The Project Gutenberg EBook of Admiral Farragut, by A. T. Mahan
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Title: Admiral Farragut
Author: A. T. Mahan
Release Date: January 8, 2009 [EBook #27750]
Language: English
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* * * * *
ADMIRAL FARRAGUT
Great Commanders
_EDITED BY JAMES GRANT WILSON_
* * * * *
The Great Commanders Series.
EDITED BY GENERAL JAMES GRANT WILSON.
Admiral Farragut. By Captain A. T. Mahan, U. S. N.
General Taylor. By General O. O. Howard, U. S. A.
General Jackson. By James Parton.
General Greene. By Captain Francis V. Greene, U. S. A.
General J. E. Johnston. By Robert M. Hughes, of Virginia.
General Thomas. By Henry Coppee, LL. D.
General Scott. By General Marcus J. Wright.
General Washington. By General Bradley T. Johnson.
General Lee. By General Fitzhugh Lee.
General Hancock. By General Francis J. Walker.
General Sheridan. By General Henry E. Davies.
General Grant. By General James Grant Wilson.
_IN PREPARATION._
General Sherman. By General Manning F. Force.
Admiral Porter. By James R. Soley, late Assist. Sec. of Navy.
General McClellan. By General Peter S. Michie.
Commodore Paul Jones. By Admiral Richard W. Meade.
New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue.
* * * * *
[Illustration: D. G. Farragut]
D. Appleton & Co.
* * * * *
GREAT COMMANDERS
ADMIRAL FARRAGUT
BY CAPTAIN A. T. MAHAN, U. S. NAVY
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL WAR COLLEGE
AUTHOR OF THE GULF AND INLAND WATERS, AND OF
THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY, 1660-1783
_WITH PORTRAIT AND MAPS_
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1897
* * * * *
Copyright, 1892,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
_All rights reserved._
Electrotyped and Printed
at the Appleton Press, U.S.A.
* * * * *
PREFACE.
In preparing this brief sketch of the most celebrated of our naval
heroes, the author has been aided by the very full and valuable
biography published in 1878 by his son, Mr. Loyall Farragut, who has
also kindly supplied for this work many additional details of interest
from the Admiral's journals and correspondence, and from other
memoranda. For the public events connected with Farragut's career,
either directly or indirectly, recourse has been had to the official
papers, as well as to the general biographical and historical literature
bearing upon the war, which each succeeding year brings forth in books
or magazines. The author has also to express his thanks to Rear-Admiral
Thornton A. Jenkins, formerly chief-of-staff to Admiral Farragut; to
Captain John Crittenden Watson, formerly his flag-lieutenant; and to his
friend General James Grant Wilson, for interesting anecdotes and
reminiscences.
A. T. M.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--Family and Early Life, 1801-1811 1
II.--Cruise of the Essex, 1811-1814 10
III.--Midshipman to Lieutenant, 1814-1825 51
IV.--Lieutenant, 1825-1841 69
V.--Commander and Captain, 1841-1860 89
VI.--The Question of Allegiance, 1860-1861 106
VII.--The New Orleans Expedition, 1862 115
VIII.--The First Advance on Vicksburg, 1862 177
IX.--The Blockade, and the Passage of Port Hudson, 1862-1863 196
X.--Mobile Bay Fight, 1864 237
XI.--Later Years and Death, 1864-1870 294
XII.--The Character of Admiral Farragut 308
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING
PAGE
Portrait of Admiral Farragut _Frontispiece_
General Map of the scene of Farragut's operations 115
Passage of Mississippi Forts 127
Passage of Vicksburg Batteries 187
Passage of Port Hudson 213
Battle of Mobile Bay 247
* * * * *
ADMIRAL FARRAGUT.
CHAPTER I.
FAMILY AND EARLY LIFE.
1801-1811.
The father of Admiral Farragut, George Farragut, was of unmixed Spanish
descent, having been born on the 29th of September, 1755, in the island
of Minorca, one of the Balearic group, where the family had been
prominent for centuries. One of his ancestors, Don Pedro Ferragut,
served with great distinction under James I, King of Aragon, in the wars
against the Moors, which resulted in their expulsion from Majorca in
1229, and from the kingdom of Valencia, in the Spanish Peninsula, in
1238. As Minorca in 1755 was a possession of the British Crown, to which
it had been ceded in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht, George Farragut was
born under the British flag; but in the following year a French
expedition, fitted out in Toulon, succeeding in wresting from the hands
of Great Britain both the island and its excellent fortified harbor,
Port Mahon, one of the most advantageous naval stations in the
Mediterranean. It was in the course of the operations which resulted in
this conquest of Minorca by the French that the British fleet, under
the command of Admiral Byng, met with the check for which the admiral
paid the penalty of his life a few months later. At the close of the
Seven Years' War, in 1763, the island was restored to Great Britain, in
whose hands it remained until 1782, when it was again retaken by the
French and Spaniards.
George Farragut, however, had long before severed his connection with
his native country. In March, 1776, he emigrated to North America, which
was then in the early throes of the Revolutionary struggle. Having grown
to manhood a subject to Great Britain, but alien in race and feeling, he
naturally espoused the cause of the colonists, and served gallantly in
the war. At its end he found himself, like the greater part of his
adopted countrymen, called to the task of building up his own fortunes,
neglected during its continuance; and, by so doing, to help in restoring
prosperity to the new nation. A temper naturally adventurous led him to
the border lines of civilization; and it was there, in the region where
North Carolina and eastern Tennessee meet, that the years succeeding the
Revolution appear mainly to have been passed. It was there also that he
met and married his wife, Elizabeth Shine, a native of Dobbs County,
North Carolina, where she was born on the 7th of June, 1765. At the time
of their marriage the country where they lived was little more than a
wilderness, still infested by Indians; and one of the earliest
recollections of the future admiral was being sent into the loft, on the
approach of a party of these, while his mother with an axe guarded the
door, which she had barricaded. This unsettled and dangerous condition
necessitated a constant state of preparedness, with some organization
of the local militia, among whom George Farragut held the rank of a
major of cavalry, in which capacity he served actively for some time.
While resident in Tennessee, George Farragut became known to Mr. W. C.
C. Claiborne, at that time the member for Tennessee in the National
House of Representatives. Mr. Claiborne in 1801 became governor of
Mississippi Territory; and in 1803, when the United States purchased
from France the great region west of the Mississippi River, to which the
name Louisiana was then applied, he received the cession of the newly
acquired possession. This was soon after divided into two parts by a
line following the thirty-third parallel of north latitude, and
Claiborne became governor of the southern division, which was called the
Territory of Orleans. To this may probably be attributed the removal of
the Farraguts to Louisiana from eastern Tennessee. The region in which
the latter is situated, remote both from tide-water and from the great
river by which the Western States found their way to the Gulf of Mexico,
was singularly unfitted to progress under the conditions of
communication in that day; and it long remained among the most backward
and primitive portions of the United States. The admiral's father, after
his long experience there, must have seen that there was little hope of
bettering his fortunes. Whatever the cause, he moved to Louisiana in the
early years of the century, and settled his family in New Orleans. He
himself received the appointment of sailing-master in the navy, and was
ordered to command a gun-boat employed in the river and on the adjacent
sounds. A dispute had arisen between the United States and the Spanish
Government, to whom the Floridas then belonged, as to the line of
demarcation between the two territories; and George Farragut was at
times employed with his vessel in composing disturbances and forwarding
the views of his own government.
David Glasgow, the second son of George Farragut, and the future Admiral
of the United States Navy, was born before the removal to Louisiana, on
the 5th of July, 1801, at Campbell's Station, near Knoxville, in eastern
Tennessee. In 1808, while living in his father's house on the banks of
Lake Pontchartrain, an incident occurred which led directly to his
entrance into the navy, and at the same time brought into curious
coincidence two families, not before closely associated, whose names are
now among the most conspicuous of those in the annals of the navy. While
George Farragut was fishing one day on Lake Pontchartrain he fell in
with a boat, also engaged in fishing, in which was an old gentleman
prostrated by the heat of the sun. He took him to his own house, where
he was cared for and nursed until he died, never having recovered
strength sufficient to be removed. The sufferer was David Porter, the
father of the Captain David Porter who afterward commanded the frigate
Essex in her adventurous and celebrated cruise in the Pacific during the
years 1813 and 1814, and grandfather of the still more distinguished
Admiral David D. Porter, who, over half a century later, served with
David Farragut on the Mississippi in the civil war, and in the end
succeeded him as second admiral of the navy. Captain, or rather, as he
then was, Commander Porter being in charge of the naval station at New
Orleans, his father, who had served actively afloat during the
Revolution and had afterward been appointed by Washington a
sailing-master in the navy, had obtained orders to the same station, in
order to be with, though nominally under, his son. The latter deeply
felt the kindness shown to his father by the Farraguts. Mrs. Farragut
herself died of yellow fever, toward the end of Mr. Porter's illness,
the funeral of the two taking place on the same day; and Commander
Porter soon after visited the family at their home and offered to adopt
one of the children. Young David Farragut then knew little of the
element upon which his future life was to be passed; but, dazzled by the
commander's uniform and by that of his own elder brother William, who
had received a midshipman's warrant a short time before, he promptly
decided to accept an offer which held forth to him the same brilliant
prospects. The arrangement was soon concluded. Porter promised to be to
him always a friend and guardian; and the admiral wrote in after life,
"I am happy to have it in my power to say, with feelings of the warmest
gratitude, that he ever was to me all that he promised." The boy
returned to New Orleans with his new protector, in whose house he
thenceforth resided, making occasional trips across Lake Pontchartrain
to a plantation which his father had purchased on the Pascagoula River.
A few months later Commander Porter appears to have made a visit to
Washington on business connected with the New Orleans station, and to
have taken Farragut with him to be placed at school, for which there
were few advantages at that time in Louisiana. The boy then took what
proved to be a last farewell of his father. George Farragut continued to
live in Pascagoula, and there he died on the 4th of June, 1817, in his
sixty-second year.
The trip north was made by Porter and his ward in the bomb-ketch
Vesuvius, a stop being made at Havana; where the commander had business
growing out of the seizure by him in the Mississippi River of some
French privateers, for which both Spain and the United States had
offered a reward. At Havana the lad heard of an incident, only too
common in those days, which set his heart, as those of his countrymen
were fast being set, against Great Britain. Presuming confidently upon
the naval weakness of the United States, and arguing from their long
forbearance that insults to the flag would be indefinitely borne for the
sake of the profitable commerce which neutrality insured, Great Britain,
in order to support the deadly struggle in which she was engaged with
France, had endeavored to shut off the intercourse of her enemy with the
rest of the world, by imposing upon neutral trade restrictions before
unheard of and without justification in accepted international law. Both
the justice and policy of these restrictions were contested by a large
party of distinguished Englishmen; but upon another principle men of all
parties in the old country were practically agreed, and that was the
right of the British Government to compel the services of British seamen
wherever found. From this grew the claim, which few Englishmen then
dared to disavow, that their ships of war could rightfully take from any
neutral merchant ship any seaman of British birth who was found on
board. In estimating this monstrous pretention, Americans have shown
little willingness to allow for the desperate struggle in which Great
Britain was involved, and the injury which she suffered from the number
of her seamen who, to escape impressment in their home ports and the
confinement of ships of war, sought service in neutral merchant ships.
Her salvation depended upon her navy; and seamen were so scarce as
seriously to injure its efficiency and threaten paralysis. This was
naturally no concern of the United States, which set up its simple,
undeniable right to the protection the neutral flag should give to all
persons and goods under it, which were not involved in any infraction of
belligerent rights. The straits of Great Britain, however, were too dire
to allow the voice of justice to override that of expediency. Had the
United States Navy been a force as respectable in numbers as it was in
efficiency, the same dictates of expediency might have materially
controlled the action of her opponent; might have prevented outrage and
averted war. As it was, right was set up against right--the right of the
neutral flag on the one hand against the right of a country to the
service of all her citizens on the other. The United States protested
and wrote with all the conviction of a state upon whose side justice
was. She resorted to measure after measure of peaceable coercion; but
she had no military force to show upon the sea, and her utterances were
consequently too uncertain to command respect. Great Britain continued
to take seamen from American merchant ships upon the plea of her right
to impress British seamen in any place; and, though the claim to detain
or search ships of war had been explicitly disavowed after the
Chesapeake affair of 1807, scant deference was shown to the vessels of a
power so little able to stand up for itself. In a day when most vessels
carried some guns for self-defense, it was a simple matter to ignore the
national character of an armed ship and to stop it unceremoniously. Of
such an insult Farragut heard during this stay in Havana. The brig
Vixen, of the United States Navy, had been fired into by a British ship
of war. "This," wrote Farragut in his journal, "was the first thing that
caused in me bad feeling toward the English nation. I was too young to
know anything about the Revolution; but I looked upon this as an insult
to be paid in kind, and was anxious to discharge the debt with
interest." It is scarcely necessary to say how keenly this feeling was
shared by his seniors in the service, to whom the Vixen incident was but
one among many bitter wrongs which the policy of their Government had
forced them humbly to swallow.
After their arrival in Washington Farragut was put to school, where he
remained until Porter was relieved from the New Orleans station. During
his stay at the capital he was presented by his guardian to the
Secretary of the Navy, Paul Hamilton, of South Carolina; who, after
ascertaining his wish to enter the service, promised him a midshipman's
warrant when he should be ten years old. The promise was more than kept,
for the warrant, when issued, was dated December 17, 1810; the future
admiral thus finding himself at least a titular officer, in the service
which he was afterward to adorn, when not quite nine and a half years of
age. Although at that time, and in earlier generations, boys, no older
than Farragut then was, were not infrequently turned aboard ship to
fight their own way in life, Porter did not so construe his duties to
his charge. In the latter part of 1810 he finally left New Orleans and
went North again, this time by the Mississippi River and in a gun-boat.
The voyage to Pittsburg against the swift current took three months; and
it was not till toward the close of the year that he and his family were
again settled in their home at Chester, in Pennsylvania, the birthplace
of Mrs. Porter. Farragut was then removed from Washington and put to
school in Chester, there to remain until his guardian should be able to
take him to sea under his own eyes, in a vessel commanded by himself.
This opportunity was not long in arriving.
CHAPTER II.
CRUISE OF THE ESSEX.
1811-1814.
Child though Farragut was when he obtained his nominal admission to the
navy, he had but a short time to wait before entering upon its stern
realities--realities far harsher in that day than now. The difficulties
that had existed between the United States and Great Britain, ever since
the outbreak of war between the latter and France in 1793, were now fast
drifting both nations to the collision of 1812. The Non-intercourse Act
of March, 1809, forbidding American merchant ships to enter any port of
France or Great Britain, as a retaliation for the outrages inflicted by
both upon American commerce, had expired by its own limitations in May,
1810, when commerce with the two countries resumed its natural course;
but Congress had then passed a proviso to the effect that if either
power should, before March 3, 1811, recall its offensive measures, the
former act should, within three months of such revocation, revive
against the one that maintained its edicts. Napoleon had contrived to
satisfy the United States Government that his celebrated Berlin and
Milan decrees had been recalled on the 1st of November; and,
consequently, non-intercourse with Great Britain was again proclaimed
in February, 1811. The immediate result was that two British frigates
took their station off New York, where they overhauled all merchant
ships, capturing those bound to ports of the French Empire, and
impressing any members of the crews considered to be British subjects.
The United States then fitted out a squadron, to be commanded by
Commodore John Rodgers; whose orders, dated May 6, 1811, were to cruise
off the coast and to protect American commerce from unlawful
interference by British and French cruisers. Ten days later occurred the
collision between the commodore's ship, the President, and the British
corvette Little Belt. Of Rodgers's squadron the frigate Essex, expected
shortly to arrive from Europe, was to be one; and Commander Porter, who
did not obtain his promotion to the grade of captain until the following
year, was ordered to commission her. He took his ward with him, and the
two joined the ship at Norfolk, Virginia, in August, 1811, when the
young midshipman had just passed his tenth birthday. Long years
afterward Mrs. Farragut was told by Commodore Bolton, one of the
lieutenants of the Essex, that he remembered to have found the little
boy overcome with sleep upon his watch, leaning against a gun-carriage,
and had covered him with his pea-jacket to protect him from the night
air. An amusing incident, however, which occurred during these first
months of his naval career showed that the spirit of battle was already
stirring. Porter, probably with a view to keep the lad more immediately
under his own eye, had made him midshipman of his gig, as the captain's
special boat is called. On one occasion he was sent in to the wharf, to
wait for the captain and bring him to the ship when he came. A crowd of
dock-loungers gradually collected, and the youngster who stood erect in
the boat, doubtless looking pleasedly conscious of his new uniform and
importance, became the object of audible comment upon his personal
appearance. The boat's crew sat silent but chafing, the bowman holding
on with his boat-hook, until one loafer proceeded from witticism to
practical joking by sprinkling the midshipman with an old water-pot.
Quick as look the bowman caught his boot-hook in the culprit's pocket
and dragged him into the boat, while the rest of the crew, by this time
spoiling for a fight, seized their stretchers, jumped ashore, and began
laying on right and left. Farragut, so far from restraining, went with
them, waving his dirk and cheering them on. The victorious seamen fought
their way up to Market Square, where the police interfered, arresting
all parties, and the little officer was formally bound over to keep the
peace.
The Hartford, upon which Farragut first hoisted his admiral's flag, has
obtained a particular interest from its close association with the whole
of his course of victory; and the Essex, a ship of very different type,
would attract attention as the one that cradled his career, and
witnessed the part of it which is only second in excitement to his
exploits as a commander-in-chief, had she no special claims of her own
to notice. But the Essex, both in her origin and through her subsequent
history, especially when under Porter's command, was a marked ship. She
was an offspring of the quarrel between the United States and the French
Republic, which arose out of the extravagant demands made by the latter
upon the compliance of her former ally, in consequence of the service
which it was claimed had been rendered during the Revolutionary War.
Ignoring the weakness of the American Republic, and the dependence of a
large section of the country upon commerce, the French Government had
expected that it should resist, even by force, the seizure by British
cruisers of French property in American vessels, and thus bring on
hostilities with Great Britain; and that, although the United States
Government admitted the practice of capturing enemy's property in
neutral ships, however objectionable in theory, to be part of the
traditional and recognized law of nations. Going on from step to step,
in the vain endeavor by some means to injure the maritime predominance
of Great Britain, which defied the efforts both of their navy and of
their privateers, the French Legislature in January, 1798, decreed that
any neutral vessel which should be found to have on board, not merely
British property, but property, to whomsoever belonging, which was grown
or manufactured in England or her colonies, should be a lawful prize to
French cruisers. This extravagant claim, which not only seized goods
that had been heretofore and by all others accounted free, but also,
contrary to precedent, confiscated the vessel as well as the cargo,
broke down the patience of the United States, where the Government was
then still in the hands of the Federalists, whose sympathies were rather
British than French. Nearly a year before, President Adams had called a
special meeting of Congress and recommended an increase of the navy, to
the numerical weakness of which was due the recklessness with which both
Great Britain and France inflicted insult and injury upon our seamen
and upon our commerce. That the United States of that day, so inferior
in wealth and numbers to both belligerents, should dream of entering the
lists with either singly, was perhaps hopeless; but through the
indifference of Congress the navy of a people, then second only to the
English as maritime carriers, was left so utterly impotent that it
counted for naught, even as an additional embarrassment to those with
which the contending powers were already weighted. When, therefore, in
retaliation for the seizures made under the French decree of January,
1798, Congress, without declaring war, directed the capture of French
armed vessels, wherever found on the high seas, it became necessary to
begin building a navy which to some slight degree might carry out the
order. An act, intended to hasten the increase of the navy, was passed
in June, 1798, authorizing the President to accept such vessels as might
be built by the citizens for the national service, and to issue
six-per-cent stock to indemnify the subscribers.
Under this law the Essex was built in Salem, Massachusetts, by a
subscription raised among the citizens. As the project grew, and the
amount likely to be obtained became manifest, the purpose to which it
should be devoted was determined to be the building of a frigate of
thirty-two guns; one of the well-recognized, but smaller, classes under
which the vessels called frigates were subdivided. Except the work of
the naval architect proper, the model and the superintendence, which
were undertaken by a gentleman from Portsmouth, everything in the
building and equipment was portioned out among Salem men, and was
supplied from the resources of the town or of the surrounding country.
During the winter of 1798 to 1799 the sleds of all the farmers in the
neighborhood were employed bringing in the timber for the frames and
planking of the new ship. The rigging was manufactured by the three
ropewalks then in the place, each undertaking one mast; and the sails
were of cloth so carefully selected and so admirably cut that it was
noticed the frigate never again sailed so well as with this first suit.
When the rope cables, which alone were then used by ships instead of the
chains of the present day, were completed, the workmen took them upon
their shoulders and marched with them in procession to the vessel,
headed by a drum and fife. The building of the Essex was thus an effort
of city pride and local patriotism; and the launch, which took place on
the 30th of September, 1799, became an occasion of general rejoicing and
holiday, witnessed by thousands of spectators and greeted by salutes
from the battery and shipping. The new frigate measured 850 tons, and
cost, independent of guns and stores, somewhat over $75,000. Her battery
in her early history was composed of twenty-six long twelve-pounders on
the main deck, with sixteen thirty-two-pound carronades and two chase
guns on the deck above. At a later day, and during the cruise under
Porter, this was changed to forty thirty-two-pound carronades and six
long twelves. This battery, though throwing a heavier weight, was of
shorter range than the former; and therefore, though advantageous to a
ship able to choose her position, was a fatal source of weakness to a
slow or crippled vessel, as was painfully apparent in the action where
the Essex was lost.
Notwithstanding the zeal and emulation aroused by the appeal to Salem
municipal pride, and notwithstanding the comparative rapidity with
which ships could then be built, the Essex in her day illustrated the
folly of deferring preparation until hostilities are at hand. The first
French prize was taken in June, 1798, but it was not till December 22d
of the following year that the Essex sailed out of Salem harbor,
commanded then by Edward Preble, one of the most distinguished officers
of the early American navy. Newport was her first port of arrival. From
there she sailed again on the 6th of January, 1800, in company with the
frigate Congress, both being bound for Batavia, whence they were to
convoy home a fleet of merchant ships; for in the predatory warfare
encouraged by the French Directory, the protection of our commerce from
its cruisers was a duty even more important than the retaliatory action
against the latter, to which the _quasi_ war of 1798 was confined. When
six days out, the Congress was dismasted. The Essex went on alone, and
was thus the first ship-of-war to carry the flag of the United States
around the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean. A dozen years later
the bold resolution of Porter to take her alone and unsupported into the
Pacific, during the cruise upon which young Farragut was now embarking,
secured for this little frigate the singular distinction of being the
first United States ship-of-war to double Cape Horn as well as that of
Good Hope. In the intervening period the Essex had been usefully, but
not conspicuously, employed in the Mediterranean in the operations
against Tripoli and in protecting trade. In 1811, however, she was again
an actor in an event of solemn significance. Upon her return to the
United States, where Porter was waiting to take command, she bore as a
passenger William Pinkney, the late Minister to Great Britain; who,
after years of struggle, on his part both resolute and dignified, to
obtain the just demands of the United States, had now formally broken
off the diplomatic relations between the two powers and taken an
unfriendly leave of the British Government.
Being just returned from a foreign cruise, the Essex needed a certain
amount of refitting before again going to sea under her new commander;
but in October, 1811, she sailed for a short cruise on the coast, in
furtherance of the Government's orders to Commodore Rodgers to protect
American commerce from improper interference. Orders of such a character
were likely at any moment to result in a collision, especially in the
hands of a gallant, hasty officer scarcely out of his first youth; for
Porter was at this time but thirty-one, and for years had felt, with the
keen resentment of a military man, the passive submission to insult
shown by Jefferson's government. No meeting, however, occurred; nor were
the months that elapsed before the outbreak of war marked by any event
of special interest except a narrow escape from shipwreck on Christmas
eve, when the Essex nearly dragged on shore in a furious northeast gale
under the cliffs at Newport. Farragut has left on record in his journal,
with the proper pride of a midshipman in his ship, that the Essex was
the smartest vessel in the squadron, and highly complimented as such by
Commodore Rodgers. In acknowledgment of the skill and activity of his
seamen, Porter divided the ship's company into three watches, instead of
the usual two--an arrangement only possible when the smaller number in a
watch is compensated by their greater individual efficiency. This
arrangement continued throughout the cruise, until the ship was captured
in 1814.
