The great turning point which placed Farragut at the head of the
American navy was reached in 1861, when Virginia seceded from the
Union, and he had to choose between the cause of the North and that of
the South. He dearly loved his native South, and said, "God forbid that
I should have to raise my hand against her," but he determined, come
what would, to "stick to the flag."
So it came about that when, in order to secure the control of the
Mississippi, the national government resolved upon the capture of New
Orleans, Farragut was chosen to lead the undertaking. Several officers,
noted for their loyalty, good judgment, and daring, were suggested, but
the Secretary of the Navy said, "Farragut is the man."
The opportunity for which all his previous noble life and brilliant
services had been a preparation came to him when he was sixty-one years
old. The command laid upon him was "the certain capture of the city of
New Orleans." "The department and the country," so ran his
instructions, "require of you success. ... If successful, you open the
way to the sea for the great West, never again to be closed. The
rebellion will be riven in the center, and the flag, to which you have
been so faithful, will recover its supremacy in every state."
On January 9, 1862, Farragut was appointed to the command of the
western gulf blockading squadron. "On February 2," says the National
Cyclopedia of American Biograph, "he sailed on the steam sloop Hartford
from Hampton Roads, arriving at the appointed rendezvous, Ship Island,
in sixteen days. His fleet, consisting of six war steamers, sixteen
gunboats, twenty-one mortar vessels, under the command of Commodore
David D. Porter, and five supply ships, was the largest that had ever
sailed under the American flag. Yet the task assigned him, the passing
of the forts below New Orleans, the capture of the city, and the
opening of the Mississippi River through its entire length was one of
difficulty unprecedented in the history of naval warfare."
Danger or death had no terror for the brave sailor. Before setting out
on his hazardous enterprise, he said: "If I die in the attempt, it will
only be what every officer has to expect. He who dies in doing his duty
to his country, and at peace with his God, has played the drama of life
to the best advantage."
The hero did not die. He fought and won the great battle, and thus
executed the command laid upon him,--"the certain capture of the city
of New Orleans." The victory was accomplished with the loss of but one
ship, and 184 men killed and wounded,--"a feat in naval warfare," says
his son and biographer, "which has no precedent, and which is still
without a parallel, except the one furnished by Farragut himself, two
years later, at Mobile."