
 boat, but there was not an engagement on the east 
 coast in which she failed to bear a leading part. 
 Running in under the batteries of the castle at 
 Vera Cruz, while the fleet bombarded the city at 
 long range, the little steamer kept her guns hotly 
 at work, and no one on board could see the signal 
 of recall from the flagship, until the commodore 
 sent an aide to order her to withdraw. But Porter 
 had seen a heavy fire before this, and he was one 
 day to see a fire to which this was child's play; 
 and he followed then, as always, the good maxim 
 of IS^elson, that no man can do wrong in getting 
 close to the enemy. 
 
 With the treaty of peace it seemed as if all 
 opportunity for naval distinction had come to an 
 end. The desultory service that forms so large a 
 part of an officer's career filled up the next twelve 
 years. After a second tour of duty in the Coast Sur- 
 vey, Porter took leave of absence, and for four years 
 was captain of a Pacific Mail Company's steamer. 
 
34 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTEK. 
 
 Returning to active service, the best command that 
 he could obtain was a storeship, and in 1858 we 
 find him at the Portsmouth IS'avy Yard, the first shore 
 duty of any duration which he had taken since enter- 
 ing the service. 
 
 Such was Porter's situation before the outbreak ot 
 the Civil War. Favorably known to his comrades, 
 and gifted with a singular capacity for impressing 
 those about him with the force of his stalwart 
 intelligence, his advice and assistance were among 
 the first to be sought upon all questions afifecting 
 the service. But his rank was an insuperable obsta- 
 cle, according to the traditions then prevailing in 
 the navy, to his advancement to any post of high 
 responsibility. Although nearly fifty years old, he 
 was still only a lieutenant, and in the eye of naval 
 regulations he was not yet qualified for the exercise 
 of command. 
 
 In an administrative system nothing makes rust 
 so fast as routine, and at this period the demon of 
 routine had taken possession of the navy. Half a 
 century of peace, broken only by the brief and re- 
 stricted operations of the war with Mexico, had 
 sunk the service into grooves so deep and so rigid, 
 that few men, especially among the older oflScers, 
 were able to depart from them. The unbroken 
 course of seniority promotion — a system that kills 
 ambition and paralyzes effort — had made the upper 
 portion of the navy list a reservoir for veterans, 
 once gallant and vigorous, but now worn out by 
 age and service. The absence of any provision for 
 
THE EULOGY. 35 
 
 retirement held them fast in their places, and stop- 
 ping promotion tied their juniors, all the way down 
 the list, to the exercise of the most subordinate 
 duties. This condition of things the older men 
 would not and the younger men could not change. 
 JS^aturally, the commanding officers of that period 
 did not look with favor npon the advancement of 
 their juniors. Responsibility in subordinates was 
 neither encouraged nor permitted, and a feeling of 
 lethargy had begun to overwhelm these men who, 
 whatever their energy and daring, and however 
 keen their ambitions, were doomed to pass the best 
 years of their lives in positions to which was at- 
 tached neither honor, trust, nor opportunity. 
 
 In view of these circumstances, it is not surpris- 
 ing to find Porter, in 1860, discouraged and sick at 
 heart, meditating resignation from the navy, and a 
 return to his Pacific Mail command as a permanent 
 employment. With this plan in view, the month of 
 March, 1861, found him in Washington, about to 
 start for San Francisco. But new work was at 
 hand for the navy. In that month events were 
 moving fast, and the projected journey was never 
 to be made. 
 
 At the end of March a plan was set on foot by 
 Mr. Seward, at the instance of Captain Meigs of 
 the army, for the relief of Fort Pickens, then held 
 by a handful of men. Calling Porter into consulta- 
 tion, they found him an eager coadjutor. 'Not only 
 did he deem the plan feasible, btit he was ready 
 himself to undertake it. The President quickly 
 
36 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 yielded to Seward's arguments aad to Porter's con- 
 tagious entliusiasm. Orders were drawn, which the 
 President signed as commander-in-chief, giving the 
 Hentenant full jDOwer to take any ship he wanted, 
 supersede her captain, and fit her out for sea, and 
 all officers were commanded to carry out his in- 
 structions, and under no circumstances to communi- 
 cate the facts to the I^^avy Department. 
 
 This highly irregular proceeding, from which, on 
 the ground of a supposed necessity for secrecy, the 
 Secretary of the Navy was excluded, could only 
 have been sanctioned by officials new to administra- 
 tive business. But the question of irregularity did 
 not concern Porter, who had a complete technical 
 defence in the order of the President. Reaching 
 IS'ew York on April 2d, the day after the confer- 
 ence, he found the "Powhatan" just stripped and 
 out of commission, her engines taken apart, her of- 
 ficers on leave, and the vessel about to be docked 
 for repairs. Four days later, on the 6th of April, 
 she was steaming out of the harbor of 'New York 
 under her new captain. 
 
 The Secretary of the IS'avy, who had designed the 
 " Powhatan " for other service, learning of her de- 
 parture, applied at the White House for a revoca- 
 tion of the orders, and a telegram recalling Porter 
 was sent by Mr. Seward. It was delivered by a 
 fast tug on board the " Powhatan " as she was 
 passing Staten island. Porter's reply was character- 
 istic : "I received my orders from the President, 
 and shall proceed to execute them." The "Pow- 
 
THE EULOGY. 37 
 
 hatan " sailed on her expedition, the troops were 
 landed, and Fort Pickens was relieved. 
 
 Porter now remained in command of the " Pow- 
 hatan," setting on foot the blockade of the gulf 
 ports. While lying off the passes of the Mississippi, 
 he first conceived the idea of the expedition to 'New 
 Orleans. He was satisfied that at that time the city 
 could be captured even by a force comparatively 
 small. His own ship could not, unaided, cross the 
 bar at the river mouth, but his observation, and 
 the information which he diligently gathered, con- 
 vinced him that the place was vulnerable, while his 
 comprehensive vision marked it out as the most 
 important strategic point of attack in the Con- 
 federacy. 
 
 The dull routine of the gulf blockade, only varied 
 by a cruise ofi" Guiana, in pursuit of the " Sumter," 
 was not the service that Porter wanted, and in 
 November he gave up his command and returned to 
 Washington. He was more than ever impressed 
 with the importance of an expedition to JS^ew 
 Orleans. The attention of the I^avy Department 
 had already been directed to this as a salient point 
 of attack, but nothing had yet been done. Porter's 
 knowledge of the situation, the intensity of his con- 
 victions, and his clear logical demonstration, enlisted 
 upon his side all those who were in the higher 
 councils of the Government, and the New Orleans 
 expedition grew from a remote project into a con- 
 crete and established fact. 
 
 As the plan was developed. Porter was consulted 
 
38 MEMORIAL, OF DAVID DlXOIif PORTER. 
 
 at every stage and bis influence was marked upon 
 every detail. He might, w^ithout difficulty, have 
 obtained for himself the chief command. His opposi- 
 tion would certainty have negatived any choice to 
 which he was unfavorable. But he made no eflfort to 
 gain the post for himself, giving his hearty adhesion 
 to the selection of Farragut, and reenforcing the 
 Secretary's request by his own urgent persuasions. 
 
 The association between Farragut and Porter had 
 begun far back in the past, an act of kindness 
 done by the father of Farragut having led Commo- 
 dore Porter to make young David Farragut his 
 adopted son, and to procure for him an appoint- 
 ment in the navy. He took the boy-midshipman 
 with him in the cruise of the " Essex," and gave 
 him, notwithstanding his tender age, opportunities in 
 which grown men would have been fortunate. These 
 incidents led to a familiar intimacy between Farra- 
 gut and the younger Porter, which lasted throughout 
 their lives. 
 
