| Birth: | Jul. 5, 1801 | | Death: | Aug. 14, 1870 | 
Civil War Union Navy Admiral. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War, and for being the first United States Navy officer to be promoted to the rank of Admiral. Born at Campbell's Station, near Knoxville, Tennessee, following the customary practice of the day, he entered the Navy while still a boy, as a nine year old midshipman on December 17, 1810. While only 12 years old, he was given command of a captured British whaling ship taken by his ship, the frigate U.S.S. Essex during the War of 1812, and brought her safely to port. He made a great contribution to the Union victory in the Civil War and was to write a famous page in the history of the United States Navy. In command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, with his flagship the U.S.S. Hartford he disproved the theory that forts ashore held superiority over naval forces, when on April 29,1862 he ran past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip and the Chalmette, Louisiana batteries to take the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. His country honored its great sailor by creating for him the rank of rear admiral on July 16, 1862, a rank never before used in the U.S. Navy. On August 5, 1864 Farragut won a great victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay. At that point in the war, Mobile, Alabama was 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 enter the bay. When one ship struck a mine the others began to pull back, but Farragut rose to the occasion and shouted out the order, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" The fleet succeded in entering the bay, and the heroic quote became famous. Farragut then subdued the heavy shore batteries at Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines and defeated the confederate squadron of Admiral Franklin Buchanan to complete the Union victory. Farragut became America's first Vice Admiral on December 23, 1864. He was made a full admiral in 1866 and given command of the European Squadron, which was to be his last active service. David Glasgow Farragut died at the age of 69 on August 14, 1870 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Numerous destroyers have since been named U.S.S. Farragut in his honor, and he has been depicted on U.S. postage stamps twice; first on the $1 stamp of 1903, and then on a 32 cent stamp in 1995. There is also a state park in Idaho named after him. During World War II it was used as a naval base for basic training. (bio by: Edward Parsons)
Search Amazon for David Farragut | | | Burial:
Woodlawn Cemetery
Bronx
Bronx County
New York, USA
Plot: Section 14, Aurora Hill Plot, Lot 1429-44 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 327 |
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