Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Branch: U.S. Navy
Unit:  European Squadron, USS Franklin
Date of Sacrifice: August 14, 1870 - Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine 
Age: 69
Conflict: No declared conflict

He was born as James, lost his mother at a young age, and later changed his name to David. Handwritten on the blank leaf page of David Glasgow’s family Bible is a note about his ancestry:

Your father, George Farragut, was born in the Island of Minorca, in the Mediterranean, in 1755…[and] came to America in March of 1776. Your mother, Elisabeth Shine, was born in North Carolina…near [Kinston] on the Neuse River, in 1765.

James’ father, George, hailed from a sea-faring family, was sent to school in Barcelona, Spain, and emigrated to America—arriving four months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. George sided with the colonists and served as a “Muster Master of the Militia” in the struggle for independence.

George and Elisabeth Farragut lived in what is now Tennessee, in the small community of Campbell’s Station, located a few miles southwest of Knoxville. At the time of the Revolution, this region was part of North Carolina colony.

By the time their son James was born on July 5, 1801, Tennessee had been admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796.

Tragedy strikes

Major George Farragut was appointed as a sailing master in the young Navy, and given command of a gunboat in Orleans Territory in the Mississippi River delta. The family moved there, and shortly after was pulled apart by tragedy.

James was just six years old when his mother, Elisabeth, fell victim to yellow fever in 1808.

James’s oldest brother, William, received an appointment to the Navy, as arranged by their father. With younger children James, Nancy, George, and Elizabeth now motherless, a close family friend visited and proposed “to adopt such one of the children as desired to go with him.”

New family, new purpose

That friend was Commander David Porter Sr., who oversaw the Naval Station at New Orleans. When the question of adoption was put to the Farragut children, young James, “inspired by his uniform,” promptly agreed to live with the Porter family. At the time, it was not unusual for parents to place a child with someone who could train them for a career.

At the age of eight, James accompanied Commander Porter on naval excursions. A year later, at the age of nine, James joined the U.S. Navy and was appointed midshipman in December 1810. By August 1811, Commander Porter took command of the USS Essex. James Farragut became the youngest officer ever to serve in the United States Navy. At age 11, Farragut fought in the War of 1812 under his adoptive father, aboard the Essex.

The adoption was informal, and James retained his Farragut family surname. But in 1812, he changed his first name to David, in honor of the man who raised and trained him.

Proving himself

By July 5, of 1813, Captain Porter and the Essex had captured a small fleet of British whaling vessels. Finding himself with too many captured ships and too few American officers to man them, Porter gave Midshipman Farragut—who turned 12 years old on that day—command of the Alexander Barclay, a recaptured American whaler the British had seized.

The U.S. Naval Institute describes the scene:

When Midshipman Farragut and six seamen boarded the whaling ship, her captain, Gideon Randall, was informed that he would relinquish command to the young midshipman and assist as navigator. His mate would be the ship’s handler.

As might be expected, Randall threatened to navigate the vessel to the “far corners of the globe” before he would take orders from a “dammed nutshell,” and stormed to his cabin to fetch his pistols. Farragut met this first challenge to his authority with fiery resolve. He sharply barked out orders to fill the sails. The boatswain’s mate, somewhat startled, yelled “Aye, aye, sir!”

Farragut then sent a messenger to the captain’s cabin to inform the dethroned skipper that if he appeared on the deck with a weapon of any kind, he would be thrown overboard. The messenger tactfully advised Randall to stay put or come up empty-handed. Randall placed discretion ahead of valor and wisely followed the messenger’s counsel. The original crew of the Alexander Barclay, not especially fond of their former skipper, smiled at the courage of this young officer. Farragut had just passed through one of the many portals to manhood. After delivering the recaptured ship to Valparaiso [Chile] for safekeeping, he rejoined the Essex as a midshipman.