On the 18th of June, 1812, war was at last declared against Great
Britain. The Essex had again been cruising during the spring months; but
the serious character of the new duties before her made a thorough refit
necessary, and she was not able to sail with the squadron under
Commodore Rodgers, which put to sea from New York on the 21st of June.
On the 3d of July, however, she got away, Porter having the day before
received his promotion to post-captain, then the highest grade in the
United States Navy. The ship cruised off the coast, making several
prizes of vessels much inferior to herself in force, and on the 7th of
September anchored within the capes of the Delaware. Much to Porter's
surprise and annoyance, although ready to sail at once if furnished with
provisions, none reached him. The ship was therefore taken up the
Delaware and anchored off Chester, where she was prepared for a long and
distant cruise directed against British commerce, the suggestion of
which Porter believed came first from himself. By this a squadron
consisting of the Constitution, Essex, and Hornet sloop-of-war, under
the command of Commodore Bainbridge in the first-named frigate, were to
proceed across the Atlantic to the Cape Verde Islands, thence to the
South Atlantic in the neighborhood of Brazil, and finally to the
Pacific, to destroy the British whale-fishery there. The plan was well
conceived, and particularly was stamped with the essential mark of all
successful commerce-destroying, the evasion of the enemy's cruisers;
for, though the American cruisers were primed to fight, yet an action,
even if successful, tended to cripple their powers of pursuit. A rapid
transit through the Atlantic, with an ultimate destination to the then
little-frequented Pacific, was admirably calculated to conceal for a
long time the purposes of this commerce-destroying squadron. As it
happened, both the Constitution and Hornet met and captured enemy's
cruisers off the coast of Brazil, and then returned to the United
States. Farragut thus lost the opportunity of sharing in any of the
victories of 1812, to be a partaker in one of the most glorious of
defeats.
The Constitution and Hornet being in Boston, and the Essex in the
Delaware, it became necessary to appoint for the three a distant place
of meeting, out of the usual cruising grounds of the enemy, in order
that the ships, whose first object was to escape crippling, could pass
rapidly through the belt of British cruisers then girding the coast of
the United States. The brilliant record made by United States ships in
their single combats with the enemy during this war should not be
allowed to blind our people to the fact that, from their numerical
inferiority, they were practically prisoners in their own ports; and,
like other prisoners, had to break jail to gain freedom to act. The
distant and little frequented Cape Verde group, off the African coast,
was therefore designated as the first rendezvous for Bainbridge's
squadron, and the lonely island of Fernando Noronha, off the coast of
Brazil, close under the equator, as the second. Both of these places
were then possessions of Portugal, the ally of Great Britain though
neutral as to the United States. With these orders the Constitution and
Hornet sailed from Boston on the 26th of October, 1812, and the Essex
two days later from the capes of the Delaware. Their course in the
passage was to be so directed as to cross at the most favorable points
the routes of British commerce.
On the 27th of November the Essex, after an uneventful voyage, anchored
at Porto Praya, in the Cape Verdes, where she remained five days.
Receiving no news of Bainbridge, Porter sailed again for Fernando
Noronha. On the 11th of December a British packet, the Nocton, was
captured, and from her was taken $55,000 in specie--an acquisition which
contributed much to facilitate the distant cruise contemplated by
Porter. Four days later the Essex was off Fernando Noronha, and sent a
boat ashore, which returned with a letter addressed ostensibly to Sir
James Yeo, of the British frigate Southampton; but between the lines,
written in sympathetic ink, Porter found a message from Bainbridge,
directing him to cruise off Rio and wait for the Constitution. On the
29th of December he was in the prescribed station, and cruised in the
neighborhood for some days, although he knew a British ship-of-the-line,
the Montagu, was lying in Rio; but only one British prize was taken, the
merchant vessels of that nation usually waiting in port until they could
sail under convoy of a ship-of-war. Attempting to get to windward in a
heavy sea, the Essex was much racked and injured some of her spars, and
her captain therefore decided to bear away for refit to St.
Catherine's--a port five hundred miles south of Rio Janeiro, which had
been named in his instructions as a contingent rendezvous. On the 20th
of January, 1813, the Essex anchored there, and began the work of
refitting and filling with water and fresh provisions. A few days after
her arrival a small Portuguese vessel came in, bringing an account of
the capture by the Montagu of an American corvette, which Porter
supposed to be the Hornet, as well as a rumor of the action between the
Constitution and the Java, and a report that re-enforcements were
reaching the British naval force on the station. The history of past
wars convinced Porter that the neutrality of the Portuguese port in
which he was lying would not be respected by the enemy. In a very few
days his presence there must become known; any junction with his
consorts was rendered most unlikely by the news just received, and he
determined at once to undertake alone the mission for which the three
ships had been dispatched. With admirable promptitude, both of decision
and action, the Essex sailed the same night for the Pacific.
From the time of leaving the United States the crew of the ship had been
restricted to that close and economical allowance of provisions and
water which was necessary to a vessel whose home ports were blocked by
enemy's cruisers, and which in every quarter of the globe might expect
to meet the fleets and influence of a powerful foe. The passage round
Cape Horn, always stormy, was both a long and severe strain to a vessel
bound from east to west, and dependent wholly upon sail; for the winds
prevail from the westward. The utmost prudence was required in
portioning out both food and water, and of bread there remained, on
leaving St. Catherine's, only enough for three months at half
allowance--that is, at half a pound per day. The boy Farragut thus found
himself, at the outset of his career, exposed to one of the severest
tests of his arduous calling--a long and stormy passage, made in the
teeth of violent gales, and with a crew reduced to the scantiest
possible allowance of food, under conditions when the system most
demands support. In his journal he speaks, as Porter does in his, of the
severe suffering and dreadful weather experienced. For twenty-one days
the Essex struggled with the furious blasts, the heavy seas, and the
bitter weather, which have made the passage round Cape Horn proverbial
for hardship among seamen. On the 3d of March, he writes, a sea was
shipped which burst in, on one side of the ship and from one end to the
other, all the ports through which the guns are fired, and which, for
such a passage, are closed and securely fastened. One boat on the
weather side was driven in on deck, and that on the opposite carried
overboard; but with great difficulty the latter was saved. Large
quantities of water rushed below, leading those there to imagine that
the ship was sinking. "This was the only instance in which I ever saw a
real good seaman paralyzed by fear at the dangers of the sea. Several of
the sailors were seen on their knees at prayer; but most were found
ready to do their duty. They were called on deck, and came promptly, led
by William Kingsbury, the boatswain's mate. Long shall I remember the
cheering sound of his stentorian voice, which resembled the roaring of a
lion rather than that of a human being, when he told them: 'D--n their
eyes, to put their best foot forward, as there was one side of the ship
left yet.'"
Cape Horn, however, was at last passed and enough ground gained to the
westward to allow the Essex again to head north. On the 11th of March
she was off the city of Valparaiso, in Chile. As far as Porter then
knew, Chile was still a province of Spain, and Spain was the ally of
Great Britain; whose armies for four years past had been engaged in war
in the Peninsula, to shake from it the grip of Napoleon. There had been
trouble also between Spain and the United States about the Floridas. The
first lieutenant of the Essex was therefore first sent ashore to see
what reception would be given, and returned with the satisfactory
intelligence that Chile was in revolution against the mother country,
and was ready heartily to welcome a ship-of-war belonging to the
American Republic. He also brought the news that the Viceroy of Spain in
Peru had fitted out privateers against Chilian commerce; and that these,
on the plea of being allies of Great Britain, had begun to capture
American whalers. It seemed, therefore, that the Essex had arrived as
opportunely for the protection of United States interests as for the
injury of British commerce.
Several days were lost in these preliminaries, so that it was not till
the 15th that the anchor was dropped in Valparaiso. Despite the cordial
reception given, Porter was in haste to reach his scene of action in the
North and sailed again on the 22d. Four days later he met a Peruvian
privateer, the Nereyda, the captain of which was deceived by the Essex
hoisting British colors. Coming on board the frigate, he stated freely
that the Spaniards considered themselves the allies of Great Britain,
that he was himself cruising for American whalers, and had on board at
the moment the crews of two of these which he had taken. Having
extracted all the information he wanted, Porter undeceived the
privateersman, took possession of the ship, threw overboard her guns
and ammunition, and then released her, with a letter to the Viceroy;
which, backed by the presence of the Essex, was calculated to insure
peaceable treatment to American vessels.
There were at this time on the coast of Peru and in the neighboring
waters twenty-three American whalers, worth, with their cargoes, two and
a half million dollars, and mostly unarmed, having left home in a time
of peace. Of English ships there were twenty; but, their country having
been long at war, these were generally armed, and in many cases provided
with letters of marque authorizing them to act as privateers and capture
vessels hostile to their Crown. In this state of things, so unpromising
for American interests, the arrival of the Essex entirely turned the
scales, besides stopping the Spanish depredations which had but just
begun.
On the 27th of March, off the harbor of Callao, the port of Lima, Porter
recaptured the Barclay, one of the American ships seized by the Nereyda;
but, although the frigate again disguised her nationality by hoisting
British colors, there was among the several vessels in the harbor only
one that showed the same flag. With the Barclay in company, the Essex
now stood away for the Galapagos Islands. These are a group situated
just south of the equator and some five hundred miles from the South
American coast. Uninhabited then, as for the most part they still are,
they were in 1813 a favorite rendezvous for British whalers, who had
established upon one of the islands (Charles) a means of communication
by a box nailed to a tree, which was called the post-office. They abound
in turtle, some of which weigh several hundred pounds, and form a very
valuable as well as acceptable change of diet to seamen long confined to
salt food. On the 17th of April the Essex came in sight of Chatham
Island, one of the largest, and remained cruising in the neighborhood of
the group till the beginning of June, when want of water compelled her
to go to Tumbez, a port on the continent just abreast of the Galapagos.
In this period seven British whalers were taken; so that on the 24th of
June there were anchored in Tumbez Bay, including the frigate and the
Barclay, nine vessels under Porter's command. Of these, he commissioned
one--the fastest and best, somewhat less than half the size of the Essex
herself--as a United States cruiser, under his command. She was named
the Essex Junior, carried twenty guns, of which half were long
six-pounders and half eighteen-pounder carronades, and was manned by
sixty of the Essex's crew under her first lieutenant.
The first service of the Essex Junior was to convoy to Valparaiso the
Barclay and four of the British prizes. The occasion was one of great
importance and interest to Farragut; for, though but a boy of twelve, he
was selected to command the party of seamen detailed to manage the
Barclay during this long passage. The captain of the Barclay went with
his ship, but in great discontent that the command of the seamen was
given not to himself, but to such a lad from the ship-of-war. Being a
violent-tempered old man, he attempted by bluster to overawe the boy
into surrendering his authority. "When the day arrived for our
separation from the squadron," writes Farragut in his journal, "the
captain was furious, and very plainly intimated to me that I would
'find myself off New Zealand in the morning,' to which I most decidedly
demurred. We were lying still, while the other ships were fast
disappearing from view, the commodore going north and the Essex Junior,
with her convoy, steering to the south for Valparaiso. I considered that
my day of trial had arrived (for I was a little afraid of the old
fellow, as every one else was). But the time had come for me at least to
play the man; so I mustered up courage and informed the captain that I
desired the maintopsail filled away, in order that we might close up
with the Essex Junior. He replied that he would shoot any man who dared
to touch a rope without his orders; he 'would go his own course, and had
no idea of trusting himself with a d--d nutshell'; and then he went
below for his pistols. I called my right-hand man of the crew and told
him my situation. I also informed him that I wanted the maintopsail
filled. He answered with a clear 'Ay, ay, sir!' in a manner which was
not to be misunderstood, and my confidence was perfectly restored. From
that moment I became master of the vessel, and immediately gave all
necessary orders for making sail, notifying the captain not to come on
deck with his pistols unless he wished to go overboard, for I would
really have had very little trouble in having such an order obeyed. I
made my report to Captain Downes (of the Essex Junior), on rejoining
him; and the captain also told his story, in which he endeavored to
pursuade Downes that he only tried to frighten me. I replied by
requesting Captain Downes to ask him how he succeeded; and to show him
that I did not fear him, I offered to go back and proceed with him to
Valparaiso. He was informed that I was in command, he being simply my
adviser in navigating the vessel in case of separation. So, this being
settled and understood, I returned to the Barclay, and everything went
on amicably up to our arrival in Valparaiso."
It was on the 30th of June that the little squadron sailed from Tumbez,
standing to the westward till they should reach the trade-winds; and on
the 4th of July that the Essex Junior separated, with the prizes, and
Farragut had his scene with the captain of the Barclay. As the winds on
the west coast of South America blow throughout the year from the
southward, the passage of sailing vessels in that direction is always
long; but for the same reason the return is quickly made. When,
therefore, the Essex Junior rejoined the Essex at the Galapagos, on the
30th of September, she brought comparatively recent news, and that of a
very important character. Letters from the American consul in Buenos
Ayres informed Porter that on the 5th of July the British frigate
Phoebe, of thirty-six guns, a vessel in every way of superior force to
the Essex, had sailed from Rio Janeiro for the Pacific, accompanied by
two sloops-of-war, the Cherub and Raccoon, of twenty-four guns each.
This little squadron was charged with the double mission of checking the
ravages of the Essex and of destroying the fur trade of American
citizens at the mouth of the Columbia River. From the date of their
leaving Rio these ships were not improbably now on the coast; and
allowing for time to refit after the stormy passage round the Horn, they
might be expected soon to seek Porter at the Galapagos, the headquarters
of the British whalers.
The Essex Junior brought back the prize-crews and prize-masters who had
navigated the captured ships to Valparaiso, and with the others Farragut
now rejoined the frigate. During their absence Porter had taken four
more valuable vessels. According to his information, there remained but
one uncaptured of the British whalers which centered around the islands.
The Essex had taken eleven; and among these, six carried letters of
marque from their Government, authorizing them to seize for their own
profit vessels of a nation at war with Great Britain. These powers would
doubtless have been exercised at the expense of the unprepared American
whalers but for the opportune appearance of the Essex, which had also
released the vessels of her country from the ports to which, at the time
of her arrival, they had been driven by Peruvian privateers. Porter's
work in this region was therefore finished. He had entirely broken up an
important branch of British commerce, inflicting damage estimated at
nearly three million dollars; but the coming of an enemy's force
considerably superior to his own, an event wholly beyond his control,
reversed all the conditions and imposed upon him some new line of
action. For this he was already prepared, and he took his decision with
the promptitude characteristic of the man. The commander of the British
squadron, Captain Hillyar, was personally well known to him, being an
old acquaintance in the Mediterranean; and he doubtless realized from
observation, as well as from his past record, that his enemy was not a
man to throw away, through any carelessness or false feeling of
chivalry, a single advantage conferred by his superior force. On the
other hand, Porter himself was not one quietly to submit to superiority
without an effort to regain the control which the chances of naval war
might yet throw into his hands. He was determined to fight, if any fair
chance offered; but to do so it was necessary to put his ship in the
highest state of efficiency, which could only be done by leaving the
spot where he was known to be, and, throwing the enemy off his scent,
repairing to one where the necessary work could be performed in
security. Two days after the arrival of the Essex Junior all the vessels
sailed from the Galapagos Islands for the Marquesas. On the 25th of
October they anchored at one of this group, called Nukahiva Island.
During the six weeks the Essex lay at this anchorage her crew bore a
part in several expeditions on shore, designed to protect the natives in
the neighborhood against hostile tribes in other parts of the island. In
this land fighting Farragut and his younger messmates were not allowed
to share; but were, on the contrary, compelled to attend a school
established on board of one of the prizes, with the ship's chaplain for
school-master. They were, however, permitted out of school hours and
after the day's work, which for the ship's company ended at 4 P. M., to
ramble freely in the island among the natives; considerable liberty
being allowed to all hands, who, during their year's absence from the
United States, had had little opportunity to visit any inhabited places.
Farragut here learned to swim, and the aptitude of the natives to the
water seems to have impressed him more than their other peculiarities
which have since then been so liberally described in books of travel.
"It appears as natural," he wrote, "for these islanders to swim as to
eat. I have often seen mothers take their little children, apparently
not more than two years old, down to the sea on their backs, walk
deliberately into deep water, and leave them to paddle for themselves.
To my astonishment, the little creatures could swim like young ducks."
On the 9th of December, 1813, the Essex and Essex Junior sailed for
Valparaiso with one of the prizes, leaving the others at the Marquesas.
Nothing of interest occurred during the passage, but the crew were daily
exercised at all the arms carried by the ship--with the cannon, the
muskets, and the single-sticks. The latter are for training in the use
of the broadsword or cutlass, the play with which would be too dangerous
for ordinary drills. Porter had a strong disposition to resort to
boarding and hand-to-hand fighting, believing that the very surprise of
an attack by the weaker party would go far to compensate for the
inequality of numbers. On more than one occasion already, in the
presence of superior force, he had contemplated resorting to this
desperate game; and to a ship the character of whose battery
necessitated a close approach to the enemy, the power to throw on board,
at a moment's notice, a body of thoroughly drilled and equipped
swordsmen was unquestionably of the first importance. "I have never
since been in a ship," said Farragut at a later day, "where the crew of
the old Essex was represented, but that I found them to be the best
swordsmen on board. They had been so thoroughly trained as boarders that
every man was prepared for such an emergency, with his cutlass as sharp
as a razor, a dirk made from a file by the ship's armorer, and a
pistol." With a ship well refitted and with a crew thus perfectly
drilled, Porter had done all that in him lay in the way of preparation
for victory. If he did not win, he would at least deserve to do so. For
Farragut it is interesting to notice that, in his tender youth and most
impressible years, he had before him, both in his captain and in his
ship, most admirable models. The former daring to recklessness, yet
leaving nothing to chance; fearless of responsibility, but ever
sagacious in its exercise; a rigid disciplinarian, who yet tempered
rigor by a profound knowledge of and sympathy with the peculiarities of
the men who were under him. The latter--the ship--became, as ships under
strong captains tend to become, the embodiment of the commander's
spirit. Thoroughly prepared and armed at all points, she was now
advancing at the close of her career to an audacious encounter with a
greatly superior force. Whether the enterprise was justifiable or not,
at least nothing that care could do to insure success was left to chance
or to favor. Porter might perhaps have quitted the Pacific in December,
1813, and, reaching the United States coast in the winter, have escaped
the blockade which at that season was necessarily relaxed. By doing so
he might have saved his ship; but the United States Navy would have lost
one of the most brilliant pages in its history, and its future admiral
one of the most glorious episodes in his own great career.
On the 12th of January, 1814, the Essex arrived off the coast of Chile,
making the land well to the southward--that is, to windward--of
Valparaiso. From this point of arrival she ran slowly to the northward,
looking into the old town of Concepción, between two and three hundred
miles from Valparaiso. In the latter port she anchored on the 3d of
February. The ordinary salutes and civilities with the authorities
having been exchanged, every effort was made to get the ship ready for
sea, the Essex Junior being employed cruising off the port so as to give
timely notice of the approach of an enemy; a precaution necessary at all
times, even in a neutral port, but especially so at a period when
neutral rights were being openly disregarded in every direction by both
the great belligerents, France and Great Britain. Moreover, Captain
Hillyar, though a brave and experienced officer, a favorite with Nelson,
whose esteem could not be won without high professional merit, was
reputed to have shown scanty scruples about neutral rights on a previous
occasion, when the disregard of them procured an advantage to the
enterprise he had in hand. Being sent with several armed boats to attack
two Spanish corvettes lying in the port of Barcelona, in the year 1800,
he had pulled alongside a neutral vessel, a Swede, which was standing
into the harbor; and after examining her papers in the due exercise of
his right as a belligerent, his boats hooked on to her, thus using a
neutral to tow them into the enemy's port, so that his men reached their
scene of exertion unfatigued by the oar, and for a great part of the way
protected by such respect as the Spanish batteries might show to a
neutral coerced into aiding a hostile undertaking. "Having approached
within about three quarters of a mile of the nearest battery," says the
British naval historian James, "and being reminded by two shots which
passed over the galliot that it was time to retire from the shelter of a
neutral vessel, Captain Hillyar pulled away." Both the Spanish and
Swedish Governments complained of this act, and their complaints
delayed the promotion which Hillyar's gallantry would otherwise have
won. Whatever the strict propriety of his conduct in this case, it was
sufficiently doubtful to excite a just suspicion that Hillyar would not
be deterred, by over-delicacy about the neutrality of the port, from
seizing any advantage offered him by the unwariness of his enemy; and so
the event proved.
On the 7th of February a dance was given on board the Essex, which
lasted till midnight. In order that her officers might share in the
entertainment, the Essex Junior was allowed to anchor, though in a
position to have a clear view of the sea; but, when the guests began to
depart, her commander went on board and got under way to resume his
station outside. Before the decorations of the ball-room had been taken
down, a signal was made from her that two enemy's ships were in sight. A
whole watch--one third of the Essex's crew--were then on shore, but were
quickly recalled by a gun. The ship was at once cleared for action, and
the men at their quarters, with all the rapidity to be expected from the
careful drilling they had had during their long commission. Porter
himself had gone to the lookout ship to reconnoitre the enemy. Upon his
return he found the frigate all ready for battle, it being then just an
hour and a half since the alarm was given. The Essex Junior was then
anchored in a position to support the Essex should occasion arise.
The strangers were the Phoebe and the Cherub. The third British ship,
the Raccoon, had gone north to the Columbia. As has before been said,
Captain Hillyar was an old friend of Porter's. The two men had been
thrown together in the Mediterranean, and the American had been a
frequent visitor in the other's house at Gibraltar. On one occasion
Hillyar's family had made a passage from Malta to Gibraltar in an
American ship-of-war; for in those troubled times would-be voyagers had
to avail themselves of such opportunities as offered, and the courtesy
of a large armed ship was among the most favorable. It was natural,
therefore, that, as the Phoebe stood into the harbor, Captain Hillyar
should bring his ship, the wind allowing it, close to the Essex and hail
the latter with a polite inquiry after Captain Porter's health; but it
was going rather too far, under all the circumstances, not to be content
with passing slowly under the Essex's stern, than which no more
favorable position could be found for an exchange of civil words.
Instead of so doing, the helm of the Phoebe was put down and the ship
luffed up into the wind between the Essex and the Essex Junior, the
latter lying now near the senior ship and on her starboard beam. Whether
Hillyar counted upon his own seamanship to extricate his ship from the
awkward position in which he had placed her, or whether, as the
Americans believed, he intended to attack if circumstances favored, he
soon saw that he had exposed himself to extreme peril. As the Phoebe
lost her way she naturally fell off from the wind, her bows being swept
round toward the Essex, while her stern was presented to the Essex
Junior. Both her enemies had their guns trained on her; she could use
none of hers. At the same time, in the act of falling off, she
approached the Essex; and her jib-boom, projecting far beyond her bows,
swept over the forecastle of the latter. Porter, who had been watching
the whole proceeding with great distrust, had summoned his boarders as
soon as the Phoebe luffed. The Essex at the moment was in a state of
as absolute preparation as is a musket at full cock trained on the mark,
and with the marksman's eye ranging over the sights; every man at his
post, every gun trained, matches burning, and boarders standing by. The
position was one of extreme tension. The American captain had in his
hand a chance such as in his most sanguine dreams he could scarcely have
hoped. His guns, feeble at a distance, could tell with the greatest
effect at such short range; and even if his enemy dropped an anchor, in
the great depths of Valparaiso Bay he would not fetch up till far past
the Essex. Until then he was for the moment helpless. Porter hailed that
if the ships touched he should at once attack. Hillyar kept his presence
of mind admirably at this critical juncture, replying in an indifferent
manner that he had no intention of allowing the Phoebe to fall on
board the Essex--an assurance that was well enough, and, coupled with
his nonchalant manner, served the purpose of keeping Porter in doubt as
to whether a breach of neutrality had been intended. But the British
frigate was unquestionably in a position where a seaman should not have
placed her unless he meant mischief. It is good luck, not good
management, when a ship in the Phoebe's position does not foul one in
that of the Essex. While this was passing, Farragut was witness to a
circumstance which shows by what a feather's weight scales are sometimes
turned. Of all the watch that had been on shore when the enemy appeared,
he says, one only, a mere boy, returned under the influence of liquor.
