Andrew H. Foote

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Audrey Walker
Revised by Patrick Kerwin

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2005

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2005

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms005013

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

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Subjects:

Occupation:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Microfilm:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Organization of the Papers

Description of Series

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

The papers of Andrew H. Foote, naval officer, were given to the Library of Congress by Kate N. Foote in 1911 and 1917. Small additions were purchased in 1941 and 1979.

The papers of Andrew H. Foote were processed in 1984. The finding aid was revised in 2003.

A photograph has been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress where it is identified as a part of these papers.

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Andrew H. Foote is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

A microfilm edition of these papers is available on five reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan.

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Andrew H. Foote Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Andrew Hull Foote (1806-1863) span the years 1822-1890, with the bulk of the material dating from 1847 to 1857. The collection consists of correspondence, letterbooks, Foote's manuscript of Africa and the American Flag (1854), journals and logbooks, watch and quarter station books, and miscellaneous items.

The Foote Papers center around two extended cruises in which Foote commanded vessels in United States naval squadrons patrolling the coast of Africa and the seas of China and the East Indies. Between 1849 and 1851, Foote commanded the Perry, a brig of the United States African Squadron, patrolling the western coast of Africa under terms of the 1842 treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade. Letters in the correspondence series and in three letterbooks covering the years 1849-1852 are devoted almost exclusively to this operation. Most of the correspondence is exchanged with Francis H. Gregory, commander of the United States naval forces on the coast of Africa, secretaries of the navy William Ballard Preston and William A. Graham, and George F. Hastings, senior officer of the southern division of the British Squadron. The letters indicate international issues raised by the detention of ships flying the American flag by British vessels and reveal the role of the commanders in resolving some of the incidents. Correspondence between Foote and his superiors relates to sailing orders and reports of ships boarded, captured, or under litigation in British admiralty courts. It also contains descriptions of ports visited, comments on conditions aboard ship, and an assessment by Foote of the effect of the patrols on the suppression of the slave trade. Among the ships most frequently discussed in the correspondence are the Navarro, the Volusia, and the Louisa Breton, all captured by the British, and the Martha and the Chatsworth, captured by the Perry. Foote's correspondence also includes copies of material retrieved from the writing desk of Henry Merrill, captain of the Martha, which Merrill had thrown overboard.

Correspondence relating to the cruise of the Perry is supplemented by the ship's logbooks and Foote's private journal covering the period 1849-1851. The journal contains references to Foote's health and state of mind, comments on his personal life, including his emphasis on religion, and descriptions of the pursuit of ships and other events mentioned in his letters and logbooks. At the top of many of the pages of the journal are subject annotations in an unidentified handwriting. A gap exists in the journal for the period 2 October-9 December 1850, and Foote later used pages at the end of this journal for drafts of letters and reports in 1856 during the cruise of the U.S. sloop-of-war Portsmouth.

Foote's papers also document his tour of duty as commander of the Portsmouth during a three-year cruise, 1856-1858, as part of the United States East India and China Seas Squadron. Material relating to the cruise is found in the correspondence series, in a letterbook for 1856-1858, and in a journal and logbook of the Portsmouth. Correspondence was primarily with James Armstrong, commander of the squadron, and James C. Dobbin, secretary of the navy. Most of the letters between October 1856 and early 1857 relate to the capture of the four forts below Canton, known as the barrier forts, which Foote destroyed in retaliation for attacks on the American flag. Other letters describe the effect of the conflict between Great Britain and China on the lives of Americans living in China or engaged in commerce in the Far East. Correspondence also reflects the growing interest of the United States in developing trade in the Far East, particularly with Japan which opened only the ports of Simoda and Hakodadi (now Hakodate) to Americans. Several letters written in the spring of 1857 concern the Henrietta Maria, abandoned by her officers and men and claimed as salvage by men from the Portsmouth.

Many of the letters in the correspondence series are copies, some of which appear to have been part of a letterbook or other paginated units. At some point the paginated sequence of this part of the Foote Papers was partially destroyed and has not been reconstructed here. Rather, these letters are now arranged in chronological order as far as possible.

Papers reflecting other phases of Foote's career are less numerous than those for the two cruises. A letterbook, more properly a journal of his cruise aboard the U.S. frigate John Adams, is primarily devoted to an explanation and justification of the part Foote and other officers played in an incident involving religious dissension between American Protestant missionaries and local Roman Catholics on the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in the fall of 1839. The journal contains copies of letters written to various individuals which were subsequently published in newspapers, thereby disclosing the circumstances of the affair to the public. In a December 18, 1839, entry, Foote compared the activities of the Roman Catholics and missionaries on the island of Tahiti with those occurring on the Sandwich Islands. The last pages of the journal contain entries reflecting on life and religion which he made on the day he set aside for fasting, usually monthly, during the year 1840. These entries generally conclude with a prayer. Documents relating to Foote's years at the United States Naval Asylum are limited to correspondence in the letterbook for 1842-1846. There are also only a few items from his service as commander of naval operations on the upper Mississippi River during the Civil War. One of these is a report written February 15, 1862, describing an attack on Fort Donelson.

The remaining volumes consist of a journal of Madison Rush, who was later a lieutenant aboard the Perry with Foote, covering his cruise as acting master of the Columbus (ship-of-the-line) on a trip from New York to China and South America, 1845-1847; a table of observations of wind and weather made aboard the Vandalia (frigate), 1857-1860; watch and quarter station books for the Portsmouth, the Cumberland, and the Delaware; a book of rules and regulations for the John Adams; and an autograph album of Augustus Foote, mainly covering the years 1863-1866.

Correspondents in the Foote Papers include James Armstrong, Thomas Biddle, Edward A. Blundell, James C. Dobbin, Samuel Francis Du Pont, William A. Graham, Francis H. Gregory, George F. Hastings, Duncan N. Ingraham, John Lenthall, William L. Marcy, Levin M. Powell, William Ballard Preston, George C. Read, Joseph J. Roberts, Joseph Smith, Isaac Toucey, John Tudor, and Daniel Webster.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in five series:

• Correspondence, 1838-1863
• Writings, 1854
• Letterbooks, 1839-1858
• Ships' Papers, 1835-1860
• Miscellany, 1822-1890

Description of Series

Container List