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Admiral David Dixon Porter Discusses Testimony Before Congressional Committee Investigating Secretary of the Navy
Admiral David Dixon Porter Discusses Testimony Before Congressional Committee Investigating Secretary of the Navy
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Description:

David Dixon Porter
Washington, DC, April 15, 1872
Admiral David Dixon Porter Discusses Testimony Before Congressional Committee Investigating Secretary of the Navy
ALS
DAVID DIXON PORTER, Autograph Letter Initialed, to Stephen Decatur, April 15, 1872, Washington, D.C. 5 pp., 5" x 8". Expected folds; some toning and staining.

"It didn't please Robeson although it ought to have done so for though I told the truth I didn't tell all the truth because they did not question me far enough."

In this letter to his friend Commodore Stephen Decatur, Admiral David Dixon Porter discusses the Congressional investigation of Secretary of the Navy George Robeson. Some newspapers suggested that Robeson had been enriched by "gifts" from shipbuilding contractors and other suppliers of the Navy. One concluded, "Robeson, who was a poor man when practicing law in New Jersey, is likely to be a very rich man before he quits his lucrative office in Washington." Porter testified before the committee on the evening of April 3. The committee concluded their investigation in May and reported to the House of Representatives on May 22. The majority found no fraudulent act or design on the part of the secretary. A minority report acquitted Robeson of personal corruption but said that the administration of the Navy Department "is anything but creditable to the country" because of improper payments and other illegal actions.

In 1876 and again in 1878, Robeson was the subject of Congressional investigations of allegations of profiting and bribery regarding shipbuilding contracts but was exonerated for lack of material evidence.

Excerpt
"I am glad you like my letter but I do not wish it published. It is doing its work now in Congress and I dislike public notoriety.
"I wrote it from principle as I thought it my duty to lay before Congress the truth which other people were either afraid or hadn't the sense to tell.
"As to the head of the Department his ambition seems to be to reduce the personnel, morale and everything else connected with the service.
"At the very time I am introducing this letter and doing all in my power to get the pay of retired officers increased. There are about a dozen of these old fellows who are working on their own hook for their own particular benefit.
"Such men as Joe Smith and others of that ilk, who have not any idea beyond their own interests and never had. I long for the time when these old fellows will be swept off and the young may come forward.
"I suppose you see all the Robeson matter published in the papers. I am glad you thought my evidence ‘skillful.' I intended it to be so.
"I believe it satisfied all parties, at least no body could find fault with it. Even ‘Dirty Dana' of the ‘Sun' remarked in his paper that ‘no one could fail to be struck with the manly and truthful evidence given by Admiral Porter.' It didn't please Robeson although it ought to have done so for though I told the truth I didn't tell all the truth because they did not question me far enough.
"The evidence generally is of a namby-pamby kind but on the whole damaging. The committee I understand is going through the whole Navy Department.
"This $93000 which they linger over and which is a plain case of violation of law, is nothing compared to what is behind, all of which will I suppose be brought out by Archer and Blair of the Committee. Robeson's friends came to see me before I was called up and begged me not to take sides against him. He also called to see me himself once or twice and all I could advise him was not to ask me any questions, which advice he very foolishly neglected. Notwithstanding I was as reticent as I could be he couldn't help showing his treacherous nature and tried to show that I was a partner in his irregularities. All of which it won't do to commit to paper and I will tell you when I see you. I don't know that I am wise in writing this much as it is hard to tell how many of my letters are read before they go on their way."

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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  • Dimensions: 5" x 8"
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