"When the Phoebe was close alongside, and all hands at quarters, the
powder-boys stationed with slow matches ready to discharge the guns, the
boarders, cutlass in hand, standing by to board in the smoke, as was our
custom at close quarters, the intoxicated youth saw, or imagined that he
saw, through the port, some one on the Phoebe grinning at him. 'My
fine fellow, I'll stop your making faces,' he exclaimed, and was just
about to fire his gun, when Lieutenant McKnight saw the movement and
with a blow sprawled him on the deck. Had that gun been fired, I am
convinced that the Phoebe would have been ours." She probably would,
for the Essex could have got in three broadsides of her twenty
thirty-two-pounder carronades before the enemy could effectively reply,
a beginning which would have reversed the odds between the two ships.
Farragut fully shared the belief of all his shipmates that an attack was
intended, in consequence of the information given to Captain Hillyar, as
he was entering, by the boat of an English merchant ship in the port,
that half the crew of the Essex was on shore. As the Phoebe luffed
through between the two Americans a turn of her helm would have landed
her on the bows of the Essex, if the latter had been caught at
disadvantage. Instead of this, she was found fully prepared. The Essex
Junior was also on the spot, while the Cherub, having drifted half a
mile to leeward, could not have taken any part till the action was
decided. Under these conditions, although their force was inferior, the
advantage was with the Americans, whose ships were anchored and cleared,
while the Phoebe still had her canvas spread and the anchoring to do,
which is a troublesome operation in water so deep as that of Valparaiso
Bay. If men's motives can be judged by their acts, Captain Hillyar
afforded Porter full justification for opening fire. He extricated
himself from a false position with consummate coolness; but his
adversary, when taken later at disadvantage, had reason to regret the
generosity with which he allowed him the benefit of the doubt as to his
intentions to respect the neutrality of the port. As it was, when the
two ships were almost touching, the Englishman threw his sails to the
mast, and, backing clear of the Essex, anchored finally some distance
astern.
The two British ships remained in port for a few days, during which
their captains called upon Captain Porter on shore, where he was then
living in the house of a gentleman named Blanco; and an amicable
intercourse also grew up between the officers and crews of the two
parties. Hillyar, however, told Porter frankly that he should not throw
away the advantage given by his superior force, for the event of a naval
action was ever uncertain, liable to be decided by the accidental loss
of an important spar or rope; whereas, by keeping his two ships
together, he thought he could effectually blockade the Essex and prevent
her renewing her depredations upon British commerce until the arrival of
other ships of war which were on their way. From this wary attitude
Porter in vain tried to force his antagonist by varied provocations;
but, although the exchange of official insults, verging closely at times
upon personal imputations, caused bitterness to take the place of the
first friendly courtesies, Hillyar was too old an officer, and his
reputation for courage too well known, to allow his hand to be thus
forced.
After filling with provisions and refitting, the British ships left the
anchorage and cruised off the approach to it, thus preventing the
retreat of the Essex to the ocean, unless she could succeed in passing
and then outsailing them. Valparaiso Bay is not an enclosed harbor, but
simply a recess in the coast, which, running generally north and south,
here turns abruptly to the eastward for two or three miles and then
trends north again, leaving thus a concave beach facing the north. Along
this beach lies the city of Valparaiso, stretching back and up on the
hillsides, which rise to a height of twelve or fifteen hundred feet
behind it. The prevailing winds along this coast being from the
southward throughout the year, this formation gives an anchorage
sheltered from them; but during the winter months of the southern
hemisphere, from May to October, there are occasional northerly gales
which endanger shipping, more from the heavy sea that rolls in than from
the violence of the wind. In ordinary weather, at the season when the
Essex was thus blockaded, the harbor is quiet through the night until
the forenoon, when the southerly wind prevailing outside works its way
in to the anchorage and blows freshly till after sundown. At times it
descends in furious gusts down the ravines which cleave the hillsides,
covering the city with clouds of dust and whirling sand and pebbles
painfully in the faces of those who walk the streets.
On the 28th of March, 1814, such a blast descended upon the Essex, whose
captain had by that time come to despair of forcing Hillyar to single
combat. As the frigate straightened out her cables under the force of
the wind, one of them broke, and the anchor of the other lost its hold
upon the bottom. The Essex began to drift to sea, and it was apparent
would by this accident be carried out of reach of the port. Porter
therefore ordered the cable cut and made sail on the ship, intending now
to escape. The British ships kept habitually close to the western point
of the bay; so that in case of such an attempt by their enemy he would
have to pass to leeward of them, giving them a fair wind to follow. As
Porter stood out, however, he thought possible, by keeping close to the
wind, to pass to windward, which, with the superior sailing qualities of
the Essex, would force the Phoebe to separate from the Cherub, unless
Hillyar supinely acquiesced in his escape--an inadmissible supposition.
If successful, he might yet have the single action he desired, and under
conditions which would enable him to choose his distance and so profit
by the qualities of his carronades. The Essex therefore hugged the wind;
but as she was thus passing the western point of the bay, under a press
of sail, a violent squall came down from the highland above, bearing the
vessel over on her side and carrying away the maintopmast, which fell
into the sea, drowning several of the crew. The loss of so important a
part of her sail power made escape to sea impossible, and the Essex
tried to regain the port. The wind, however, was adverse to the attempt
in her crippled condition, so that she was only able to reach the east
side of the bay, where she anchored about three miles from the city, but
within pistol-shot of the shore, before the enemy could overtake her. As
the conventional neutral line extends three miles from the beach, the
Essex was here clearly under the protection of Chilian neutrality.
Hillyar himself, in his official report of the action, says she was "so
near the shore as to preclude the possibility of passing ahead of her
without risk to His Majesty's ships." He seems, however, to have
satisfied his conscience by drawing a line between the neutrality of the
port and the neutrality of the country. The Essex was, he implies,
outside the former. "Not succeeding in gaining the limits of the part,
she bore up and anchored near the shore, a few miles to leeward of
it."[A] At all events, having his adversary at such serious
disadvantage, he did not propose to imitate the weakness Porter had
shown toward himself six weeks before.
The crucial feature in the approaching action was that the Essex was
armed almost entirely with carronades, and her principal enemy with long
guns. The carronade, now a wholly obsolete arm, was a short cannon, made
extremely light in proportion to the weight of the ball thrown by it.
The comparative lightness of metal in each piece allowed a greater
number to be carried, but at the same time so weakened the gun as to
compel the use of a small charge of powder, in consequence of which the
ball moved slowly and had but short range. In compensation, within its
range, it broke up the hull of an enemy's ship more completely than the
smaller but swifter ball from a long gun of the same weight; for the
same reason that a stone thrown by hand demolishes a pane of glass,
while a pistol-bullet makes a small, clean hole. It was this smashing
effect at close quarters which gave the carronade favor in the eyes of
one generation of seamen; but by 1812 it was generally recognized that,
unless a vessel was able to choose her own position, the short range of
carronades might leave her helpless, and, even when she had the greater
speed, an enemy with long guns might cripple her as she approached.
Porter had begged to change his carronades for long guns when he joined
the Essex. The request was refused, and the ship in this action had
forty thirty-two-pounder carronades and six long twelve-pounders. The
Phoebe had twenty-six long eighteen-pounders, one long twelve, and one
long nine, besides eight carronades. The Essex being crippled and at
anchor, Captain Hillyar, faithful, and most properly, to his principle
of surrendering no advantage, chose his position beyond effective
carronade range. The battle was therefore fought between the six long
twelves of the Essex and the broadside of the Phoebe, consisting of
thirteen long eighteens, one twelve, and one nine. Taking no account of
the Cherub, the disparity of force is sufficiently obvious.
[Footnote A: Marshall's Naval Biography, article Hillyar,
vol. iv, p. 861.]
Although, from the assurances Hillyar had made to him in conversation,
Porter had hoped that the neutrality of the port might be regarded, the
manner in which the enemy's vessels approached his new anchorage gave
serious reason to fear an attack. The ship was again got ready for
action, and a spring put on the cable to enable the guns to be turned on
the enemy in any position he might take. The desperateness of the
situation was, however, manifest to all. "I well remember," wrote
Farragut at a later day, "the feelings of awe produced in me by the
approach of the hostile ships; even to my young mind it was perceptible
in the faces of those around me, as clearly as possible, that our case
was hopeless. It was equally apparent that all were ready to die at
their guns rather than surrender; and such I believe to have been the
determination of the crew, almost to a man." A crippled ship, armed with
carronades, was indeed in a hopeless plight. At six minutes before four
in the afternoon the attack began. The Essex riding to an anchor with a
southerly wind, the Cherub took position on her starboard bow, or
southwest from her; the Phoebe north, under her stern. Both British
ships began fighting under sail, not being yet ready to anchor. The
spring on the Essex's cable being shot away, she was unable to turn her
broadside as was wished; but the Americans ran out of the stern-ports
three of their long guns, which were so well served as to cut away some
of the most important of the Phoebe's ropes and sails, and Hillyar for
a moment feared his ship would be drifted out of action. The Cherub also
was forced to leave her first position and join the Phoebe. The
latter's damages being repaired, she regained her ground and anchored;
both she and her consort placing themselves on the starboard quarter of
the Essex, a position on which the American guns, neither from the stern
nor the broadside, could be brought to bear unless by the springs on the
cables. These, unfortunately, were three times shot away as soon as they
had been placed. The first lieutenant of the Phoebe, a frank and
gallant young Englishman, whose manly bearing had greatly attracted the
officers of the Essex, is said to have remarked to his captain that it
was no better than murder to go on killing men from such a position of
safety, and to have urged him to close and make a more equal fight of
it. Hillyar, so the story goes, replied that his reputation was
established, and that as his orders were peremptory to capture the
Essex, he was determined to take no risks. He might have added--probably
did--that it was open to the Americans to save their lives by
surrendering. The same view of the situation now impelled Porter,
finding himself unable to give blow for blow, to try and close with his
wary enemy. Only one light sail was left to him in condition for
setting--the flying-jib. With it, the cable having been cut, the head of
the Essex was turned toward the enemy; and, fanned along by the other
sails hanging loose from the yards, she slowly approached her foes till
her carronades at last could reach. The wary Englishman then slipped his
cable and stood away till again out of range, when he resumed the
action, choosing always his own position, which he was well able to do
from the comparatively manageable condition of his ship. Finding it
impossible to get into action, Porter next attempted to run the Essex
aground, where the crew could escape and the vessel be destroyed. She
was headed for the beach and approached within musket-shot of it, when a
flaw of wind from the land cruelly turned her away.
The engagement had lasted nearly two hours when this disappointment was
encountered. As a last resort, Porter now ordered a hawser to be made
fast to an anchor which was still left. This was let go in the hope
that, the Essex being held by it where she was, the enemy might drift
out of action and be unable to return when the wind fell with the
approaching sunset. The hawser, however, parted, and with it the last
hope of escape. Great numbers of the crew had already been killed and
wounded by the relentless pounding the ship had received from her
enemies, for whom, toward the end, the affair became little more than
safe target practice, with a smooth sea. As yet no voice had been raised
in favor of submission; but now entreaty was made to Porter to spare the
lives of the remnant that was left, by ceasing a resistance which had
become not only hopeless but passive, and which, however prolonged,
could end only in the surrender of the ship. The latter had already been
on fire several times, and was now alarmingly so, the flames rushing up
the hatchways and being reported to be near the magazine. Porter then
gave permission for such of the crew as wished, to swim ashore; the
colors being still flying, they were not yet prisoners of war. He next
called his officers together to inform him as to the condition of the
ship in the different parts where they served, but one only of the
lieutenants was able to answer the summons. After consultation with him,
satisfied that nothing more remained to be done, the order was given at
twenty minutes past six to lower the flag of the Essex, after an action
which had lasted two hours and a half. She had gone into battle with two
hundred and fifty-five men. Of these, fifty-eight were killed, sixty-six
wounded, and thirty-one missing. The last item is unusually large for a
naval action, and was probably due to the attempt to escape to shore by
swimming.
Farragut lacked still three months of being thirteen years old when he
passed through this tremendous ordeal of slaughter, the most prolonged
and the bloodiest of his distinguished career. At his tender years and
in his subordinate position there could be, of course, no demand upon
the professional ability or the moral courage which grapples with
responsibility, of which he gave such high proof in his later life. In
the Essex fight his was but to do and dare, perhaps it may rather be
said to do and bear; for no heavier strain can be laid upon the physical
courage than is required by passive endurance of a deadly attack without
the power of reply. In the celebrated charge of the Six Hundred at
Balaklava the magnificent display of courage was at least aided by the
opportunity allowed for vehement action; the extreme nervous tension
excited by such deadly danger found an outlet in the mad impetus of the
forward rush. Farragut has himself recorded a singular instance in the
Essex fight, which illustrates the sufficiently well-known fact that in
the excitement of approaching action the sense of danger is subdued,
even in a man who has not the strong nerves that endure the passive
expectation of death. "On one occasion Midshipman Isaacs came up to the
captain and reported that a quarter-gunner named Roach had deserted his
post. The only reply of the captain, addressed to me, was: 'Do your
duty, sir!' I seized a pistol and went in pursuit of the fellow, but did
not find him. It appeared subsequently that when the ship was reported
to be on fire he had contrived to get into the only boat that could be
kept afloat, and escaped, with six others, to the shore. The most
remarkable part of this affair was that Roach had always been a leading
man in the ship, and on the occasion previously mentioned, when the
Phoebe seemed about to run into us in the harbor of Valparaiso and the
boarders were called away, I distinctly remember this man standing in an
exposed position on the cat-head, with sleeves rolled up and cutlass in
hand, ready to board, his countenance expressing eagerness for the
fight; which goes to prove that personal courage is a very peculiar
virtue."
Of his own courage the boy, in this his first action, gave the most
marked proof. He was constantly under the captain's eye, and conducted
himself so entirely to the satisfaction of that gallant officer as to be
mentioned particularly in the dispatches. "Midshipmen Isaacs, Farragut,
and Ogden exerted themselves in the performance of their respective
duties, and gave an earnest of their value to the service." "They are
too young," Porter added, "to recommend for promotion"--a phrase which
Farragut thought had an ill-effect on his career, but which certainly
implied that his conduct merited a reward that his years did not
justify. During the action he was employed in the most multifarious
ways, realizing the saying that whatever is nobody else's business is a
midshipman's business; or, to use his own quaint expression, "I was like
'Paddy in the catharpins'--a man on occasions. I performed the duties of
captain's aid, quarter-gunner, powder-boy, and, in fact, did everything
that was required of me. I shall never forget the horrid impression made
upon me at the sight of the first man I had ever seen killed. He was a
boatswain's mate and was fearfully mutilated. It staggered and sickened
me at first; but they soon began to fall around me so fast that it all
appeared like a dream and produced no effect upon my nerves. I can
remember well, while I was standing near the captain just abaft of the
mainmast, a shot came through the waterways and glanced upward, killing
four men who were standing by the side of the gun, taking the last one
in the head and scattering his brains over both of us. But this awful
sight did not affect me half as much as the death of the first poor
fellow. I neither thought of nor noticed anything but the working of the
guns.... When my services were not required for other purposes, I
generally assisted in working a gun; would run and bring powder from the
boys and send them back for more, until the captain wanted me to carry a
message; and this continued to employ me during the action."
Although included in the report of the slightly wounded, Farragut
received no serious injury, but he was not without the narrow escapes
which must have been undergone by all the survivors of so desperate an
action. One has just been related; and he has himself recorded two other
incidents which came near making an end of him. "An old quartermaster
named Francis Bland was standing at the wheel when I saw a shot coming
over the fore yard in such a direction that I thought it would strike
him or me; so I told him to jump, at the same time pulling him toward
me. At that instant the shot took off his right leg, and I afterward
found that my coat-tail had been carried away. I helped the old fellow
below, and inquired for him after the action, but he had died before he
could be attended to." At another time "some gun-primers were wanted and
I was sent after them. In going below, while I was on the ward-room
ladder, the captain of the gun directly opposite the hatchway was struck
full in the face by an eighteen-pound shot and fell back on me; we
tumbled down the hatch together. I struck on my head, and, fortunately,
he fell on my hips. I say fortunately, for, as he was a man of at least
two hundred pounds' weight, I would have been crushed to death if he
had fallen directly across my body. I lay for some moments stunned by
the blow, but soon recovered consciousness enough to rush on deck. The
captain, seeing me covered with blood, asked if I were wounded, to which
I replied: 'I believe not, sir.' 'Then,' said he, 'where are the
primers?' This brought me completely to my senses, and I ran below and
carried the primers on deck. When I came up the second time I saw the
captain fall, and in my turn ran up and asked if he were wounded. He
answered me almost in the same words: 'I believe not, my son; but I felt
a blow on the top of my head.' He must have been knocked down by the
wind of a passing shot, as his hat was somewhat damaged." The bruises
from this fall down the hatch were the only injuries Farragut received.
When the surrender was determined, Farragut, at the captain's order,
dropped the signal book overboard, watching it as it sank in the water
till out of sight; and then in company with another midshipman amused
himself throwing overboard the pistols and other small arms, to keep
them out of the enemy's hands. The following morning he went on board
the Phoebe, where the mortification of defeat drew tears from his
eyes; a state of dejection from which he was roused by seeing a pet pig
belonging to the Essex in the custody of one of the Phoebe's
midshipmen. Farragut at once set up a claim to the porker as being
private property, and as such to be respected by all civilized nations.
The claim was resisted by the new owner; but his messmates, always ready
for a lark, insisted that so doubtful a question must be decided by
trial of battle. A ring being formed, Farragut, after a short contest,
succeeded in thrashing his opponent and regaining the pig, and with it a
certain amount of complacency in that one Briton at least had felt the
pangs of defeat. His grief mastered him again soon afterward, when asked
by Captain Hillyar to breakfast with himself and Captain Porter.
Hillyar, seeing his discomfiture, spoke to him with great kindness,
saying: "Never mind, my little fellow, it will be your turn next
perhaps"; to which, says Farragut, "I replied I hoped so, and left the
cabin to hide my emotion."
After the action Porter and Hillyar entered into an arrangement by which
the Essex Junior was disarmed and allowed to proceed to the United
States as a cartel, under the charge of Lieutenant Downes, who had
commanded her while a United States cruiser. All the survivors of the
Essex except two, whose wounds did not permit, embarked in her and
sailed from Valparaiso on the 27th of April for the United States,
arriving on the 7th of July in New York. On the 5th, off the coast of
Long Island, she was stopped by a British ship-of-war, whose captain
questioned the right of Hillyar to give her the passports she carried,
and indicated an intention of detaining her. Porter construed this
violation of the stipulation between himself and his captor as releasing
him from his obligations, and escaped to shore with a boat's crew. After
a detention of nearly twenty-four hours the vessel was allowed to
proceed; but was again overhauled by another British frigate as she
approached Sandy Hook. There could be no serious question of detaining a
ship that had been given a safeguard, under such circumstances and with
such deliberation, by so experienced an officer as Hillyar. But it is
instructive to Americans, who are accustomed to see in the war of 1812
only a brilliant series of naval victories, to note that within a few
hours' sail of their principal port British cruisers were lying in
perfect security, stopping whom they would.
The Essex, upon which Farragut made his maiden cruise, and whose
interesting career ended in so sad a catastrophe, remained, of course,
in the hands of the victors. The little frigate was patched up and taken
to England, where she was bought into the British Navy, and was borne on
its register until 1837, when she was sold. After that all trace of her
history is lost.
The Essex Junior, being a prize to the Essex and allowed to pass under
Hillyar's safeguard, was sold in New York for the benefit of the
captors.
NOTE.--The spelling Chile (instead of Chili) used in this chapter
is that adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names,
appointed by President Harrison, September 4, 1890, to settle a
uniform usage for the Executive Departments of the Government.
CHAPTER III.
MIDSHIPMAN TO LIEUTENANT.
1814-1825.
In common with the other survivors of the Essex, Farragut landed in the
United States as a paroled prisoner of war. Captain Porter took him at
once to Chester and put him again to school, this time to an old
gentleman named Neif, who had served in the guards of Napoleon. The
method of instruction practiced by him seems to have been unsystematic
and discursive; but Farragut, who was ever attentive to make the most of
such opportunities as offered for self-improvement, derived profit here
also, and said afterward that the time thus passed had been of service
to him throughout his life. Until very lately there were residents of
that neighborhood who could recall the young midshipman as he was at
Neif's school; a lad short of stature and not very handsome in face, but
who bore himself very erect because, as he often declared, he could not
afford to lose a fraction of one of his scanty inches. There was, and
still is, near the spot where he went to school a tavern called the
Seven Stars, which has been a public house since the time of the
Revolution, and which had sheltered Howe and Cornwallis as the British
army advanced from the head of the Chesapeake toward Philadelphia, in
1777. Upon its porch Farragut spent much of his leisure time, and within
its walls joined in the social gayeties of the neighboring families, who
afterward recalled with pride and interest this association with the
young sailor before whom lay such a brilliant but unforeseen future.
In November, 1814, Farragut was exchanged, and at once ordered to New
York to join the brig Spark, which was intended to form one of a
squadron of small vessels to cruise against British commerce under the
command of Captain Porter. He was here for the first time separated from
his guardian and thrown wholly upon his own force of character to guide
his steps; and this beginning was made with a set of messmates with whom
he was temporarily quartered on board the John Adams, among whom were
several very wild young men. Farragut evidently felt the force of the
temptation, for he speaks with warm thankfulness of the
counter-influence of the first lieutenant, to which he attributed much
of his deliverance from the dissipation by which he was surrounded.
"When I have looked back with a feeling of horror to that period of my
life," he wrote, "I have always remembered with gratitude Mr. Cocke's
counsels and kind-hearted forbearance." It was indeed characteristic of
the man that, while by no means insensible to the natural temptations of
youth, he was ever more attracted to and influenced by the good than by
the evil around him. During the following year, on his cruise to the
Mediterranean, he was messmate with a midshipman named William Taylor, a
young man of singularly fine character, which seems to have been the
chief cause of the influence he exerted upon Farragut. "He took me
under his charge, counseled me kindly, and inspired me with sentiments
of true manliness, which were the reverse of what I might have learned
from the examples I saw in the steerage of the John Adams. Never having
had any real love for dissipation, I easily got rid of the bad
influences which had assailed me in that ship." He noted also that, of
the twelve or thirteen midshipmen there associated with him, in less
than two years all but one, his old messmate Ogden, of the Essex, had
disappeared from the navy. The habit of strict attention to duty which
he had contracted under the rule of the Essex also contributed, by
keeping him occupied and attentive, to deter him from yielding to
practices incompatible with its due discharge.
The conclusion of peace put an end to the proposed cruise of the Spark,
and Farragut was next ordered, in March, 1815, to the Independence, a
seventy-four-gun ship, or ship-of-the-line, as such were commonly
called. She was the flag-ship of a numerous squadron, composed mostly of
small vessels, destined to act against Algiers, with whom war had
recently been declared. Upon arriving in the Mediterranean it was found
that Commodore Decatur had already brought the Dey to terms, so that
Farragut saw here no more fighting, and the squadron returned home by
winter. The following spring he was ordered to the Washington, also a
seventy-four, about to sail for Naples, bearing on board Mr. William
Pinkney, our minister to that court. This cruise gave our young
midshipman an experience of a kind he had not before had, and which in
more ways than one was useful to him. The Washington was one of those
exceptional vessels which illustrated in the highest degree the kind
and pitch of perfection to which, by unremitting severity and exaction,
the appearance and drills of a ship-of-war could be brought. Her
commander, Captain Creighton, had the reputation of being the greatest
martinet in the navy; and being seconded by a singularly efficient and
active set of officers, the ship was made to realize the extreme ideal
of a naval officer of that day in smartness, order, and spotless
cleanliness.[B] "But," says Farragut, "all this was accomplished at the
sacrifice of the comfort of every one on board. My experience in the
matter, instead of making me a proselyte to the doctrine of the old
officers on this subject, determined me never to have 'a crack ship' if
it was only to be attained by such means." His feeling on the matter was
doubtless somewhat quickened by the personal discomfort which he, in
common with all subordinates, underwent under such a system, although he
was rather a favorite with the captain, whose aid he was; but it shows
independence of character to have thought so clearly for himself at such
an age, and to have ventured to differ from standards which were then,
and for a long time afterward, implicitly accepted throughout the
service. The tradition of those days, being mainly oral, has nearly
disappeared; but fragments of it remain here and there in the minds of
those who, as youngsters thirty or forty years ago, were brought in
contact with men, then already elderly, who had had personal experience
of ships like the Washington. These stories, in their grotesque
severities, have almost the air of an extravaganza. It must, however, be
in justice remembered that they were the extravagances of a few among
the men who had brought the United States Navy to the high efficiency in
which it then was; and to whom, and not to either the people or the
Government of that day, was due the glorious record of 1812. A few of
them added to their military ardor and efficiency an undue amount of
that spirit of the good housekeeper which makes a home unbearable.
