ADMIRAL PORTER.
The following sketch of Admiral Porter, who commanded the gunboat attack, will inform the reader of his previous history:
Acting Rear-Admiral David D. Porter, the commander of the Mississippi Flotilla, is the son of the famous Commodore David Porter of the Essex, and was born about the year 1814. In 1829 he entered the navy as midshipman on board the Constellation, and served six years on that ship and the United States. In 1835 he passed his examination, and served six years as passed midshipman on the Coast Survey. In 1841 he was commissioned a lieutenant, and served with that rank on board the Congress for four years. After a brief period of service at the Observatory at Washington, he was placed on active duty under Commodore Tattnall in the Gulf of Mexico, and took a leading part in the naval operations of the Mexican war. In 1849 he took command of one of the Pacific Mail Company’s steamers, and remained several years in the service of that Company.
At the beginning of the year 1861 he was under orders to join the Coast Survey on the Pacific, but, fortunately, had not left when the rebellion broke out. His name at that time stood number six on the list of lieutenants. The resignation of several Confederates left room for his advancement, and the “Naval Register” for August 31, 1861, placed him number seventy-seven on the list of commanders. He was placed in command of the steam sloop-of-war Powhatan, a vessel of about twenty-five hundred tons, and armed with eleven guns. After doing blockading duty for some time, he left that ship to take special charge of the mortar expedition. The active part he took in the reduction of the forts below New Orleans will make his name ever memorable in connection with the mortar fleet. After the capture of New Orleans he, with his fleet, went up the Mississippi river, and was engaged in several affairs on that river, including that of Vicksburg. From that place he was ordered to the James river, and returned in the Octorara. When off Charleston, on his way to Fortress Monroe, he fell in with and captured the Anglorebel steamer Tubal Cain. He was then appointed to the supreme control of all the naval forces on the Mississippi river, with the rank of Acting Rear-Admiral. The force under his orders, in vessels, guns, and men, was larger than had ever heretofore been under the command of any United States naval officer. His squadron was distinct in every way from that of Admiral Farragut, who commanded the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron.
HOUSE USED FOR CONFINEMENT OF REBEL SYMPATHIZERS, AT ST. LOUIS, MO.
The capture of the Post of Arkansas was the first exploit performed by the Admiral in his new command.