Litchfield enquirer., 1868-01-30
WHOLE NO. 2278.

ner; and Gen. Halleck wrote his despatch to the War Department, claiming the cred 1t of the campaign on the Tennessee, which he had done what he could to thwart. ma. k1n9 no mention of the presence of the gun-boats at Fort Donelson,. and ascribine the capture of Clarksville to the army un- der General Buel
 The hot stage in Hallecks courage now supervened, coming on, apparently, as reg ulariy as the flush in a tertian ague. He demanded that Foote's shattered and crip- pied gunboats should proceed, without re- pairs against the tremendous batteries of Island No. 10, on the swift downward current of the Mississippi, where in the event of any of them being disabled in her machinery, instead of dropping out of range, she would inevitably be swept down the stream to run the gauntlet of 8 double llne of Notifications and be riddled and destroyed. The loss of these gun-boats would have laid the whole frontier of the Northwest helplessly open to the attacks of rebel gunboats, and transferred the the atre of war from Missouri and Tennessee to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Foote did no moro signal service to his country in all his career, than when he fatly refused to be overruled on naval questions by one to- tally ignorant of naval affairs, and applied to Washington to be sustained. He was sustained and the surrender of Island Mo- 10 to him in person, in bloodless victory with its immense stores and munitions, was the last great military achievement of his life.
 No outward record of his life will ever tell the struggle of his great soul agains the encroachments of disease and the agony of an infamed wound which his activity would not suffer to have time to heal; in
 41>4L L more effectively than rebel guns, or even the telegrams of Gen. Halleck. He chung to his flagship till the day had come and gone, beyond which the surgeons predicted that he would not be alive, if he remained there. Bereavement stabbed him in his loving heart, and his home was darkened by the death of his second son, soon to be followed by the death of two young daugh- ters; but still he would not leave
 At last, we'll nigh exhausted in health, he resigned his command, and after some weeks of rest, accepted the charge of the bureau of equipment and recruiting at Washington but as soon as he had so far or ganlzed the business of that bureau that 1t could be safely committed to other hands, he asked for more active and perilous duty. He was assigned to the command of the South Atlantic Squadron, with the expecta- bIOl OINU UllJ6S 1liuuS WHICH udu SGEuCh UA0 first greatly successful aggressive blow upon the rebellion would take the crown ing glory of the capture of Sumter. This was the expectation of the army and navy and when after his death, the fleet in less active hands lay idle before the bro
 ken walls of Sumter, while our army with
 cred and wasted on the sultry sands of | Morris Island, the army and the navy and the country, remembered the Christian be-
 TO in his grave, and sighed
 1 o, for one hour of Andrew Foote"
 In that command he had expected StQ die
 His friends and physicians entrdRted him to spare his failing strength; buthis fife he
 said was not his own, and he was ready to lay 1t down for his country. But just as
 ture from New York, he was overcome by incurable disease, and lay down in his room at the Astor House to die. This was not the death he looked for. He had expected rather to die in the malaria of the Carolina sea islands, tended by the rough but loving hands of fellow warriors on the sea; or ill the roar and fiery storm of battle
 Where he should die, or how, was Q ques- tion of little moment Yet when he found his time had come, he could not be thank ful for the opportunity of dying among those he had loved most tenderly, and of breathing his last words blessing into the ears of wife and children. Brothers and kindred were at his bedside day and night through the protracted agony. Others too were there in the privilege of friendship strong hearted men the heroes of many Q conflict confessing by their silent tears how much they loved him. Voices that had rung out loud and clear, and were soon to ring again, in the tempest of battle, trembled and broke ill the tenderness of grief beside his death bed. His door was tilronged with callers but he could not see them, 1t was too much effort for him to speak. Brave, gentle, Captain Simpson sat beside watching one day, when brave officer but an ungodly man, that had fought gallantly under the Admiral at Fort Henry, sent in his name at the door, ask ing to speak with him. He thought for 0 moment, and then said: ''Who knows what dying mans word may do? I will see him" The officer came to his bed, leaned over him and Foote spoke to him." I the lips of the witness himself q do not know what he said but saw the mans frame convulsed with emotion, and as he iaid down the hand that he had held he burst nto tears, and left the room weeping like fS SL1tiNl' AAFCA' III GAUEGlu1Uy u0 thought of saving souls He had no fear for his own, having his anchor sure and steadfast. At one time I was doing some- thing for him and he looked at me and said
 'Well, Simpson, and what will you do?" Admiral I will try and follow you" 'He put his arm around my neck, and kissed me. l shall never forget that kiss" His death was like his life. Surrounded by
 busy and by fearful though tranquil friend the hero lifting himself on his arm in an agony of bodily distress; but declaring his
 peaceful trust to be in Christ, it seemed to one who entered and gazed upon the scene as if the Admiral, had received recent orders from the Commander-inC Chief whom he
 had served for forty years His orders
 were to die and remembering the VOW of 1 his conservation. 'In all things l will act
 for God''-he addressed himself to this du- ty as calmly and earnestly as ever he had cleared the decks for action, for he knew
 in whom he had believed. His last intelli- gible words were, 'I thank God for all His goodnesses to me-for all his loving kindness to me; He has been good to me; thank him for all his benefits'