Farragut was aided to his wise conclusion by his previous experience in
the Essex, where a high state of efficiency was gained without wanton
sacrifice of comfort; for Porter, though a man of hasty temper, was ever
considerate of his crew. But for the naval officers of that day Farragut
throughout his life retained a profound admiration. Talking about them
at his dinner-table in New Orleans fifty years later, but a few days
before his famous passage of the Mobile forts, he said: "We have no
better seamen in the service to-day than those gallant fellows
Bainbridge, Decatur, Hull, Perry, Porter, and Charles Stewart; and," he
added, "I must not forget to mention McDonough, and poor unlucky
Lawrence, as splendid-looking a sailor as I ever saw. If I only had
their chance and could lay the Hartford alongside of an English ship, I
should like it better than fighting our own people." Some years later he
again expressed the same feelings to the same friend, to whom the author
is indebted for the communication of them. His own glorious career was
then finished, and his life's work lay open to the mature reflection of
his declining years, when he thus acknowledged his obligations to the
heroes of his boyhood. "Isaac Hull," he said, "was as good a seaman as
ever sailed a ship. If I have done the country any service afloat, it is
in no small degree owing to the ambition and enthusiasm he created in
me, when I was a youngster, by his fair fight with and capture of an
English frigate. I always envied Hull that piece of good work." It is to
be suspected that the Admiral always felt that something was lacking to
the fullness of his cup, in that he had only been allowed to fight
forts, and not ships like his own; and it is no small evidence of the
generosity of his character that his enthusiasm was so aroused by the
deeds of others. He spoke of the fight between the Kearsarge and the
Alabama in as glowing terms as were aroused by his recollection of the
Constitution and the Guerrière. "I had sooner have fought that fight,"
he wrote, "than any ever fought upon the ocean."
[Footnote B: The writer remembers to have heard in his early days
in the service a tradition of a ship commanded by Creighton, which
he believes to have been the Washington, and which illustrates the
methods by which this extreme smartness was obtained. In each boat
at the booms was constantly a midshipman in full dress, cocked hat
included, so that no time might be lost in dropping alongside when
called away. The full crew was probably also kept in her.]
The Washington stopped a few days at Gibraltar, where the rest of the
squadron were then at anchor; and then sailed with all of them in
company to Naples. During the remainder of the year 1816 the ship
cruised along the Barbary coast until the winter had fairly set in, when
she with the other vessels repaired to Port Mahon. Although now so close
to the spot where his race originated, Farragut's journal betrays no
interest in the fact. He was still too young for the sentimental
considerations to weigh much in his mind; and it was not till many years
later, in the height of his glory as a naval commander, that he visited
his father's birthplace, Ciudadela, the capital city of Minorca. In the
following spring the squadron resumed its cruising and made quite a
round of the Mediterranean west of Italy; the journal mentioning visits
to Gibraltar, Malaga, Leghorn, Naples, Sicily, and the cities on the
Barbary coast. Farragut made full and intelligent use of the
opportunities thus afforded him for seeing the world; and his assiduous
habit of observation did much to store his mind with information, which
the circumstances of his early life had prevented his gaining in the
ordinary ways of school and reading. He was fortunate also at this time
in having the society of an intelligent and cultivated man, the chaplain
of the Washington, Mr. Charles Folsom. The chaplain in those days was
commonly the only schoolmaster the midshipmen had; and their
opportunities of learning from him depended very much upon the pressure
exercised by the captain to compel the attention of a set of boys. Mr.
Folsom, however, was drawn to Farragut by the eager willingness of the
latter to acquire, and by his sense of his deficiencies. The manly
character which had resisted the temptations to low dissipation, and
sought naturally the companionship of the better rather than the worse
among his associates, also attracted him. The friendship thus formed
became, through a series of incidents, the cause of an unusual
opportunity for improvement being offered to Farragut. In the autumn of
1817 Mr. Folsom received the appointment of consul to Tunis, which had
just been vacated. The summer cruising of the squadron was drawing to an
end, and the winter quarters at Port Mahon about to be resumed.
Therefore, while the Washington was lying in Gibraltar, Mr. Folsom
wrote to the commander-in-chief, Commodore Chauncey, asking permission
to take the young midshipman to spend the winter with him in Tunis, to
pursue his education under his care. In the letter he spoke very
earnestly of his pupil's zeal for improvement, of his close attention,
and ready response to any effort on the part of his instructor. The
letter is interesting also in its recognition of Farragut's still
existing relations to Captain Porter, "to whose wishes this request can
not be repugnant." The letter was dated October 14, 1817; and, the
required permission being given, the two friends in the following month
sailed from Gibraltar for Marseille as passengers in the sloop-of-war
Erie. At Marseille a slight incident occurred which, while not quite
creditable to our hero, may have interest as showing natural character.
Spending the evening at the house of a Mr. Fitch, he was, much against
his will, obliged to play whist, for which he had no fondness. "Not
getting along very well with my hand, the party showed great impatience,
and I thought were rather insulting in their remarks. One individual
went so far as to dash his cards on the table in derision of my play,
when I returned the compliment by throwing them at his head. I
apologized to Mr. Fitch and retired, much mortified, but my temper had
been sorely tried." The display of temper was scarcely more than the
provocation justified; and it is noteworthy that during a period when
dueling was so common Farragut, though quick to resent, appears never to
have been involved in a serious personal difficulty.
Early in 1818 the Erie, carrying Mr. Folsom and his pupil, arrived in
Tunis, where the latter remained for nine months, pursuing his studies
on the site of the ancient maritime empire of Carthage. He mentions
particularly the subjects of mathematics, English literature, French,
and Italian. For languages he had great natural aptitude, and in later
life was able to converse in several. The monotony of study was varied
by the society of the few but agreeable foreign families residing in
Tunis, and by occasional excursions in the neighborhood; when the
interest of the present was happily blended, under the guidance of such
a man as Mr. Folsom, with thoughts upon the past grandeur and history of
the Carthaginian empire and the Roman province which had successively
flourished on that soil. In one of these excursions Farragut received a
partial stroke of the sun, from the effects of which he suffered for
many years.
The period of his stay in Tunis exceeded the original intention, but
doubtless with the approval of the commodore. It was brought to a close
in the fall of 1818 by an outbreak of the plague, which increased to
such an alarming extent that Mr. Folsom felt compelled to send his
charge away just when the approach of another winter of comparative
idleness for the squadron would have justified a longer stay. But deaths
in Tunis had risen to a hundred a day, and all the families were living
in a state of complete isolation, the houses being barricaded against
outsiders; therefore on the 9th of October Farragut departed in a
Genoese brig for Leghorn. Thence, after a quarantine of forty days, he
went to Pisa; and from there to Messina, where the squadron had
assembled for the winter of 1818-'19.
The friendship between Farragut and Mr. Folsom did not end with this
separation. The latter survived to the end of the civil war, and was
thus privileged to follow the successful and great career of the admiral
to whom, while yet an unformed boy, he had thoughtfully extended a
helping hand. As late as 1865 letters passed between the two, showing
that both cherished warm recollections of that early association; Mr.
Folsom dating his, as though careful to make the coincidence, on the
anniversary of the day when he parted with his pupil in the harbor of
Tunis and returned alone to the plague-stricken city.
The officers of the United States squadron passed a gay winter in
Messina in 1819. Farragut was not yet eighteen years of age, but his
bodily development had kept pace with his mental, and he writes that he
always held his own at this time in all athletic exercises. The
succeeding spring and summer were again spent in routine cruising on
board the Franklin, seventy-four, which had taken the place of the
Washington. In the fall of 1819 the squadron was in Gibraltar; and
there, "after much opposition," Farragut was appointed an acting
lieutenant on board the brig Shark. This promotion, coming at so early
an age, he afterward looked upon as one of the most important events of
his life. "It caused me to feel that I was now associated with men, on
an equality, and must act with more circumspection. When I became first
lieutenant, my duties were still more important, for in truth I was
really commander of the vessel, and yet I was not responsible (as
such)--an anomalous position which has spoiled some of our best
officers. I consider it a great advantage to obtain command young,
having observed, as a general rule, that persons who come into authority
late in life shrink from responsibility, and often break down under its
weight." This last sentence, coming from a man of such extensive
observation, and who bore in his day the responsibility of such weighty
decisions, deserves most serious consideration now, when command rank is
reached so very late in the United States Navy.
After a short year in the Shark Farragut was ordered to return to the
United States, to pass the examination required of all midshipmen before
they could be confirmed to the rank of lieutenant. No opportunity
offering for passage in a ship-of-war, he embarked in a merchant vessel
called the America. On the passage he found himself, with the ship,
confronted by an apparent danger, which occasioned a display of the
fearlessness and energy always latent in his character. Those were days
when piracy was rife upon the seas in the neighborhood of the West
Indies and of the Spanish Main. The system was an outgrowth of the
privateering carried on by French and Spanish marauders, for they were
little better, against both British and neutral commerce during the wars
of the French Revolution and Empire; and it had received a fresh impulse
from the quarrel then existing between Spain and her American colonies,
which since 1810 had been in revolt against the mother country.
Privateering, having booty as its sole motive, rapidly tends to
indiscriminate robbery, if not held strictly responsible by the country
using it; and the remote, extensive, and secluded shores of Cuba, Haïti,
and the South American coast defied the careless supervision of the weak
Spanish Government. When within a few days' sail of the United States,
the America fell in with an armed brig showing the colors of the new
Colombian republic; but a flag was little guarantee for the character of
a vessel if other signs told against her. Farragut describes both
captain and crew of the America as being so overwhelmed with fear that,
though expecting no mercy, they entertained no idea of resistance. Under
the circumstances he took command; and having, fortunately, as
passengers two seamen from the squadron going home sick, these formed a
nucleus around which rallied the courage of the others, paralyzed only
through disuse. It was, however, the firmness of the lad of eighteen,
supported by his position as an officer and acting upon the two men
prepared to recognize him as such, that redeemed the others from
imbecility to manhood. The incident had no results, the stranger proving
to be a regularly commissioned cruiser, and treating them with civility.
Farragut's thoughtful, not to say philosophical, turn of mind was shown
in his recorded reflections upon the difference between the conduct of
the man-of-war's men and the merchant seamen, which he justly attributed
not to inherent difference of natural courage, but to the habit of arms
and of contemplating danger under a particular form.
On the 20th of November, 1820, Farragut again landed in the United
States, having been absent four years and a half. He felt himself a
stranger, having left as a mere boy, and knowing no one but Commodore
Porter and his family. His examination soon followed, and was passed;
but apparently not quite to his own satisfaction. A period of
comparative quiet followed, spent principally in Norfolk, Virginia,
during which he formed the attachment which resulted in his first
marriage. In May, 1822, he was again ordered to sea in the sloop-of-war
John Adams, in which he made a short cruise in the Gulf of Mexico and to
Vera Cruz, where the Spanish power in Mexico was then making its last
stand in the well-known fortress, San Juan de Ulloa. The ship returned
to the United States early in December, 1822, when Farragut found the
Mosquito fleet, as it was called, fitting out against the pirates of the
Caribbean Sea. Learning that it was to be commanded by his old captain,
Commodore David Porter, he asked for and obtained orders to the
Greyhound, one of the small vessels composing it, commanded by
Lieutenant John Porter, a brother of the commodore.
Since the peace with Great Britain, Captain Porter had been a member of
the Board of Navy Commissioners; a body of three officers appointed by
an act of Congress passed early in 1815, whose duties were to administer
the affairs of the navy under the supervision of the Secretary.
Meanwhile the sufferings, not only of American property but of the
persons of American citizens, from the prevalence of piracy in the
Caribbean Sea, had become unendurable. Ordinary naval vessels were, from
their size, unable to enforce a repression for which it was necessary to
follow the freebooters and their petty craft into their lairs among the
lagoons and creeks of the West India islands. The general outcry rousing
the Government to the necessity of further exertion, Captain Porter
offered his services to extirpate the nuisance; with the understanding
that he was to have and fit out the kind of force he thought necessary
for the service. He resigned his position on the board on the 31st of
December, 1822; but before that date he had bought and begun to equip
eight Chesapeake schooners, of fifty to sixty tons burden, of which the
Greyhound, Farragut's new vessel, was one. He also built five rowing
barges, unusually large, pulling twenty oars. With these, supported by
the ordinary man-of-war schooners, of which several were already in the
service, and by the sloops-of-war, he expected to drive the pirates not
merely off the sea, but out of their hiding-places.
The commodore put to sea with all his squadron on the 14th of February,
1823. A northeast gale was at once encountered, but the tiny vessels ran
through it without any harm. For the next six months Farragut was
actively employed in the operations of the little fleet, the Greyhound
being one of the five which were sent through the Mona Passage, between
Porto Rico and Haïti, and thence ransacked the southern shores of the
latter island and of Cuba as far as Cape San Antonio, where Cuba ends.
There were many encounters between the pirates and the squadron,
sometimes afloat, sometimes ashore, in several of which our officer
served, forcing his way with his party through marsh and chaparral and
cactus--a service often perilous, always painful and exhausting. His
health fortunately held out through it; nor did he take the yellow
fever, which, as the summer wore on, made sad havoc among both officers
and men. Toward the end of his time he obtained the command of one of
the Mosquito schooners, which, however, he held but for a short period;
for, not having yet received his lieutenant's commission, he was
relieved by the arrival of an officer of that rank. An interesting
incident of this cruise was a meeting with his brother William, then
already a lieutenant, whom he had not seen for thirteen years. Soon
after that he obtained permission to visit New Orleans; and it is a
curious coincidence that the vessel in which he took passage thither was
carrying the first load of bricks to build Fort Jackson, one of the
defenses of New Orleans, by the passage of which nearly forty years
later he began his career as commander-in-chief. His father had then
been many years dead; but he met his sister, with whom he had to make
acquaintance after so long a separation.
The service of the Mosquito fleet was one of great exposure and
privation. "I never owned a bed during my two years and a half in the
West Indies," wrote Farragut, "but lay down to rest wherever I found the
most comfortable berth." It was, however, effectual, both directly and
indirectly, to the suppression of piracy; seconded as it was by the navy
of Great Britain, interested like our own country in the security of
commerce. Driven off the water, with their lurking-places invaded, their
plunder seized, their vessels burned, their occupation afloat gone, the
marauders organized themselves into bandits, and turned their predatory
practices against the towns and villages. This roused the Spanish
governors from the indolent complacency with which they had watched
robberies upon foreigners that brought profit rather than loss to their
districts. When the evil was thus brought home, the troops were put in
motion; and the pirates, beset on both sides, gradually but rapidly
disappeared.
This Mosquito war had, however, one very sad result in depriving the
navy of the eminent services of Commodore Porter. In 1824 a gratuitous
insult, accompanied by outrage, offered to one of his officers, led him
to land a party at the town of Foxardo, in Porto Rico, and force an
apology from the guilty officials. Although no complaint seems to have
been made by Spain, the United States Government took exception to his
action and brought him to trial by court-martial. Porter confidently
expected an acquittal, having proof that the outrage was wanton, and
that the officials had engaged in it to protect some piratical plunder
which had been taken into the place. He argued also that the wording of
his orders from the department authorized his action. The court,
however, found him guilty of an offense which was charged as
"disobedience of orders, and conduct unbecoming an officer," and
sentenced him to six months' suspension. The sentence was accompanied by
the expression that the court "ascribes the conduct of the accused which
is deemed censurable to an anxious disposition, on his part, to maintain
the honor and advance the interest of the nation and of the service."
Indignant at the result, Porter resigned from the navy and took service
with the Mexican Republic. After spending there four years of harassing
disappointments, the election of General Jackson to the presidency gave
him a friend in power. He returned to the United States in October,
1829, under the encouragement of letters from persons closely connected
with the new administration. The President offered to nominate him to
his old position in the navy, but Porter declined "to associate with the
men who sentenced me for upholding the honor of the flag." This,
striking a kindred chord in Jackson's breast, elicited a warm note of
approval, and he appointed the commodore Consul-General to Algiers. The
conquest of that country by France put an end to the office before he
could assume the duties. The President then nominated him to be Chargé
d'Affaires to Turkey. He went there in August, 1831, became Minister
Resident in 1839, and died in this post in 1843.
After his return from the Mosquito fleet, Farragut married, on the 24th
of September, 1823, Miss Susan C. Marchant, the daughter of a gentleman
of Norfolk, Virginia. He was at this time far from well; fever, which
spared him while on that sickly service, having seized him upon arrival
in a healthier climate. It was probably due in part to this that two
years passed after his marriage before he again joined a ship. During
this period he spent some weeks with his bride in the house of Commodore
Porter, who had returned temporarily from his squadron to regain his
strength after a severe attack of yellow fever. This was probably his
last close personal association with his early benefactor, whom the
issue of the trial afterward separated from his country; but the
correspondence between the two continued through life, Farragut
maintaining to the last a grateful recollection of kindness shown to him
by one whom he termed his "most venerated friend and commander." As late
as 1835, writing from Constantinople in reply to a letter received from
his former ward, Porter, then an ailing and broken man, notices this
trait in him: "I have found in yours that treasure of a grateful heart
which should be so much prized. I have never looked for any other
return than what my feelings gave me, and to find such sentiments of
gratitude from you, after all others had forgotten that they had
received any benefits from me, is truly refreshing to the feelings." The
relations thus testified to are an honor to the memory of both.
CHAPTER IV.
LIEUTENANT.
1825-1841.
After the termination of his cruise in the Mosquito fleet, and up to the
beginning of the Civil War, the story of Farragut's life is for the most
part but the record of the routine service of a naval officer in times
of peace--periods of distant foreign cruising succeeding to, and being
again succeeded by, periods of employment on shore in some of the many
duties connected with the administration of the navy. But while in their
superficial aspect there is little to distinguish these monotonous
years, with their occasional breaks of exceptional incident, from the
ordinary experiences of all naval officers, the journal of Farragut
shows an activity of mind, a constant habit of observation, especially
in professional matters, and a painstaking diligence in embracing every
passing opportunity for improvement, which reveal to some extent the
causes of his subsequent great successes. It is not indeed always
possible to trace the precise connection between this or that
observation, this or that course of study, and the later results; it is
rather in the constant habit of doing the best at every moment, and in
the gradual formation of mental character and correct professional
knowledge, that are to be found the fruits of the strenuous exertion
made throughout his life by Admiral Farragut. It is a noteworthy, though
by no means unprecedented, circumstance that these characteristics
obtained little or no recognition during his early and middle career.
Unlike the great British admiral, Nelson, no war occurred to bring his
high qualities into notice; and, when lacking but a year of Nelson's age
when he fell at Trafalgar, Farragut was vainly petitioning the Navy
Department for the command of a sloop-of-war in the war with Mexico,
although he alleged his intimate knowledge of the scene of operations,
the close personal examination he had made of it, and the privilege he
had had of witnessing an attack by a French squadron but a few years
before.
The early age at which he had left his home, the long absences of his
youth, and the death of his father, had all contributed to sever his
associations with New Orleans; so that his marriage in Norfolk, as was
the case with so many officers of his day, fixed that city as his place
of residence when not at sea. It is worthy of remembrance, in connection
with his firm determination at a later day to stand by the Union rather
than by a section of the country, that the only home Farragut had known
out of a ship-of-war was the Southern city where he had twice married,
and where the general sentiment was contrary to the course he took. The
interest of the fact lies not in its bearing upon the rights or wrongs
of the great quarrel that all are now fain to forget, but in showing the
rare strength of character which, sustained only by its own clear
convictions, resisted the social and friendly influences that overcame
so many others.
In August, 1825, Farragut was promoted to be lieutenant, and at the same
time ordered to the frigate Brandywine, chosen to carry back to France
Lafayette, who was just drawing to a close his memorable visit to the
United States. The ship sailed from the capes of the Chesapeake in
September, reaching Havre after a passage of twenty-five days. From
there she went to England, and thence to the Mediterranean, returning to
New York in May, 1826. After his arrival Farragut was detached and went
to New Haven with his wife, who had become a great sufferer from
neuralgia and continued to be an invalid during the remainder of their
married life. While living in New Haven he availed himself of the
opportunity to attend lectures at Yale College. After his wife's
treatment was finished they returned to Norfolk, where he remained until
October, 1828, attached to the receiving ship and living on board with
Mrs. Farragut. Here the interest which he had showed in the improvement
of his own mind was transferred to the ship's boys, most of whom did not
even know their letters. Farragut organized a school for these waifs,
who at that time were little accustomed to receive such care, and was
gratified to find very tangible results in the improvement shown by
them. He next received orders to the sloop-of-war Vandalia, which sailed
from Philadelphia in the last days of 1828 for the Brazil station. On
this cruise, which for him lasted but a year, he for the first time
visited the Rio de la Plata and Buenos Ayres, and came in contact with
the afterward celebrated dictator of that country, Rosas. The different
provinces, whose union is now known by the political name of the
Argentine Republic, had, under the later days of Spanish rule,
constituted with Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay the Viceroyalty of Buenos
Ayres. On the 25th of May, 1810, a declaration of independence was
issued in the city of Buenos Ayres. A long period of disturbance,
internal and external, followed. At the time of this first visit of
Farragut a contest had for some time been going on between two parties,
representing two opposite political ideas, and striving in arms for the
control of the State. The ideal of one was a strong centralized
government supported by a powerful standing army. This naturally found
its most numerous constituents among the wealthy and educated
inhabitants of the principal city, Buenos Ayres. The province of the
same name, however, and the other provinces generally, favored a looser
form of confederation. The former party, known as the Unitarios, held a
brief lease of power; but their opponents found an able leader in Juan
Manuel de Rosas, who personified the best and worst features of the
_gaucho_ of the pampas and obtained unbounded popularity and following
among those wild herdsmen. In 1828 Rosas and his allies forced the
Unitarian president to resign, and installed one of themselves, named
Dorrego, as governor of Buenos Ayres. This success was but one step in
the series of bloody struggles which ended in the establishment of the
dictator; but it marked the point at which Farragut first saw Buenos
Ayres and Rosas himself, with whom he was at a later date thrown in
intimate contact and who at that moment was in the full flush of his
early popularity.
In December, 1829, Farragut's eyes were in such bad condition that it
was found necessary to send him home. He arrived in February, 1830, and
remained in Norfolk for a period of nearly three years, broken only by
occasional absences. During a part of this time he was again attached to
the receiving ship in the port; and, as before, manifested an interest,
unusual in those days, in those under his command. One of these, then a
midshipman, writes to the author that he still recalls, after the lapse
of nearly sixty years, the kindness, consideration and hospitality shown
him by the future admiral, who was then known through the service as the
"Little Luff" Farragut--luff being a naval abbreviation, now obsolete,
for lieutenant. But with all his kindness there was no relaxation in the
enforcement of necessary duty. In December, 1832, he was again ordered
to sea in the sloop-of-war Natchez, as her first lieutenant; or, as the
expression now is, as executive officer. It was the time of the
nullification troubles in South Carolina, and the ship was first sent to
anchor near Charleston, where she would be prepared to support the
authority of the United States Government. Fortunately, no occasion
arose for her to act; and a stay which began with taking precautions
against possible fire-ships from the city, ended in a series of balls
and general exchanges of courtesy between the officers and the citizens.
