Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter
Presenter:
John V. Quarstein
Director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center
About the lecture:
Son of the War of 1812 naval hero Commodore David Dixon Porter, the younger Porter joined the navy at the age of 10. After a brief service with his father in the Mexican Navy, he joined the US Navy in 1829. Porter fought at Vera Cruz during the Mexican War. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Lt. Porter organized a relief expedition to Pensacola, Florida, which disrupted efforts to reinforce Ft. Sumter. He was then placed in command of the Mortar Boat Flotilla supporting his adoptive brother, David Glasgow Farragut’s capture of New Orleans. Porter was promoted to rear admiral and assumed command of the Mississippi Squadron. After the failed Red River Campaign, the admiral was placed in command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and helped to capture Ft. Fisher in Wilmington, NC. After the war he was detailed as superintendent of the US Naval Academy. He was promoted to full admiral in 1870 and tried to modernize the navy before his death in 1891.
Registration Information
Advance registration is required whether you attend the lecture in person or online.
In person
Free for Museum Members.
$1 for guests.
Virtual
This lecture is livestreamed
and free to watch online.
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Image credit: Photograph of David Dixon Porter leaning on a cannon. From The Photographic History of The Civil War in Ten Volumes: Volume Six, The Navies. The Review of Reviews Co., New York. 1911. p. 195. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
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