David Farragut actively served in the U.S. Navy for sixty years and earned the status of that country’s best-known nineteenth- century sailor and most influential naval commander in the American Civil War. Farragut captured New Orleans and then assisted ULVSSES SIMPSON GRANT in his victory at Vicksburg that gave the Union force control of the Mississippi and divided the Confederacy. He later planned and led the attack on the important rebel port of Mobile Bay, winning the most famous naval batde of the conflict.
Born into a naval family as James Glasgow Farragut near Knoxville, Tennessee, on July 5, 1801, he was adopted by the family of U.S. Navy captain David Porter when his mother died of yellow fever in 1808. In honor of his adoptive father, Farragut changed his first name to David.
At the age of only eight, Farragut received the warrant of midshipman and went to sea. During the War of 1812 he served aboard the Essex and participated in raids against the British whaling fleet in the Pacific Ocean. At the age of twelve he captained a captured prize back to port in 1813 and a year later was briefly a prisoner of war after the defeat of the Essex by the HMS Phoebe off the coast of Valpariso, Chile, on February 28.
After the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Farragut, in command of the West Gulf Blocking Squadron, received orders to capture New Orleans and block the Mississippi River. In the spring of 1862, Farragut attempted repeatedly, with gunfire, to destroy Fort Jackson, the Confederate stronghold blocking the channel to New Orleans from the Gulf. After failing to neutralize the rebels, Farragut sailed his fleet past the fort under the cover of darkness-and quickly defeated the small Confederate flotilla guarding New Orleans. In coordination with army commander Gen. Benjamin Butler, he captured the city on April 24.
In July the navy promoted Farragut to the newly created rank of rear admiral. Farragut then moved against the shore batteries guarding the approaches to Vicksburg. For the next year he blocked the water approaches to the city and in 1863, in coordination with land commander Grant, lay siege to Vicksburg. The city surrendered on July 4, effectively cutting the Confederate states in two portions. For the remainder of the war, the Union navy exercised full control of the Mississippi River.
With the major inland river secure, Farragut next moved to capture the primary rebel port still receiving war supplies from Eu- irope. Protected by a narrow entrance filled with torpedo-like mines, the shore guns of Fort Moran, and the Confederate iron¬clad Tennessee, Mobile Bay presented a formidable objective. Farragut sailed into the bay with intentions of directing his primary attack against the rebel ironclad, but before he could close on the vessel, one of his ships, the Tecumseh, struck a mine and sank along with most of its crew. The Union attack faltered until Farragut rallied his fleet with the order “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”
Farragut’s gamble that most of the mines would be ineffective because of their long exposure to salt water paid off. No more of his ships exploded torpedoes, and after a brief batde, the Tennessee and the shore defenses surrendered. Farragut had gained a victory at the port of Mobile, received a promotion to admiral, and garnered the praise of the nation.
Following the war, the aging Farragut, despite ill health, commanded a squadron while in his sixties that sailed to Europe to show the flag and receive the congratulations of foreign nations for successfully putting down the rebellion. Shortly after his return, Farragut died, at age sixty-nine, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on August 14, 1870.
Brave, resourceful, and aggressive, Farragut served the United States for more than six decades. His victories at New Orleans and Mobile Bay signification contributed to the successful conclusion of the American Civil War and preserved the Union that would go on to world dominance during the next century. Farragut is the most significant naval figure of the American Civil War and was the country’s most influential and popular navy officer of the nineteenth century until the time of GEORGE DEWEY and his victory at Manila Bay.