June 26, 1863: Death of Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote

JUNE 26, 1863:  Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote died in New York City of the wound he received while brilliantly leading naval forces on the Western rivers.

The next day the Navy Department announced:  "A gallant and distinguished naval officer is lost to the country.  The hero of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the daring and inimitable spirit that created and led to successive victories the Mississippi Flotilla, the heroic Christian sailor, who in the China Seas and on the coast of Africa, as well as the great interior rivers of our country, sustained with unfaltering fidelity and devotion the honor of our flag and the cause of the Union -- Rear Admiral Andrew Hull Foote -- is no more....

"Appreciating his virtues and his services, a grateful country had rendered him while living its willing honors, and will mourn his death."

--Old B-Runner