 It was the fortune of these two men to attain a 
 distinction during the War of the Rebellion far sur- 
 passing that of any of their comrades in the navy. 
 If we compare them, it is only to show how each, 
 in his own way, had the qualities that go to make 
 a great commander, and how each, by his individ- 
 ual traits, won success in enterprises of equal 
 danger and difficulty. Though rivals in the glory 
 of the naval war, and in the aifectionate regard of 
 their subordinates in the service, no word or act of 
 anger or ill-will was ever known to mar the har- 
 
THE EULOGY. 39 
 
 monious beauty of their fraternal friendship. The 
 temptation to intrigue for a command which cir- 
 cumstances placed within easy reach, in an enter- 
 prise peculiarly his own creation, never influenced 
 the younger man, ambitious as he was, to stand in 
 the way of his older comrade. He preferred, as he 
 said himself, to " earn his spurs." 
 
 I will not dwell upon the details of that wonder- 
 ful expedition. The story is known to all of you, 
 — how the mortar flotilla under Porter, its masts 
 dressed with bushes to confuse the enemy's aim, lay 
 drawn up in three divisions along the wooded shore, 
 and for five days poured into Forts Jackson and St. 
 Philip an unceasing torrent of exploding shells; how, 
 after three days' bombardment, Farragut's keen eye 
 discerned the possibility of running past the forts, 
 and how, contrary to the advice of many of his 
 captains, he decided to attempt the passage; how 
 the gunboats of the mortar flotilla moved up the river, 
 to a point opposite Fort Jackson, and silenced the water 
 battery; how, under the terrific, murderous fire of 
 Fort St. Philip, Farragut's fleet, the little "Cayuga" 
 in advance, ran by the forts, destroying or disabling 
 the vessels of the Confederate force, and at daybreak 
 anchored in safety in the river above; and finally 
 how it steamed up to IS'ew Orleans, and, lying in 
 the stream opposite the levee, hoisted the flag and 
 in due time delivered to the army .the conquered 
 city. 
 
 Porter, left below the forts, uncei-tain how far the 
 naval force of the enemy — a force in which were 
 
40 MEMORIAL or DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 some ships far more powerful than his own — had 
 been crippled by the action, continued his bombard- 
 ment, and presently sent a summons to surrender. 
 The demand was refused, and again the fight began, 
 and continued until the ammunition of the flotilla 
 was exhausted. Three days after the first refusal, 
 the garrison of the forts, demoralized and mutinous, 
 compelled their commanders to accept Porter's terms. 
 The otficers afloat, unable to withstand attack after 
 the collapse of the land resistance, destroyed or sur- 
 rendered their ships at the same time, and the vic- 
 tory was complete. 
 
 The Battle of l^ew Orleans was the first step in 
 the division of the Confederacy from the gulf to 
 Memphis, which was finally consummated fifteen 
 months later at the fall of Yicksburg. To Farragut 
 belongs the glory of that successful achievement, but 
 the assistance rendered him by the commander of 
 the mortar flotilla was part and parcel of his victory. 
 Greater, however, than that cooperation on the spot, 
 efiicient and loyal as it was, was the energetic in- 
 fluence which Porter had exerted to bring about the 
 expedition. It may be that without him the enter- 
 prise would some time have been undertaken, and 
 being undertaken, that Farragut's brilliant dash would 
 have carried the fleet past the forts; but in paying 
 to that great hero the homage that is justly due, 
 we cannot forget the master mind that aided and 
 supported him, — the mind which first conceived the 
 plan, which carried conviction to the minds of others, 
 which pushed the preparations with incessant ardor. 
 
THE EULOGY. 41 
 
 which gave its loyal cooperation at every step, and 
 which pressed the enemy to a final surrender. 
 
 Efficient as was Porter's work in this campaign, 
 its demands were not of a kind to bring out the 
 full strength of his character and resources. A born 
 leader of men, his place was not that of a subor- 
 dinate. He followed the fleet up the river, and 
 supported its advance when Farragut passed the 
 Vicksburg batteries, then in an early and incomplete 
 stage of development. But the mortar boats were 
 now needed at the East, and Porter brought them 
 back to Hampton Koads. "With his return ends the 
 first stage of his war service, and from this time 
 on began the career which gave him a historic 
 place beside the victor of l^ew Orleans. 
 
 On the 1st of October, 1862, Porter was ordered 
 to relieve Admiral Davis, in command of the Mis- 
 sissippi squadron. He had now received his promo- 
 tion to commander, but for his new command he 
 became an acting rear admiral. Except for this 
 local and temporary rank he was still one hundred 
 and fifty numbers from the head of the list. But 
 with the future before him this was a small matter. 
 The long period of subordinate duty was now for- 
 gotten. His was a nature that no routine could 
 rust out. The burden of tradition that hung like a 
 millstone around the neck of his seniors and con- 
 temporaries he cast aside as easily as he had cast 
 aside Seward's order to return the " Powhatan." 
 Nevertheless, it is little less than amazing to find 
 
42 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 this man, yesterday a lieutenant plodding at his 
 treadmill, to-day an admiral, placed suddenly in a 
 position which, above all things, called for the in- 
 ventive application of novel resources, rising at once 
 to the level of the situation, emancipating himself 
 from the shackles of routine, and conducting a cam- 
 paign of unprecedented difficulty, upon a plan so 
 novel and so original that nothing like it had ever 
 been beheld before in the annals of naval warfare. 
 Not only did Porter strike out and away from the 
 beaten track, but he did it with such an instant 
 readiness, such a prompt appreciation of the condi- 
 tions of the new warfare, and such a resistless 
 energy of action, as to make the Mississippi cam- 
 paign the greatest study of naval war that modern 
 times have seen. The old traditions of scientific 
 warfare he cast to the winds. He had no more 
 conventionality of method than a Mississippi boatman; 
 no more slavishness to routine than the youngest 
 midshipman in his fleet. With him the only impulse 
 was to fight, and in fighting to win. As we look 
 upon his conduct of those unique and magnificent 
 operations around Vicksburg, we seem to see com- 
 bined, the intrepid courage of Gushing, the careful 
 preparation of a veteran staff-ofiicer, the fertility of 
 resource and dashing execution of Lord Cochrane, 
 and the cool and calculating audacity of IS^elson. 
 
 The first two months of Porter's command were 
 devoted to the organization of his fleet, to supplying 
 defects in its construction and equipment, and to 
 enlarging it by the acquisition of new ships of suit- 
 
THE EULOGY. 43 
 
 able type. Such a war fleet had never been seen 
 since navies first existed. In form, in arrangement, 
 in armament, in modes of propulsion, in means of 
 protection, every device that inventive ingenuity could 
 suggest was adopted, regardless of time-honored 
 conventionalities. The conditions of the warfare on 
 the western rivers were alone considered. It was to 
 meet those conditions that the fleet existed. Huge 
 converted river steamboats, casemate ironclads and 
 monitor ironclads built for the service, iron gunboats 
 and wooden gunboats designed by Mississippi en- 
 gineers, rams that EUet had devised at the river 
 cities on the Ohio, light-drafts so flat that their 
 crews used to say that "they would float in a heavy 
 dew;" strange craft armored with heavy plating, with 
 railroad iron, with thin sheets which gave them the 
 name of "tinclads," or with mere shields; propellers, 
 side-wheelers, stern-wheelers, vessels with protected 
 wheels in the centre, — were among the elements of 
 this novel squadron. Diversified as they were, the 
 admiral knew them all, and knew accurately each 
 one's merits and defects. 
 
 The mode of fighting corresponded with the het- 
 erogeneous nature of the fleet. There was no 
 chance here for the application of tactical rules. 
 All those theories of combat upon which the navies 
 of the world had conducted their battles since the 
 days of Rodney and De Grasse, and even of Blake 
 and Euyter, all the tactical learning of the schools 
 was useless in these narrow, winding streams in 
 which the fleet was now to operate. 
 
44 MEMORIAL OP DAVID DIXON POKTEK. 
 
 The objective point of the campaign was Vicks- 
 burg. A line of high bluffs, which the delays of 
 the past year had enabled the enemy to foi'tify, had 
 made Yicksburg the Gibraltar of the Mississippi. 
 From attacks of the fleet alone it was impregnable. 
 If conquered, it was to be the conquest of the army 
 and navy combined ; and Porter recognized the fact, 
 and submitted to it. It would appear that his first 
 principle in the whole conduct of the campaign was 
 never to refuse a request that came from the army. 
 However difficult the task, however perilous the sit- 
 uation, it was enough for the general to indicate 
 his wishes, and Porter, in good faith, and with a 
 courage and energy beyond all cavil, put the wish 
 into operation, either to succeed or to demonstrate 
 the impossibility of success. 
 
