By L. P. BROCKETT, A.M.
(1801-1870)
[Illustration: David Farragut. [TN]]
Heroes have not been wanting in the history of maritime warfare, at
any time in these last three hundred years. Holland points with pride
to her gallant DeRuyter and Van Tromp, who made the little republic
among the marshes and canals that yield tribute to the Zuyder Zee,
famous the world over. England glories in her Blake, her Collingwood,
and most of all, in her Nelson, the model naval hero of all her
history; and we cannot suppress our admiration of the daring of the
reckless John Paul Jones, the matchless patriotism of Lawrence, and
the gallant bearing and extraordinary success of Perry, Bainbridge,
Decatur, and the elder Porter; while in the War of the Rebellion the
heroic Foote, Dupont, Winslow, D. D. Porter, and Rogers, covered their
names with glory.
But among all these illustrious names there is none which so
thoroughly awakens our enthusiasm, or so readily calls forth our
applause, as that of Farragut. With all of Nelson's courage and
daring, he had more than his executive ability and fertility of
resource, a wider and more generous intellectual culture, and a more
unblemished, _naive_, frank, and gentle character.
He bore in his veins some traces of the best blood of Spain, his
father, George Farragut, having been a native of Citadella, the
capital of the island of Minorca, and a descendant of an ancient and
honorable Catalonian family. The father came to this country in 1776,
and united most heartily in our struggle for independence, attaining
during the war the rank of major. After the conclusion of the war,
Major Farragut married Miss Elizabeth Shine, of North Carolina, a
descendant of the old Scotch family of McIven, and settled as a farmer
at Campbell's Station, near Knoxville, Tenn. Here, on July 5, 1801,
his illustrious son was born. The father seems to have been not
altogether contented with a farmer's life in that mountainous region,
for not long after we hear of him as a sailing-master in the navy, and
an intimate friend of the father of Commodore David D. Porter, who
then held a similar rank. Young Farragut inherited his father's love
for the sea, and though brought up so far inland, among the Cumberland
Mountains, he had hardly reached the age of nine and a half years,
when the longing for a sailor's life possessed him so strongly, that
his father consented; and after some little delay, a midshipman's
warrant was procured for him.
His first cruise was under the command of Captain (then
master-commandant) Porter, who, in July, 1812, was promoted to the
rank of captain, and soon after sailed in the Essex for the South
American coast and the Pacific. To this famous frigate the young
midshipman was ordered before her departure, and he remained on her
through the eventful two years that followed, when she drove the
British commerce out of the Pacific. When on March 28, 1814, the
British frigate Phoebe, thirty-six guns, and sloop-of-war Cherub,
twenty-eight guns, without scruple attacked the Essex in the harbor of
Valparaiso, in violation of the rights of a neutral nation, there
ensued one of the fiercest naval battles on record. Though fighting
against hopeless odds, the two British vessels having twice the number
of guns and men of the Essex, Commodore Porter, with the reckless
daring which was so marked a trait of his character, refused to strike
his colors till his ship had been three or four times on fire, and was
in a sinking condition, with her rigging shot away, the flames
threatening her magazine, and 152, out of her crew of 255, killed,
wounded, or missing. The battle had lasted two and a half hours. On
his surrender, the Essex Junior, a whaling-ship which he had converted
into a sloop-of-war, but which had been unable to take any part in the
battle, was sent home with the prisoners on parole. The young
midshipman, then a boy under thirteen, was in the hottest of the
fight, and was slightly wounded during the action. Before the loss of
the Essex, he had served as acting-lieutenant on board the Atlantic,
an armed prize.
On his return to the United States, Commodore Porter placed him at
school at Chester, Pa., where he was taught, among other studies, the
elements of military and naval tactics; but in 1816 he was again
afloat and on board the flag-ship of the Mediterranean squadron, where
he had the good fortune to meet in the chaplain, Rev. Charles Folsom,
an instructor to whom he became ardently attached, and to whose
teachings he attributed much of his subsequent usefulness and success.
This pleasant period of instruction passed all too quickly, and the
boy, now grown to man's estate, after some further service in the
Mediterranean, was, on January 1, 1821, at the age of nineteen and a
half years, promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and ordered to duty on
the West India station. In 1824 he was assigned to duty at the Norfolk
navy-yard; and with the exception of a two years' cruise in the
Vandalia, on the Brazil station, remained at Norfolk till 1833. Here
he married a lady of highly respectable family, and during the long
years of suffering through which she was called to pass, from a
hopeless physical malady, he proved one of the most tender and
affectionate of husbands, never wearying of administering all the
relief and comfort to the sufferer in his power. When death at last
terminated her protracted distress, he mourned her tenderly and long.
