David Dixon Porter, born in 1813 into a naval family, grew up alongside his adoptive brother David Farragut. When his father, Commodore David Porter, left the U.S. Navy to command Mexico’s navy, young David followed, survived yellow fever, and at 14 fought Spanish ships off Cuba, where his cousin was killed and he was held prisoner in Havana. Back in the U.S. Navy his arrogance nearly got him dismissed, but his family name and real skill kept him in.

Porter surveyed a Dominican bay on a secret State Department mission in 1846, mapped a channel by rowboat under the guns of Veracruz and ignored Matthew Perry’s signal to withdraw, and shipped camels from the Middle East to Texas for Jefferson Davis. In 1861 he took the USS Powhatan to Fort Pickens on William Seward’s orders without telling Gideon Welles, leaving the Fort Sumter relief mission without it. He later led mortar boats at New Orleans, ran the Vicksburg batteries for Grant, helped take Fort Fisher, and walked through Richmond with Lincoln.

• Welles promoted him from commander to acting rear admiral, skipping two ranks, despite calling him a gas bag in his diary.
• His mortar schooners were disguised with tree branches and lobbed heavy shells over fort walls.
• The Red River Expedition with Nathaniel Banks nearly stranded his fleet in falling water.
• A ship packed with gunpowder failed to damage Fort Fisher, and Porter pushed Grant to replace Benjamin Butler.
• He felt lifelong guilt over Lincoln’s assassination and later modernized the Naval Academy at Annapolis.