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Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter (USN)

David Dixon Porter was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on 8 June 1813.  His family had strong naval traditions; his grandfather David and great-uncle Samuel had been captains of Massachusetts vessels during the American Revolutionary War; his father David and his uncle John served with distinction in the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812.  His father achieved the rank of commodore.

Porter had nine siblings, five brothers.  His youngest brother died aged ten, but the surviving five boys all became U.S. military officers, four in the Navy: William, David, Hambleton, and Henry in the Navy and Theodoric in the Army where he was was killed at Matamoros during the Mexican-American War.  David’s cousin Fitz John Porter became a major general during the Civil War.  Another cousin, Bolton Porter, was lost with his ship USS Levant in 1861.  Another cousin, David Henry Porter, became a captain in the Mexican Navy during its fight for independence.

Before David Dixon was born, his parents adopted James Glasgow Farragut, whose mother had died in 1808 and whose father George, fellow naval officer and friend of David Sr., was unable to care for all his children.  In 1811, James, aged 10, started serving as a midshipman under Porter and changed his name to David as well.  David G. Farragut would serve with distinction during the Civil War and become the first man to attain the new rank of admiral in the U.S. Navy.

In 1824, Porter’s father resigned from the U.S. Navy and became the commander of Mexico’s navy.  He took with him into Mexican service his nephew David Henry and his sons David Dixon and Thomas.  On 10 February 1828, David Dixon and his cousin Captain David Henry Porter were involved in a fight against a Spanish frigate Lealtad.  Captain Porter was killed with many of his crew and midshipman David Dixon was wounded and imprisoned in Havana.  Once exchanged, his father sent Dixon back to the United States.

In 1829, Porter officially joined the U.S. Navy as a midshipman and slowly climbed the ranks serving in the Coast Survey and the Hydrographic Office.  In 1846, he was dispatched by Secretary of State James Buchanan to investigate the suitability of the Republic of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) for U.S. naval operations.  When he reestablished communications and delivered the information the State Department wanted, he found that the U.S. had gone to war with Mexico.

Mexico having very little naval power, the war presented few opportunities for distinction for a naval officer.  On 13 June 1847, Commodore Matthew C. Perry mounted an expedition to capture the interior town of Tabasco.  Porter led a charge to capture the fort defending the city and was rewarded with the captaincy of the Spitfire.

At the break of the Civil War, he was part of a plan to hold Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Florida.  This plan’s execution disrupted efforts to relieve the garrison at Fort Sumter, however.  In April 1862, Porter commanded a semi-autonomous part of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, commanded by his adoptive brother Captain David G. Farragut, bombarding with twenty mortar boats Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip south of New Orleans.  The bombardment was ineffective, and Farragut chose to run past the forts.  Successfully bypassing the forts, Farragut demanded the surrender of New Orleans on 29 April.  When Porter began to bombard Fort Jackson again, its garrison mutinied and forced its surrender and Fort St. Philip followed suit on 28 April.

Farragut and Porter continued up the Mississippi River to Vicksburg.  Porter’s mortars suppressed Rebel artillery while Farragut’s ships linked up with a flotilla coming down from the north.  However, without army support, the Vicksburg could not be taken.  In July, Porter and Farragut were ordered east to assist in Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign.

In October, Porter returned to Cairo, Illinois to take command, as an “acting” rear admiral having skipped the captain and commodore ranks, the Mississippi River Squadron.  Porter met the Army generals he would work closely with to open the Mississippi and capture Vicksburg.  He became fast friends with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, disliked Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand, and developed a professional friendship with Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

On 16 April 1863, Porter moved the bulk of his fleet south past the batteries at Vicksburg.  On 22 April, another run provided Grant with the transport he needed to cross his army from the west bank of the Mississippi to the east south of Vicksburg.  Grant initially attempted to attack through Grand Gulf, but Porter could only silence one of the two forts guarding it.  His fleet played a secondary role throughout the rest of the campaign, blockading Vicksburg and controlling the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers.  On 4 July, Vicksburg fell, and Porter was made a permanent rear admiral.

