Cushing

by Robert John Schneller

"Dismissed from the U.S. Naval Academy in early 1861, William Barker Cushing nonetheless managed to emerge from the Civil War as one of the Navy's greatest heroes. Transforming himself from a renowned rabble-rouser into a living legend, Cushing embodied the special qualities that the Navy demands of those who undertake its most hazardous and secret tasks: a readiness to volunteer for dangerous assignments, an unflagging devotion to duty, and more than his fair share of good fortune. "Before embarking on his most daring mission - his celebrated destruction of the Confederate ironclad Albemarle - he bragged that he would "come out victorious or 'toes up' ". By the end of the war, he had amassed four commendations from the Navy Department and earned the thanks of Congress and President Lincoln - tremendous accomplishments for a man who was only twenty-two years old when Lee surrendered at Appomattox." "Employing his customary readable style, Schneller focuses on Cushing's meteoric naval c