In April, 1833, the Natchez returned to Hampton Roads; and the following
month sailed, carrying Farragut back again to the Brazils. On the 30th
of July he was again at anchor, in his new ship, off Buenos Ayres. Since
his former visit the country had passed through much trouble. A
confederation had been formed between the principal provinces, in
January, 1831, based upon the loosest ties of union; but the army had
become dissatisfied with the progress of changes which arose largely
from jealousy of the military power, and had risen in revolt under the
leadership of a general named Lavalle, who for a time had sided with
Rosas. He met at first with success, defeated Dorrego and Rosas, and put
the former to death; but Rosas rallied again, defeated Lavalle, and
became in his place head of the army and governor of Buenos Ayres. To
this position he was re-elected in 1832, and by virtue of it he was, at
the time of Farragut's second visit, in chief control of the external
policy and internal affairs of the confederation; the principal and
seaboard province inevitably taking the lead and representing the
country under even the loosest form of combination. Disturbed though the
internal state of affairs was, Rosas's strong hand appears to have so
far preserved the safety of foreigners as to give no cause for the
interference of their ships-of-war. Farragut's stay on the station was,
however, again cut short. The schooner Boxer arrived in Rio Janeiro on
her way home from the East Indies; and it becoming necessary to give her
a new commanding officer, he received orders to take her to the United
States. He sailed in her on the 8th of June, 1834, and on the 25th of
July reached Norfolk, where the vessel was put out of commission and he
again returned to his family. A period of nearly four years of shore
duty followed. During the latter two of these Farragut was a constant
applicant for sea service, which he could not obtain. His wife was at
this time becoming ever weaker and weaker. "I was necessarily confined
very much to the house," he writes, "for my wife was so helpless I was
obliged to lift her and carry her about like a child." His tender and
untiring devotion to the suffering invalid was no less conspicuous than
his careful attention to the other duties of life, and was the constant
remark of those who were witnesses of this sorrowful period.
In April, 1838, Farragut was again ordered to sea in the home squadron,
and in the following August, though still only a lieutenant, took
command, in Pensacola, of the sloop-of-war Erie; a position that could
only be temporary, because belonging naturally to an officer of higher
rank. It fell to him, however, at a period of peculiar interest--when
France became involved with Mexico in one of those brief hostilities by
which alone were broken the long years of peace between Waterloo and the
Crimean War. The quarrel between the two was simply as to the reparation
due to French subjects for injuries received during the long years of
confusion through which Mexico then had been and still was passing. As a
political question it possesses no present interest whatever; but to a
naval officer of Farragut's strong professional feeling and close habits
of observation it offered a peculiar opportunity for noting the silent
progress made during the long peace by the material of war among the
navies of Europe, where the necessity of constant preparation insures an
advance in which the United States then, as now, tended to lag behind.
It supplied also a test, under certain conditions, of the much-vexed
question of the power of ships against forts; for the French squadron,
though few in numbers, deliberately undertook to batter by horizontal
fire, as well as to bombard, in the more correct sense of the word, with
the vertical fire of mortars, the long renowned castle of San Juan de
Ulloa, the chief defense of Vera Cruz. It was still the day of
sailing-ships, both of war and of commerce. But a few years had elapsed
since a man of considerable scientific attainment had pronounced the
crossing of the Atlantic to be impossible to vessels depending upon
steam power alone; and only in the same year as the French attack on
Vera Cruz (1838) had been seen the falsification of the prediction by
the passage of the Sirius and Great Western from England to New York.
As a first means of compulsion, the French Government had in 1837
established a blockade of the Atlantic ports of Mexico. In two months
the Mexican treasury lost two million dollars in duties, which would
have been collected if the ships turned away had been permitted to
enter; but the Government and people seemed little moved by a result
that merely added one more to the many ills with which they were already
afflicted. The question was then raised by the French authorities,
diplomatic and military, whether the possession of the fortress of San
Juan de Ulloa, which commanded the city of Vera Cruz, the most important
of the coast ports, would not also confer control of a great part of the
seaboard, and thus enforce a security not otherwise obtainable for the
persons and property of French subjects. Blockade, though a less extreme
measure, was difficult, protracted, and productive of serious loss. The
violent northerly gales of winter exposed the ships to peril, and the
yellow fever of the summer months was deadly to the crews. Moreover, the
deprivation of commerce, though a bitter evil to a settled community
whose members were accustomed to the wealth, luxury, and quiet life
attendant upon uninterrupted mercantile pursuits, had been proved
ineffective when applied to a people to whom quiet and luxuries were the
unrealized words of a dream. The French Government speedily determined
to abandon the half-measure for one of more certain results; and in
October, 1838, began to arrive the ships of an expedition destined to
proceed to open hostilities, under the command of Admiral Baudin, a
veteran of the Napoleonic wars. Appointed in the navy in 1799,
immediately after the return from Egypt and the establishment of the
Consulate, by the direct intervention of Bonaparte, who was a friend of
his father's, Baudin had served with distinction until the fall of the
empire, losing his right arm in battle; and after Waterloo it was he who
made the proposition, familiar to all readers of Napoleon's life, to
cover the escape of the Emperor from Rochefort by sacrificing the ships
under his command in an heroic resistance to the English cruisers while
the vessel bearing the fallen monarch escaped. "Sixteen years ago," said
he, "my father died of joy upon learning the return from Egypt of
General Bonaparte; and I myself to-day would die of grief to see the
Emperor leave France if I thought that by remaining he could again do
aught for her. But he must leave her only to live honored in a free
country, not to die a prisoner to our rivals." Such was that career,
belonging to an early and singular generation, which here for a moment
crossed and linked with that of the great naval hero of our own days.
Farragut has recorded his impression of him. "Admiral Baudin," he
writes, "would be undoubtedly a _rara avis_ in any navy. He is about
fifty years of age (he was fifty-four), has lost his right arm, looks
like a North of Europe man, has a fine address, and speaks English well.
He has every mark of a polished seaman and officer, with the expression
of great decision, with firmness and activity to execute his
well-digested plans. These were my remarks the first time I saw him, and
his subsequent conduct soon proved I was right." His French biographer
makes a remark, commonplace enough, which yet notes the essential
difference in the lot of the two gallant men who thus casually met. "For
the few who allow occasions to escape them, how many could justly
complain that a chance has never been offered them? Admiral Baudin never
had the opportunity to which his capacities suited him; all his
aptitudes designated him for war on a great scale; a man such as he,
succeeding Latouche-Tréville, would have saved us the sorrows of
Trafalgar." Farragut was fortunate, for in him the opportunity and the
man met in happy combination.
When he reached his station, Admiral Baudin suffered no time to be lost.
The wintry gales were approaching, while, on the other hand, his first
experience showed the miseries of disease on that sickly coast. Of the
two frigates there before he came, which had been blockading during the
summer, one had buried forty-five seamen and five officers out of a
ship's company of four hundred men; the other, at the time of his
arrival, had three hundred and forty-three sick among a crew of five
hundred. With such conditions, trifling is out of place. An ultimatum
was at once sent to the Mexican Government, a brief time only being
allowed for a reply, because the claims of the French cabinet were
already clearly understood. On the 25th of November the last of his
squadron, two bomb-vessels, arrived. On the 21st he had given notice
that he would wait till noon of the 27th for the final decision. On the
28th the attack was made.
The castle of San Juan de Ulloa lies half a mile east and to seaward of
the city of Vera Cruz, which it commands, and from which it is separated
by water averaging from fifteen to twenty feet deep. It is built on the
inner extremity of a reef that extends from it a little over a mile to
the eastward, in the general prolongation of the line connecting the
castle and the town. This shoal being covered by a foot or two of water,
the builders of the fort counted upon it for protection in that
direction against ships, and against attack, either by regular
approaches or by escalade. The work itself was in general outline a
parallelogram, with bastions at the four angles. The longer sides
fronted the east and west; and of these the former, facing the shoal and
the open gulf, contained the gate of the fortress and was covered by a
demi-lune and line of water batteries. There were mounted in the castle
and dependent works, at the time of the French attacks, one hundred and
eighty-six cannon. The strength of the fortifications, the number of the
guns, and the character of the surroundings, had all contributed to
bestow upon San Juan de Ulloa the reputation of being the strongest
position in Spanish America. It was, indeed, considered impregnable to
naval attack, for the best hope of ships under such circumstances is to
approach closely and drive the defenders from their guns by the superior
number and weight of the pieces opposed to them; but in San Juan this
was forbidden by the extent and formation of the reef. Like most coral
banks, this rises sheer from the bottom, making the approach very
dangerous to vessels dependent only upon sail-power; and the ground
about it, though not too deep for anchorage, is rocky and foul.
Admiral Baudin, however, was thoroughly acquainted with the weak points
of the fortress, through information obtained from Madrid; where plans
of the works, dating from the times of the Spanish occupancy, were on
file. He possessed also two steamers, the first to cross the Atlantic
under the French flag, by aid of which, though small and of weak power,
he could count upon placing his sailing frigates exactly where he wished
them. Finally, the wretched condition of the Mexican forces, demoralized
by years of irregular warfare and internal commotion, and miserably
provided with material of war, gave additional chances of success.
On the morning of November 28th the two steamers towed the bomb-vessels
to the eastern extremity of the reef, a little over a mile from the
castle. Next two of the frigates were taken by them and anchored close
to the reef, southeast from the works and distant from them half a mile.
The third frigate, using her sails alone, succeeded in taking position a
little ahead of her consorts. These operations were all completed before
noon and were conducted under the eyes of the Mexicans, who were
restrained from impeding them by the orders of their Government not to
fire the first gun. A delay followed, owing to a flag of truce coming
from the shore; but the proposition brought by it proved unacceptable,
and the squadron opened fire at half-past two. Between that and sundown
the three frigates, aided only by a small corvette which attacked under
way, poured upon the castle 7,771 round shot and 177 shell, the
mortar-vessels at the same time throwing in 302 bombs. At eight the
fire ceased, and negotiations began. The following day, at noon, the
castle was delivered into the hands of the French, who placed a garrison
in it. "It was high time," said Admiral Baudin; "the wind was
freshening, the sea getting up, and the anchors were breaking like glass
upon the bottom, composed of sharp rocks." But the loss among the
defenders had been so great, and the re-enforcements at hand were so
few, that further resistance was impracticable.
The terms of the convention made by the commander of the Mexican forces
had stipulated that only a certain number of troops should constitute
the garrison of Vera Cruz until the affairs between the two nations were
settled; but upon the 4th of December the French admiral learned, to his
great indignation, that the Mexican Government had disavowed the action
of the general, declared war against France, and was throwing
re-enforcements into the city. He immediately took measures to disarm
the works which might threaten his fleet at their anchorage, hoping at
the same time, by surprising the enemy, to gain possession of Santa
Anna, the new commander of the troops and then the most prominent man in
Mexico. While the French were making their preparations in secret,
Farragut went on shore and called upon Santa Anna, who promised to care
for the persons and property of American citizens, adding: "Tell
President Van Buren that we are all one family, and must be united
against Europeans obtaining a foothold on this continent."
The following morning, before daylight, the French embarked fifteen
hundred seamen, accompanied by a few engineer soldiers, in the boats of
the squadron; and, being covered by a thick fog, landed at six o'clock
upon the beach before Vera Cruz. Formed in three divisions and unseen by
the enemy, they blew open the gates of the city and at the same time
stormed the forts which at the north and south terminate the seaward
wall. The Mexicans, taken wholly by surprise, retreated before the
assailants. The center division of the French, which had entered
by the gates, pursued rapidly toward the quarters of Santa Anna.
A short, vigorous resistance by a part of his guard enabled the
commander-in-chief to escape in shirt and trousers; but General Arista
was taken. Meanwhile the two flank divisions, having dismounted the guns
in the forts and chopped the carriages in pieces, moved along the walls
toward the gate. There they united with the center; and the whole body,
having accomplished its object in disarming the sea face of the town,
fell back upon their boats lying along the mole. Most had already
re-embarked when the Mexicans, led by Santa Anna in person, charged from
the gate and down the mole at double-quick. Admiral Baudin himself was
still on shore, waiting to see the last man off. Though scarcely
expecting this gallant return from a force that had been so badly
worsted and was much inferior in numbers, the French were not
unprepared. A six-pound gun on the extremity of the mole, belonging to
the Mexicans, had been turned so as to sweep the approach with grape;
and five of the boats of the squadron, mounting small carronades, were
also disposed to repel attack. The admiral ordered the six-pounder
fired, and entered his barge. The discharge swept away the head of the
Mexican column, and Santa Anna himself fell with three wounds, from one
of which he lost his left leg. Some of the broken column fell back upon
the town, from the loop-holes of whose walls a sharp fire of musketry
began, while others continued down the mole and opened vigorously upon
the retreating French, directing their aim especially upon the admiral's
barge. The admiral himself escaped, but narrowly; his cockswain and a
midshipman standing by him being killed, and another midshipman wounded.
"The Mexicans continued to fight with great gallantry," wrote Farragut;
and it was perhaps well for the assailants that the fog sweeping in
again covered their further retreat.
Of all these incidents Farragut was a close and interested observer.
Upon joining the Erie as her commander, he found that the ship was under
orders to proceed with the utmost dispatch to the Mexican coast, to
afford to American citizens and their property the protection so likely
to be needed in event of active hostilities. On the 26th of August she
was anchored under the island of Sacrificios, off Vera Cruz, which was
then still undergoing the blockade which preceded recourse to stronger
measures. Farragut remained there till the 19th of September, when he
returned to Pensacola; but early in November he was again off the
Mexican coast at Tampico, where a revolution threatened, for Mexico at
the time was not only menaced with foreign attack, but also a prey to
the utmost internal disorder. On the 17th of this month the Erie ran
down again to Vera Cruz; and learning there that the 27th was fixed as
the day for a final conference and settlement of the questions at issue,
her commander of course decided to remain throughout the affair, making
preparations to receive on board Americans and their movable property
in case the city was bombarded.
In his journal, and afterward in a letter to Commodore Barron, then the
senior officer in the United States Navy, Farragut has preserved a very
full and detailed account of the attack, the principal features of which
have already been mentioned; and it is interesting to note, as
testifying to the care and accuracy of his observations, that the
account in his journal corresponds very closely with that given in the
Life of Admiral Baudin, published in France within the last few years.
He was particularly impressed with, and distinguishes as matters of
principal importance, the utility of the small French steamers in towing
the fighting ships into position, and the destructive effects of the
shell upon the soft masonry of the fort. Admiral Baudin, in his reports,
indulged in some of the pardonable grumbling of a seaman of the old
school about the constant ailments of the little steam-vessels; but he
was too capable an officer to ignore their value, "and never," wrote
Farragut in his report, "was the utility of these vessels so apparent.
Everything was done by them. The day was calm, or nearly so, and the
ships had no sails to manage. As soon as the anchor was let go they were
ready for action. The bomb-vessels were next placed (for which the range
had been calculated), and two sloops took position at right angles with
the range, to tell by signal the effect of the bombs. So you see all was
arranged with science and skill and without the slightest interruption,
for the Mexicans had given an order to the commander of the fort not on
any account to fire the first gun." This order was, in Farragut's
opinion, the principal cause of the French sustaining so little loss. A
well directed fire from the fort would, he thought, have destroyed the
steamers and prevented the frigates from gaining the carefully chosen
position, where they were least exposed to the guns of the works.
Immediately after the submission of the castle Farragut went ashore to
examine and note the effects of the fire, and especially of the
horizontal shell fire; which was then so much a novelty in naval warfare
that he speaks of the missiles continuously as shell-shot, apparently to
distinguish them from the vertically thrown bombs. "Now it was seen for
the first time that the material of which Ulloa is built (soft coral)
was the worst substance in the world for protection against the modern
shell. The French threw almost entirely shell-shot, which entered the
wall twelve or eighteen inches and then exploded, tearing out great
masses of stone, and in some instances rending the wall from base to
top. The damage done by these shell-shot was inconceivably greater than
that by the shell from the bomb-vessels, owing to the former striking
horizontally, while the latter fell vertically upon the bomb-proofs,
doing but little damage.... I am satisfied of one fact--viz., that they
might have bombarded with the bomb-vessels for a month without success,
while the frigates would in four hours more, with their shell-shot, have
reduced the fort to a heap of ruins." This opinion as to the inefficacy
of bomb-firing to destroy a work anticipated the experience of the Civil
War, where the conclusion was that it might wear out the endurance of
the garrison by constant harassment, but not directly reduce the works
themselves. It is only just to say that his estimate of the effect of
the horizontal fire upon the walls is more favorable than that of the
French engineers, who did not consider that the damage done necessarily
entailed a capitulation; but seamen and engineers have rarely agreed in
their opinions upon this subject.
The same zeal which led Farragut to this minute inspection of the
battered fortress carried him also on board one of the French ships,
while she still remained cleared for action, to note matters of detail
which differed from those then prevalent in his own service. Of these he
made a very full representation, and one much in disparagement of the
United States Navy; which, since the glories of 1812 and the first
re-organization and development procured for it by the popular favor
consequent upon its victories, had been allowed to drop into a state of
backwardness, as regards the material, similar to that which followed
the Civil War, and from which it is but now beginning to emerge. The
points which he noted, though most important to that rapidity and order
upon which the efficient service of a ship's batteries depends, would
have now no attraction for the unprofessional reader; nor for the
professional, except as matters of antiquarian interest. They showed
that spirit of system, of scientific calculation, of careful adaptation
of means to ends, which have ever distinguished the French material for
naval war, except when the embarrassments of the treasury have prevented
the adoption of expensive improvements--a spirit which for over a
century made the French ships the models which their usually victorious
rivals were fain to copy. "The English and ourselves may affect to
despise the French by sea," wrote Farragut to Barron, "but depend upon
it, sir, they are in science far ahead of us both, and when England
next meets France upon the ocean she will find a different enemy from
that of the last war. Of all this I know you have seen much in theory,
but I have seen it tested in practice."
The substance of Farragut's letter to Barron deals with matters which
the progress of time and the accompanying advances in naval science have
now made obsolete; but the spirit which inspired the letter and
accumulated the materials for it can never become obsolete. It was then,
and it is now, the indication of a man keeping abreast of his time and
awake to its necessities; it held then, as it does now, the promise of
one who, when occasion arose, would have his faculties in readiness, by
constant training, to exert all the powers with which nature had gifted
him. The conditions of 1861 were very different from those of 1838; but
the officer who was found awake to the first in their day would not be
behind the others in theirs. The letter concluded with a pregnant
observation, which deserves to be quoted as thoroughly characteristic of
the writer: "I have already said too much for a letter to any other
person of your rank; but I flatter myself that I know your love of
improvement, and that my intentions will be duly appreciated. If we who
wander about the world do not keep those at home informed of the daily
improvements in other navies, how can we hope to improve, particularly
when we see men impressed with the idea that because they once gained a
victory, they can do it again? So they may, but I can tell them it must
be with the means of 1838, and not those of 1812." This transmission of
information concerning the progress of other navies, upon which
Farragut laid such just stress, is now systematized and perfected under
a particular branch of the Navy Department, known as the Office of Naval
Intelligence. Upon every ship afloat there is an officer whose duty is
to observe and report to that office upon such matters, and upon all the
experiences of foreign navies which are open to the examination of
outsiders.
After the French affair at Vera Cruz the Erie returned to Pensacola, and
there on the 12th of January, 1839, Farragut gave up the command to an
officer of senior rank and went home. Upon his arrival in Norfolk,
finding his wife's health to be very precarious, he remained unemployed
until her death, which occurred on the 27th of December, 1840. "No more
striking illustration of his gentleness of character," says his
biography by his son, "is shown than in Farragut's attention to his
invalid wife. His tenderness in contributing to her every comfort, and
catering to every whim, through sixteen years of suffering, forms one of
the brightest spots in the history of his domestic life. When not at
sea, he was constantly by her side, and proved himself a faithful and
skillful nurse. It was the subject of remark by all who were thrown with
him; and a lady of Norfolk said, 'When Captain Farragut dies, he should
have a monument reaching to the skies, made by every wife in the city
contributing a stone.'"
CHAPTER V.
COMMANDER AND CAPTAIN.
1841-1860.
Immediately after the death of his wife Farragut applied for sea
service; and on the 22d of February, 1841, he was ordered to the
Delaware, a ship-of-the-line, which was fitting for sea in Norfolk and
destined to take him for the third time to the Brazil station. He was
then among the senior lieutenants of the navy; but as it was in
accordance with custom that a commander should be the executive officer
of a ship-of-the-line, his expected promotion would not, when it
arrived, cause him to leave his position. Some time passed before the
Delaware was fully ready for sea. Before sailing, she was sent up the
Chesapeake to the mouth of the Severn River, where she was visited by
numbers of people from the neighboring city of Annapolis, as well as by
large parties of congressmen and public officials from Washington, among
whom came the then Secretary of the Navy. It was while lying off
Annapolis, on the 27th of September, 1841, that Farragut received his
commission as commander in the navy. His seniority as such was from
September 8, 1841. A few days later the Delaware returned to Hampton
Roads, and thence sailed for her station on the 1st of November. On the
12th of January she anchored in Rio Janeiro. After a stay of six weeks
there, the whole squadron sailed for the Rio de la Plata, the usual
resort of the ships on that station during the summer months of the
southern hemisphere, when the yellow fever is apt to be prevalent in Rio
Janeiro. On the 1st of June, 1842, Farragut was ordered to command the
Decatur, a small sloop-of-war, relieving Commander Henry W. Ogden; who
as a midshipman of the Essex had been his messmate nearly thirty years
before, and was now compelled to leave his ship by an illness which
never allowed him to resume the active pursuit of his profession. The
transfer of the command appears to have been made in the harbor of Rio
Janeiro. In severing his connection with the Delaware, with his new
rank, Farragut felt that he had parted finally with the subordinate
duties of his calling; and, as rarely happens, he passed directly from
the active exercise of the lower position to fill the higher. His
journal records the fact with a characteristic comment: "Thus closed my
service on board the Delaware as executive officer; to which I shall
always look back with gratification, as it was the last step in the
ladder of subordinate duties, and I feel proud to think I performed it
with the same zeal as the first." He was then nearly forty-one years
old.
On the 2d of July the Decatur sailed for the La Plata in company with
the Delaware. Soon after reaching Montevideo, Commodore Morris embarked
on board the former, and went in her to Buenos Ayres; ships of the size
of the Delaware not being able to approach that city on account of the
great distance to which very shoal water extends from it. After
exchanging the usual official civilities and transacting some business
with Rosas, who then embodied in his own person all the powers of the
state, the commodore returned to Montevideo; but the Decatur was soon
sent back, and Farragut spent most of the latter half of 1842 at Buenos
Ayres, in constant intercourse, both official and social, with Rosas and
his family. Of the latter he, in common with most American naval
officers who visited the La Plata at that time, received very agreeable
impressions; and since, as commanding officer, his duties were less
exacting and his time much more at his own command than as executive, he
gave free play to the social disposition which was prominent in his
character. Much of his journal during his stay is taken up with the
accounts of social and official entertainments in which he shared.
"During the month of September," he writes, "I made it a rule to spend
two or three evenings a week at the governor's" (Rosas). "On the 5th of
November I was invited to a ball at the Victoria Theatre, where, as on
all similar occasions, I danced the first quadrille with the charming
'Manuelita," the daughter of Rosas. The pleasant and familiar relations
thus established enabled him to do many kind acts for the Unitarios,
whose lives were in constant danger by political accusations, if not
from actual offenses.
Rosas himself was then in the full exercise of the dictatorial power
with which he had been invested some years before, after refusing a
re-election as governor of Buenos Ayres. His rule, which lasted under
successive renewals of his office until 1852, was arbitrary and bloody;
but in the disorganized condition of the provinces at that period a man
of his force of character seems to have been necessary, to avert the
greater horrors of constant intestine strife. "We concluded from our
observations," notes Farragut in his journal, "that he was a man of
uncommon mind and energy, and, as a general thing, reasonable; but on
the subject of secret societies he was a madman, if we might judge from
his furious denunciation of them." They constituted, indeed, the one
resource of the cowed Unitarios, and were the chief danger then
threatening him. "We had an excellent opportunity to form an idea of his
character, as he appeared to throw off all restraint while with us. But
the commodore informed us that, as soon as he laid business matters
before him, Rosas was a different person; he was calm and measured in
manner and language." The ladies of the family were amiable, intelligent
and hospitable; but, like all the women of Buenos Ayres at that time,
were perforce ardent Federalists and detesters of the "savage
Unitarios." Farragut mentions an incident occurring at an official
festivity in honor of Rosas, which shows the savagery that lay close
under the surface of the Argentine character at that time, and easily
found revolting expression in the constant civil strife and in the
uncontrolled rule of the dictator. "In the ball-room was a picture which
would have disgraced even barbarian society. It was a full-sized figure
representing a Federal soldier, with a Unitarian lying on the ground,
the Federal pressing his knees between the victim's shoulders, whose
head was pulled back with the left hand, and the throat cut from ear to
ear, while the executioner exultingly held aloft a bloody knife and
seemed to be claiming the applause of the spectators. I am sure I do not
err in saying that every one of our party felt an involuntary shudder
come over him when his eye fell upon this tableau; nor did we afterward
recover our spirits, everything in the way of gayety on our part during
the night was forced and unnatural."
