Walke
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
HENRY, an American naval officer; born near Portsmouth, Va., Dec. 24, 1808; was appointed to the navy in February, 1827; and took part in the Mexican War as executive officer on the brig "Vesuvius," where he engaged in the capture of Vera Cruz and in the cations against Tabasco, Túxpan, and Alvarado. Immediately prior to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he took measures which prevented the occupation of Fort Pickens by the Confederates. He served with distinction throughout the war; commanded the squadron that co-operated with Grant at the battle of Belmont and covered the retreat of the National army; participated in the battle of Fort Henry, for which he received the thanks of the Secretary of War, of Congress, and of the State of Ohio; opened the battle of Fort Donelson and was the last to retire from the front line of battle; took part in the bombardment of Island No. 10, when he voluntarily ran the gantlet of the Confederate batteries and captured the batteries below the island; and commanded the second division of the fleet at the battle of Grand Gulf, silencing the main fort on Point of Rocks. Subsequently he dispersed the Confederates under General Taylor at Simmsport, La.; blockaded the mouth of Red river; commanded the "Sacramento" in search of the "Alabama"; blockaded the "Rappahannock" at Calais, France, till the close of the war; and intercepted her when she escaped to British waters under the British flag. On April 26, 1871, he was retired at his own request to hasten the promotion of junior officers. He died in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 8, 1896.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Nothing in Collier's 1921 account of Henry Walke's career has been overturned; the naval record it lists, from Vera Cruz to the blockade of the Rappahannock at Calais, is still the record modern historians give. Two things have shifted. Most reference works now put his birth in 1809 rather than 1808, and modern accounts make far more of two things Collier's omits: that the ship in which he ran the Confederate batteries at Island No. 10 in April 1862 was the ironclad Carondelet, and that Walke was an accomplished marine artist whose sketches of the river war were widely lithographed and remain a primary visual source for those actions. Readers can now see a vessel almost identical to his: the City-class ironclad Cairo, sunk in the Yazoo in 1862, was raised in 1964 and is displayed at Vicksburg National Military Park.
Written for this edition, 2026.