Farragut, under Porter’s command, took part in establishing the Navy’s first base in the Pacific: Fort Madison, on Nuku Hiva island.

Numerous adventures and successes mark the 59-year naval career of David Glasgow Farragut. He earned the honor of escorting the Marquis de Lafayette to France on the USS Brandywine in August 1825. President Andrew Jackson sent Farragut to South Carolina during the Nullification Crisis in 1832. Farragut sailed in the Caribbean, fought pirates in the West Indies, served in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), and was assigned to establish the first naval base on the west coast: Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California.

Family life

Farragut was married to Susan Caroline Merchant from 1824 until her death on December 27, 1840. The two had no children. He married Virginia Dorcas Loyall, from a prominent Norfolk, Virginia family three years later. She gave birth to their only child, a son named Loyall, in 1844.

After the establishment of Mare Island Naval Yard was complete, Farragut remained in California until 1868. He then spent the winter of 1860-1861 in Norfolk, Virginia, awaiting orders.

Choosing sides

With the nation torn over the issue of slavery, Farragut would have to choose between his loyalty to the United States Navy he’d served for 60 years, or to the states where he was born and raised—the seceding Confederacy. Unlike so many others, for David Farragut this was not a difficult decision. He gave his loyalty to the Union.

The day after the state of Virginia seceded, the Farragut family left Norfolk and settled in Hastings-on-Hudson, fifteen miles upstream of New York City. When a commander was needed for a flotilla directed against New Orleans in late 1861, Farragut was given command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron.

Farragut took the port city of New Orleans, controlling the all-important mouth of the Mississippi River for the Union and devastating Confederate supply routes. To reward his loyalty, the Union created a new rank of Rear Admiral.

The order that echoes through history

Farragut’s fame would rise—and endure—thanks to a bold command he gave during the Battle of Mobile Bay, in the shallow inlet on the coast of Alabama. The American Battlefield Trust describes what took place on August 5, 1864:

The Confederates had placed a large number of “torpedoes” in the waters. The monitor USS Tecumseh struck a torpedo and began to sink, causing the rest of the fleet to back away from the mine-infested waters.

At the time, Farragut was watching the battle while lashed to the rigging of his flagship (USS Hartford) [for a better view]. Alarmed, Farragut shouted, “What’s the trouble?”  The USS Brooklyn answered, “Torpedoes!” Farragut shouted back, “Damn the torpedoes! Four Bells! Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!” In the end, Farragut’s fleet defeated Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan and the last open seaport on the Gulf of Mexico fell to the Union.

Farragut was promoted to Vice Admiral in December of 1864, and Admiral in July of 1866—making him the first Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Remaining on active duty, he was given command of the European Squadron, sailing on the frigate USS Franklin to promote peaceful relations with the United States.

His final assignment took Admiral Farragut to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to manage the memorial ceremonies honoring philanthropist George Peabody. Weak from a series of heart attacks suffered the previous winter, Admiral David Glasgow Farragut died on August 14, 1870, in a hospital at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. He was 69 years old.

In one biography, entitled The Life of David Glasgow Farragut, First Admiral of the United States Navy, the author describes the assessments of Admiral Farragut’s peers:

According to the testimony of his contemporaries in the service, he was one of the best informed and most painstaking officers in his profession, irreproachable in his morals, earnest and energetic, admitting no such word as fail in the vocabulary of duty.

One of America’s most celebrated naval heroes, the Admiral Farragut Monument was built in his honor, in Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, Cornish, New Hampshire. He is laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery, in the Bronx, New York.

Sources
American Battlefield Trust: David G. Farragut
Naval History and Heritage Command: David Glasgow Farragut
Library of Congress: The Life of David Glasgow Farragut, First Admiral of the United States Navy
U.S. Naval Institute: The Spirit of the Essex
Tennessee Encyclopedia: David Glasgow Farragut
Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, Essential Civil War Curriculum: David Glasgow Farragut
Burial Site: Find a Grave