It is a matter of some, though minor, interest to note that Farragut has
occasion at this time to mention Garibaldi, in connection with the wars
then waging. The Italian patriot, whose name was then far from having
the celebrity it has since attained, had for some time been engaged on
the popular side in revolutionary struggles in the southern provinces of
Brazil. Thence he had passed into Uruguay, and become a teacher of
mathematics in Montevideo. Rosas had the ambition to bring into the
Argentine confederation all the provinces which once formed the
viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, of which Uruguay was one; and, finding a
pretext in the civil dissensions of the latter, had opened hostilities
as the ally of one party in the State. Garibaldi, who began life as a
seaman, had command of the Uruguayan naval forces, and in that capacity
undertook to carry stores to Corrientes, an important point far up the
river Parana. "As he met with many obstacles in his course," notes
Farragut, "the Argentine admiral, Brown, was enabled to overtake him.
Garibaldi ran his vessel into a creek and made a most desperate
resistance; fought until he had expended everything in the way of
ammunition, then landed his crew and set his vessel on fire." On the
17th of October a grand ball was given in honor of this success, which
Commander Farragut attended; as he did all the other gayeties during his
stay in Buenos Ayres.
The Decatur had already been long on the station when Farragut assumed
command, and the time had now arrived for her to return home. After
leaving Buenos Ayres she made short stops at Montevideo, Rio Janeiro,
Maranham, and Para, the latter being the seaport of the Amazon River. On
the 18th of February, 1843, she arrived in Norfolk, and Farragut was
relieved. His health being delicate at this time, he spent the following
summer at Fauquier Springs, Virginia.
From the mountains he returned in the autumn to Norfolk; and there on
the 26th of December, 1843, he married Miss Virginia Loyall, the eldest
daughter of Mr. William Loyall, a well-known and respected citizen of
Norfolk.
In April, 1844, Commander Farragut was ordered as executive officer to
the receiving ship at Norfolk, the Pennsylvania, of one hundred and
twenty guns; which, in the days of sailing ships, was by far the largest
vessel the United States ever had, and one of the largest in the world.
Some time later he was transferred to the navy yard at the same place,
on which duty he was employed when the war with Mexico arose.
As soon as the already existing difficulties with that country began to
wear an ominous outlook, Farragut wrote to the Navy Department, asking
for service in the Gulf. In his application he stated the qualifications
he thought he possessed, from his knowledge and close study of the
ground, and from his acquaintance with the Spanish language. He
instanced particularly the occasions on which he had been employed in
that neighborhood, and the close study he had been privileged to make on
the spot during Admiral Baudin's operations. Although the Secretary of
the Navy at that time was the able and enlightened Mr. George Bancroft,
this letter received no reply; and a second, sent after the beginning of
the war, was barely acknowledged without any action being taken. After
Mr. Bancroft left the Department, Farragut renewed his application,
expressing a decided opinion that the castle of San Juan de Ulloa could
be taken either by artillery attack or by escalade; offering to
undertake the task with the Pennsylvania and two sloops-of-war. If not
thought to have rank enough for such a command, he was willing to go
back to the position of executive officer of the Pennsylvania, in order,
in that capacity, to organize the crew for the attack. The opinion thus
expressed ran counter to the routine prejudices of the day, and, coming
from an officer who had as yet had no opportunity to establish his
particular claim to be heard, rather hurt than improved his chances for
employment. It was not till February, 1847, nearly a year after the war
began, and then with "much difficulty," that he obtained command of the
sloop-of-war Saratoga; but when he reached Vera Cruz in her, the castle
had already passed into the hands of the United States, having
surrendered to the forces under General Scott on the 26th of March. That
this capture should have been made by the army rather than by the navy
was a severe disappointment to Farragut, who had so long cherished the
hope that its fall should have been the brilliant achievement of his own
service. In his mortification he used an expression which, in the light
of his own subsequent career, seems a twofold prophecy. "The navy would
stand on a different footing to-day if our ships had made the attack. It
was all we could do, and should have been done at all hazards.
Commodore Conner thought differently, however, and the old officers at
home backed his opinion; but they all paid the penalty--_not one of them
will wear an admiral's flag_, which they might have done if that castle
had been taken by the navy, which must have been the result of an
attack." It was to such enterprise at the hands of the men of his own
time, among whom he was foremost, that the navy at a later day did
obtain the admiral's flag which it had so long in vain desired.
The frustration of this high ambition was not the only misfortune to
Farragut arising out of the Mexican war. He contracted the yellow fever
on the station, nearly losing his life; and subsequently became involved
in a controversy with the commodore of the squadron, who he believed
had, in the assignment of duty, treated him and his ship with unfair
discrimination, due to personal ill-will toward himself. The
correspondence had no results; but such quarrels are rarely other than
hurtful to the junior officer engaged. It is not singular, therefore,
that he speaks of this cruise as the most mortifying of all the service
he had seen since entering the navy. "I have little," he said again, "to
look back to with satisfaction or pleasure at this time, except the
consciousness of having done my duty." Smarting under the belief that he
was being imposed upon, he wrote to the Navy Department complaining of
injustice, and asking that either he himself should be relieved or the
ship sent home. He candidly admits that his letters were considered
improper by the Secretary of the Navy, but the Saratoga was ordered to
return to the United States, and was paid off at New York in February,
1848. In her short cruise there had been one hundred cases of yellow
fever in her crew of one hundred and fifty, and her commander had been
obliged, to use his own expression, "to rid the service" of five of her
junior officers, and on the last day to bring the first lieutenant to
trial for drunkenness. Altogether, the Mexican war and the cruise of the
Saratoga seem to have marked the lowest point of disappointment and
annoyance that Farragut was called upon to encounter during his naval
career.
Immediately after leaving the Saratoga, Farragut was again ordered to
duty in his former position at the Norfolk navy yard. Two years later he
was called to Washington to draw up, in connection with some other
officers, a book of Ordnance Regulations for the navy. This occupied him
for eighteen months. As when in New Haven, twenty-five years before, he
had improved the opportunity of hearing the lectures at Yale College, so
at this later period he attended regularly those of the Smithsonian
Institution, losing, he records, but a single one. "You will rarely come
away from such lectures," he adds, "without being somewhat wiser than
you went in." Where precisely such knowledge might come into play he
could not, indeed, foresee, but he acted always on the principle that
any knowledge might at some time become useful; just as, when at Vera
Cruz, though he did not at the time look forward to a war with Mexico,
he closely examined every point of interest, for "I have made it a rule
of my life to note these things with a view to the possible future."
When the Ordnance Regulations were finished, in the spring of 1852,
Farragut was again assigned to the Norfolk navy yard, and directed to
utilize the experience he had gained in compiling them by giving weekly
lectures on gunnery to the officers on the station. In prosecution of
the same line of professional work, he was soon after ordered to conduct
a series of experiments at Old Point Comfort, near Norfolk, to determine
certain questions connected with the endurance of iron cannon; the
discharges being continued with one or two of each class of service guns
until they burst. Some very important results were obtained; but the
circumstance connected with this duty which has now most interest, is
that in it Farragut was associated with Lieutenant Percival Drayton, who
was afterward his flag-captain and chief-of-staff at the battle of
Mobile Bay. The intimacy formed during this year of experimental duty at
Old Point lasted throughout their lives.
Soon after this the Crimean war broke out. Farragut's desire for his own
professional improvement and for the progress of the service led him to
make application to the Navy Department to be sent to the seat of war,
"to visit the fleets of England and France, and ascertain whether in the
outfits and preparation for war they possess any advantages over our own
ships-of-war, and, if so, in what they consist." The utility of such a
mission can not be doubted, and his occupations of the past few years
particularly prepared him for such an inquiry. Had the Navy Department
then had any systematic record of the aptitude shown by individual
officers, and of the work done by them, it must have recognized
Farragut's peculiar fitness for duties of this kind; which have since
his time been organized and given a most comprehensive scope under the
Intelligence Office of the Navy Department. As it was, his application
received no other reply than a polite acknowledgment. A commission,
consisting of three officers of the Engineer Corps of the army, was sent
by the War Department to visit Europe and the seat of war, and upon its
return made an elaborate report; but at this critical period of naval
progress, when sail was manifestly giving place to steam, when the early
attempts at iron-clad batteries were being made, and the vast changes in
armament that have since taken place were certainly, though as yet
dimly, indicated, it did not appear to the Government of the United
States a matter of sufficient importance to inquire, on the spot, into
the practical working of the new instruments under the test of war.
Although doubtless not so intended, the Navy Department emphasized its
decision not to send Farragut to the East by assigning him to duty as
far west as the naval interests of the United States, within its own
borders, then allowed. In August, 1854, four months after his
application for the former employment, he was ordered to California as
first commandant of the navy yard at Mare Island. The site had been
selected in the year 1852 by a commission of three officers, but as yet
no navy yard existed. It was to be Farragut's particular duty to plan
and build it up under the general instructions of the Department. His
selection for this difficult and onerous, but at the same time very
flattering, appointment was among the first evident results of the
diligent, painstaking effort which had marked his professional career.
By that, and by that only, had he as yet had any opportunity of marking
himself above the ordinary run of men; but he stood high in the esteem
of Commodore Joseph Smith, then and for many years both before and
after, the chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, under whose charge
the management and development of navy yards more particularly came. At
the critical period when the selection of an officer to command in the
attack upon New Orleans had to be made, Smith, who had close
confidential relations with the Secretary of the Navy, always held that
Farragut was the man above all others for the place.
The site of the new yard was in the extensive sheet of inland waters
connected with the bay of San Francisco, and some thirty miles from the
city. There being no accommodations upon the island, Farragut, with his
family, for some seven months lived on board an old sloop-of-war
anchored near by. He remained at this station for four years, during
which great progress was made in the development of the yard; but the
duty, though most important and particularly responsible, because of the
length of time required by correspondence to pass to and from
Washington, was not fruitful of incident. These were the troublous early
times of California--the days of the Vigilance Committee and the Law and
Order Party. With these intestine troubles of a State the military
officers of the United States had no proper concern; but there was
continually a possibility that they might be forced to take a stand by
the interference of one side or the other with civil officials of the
United States Government, or might be induced, by a request from the
authorities, to act upon the ground that there was no time to refer to
Washington for instructions. It is unnecessary to enter into any
examination of Farragut's course during this period, although the
affairs with which he had to deal became at times both critical and
delicate. It will be sufficient to say that the Navy Department, after
receiving his reports, approved his conduct as having been prudent and
yet marked by a proper spirit.
In July, 1858, Farragut returned to the East by the only route then
available, the Isthmus of Panama. During his absence, on the 14th of
September, 1855, he had been promoted to the rank of captain, which,
prior to the Civil War, was the highest grade in the United States Navy;
the title commodore, then so frequently applied to the older officers of
the service, being simply one of courtesy given to a captain who had
commanded a squadron of several vessels, but who did not thereby cease
to be borne as a captain upon the Navy Register. Soon after his arrival
Farragut was ordered to command the Brooklyn, one of six steam
sloops-of-war just being completed. She belonged to that new navy of
thirty years ago which the United States Government, most luckily for
itself, had determined to build, and which became fairly available just
in time for the exigencies of the Civil War.
It has been said, and that on the floors of Congress by a politician
conspicuous in his party, that past history teaches that preparation for
war is unnecessary to the United States, and the conditions precedent to
the wars of 1812 and 1861 have been cited in support of the assertion.
Certainly no one cognizant of the facts will deny that the United States
was most miserably unprepared for either war as regards the size of her
navy; but it so happened on both occasions, more by good luck than good
management, that what navy it did have was of remarkably fine quality,
and, to the extent to which its numbers permitted it to be employed, was
generally perfectly adequate to the work it had to do. It could not,
however, begin to touch the full amount of service it ought to have
done. In 1812 it could not protect the Chesapeake nor the Mississippi;
it was blockaded in its own ports, escaping only by evasion; it could
not protect American commerce, which suffered more than did that of
Great Britain. In 1861, had its numbers been at all adequate, it could
by prompt action have forestalled the preparations of the enemy, and by
prevention secured immediate advantages which were afterward achieved
only by large expenditure of time and fighting. Such were the results of
unpreparedness. It was to the preparation, scanty as it was--to the fine
ships and superior armaments, both too few--that the successes of either
era were due. The frigates and sloops of 1812 were among the finest of
their class to be found anywhere, with powerful batteries and
excellently officered; while in the decade before the Civil War began
there had been built eighteen or twenty new steamships, admirably
efficient for their day, and with armaments of an advanced and powerful
type. Upon these fell the principal brunt of the naval fighting that
ensued. These ships, and particularly those of the Brooklyn class, were
the backbone of Farragut's fleet throughout all his actions, even in the
last at Mobile in 1864. Had there been thrice as many, the work would
have been sooner and therefore more cheaply done; but had the lack of
preparation in 1861 equaled that of 1851 or 1881, it may be questioned
whether any of his successes could have been won.
When Farragut took command of the Brooklyn, ten years had elapsed since
he was last afloat--years pregnant with naval change. He had never
before served in a steamer, except for a very short time in a primitive
one belonging to Porter's Mosquito fleet, in 1823. The changes in the
disposition and handling of the guns had not been radical. They were
still arranged "in broadside," along the two sides of the vessel; nor
were the pivot guns--which, as their name implies, could be pivoted to
one side or the other, according to the position of an enemy--a new
idea. In these matters there had been improvement and development, but
not revolution. But while the mode of placing and handling was
essentially the same, the guns themselves had greatly increased in size
and received important modifications in pattern. The system then in
vogue was that associated with the name of the late Admiral Dahlgren.
The shape of the gun had been made to conform to the strains brought by
the discharge upon its various parts, as determined by careful
experiment; and in place of the 32-pounder, or six-inch gun, which had
been the principal weapon of the earlier ships, the batteries of the new
frigates and sloops were composed chiefly of nine-inch guns, with one or
more pivots of ten- or eleven-inch bore. The shell-shot, whose
destructive effects had excited Farragut's comments in 1838, were now
the recognized type of projectile; and the new guns were spoken of
distinctively as shell-guns, because not expected to use solid shot
under ordinary circumstances. The Brooklyn and her fellows, among which
was Farragut's future flag-ship, the Hartford, although screw steamers,
had also the full sail power of the former sailing ship; and they were
wooden, not iron vessels.
The service of the Brooklyn, while under Farragut's command, was chiefly
confined to his old cruising ground in the West Indies and in Mexico.
In the latter country, since the termination of the war with the United
States in 1848, there had been a constant succession of revolutions; and
at the time of the Brooklyn's cruise there was established in Vera Cruz
a constitutional party, at whose head was Benito Juarez, the lawful
claimant of the presidency. Opposed to this, in the city of Mexico, was
the party headed by General Miramon, who had succeeded by force to the
authority of Juarez's predecessor. The United States threw its influence
on the side of Juarez; and its minister, Robert McLane, was permitted to
use the Brooklyn to carry him from point to point of the coast. While no
force was exerted, the support given to the minister's remonstrances by
the constant presence of a powerful ship-of-war served to emphasize the
policy of the Government, which had recognized Juarez. This recognition
was followed some time later by a similar step on the part of the
ministers of England, France, and Spain. Mr. McLane continued with the
Brooklyn during great part of 1859, and in December of that year
returned in her to the Mississippi, where he was landed at a plantation
below New Orleans. This visit to his early home was marked by a sad
coincidence to Farragut. His elder brother, William, a lieutenant in the
navy, had long been retired from active service, for which he was
unfitted by rheumatism. In consequence he had not received promotion,
remaining at the head of the list of lieutenants, and being assigned to
duty at the naval rendezvous in New Orleans. When the Brooklyn entered
the river he was lying at the point of death, but heard of his brother's
approach, and expressed a hope that he might live long enough to see
him again after so many years of separation. The wish was not to be
fulfilled. Though ignorant of the danger, Captain Farragut hastened to
the city, himself also looking forward with pleasure to the meeting; but
he arrived only in time to see his brother dead, and to follow him to
the grave.
Farragut remained attached to the Brooklyn for two years. In October,
1860, he was relieved by Captain W. S. Walker, and returned to his home
in Norfolk. This ended his sea service prior to the Civil War, and as
the captain of a single ship. Thenceforward, during the brief but
important remnant of his active career, he was to command great fleets.
CHAPTER VI.
THE QUESTION OF ALLEGIANCE.
1860-1861.
When Captain Farragut returned to Norfolk in October, 1860, he was,
albeit unconsciously, rapidly approaching the turning point of his life,
the tide in his affairs which taken at the flood should lead on to
fortune. That he seized the opportunity was due to no dexterous weighing
of the effects of either course upon his personal future, but to that
preparedness of mind which has already been mentioned as one of his
characteristic traits, and to the tenacity with which were held his
convictions thus deliberately and maturely formed. For several years he
had watched with unquiet mind the gathering clouds which preceded the
approaching storm, and in common with others had felt the distress and
perplexity which would attend the rupture of the Union. He did not,
however, remain a merely passive spectator, agitated as such by hopes
and fears, but trusting withal to the chapter of accidents. He had
considered the effect of the alternatives before the country, and what
his own duty should be in any case. He could not, in his modest
position, control the course of events; but, whatever befell, he would
be ready to take his stand, strengthened in so doing by the settled
principles to which his conscientious meditation had led him. Thus his
fixed purpose, enlightened by reason, had in it nothing of obstinacy;
yet resisted those appeals to affection, to interest, or to prejudice,
under which so many succumbed.
Within a month after his leaving the Brooklyn, on the 6th of November,
1860, the presidential election was held, and resulted, as had been
expected, in the choice of Mr. Lincoln. On the 20th of December South
Carolina seceded, and her course was followed within the next six weeks
by the other cotton States. In February, 1861, delegates from these
States met in convention at Montgomery, Alabama, adopted a constitution,
and elected Jefferson Davis to be president of their confederation. On
the 18th he was inaugurated, and the new government was thus formally
constituted.
Here for a moment the secession movement paused, and Farragut earnestly
trusted would stop. Born in a Southern State, and passing his childhood
in the extreme Southwest, his relations with both had been severed at
too early an age to establish any lasting hold upon his affections; but,
though he was to the end carried upon the Navy Register as a citizen of
Tennessee, the tenderest and most enduring ties of his life had been
formed in Virginia. Nowhere were local bonds stronger, nowhere State
pride greater or more justified, than in the famous Commonwealth, which
had stood in the center of the line in the struggle for independence,
and had given to the nation so many illustrious men from Washington
downward. It was impossible that Farragut--who at so early an age, and
when attached to no other spot, had married in Norfolk, and
thenceforward gone in and out among its people--should be insensible to
these influences, or look without grief to a contingency which should
force him to sunder all these associations and go forth, on the verge of
old age, to seek elsewhere a new home. Nor is it possible to many,
however conscious of right, to bear without suffering the alienation and
the contempt visited upon those who, in times of keen political
excitement, dare to differ from the general passion which sways the mass
around them.
Farragut therefore naturally hoped that this bitter trial might be
spared him. The Virginian people had taken what seemed then to be a
conservative attitude; and, although he was determined to abide by the
Union if it were severed by violent action, he was anxious to believe
that his home might be saved to him. The Legislature of the State met
early in January and recommended all the States to appoint deputies to a
peace convention, which accordingly met on the 4th of February; but the
propositions made by it were not such as the National Congress could
accept. On the 13th of the same month there was assembled at Richmond a
State convention, the majority of the delegates to which were Union men,
in the then sense of the word in that State. This fact, and the
character of some of the speeches made, tended to encourage the belief
to which Farragut's wishes led him; but this hope was soon damped by the
passage of resolutions affirming the right of secession, and defining
the grounds upon which Virginia would be justified in exercising the
right. Among these grounds were the adoption of any warlike measures by
the United States Government, the recapture of the forts which had been
seized by the States already seceded, or any attempt to exact duties
from them. True, this was followed during the first week in April by the
rejection of a proposition to secede by a vote of eighty-nine to
forty-five; but, as Farragut held that the President would be justified
in calling out troops when the forts and property of the nation had been
violently taken from it, the contrary avowal of the Legislature of his
State showed that he might soon be forced to choose between it and the
National Government. In that case his mind was fully made up; the choice
was painful, but not doubtful. "God forbid," he said, "that I should
have to raise my hand against the South!" but the words themselves
showed that, however bitter the decision, he was ready to make it. If
separation between the sections came peacefully, by mutual consent, he
would abide in the only home his manhood had known, and cast his lot
thenceforth with the people to whom he was allied and among whom his
interests lay; but if the rupture took the form of violent rebellion
against the Central Government, whose claims he admitted and to which he
owned allegiance, he was prepared to turn his arms even against those
who in the other alternative would have been his countrymen. The
attitude thus held during those long months of suspense and anxiety was
honorable alike to his heart, which responded warmly to the calls of
natural affection, and to his conscience, which subordinated the
dictates of the heart to his convictions of right; while the
unhesitating character of his resolution, amid the uncertainties that
unsettled so many men, must be attributed to that habit of preparing for
emergencies which characterized his career.
On the 12th of April, 1861, the long period of waiting and watching was
brought to an end by the attack upon Fort Sumter. On the 15th President
Lincoln issued his proclamation formally announcing the condition of
affairs which existed in the seceded States, the defiance of the Central
Government, and the seizure of its property. In consequence he called
for seventy-five thousand men from the militia of the various States,
and avowed clearly that "the first service assigned to the forces hereby
called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and
property which have been seized from the Union." This was clearly an
appeal to arms, provoked finally by the assault upon Fort Sumter, but
which the convention then sitting in Richmond had pronounced to be a
lawful cause for secession. In the excitement of the hour the Union men,
whose attitude toward the more violent party had been almost apologetic,
were swept away by the current of feeling, and an ordinance of secession
was passed by the convention on the 17th of April, 1861.
During the previous winter Farragut had been residing in Norfolk,
unemployed by the Government, but in daily association both with
citizens and naval officers; many of whom, like himself, were married
and settled there. He and his friends met daily at one of those common
rendezvous which are to be found in every small town, and there
discussed the news which each day brought of change and excitement. In
this way Farragut became acquainted with the views of most of the
resident officers, and realized, without being himself swayed by, the
influences to which all of them, and especially those of Southern birth,
were subjected. With the conservatism common in seamen who have been
for long periods separated by their profession from their native places,
the great majority of these officers, already men of middle age, could
not but feel keen sorrow at the prospect of changes, which would remove
them from the navy and separate them from the flag which had hitherto
stood to them for country. But, moved by feeling and prejudice, wrought
upon by the strong appeals of those they loved, and unfortified by the
well-reasoned convictions which made the strength of Farragut, it was
equally impossible for the greater part of them to imitate his example.
The sense of duty and official honor which they owed to their long
training in a generous service stood by them, and few were the cases of
men false to trusts actually in their charge; but theirs was not that
sense of personal allegiance to the Government which gave the light of
the single eye, and enabled Farragut's final decision to be as prompt as
it was absolute.
On the 18th of April, the day after the ordinance of secession had been
passed, Farragut went as usual to the place of meeting, and saw,
immediately upon entering, by the faces of those there, that a great
change had passed over the relations between them. He spoke with his
usual openness, and expressed his deliberate convictions. He did not
believe that the action of the convention represented the sober judgment
of the people. The State had been, as he phrased it, "dragooned" out of
the Union; and President Lincoln was perfectly justified in calling for
troops after the seizure of the forts and arsenals. One of those present
remarked impatiently that a person with such sentiments could not live
in Norfolk, and this feeling was evidently shared by the bystanders;
there was, indeed, some danger, in those excited moments, of personal
violence to those who dared gainsay the popular passion. "Very well,"
replied Farragut, "I can live somewhere else." No time was needed to
take a decision already contingently formed, and for executing which he
had, with his customary foresight, been accumulating the necessary
funds. He at once went to his house and told his wife the time had come
for her to decide whether she would remain with her own kinsfolk or
follow him North. Her choice was as instant as his own, and that evening
they, with their only son, left Norfolk, never to return to it as their
home. Mrs. Farragut's sister and her young family accompanied them in
the steamer to Baltimore. Upon reaching the latter city they found it
also boiling over with excitement. The attack upon the Massachusetts
troops had just taken place, and the railroad bridges over the
Susquehanna were then burning. The usual means of communication being
thus broken off, Farragut and his party had to take passage for
Philadelphia in a canal boat, on which were crowded some three hundred
passengers, many of them refugees like themselves. It is a curious
illustration of the hardships attending a flight under such exigency,
even in so rich a country as our own, that a baby in the company had to
be fed on biscuit steeped in brandy for want of proper nourishment.
