Andrew Hull Foote: Difference between revisions

|death_place=[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.

|placeofburial=[[Grove Street Cemetery]], [[New Haven]], Connecticut, U.S.

|caption=''Admiral Foote''

|allegiance=[[{{flag|United States of America]]|1861}}

|branch={{flagcountryflag|United States Navy|1861|size=23px}} ([[Union Navy]])

|rank= [[File:USN Rear Admiral rank insignia.jpg|25px]] [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear admiral]]

[[File:Africa and the American Flag.jpg|200px|left|thumb|''Foote''{{'}}s USS ''Perry'' confronting the slave ship ''Marta of Ambriz'' on June 6, 1850'']]

From 1849 to 1851, Foote commanded {{USS|Perry|1843|6}}, cruising the waters off the African coast. He was active in suppressing the [[African slave trade|slave trade]] there.<ref name=D>[[#davenport|Davenport & Scudder, 1919]], pp. 86–88</ref> This experience persuaded him to support the cause of [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition]], and in 1854, he published a 390 -page book, ''Africa and the American Flag.'' In this book, Admiral Foote described the geography of the African continent, the customs of many of the African people, the establishment of American colonies in Africa, the slave-trade and its evils and the need to protect American citizens and commerce abroad. He also became a frequent speaker on the Abolitionist circuit.<ref name="D"/>

'''==Personal life and family'''==

As the Civil warWar began, Foote wrote a letter (see image) to his three youngest children on August 31, 1861. In it he expresses his love for them and the fact that he is going to war and may be killed. He closes with the phrase "God grant that you all may at last rest in heaven my dear children, is the prayer of your affectionate father." 1862 was a time of great personal loss for Foote. Seven months after this letter was written, his son William Leffingwell died March 14, 1862, at the age of 13. Later that year, his daughter Emily Frederica passed awaydied at age 10 on October 14. Six days later, his youngest daughter Maria Eudocia died at age 7. Foote and his wife Caroline Augusta Street Foote had lost three children in 7 months. When Foote passed awaydied in 1863, he left behind two sons, Augustus Russell Street (age 16) and John Samuel, and one adult daughter, Josephine, from his first marriage to Caroline Flagg. Caroline Augusta Street passed awaydied two months after Foote on August 27, 1863. Youngest son John Samuel, nicknamed "Admiral Byng" by Foote, was orphaned at age four.

==Civil War and death==

[[File:Letter from Foote to children Aug 1861 page 1.jpg|thumb|Letter1861 letter from Foote to his children 1861, page 1]]

[[File:Letter from Foote to his children Aug 1861 page 2.jpg|thumb|Letter from Foote to children pagePage 2]]

[[File:Union Army ironclads in 1862 action detail, from- "Bombardment of Island 'Number Ten' In the Mississippi River." (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|300x300px|Union Army [[Ironclad warship|ironclads]] in 1862 action in art, "''Bombardment of Island '"Number Ten'" in the Mississippi River."'']]

When the [[American Civil War]] began in 1861, Foote was in command of the [[New York Navy Yard]]. On June 29, 1861, Foote was promoted to [[Captain (United States O-6)|captain]]. From 1861 to 1862, Foote commanded the [[Mississippi River Squadron]] with distinction, organizing and leading the gunboat flotilla in many of the early battles of the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War]]. Even though Foote was an officer in the United States Navy, the Western Flotilla was under the jurisdiction of the Union Army. In early February 1862, now holding the rank of [[flag officer]] (equivalent to the modern [[Commodore (United States)|commodore]]), he cooperated with General [[Ulysses S. Grant]] against [[Battle of Fort Henry|Fort Henry]] on the [[Tennessee River]]. Despite heavy damage to one of the gunboats, Foote was able to quickly subdue the fort. When the Confederate garrison commander, Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, sent out a flag of truce asking the terms of surrender, Foote sent back a blunt reply, “No sir, your surrender will be unconditional!”<ref>{{cite web |title=Ulysses S. Grant: The Myth of 'Unconditional Surrender' Begins at Fort Donelson |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/ulysses-s-grant-myth-unconditional-surrender-begins-fort-donelson?fbclid=IwAR0QrUPv3u9f0XltyehdxlKZZsiRBug9VSguZ0ubinEvFM5ZirFbvJWSy8w |website=American Battlefield Trust |date = 17 April 2009|access-date=17 February 2021}}</ref>

Later in 1862, Foote was promoted to [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral]].<ref name="D" /> In 1863, on his way to take command of the [[South Atlantic Blockading Squadron]], he suddenly died, struck down by [[Bright's disease]]. His untimely death in New York shocked the nation.<ref name="G">[[#hoppin|Hoppin, 1874]], p. 379</ref> He was interred at [[Grove Street Cemetery]] in [[New Haven]].<ref name="H">Crofut's p. 592</ref>

Three ships were named [[USS Foote|USS ''Foote'']] for him. Civil War [[Fort Foote]] on the Potomac,<ref name=F>[[#hoppin|Hoppin, 1874]], p. 209</ref> now a [http://www.nps.gov/fofo/index.htm National Park], was named for him on September 17, 1863.<ref>[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Foote_General_Orders_No._313.jpg General Orders No.313]</ref>