ifty thousand dollars, which was
presented to him in United States 7.30 Treasury notes, in January,
1865, in testimony of their appreciation of his ability and success as
a naval commander. Until 1866 the rank of vice-admiral was the highest
known in the navy In July of that year the office of admiral was
specially created and bestowed on Farragut. He saw no further
important service, but died quietly at Portsmouth, N. H., August 14,
1870.

[Illustration: Farragut at Mobile Bay.]

Even the English _Army and Navy Gazette_ speaks of Admiral Farragut as
"the doughty admiral whose feats of arms place him at the head of his
profession, and certainly constitute him the first naval officer of
the day, as far as actual reputation won by skill, courage, and hard
fighting goes."

DAVID DIXON PORTER

(1814-1891)

[Illustration: David Porter. [TN]]

Among the coincidences of naval and military command in the war for
the Union, the association of the names of Farragut and Porter, in the
important series of operations on the Mississippi, has not escaped
attention.

The former, as the reader has seen in the previous sketch, was
introduced to the service in his childhood, under the care and
protection of Commodore David Porter, and boy as he was, fully shared
the adventures and perils of his famous cruise in the Pacific. Nearly
fifty years after that event Captain Farragut, in command of the
Department of the Gulf, entered the Mississippi in concert with the
son of his old commander of the Essex, to vindicate the national honor
by the restoration of New Orleans to the Union--a service which was to
prove the ability of both officers, and lead them to the highest rank
known to the naval service of the United States. Looking into the
future, Commodore Porter, the hero of the War of 1812, would hardly
have dreamt that the "boy midshipman, who had been introduced to him
at New Orleans, would, with two of his own sons, at the end of half a
century, receive the highest honors of their country, the reward of
the most arduous and perilous services against a domestic foe on the
Mississippi."

Of these sons of Commodore Porter, thus distinguished in this field of
duty, William D. Porter, the elder, on more than one occasion, in
command of the gunboat Essex, recalled not merely the name of his
father's vessel, but the courage and patriotism, the spirit and
success which had given the old ship her reputation. The younger,
David