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Who2 Biography:

David Farragut

, Sailor / Civil War Figure

  • Born: 5 July 1801
  • Birthplace: Campbell's Station, Tennessee
  • Died: 14 August 1870
  • Best Known As: The Civil War admiral who said, "Damn the torpedoes..."

Name at birth: James Glasgow Farragut

American naval officer David Farragut is remembered for his Civil War victory at Mobile Bay and his rallying cry, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" Farragut was a lifelong sailor, a boy-veteran of the War of 1812 and a career naval officer. A southerner, he nevertheless fought for the Union during the Civil War. His first great success as a commander came with the capture of New Orleans in 1862; his victory led to his promotion to rear admiral, making him the U.S. Navy's first such officer. Farragut's attempts to then take Vicksburg were unsuccessful, but in 1864 he captured the defenses at Mobile, Alabama. During the Mobile Bay battle, one of Farragut's lead ships struck a mine -- then called a torpedo -- and sank, causing confusion among Union sailors. To rally them to order, Farragut shouted to his flag captain, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead, Drayton!" and proceeded to sail through the minefield and on to victory. In December of 1864, Farragut was promoted to vice admiral (another first), and in 1866 he became the nation's first admiral, although he was no longer in active service.

Farragut changed his first name to David as a boy, in honor of his sea-faring guardian, family friend David Porter... Some sources list Farragut's birthplace simply as "Near Knoxville, Tennessee." According to a 2001 article in The Knoxville News-Sentinel, "Farragut was born in 1801 in a farmhouse at what is now known as Lowe's Ferry... His birthplace was designated as Campbell Station, which at the time was the nearest post office." The nearby town of Farragut, named in his honor, is about 10 miles from Knoxville.

 
 
US Military History Companion: David Farragut

(1801–1870), admiral in the U.S. Navy, Civil War

David Glasgow Farragut's Civil War promotions bear witness to his place in the first rank of naval heroes. Congress named him the first U.S. Navy rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral.

Born in Tennessee in 1801, he grew up as the ward of Adm. David Dixon Porter. By age nine, he was a midshipman; by age twelve, Porter appointed him prize master to take a captured ship into port.

After the War of 1812, Farragut's career made slow progress through the peacetime navy's seniority system: lieutenant (1825), commander (1841), captain (1855), while working to establish the Mare Island Navy Yard in California.

He maintained a home in Norfolk, where he married, was widowed, remarried, and fathered a son, Loyall, who would be his wartime secretary and biographer. Faced with a choice of allegiance in 1861, he moved to New York. Even so, his Southern origins created suspicions, which his service in the Union navy more than overcame.

He commanded the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, which posted ships from St. Andrew's Bay east of Pensacola westward along the Gulf Coast to the Rio Grande. Farragut gained fame by leading the expedition that was successful in the siege of New Orleans in 1862, one of the most significant Union victories of the war. His leadership was central to the great riverine battles that secured the Mississippi and its tributaries for the Union, especially the siege of Vicksburg. At the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864, his command—“Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead”—elevated his fame to legend.

His postwar appointment as commander of the European Squadron became a triumphal tour of “the American Nelson” through various capitals. Farragut died during a visit to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Navy Yard in 1870.

Bibliography

  • Loyall Farragut, The Life and Letters of Admiral Farragut, First Admiral of the United States Navy, 1879.
  • James C. Bradford, ed., Captain of the Old Steam Navy, 1976
 
US Military Dictionary: David Glasgow Farragut

Farragut, David Glasgow (1801-70) first U.S. Navy admiral, born at Campbell's Station, Tennessee. His military career at sea began in his childhood during the War of 1812 but came into prominence only with the Civil War, when he first distinguished himself at New Orleans (1862), after which he was made rear admiral by Congress. Later achievements included the blockade of the Gulf Coast (1862) and the victory at Mobile Bay (1865), the first significant Union success in nearly a year. The offices of vice admiral (1864) and admiral (1866) were created especially for Farragut.

Farragut is best known in the popular mind for his cry of “Damn the torpedoes!” at Mobile Bay. Farragut was born James David but changed his name in 1814 in honor of his guardian, David Porter, Jr.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

 
Biography: David Glasgow Farragut

The American naval officer David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870) was the hero of two of the most important Union naval victories in the Civil War. He became the first admiral in the U.S. Navy.

