"May God guard you.
"Manl. Freyre."
Tucker was in the sixty-seventh year of his age when he retired to his home in the City of Petersburg, Virginia, where he had purchased a comfortable house with a lawn and garden attached. Here he passed the evening of an active life in the enjoyment of a private fortune, which, though not large, was sufficient to supply all his moderate wants and simple tastes. Relatives and friends frequently visited him; he read much, and books, especially the older English classics, were a source of much pleasure to him; the improvement of his lawn and garden was a pursuit which afforded him unfailing interest and occupation.
On the 12th of June, 1883, he was apparently in his usual good health. In the course of the morning a friend called on him, and they conversed together for some time, seated in the shade of a tree on the lawn. His friend having taken his departure, Tucker reseated himself for a few minutes in his chair, suddenly arose, straightened up his tall form to its full height, and fell forward—dead. Physicians were immediately summoned, but all the efforts to revive him were ineffectual. He had died from disease of the heart; passing away from this world without a struggle or a sigh, and going where souls as pure as his have nothing to fear.
His remains were taken to Norfolk, Virginia, where they were received by old friends and comrades, who knew and loved him well, and interred by the side of his wife's grave, in a beautiful private cemetery near the city.
Admiral Tucker possessed many of the qualities of a great commander. His judgment was excellent, and it was very rarely the case that he was mistaken as to what it was possible for the force at his disposal to accomplish. He always commanded the respect and confidence, as well as the good will, of his men. A strict disciplinarian, the prompt and unhesitating obedience to orders he exacted was cheerfully rendered by his subordinates. His plans were coolly and deliberately formed, and, having been once determined upon, were carried out with energy and resolution. In the ordinary intercourse of private life he was so gentle, generous and genial that his friends and associates felt for him a regard approaching affection. In youth he was an eminently handsome man and in maturer years his presence was imposing. Sailors and Indians are fond of giving personally descriptive names to those with whom they are thrown in contact; when Tucker was a lieutenant he was called "Handsome Jack" by the men-before-the-mast, and the warriors of the savage tribes that wander about the head waters of the Amazon knew him as the "Apo," the meaning of the word being "High Chief."
In concluding this sketch of the eventful life of John Randolph Tucker, it is but doing justice to his memory to say that the sea-service never produced a more thorough and accomplished sailor, and that there never was bred to the profession of arms a more honorable and gallant gentleman.
