It was a desperate fight and none displayed more heroism than the young officer who had destroyed the _Albemarle_.
Hon.

J.T.Headley, the biographer of Cushing, in an article written immediately after the close of the Civil War, used these words: "Still a young man, he has a bright future before him, and if he lives will doubtless reach the highest rank in the navy.

Bold, daring and self-collected under the most trying circumstances--equal to any emergency--never unbalanced by an unexpected contingency, he possesses those great qualities always found in a successful commander.

No man in our navy, at his age, has ever won so brilliant a reputation, and it will be his own fault if it is not increased until he has no superior." And yet Commander Cushing's reputation was not increased nor was it through any fault of his own.

It was not long after the war that his friends were pained to observe unmistakable signs of mental unsoundness in the young hero.