 When General Grant came down the river from 
 Memphis, and the real campaign against Yicksburg 
 began, the combined forces were above the city. 
 On this side, for two hundred miles along the east- 
 ern bank of the Mississippi, stretches out the Yazoo 
 delta, a long, oval valley, watered by the Yazoo 
 and its tributary streams. As far as military oper- 
 ations were concerned, it was an impossible country, 
 and it was little less than this for the fleet. Its 
 interior, far away from the river, was richly culti- 
 vated, and served as a storehouse of supplies for 
 the garrison at Yicksburg. But on the side next the 
 river was a low-lying country filled with tangled cane- 
 brake and cypress swamps, cut up in all directions 
 with interlacing streams and bayous, many of them 
 
THR EULOGY. 45 
 
 little better than ditches, their banks covered by thick 
 forests, whose overarching tops shut out the light 
 of day, and their winding course and devious con- 
 nections bewildering to the unskilled boatman who 
 might attempt to navigate them. The western bank 
 of the river, by which as a last resort the army 
 might descend below the town, and then crossing 
 over attack Vicksburg from the south and east, 
 was nearly as difficult of access, and would require 
 laborious work in cutting out canals for the trans- 
 ports or in building roads for the army's march, 
 which could only be accomplished when the waters 
 subsided in the spring. 
 
 Three times the admiral sent expeditions to force 
 a passage for the fleet into the Yazoo .delta. The 
 first was in connection with General Sherman's as- 
 sault on Chickasaw bluffs, when the loss of the 
 " Cairo," exploded by a torpedo, and the heavy fire 
 of the forts at Haynes' Bluff admonished Porter to 
 withdraw his fleet. The second expedition, cutting 
 the levee at Yazoo pass, and overflowing the upper 
 delta, made its way far into the interior by the 
 swollen streams, but was turned back at Fort Pem- 
 berton. The third, or Steele's bayou expedition, was 
 led by the admiral in person. Taking five of his 
 ironclads, the flower of the fleet, he penetrated by a 
 tortuous route through creeks and bayous, after in- 
 credible difficulties, into the heart of the delta. On 
 either side the forest reached down to the black 
 waters of the sluggish streams, and threw out over- 
 head its twisted and interlacing arms. The gunboats. 
 
46 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTEE. 
 
 striking first one bank and then the other of the 
 narrow bayous, could hardly make four miles a day, 
 ramming their way under full steam through the 
 dense forest growth, or sending men ahead to fell 
 the trees. Smoke-stacks were broken down, upper 
 works were shattered, and rudders were disabled. As 
 the fleet made its slow advance, and came into the 
 open country, the inhabitants took alarm, and on 
 all sides could be seen the smoke of burning grain 
 and cotton. Detachments of the enemy, collecting on 
 the banks in advance of the gunboats, threw down 
 trees across the stream to block the way, until fur- 
 ther progress became impossible; while others, bring- 
 ing up sharpshooters and artillery, attacked the 
 vessels from the wooded shores. The situation had 
 become desperate, and the admiral gave the order 
 to return. There was no room to turn the gunboats, 
 and they dropped back stern foremost. But, mean- 
 time, the enemy had blocked the passage iu the 
 rear by heavy barriers thrown across the bayou. The 
 admiral disposed his blue-jackets as best he could, 
 some with axes cutting away the barriers, and others 
 landing to drive off the enemy, while the shot and 
 shell from his heavy guns ploughed their way into 
 the forest. The troops detailed to accompany the 
 expedition had been delayed ; but at length these 
 arrived, and the fleet, cutting its way through the 
 last barrier, retraced its course and found itself once 
 more upon the open waters of the Mississippi. 
 
 The army needed no further demonstration to show 
 that Yicksburg could not be assailed by way of the 
 
THE EULOGY. 47 
 
 Yazoo delta. Indeed, it now appears, from what 
 General Grant says in his memoirs, that all these 
 desperate undertakings had been regarded by him 
 as useful chiefly to give occupation to the force, 
 and to meet the popular demand for action, during 
 the weary weeks when he was waiting for the 
 waters on the west bank to subside. All this time 
 he had contemplated the movement by land to a 
 point below Vicksburg, as his real plan of campaign, 
 subject only to the possibility of an unlooked-for 
 success in some of Porter's hazardous enterprises. 
 But the new movement depended as much as the 
 others upon -the cooperation of the navy. To Por- 
 ter, therefore, first of all, did the general make 
 known his plans ; and with that readiness he always 
 showed for action, however dangerous or desperate 
 it might seem. Porter fell in at once, and going 
 even beyond the suggestions of the general, offered 
 to undertake the preparation of the steamers that 
 must run the batteries to serve as transports for the 
 troops below. 
 
 The admiral proceeded with his preparations at 
 once. The great Mississippi steamboats were loaded 
 between the guards and boilers with bales of hay 
 and cotton and sacks of grain. Barges innumerable 
 had been collected from St. Louis and the cities of the 
 Ohio valley to serve as ferry-boats, and these were 
 utilized to carry down great stores of coal which the 
 fleet would need below. 
 
 There had been many dashes of steamers past 
 fortifications during the war before this date, and 
 
48 MEMORIAL or DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 others were made afterwards, but there was none in 
 which more peril was involved than in the passage 
 of the Mississippi fleet past Yicksburg on this April 
 night. For fifteen miles of the winding river's course 
 the fleet lay under the fire of the heavy guns that 
 crowned the bluffs. As soon as the first vessel 
 came within range, every gun upon the water-front 
 opened fire. At intervals along the banks huge 
 fires threw a ruddy light upon the stream, mai'king 
 clearly the black outlines of the advancing hulls. 
 The fleet dashed on, the admiral leading in his 
 flagship, the "Benton," never pausing for an instant, 
 but steadily pursuing his onward course under that 
 terrific storm. Down the further side of the penin- 
 sula he passed, followed by five of the gunboats, — 
 the "Lafayette," the "Louisville," the "Mound City," 
 the "Pittsburg," and the " Carondelet." 'Next came 
 three transports, each with its tow of coal-laden 
 barges. The ironclad " Tuscumbia," the heaviest of 
 the river fleet, brought up the rear. Reaching the 
 sharp bend of the river opposite the town, and 
 turning with the current, the fleet entered the narrow 
 passage directly under the Vicksburg guns. The 
 circling eddies at the bend, seizing upon the vessels 
 in the centre of the line, whirled them round and 
 round beneath the batteries, throwing them against 
 each other in wild confusion, and for a short space 
 involving them in what seemed a hopeless and in- 
 extricable mass. As they lay here entangled, the 
 enemy's gunners, training their pieces with accuracy 
 on the familiar range, hammered them incessantly. 
 
THE EULOGY. 49 
 
 Barges were sunk, or cut adrift by shot. The 
 " Forest Queen," one of the largest transports, her 
 steam-pipe cut through, became unmanageable, and 
 collided with the " Tuscumbia." The gunboat ex- 
 tricated herself, and shot ahead, but finding the 
 transport disabled, she returned, and took her in 
 tow. Another of the transports, the "Henry Clay," 
 taking fire from a shell that burst in her cotton 
 ramparts, burned to the water's edge, and the gun- 
 boats standing by her took off her crew. 
 
 Still the " Benton " held on her course, with the 
 fleet behind her, passing within forty yards of the 
 Vicksburg shore, running directly through the plunging 
 fire, and answering with her guns, though with little 
 efiect, upon the overhanging batteries. Shot after 
 shot struck the vessels, crashing through the bul- 
 warks, splintering the backing of the casemates, and 
 entering the ports. But the gunboats still steamed 
 on, and at length, by three o'clock, after a night 
 the like of which was not seen again during the 
 war, came to anchor in safety below the batteries 
 of Warrenton. 
 
