The daring conduct of this officer brought a tribute from one of our poets, which contains the stanzas: "Who has not heard of the dauntless _Varuna_? Who shall not hear of the deeds she has done? Who shall not hear while the brown Mississippi Rushes along from the snow to the sun? "Five of the rebels like satellites round her, Burned in her orbit of splendor and fear, One like the Pleiad of mystical story Shot terror-stricken beyond her dread sphere." When Boggs' native city heard of his gallant conduct it voted him a sword, and the State of New Jersey did the same. He came North and was appointed to the command of the blockading squadron off Wilmington. He would have preferred active service, and finally his health broke down under the exposure and fatigue to which he was subjected, and he was compelled to return home to recruit. Upon his recovery, he was appointed to duty in New York, but the war ended without his having another opportunity to distinguish himself in the service of his country. He died a few years after the close of hostilities. CHAPTER XXVI. John Ancrum Winslow--His Early Life and Training--The Famous Battle Between the _Kearsarge_ and _Alabama_. A few weeks ago I had as guests at my house two young men who were graduates of the West Point Military Academy in 1889. One was my son, at present an instructor in the Academy, and the other was E. Eveleth Winslow, of the corps of engineers, who had the honor of being graduated at the head of his class. During the course of the conversation I asked Captain Winslow whether he was a relative of the late Commodore John Ancrum Winslow, commander of the _Kearsarge_ in her famous fight with the _Alabama_. "He was my grandfather," replied my friend, with a glow of pride. It was a pleasant bit of information, but it made me realize how the years are passing. It seems but a short time ago that the country was electrified by the news of the great battle, off Cherbourg, France, which sent to the bottom of the ocean the most destructive cruiser the Southern Confederacy ever launched. And here was the grandson of the hero of that fight, already thirty years of age, with the hair on his crown growing scant. _Tempus fugit_ indeed.