'ATLANTA' USED PORTRAIT OF: David Dixon Porter directed the Union’s Mississippi Squadron and was instrumental in the siege at Vicksburg, which broke Confederate control of the river. In this Alexander Gardner photograph, he poses aboard his ship, the Malvern.
I can’t recall what grade I was in when we learned about this, but it’s something that has stuck with me for about 60 years. At that time, it seemed to be the worst thing that possibly happen to a person.
ERROR
The Atlantic Magazine not Atlanta used portrait as illustration for ‘The man without a country’
** This portrait used by ‘The Atlantic Magazine’ for illustration is Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter. He came from a naval family and became a midshipman in 1829, serving in a variety of theaters, including the Mediterranean. Service in the peacetime military was slow, boring, and devoid of opportunities to make one’s mark.
Porter did well in the Mexican American War, obtaining a bigger command and a promotion, but afterward military service resumed its slow pace. Galvanized by the outbreak of the Civil War, Porter devised a plan to resupply the federal forts in Florida and then spearheaded the naval assault on New Orleans.
He was also singularly successful in the combined operation—commanded by Ulysses Grant on land—to take Vicksburg. Thereafter, Porter had few opportunities to shine, and combined Union navy-army operations off North Carolina were not distinguished.
Porter saw out the end of the war on his flagship anchored in the James River, as photographer Gardner pictured him here.
Found that book on the shelves when I was about 10 - story always fascinated me.
Ping
Breathes there a man with heart so cold that he may read this without a tear in his eye? For that man is surely dead.
Never heard this story...sounds interesting.Gotta check it out when I have time.