 The passage of Vicksburg left many scars upon 
 the seven vessels, but the admiral, losing not a 
 moment, repaired the damages while the army was 
 marching down the west bank of the river. The 
 thirteenth corps, under McClernand, had already 
 reached a point well below Yicksburg, and lay 
 opposite Grand Gulf, where the enemy had con- 
 structed heavy batteries. Grand Gulf is on a high 
 bluff, at the foot of which runs the river. Its front 
 
50 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DJXOK POETEK. 
 
 was as impregnable as that of Yicksburg, — indeed, 
 it formed the lower end of that chain of fortifica- 
 tions of which Yicksbnrg was the beginning. 
 Although its capture from the river was a hopeless 
 task, the general wished to try its strength, and 
 Porter, twelve days after the passage of Yicksburg, 
 was ready to make the attempt. 
 
 On the 29th of April the gunboats, carefully 
 disposed, although at a heavy disadvantage from the 
 swift currents and whirling eddies of the river, at- 
 tacked the fort at Grand Gulf. The batteries could 
 not be silenced, but the fleet, at a distance of fifty 
 yards, kept its place for six hours, under a heavy 
 fire. The "Benton," the admiral's flagship, her hull 
 battered by shot and her wheel disabled, became 
 unmanageable. Still she did not leave the action, 
 but drifting down, opened on the lower batteries, 
 while her crew repaired her injuries. Finding that 
 the fort could not be reduced, Porter withdrew, 
 leaving the " Lafayette," his heaviest and most effi- 
 cient vessel, to occupy its attention during the 
 afternoon. 
 
 As soon as darkness covered the river, the gun- 
 boats, once more in motion, started down with their 
 attendant barges and transports. They were dis- 
 covered from the fort, and another battle opened as 
 they passed. But the engagement of the morning 
 had told heavily upon the enemy, and all got safely 
 by. Then the whole fleet — ironclads, transports, 
 barges, and all — began the work of ferrying the troops 
 across, and by the next morning the enemy beheld 
 
THE EULOGY. 51 
 
 them safely landed at Bruinsburg on the eastern 
 shore. 
 
 With this movement began the real campaiga that 
 ended in the fall of Yicksburg. For the next 
 month General Grrant was jSghting his way in the 
 country back of the river, gradually covering the 
 whole stretch of territory in the rear of the city. 
 The fleet was now disposed over a space of more 
 than a hundred miles, with Vicksburg lying between 
 the two extremities, so that communication must be 
 made by land on the west bank. The admiral, 
 ever on the alert, kept his eye fixed on every 
 strategic point, and directed, personally, the move- 
 ments of every vessel. 
 
 !N^ot content with this heavy charge, while Grrant 
 was fighting his way in the interior, he ran with 
 three of his gunboats down the Mississippi, and 
 made a dash up the Red river to Alexandria, re- 
 turning to Grand Gulf after a ten days' raid. Two 
 days later he was back in the Yazoo, above the 
 city, ready to cooperate with the troops which, 
 having completed their wide sweep in the rear of 
 Yicksburg, were now approaching the northern end 
 of the main line of defences. The forts at Haynes' 
 Bluff, which had so long prevented access to the 
 upper Yazoo, fell into the hands of the fleet, and in 
 a few hours communication was opened with the 
 army. 
 
 Yicksburg was now encircled by the Union forces. 
 On the east and south it was invested by the lines 
 of General Grant, their right resting on the Yazoo, 
 
52 MEMOEIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 their left on the Mississippi. Above and below the 
 city lay the two fleets of gnnboats, controlling all 
 the water, except that short space directly under the 
 bluflfs, where no gunboat could safely lie. 
 
 All through this month of June the fleet was 
 shelling the town and works on the river-front. 
 From the north and the south simultaneously, a little 
 cluster of vessels was each day engaged with those 
 terrible guns that could not be silenced or dis- 
 mounted. Whenever and wherever the army asked 
 for cooperation it was given instantly. The " Cin- 
 cinnati," sent down at the request of General Sher- 
 man to engage a gun that annoyed his troops, was 
 sunk under the batteries. Cannon were landed from 
 the fleet and placed in position in the rear of 
 Yicksburg, and, under Selfridge first, and Walker 
 afterwards, inflicted heavy damage. Another naval 
 battery was thrown up on the point opposite Vicks- 
 burg. 'No opportunity was lost or effort spared to 
 make effective the operations of the besiegers, but 
 such was the unparalleled strength of the position 
 that only by long and incessant labor could its 
 defences be worn away. The persistence of the 
 assailants found its match in the resolution of the 
 defenders; but there was no loophole of escape, and 
 on the fourth of July Yicksburg surrendered, and 
 the Mississippi was open from the Ohio to the 
 gulf. 
 
 For more than a year after the fall of Yicksburg 
 the admiral remained at the head of the Mississippi 
 squadron, the most extensive and exacting command 
 
THE EULOGY. 53 
 
 in the whole field of. naval operations. It included 
 in its limits not only the course of the Mississippi 
 river above Baton Rouge, but all its tributaries east 
 and west, — points far away up the Red river, the 
 White river, the Tensas, the Black, and the Ouachita, 
 in Louisiana and Arkansas, and on the other hand 
 the Yazoo delta, and the whole course of the Ohio, 
 with its great feeders in Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 Every point in the navigable waters of this vast 
 territory was covered by the squadron, and upon 
 every detachment the admiral kept his alert and 
 active eye. "Watchful as ever of the needs of the 
 army, he always had a gunboat ready when and 
 where it was wanted. The operations of this im- 
 mense and widely scattered force were controlled and 
 directed by his personal care, and he struck his 
 blows now at one point, now at another far away, 
 with a celerity and certainty that made them tell 
 with double force upon the enemy. The admiral 
 himself was everywhere. His headquarters were on 
 board the " Black Hawk ; " but any vessel — ironclad, 
 tinclad, wooden gunboat, or tug — was his flagship, 
 provided she answered his purpose for the moment. 
 His captains caught his buoyant spirit of self-confi- 
 dence and his resistless energy of purpose ; and he 
 got from them such devoted and loyal service as 
 few commanders have been able to obtain. 
 
 In the spring of 1864 occurred the ill-fated Red 
 river expedition. It was no mere river raid, like 
 that of the year before, but a great strategic move- 
 
54 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 ment of the army and navy to crush out rebel 
 control through the whole territory of northern 
 Louisiana, and to destroy or capture the vast depot 
 of supplies at Shreveport, on the upper waters of 
 the river. 
 
 The admiral advanced rapidly up the river with 
 ten of his gunboats, overcoming the difficulties in 
 the way, while the troops pursued their march by 
 land. Arriving at a point forty miles below Shreve- 
 port, Porter waited to hear from the army. Pres- 
 ently word came that a battle had been fought at 
 Mansfield, and that the army was in full retreat. 
 Into the causes of that movement we need not in- 
 quire here. The expedition was a failure, and only 
 a prompt withdrawal could save the fleet from over- 
 whelming disaster. 
 
 And now began that wonderful retreat of the 
 Red river fleet, one of the most difficult and mas- 
 terly operations that naval warfare has ever seen. 
 The disappearance of the army had left both the 
 river banks uncovered, and the enemy, although badly 
 shattered in the battle of Mansfield, recovered their 
 audacity when they learned of the departure of their 
 assailants. ISTot many hours passed before they made 
 their appearance on the bank, first to reconnoitre, 
 and presently with artillery and infantry in force. 
 Planting their guns at the most convenient points 
 overlooking the river, knowing the country well, 
 moving rapidly across the land where the Avindings 
 of the river compelled the fleet to make a wide 
 detour, and growing daily and hourly bolder in 
 
THE EULOGY. 55 
 
 their attacks, they harassed the gunboats with an 
 unremitting fire of musketry and artillery. Fighting 
 its way thus mile by mile, and grounding incessantly 
 in the shoal waters of the river, the fleet arrived 
 at Grand Ecore, where the army had made a tempo- 
 rary stand. 
 
 But the worst was yet to come : from Grand 
 Ecore to Alexandria was the most dangerous and 
 difficult navigation of the river. The rapids above 
 Alexandria were to be repassed, and the water had 
 fallen far below the draft of the vessels. 
 
