Andrew Hull Foote

Andrew Hull Foote , 1806-63, American naval officer, b. New Haven, Conn.; son of Samuel Augustus Foot. He became a midshipman in 1822. As executive officer of the Cumberland (1843-45), Foote made her the first temperance ship of the navy. He was largely responsible for ending the alcohol ration in the navy in 1862. From 1849 to 1851 he was active against the slave trade on the African coast and later wrote Africa and the American Problem (1854). In 1856, while commanding the Portsmouth at Guangzhou, China, he led a small naval force that captured the four barrier forts in reprisal for acts against the American flag. In the Civil War, Foote was given (1861) command of Union naval operations on the upper Mississippi River. His flotilla of gunboats cooperated brilliantly with the army in the victories at Fort Henry , Fort Donelson , and Island No. 10 . He was promoted to rear admiral for his work, but wounds received at Fort Donelson forced him to retire from combat service.

Bibliography: See biography by J. M. Hoppin (1874).

Foote, Andrew Hull (1806–63) naval officer, born in New Haven, Connecticut. During the Civil War Foote commanded operations in the capture of Fort Henry (1862) but his gunboats were forced to withdraw at Fort Donelson (1862). Foote saw no further action in the conflict because of ill health. He died en route to an appointment as commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Foote is remembered primarily because of his reform efforts in applying his religious and moral principles to his commands. As a first lieutenant (1843–45) aboard the Cumberland, flagship of the Mediterranean squadron, he conducted shipboard prayer meetings and organized a temperance society, launching the movement that culminated in the elimination of the grog ration in 1862. As executive officer of the Brooklyn Navy Yard (1858–61), Foote instituted regular religious instruction for the yard's workers.