James (later David) G. Farragut was born on July 5, 1801, near Knoxville, Tenn., the son of George Farragut, a U.S. Army and Navy officer. After his mother's death in 1808, James was informally adopted by Commander David Porter, who had the boy appointed a midshipman 2 years later. Farragut changed his first name from James to David while sailing with Porter on the Essex during the War of 1812. Farragut brought a prize ship into Valparaiso, Chile, in 1813. The following year the British captured the Essex.

Farragut served in the Mediterranean (1815-1820) and temporarily commanded the brig Spark. After passing the midshipman's exam in 1821, he hunted pirates in the Caribbean (1822-1824) with Porter and for a short time commanded the schooner Ferret. On Sept. 2, 1824, he married Susan C. Marchant and in 1825 became a lieutenant.

From the 1820s to 1861 Farragut frequently served ashore at the Norfolk, Va., naval yard. In 1833 his ship was stationed off Charleston, S.C., during the Nullification Crisis. Promoted to commander in 1841, Farragut commanded the sloop Decatur on the Brazil station the next year. His first wife had died in 1840, and 3 years later he married Virginia D. Loyall, with whom he had one son. Farragut commanded the sloop Saratoga on blockade duty during the Mexican War. From 1854 to 1858 he supervised the construction of the naval yard at Mare Island, Calif. When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, he switched his permanent residence from Virginia to New York and offered his services to the North, but he remained under suspicion for months.

In January 1862 the Department of the Navy, convinced of his loyalty, made Farragut commander of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. On April 24, after a 6-day bombardment, he ran past the forts below New Orleans with 17 ships and captured the South's largest port the next day. He continued up the Mississippi past the Vicksburg batteries on June 28 but could not capture the town. He passed the batteries again on July 14 in an unsuccessful effort to sink the Arkansas. Two days later he became the first rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.

In March 1863 Farragut led two ships past the batteries at Port Hudson on the Mississippi, but the fort surrendered in July only after a siege - several days after the Vicksburg victory. His next objective was the port of Mobile. On Aug. 5, 1864, under heavy fire, he sailed 18 ships between the Confederate forts at the heavily mined mouth of Mobile Bay. He captured the ironclad Tennessee following a fierce struggle inside the harbor and then received the surrender of the forts, thus sealing off the second-largest Confederate port on the Gulf of Mexico. That fall Farragut was relieved of command because of ill health. In December he received the new rank of vice-admiral. He became the first admiral of the U.S. Navy in 1866.

Farragut commanded the European squadron on a goodwill tour in 1867-1868. He died while visiting the Portsmouth, N.H., naval yard on Aug. 14, 1870.

Further Reading

The most complete biography of Farragut is Charles Lee Lewis, David Glasgow Farragut (2 vols., 1941-1943). Briefer volumes are Alfred Thayer Mahan, Admiral Farragut (1892), and John Randolph Spears, David G. Farragut (1905). His son, Loyall Farragut, collected source material in The Life of David Glasgow Farragut (1879).

Additional Sources

Lewis, Charles Lee, David Glasgow Farragut, New York: Arno Press, 1941-43, 1980.

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: David Glasgow Farragut

David Farragut, daguerreotype.
(click to enlarge)
David Farragut, daguerreotype. (credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)
(born July 5, 1801, near Knoxville, Tenn., U.S. — died Aug. 14, 1870, Portsmouth, N.H.) U.S. naval officer. He served in the War of 1812 and received his first command in 1824. During the American Civil War he commanded the Union blockade of the western Gulf of Mexico; in the Battle of New Orleans he captured the port through which the Confederacy received much of its war supplies. In 1863 he helped secure victory at the Battle of Vicksburg, bringing the Mississippi River under Union control. In 1864 he led a successful attack in the Battle of Mobile Bay, sending his ships across a blockade of mines ("torpedoes") with the order, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" He became a full admiral in 1866.