 The army now covered the banks, while the gun- 
 boats made their way cautiously to the head of the 
 rapids. In this passage the "Eastport," one of the 
 most efficient vessels of the river fleet, struck a 
 hidden torpedo and sank to her gun-deck. The 
 admiral resolved, if possible, to save her. Sending 
 down for pump-boats, and removing the guns and 
 ammunition, he worked with ceaseless energy for 
 days, until the vessel was afloat. But shoal water 
 checked her progress, and after running a short 
 distance she ran hopelessly aground and was blown 
 up. 
 
 Meantime the heavier vessels, with the transports, 
 had reached the falls ; and the army, marching 
 without obstruction, was now sixty miles in advance. 
 The enemy's troops, observing every movement, were 
 beginning to show themselves and to hover in little 
 parties about the banks. The devoted rear-guard, 
 which had stayed behind to save the "Eastport," 
 was composed of two small tinclads, the "Juliet" and 
 
56 MEMOEIAX, OF DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 "Hindman," with the admiral's flagship, the "Cricket," 
 a tiny gunboat whose light draft enabled her to 
 move freely in the river. 
 
 The Confederate guerillas on the banks saw the 
 situation, and laid their plans to capture the ad- 
 miral. Already at the moment when the "East- 
 port " was destroyed they had made a dash to board 
 the " Cricket," which was tied up to the bank ; but 
 the attack was foiled, and the little gunboat dropped 
 out into the stream. The diminutive squadron, ad- 
 vancing cautiously but swiftly, was now steaming 
 in close order and ready for action at any moment. 
 Suddenly rounding a point they came in full view 
 of a large force of the enemy, with a battery 
 posted at a commanding spot. The "Cricket," now 
 leading, was close under the fire of the battery be- 
 fore she knew of its existence. There was but one 
 thing to do, — to go ahead at full speed and run 
 the gauntlet of its fire. Retreat the admiral would 
 not, and a moment's delay would reduce the paste- 
 board gunboat into a thousand fragments. Every shot 
 went through and through her. The vessels above, 
 warned in due time, paused and took refuge above 
 the point, l^ever was there a hotter fire than that 
 which was now poured on the devoted "Cricket." 
 The admiral himself fought the ship ; he rushed 
 to the gun-deck to hasten the firing, and as he 
 reached it the after gun was struck by a shell, 
 killing or wounding every man in the gun's crew. 
 A moment later a second shell swept out of exist- 
 ence the crew of the other gun. Instantly the 
 
THE EULOGY. 57 
 
 admiral made up a new gun's crew from the 
 negro deck-hands, and the loadhig and firing began 
 again. A moment later the engine stopped, and 
 hastening to the engine-room. Porter found the 
 engineer standing, with his hand rigid in death, 
 clutching the lever. He started the engine, and, 
 sending for a relief, returned to the pilot-house, 
 where one of the pilots had already been disabled. 
 Here he remained, guiding his shattered boat until 
 she passed the battery. Thirty-eight times had the 
 " Cricket " been struck during the action, and half 
 her people had been lost. 
 
 The remaining tinclads succeeded in making their 
 descent, and the fleet, now reunited, was strong 
 enough to resist attack. But the worst was yet to 
 come. The rapids above Alexandria, four miles in 
 length, were found to have only two feet of water, 
 while the heavier gunboats drew six and seven. 
 The army was encamped upon the banks, but it 
 could not remain forever, and how to extricate his 
 squadron, the choicest vessels of the Mississippi fleet, 
 was a problem for which there seemed to be no 
 solution. The admiral resolved that, whether the 
 army stayed or went, he would defend his vessels 
 to the last. "At this crisis," he says in his report, 
 "there seems to have been an especial providence 
 looking out for us in providing a man equal to 
 the emergency." 
 
 The story of Colonel Bailey and his famous dam, 
 by which the water was deepened on the rapids, is 
 known to every school-boy : how the admiral eagerly 
 
58 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON POETEK. 
 
 accepted the plan, though others doubted ; how 
 thousands of men were set to work, the country 
 for miles around was stripped of fences and houses 
 and timber, quarries were opened, flat boats were 
 built, and the huge barrier, in eight days, had 
 been carried out three hundred feet from either 
 bank into the river, while the gate between was 
 closed by coal barges sunk in the stream ; how 
 the flood of pent-up waters suddenly swept away 
 the barges and poured in a torrent through the 
 gate ; how the admiral, mounting a horse, rode in 
 hot haste to the upper falls and ordered the "Lex- 
 ington " to try the passage ; and how the vessel, 
 steering at full speed for the gateway, rushed on 
 her mad career into the surging waters, and rolling 
 twice from side to side, seeming for an instant to 
 hang upon the rocks, swept at last with the cur- 
 rent into deep water and rounded to upon the 
 shore ; while cheer upon cheer went up from the 
 thousands who, in breathless silence, had been 
 watching the issue from the banks. 
 
 The smaller vessels having followed the "Lexing- 
 ton," wing-dams were built above the main barrier, 
 deepening the mid-channel, and three days later 
 the remainder of the fleet had passed the falls, 
 and the Red river expedition was over. 
 
 In the autumn of 1864 Admiral Porter was 
 transferred from the Mississippi to the command of 
 the IsTorth Atlantic blockading squadron, to conduct 
 the movement against Wilmington, now the last 
 
THE EULOGY. 59 
 
 foothold of the blockade runners. Savannah and 
 Charleston had long been closed, but Wilmington, 
 with its two entrances guarded by powerful forts, 
 and its dangerous shoals, still gave access to the 
 swift steamers that, laden with supplies for the 
 Southern army, ran between Bermuda and the coast. 
 The cordon of vessels around each entrance was 
 unable wholly to stop the traflSc, however vigilant 
 their officers. 
 
 The main defence of Wilmington, Fort Fisher, 
 was a work of unexampled strength. The lessons 
 taught by four years of war had not been lost upon 
 the engineers who built it. Rising up from the 
 beach at the southern end of a long neck of land 
 between the river and the ocean, its parapets 
 mounted forty cannon, the heaviest of modern ord- 
 nance. Far away to the . north stretched a level 
 plain of sand, its edges washed by the Atlantic surf. 
 The Confederates looked upon Fort Fisher as impreg- 
 nable. Its guns frowning from the sand ramparts 
 swept the beach, defying a land attack ; while an 
 attack by sea was hardly thought of, for the Atlan- 
 tic shore from Hatteras to Cape Fear was not an 
 anchorage that sailors loved. The general-in-chief, 
 who from his headquarters at City Point directed 
 all the movements of that marvellous campaign of 
 1864 and 1865, looked upon its capture as one 
 of the essential features in his comprehensive plan 
 of action. He had long since projected it, and the 
 favorable moment had now come. Sherman, plunging 
 into the heart of the Confederate territory, was about 
 
60 MEMORIAL or DAVID DIXON POUTER. 
 
 to strike the sea at Savannah, whence his veteran 
 army, flushed with success, could move northward 
 towards Virginia. "If Wilmington falls," Grant 
 wrote to him, "a force from there will cooperate 
 with you." 
 
 nSTever before had it fallen to the lot of an Amer- 
 ican oflBcer to command such a squadron as the 
 great armada with which the admiral was now to 
 attack Fort Fisher. It comprised five armored ships, 
 headed by the powerful " 'New Ironsides ; " three of 
 the great screw frigates, the " Colorado," " Minne- 
 sota," and " Wabash," once the pride of the navy, 
 but too large to have seen much service in the 
 shallow waters where the naval war had hitherto 
 been carried on ; the side-wheelers, " Powhatan " and 
 "Susquehanna ; " and fifty other vessels, corvettes, 
 sloops of war, and gunboats, — while a second 
 fleet, composed of transports, was provided for the 
 troops. Many there were oiitside the fleet, and some 
 within it, who thought it madness to take such a 
 squadron to lie, in mid- winter, off" the Carolina coast; 
 but the perils of the sea, which he was born to 
 encounter, had no terrors for the admiral. 
 
