Union Admiral; Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy – 1865-69

Porter received the surrender of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and was indispensable in the siege and subsequent Union victory at Vicksburg.

A Baseball Game at the Naval Academy - “Some of the midshipmen who were playing ball, threw their bats up and knocked it down…”

Letter Signed, 8” x 10”, three pages, with the final few lines, closing, and signature on the fourth page of an imprinted letter-sheet.

As superintendent of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, Admiral Porter sends information to Frederick A. Pike, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Naval Affairs. Discussed at great length is an incident involving the rumored burning in effigy of a Mr. Kelley, quite possibly William “Pig-Iron” Kelley, a prominent U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania. Particularly unusual and interesting is Porter’s mention of a baseball game among the midshipmen at the academy, specifically their attempt to retrieve the presumed effigy from a tree: “Some of the midshipmen who were playing ball, threw their bats up and knocked it down…”

“U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, M[arylan]d.
M[ar]ch: 27 1868.

My Dear Sir:

I have received your bill, for which please accept my thanks. I think you have covered all the ground and it is the best bill I have seen drawn up for a long time, barring that little matter of the marines that I talked to you about. I feel very much mortified that Mr. Kelley should have heard such a falsehood in connection with the midshipmen. Then origin of the report was from a circumstance that occurred here about five weeks ago, which I have reason to believe was disseminated by an Engineer here I suppose to suit their purposes. At the time I mention we had some theatricals here from which there remained some stuffed figures. Three or four midshipmen were skylarking up stairs and chasing each other in their rooms and threw the figure out from the balcony where it lodged in a tree. Some of the midshipmen who were playing ball, threw their bats up at it and knocked it down. Several of them commenced chasing each other around with it, and pulling it to pieces. There were only five midshipmen engaged in the affair. I heard next day, that one of the midshipmen had sung out Mr. Kelley’s name, upon which I immediately sent for these five young gentlemen, who assured me that there was not the slightest intention of being disrespectful to Mr. Kelley, that the lark was not a premeditated one, and that they regretted exceedingly that any act should have been committed that would lead me to suppose that they intended anything disrespectful.

This is about the amount of the whole affair. Had I supposed or discovered that there was any intention of being disrespectful to Mr. Kelley or any one holding the position that he does I would have done my best to have the offenders dismissed from the Academy.

Mr. Kelley is too highly appreciated by officers of the navy to allow of any disrespect towards him. This only goes to show to what mean things a certain class of officers in the Navy will resort to. We have never had anything but trouble with these engineers since they have been connected with the Academy and I hope the time will come when they will no longer have any connection with it. All we want is thre or four good mechanics to teach the midshipmen the practical workings of an engine and the theory of steam can be studied in the Philosophical Department.

[I] hope Mr. Kelley will not attach the slightest importance to the affair I have mentioned. What he has heard is quite untrue.

I remain Yours,
Very truly & Respectfully,

David D. Porter.

Hon[orable]:
F.A. Pike,
U.S. House of Representatives.”