For more information on David Glasgow Farragut, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Farragut, David Glasgow
(făr'əgət) , 1801–70, American admiral, b. near Knoxville, Tenn. Appointed a midshipman in 1810, he first served on the frigate Essex, commanded by David Porter, his self-appointed guardian, and participated in that ship's famous cruise in the Pacific in the War of 1812. Farragut commanded his first vessel in Porter's Mosquito Fleet, which operated (1823–24) against the pirates in Gulf and Caribbean waters. In the Mexican War he had minor commands on blockade duty. The navy yard at Mare Island, Calif., was established by Farragut in 1854, and he was commandant there till 1858. On Virginia's secession Farragut, a Union sympathizer, moved from Norfolk, where he had made his home ashore, to Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. Yet his Southern connections placed him under suspicion, and he did not receive an important assignment until Jan., 1862. Then the Dept. of the Navy gave him command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, with orders to ascend the Mississippi River and reduce New Orleans. By Apr. 18, 1862, Farragut's fleet, consisting of 17 vessels and a mortar flotilla under David Dixon Porter, had reached forts Jackson and St. Philip, situated on opposite sides of the Mississippi just below New Orleans. When the mortars failed to reduce the forts, Farragut decided to try to get by them in the dark. This action was accomplished on Apr. 24, with the loss of only three vessels. The Confederate flotilla was then defeated in a hot engagement, and on Apr. 25, Farragut anchored at New Orleans. The forts surrendered on Apr. 28, and on May 1, Union troops under Gen. Benjamin F. Butler entered the city. Farragut's attempt to reduce Vicksburg in May–June, 1862, failed. But in Mar., 1863, he successfully ran two ships past the batteries at Port Hudson and by thus controlling the Mississippi between that point and Vicksburg contributed to Ulysses S. Grant's ultimate success in the Vicksburg campaign. Farragut had succeeded in stifling Confederate blockade-running in the Gulf of Mexico, except at its chief source, Mobile, and he moved on that port in 1864. Mobile Bay was strongly defended by forts Gaines and Morgan, a double row of torpedoes (mines), and a Confederate flotilla commanded by Franklin Buchanan. Farragut, disregarding the torpedoes (with the famous cry “Damn the torpedoes”), forced these defenses and defeated Buchanan for his crowning victory on Aug. 5, 1864. The forts surrendered shortly afterward, and though the city itself did not fall until Apr., 1865, blockade-running was effectively ended there. Farragut was easily the outstanding naval commander of the war. He was the first officer in the U.S. navy to receive the ranks of vice admiral (1864) and admiral (1866).

Bibliography

See biographies by his son Loyall Farragut (1879), A. T. Mahan (1892, repr. 1970), C. L. Lewis (2 vol., 1941–43), and C. Martin (1970).

 
History Dictionary: Farragut, David
(far-uh-guht)

An admiral in the Union navy in the Civil War who helped secure the Mississippi River for the Union. Once, when warned of mines, called torpedoes, in the water ahead, Farragut replied, “Damn the torpedoes!”

 
Wikipedia: David Farragut
David Glasgow Farragut
July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870
Admiral_David_G_Farragut.jpg
Place of birth Campbell's Station, Tennessee
Place of death Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1810–70
Rank Admiral
Commands European Squadron
Western Gulf Blockading Squadron
Battles/wars War of 1812
American Civil War

David Glasgow Farragut (July 5, 1801 – August 14, 1870) was the first senior officer of the U.S. Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and full admiral of the Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his possibly apocryphal order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!".[1]

Early life and naval career

Farragut was born to Jorge and Elizabeth Farragut at Campbell's Station, near Knoxville, Tennessee, where his father was serving as a cavalry officer in the Tennessee militia. Jorge Farragut (1755 – 1817), a Spanish merchant captain from Minorca, son of Antonio Farragut and Juana Mesquida, had previously joined the American Revolutionary cause after arriving in America in 1776. Jorge Farragut married Elizabeth Shine (b.1765) from North Carolina and moved West to Tennessee after serving in the American Revolution. David's birth name was James, but it was changed in 1812, following his adoption by future naval Captain David Porter in 1808 (which made him the foster brother of future Civil War Admiral David Dixon Porter).

