Description:

David Dixon Porter
Washington, DC, May 20, 1874
Admiral David Dixon Porter Discusses Nellie Grant's Wedding & Court of Inquiry Regarding Rear Admiral
ALS
DAVID DIXON PORTER, Autograph Letter Initialed, to Stephen Decatur, May 20, 1874, Washington, D.C. 4 pp., 5" x 8". Expected folds; some toning and staining.

"I think the best thing our girls can do is to marry all the Southern fellows and reconstruct them."

In this letter to his friend Commodore Stephen Decatur, Admiral David Dixon Porter discusses going to President Ulysses S. Grant's daughter's wedding, Decatur's new "reb" son-in-law in Norfolk, and an upcoming court of inquiry for Rear Admiral James H. Strong.

Ellen Wrenshall "Nellie" Grant (1855-1922) was the only daughter of President Ulysses S. Grant and her lavish May 21, 1874, wedding to Algernon Sartoris (1851-1893) made her one of the few women who married at the White House. After having four children together, the couple became estranged and divorced in 1889.

Maria Susanna Decatur (1853-1897) was the grandniece of the famous Commodore Stephen Decatur and the daughter of his nephew and namesake. In 1874, she married Captain Wyndham Robertson Mayo (1844-1926), who was a midshipman in the Naval Academy in 1860 and served in the Confederate States Navy throughout the Civil War. They had three children between 1875 and 1882. Captain Mayo served as mayor of Norfolk, Virginia, from 1896 to 1898 and again from 1912 to 1918.

Rear Admiral James H. Strong (1814-1882) had been in command of the South Atlantic Squadron since September 1873.

Excerpts
"Tomorrow I go to Nellie Grant's wedding so you see I am not dead yet. I am rather weak in the legs and not so stout as I have been but that is accounted for because I am still living on nothing but milk. The chances are if I take care of myself, I shall be better than I have been for ten years. Essex [son David Essex Porter] is at Norfolk and writes us good accounts of Maria [Decatur's daughter Maria Susanna Decatur] & what a handsome couple she and her husband make. Maria is the most popular woman in Norfolk having married a ‘reb.' I think the best thing our girls can do is to marry all the Southern fellows and reconstruct them."

"All the fellows who have been tried by court martial and found guilty are still hanging by the eyelids. They are holding a court of Inquiry upon old Strong.... Meanwhile he is ordered home and by the time he leaves Brazil the court will have started from here to go to Brazil. So in both cases the investigation will take place without Strong's having a chance to be present and defend himself. This is the way things are done in the Navy. Not that old Strong could make a good case because he has been guilty of great and unauthorized extravagances. Strong has no friends at court so it may go hard with him."

David Dixon Porter (1813-1891) was born in Pennsylvania and began naval service at the age of ten as a midshipman on a ship commanded by his father, Commodore David Porter (1780-1843). He served in the Mexican Navy from 1824 to 1828, when his father was its overall commander. The younger Porter obtained a new appointment as midshipman in the US Navy in 1829, was promoted to lieutenant in 1841, and served in the Mexican War. After the war, he took a leave of absence to command civilian ships. When the Civil War began, Porter returned to active duty. He was promoted to commander and given charge of a flotilla of twenty mortar boats to be used against the forts guarding the entrance of the Mississippi River below New Orleans. They would be a part of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron commanded by Porter's adoptive brother Captain David G. Farragut (1801-1870). In mid-1862, Porter was ordered to Hampton Roads to aid General George B. McClellan in his Peninsula Campaign. By October, he was back on the Mississippi River, now as Acting Rear Admiral in charge of the Mississippi River Squadron. He quickly became friends with General William T. Sherman and later with General Ulysses S. Grant and played a key role in the siege of Vicksburg. Late in the summer of 1864, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles transferred Porter to command the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and tasked him with closing the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, the last major port open to blockade runners. Cooperating with General Alfred H. Terry, Porter's fleet successfully captured Fort Fisher, the Confederate fort protecting Wilmington, in January 1865. Porter toured the captured Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, with President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865. After the war, Porter served as superintendent of the US Naval Academy from 1865 to 1869, where he initiated reforms in the curriculum to increase professionalism. In 1866, he was promoted to vice admiral, and in 1870, he became the second full admiral in US history, behind his adoptive brother Farragut. He served as de facto Secretary of the Navy in the early days of the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, but his administration led some Congressional leaders to force Secretary of the Navy Adolph E. Borie to resign after only a few months on the job. The new Secretary of the Navy George Robeson curtailed Porter's authority and eased him into semi-retirement.

Stephen Decatur (1814-1876) was born in Newark, New Jersey, a nephew and namesake of the famous Commodore Stephen Decatur (1779-1820). The younger Decatur was appointed a midshipman in 1829 and commissioned a lieutenant in 1841. In 1848, he married Anna Rowell Philbrick (1821-1906), and they had six children. After taking a leave of absence in 1842 because of eye problems, he returned to naval duty in 1851 with service in the East Indies and New York. At the beginning of the Civil War, he was promoted to commander, the rank he held throughout the war. He was promoted to captain in 1867 and to commodore on the retired list in 1869.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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