Farragut, DAVID GLASGOW

Farragut, DAVID GLASGOW, the greatest of American seamen, was born of Spanish origin, near Knoxville, Tennessee, 5th July 1801. Entering the navy in 1810, he became a lieutenant in 1825, commander in 1841, and captain in 1855. On the outbreak of the civil war he held by the Union, and in 1862 was given the command of the armament of wooden steamers and mortar-boats fitted out for the capture of New Orleans. The approach to the city was defended by two strong forts, a number of Confederate steamers and an ironclad ram, besides chains stretched across the river, whilst sharpshooters and fire-rafts had been prepared to harass the attacking force. After the forts had been shelled for six days and nights without effect, Farragut decided to force the passage in the darkness, and actually carried through all but three of his vessels, in spite of the terrible raking fire poured in as they passed the opening made in the boom. The Confederate fleet was sunk or burned, and, on the 25th April, the last batteries having been silenced, the city was evacuated, and Farragut's men landed. For many months thereafter he was employed on the Mississippi, until in July 1863 the last fort surrendered, and the entire river was open to navigation. In July 1862 he had been commissioned rear-admiral, and in 1864 he returned to the Gulf, where on 5th August he fought the battle of Mobile Bay, destroying the enemy's gunboats and a powerful ironclad ram; a few days later the forts surrendered, and the port of Mobile was thenceforth closed to blockade-runners. In December he was made vice-admiral, the grade being created for him by congress, as was also the rank of admiral, to which he was raised in 1866. He died at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 14th August 1870. There is a colossal bronze statue of Farragut in Washington, and another, of heroic size, in New York. See the Life by his son (1879), and by Capt. A. T. Mahan (1893).