From Philadelphia the journey to New York was easy, and Farragut there
settled his family in a small cottage in the village of Hastings, on the
Hudson River. Here he awaited events, hoping for employment; but it is
one of the cruel circumstances attending civil strife that confidence is
shaken, and the suspicions that arise, however unjust, defy reason and
constrain the Government to defer to them. No man could have given
stronger proof than Farragut had of his perfect loyalty; but all shades
of opinion were known to exist among officers of Southern origin, even
when they remained in the service, and there were those who, though
refusing to follow the South, would willingly have avoided striking a
blow against the seceding States. Men were heard to say that they would
not go with their State, but neither would they fight against her; or
that they would remain in the navy, but seek employment that might spare
them the pain of taking part in such a contest. These illogical
positions were soon abandoned as the spirit of war gained more and more
hold upon the feelings of men, but for Farragut they never existed after
the first blow was struck. Through whatever struggles with himself he
may have passed in the earlier stages of the secession movement, his
decision, when reached, admitted no half-measures, nor halted between
two opinions. "He stood on no neutral ground, he longed to take an
active part in the war." Nevertheless, the Government could not at once
accept, as a title to full and implicit confidence, even the sacrifice
of home and life-long associations which he had made to the cause of the
Union. If given any duty, a man of Farragut's rank and attainments must
needs have one involving much responsibility, failure in which would
involve not only himself but those who had employed him. The cry of
treachery was sure to follow, and prudent officers of Southern birth
found it advisable to decline employments where they foresaw that delays
were unavoidable, because they felt that what might be explained in the
case of a Northern man would in them be stamped by public opinion as the
result of disaffection. In Hastings and its neighborhood the most
grotesque suspicions were spread concerning the Southern captain who had
thus come to dwell among them, and who, for conscience and country, had
given up more than had been demanded of those who thus distrusted him.
Time was needed to allow men's minds to reach a more reasonable frame,
and for the Government itself to sift and test, not merely the fidelity,
but the heartiness and the probable capacity of the officers at its
command.
Farragut's first employment was as a member of a board to recommend
officers for retirement from active service, under an act approved
August 3, 1861. The object of this act was to assist the Department in
the discrimination necessary to be made between the competent and those
disabled by years or infirmity, for up to that time there had been no
regular system of retirement, and men were retained on the active list
past the period of efficiency, because no provision for removing them
existed. The duty, though most important with war actually existing, was
delicate and trying, and far from consonant to Farragut's active,
enterprising character. More suitable employment was, however, fast
approaching.
[Illustration: SCENE OF FARRAGUT'S OPERATIONS, 1862-1864.]
CHAPTER VII.
THE NEW ORLEANS EXPEDITION. 1862.
The necessity of controlling the Mississippi valley had been early
realized by the United States Government. In its hands the great stream
would become an impassable barrier between two large sections of the
Southern Confederacy; whereas in the possession of the latter it
remained a link binding together all the regions through which it
flowed, or which were penetrated by any of its numerous tributaries. The
extensive territory west of the river also produced a large part of the
provisions upon which depended the Southern armies, whose main field of
action was, nevertheless, on the eastern side. In a country habitually
so unprepared for war as is the United States, and where, of course,
such a contingency as an intestine struggle between the sections could
not have been provided for, there seemed room to hope that the national
forces might by rapid action seize the whole course of the river, before
the seceding States were able to take adequate measures for its defense.
The Government had the support of that part of the country which had
received the largest manufacturing development, and could, therefore,
most quickly prepare the material for war, in which both sides were
lamentably deficient; and, what was yet more important, it possessed in
the new navy built since 1855 an efficient weapon to which the South had
nothing to oppose. The hope was extravagant and doomed to
disappointment; for to overrun and hold so extensive a territory as the
immediate basin of the Mississippi required a development of force on
the one side and a degree of exhaustion on the other which could not be
reached so early in the war. The relative strengths, though unequal,
were not yet sufficiently disproportioned to enable the gigantic work to
be accomplished; and the principal result of an effort undertaken
without due consideration was to paralyze a large fraction of a navy too
small in numbers to afford the detachment which was paraded gallantly,
but uselessly, above New Orleans. Nor was this the worst; the time thus
consumed in marching up the hill in order at once to march down again
threw away the opportunity for reducing Mobile before its defenses were
strengthened. Had the navy been large enough, both tasks might have been
attempted; but it will appear in the sequel that its scanty numbers were
the reason which postponed the attack on Mobile from month to month,
until it became the most formidable danger Farragut ever had to
encounter.
Despite the extensive sea-coast of the United States and the large
maritime commerce possessed by it at the opening of the war, the navy
had never, except for short and passing intervals, been regarded with
the interest its importance deserved. To this had doubtless contributed
the fixed policy of the Government to concentrate its attention upon
the internal development of the country, and to concern itself little
with external interests, except so far as they promoted the views of
that section which desired to give extension to slaveholding territory.
The avoidance of entangling alliances had become perverted to
indifference to the means by which alone, in the last resort, the nation
can assert and secure control in regions outside its borders, but
vitally affecting its prosperity and safety. The power of navies was
therefore, then as now, but little understood. Consequently, when the
importance of the Mississippi Valley was realized, as it immediately
was, there was but one idea as to the means of controlling it, and that
was by a land invasion from the great Western and Northwestern States.
To this a navy was indeed to be adjoined, but in a manner so distinctly
subsidiary that it was, contrary to all custom, placed under the orders
of the commander-in-chief of the Western army, and became simply a
division of the land forces. From this subordinate position it was soon
raised by its own intrinsic value and the logic of facts; but the
transient experience is noteworthy, because illustrating the general
ignorance of the country as to the powers of the priceless weapon which
lay ready, though unnoticed, to its hand.
Happily, in the Navy Department itself juster views prevailed; and the
general indifference permitted it at least one compensation--to follow
its own ways. The Secretary himself was not a professional man, though
he had had official connection with the service in the past; but most
fortunately there was called to his assistance one who had been for
eighteen years in the navy, had passed while in it to the command of
mail steamers, and only five years before the war had resigned and
entered civil life. This gentleman, Mr. Gustavus V. Fox, thus combined
with business experience and an extensive acquaintance with naval
officers the capacities of a seaman. He knew what ships could do and
what they could not; but to this common knowledge of sea officers,
gained by the daily habit of sea life, he had added the results of study
and reflection upon events passing elsewhere than under his own
observation. The experiences of the allied navies in the Crimean War had
convinced him that, if the wooden sides of ships could not be pitted in
prolonged stand-up fight against the stone walls of fortresses, they
were capable of enduring such battering as they might receive in running
by them through an unobstructed channel. This conviction received
support by the results of the attacks upon Hatteras Inlet and Port
Royal. He might, indeed, have gone much further back and confirmed his
own judgment as a seaman by the express opinion of an eminent soldier.
Nearly a hundred years before, Washington, at the siege of Yorktown, had
urged the French Admiral De Grasse to send vessels past Cornwallis's
works to control the upper York River, saying: "I am so well satisfied
by experience of the little effect of land batteries on vessels passing
them with a leading breeze that, unless the two channels near Yorktown
should be found impracticable by obstructions, I should have the
greatest confidence in the success of this important service."[C]
[Footnote C: _Washington's Letters_, October 1, 1781.]
In this conviction of Mr. Fox's lay the inception of the expedition
against New Orleans. It was, in his view, to be a purely naval attack.
Once over the bar at the mouth of the river, the channel as far as the
city had no natural obstruction, was clearly defined, and easily
followed, by day or night, without a pilot. The heavy current of the
early spring months, while it would retard the passage of the ships and
so keep them longer under fire, would make it difficult for the enemy to
maintain in position any artificial barrier placed by him. The works to
be passed--the seaward defenses of New Orleans, Forts Jackson and St.
Philip--were powerful fortifications; but they were ultimately dependent
upon the city, ninety miles above them, for a support which could come
only by the river. A fleet anchored above the forts lay across their
only line of communication, and when thus isolated, their fall became
only a question of time. The work proposed to the United States Navy
was, therefore, to turn the forts by passing their fire, seize their
line of communications--the upper river--and their base, New Orleans,
and then to give over the latter to the army, which engaged to furnish a
force sufficient to hold the conquest.
Having first taken the necessary, but strictly preliminary, step of
seizing as a depot Ship Island, in Mississippi Sound, about a hundred
miles from the mouth of the river, Mr. Fox's proposition, which had been
adopted by the Secretary of the Navy, was submitted to the President.
Mr. Lincoln, himself a Western man, unfamiliar with maritime matters and
engrossed with the idea of invasion from the north, was disposed to be
incredulous of success; but with his usual open-mindedness consented to
a full discussion before him by experts from both services. A meeting
was therefore held with General McClellan at his headquarters. There
were present, besides the President, the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Fox,
and Commander David D. Porter, who had recently returned from service
off the mouth of the Mississippi. The antecedents of General McClellan
were those of an officer of the engineers, who are generally disposed to
exaggerate the powers of forts as compared with ships, and to
contemplate their reduction only by regular approaches; just as an
officer of the line of the army, looking to the capture of a place like
New Orleans, will usually and most properly seek first a base of
operations, from which he will project a campaign whose issue shall be
the fall of the city. To this cause was probably due the preference
observed by the Navy Department to exist in army circles, for an attack
upon Mobile first. Being close to the sea, which was completely under
the control of the navy, the necessary land operations would begin under
far more favorable conditions, and could be more easily maintained than
in the alluvial soil of the Mississippi delta. McClellan, who was an
accomplished master of his profession in all its branches, received at
first the impression that regular military operations against New
Orleans by way of the river were being proposed to him, and demurred;
but, on learning that the only demand was for a force to hold the city
and surroundings in case of success, he readily consented to detail ten
or fifteen thousand troops for the purpose. Though more hazardous, the
proposition of the Navy Department was in principle strategically sound.
The key of the position was to be struck for at once, and the outlying
defenses were expected then to fall by the severance of their
communications. The general might have his own opinion as to the power
of the navy to carry out the proposed passage of the forts, and as to
whether its coal, when once above, would outlast the endurance of the
hostile garrisons; but those were points upon which the Navy Department,
which undertook the risk, might be presumed to have more accurate
judgment than himself.
The conference, which was held about the middle of November, 1861,
resulted in the adoption of Mr. Fox's plan in its main outlines; but
with an important addition, which threatened at one time to become a
very serious modification. Commander Porter suggested that the naval
vessels should be accompanied by a mortar flotilla, to subdue the fire
of the forts by bombardment, and so to allow the fleet to pass without
risk, or with risk much diminished. This proposition approved itself to
the engineer instincts of McClellan, and was adopted. The general then
designated Major Barnard, of the Engineer Corps, to represent him in
adjusting the details of the expedition. Barnard also took strong ground
in favor of the mortars, and to this added the opinion--in which Porter
concurred--that the forts should be not merely bombarded, but reduced
before the passage. He summed up his conclusions in the following
perfectly clear words: "To pass those works (merely) with a fleet and
appear before New Orleans is merely a raid--no capture. New Orleans and
the river can not be held until communications are perfectly
established." The assertion of the last sentence can not be denied; it
admits of no difference of opinion. The point in dispute between the two
arguments was not this, but whether the fall of the city, which had no
local defenses, would entail that of the forts, and so open the
communications. Mr. Fox strongly held that it would; but although he
stuck to his opinion, he had a deservedly high estimate of Porter's
professional ability--so much so that, had the latter's rank justified,
he would have urged him for the command of the expedition. In this
doubtful state of the argument, it will be seen of how great importance
was the choice of the officer to be put in charge of the whole
undertaking. Had he also taken the view of Barnard and Porter in favor
of the more cautious, but--as it proved--more dangerous course, it could
scarcely have failed that Fox would have been overruled.
The nomination of this officer could not be longer deferred. Secrecy and
rapidity of action were large elements in the hoped-for achievement, and
secrecy depends much upon the length of time the secret must be kept.
Among the officers whose length of service and professional reputation
indicated them as suitable for the position, there was little to guide
the department to the man who would on emergency show the audacity and
self-reliance demanded by the intended operations. The action proposed,
though it falls within the limits of the methods which history has
justified, and has, therefore, a legitimate place in the so-called
science of war, was, nevertheless, as the opinions of Barnard and Porter
show, contrary to the more usual and accepted practice. It disregarded
the safeguards commonly insisted upon, overleaped the successive steps
by which military achievement ordinarily advances to its end, and,
looking only to the exceptional conditions, resorted fearlessly to
exceptional methods. For such a duty the department needed a man of more
than average determination and vigor.
Farragut's name was necessarily among those considered; but the final
choice appears to have been determined by the impression made upon Mr.
Fox, and through him upon the department, by his course in leaving
Norfolk at the time and in the way he did. This, Fox argued, showed
"great superiority of character, clear perception of duty, and firm
resolution in the performance of it." His conspicuous ability was not
then recognized, could not be until revealed by war; but it was evident
that he stood well above the common run of simply accomplished officers.
Still, further tests were required; in a matter of so much importance
the department had need to move warily. That Farragut was faithful could
not be doubted; but was his heart so far in the contest that he could be
depended upon to exert his abilities to the full? Commander Porter was
ordered to go to New York on duty connected with the mortar flotilla,
and while there to make an opportunity to visit Farragut. There had
been, as is known, a close relation between the two families, and to him
Farragut was likely to show how hearty he was in the cause. Porter's
account was most favorable, and it then remained only to judge whether
he was in sympathy with the military plan of the proposed expedition.
For this object Farragut was ordered to report at the department, and
Fox undertook to meet him at the train and talk over the matter
informally. He arrived in Washington on the 21st of December, was met as
arranged, and taken to the house of the Postmaster-General, Montgomery
Blair. The latter was brother-in-law to Fox, and the three breakfasted
together. "After breakfast, Fox laid before Farragut the plan of attack,
the force to be employed, and the object to be attained, and asked his
opinion. Farragut answered unhesitatingly that it would succeed. Fox
then handed him the list of vessels being fitted out, and asked if they
were enough. Farragut replied he would engage to run by the forts and
capture New Orleans with two thirds the number. Fox told him more
vessels would be added, and that he would command the expedition.
Farragut's delight and enthusiasm were so great that when he left us Fox
asked if I did not think he was too enthusiastic. I replied I was most
favorably impressed with him, and sure he would succeed."[D] There could
be no question, at any rate, that his whole heart was in the war and in
the expedition; whether he would rise equal to his task still remained
to be seen. He said, however, frankly, that had he been previously
consulted, he would have advised against the employment of the mortar
flotilla. He had no faith in the efficacy of that mode of attack since
his observations of the results at San Juan de Ulloa, twenty-three years
before. He was convinced that the fleet could run by the forts, and
anticipated nothing but delay from the bombardment. Nevertheless, since
the arrangements had been made, he was willing to give the bombs a
trial. "He was never profuse in promises," writes Mr. Welles, the
Secretary of the Navy, "but he felt complimented that he was selected,
and I saw that in modest self-reliance he considered himself equal to
the emergency and to the expectation of the Government."[E] To his home
he wrote: "Keep your lips closed and burn my letters, for perfect
silence is to be observed--the first injunction of the Secretary. I am
to have a flag in the Gulf, and the rest depends upon myself. Keep calm
and silent. I shall sail in three weeks."
[Footnote D: Montgomery Blair, in _The United Service_,
January, 1881.]
[Footnote E: Gideon Welles, in the _Galaxy_, November, 1871.]
On the 23d of December, 1861, Farragut received preparatory orders, and
on the 9th of the following January was formally appointed to command
the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron; the limits of which, on the coast
of the Confederacy, were defined as from St. Andrew's Bay to the mouth
of the Rio Grande. The coasts of Mexico and Yucatan were also embraced
in them. The steam sloop-of-war Hartford was selected for his flag-ship.
On the 20th of January final orders were issued to him. These were
somewhat discreetly worded, and, literally understood, must be conceded
to take from the department the credit of boldly adhering to, and
assuming the responsibility of, the original plan--a credit Mr. Welles
seems desirous to claim. "When you are completely ready," they read,
"you will collect such vessels as can be spared from the blockade, and
proceed up the Mississippi River _and reduce the defenses_ which guard
the approaches to New Orleans, _when_ you will appear off that city and
take possession of it under the guns of your squadron." Understood
according to the plain meaning of the words, these orders prescribed the
reduction of the works as a condition precedent to appearing off the
city, and so recur to the fears expressed by both Barnard and Porter as
to the consequences of leaving the forts unreduced. There is not in
them even "the latitude and discretion in the employment of the means
placed under his command" which Mr. Welles claimed.[F] Had Farragut,
after leaving the forts unreduced, as he did, met with serious disaster,
it can scarcely be doubted that the phrase quoted would have been used
to acquit the Government.
[Footnote F: Gideon Welles, in the _Galaxy_, December, 1871.]
The steam-sloop Hartford, upon which Farragut now hoisted his flag, and
in which he continued throughout the war, was a nearly new vessel,
having sailed on her first cruise to China in the summer of 1859. She
belonged to the early period of the transition from sails to steam for
the motive power of vessels; the steam being regarded as auxiliary only,
and giving her a speed of but eight knots per hour, while the spars and
sail area were those of a full-rigged ship. The deficiency of
horse-power was a serious drawback in such an operation as passing
forts, especially when, as in the Mississippi, the current was strong
and always adverse to vessels ascending the river. The Hartford had, on
the other hand, a powerful battery of the best existent type. She
carried twenty-two Dahlgren nine-inch shell guns, eleven on each side;
and, owing to the lowness of the river banks, these guns would be on a
level with or even above those in the lower tier of the batteries
opposed to her. The Pensacola, Brooklyn, and Richmond were vessels of
the same type as the Hartford, and built at the same time.
[Illustration: PASSAGE OF FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP,
APRIL 24, 1862.
ORDER OF ATTACK.
FIRST DIVISION--_Leading under command of
Captain Theodorus Bailey_.
1. Cayuga, Flag-Gunboat. Lieut.-Com. Harrison.
2. Pensacola, Captain H. W. Morris.
3. Mississippi, Captain M. Smith.
4. Oneida, Commander S. P. Lee.
5. Varuna, Commander C. S. Boggs.
6. Katahdin, Lieut.-Com. G. H. Preble.
7. Kineo, Lieut.-Com. Ransom.
8. Wissahickon, Lieut.-Com. A. N. Smith.
CENTER DIVISION--_Admiral Farragut_.
9. Hartford, Commander Wainwright.
10. Brooklyn, Captain T. T. Craven.
11. Richmond, Commander J. Alden.
THIRD DIVISION--_Captain H. H. Bell_.
12. Sciota, Lieut.-Com. Edward Donaldson.
13. Iroquois, Com. John De Camp.
14. Kennebec, Lieut.-Com. John H. Russell.
15. Pinola, Lieut.-Com. P. Crosby.
16. Itasca, Lieut.-Com. C. H. B. Caldwell.
17. Winona, Lieut.-Com. E. T. Nichols.
18. COMMANDER PORTER'S GUNBOATS.
19. Sloop Portsmouth, Commander S. Swartwout.]
On the 2d of February, 1862, the Hartford sailed from Hampton Roads, and
on the 20th reached Ship Island. The following day Farragut took over
the command of his district and squadron from Flag Officer McKean, who
up to that time had had charge of both the East and West Gulf. None of
the other vessels of the expedition were yet there; but they came in one
by one and were rapidly assembled at the Southwest Pass, then the
principal entrance to the river. Much difficulty was encountered in
getting the heavier ships over the bar, two weeks' work being needed to
drag the Pensacola inside; but on the 7th of April she floated in the
river, and Farragut found his force complete. It then consisted,
independently of the steamers attached to the mortar flotilla, of four
steam sloops-of-war of about two thousand tons each, three of half that
size, one large side-wheel ship-of-war, the Mississippi, of seventeen
hundred tons, and nine gun-boats of five hundred. The latter had been
hurriedly built to meet the special exigencies of this war, and were
then commonly known as the "ninety-day" gunboats. Each carried one
eleven-inch shell-gun and one thirty-pounder rifle. The aggregate
batteries of the seventeen vessels composing the squadron, excluding
some light brass pieces, amounted to one hundred and fifty-four cannon,
of which one hundred and thirty-five were thirty-two pounders or above.
The two forts which constituted the principal defenses of New Orleans
against a naval attack from the sea were at Plaquemine Bend, about
twenty miles above the Head of the Passes; by which name is known the
point where the main stream of the Mississippi divides into several
channels, called passes, through which its waters find their way to the
Gulf. The river, whose general course below New Orleans is southeast,
turns at Plaquemine Bend northeast for a mile and three-quarters, and
then resumes its previous direction. The heavier of the two works, Fort
Jackson, is on the right bank, at the lower angle of the Bend. It was a
casemated brick structure, pentagonal in form, carrying in barbette over
the casemates twenty-seven cannon of and above the size of thirty-two
pounders, besides eleven twenty-four pounders. In the casemates were
fourteen of the latter caliber. Attached to this fort, but below it, was
a water battery carrying half a dozen heavy cannon. Fort St. Philip was
nearly opposite Fort Jackson, but somewhat below it, so as to command
not only the stream in its front, but also the stretch down the river,
being thus enabled to rake vessels approaching from below before they
came abreast. It comprised the fort proper and two water batteries,
which together mounted forty-two guns. The sites of these fortifications
had been skillfully chosen; but their armaments, though formidable and
greatly superior to those of the fleet--regard being had to the commonly
accepted maxim that a gun ashore is equivalent to four afloat--were not
equal to the demands of the situation or to the importance of New
Orleans. Out of a total of one hundred and nine pieces,[G] of which
probably over ninety could be used against a passing fleet, fifty-six,
or more than half, were of the very old and obsolete caliber of
twenty-four pounders.
[Footnote G: There were some guns bearing inland and some flanking
howitzers, besides those already enumerated.]
This inadequate preparation, a year after the attack upon Fort Sumter
and the outbreak of hostilities, is doubtless to be attributed to
surprise. The Southern authorities, like those of the National
Government, were firmly possessed with the idea that the Mississippi, if
subdued at all, must be so by an attack from the north. Despite the
frequency of spies and treason along the border line of the two
sections, the steps of the Navy Department were taken so quietly, and
followed so closely upon the resolve to act, that the alarm was not
quickly taken; and when intimations of attack from the sea did filter
through, they had to encounter and dislodge strong contrary
preoccupations in the minds of the Southern leaders. Only the
Confederate general commanding the military division and his principal
subordinates seem to have been alive to the danger of New Orleans, and
their remonstrances had no effect. Not only were additional guns denied
them and sent North, but drafts were made on their narrow resources to
supply points considered to be in greater danger. A striking indication
of the prepossessions which controlled the authorities at Richmond was
elicited by Commodore Hollins, of the Confederate Navy. That gallant
veteran was ordered to take to Memphis several of the rams extemporized
at New Orleans. He entreated the Navy Department to allow him to remain,
but the reply was that the main attack upon New Orleans would be from
above, not from below. After the fleet entered the river he telegraphed
from Memphis for permission to return, but received the answer that the
proposition was wholly inadmissible. Before the Court of Inquiry upon
the loss of New Orleans, he testified that the withdrawal of his ships
was the chief cause of the disaster.[H]
[Footnote H: _Official Records of the War of the Rebellion_,
Series I, vol. vi, p. 610.]
While the heavy ships were being dragged over the bar at the Southwest
Pass, the mortar flotilla had entered the river under the command of
Commander Porter. No time was avoidably lost, though there were
inevitable delays due to the magnitude of the preparations that in every
quarter taxed the energies of the Government. On the 16th of April, less
than ten days after the Pensacola got safely inside, the fleet was
anchored just out of range of the forts. On the 18th the mortar vessels
were in position, and at 10 A. M. the bombardment by them began,
continuing throughout the succeeding days till the passage of the fleet,
and being chiefly directed upon Fort Jackson. From daylight to dark a
shell a minute was fired, and as the practice was remarkably good a
great proportion of these fell within the fort. As Farragut had
predicted, they did not in the course of six days' bombardment do harm
enough to compel a surrender or disable the work; but they undoubtedly
harassed the garrison to an extent that exercised an appreciable effect
upon the fire of Jackson during the passage.
