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There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924028731309 THE EECOEDS OF LIYING OFFICEES OF THE U. S. NAVY AND MARINE CORPS. COMPILED FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES BY LEWIS R._HAMEESLY, (late lieutenant united states harihe corps.) THIED EDITION. REVISED, WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONS. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1878. {; 'f . A> H^fo. CORNEU} universityI .LIBRARY Entered aocording to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by LEWIS R. HAMBRSLT, In the Office of the Libraria/n of Congress at Washington. TO THE OFFICERS OJ' THE UNITED STATES NAVY AND MAEINE COEPS IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED THIS RECORD OF THEIR SERVICES, AND HISTOEY OF THE "WAEFAEB, WHICH THEIB VALOR AND PATRIOTISM SO MUCH AIDED, WITH DIVINE HELP, TO MAKE GLORIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL. PEEFAOE TO THIED EDITION. The reader will look in vain in the present edition of .this work for the records of some of the illustrious men that graced the pages of the earlier issues. Since then death has remored from our midst Farragut and Gushing, and others famous in song and story, whose prowess and exploits, while adding new lustre to the American name and Navy, have made their fame immortal. New names and new actors, and a new generation, in many cases, appear upon the scene, the records of whose faithfiil service, with those of the Older officers still living, it is the object of the present work to perpetuate and honor. , Philadelphia, March 15, 1878. ; RECOKDS OF LIVING OFFICERS OF THE U. S. NAVY. ADMIKAL DAVID D. PORTER. David D. PoaiER is a native of the State of Pennsylvania. Appointed Mid- shipman from that State, February 2, 1829; attached to frigate Constellation, Mediterranean Squadron, 1830 ; frigate United States, same squadron, 1833-4 attached to ship-of-the-line Delaware, Mediterranean Squadron, 1835. Promoted to Passed Midshipman, June 1836 Survey duty, 1837- 4, ; on Coast 40. Commissioned as Lieutenant, February 27, 1841 ; frigate Congress, Mediter- ranean Squadron, 1843-5 ; Naval Observatory, Washington, D. C, 1846. Lieu- tenant Porter was attached to Home Squadron, 1847, and actively engaged in the war with Mexico ; was present at the two attacks on Vera Cruz and one on Tuspan, and one at Tobasco participated also in a land fight at Tamultee, and a similar ; engagement at Chiflon ; on Coast Survey duty, 1848-9 ; on leave of absence, 1850 ; commanding Pacific Mail steamer Georgia, 1851-3 ; on leave of absence,. 1854 ; commanding store-ship Supply, 1855-7 ; attached to Portsmouth Navy Yard, N. H., 1858-60. Promoted to Commander, April 22, 1861. Commissioned as Rear-Admiraly July 4, 1863; as Vice-Admiral, July 25, 1866. Vice-Admiral Porter was actively employed from the beginning to the close oT the Rebellion. As early as AprU, 1861, he sailed from New York in the Powhatani for Fort Pickens, and remained on the coast of Florida until ordered North to. assume command of the mortar fleet fitting out to co-operate with Admiral Far- ragut in his attack on the defences of New Orleans. He displayed great energy in hastening the sailing of these vessels, and when Farragut arrived at th& Southwest Pass, Porter's vessels were at their stations and ready to commence the- attack. On the 11th of April, 1862, he began the bombardment of Forts Jackson and St. Philip. The mortar flotilla kept up a steady fire, with but slight cessation, for six days and nights, at the end of which time both of the forts, powerful as they were, and desperate as was their resistance, had become so weakened and the garrison so demoralized, as, in the judgment of the flag-officer, to render the passage of the fleet possible. On April 28, Brigadier-General Duncan, commanding the coast defences, and Lieutenant-Colonel Higgins, commanding Forts Jackson and St. Philip, surrendered to Commander Porter. From this time until July, 1862, he remained in com- mand of the mortar flotilla, actively, zealously, and efficiently co-operating with Admiral Farragut in his operations on the Mississippi, from New Orleans to- 7 8 ADMIRAL. Vicksburg. Commander Porter was soon after appointed Acting Kear-Admiral, and ordered to the command of the Mississippi Squadron. The true character of his natural endowments