The Navy Man Of The West

Union Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote died June 26^th 1863.

Andrew Hull Foote was born September 12^th 1806 at New Haven, Connecticut the son of Senator Samuel Augustus and Eudocia (Hull) Foote.  He was a good student and received an appointment to the United State Military Academy at West Point in June 1822.  Only six months later he left West Point on December 4^th 1822 and joined the United State Navy as a midshipman on the USS Grampus.  He became a Lieutenant in 1830.  In 1837 Foote serving on the USS John Adams circumnavigated the globe.  In 1849 he became the commander of the USS Perry sailing off the coast of Africa.  It was this duty that caused him write the book “Africa and the American Flag” about the evils of the slave trade.  In 1958 Foote became the commander of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, where he would be serving when the Civil War started.

On June 29^th 1861 Foote was promoted to Captain and took over the command of the Mississippi River Squadron.  In February 1862 the now Flag Officer Foote in conjunction with Union General Ulysses S Grant captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River.  This was followed in a few days by the fall of Fort Donelson.  Foote was wounded in this battle.  After this he joined with Union General John Pope in a campaign against the Confederate held Island Number Ten on the Mississippi River.

With a promotion to Union Rear Admiral he was on his way on June 26^th 1863 to take command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron when he died of Bright’s disease.  Foote is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.

Spike The Guns

Lieutenant John Vincent Johnston was the Union Navy commander on an expedition to spike the guns of Fort Number 1 on April 1^st 1862.

John Vincent Johnston was living in Cincinnati, Ohio in September 1861 when he joined the Union Navy.  He first served on the gunboat the USS St Louis as the First Master.  Johnston was on the gunboat which captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River on February 6^th 1862.  He was the Union Navy commander in a combined Army – Union expedition on April 1^st 1862 to spike the guns of Fort Number 1 located just above the Confederate held Island Number 10 in the Mississippi.  For his actions in this expedition Johnston was promoted to Lieutenant.  During the bombing of Vicksburg, Mississippi Johnston was in command of the USS Forest Rose, running the Mississippi River.  His gunboat stopped as attack by Confederates on February 15^th 1864 saving the Union garrison at Waterford, Louisiana.  Johnston left the Navy June 23^rd 1864.

Johnston died in St Louis, Missouri April 23^rd 1912.