 After one abortive attempt in December, whereof 
 the causes of failure form no part of our story, for 
 they concerned not the fleet or its leader, the trans- 
 ports sailed on the 6th of January. For two weeks 
 the ships of war had been awaiting them, for Por- 
 ter, having once began, refused to leave the ground. 
 The army was now commanded by that gallant and 
 devoted son of ]S"ew England, Gen. Alfred Terry. 
 
THE EULOGY. 61 
 
 Between the general and the admiral there existed 
 perfect confidence and deep mutual regard. 
 
 At daybreak on the 13th of January the monitors 
 went in alone to draw the fire of the fort and to dis- 
 close the enemy's guns. Then as the fort replied, the 
 line was formed, — a magnificent array of sixty ships of 
 war, mounting six hundred and twenty guns. Each ship 
 steamed to her appointed place, the ironclads in the 
 centre, and cast anchor close to the shore, forming a 
 great half-circle. Without a pause or break they took 
 their stations, while the "Malvern," the admiral's swift 
 flagship, steamed up and down the line and in and 
 out, the commander-in-chief standing, a conspicuous 
 mark, upon the paddle-box and directing every move- 
 ment. As each ship took her place, her battery 
 opened, and soon the whole of that mighty fleet 
 was pouring shells into the fort. 
 
 All day long the fire continued, and the next day, 
 and the next. Under its cover eight thousand troops 
 were disembarked. The Confederate gunners fled 
 from the fire of the fleet to the bomb-proofs, and 
 one by one their guns were disabled, until only four 
 were left out of twenty, in the northern face. As 
 the fort was gradually silenced, the Union forces, 
 throwing up intrenchments, worked their way slowly 
 down behind the shelter of the I'iver bank. 
 
 On the third day, the lines having advanced close 
 to the fort at its inshore end, all was ready for 
 the assault. Two thousand seamen and marines had 
 landed from the fleet to make a diversion that 
 would draw the garrison away from the main at- 
 
62 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON POKTEK. 
 
 tack. It was a forlorn hope, this charge of the 
 blue-jackets; for they had no sufficient weapons, 
 and the beach where they advanced gave little 
 shelter. Halting outside of rifle range they waited 
 for the signal. At three o'clock it came, and with 
 a rush the two columns, the troops at the west 
 end, the sailors at the eastern bastion, charged upon 
 the land face of the fort. The defenders massed 
 themselves upon the bastion, and, protected by the 
 parapet, poured their fire upon the sailors. They 
 rushed along the open beach, swept by a storm of 
 bullets, till the head of the column was checked by 
 the palisades at the foot of the rampart. Gallant 
 as was their advance, no man could stand long in 
 the open space under that murderous fire, which 
 swept down every minute a score of men; and at 
 length the column broke and turned, and the naval 
 assault was ended. 
 
 But the sacrifice of those who fell upon the 
 beach was not made in vain. "While the garrison 
 was occupied with the naval assault, the army, with 
 better arms and under better cover, swarmed up 
 to the fort, and gained an entrance through the sally- 
 port. The battle for the traverses raged through the 
 short daylight and far into the darkness of the Jan- 
 uary afternoon. The admiral, informed by signal of 
 every movement, altered the direction of his guns as 
 each traverse was carried, and adjusted his fire with 
 exactness to each new position. Long after dark- 
 ness had closed in the last vestige of resistance 
 came to an end, and Fort Fisher was caiDtured. 
 
THE EULOGY. 63 
 
 During the next few months Porter continued in 
 command of the I^orth Atlantic squadron, cooperat- 
 ing as of old with General Grant, in giving the 
 final death-blow to the Rebellion. With the fleet 
 he fought his way up the Cape Fear river to 
 Wilmington, and after all its defences had fallen 
 turned his attention to the James river. The clos- 
 ing scenes of the great drama found him at Rich- 
 mond, which he entered with the President on the 
 day after its fall. 
 
 The war ended, Porter found a congenial post as 
 Superintendent of the IN^aval Academy. Fresh from 
 his victories, promoted to be Vice-admiral of the 
 [N^avy, and having three times received by name the 
 thanks of Congress, he was the idol of the cadets, 
 the living impersonation of all those professional 
 qualities that mark the great naval commander, 
 and surrounded with an atmosphere of martial glory, 
 not misty or traditional, but fresh and brilliant with 
 the recent splendors of victorious war. With the 
 admiral there came to the academy his Vicksburg 
 captains, Selfridge and Walker, Breese and Ramsay, 
 Fitch and Greer, still young in years, but veterans 
 in service, a gallant and brilliant staff. I^ever 
 before or since was there a training school for 
 naval war like that which Porter and his captains 
 called into existence at Annapolis from 1865 to '69; 
 and of the young men who breathed that heroic 
 atmosphere, — more than one-third of the list of line 
 officers as it stands to-day, — there is not one but 
 
64 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON POKTEK. 
 
 has carried with him into the service a more eager 
 purpose, a more alert professional judgment, a 
 stronger character by reason of the influence of 
 those days at the academy. 
 
 At the beginning of Greneral Grant's first term 
 in the Presidency, Porter was assigned to duty at 
 the IS^avy Department, and for a short time became 
 the virtual head of its administration. The death 
 of Farragut, in 1870, left him easily foremost among 
 the survivors of the naval war, and in the follow- 
 ing year he became the Admiral of the IN^avy. 
 
 When war with Spain was imminent, in 1874, he 
 was at once selected to command the fleet, and 
 entered eagerly upon his preparations; but the crisis 
 was safely passed, and no occasion arose for calling 
 the veteran into active service. 
 
 During the remaining years of his life the admi- 
 ral, as President of the Board of Inspection, main- 
 tained an active supervision of the fleet, though not 
 connected with its administration. In this period he 
 was busily engaged in writing, chiefly on profes- 
 sional subjects. In such peaceful occupations he 
 spent his time until, at the age of seventy-eight, 
 full of years and of honor, he passed away to his 
 eternal rest. 
 
 In his professional character the admiral was a 
 typical ofiicer. He was a well-attempered man. 
 With nerves of iron, and an organization to which 
 the sensation of physical fear was absolutely un- 
 known, no shock could startle him, no sense of 
 
THE EULOGY. 65 
 
 personal danger could alarm him, no risks could seem 
 to him too great for the attainment of a great object. 
 In physical endurance and in capacity for work his 
 powers seemed to have no limit. At Grand Gulf 
 he fought in the morning a six-hour engagement, 
 one of the hottest of the war, himself giving and 
 taking incessant blows; in the afternoon he made 
 the preparations for the fleet, while the "Lafayette" 
 < engaged the fort ; in the evening he ran past the 
 batteries with the gunboats and the transports; and for 
 the whole of the night, under his supervision, the 
 fleet was at work ferrying the army across the 
 swift current of the Mississippi and landing it upon 
 the eastern bank. It was a herculean task, but it 
 was the general's wish to hasten, and Porter re- 
 sponded promptly; and when morning broke the 
 enemy found the army established in his rear. 
 
 This was only one of many instances of Porter's 
 physical endurance. For two years he directed the 
 movements of that immense and scattered force, 
 keeping his eye upon every detail, and himself led 
 in person the most perilous undertakings. "What 
 admiral but Porter, commanding a force of over a 
 hundred vessels, whose operations extended over 
 two thousand miles of tortuous rivers, would have 
 taken the gunboats himself through Steele's bayou, 
 and seen them safely out ? Or what one would 
 have stopped a week in the Red river to save the 
 "Eastport," and have brought the rear-guard through 
 its perils in such a flagship as the "Cricket"? 
 Wherever his own leadership was needed, he put him- 
 
66 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON POKTEK. 
 
 self, no matter what the danger, in the forefront of 
 the battle. It has been said that good luck brought 
 Porter through his reckless undertakings. Good luck 
 he doubtless had in escaping personal injury, though 
 he often came close to it. It was good luck, for 
 instance, that when once sitting in his cabin in the 
 "Benton" he was called suddenly away, and no 
 sooner had he risen, than the chair in which a mo- 
 ment before he had been seated was struck by a shot. 
 These things are the chance of war, about which 
 no man can reckon. But there was no luck in the 
 measures that at critical moments ensured the safety 
 of the fleet. Marvellous as seemed the boldness of 
 those movements of the Mississippi squadron, it was 
 a cool daring, a calculating audacity, and an un- 
 erring military eye for the situation, taking in all 
 that made it strong or weak, that directed their 
 guidance. And when those crises came, as come 
 they must, in which it is the unforeseen that 
 happens, the admiral placed his last reliance on his 
 own energy and resource; and these never failed 
 him. 
 
