Andrew H. (Andrew Hull) Foote

Born in 1806 in Connecticut, Andrew Hull Foote entered the U.S. Navy as a teenager and built a long career before the Civil War made him widely known. Over the years he served around the globe, including anti-slavery patrols off Africa and duty in East Asia, where he took part in operations during the conflict often called the Second Opium War. He also wrote about his experiences, including a book on Africa and the slave trade.

Foote became especially important in the western theater of the Civil War. In 1861 he was given command of the Union gunboat flotilla on the western rivers, and he helped secure major early victories at Fort Henry and Island No. 10. His leadership in coordinated river and army operations made him one of the best-known naval officers of the conflict's opening years.

He was known not only as a fighting officer but also as a man of strong personal principles. Foote supported temperance and was respected for his seriousness of purpose as well as his service record. He died in 1863, before he could take up a new sea command, but his name remained well known in U.S. naval history afterward.