He subsequently married another lady of Norfolk, Miss Virginia Loyall,
the daughter of one of the most eminent citizens of that city.
In 1860 he had spent nearly nineteen years afloat--eighteen years and
four months on shore duty, and ten years and ten months either
waiting orders or on leave of absence. Forty-eight of his fifty-eight
years had been spent in the naval service.
In April, 1861, came the rebellion. Captain Farragut was at his home
in Norfolk, surrounded by those who were sympathizers with the
rebellion, and who were already maturing plans for the seizure of the
Government property and its conversion to rebel uses. No more loyal
heart ever beat than his, and in frank and manly terms he denounced
the whole proceedings of the traitors, and gave expression to his
abhorrence of them. This roused all the hatred of the plotters of
treason, and they told him at once, in tones of menace, that he could
not be permitted to live there if he held such sentiments. "Very
well," was his prompt reply, "then I will go where I can live and hold
such sentiments." Returning to his home, he informed his family that
they must leave Norfolk for New York in a few hours. They immediately
made their preparations, and the next morning, April 18, 1861, bid
adieu to Norfolk. The Navy Department was, however, anxious to give
him employment, and in default of anything else he served for a time
as a member of the Naval Retiring Board, which shelved the incompetent
officers of the navy, and promoted the active, loyal, and deserving.
Meantime, the Government had resolved on the capture of New Orleans,
and entered with zeal upon the work of fitting out a squadron, as well
as an army, for its reduction. The squadron was to consist of a fleet
of armed steamers, and twenty bomb-schooners, each carrying gigantic
mortars, fifteen-inch shells.
The bomb-fleet was to be under the command of Commander David D.
Porter, but he was to report to Flag-officer Farragut, who was to have
charge of the entire squadron. Selecting the Hartford as his
flag-ship, and having made all possible preparations for his
expedition, Flag-officer Farragut received his orders on January 20,
1862, and on February 3d sailed from Hampton Roads. Arriving at Ship
Island on February 20th, he organized the West Gulf Blockading
Squadron, and in spite of difficulties of all sorts--the delay in
forwarding coal, naval stores, hospital stores, ammunition, etc., the
labor of getting vessels drawing twenty-two feet over the bars at Pass
L'Outre and Southwest Pass, where the depth was but twelve and fifteen
feet, the ignorance and stupidity of some of the officers, and every
other obstacle he had to encounter--made steady progress. The
difficulties were not all surmounted until April 18th, when the
bombardment of Fort Jackson, the lowermost of the two forts defending
the passage of the Mississippi, was commenced. These forts were
seventy-five miles below New Orleans and possessed great strength. A
continuous bombardment was maintained for six days, by which the forts
were considerably damaged, but they still held out stoutly. A heavy
iron chain had been stretched across the river, supported by large
logs, to obstruct the passage of vessels, and was placed at a point
where the fire of the two forts could be most effectively
concentrated. Above this chain lay the rebel fleet of sixteen gunboats
and two iron-clad rams. Along the banks of the river were land
batteries, mounting several guns each.
Finding that the forts were not likely to yield to the bombardment,
Flag-officer Farragut called a council of war, and after hearing
their opinions, which were somewhat discordant, issued his general
order of April 20th, in which the spirit of the hero gleams out. This
was his language: "The flag-officer having heard all the opinions
expressed by the different commanders, is of the opinion _that
whatever is to be done will have to be done quickly_. When, in the
opinion of the flag-officer, the propitious time has arrived, the
signal will be made to weigh, and advance to the conflict.... He will
make the signal for close action, _and abide the result--conquer or be
conquered_."
After further and severe bombardment of the forts, the flag-officer
gave notice to the steam-vessels of the squadron, of his determination
to break the chain and run past the forts, engage the rebel fleet, and
having defeated it, ascend the river to New Orleans, and capture that
city. It was a most daring movement. The chain had previously been
broken, and the mortar-vessels moved up and anchored ready to pour in
their fire as soon as the forts should open. The steam-fleet moved up
in two columns, one led by Flag-officer Farragut in person, in the
Hartford, the other by Captain Theodorus Bailey, as second in command,
in the Cayuga. The left column (Farragut's) was composed of the
Hartford, Brooklyn, Richmond, Sciota, Iroquois, Kennebec, Pinola,
Itasca, and Winona; the right (Bailey's), of the Cayuga, Pensacola,
Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna, Katahdin, Kineo, and Wissahickon. The
right column was to engage Fort St. Philip; the left, Fort Jackson.