David Farragut entered the Navy as a midshipman on December 17, 1810. In the War of 1812, when only 12 years old, he was given command of a prize ship taken by USS Essex and brought her safely to port. He was wounded and captured during the cruise of the Essex by HMS Phoebe in Valparaiso Bay, Chile, on March 28, 1814, but was exchanged in April 1815. Through the years that followed, in one assignment after another, he showed the high ability and devotion to duty that would allow him to make a great contribution to the Union victory in the Civil War and to write a famous page in the history of the United States Navy.

Civil War

In command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, with his flag on the USS Hartford, in April 1862 he ran past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip and the Chalmette, Louisiana, batteries to take the city and port of New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 29 that year, a decisive event in the war. His country honored its great sailor after New Orleans by creating for him the rank of rear admiral on July 16, 1862, a rank never before used in the U.S. Navy. (Before this time, the American Navy had resisted the rank of admiral, preferring the term "flag officer", to separate it from the traditions of the European navies.) Later that year he passed the batteries defending Vicksburg, Mississippi. Farragut had no real success at Vicksburg, where one makeshift Confederate ironclad forced his flotilla of 38 ships to withdraw in July 1862.

He was a very aggressive commander but not always cooperative. At the Siege of Port Hudson the plan was Farragut's flotilla would pass by the guns of the Confederate stronghold with the help of a diversionary land attack by the Army of the Gulf, commanded by General Nathaniel Banks, to commence at 8:00 am March 15, 1863. Farragut unilaterally decided to move the time table up to 9:00 pm, March 14th and initiate his run past the guns before Union ground forces were in position. By doing so the uncoordinated attack allowed the Confederates to concentrate on Farragut's flotilla and inflict heavy damage on his warships.

Farragut's battle group was forced to retreat with only two ships able to pass the heavy cannon of the Confederate bastion. After surviving the gauntlet Farragut played no further part in the battle for Port Hudson and General Banks was left to continue the siege without advantage of naval support. The Union Army made two major attacks on the fort and both were repulsed with heavy losses. Farragut's flotilla was splintered yet was able to blockade the mouth of the Red River with the two remaining warships, but not efficiently patrol the section of the Mississippi between Port Hudson and Vicksburg. Farragut's decision thus proved costly to the Union Navy and the Union Army which suffered the highest casualty rate of the Civil War at the Battle of Port Hudson.

Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863, leaving Port Hudson as the last remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. General Banks accepted the surrender of the Confederate garrison at Port Hudson on July 9, 1863 ending the longest siege in US military history. Control of the Mississippi River was the centerpiece of Union strategy to win the war and with the surrender of Port Hudson the Confederacy was now severed in two.

On August 5, 1864, Farragut won a great victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay. Mobile was then the Confederacy's last major port open on the Gulf of Mexico. The bay was heavily mined (tethered naval mines were known as torpedoes at the time). Farragut ordered his fleet to charge the bay. When the monitor USS Tecumseh struck a mine and sank the others began to pull back.

Farragut could see the ships pulling back from his high perch, lashed to the rigging of his flagship the USS Hartford. "What's the trouble?" was shouted through a trumpet from the flagship to the USS Brooklyn. "Torpedoes!" was shouted back in reply. "Damn the torpedoes!" said Farragut, "Four bells. Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!"[2] The bulk of the fleet succeeded in entering the bay. Farragut then triumphed over the opposition of heavy batteries in Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines to defeat the squadron of Admiral Franklin Buchanan.

He was promoted to vice admiral on December 21, 1864, and to full admiral on July 25, 1866, after the war.

Death

Admiral Farragut's last active service was in command of the European Squadron, with the screw frigate Franklin as his flagship, and he died at the age of 69 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

A statue of Farragut, crafted in 1881 from the propeller of his flagship, stands in Farragut Square in downtown Washington, D.C.. The National Park Service interpretive plaque in the foreground prominently quotes his most famous line.
Enlarge
A statue of Farragut, crafted in 1881 from the propeller of his flagship, stands in Farragut Square in downtown Washington, D.C.. The National Park Service interpretive plaque in the foreground prominently quotes his most famous line.

