David Dixon Porter (1813–1891)

Serving in the U.S. Navy for more than sixty years, David Dixon Porter commanded the Union flotilla that assaulted Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post and exercised overall command of all of the Federal gunboats that plied the rivers of Arkansas during the Civil War.

Born in Pennsylvania on June 8, 1813, to David Porter and Evalina Anderson Porter, David Dixon Porter was part of a family steeped in both military life and public service. His father served for decades in the U.S. Navy and died while serving as the minister to the Ottoman Empire. His mother’s father served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Porter first served in the Mexican navy under his father’s command. His father resigned his commission in the U.S. Navy in 1826 and then commanded the Mexican navy for three years. Porter saw action against the Spanish navy in Cuba and spent six months as a prisoner of war. Returning to the United States, he obtained an appointment as a midshipman on February 2, 1829.

Porter married George Ann Patterson in 1839, and the couple had six children. George Ann Porter was the daughter of Commodore Daniel Patterson, who commanded the American fleet at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.

Porter served in the Mexican War and received command of the USS Spitfire after his performance during the capture of Vera Cruz and Tabasco. Unhappy with his failure to advance and the lack of steam-powered ships in the navy after the war, he considered resigning but remained in the navy after receiving command of the USS Petrel. He later commanded civilian mail steamers in the 1850s while still holding his naval commission. In 1855, he took command of the USS Supply and transported camels from Turkey to the United States for experiments with the army. He declined another position captaining a civilian mail vessel just before the Civil War broke out.

At the beginning of the war, Porter received a promotion to commander and joined his adoptive brother Captain David D. Farragut at the mouth of the Mississippi River in early 1862. Porter commanded a fleet of mortar boats that forced the surrender of Forts Jackson and St. Philip below New Orleans, while Farragut captured the city.

This success led to his appointment as commander of the Mississippi River Squadron in late 1862 and temporary promotion to the rank of rear admiral, passing over many more-experienced officers. He took command of the squadron in Cairo, Illinois, in October 1862.

Porter’s role as the commander of naval forces on the Mississippi River led to his involvement with the capture of Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post in early 1863. Designed to neutralize the Confederate forces on the southern portion of the Arkansas River and prevent their interference with the Vicksburg Campaign, it followed a failed effort to capture Vicksburg by attacking the city from the rear. That expedition led to the loss of the USS Cairo, an ironclad vessel.

The Fort Hindman Expedition was commanded by Major General John McClernand, and Porter agreed to support the attack in response to the capture of a Union supply steamer by Confederates operating out of Arkansas Post. The Union fleet included the ironclads Baron De Kalb, Louisville, and Cincinnati, along with various support vessels and transports loaded with troops. Porter led the fleet through a cut-off channel of the White River to approach the fort without the Confederates discerning the movement.

Porter’s ships engaged the Confederate forces under the command of Brigadier General Thomas James Churchill, on January 10, 1863, testing the range and accuracy of the enemy guns. With the Federal land forces bogged down in swamps, the assault on the fort was postponed until the following day. On January 11, the fleet opened fire on the fort, and for several hours, the two sides exchanged shots. The fire from Porter’s gunboats effectively neutralized all of the main guns inside the fort, and only one ship sustained moderate damage, with total naval losses counted at six killed and twenty-five wounded. Colonel John Dunnington, commander of the guns in the fort, credited the naval bombardment with forcing the Confederate surrender.

During the Vicksburg Campaign, Porter worked closely with Major General Ulysses Grant. The men successfully moved the Union army around the city and allowed Grant to lay siege to the city. The close working relationship proved to be important to the success of the campaign.

In the spring of 1864, Porter led a fleet up the Red River in support of Major General Nathaniel Banks’s quest to capture Shreveport, Louisiana, and enter eastern Texas. Defeat of the Federal army and falling river levels almost led to the capture of the fleet, but Porter successfully saved the boats. In the closing months of the war, Porter led naval forces against Fort Fisher, North Carolina, closing one of the last open access points to the sea for the Confederates.

After the war, Porter served as the superintendent of the United States Naval Academy and is credited with improving the training received by the midshipmen there. He received promotion to the rank of vice-admiral in 1866 and upon the death of Farragut, promotion to admiral in 1870. This made him only the second person in the U.S. Navy to hold that rank.

He died on February 18, 1891, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. George Ann Porter died two years later and is buried nearby. Porter’s grandson, Major General David Dixon Porter II, served in the U.S. Marine Corps and received the Medal of Honor for actions in the Philippine-American War.

For additional information:
Hearn, Chester. Admiral David Dixon Porter. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996.

Milligan, John. Gunboats Down the Mississippi. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1965.

Soley, James Russell. Admiral Porter. Great Commanders Series. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1903. Online at https://civilwarnavy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Soley-_Admiral-Porter.pdf (accessed July 31, 2024).

West, Richard. The Second Admiral: A Life of David Dixon Porter, 1813–1891. New York: Coward-McCann, 1937.

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University