The fleet were fairly abreast of the forts before they were
discovered, and fire opened upon them; but from that moment the firing
was terrible, and the smoke, settling down like a pall upon the river,
produced intense darkness, and the ships could only aim at the flash
from the forts, the forts at the flash from the ships. A fire-raft,
pushed by the ram Manassas against the flag-ship (the Hartford), set
it on fire, and at the same instant it ran aground; but by the prompt
and disciplined exertions of the men the flame was extinguished in a
few minutes and the ship got afloat, never ceasing its fire upon the
enemy. At times the gunboats passed so near the forts as to be able to
throw their broadsides of shrapnel, grape, and canister with most
destructive force into their interior; and the forts, in the endeavor
to depress their guns sufficiently to strike the vessels, lost their
shot, which rolled into the ditches. They were nearly past the forts
when the rebel fleet came down upon them, the iron-clad ram Manassas
among them. Several of these gunboats were iron-clad about the bow,
and had iron beaks or spurs. The Cayuga, Captain Bailey's flag-ship,
was the first to encounter these; and soon after the Varuna, commanded
by Captain Boggs, found itself in a nest of rebel steamers, and moved
forward, delivering its broadsides, port and starboard, with fearful
precision, into its antagonists, four of which were speedily disabled
and sunk by its fire. The Varuna was finally attacked by the Morgan
and another rebel gunboat, both iron-clad at the bow, which crushed in
her sides; but crowding her steam, she drew them on, while still fast,
and poured broadsides into both, which drove them ashore crippled and
in flames. Running his own steamer on shore as speedily as possible,
the gallant Boggs fought her as long as his guns were out of water,
and then brought off his men, who were taken on board the Oneida and
other gunboats of the fleet. Several of the gunboats were considerably
injured, but none of them lost except the Varuna. The Itasca, Winona,
and Kennebec were disabled and obliged to fall back. Thirteen of the
seventeen vessels composing Flag-officer Farragut's squadron were able
to pass in safety these forts, and had defeated a rebel fleet,
destroying thirteen of their gunboats and rams, and the iron-clad
Manassas, and compelling the remainder to shelter themselves under the
guns of the forts. The entire loss of the Union squadron was but 36
killed and 135 wounded.
The gallant flag-officer now ascended the river, encountering slight
opposition from the Chalmette batteries, about three miles below New
Orleans; but they were silenced in twenty minutes, and at noon of
April 25th, he lay in front of the city, and demanded its surrender.
Four days later the forts were surrendered to Captain Porter, and
General Butler came up the river to arrange for landing his troops,
and taking possession of the conquered city. Meantime, Farragut had
ascended the river above the city to Carrolton, where had been erected
some strong works to oppose the progress of Flag-officer Foote, should
he descend the river. These, on the approach of the gunboats, were
abandoned, and their guns spiked. They were destroyed.
New Orleans being safely in the possession of the Union forces,
Flag-officer Farragut ascended the Mississippi, and on June 27th ran
his vessels safely past the rebel batteries at Vicksburg, and
communicated with Flag-officer Davis, then commanding the Mississippi
squadron, and arranged for a joint attack upon Vicksburg. The attack
failed, because the bluffs at Vicksburg were too high to be
effectively bombarded by the gunboats, and the capture of the city
required the co-operation of a land force. He therefore repassed the
batteries in safety on July 15th, and descending the river, made
Pensacola the head-quarters of his squadron. On July 11th, the rank of
rear-admiral, having been created in accordance with the
recommendation of a committee of Congress, Captain Farragut was
advanced to that rank, and placed first on the list for his
meritorious conduct in the capture of New Orleans. He also received
the thanks of both houses of Congress. In the autumn of 1862 he
directed the naval attacks on Corpus Christi, Sabine Pass, and
Galveston, which resulted in the capture of those points. In his
duties as the commander of a blockading and guarding squadron, there
was much of detail: attacks of guerillas along the river shores, to be
parried and punished; surprises of the weaker vessels of the squadron
to be chastised and revenged; expeditions against rebel towns on or
near the coast, to be aided and sustained; and careful lookout to be
kept for blockade-runners, who sought their opportunities to slip into
the ports of Mobile, Galveston, and Aransas. These occupied much of
his time during the autumn and winter of 1862-63.