In memoriam

Numerous places and things are named in remembrance of Admiral Farragut:

  • Farragut Field is a sports field at the United States Naval Academy.
  • Farragut, Tennessee, the town that grew up near his hometown of Campbell's Station, and sporting teams of the local high school, Farragut High School, are known as "The Admirals."
  • Farragut, Iowa, a small farming town in southwestern Iowa. Admiral Farragut's famous slogan greets visitors from a billboard on the edge of town. The local school, Farragut Community High School, fields varsity "Admiral" and JV "Sailor" teams. The school also houses memorabilia from the ships that have borne the Farragut name.
  • Five US Navy destroyers have been named USS Farragut, including two class leaders.
  • In World War II the United States liberty ship SS David G. Farragut was named in his honor.
Farragut Monument at Madison Square in New York City
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Farragut Monument at Madison Square in New York City

Monuments

Muskegon, Michigan
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Muskegon, Michigan

In popular culture

1903 postage stamp issued by the U.S. Post Office to commemorate David Farragut.
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1903 postage stamp issued by the U.S. Post Office to commemorate David Farragut.

Command history

  • 1812, assigned to the Essex.
  • 1815 – 1817, served in the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Independence and the Macedonian.
  • 1818, studied ashore for nine months at Tunis.
  • 1819, served as a lieutenant on the Shark.
  • 1823, placed in command of the Ferret.
  • 1825, served as a lieutenant on the Brandywine.
  • 1826 – 1838, served in subordinate capacities on various vessels.
  • 1838, placed in command of the sloop Erie.
  • 1841, attained the rank of commander.
  • Mexican-American War, commanded the sloop of war, Saratoga.
  • 1848 – 1850, duty at Norfolk, Navy Yard in Virginia.
  • 1850 – 1854, duty at Washington, D.C..
  • 1855, attained the rank of Captain.
  • 1854 – 1858, duty establishing Mare Island Navy Yard at San Francisco Bay.
  • 1858 – 1859, commander of the sloop of war, Brooklyn.
  • 1860 – 1861, stationed at Norfolk Navy Yard.
  • January 1862, commanded USS Hartford and the West Gulf blockading squadron of 17 vessels.
  • April 1862, took command of New Orleans.
  • July 16, 1862, promoted to rear admiral.
  • June 23, 1862, wounded near Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  • May 1863, commanded USS Monongahela.
  • May 1863, commanded the USS Pensacola.
  • July 1863, commanded USS Tennessee.
  • September 5, 1864, offered command of the North Atlantic Blocking Squadron, but he declined.
  • December 21, 1864, promoted to vice admiral.
  • April 1865, Pallbearer for the Abraham Lincoln funeral.
  • July 25, 1866, promoted to admiral.
  • June 1867, commanded USS Franklin.
  • 1867 – 1868, commanded European Squadron.

References

  • Barnes, James. David G. Farragut (Boston: Small, Maynard & Company), 1899.
  • Brockett, L. P. Our Great Captains: Grant, Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, and Farragut (New York: C. B. Richardson), 1866.
  • Davis, Michael S., "David Glasgow Farragut" in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, Heidler, David S., and Heidler, Jeanne T., eds., W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, ISBN 0-393-04758-X.
  • Duffy, James P. Lincoln's Admiral: The Civil War Campaigns of David Farragut (New York: Wiley), 1997. ISBN 0-471-04208-0
  • Eicher, John H. and David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3
  • Farragut, Loyall. The Life of David Glasgow Farragut, First Admiral of the United States Navy, Embodying His Journal and Letters (New York: D. Appleton and Company), 1879.
  • Lewis, Charles Lee. David Glasgow Farragut (Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute), 1941-43.
  • Mahan, Alfred Thayer. Admiral Farragut (New York: D. Appleton & Co.), 1892.
  • Spears, John Randolph. David G. Farragut (Philadelphia: G. W. Jacobs & Co.), 1905.

Notes

  1. ^ Davis, p. 682. The Reuters
  2. ^ Loyall Farragut, pp. 416-17.

External links


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Who2 Biography. Copyright © 1998-2008 by Who2, LLC. All rights reserved. See the David Farragut biography from Who2.  Read more
US Military History Companion. The Oxford Companion to American Military History. Copyright © 2000 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
History Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "David Farragut".  Read more

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