David Dixon Porter

David Dixon Porter (1813-1891), American naval officer, born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He was the son of the American naval officer David Porter, who won fame during the War of 1812 as commander of the ship Essex. In his youth Porter served under his father, who held the successive posts of commander in chief of the West India Squadron and commander in chief of the Mexican navy. Beginning his naval career as a midshipman in 1829, Porter rose to the rank of commander by 1861. In 1862, during the American Civil War, he was placed in command of the mortar flotilla of the Union forces, joined the fleet of his adopted brother Captain David Glasgow Farragut, and bombarded the New Orleans forts held by the Confederates. In command of the Mississippi squadron, he helped to bring about the fall of Vicksburg in 1863. Porter served as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy from 1865 to 1869. He became a vice admiral in 1866 and an admiral in 1870.