The admiral had long desired to attack the defences of Mobile, and
thus effectually check the blockade-running, which it was impossible
wholly to prevent while that port was left unmolested. But it was not
until August 5, 1864, that the assault was finally made.
The fleet which was to take part in the attack consisted of fourteen
sloops-of-war and gunboats, and four iron-clad monitors. The admiral
arranged them for the attack as follows: the Brooklyn and Octorara
were lashed together, the Brooklyn being on the starboard side,
nearest Fort Morgan--the Brooklyn being, much against the admiral's
wishes, allowed the lead; next the Hartford and Metacomet, followed by
the Richmond and Port Royal, the Lackawanna and Seminole, the
Monongahela and Kennebec, the Ossipee and Itasca, and the Oneida and
Galena. The four monitors were arranged in the following order, to the
right or starboard of the gunboats: the Tecumseh, Commander T. R. M.
Craven, taking the lead, and followed by the Manhattan, Commander
Nicholson; the Winnebago, Commander Stevens; and the Chickasaw,
Lieutenant-commander Perkins.
The rebels, in addition to three forts all manned with large
garrisons, had a squadron consisting of the iron-clad ram Tennessee,
regarded by them as the most formidable armed vessel ever constructed,
and three powerful gunboats, the Selma, Morgan, and Gaines.
The fleet steamed steadily up the channel, the Tecumseh firing the
first shot at 6.47 A.M. The rebels opened upon them from Fort Morgan
at six minutes past seven, and the Brooklyn replied, after which the
action became general. The Brooklyn now paused, and for good
reason--the Tecumseh, near her, careened suddenly and sank almost
instantly, having struck and exploded a torpedo; and her gallant
commander and nearly all her crew sank with her.
Directing the commander of the Metacomet to send a boat instantly to
rescue her crew, Admiral Farragut determined to take the lead in his
own flag-ship, the Hartford, and putting on all steam, led off through
a track which had been lined with torpedoes by the rebels; but he
says, "Believing that, from their having been some time in the water,
they were probably innocuous, I determined to take the chance of their
explosion."
Turning to the northwestward to clear the middle ground, the fleet
were enabled to keep such a broadside fire on the batteries of Fort
Morgan as to prevent them from doing much injury. After they had
passed the fort, about ten minutes before eight o'clock, the ram
Tennessee dashed out at the Hartford; but the admiral took no further
notice of her than to return her fire. The rebel gunboats were ahead,
and annoyed the fleet by a raking fire, and the admiral detached his
consort, the Metacomet, ordering her commander, Lieutenant-commander
Jouett, to go in pursuit of the Selma, and the Octorara was detached
to pursue one of the others. Lieutenant-commander Jouett captured the
Selma, but the other two escaped under the protection of the guns of
Fort Morgan, though the Gaines was so much injured that she was run
ashore and destroyed. The combat which followed between the Tennessee
and the Union fleet, and resulted in the surrender of that formidable
iron-clad vessel, is best described in the admiral's own words:
"Having passed the forts and dispersed the enemy's gunboats, I had
ordered most of the vessels to anchor, when I perceived the ram
Tennessee standing up for this ship. This was at forty-five minutes
past eight. I was not long in comprehending his intentions to be the
destruction of the flag-ship. The monitors and such of the wooden
vessels as I thought best adapted for the purpose, were immediately
ordered to attack the ram, not only with their guns, but bows on at
full speed; and then began one of the fiercest naval combats on
record.
"The Monongahela, Commander Strong, was the first vessel that struck
her, and in doing so carried away her own iron prow, together with the
cutwater, without apparently doing her adversary much injury. The
Lackawanna, Captain Marchand, was the next vessel to strike her, which
she did at full speed; but though her stem was cut and crushed to the
plank-ends for the distance of three feet above the water's edge to
five feet below, the only perceptible effect on the ram was to give
her a heavy list.
"The Hartford was the third vessel that struck her; but, as the
Tennessee quickly shifted her helm, the blow was a glancing one, and,
as she rasped along our side, we poured our whole port broadside of
nine-inch solid shot within ten feet of her casement.
"The monitors worked slowly, but delivered their fire as opportunity
offered. The Chickasaw succeeded in getting under her stern, and a
fifteen-inch shot from the Manhattan broke through her iron plating
and heavy wooden backing, though the missile itself did not enter the
vessel.