and professional attainments may be seen in his creating a fleet of one hundred and twenty-five vessels—a number far exceeding that com- manded by any other officer in the history of naval warfare—out of the material afforded by ordinary river steamboats, which he plated, armed and equipped, making them formidable and efficient war vessels. In the squadron there were more than thirteen hundred officers ; of these not more than twenty-five were of the regular navy, the rest consisting mainly of Western steamboat-men, utterly without naval training, but who, under the rigid discipline and inspiring example of their commander, soon became valuable and trustworthy officers. In January, 1863, Admiral Porter's fleet captured Arkansas Post, on the Arkansas Kiver, and in the month of May following he destroyed the formidable rebel batteries at Grand Gulf. Invaluable aid was rendered to the army under General Grant by Admiral Porter in the reduction of Vicksburg, which surrendered July 4, 1863. During the siege of Vicksburg his mortar fleet were forty days, without inter- mission, throwing shells into the city and even into the works beyond it. Thir- teen heavy guns were landed from the vessels, and men and officers sent to man them. Before the city capitulated, sixteen thousand shells were thrown from the mortars, gunboats, and naval batteries. In addition to these successes. Admiral Porter obtained control of the Yazoo Kiver, sweeping from its channel the net-work of torpedoes and contrivances for submarine warfere near its confluence with the Mississippi. These efforts were followed by the novel and singular Yazoo Pass expedition, and the expeditions of Steele's Bayou and Deer Creek. The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were actively patrolled by his vigilant officers, and the exciting chase of Morgan by the .steamers on the Ohio Eiver, over a distance of five hundred miles, intercepting him and his band when attempting to escape, naturally attracted the attention of (the country. In March, 1864, a portion of the Mississippi Squadron, under Admiral Porter, ascended the Bed River to form a junction with the army under General Banks .at Alexandria, La. Prom this point, with some of his most formidable iron-clads, Admiral Porter penetrated some fifty miles farther up the river, to Springfield Jjanding. While at Springfield LancUng he learned that the army under General £anks haS met with a reverse, and was falling back to Pleasant Hill, some distance below. Rear-Admiral Porter was therefore compelled to turn back, his retracing steps harassed at every available point by the enemy, flushed with their recent success against the army. On April 14, Admiral Porter reached Grand-Ecore, where he found the vessels ,he had left at that point still detained above the bar. The river instead of rising as customary at this season, had £illen during his absence, and the destruction of the best portion of the squadron seemed inevitable. But, in the words of the Admiral, "Providence provided a man for the occasion." Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, Acting Engineer of the 19th army corps, constructed a series of dams across the river at the falls, and the water rising to a sufficient height, the im- perilled boats passed safely over the bar. Rear-Admiral Porter, who had displayed ability of the highest order, and as commander of the Mississippi Squadron had met with marked success in his operations against the enemy, and who, moreover, enjoyed the entire confidence of the Department and the nation, was detached from the Mississippi and ordered to the command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which embraced vwithin its limits Cape Fear River and the port of Wilmington. A fleet comprising all the available vessels at the disposal of the Department, ; VICE-ADMIRAL. 9 and commanded ty officers who had distinguished themselves in the earlier operations of the war, was assembled at Hampton Boads. In the early part of December the fleet sailed for Beaufort, N. C, where they were to rendezvous. Final preparations for the attack were then made. On December 24, 1864, Eear- Admiral Porter, with a force of thirty-five vessels, five of which were iron-clads, and a reserve force of nineteen vessels, commenced the bombardment of the forts at the mouth of Cape Fear Biver, and silenced them in an hour and a quarter.