 To his officers Porter was the ideal commander. 
 ]Sro man could so well combine the large view of 
 an extended command with the close direction of a 
 particular movement. His intercourse with his cap- 
 tains was full and free. They were made familiar 
 by constant conversation and discussion with his aims 
 and methods, and when the time came for work to 
 be done, they knew, without being told, what the 
 admiral wanted. He never hampered his subordinates 
 
THE EULOGY. 67 
 
 with minute instructions; often he gave them no 
 written orders. He told them simply that a thing 
 was to be done, and left them to find the way to 
 do it. Stimulated thus by the confidence of their 
 commander, and not being reduced to depend upon 
 his judgment at every turn, the Mississippi captains 
 developed their own powers, and gained a self- 
 reliance and a capacity for individual action, that 
 won glory for the squadron, and a lasting benefit 
 for themselves and the service in which they were 
 some day to exercise high command. If they suc- 
 ceeded, no matter how, they got full share of the 
 credit, for the admiral never failed in his reports 
 to praise his officers by name according to their 
 deserts. If they succeeded by their own devices, so 
 much the better for them. If they erred through 
 excess of zeal, or even through an error of judg- 
 ment, the admiral readily forgave them; but for 
 slackness or timidity he had little mercy. For 
 severity of discipline, however, he had but slight 
 occasion; under his system each man gave spontane- 
 ously the best of which he was capable. 
 
 It is not enough to say of Porter that he trained 
 his officers : he did more, he created them. And 
 this quality, mark you, is one to be found only in 
 great commanders. It was no mere accident of 
 fortune that made ISTapoleon's marshals, or J^elson's 
 captains, or Porter's lieutenants: it was the creative 
 force and energy of the commander-in-chief. 
 
 In the admiral they found not only their guide, 
 but their model. He was a born fighter. His splen- 
 
68 MEMORIAL OE DAVID DIXON POKTEK. 
 
 did audacity, his untiring energy in preparation, 
 his arrow-like swiftness and certainty of execution, 
 made him, in their eyes, the greatest naval com- 
 mander of the age. At the most critical moments, 
 when others became confused in mind or dejected 
 in spirit, the great admiral rose above the crisis; 
 his judgment only seemed to work more clearly, 
 his spirits only became more buoyant, and men 
 were shamed out of their terrors, and forgot their 
 perplexities in admiration of that heroic figure, ready 
 to accept every challenge, however desperate the 
 chance, whether of men or fortune. The fleet and 
 the army alike knew his worth. No petty jealousy 
 of the sister service ever marred his cordial and 
 hearty cooperation. Had he been under the general's 
 orders, instead of exercising, as he did, an in- 
 dependent command, he could not have given him 
 more loyal service. "I have served with Admiral 
 Porter," wrote General Grant to Terry, before the 
 Fort Fisher expedition, "and I know he has the 
 nerve and judgment to carry out whatever he 
 proposes." 
 
 There was one noticeable trait in the admiral which 
 he showed on many occasions, often the most 
 desperate. It was a singular vein of sardonic humor, 
 not malevolent or wicked, but born of- an impish 
 audacity. He doubtless knew well its effect upon 
 the men around him, and he did not hesitate to 
 use it with a telling force and directness, whether 
 of speech or act, to encourage, to rouse, to stimu- 
 late, and sometimes to condemn. "When the squadron 
 
THE EULOGY. 69 
 
 on the Mississippi was dismayed by the capture 
 below Yieksburg of two of its best vessels, the 
 " Queen of the "West " and the ironclad " Indianola," 
 Porter conceived the idea of running a mock 
 monitor, constructed from a scow surmounted by 
 pork barrels and a mud furnace, past ' the batteries. 
 Under cover of what seemed a stupendous practical 
 joke, he unmasked the enemy's guns, which poured 
 a tremendous fire upon the dummy as she drifted 
 slowly by. Below the forts, she ran upon a snag, 
 and the " Queen of the West," stationed as an out- 
 post, took to flight, while the people on board the 
 grounded " Indianola " blew up her guns and 
 abandoned the vessel. At Fort Fisher, while the 
 fire of the fort was at its hottest. Porter, making 
 one of his rapid visits to a vessel in the line, wpnt 
 below to see the gun's crews at their work. Shots 
 could be heard screaming through the rigging, and 
 the captain remarked, with concern, that the ad- 
 miral's flag, which was hoisted during his presence 
 on board, was making the ship a target. " That's 
 good," said the admiral, who was used to being a 
 target; "come up on deck and see what kind of a 
 mark we make." Once, in the Cape Fear river, 
 when a young captain was visiting the flagship, he 
 incautiously criticised the movements of one of the 
 gunboats, at that moment hotly engaged with a 
 Confederate fort above. "Young man," said the 
 admiral, " you go right up there with your ship, 
 and show us whether you can do better; " and the 
 young man obeyed the order. When one of his cap- 
 
70 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 tains before the attack on Fort Fisher represented 
 that he ought not to go into action, because his 
 vessel was out of repair, and likely if struck to 
 sink at her anchors: "You are just the men we 
 want," said the admiral; "we'll tow you close in to 
 the beach, right under the fort, and when you sink 
 at your anchors, you will sink in shoal water, and 
 you can lie on the bottom and just hammer away 
 at the enemy! " 
 
 The men who fought with Porter believed in 
 him, and they held him their foremost man. "Among 
 naval olficers," said Greneral Grant on one occasion, 
 "I have always placed Porter in the highest rank." 
 History will not reverse this judgment. Doubtless, 
 in the period just following the war, Farragut filled 
 a more definite place in the popular mind; he was 
 the first Admiral of the JSTavy, and his personality 
 gained distinctness from the dramatic and sharply cut 
 incidents of his three great battles. Porter's fighting 
 was of a difierent kind, more novel and difficult, 
 and taxing more severely the powers of the com- 
 mander. Farragut's career in the gulf squadron 
 was condensed into three supreme moments; Porter's 
 on the Mississippi was the incessant labor and 
 struggle of two years. I would not draw com- 
 parisons between these two men, so closely bound 
 together by early ties, so preeminent above their 
 comrades in the distinction which they reached in 
 later life. To both their country points with equal 
 pride. Both had passed the middle span of life be- 
 fore achieving marked distinction. But they had 
 
THE EULOGY. 71 
 
 learned their fighting lessons and shouldered their 
 burdens of responsibility before they passed the 
 threshold of their manhood. This was, beyond all 
 question, one secret of their success. The child is 
 father of the man. The battles of New Orleans and 
 Mobile were begun on the cruise of the " Essex," 
 and on the deck of the " Gruerrero " was the first 
 dawn of that light which burst into noonday splendor 
 at Yicksburg and Fort Fisher. 
 
 In private life the admiral was a devoted husband, 
 an indulgent father, tender and gentle as a woman 
 to distress and misfortune. His manner was simple 
 almost to boyishness. His confiding nature led him 
 to trust readily his fellow-men. Impulsive and easily 
 aroused, he was quick to acknowledge a benefit or 
 to resent an injury. But his resentment vanished the 
 moment his antagonist yielded, for there was neither 
 malice nor bitterness in his nature. 
 
 During the years following his withdrawal from 
 active service, the admiral exerted himself without 
 ceasing to bring about the reconstruction of the 
 navy ; and however he may have differed with others 
 about details, his influence had a material efiect in 
 stimulating that movement, little less than a revolu- 
 tion, which has converted our decrepit fleet into an 
 efficient and modern force. In every detail of the 
 programme he took the most active interest, and 
 for the reforms in naval affairs that took place 
 during this time he had the warmest commenda- 
 tion. 'No man knew better than Porter the strategic 
 necessity for a navy in the United States, and he 
 
72 MEMORIAL or DAVTB DIXOTS' PORTER. 
 
 knew that unless it was efficient it was worse than 
 useless. 
 