"Immediately after the collision with the flag-ship, I directed
Captain Drayton to bear down for the ram again. He was doing so at
full speed, when, unfortunately, the Lackawanna ran into the Hartford
just forward of the mizzenmast, cutting her down to within two feet of
the water's edge. We soon got clear again, however, and were fast
approaching our adversary, when she struck her colors and ran up the
white flag.
"She was at this time sore beset; the Chickasaw was pounding away at
her stern, the Ossipee was approaching her at full speed, and the
Monongahela, Lackawanna, and this ship were bearing down upon her,
determined upon her destruction. Her smoke-stack had been shot away,
her steering-chains were gone, compelling a resort to her
relieving-tackles, and several of her port shutters were jammed.
Indeed, from the time the Hartford struck her, until her surrender,
she never fired a gun. As the Ossipee, Commander Le Roy, was about to
strike her, she hoisted the white flag, and that vessel immediately
stopped her engine, though not in time to avoid a glancing blow.
"During this contest with the rebel gunboats and the ram Tennessee,
which terminated by her surrender at ten o'clock, we lost many more
men than from the fire of the batteries of Fort Morgan."
The rebel Admiral Buchanan was severely wounded, and subsequently lost
a leg by amputation. Admiral Farragut, as humane in his feelings
toward a wounded foe as he was gallant and daring in action,
immediately addressed a note to Brigadier-General Page, the commander
of Fort Morgan, asking permission to send the rebel admiral and the
other wounded rebel officers by ship, under flag of truce, to the
Union hospitals at Pensacola, where they could be tenderly cared for.
This request was granted, and the Metacomet despatched with them.
The admiral had stationed himself "in an elevated position in the main
rigging, near the top," a place of great peril, but one which enabled
him to see much better than if he had been on deck, the progress of
the battle; and from thence he witnessed, and testified with great
gratification to the admirable conduct of the men at their guns,
throughout the fleet; and, in this connection, gives utterance to a
sentiment which shows most conclusively his sympathy and tenderness:
"Although," he says, "no doubt their hearts sickened, as mine did,
when their shipmates were struck down beside them, yet there was not a
moment's hesitation to lay their comrades aside and spring again to
their deadly work."
It is said that at the moment of the collision between the Hartford
and Lackawanna, when the men called to each other to save the admiral,
Farragut, finding the ship would float at least long enough to serve
his purpose, and thinking of that only, called out to his
fleet-captain, "Go on with speed! Ram her again!"
The results of this victory were the destruction of the rebel fleet;
the capture of the armored ship Tennessee, and of 230 rebel officers
and men; the abandonment on the next day of Fort Powell, with 18 guns;
the surrender on the 8th of Fort Gaines, with 56 officers, 818 men,
and 26 guns; and on August 23d, after a further bombardment of
twenty-four hours, of Fort Morgan, with 60 guns and 600 prisoners. By
these captures the port of Mobile was hermetically sealed against
blockade-runners, and a serious blow given to the rebel cause.
Rear-admiral Farragut remained in command of the West Gulf squadron
till November, 1864, when he requested leave of absence, and was
called to Washington for consultation in regard to future naval
operations. Soon after the opening of Congress, a resolution of thanks
to him for his brilliant victory at Mobile was passed, and the rank of
vice-admiral, corresponding to that of lieutenant-general in the army,
was created, and on January 1, 1865, David Glascoe Farragut promoted
to it. This appointment made him the virtual chief commander of the
naval forces of the United States.
The West Gulf blockading squadron, during all the time Admiral
Farragut was in command of it, had had more fighting and less prizes
than any other blockading squadron on the coast; and while Admirals
Dupont, Lee, Porter, and Dahlgren had accumulated immense fortunes by
their shares of prize-money, Admiral Farragut had received little
beyond his regular pay. The merchants of New York, understanding this,
and recognizing the great services he had rendered to commerce and to
the nation, subscribed the sum of fifty thousand dollars, which was
presented to him in United States 7.30 Treasury notes, in January,
1865, in testimony of their appreciation of his ability and success as
a naval commander. Until 1866 the rank of vice-admiral was the highest
known in the navy In July of that year the office of admiral was
specially created and bestowed on Farragut. He saw no further
important service, but died quietly at Portsmouth, N. H., August 14,
1870.
[Illustration: Farragut at Mobile Bay.]
Even the English _Army and Navy Gazette_ speaks of Admiral Farragut as
"the doughty admiral whose feats of arms place him at the head of his
profession, and certainly constitute him the first naval officer of
the day, as far as actual reputation won by skill, courage, and hard
fighting goes."