foot, 1806–63, American naval officer, b. New Haven, Conn.; son of Samuel Augustus Foot. He became a midshipman in 1822. As executive officer of the Cumberland (1843–45), Foote made her the first temperance ship of the navy. He was largely responsible for ending the alcohol ration in the navy in 1862. From 1849 to 1851 he was active against the slave trade on the African coast and later wrote Africa and the American Problem (1854). In 1856, while commanding the Portsmouth at Guangzhou, China, he led a small naval force that captured the four barrier forts in reprisal for acts against the American flag. In the Civil War, Foote was given (1861) command of Union naval operations on the upper Mississippi River. His flotilla of gunboats cooperated brilliantly with the army in the victories at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Island No. 10. He was promoted to rear admiral for his work, but wounds received at Fort Donelson forced him to retire from combat service.

See biography by J. M. Hoppin (1874).

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