 As to this strategic necessity there must be few 
 men who do not share the admiral's opinion. That 
 the development of this country will meet with any 
 decided check from foreign aggression is improbable; 
 but it is improbable because the practical good sense 
 of our people will insist on the maintenance of effi- 
 cient means of defence against aggression. We hold 
 rightly that a large standing army or navy is con- 
 trary to the system of our Federal republic; but 
 while we give way to no dreams of foreign con- 
 quest, and tolerate no proconsular theories of domestic 
 administration, we believe in a national government 
 powerful enough to represent the might of a great 
 nation behind it, and to vindicate, when the occasion 
 comes, the majesty of national right. It may not 
 be that Providence is always on the side of the 
 strongest battalions; but it is at least tempting 
 Providence to rely alone on the good cause, and 
 meanwhile to neglect the strong arm. For a State 
 isolated from the rest of the world, with an immense 
 maritime frontier, and with sea-coast cities, the re- 
 positories of national and individual wealth, the navy 
 is the right arm of defence. Upon the efficiency of 
 its officers and its vessels depends the safety of great 
 interests essential to the prosperity of the United 
 States. This principle has at last obtained recog- 
 nition, and the fleet has emerged from the condition 
 of decay into which it had fallen in the period of 
 relaxation following the Civil "War. And I beheve 
 
THE EULOGY. 73 
 
 that the recent steps in administrative progress in 
 the building of cruisers able to keep the sea, and 
 battleships able to fight at sea; in the employment 
 of labor in government yards and workshops on a 
 basis of merit; and, finally, in the creation of a re- 
 serve force, a naval militia of the States, trained to 
 war, but continuing the pursuits of peace, in harmony 
 with our true American system, — will make these later 
 years memorable in the annals of naval development. 
 As the great record of the ISTation's future is unrolled, 
 and its early history is projected further into the 
 past, our children and our children's children will 
 cherish more and more its sacred traditions, will 
 turn more and more to contemplate the heroic 
 figures of the men who founded the Republic, and 
 who stood firm for the right, upholding its consti- 
 tvition and its principles, at every crisis of its 
 history, — the men great in council and in adminis- 
 tration, who set the standard of civic virtue in the 
 public life of America for all the generations to 
 come. They will cherish too, with equal reverence, 
 and with a tenderness that befits their sacrifice and 
 self-devotion, the memory of those other heroes, the 
 men who at the peril of their lives fought the 
 enemies of their country upon the land and sea. 
 And if to-day we dwell especially upon the achieve- 
 ments of one branch of the national force, it is 
 not that we forget the sister service, to which we 
 render equal homage, but rather because this occa- 
 sion is consecrated to the navy and to the memory 
 of its illustrious dead. We call up the names of 
 
74 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON PORTER. 
 
 those great captains of the earlier wars, — names 
 familiar to us from our childhood, names that will 
 live forever in song and story. We go back to the 
 days of the Revolution, to Paul Jones, and Barry, and 
 Barney, and Dale, who, like their great contempora- 
 ries in civil life, set the first example of those qualities 
 that have ever since adorned the service, the sea- 
 manlike qualities of obedience and courage, and 
 prompt decision, and the gentlemanlike qualities of 
 self-devotion and self-control. We call up the picture 
 of Truxtun fighting the French in the West Indies 
 and capturing the " Insurgente," and Preble rooting 
 out piracy in the Mediterranean, and redeeming his 
 coimtrymen from captivity at the cannon's mouth. 
 We see again the glories of that glorious war 
 of 1812, whose trophies deck to-day the halls of 
 the academy at Annapolis ; those four-and-twenty 
 ensigns, now dingy and time-scarred, their edges worn 
 by age, but once floating proudly above the decks of 
 the " Guerriere," the " Macedonian," and the " Java," 
 of the vessels on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, 
 and of many another captured sloop and frigate. 
 We recall the time when Hull and Decatur and 
 Bainbridge annihilated three of their antagonists in 
 the first months of the war ; and when victory after 
 victory of the derided American ships startled the 
 Admiralty into the issue of that secret order, which 
 recent memoirs have disclosed, that only ships of the 
 line should engage American frigates. Last of all, 
 we come to the men of the Civil War, to names 
 even dearer and more familiar, — to Farragut and 
 
THE EULOGY. 75 
 
 Bu Pont, Eowan and "Winslow, Eodgers and Worden 
 and Cnshing. In this constellation of naval heroes 
 there are none that shine with brighter lustre than 
 the two Porters, — the great commodore who made 
 his cruise in the "Essex," and for twelve months 
 held the Pacific with his fleet of captured privateers ; 
 and his greater son, the admiral who fought the 
 campaign of Yicksburg, who extricated his gunboats 
 from the perils of the Red river, and who led his 
 great squadron to victory at Fort Fisher. And we 
 may rejoice, ray fellow citizens, exulting as we do in 
 the traditions of this our dear old Commonwealth, that 
 it was their heritage of Massachusetts blood, and 
 of that native energy which grows upon the soil of 
 I^ew England, that placed these two men among 
 the foremost of the great captains of their time. 
 
 On the grassy slope beneath the historic mansion 
 at Arlington, before which, spread out as in a pan- 
 orama, lie the noble river, and the glistening expanse 
 of the capitol, and the fair white shaft of the mon- 
 ument, pointing heavenwards over the city where he 
 loved to dwell; surrounded by his comrades, the 
 heroic dead who fought like him in defence of the 
 Union, — the admiral lies at rest forever, the last 
 struggle over, the last victory won. Upon his grave 
 to-day we place our civic wreath; and this tribute to 
 his memory, fitly paid by our fair city, the mother 
 of his ancestral line, we also pay, as children of 
 one common country, which claims him as her own, — 
 as men who value above all other possessions the 
 
76 MEMOKIAIi OF DAVID DIXON POKTBR. 
 
 birthright of an American citizen, which he fought 
 to preserve, in all its matchless worth, for us and 
 our posterity. His glory belongs to the Republic. 
 In her service his days were spent; for her he 
 wrought out those mighty enterprises wherein, count- 
 ing his life as naught, he put forth all the powers 
 of his heroic manhood. The little branch of laurel 
 that we bring is but one spray in the garland of 
 his eternal fame; for as long as this nation lasts, as 
 long as there shall be Americans who turn in rev- 
 erence to the immortal figures of their country's past, 
 the memory of the great admiral will be held in 
 highest honor; and for all time to come, upon the 
 roll of its illustrious citizens, who in peace or war 
 have deserved well of the Kepublic, will be inscribed 
 in golden letters the name of David Dixon Poktee. 
 
FINAL PROCEEDINGS 
 
FINAL PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 At the meeting of the Common Council, May 18, Mr. 
 McClellan, of Ward 20, introduced the following resolve, 
 which was unanimously adopted, namely : — 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be and 
 hereby are extended to Hon. James Eussell Soley, for the 
 able and instructive eulogy pronounced by him upon the life 
 and character of the late Admiral Porter, at the memorial 
 services held in Tremont Temple on the fourteenth instant, 
 under the auspices of the City Council. 
 
 The Board of Aldermen at their meeting on the same 
 day concurred with the Common Council in the adoption of 
 the resolve, and it was approved by the Mayor on the 
 twentieth of May. 
 
 Also on the twenty-sixth of October the following resolu- 
 tions were adopted by the Board of Aldermen, namely: — 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be hereby 
 expressed to the Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks, D.D., for per- 
 forming the duties of chaplain at the memorial service at 
 Tremont Temple, May 14, 1891, in honor of Admiral David 
 D. Porter. 
 
80 MEMORIAL OF DAVID DIXON POUTER. 
 
 Eesolved, That the thanks of the City Council be hereby 
 expressed to the trustees of Tremont Temple, for their courtesy 
 in allowing the city the free use of their hall for the memo- 
 rial service, May 14, 1891, in honor of Admiral David D. 
 Porter. 
 
 The Common Council concurred with the Aldermen, Octo- 
 ber 29, in the adoption of the resolutions, and they were 
 approved by the Mayor, October 31, 1891.