In March 1864, Porter participated in Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks’ Red River Expedition.  Cooperation between Banks and Porter was lacking and Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor was able to keep them separated.  Banks gave up on the expedition and Porter had the difficult task of extricating his fleet.

In late 1864 into early 1865, Porter took command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron to assist in the attack on Fort Fisher protecting Wilmington, North Carolina, the only Confederate port still open.  Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler proposed flattening the fort by exploding a ship filled with gunpowder near it.  Porter agreed and the USS Louisiana was packed with powder and blown up on 24 December 1864 with little effect on the fort.  Butler gave up on the planned assault.

Porter went to Grant and demanded Butler be removed.  Grant agreed and placed Maj. Gen. Alfred H. Terry in charge of a second assault on the fort.  The second assault began on 13 January and by the 15th the fort was vanquished.

Porter accompanied President Lincoln on a tour of the capture Confederate capital of Richmond in April 1865.  Only days later, Lincoln was assassinated, and Porter was greatly upset by the news even feeling some responsibility for his death by not being with him that night.

Following the war, the U.S. Navy was downsized, and Porter was left with little to command.  Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles appointed him Superintendent of the Naval Academy.  Porter set about making the underfunded academy the rival of the Military Academy at West Point.

Porter gained a high level of influence under Grant’s Secretary of the Navy Adolph E. Borie, a businessman with no knowledge of the navy, and began to shape the navy as he wanted it.  He made several enemies and after three months, Borie resigned, and the new navy secretary, George Robeson, curtailed Porter’s powers.

Porter was the second ever U.S. Navy admiral, elevated to that rank after his adopted brother David G. Farragut’s death in 1870.  He was allowed to remain on active duty after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 62 in 1875.  He died at the age of 77 on 13 February 1891, having served on active duty in the U.S. Navy for 62 years.

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Colonel William Root Brewster (USV) – 73rd New York Infantry Regiment

William Root Brewster was born on 27 July 1828 in Goshen, Connecticut.

When the Civil War broke out, Brewster was commissioned major of the 28th New York State Militia.  His unit did not see action at the First Battle of Bull Run.

Returning to New York, he helped recruit elements of the Excelsior Brigade under Daniel Sickles, becoming the colonel of the 73rd New York Infantry on 13 September 1861.  The recruits were mostly from the fire departments of New York and Brooklyn (on Brewster’s chest is a N.Y.F.D. 29th Company badge).

Brewster and his regiment participated in McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign of 1862.  At some point during the campaign, Brewster was captured by the South.  However, he was exchanged in August and led his regiment at the Battle of Fredericksburg.  He missed the Battle of Chancellorsville due to illness and upon returning to the Army of the Potomac, Brewster found himself in commander of the Excelsior Brigade in Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Humphrey’s division of Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles’ III Corps.

On the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, Sickles advanced his corps out of line with the rest of the Army of the Potomac along Cemetery Ridge to the Peach Orchard.  Brewster’s brigade was out flanked by Confederate Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws’ division; Brewster had a horse shot from under him and his brigade lost 778 of the 1,837 men engaged in the day’s fight.

Falling ill again, Brewster made his way back to the front during the Mine Run Campaign in the autumn, reportedly inspiring his men by rising from his “sick bed” to the lead the Excelsiors during the campaign.  He retained command of the Excelsiors during Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign of 1864.  The brigade was part of Brig. Gen. Gershom Mott’s Fourth Division, II Corps during the Battle of the Wilderness.  Remnants of the division were folded into Maj. Gen. David B. Birney’s third division before the Battle of Spotsylvania becoming the Fourth Brigade.  Brewster led these men at the Battle of Cold Harbor and in the initial operations of the Siege of Petersburg until 13 May 1864.

The Excelsior Brigade was abolished and the remnants moved to the First Brigade, Third Division, II Corps.  Brewster became senior colonel when Brig. Gen. Régis de Trobriand took command of the brigade.  On 24 October 1864, Brewster and the 73rd New York mustered out of service near Petersburg, Virginia, and returned to New York.  He was given the brevet rank of brigadier general on 2 December.

Brewster returned to civilian life in Brooklyn and was active in early reunions of the 73rd New York.  He died only five years later at the age of 41 on 13 December 1869.