While the bombardment was progressing, the lighter vessels of the
squadron were continuously engaged by detachments in protecting the
mortar flotilla, steaming up above it and drawing upon themselves the
fire of the forts. A more important duty was the removal of the
obstructions that the enemy had thrown across the river, below the
works, but under their fire. Opinions differed, both in the United
States squadron and in the counsels of the enemy, as to the power of the
ships to pass the forts; but it was realized on both sides that any
barrier to their passage which should force them to stop under fire, or
should throw confusion into their order, would materially increase the
chances against them. Whatever the blindness or neglect of the
Confederate Government, the Confederate officers of the department had
not been remiss in this matter. The construction of a floating barrier
had early engaged their attention, and, despite the difficulties
presented by so rapid a current, a formidable raft had been placed early
in the winter. It consisted of cypress logs forty feet long and four or
five feet in diameter, lying lengthwise in the river, with an interval
of three feet between them to allow drift to pass. The logs were
connected by two and a half inch iron cables, stretching underneath from
one side of the stream to the other; and the whole fabric was held up
against the current by some thirty heavy anchors and cables. So long as
it stood, this constituted a very grave difficulty for an attacking
fleet; but the water was deep and the holding ground poor, so that even
under average conditions there was reason to fear its giving way. The
fleet arrived in the early spring, the season when the current, swollen
by the melting snows about the head waters of the Mississippi and its
tributaries, is at its strongest; and in 1862 the spring rise was
greater than for many years. In February the raft began to show signs of
yielding under the pressure of the drift wood accumulating on it from
above, and on the 10th of March the cables had parted, the sections on
either side being swept against the banks and leaving about a third of
the river open. The gap was filled by anchoring in it eight heavy
schooners of about two hundred tons burden. They were joined together as
the cypress logs had been, but with lighter chains, probably because no
heavy ones were at hand; and, as a further embarrassment to the
assailants, their masts were unstepped and allowed to drag astern with
the rigging attached, in the hopes that by fouling the screws the
ascending vessels might be crippled.
This central barrier of schooners was not intrinsically strong, but it
was not to be despised, considering the very moderate speed possessed by
the ships and the strength of the current which they had to stem. It was
doubtful whether they could break through with so little loss of way as
to produce no detention; and the mere presence of so many hulls on a
dark night and under the added gloom of the battle's smoke was liable to
increase a confusion which could redound only to the advantage of the
defense. It became necessary, therefore, to remove the schooners in
whole or in part. This was effected in a very daring manner by two
gunboats, the Itasca and Pinola, Captains Caldwell and Crosby; the fleet
captain, Henry H. Bell, an officer in whom Farragut had the most
unbounded confidence, being placed in command of both. The work had to
be done, of course, within range of the hostile batteries, which,
through some culpable negligence, failed to molest it. The Pinola
carried an electrician with a petard, by which it was hoped to shatter
the chains. This attempt, however, failed, owing to the wires of the
electrical battery parting before the charge could be exploded. The
Itasca, on the other hand, ran alongside one of the schooners and
slipped the chains; but, unfortunately, as the hulk was set adrift
without Captain Caldwell being notified, and the engines of the gunboat
were going ahead with the helm a-port, the two vessels turned inshore
and ran aground under fire of the forts. In this critical position the
Itasca remained for some time, until the Pinola could be recalled to her
assistance; and then several attempts had to be made before she finally
floated. Caldwell then did an exceedingly gallant thing, the importance
of which alone justified, but amply justified, its temerity. Instead of
returning at once to the squadron, satisfied with the measure of success
already attained, he deliberately headed up the river; and then, having
gained sufficient ground in that direction to insure a full development
of his vessel's speed, he turned and charged full upon the line of
hulks. As she met the chains, the little vessel rose bodily three or
four feet from the water, sliding up on them and dragging the hulks down
with her. The chains stood the strain for an instant, then snapped, and
the Itasca, having wrought a practicable breach, sped down to the fleet.
While these various accessory operations were going on, Admiral
Farragut's mind was occupied with the important question of carrying out
the object of his mission. The expedient of reducing or silencing the
fire of the enemy's forts, in which he himself had never felt
confidence, was in process of being tried; and the time thus employed
was being utilized by clearing the river highway and preparing the ships
to cut their way through without delay, in case that course should be
adopted. Much had been done while at the Head of the Passes, waiting for
the Pensacola to cross the bar; but the work was carried on
unremittingly to the last moment. The loftier and lighter spars of all
the vessels had already been sent ashore, together with all unnecessary
encumbrances, several of the gunboats having even unstepped their lower
masts; and the various ordinary precautions, known to seamen under the
name of "clearing ship for action," had been taken with reference to
fighting on anchoring ground. These were particularized in a general
order issued by the admiral, and to them he added special instructions,
rendered necessary by the force of the current and its constancy in the
same direction. "Mount one or two guns on the poop and top-gallant
forecastle," he said; "in other words, be prepared to use as many guns
as possible ahead and astern to protect yourself against the enemy's
gunboats and batteries, bearing in mind that you will always have to
ride head to the current, and can only avail yourself of the sheer of
the helm to point a broadside gun more than three points (thirty-four
degrees) forward of the beam.... Trim your vessel also a few inches by
the head, so that if she touches the bottom she will not swing head down
the river," which, if the stern caught the bottom, would infallibly
happen, entailing the difficult manoeuvre and the perilous delay of
turning round under the enemy's fire in a narrow river and in the dark.
The vessels generally had secured their spare iron cables up and down
their sides in the line of the boilers and engines; and these vital
parts were further protected by piling around them hammocks, bags of
sand or ashes, and other obstructions to shot. The outsides of the hulls
were daubed over with Mississippi mud, to be less easily discerned in
the dark; while the decks were whitewashed, so as to throw in stronger
relief articles lying upon them which needed to be quickly seen.
Having given his general instructions, the flag officer could intrust
the details of preparation to his subordinates; but no one could relieve
him of the momentous decision upon which the issues of the campaign must
turn. The responsibility of rejecting one course of action and adopting
another was his alone; and as has already been remarked, the wording of
the department's order, literally understood, imposed upon him the task
of reducing the forts before approaching the city. The questions
involved were essentially the same as those presented to every general
officer when the course of a campaign has brought him face to face with
a strong position of the enemy. Shall it be carried by direct attack,
and, until so subdued, arrest the progress of the army? or can it be
rendered impotent or untenable by severing its communications and by
operations directed against the district in its rear, which it protects,
and upon which it also depends? The direct attack may be by assault, by
investment, or by regular siege approaches; but whatever the method, the
result is the same--the assailant is detained for a longer or shorter
time before the position. During such detention the post fulfills its
mission of securing the region it covers, and permits there the
uninterrupted prosecution of the military efforts of every character
which are designed to impede the progress of the invader.
To such cases no general rule applies; each turns upon particular
conditions, and, although close similarities may exist between various
instances, probably no two are entirely identical. It is evident,
however, that very much will depend upon the offensive power shut up in
the position under consideration. If it be great walled town, such as
are found on the Continent of Europe, behind whose defenses are
sheltered numerous troops, the assailant who advances beyond it thereby
exposes his communications to attack; and, to guard against this danger,
must protect them by a force adequate to hold the garrison in check. If,
again, there be but a single line by which the communications can be
maintained, by which supplies and re-enforcements can go forward, and
that line passes close under the work and is commanded by it, the
garrison may be small, incapable of external action, and yet may vitally
affect the future operations of the venturesome enemy who dares to leave
it unsubdued behind him. Such, to some extent, was the Fort of Bard, in
the narrow pass of the Dora Baltea, to Napoleon's crossing of the St.
Bernard in 1800; and such, to some extent, would be Forts Jackson and
St. Philip to Farragut's fleet after it had fought its way above. The
Mississippi was the great line of communication for the fleet; no other
was comparable to it--except as a by-path in a mountain is comparable to
a royal highway--and the forts commanded the Mississippi. Their own
offensive power was limited to the range of their guns; their garrisons
were not fitted, either by their number or their aptitudes, for
offensive action upon the water; but so long as their food and
ammunition lasted, though an occasional vessel might run by them, no
steady stream of supplies, such as every armed organization needs, could
pass up the Mississippi. Finally, though the garrison could not move,
there lay behind or under the forts a number of armed vessels, whose
precise powers were unknown, but concerning which most exaggerated
rumors were current.
The question, therefore, looming before Farragut was precisely that
which had been debated before the President in Washington; precisely
that on which Fox had differed from Porter and Barnard. It was, again,
closely analogous to that which divided Sherman and Grant when the
latter, a year after Farragut ran by the forts, made his famous decision
to cut adrift from his communications by the upper Mississippi, to march
past Vicksburg by the west bank of the river, to cross below the works,
and so cut off the great stronghold of the Mississippi from the country
upon which it depended for food and re-enforcements.[I] But as Grant's
decision rested upon a balance of arguments applicable to the problem
before him, so did Farragut's upon a calculation of the risks and
advantages attendant, respectively, upon the policy of waiting for the
forts to fall, or of speeding by them to destroy the resources upon
which they depended.
[Footnote I: The following is Grant's account of a matter which,
but for Sherman's own zeal in proclaiming the merits of his
commander-in-chief, would probably have always remained unknown.
It would be difficult to find a closer parallel to the difference
of judgment existing between Farragut and Porter at New Orleans:
"When General Sherman first learned of the move I proposed to
make, he called to see me about it. I was seated on the piazza,
engaged in conversation with my staff, when he came up. After a
few moments' conversation, he said he would like to see me alone.
We passed into the house together and shut the door after us.
Sherman then expressed his alarm at the move I had ordered, saying
that I was putting myself voluntarily in a position which an enemy
would be glad to manoeuvre a year--or a long time--to get me in. I
was going into the enemy's country, with a large river behind me,
and the enemy holding points strongly fortified above and below.
He said that it was an axiom in war that when any great body of
troops moved against an enemy they should do so from a base of
supplies which they would guard as the apple of the eye, etc. He
pointed out all the difficulties that might be encountered in the
campaign proposed, and stated in turn what would be the true
campaign to make. This was, in substance, to go back until high
ground could be reached on the east bank of the river, fortify
there and establish a depot of supplies, and move from there,
being always prepared to fall back upon it in case of disaster. I
said this would take us back to Memphis. Sherman then said that
was the very place he should go to, and would move by railroad
from Memphis to Granada. To this I replied, the country is already
disheartened over the lack of success on the part of our
armies,... and if we went back so far as Memphis, it would
discourage the people so much that bases of supplies would be of
no use; neither men to hold them nor supplies to put in them would
be furnished. The problem was to move forward to a decisive
victory, or our cause was lost.... Sherman wrote to my
adjutant-general embodying his views of the campaign that should
be made, and asking him to advise me at least to get the views of
my generals upon the subject. Rawlins showed me the letter, but I
did not see any reasons for changing my plans."--_Personal Memoirs
of U. S. Grant_, vol. i, p. 542 (note).]
The reasons in favor of waiting for the fall of the works were ably
presented by Commander Porter in a paper which he asked to have read in
a council of commanding officers of the fleet, assembled on board the
flag-ship on the third day of the bombardment, April 20. Farragut was
already familiar with the arguments on both sides, and Porter's paper
can be regarded only as an expression of views already uttered, but now
invested with a formality becoming the seriousness of the occasion. In
its finality it has somewhat the character of a protest, though indirect
and couched in perfectly becoming language, against a decision which
Farragut had now reached and which Porter had always combated. The
latter does not appear to have doubted the ability of the fleet to pass
the works, but he questioned the utility and expediency of so doing. His
words were as follows:[J]
"The objections to running by the forts are these: It is not
likely that any intelligent enemy would fail to place chains
across above the forts, and raise such batteries as would protect
them against our ships. Did we run the forts we should leave an
enemy in our rear, and the mortar vessels would have to be left
behind. We could not return to bring them up without going
through a heavy and destructive fire. If the forts are run, part
of the mortars should be towed along, which would render the
progress of the vessels slow against the strong current at that
point. If the forts are first captured, the moral effect would be
to close the batteries on the river and open the way to New
Orleans; whereas, if we don't succeed in taking them, we shall
have to fight our way up the river. Once having possession of the
forts, New Orleans would be hermetically sealed, and we could
repair damages and go up on our own terms and in our own time....
Nothing has been said about a combined attack of army and navy.
Such a thing is not only practicable, but, if time permitted,
should be adopted. Fort St. Philip can be taken with two thousand
men covered by the ships, the ditch can be filled with fascines,
and the wall is easily to be scaled with ladders. It can be
attacked in front and rear."
[Footnote J: The paper being long, only those parts are quoted
which convey the objections to running by.]
In summoning his captains to meet him on this occasion, Farragut had no
idea of calling a council-of-war in the sense which has brought that
name into disrepute. He sent for them, not because he wanted to make up
his mind, but because it was made up, and he wished at once to impart to
them his purposes and receive the benefit of any suggestion they might
make. Bell, the chief-of-staff, who was present, has left a memorandum
of what passed, which is interesting as showing that the members were
not called to express an opinion as to the propriety of the attack, but
to receive instructions as to the method, on which they could suggest
improvements.
"April 20, 10 A. M. Signal was made for all captains commanding to
repair on board the flag-ship. All being present except the three on
guard to-day, viz., Commander De Camp and Lieutenants-Commanding Nichols
and Russell, the flag-officer unfolded his plan of operations, assigning
the places for every vessel in the fleet in the attack, and exhibited
his charts of the river and of the forts. Some discussion was had
thereupon, and Commander Alden read a written communication to the
flag-officer from Commander Porter at his request, expressing his views
as to the operation against the forts. Having read them, Commander Alden
folded up the paper and returned it to his pocket, whereupon I suggested
the propriety of the document being left with the flag-officer, and the
paper was accordingly left in his hands. It was therein stated that the
boom being a protection to the mortars against attacks of all kinds from
above, the boom should not be destroyed until the forts were reduced.
Upon this the flag-officer remarked that the commander had this morning
assented to the propriety of the boom being broken to-night--which I
heard--and, again, that the fleet should not go above the forts, as the
mortar fleet would be left unprotected. The flag-officer thought the
mortars would be as well protected above as below the forts, and that
co-operation with the army, which entered into the plans of both
parties, could not be effectual unless some of the troops were
introduced above the forts at the same time that they are below. Once
above, he intended to cover their landing at Quarantine, five miles
above, they coming to the river through the bayou there. Once above, the
forts were cut off and his propellers intact for ascending the river to
the city. And in passing the forts, if he found his ships able to cope
with them, he should fight it out. Some of the captains and commanders
considered it a hazardous thing to go above, as being out of the reach
of supplies. To this it may be said that the steamers can pass down at
the rate of twelve miles an hour. The flag-officer remarked that our
ammunition is being rapidly consumed without a supply at hand, and that
something must be done immediately. He believed in celerity. It was
proposed by myself and assented to by the flag-officer, that three
steamers should go up the river shortly after dark, under my own
guidance, to break the boom."
It appears from this account, supported by the general order issued
immediately after it and given a few pages further on, that Farragut had
definitely determined not to await the reduction of the forts, because
the bombardment so far did not indicate any probability of effectual
results. It was his deliberate opinion that the loss of time and the
waste of effort were entailing greater risks than would be caused by
cutting adrift from his base and severing his own communications in
order to strike at those of the enemy. It is commonly true that in the
effort to cut the communications of an opponent one runs the risk of
exposing his own; but in this case the attacking force was one
pre-eminently qualified to control the one great medium of communication
throughout that region--that is, the water. Also, although in
surrendering the river Farragut gave up the great line of travel, he
kept in view that the bayou system offered an alternative, doubtless
greatly inferior, but which, nevertheless, would serve to plant above
the forts, under the protection of the navy, such troops as should be
deemed necessary; and that the combined efforts of army and navy could
then maintain a sufficient flow of supplies until the forts fell from
isolation. Finally, a fleet is not so much an army as a collection of
floating fortresses, garrisoned, provisioned, and mobile. It carries its
communications in its hulls, and is not in such daily dependence upon
external sources as is the sister service.
In deciding, therefore, against awaiting the reduction of the forts by
direct attack, and in favor of attempting the same result by striking at
the interests they defended and the base on which they rested, Farragut
was guided by a calculation of the comparative _material_ risks and
advantages of the two courses, and not mainly by consideration of the
moral effect produced upon the defenders by a successful stroke, as has
been surmised by Lord Wolseley. This eminent English authority
attributes the success of the expedition against New Orleans to three
causes. "First, the inadequate previous preparation of the naval part
of the New Orleans defenses; second, the want of harmonious working
between the Confederate naval and military forces; and, lastly,
Farragut's clear appreciation of the moral effect he would produce by
forcing his way past the defenses of Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip,
and by his appearance before New Orleans. For, after all, the forts were
never captured by actual attack.... This brilliant result is a striking
instance of the due appreciation by a commander of the effect which
daring achievements exert on men's minds, although, _as in this case_,
those daring acts _do not actually, directly, or materially_ make
certain the end or surrender they may have secured." And, again, in
another place: "Admiral Farragut's success was mainly due to the moral
effect produced by his gallant passage of the forts.... He never reduced
the forts, and seems to have done them but little harm."[K]
[Footnote K: Lord Wolseley in _North American Review_, vol. cxlix,
pp. 32-34, 597. The italics are the author's.]
The moral effect produced in war upon men's minds, and through the mind
upon their actions, is undeniable, and may rightly count for much in the
calculations of a commander; but when it becomes the sole, or even the
chief reliance, as in Bonaparte's advance into Carinthia in 1797, the
spirit displayed approaches closely to that of the gambler who counts
upon a successful bluff to disconcert his opponent. The serious
objection to relying upon moral effect alone to overcome resistance is
that moral forces do not admit of as close knowledge and measurement as
do material conditions. The insight and moral strength of the enemy may
be greater than you have means of knowing, and to assume that they are
less is to fall into the dangerous error of despising your enemy. To
attribute to so dubious a hope, alone, the daring act of Admiral
Farragut in passing the forts and encountering the imperfectly known
dangers above, is really to detract from his fame as a capable as well
as gallant leader. That there were risks and accidents to be met he knew
full well; that he might incur disaster he realized; that the dangers
above and the power of the enemy's vessels might exceed his expectations
was possible; war can not be stripped of hazard, and the anxiety of the
doubtful issue is the penalty the chieftain pays for his position. But
Farragut was convinced by experience and reflection that his fleet could
force its passage; and he saw that once above the material probabilities
were that army and navy could be combined in such a position of vantage
as would isolate the forts from all relief, and so "actually, directly,
and materially make certain their surrender," and secure his end of
controlling the lower Mississippi. There was only one road practicable
to ships to pass above, and that led openly and directly under the fire
of the forts; but having passed this, they were planted across the
communications as squarely as if they had made a circuit of hundreds of
miles, with all the secrecy of Bonaparte in 1800 and in 1805. Are
strongholds never "captured" unless by "actual attack"? Did Ulm and
Mantua yield to blows or to isolation?
Such, certainly, was the opinion of the able officers who conducted the
Confederate defense, and whose conduct, except in matters of detail, was
approved by the searching court of inquiry that passed upon it. "In my
judgment," testified General M. L. Smith, who commanded the interior
line of works and was in no way responsible for the fall of Forts St.
Philip and Jackson, "the forts were impregnable _so long as they were in
free and open communication with the city_. This communication was not
endangered while the obstruction existed. The conclusion, then, is
briefly this: While the obstruction existed the city was safe; when it
was swept away, as the defenses then existed, it was in the enemy's
power."[L] General Lovell, the commander-in-chief of the military
department, stated that he had made preparations to evacuate New Orleans
in case the fleet passed the fort by sending out of the city several
hundred thousand rations and securing transport steamers. He continued:
"In determining upon the evacuation of the city I necessarily, as soon
as the enemy's fleet had passed the forts, regarded the position _the
same as if both their army and navy were present before the city_,
making due allowance simply for the time it would take them to transport
their army up. Inasmuch as their ships had passed Forts Jackson and St.
Philip, _they could at once place themselves in open and uninterrupted
communication with their army at points from six to twenty miles above
the forts through various small water communications from the Gulf_,
made more available by the extraordinary height of the river, and which,
while they (we?) were in possession of the latter, I had easily and
without risk defended with launches and part of the river-defense fleet.
I had also stationed Szymanski's regiment at the Quarantine for the same
object. These were, however, all destroyed or captured by the enemy's
fleet after they got possession of the river between the forts and the
city."[M] Colonel Szymanski testified: "After the forts had been passed,
it was practicable for the enemy to transport his army through the
bayous and canals to New Orleans, without encountering the forts. A
portion of the enemy did come that way. I have for many years owned a
plantation fifteen miles below the city, and am very familiar with the
whole country. I have never known the river as high as it was in 1862.
Also, above English Turn (five miles below the city) there is water
communication through Lake Borgne with the Gulf of Mexico by other
bayous and canals of the same character."[N]
[Footnote L: _Official Records of the War of the Rebellion._
Series I, vol. vi, p. 583.]
[Footnote M: _Official Records of the War of the Rebellion._
Series I, vol. vi, p. 566.]
[Footnote N: Ibid., p. 578.]
It is evident, therefore, that competent military men on the spot, and
in full possession of all the facts, considered, as did Farragut, that
with the passage of the forts by the fleet the material probabilities of
success became in favor of the United States forces. The only moral
effect produced was the mutiny of the half-disciplined alien troops that
garrisoned the forts; and surely it will not be contended that any such
wild anticipation as of that prompted Farragut's movement. The officers
of the forts were trained and educated soldiers, who knew their duty and
would not be crushed into submission by adverse circumstances. They
would doubtless have replied, as did the commander of Fort Morgan two
years later, that they looked upon the United States fleet above them as
their prisoners, and they would have held out to the bitter end; but the
end was certain as soon as the fleet passed above them. They had
provisions for two months; then, if not reduced by blows, they must
yield to hunger.
Immediately after the conference with his captains, Farragut issued the
following general order, from which it appears that, while his opinion
remained unchanged as to the expediency of running by the forts, he
contemplated the possibility, though not the probability, of their being
subdued by the fire of the fleet, and reserved to himself freedom to act
accordingly by prescribing a simple signal, which would be readily
understood, and would convert the attempt to pass into a sustained and
deadly effort to conquer:
"UNITED STATES FLAG-SHIP HARTFORD,
MISSISSIPPI RIVER, _April 20, 1862_.
"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, or we shall be again reduced
to a blockading squadron, without the means of carrying on the
bombardment, as we have nearly expended all the shells and fuses
and material for making cartridges. He has always entertained the
same opinions which are expressed by Commander Porter--that is,
there are three modes of attack,[O] and the question is, which is
the one to be adopted? His own opinion is that a combination of
two should be made, viz., _the forts should be run, and when a
force is once above the forts to protect the troops they should
be landed at Quarantine from the Gulf side by bringing them
through the bayou_, and then our forces should move up the
river, mutually aiding each other as it can be done to advantage.
"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. If, in his opinion, at the time of arriving at the
respective positions of the different divisions of the fleet we
have the advantage, he will make the signal for close action, No.
8, and abide the result--conquer or be conquered--drop anchor or
keep under way, as in his opinion is best.
"_Unless the signal above mentioned is made_, it will be
understood that the first order of sailing will be formed after
leaving Fort St. Philip, and we will proceed up the river _in
accordance with the original opinion expressed_.
"The programme of the order of sailing accompanies this general
order, and the commanders will hold themselves in readiness for
the service as indicated.
D. G. FARRAGUT,
_Flag-officer Western Gulf Blockading Squadron_".
[Footnote O: Those three were: First, a direct naval attack upon
the works; second, running by the works; third, a combined attack
by army and navy.]
Nothing can be clearer than that the opinion expressed and maintained by
the flag-officer from the beginning was the one carried out, resulting
in a complete success.
The bombardment by the mortar flotilla was continued three days longer,
at the end of which time the provision of bombs immediately obtainable
was becoming exhausted. Enough, however, remained to sustain a very
vigorous fire during the period of the passage, and as the cover of
darkness was desired the delay was not without its advantages, for the
waning moon grew daily less and rose an hour later each succeeding
night. On the 23d notice was given to the ships that the attempt to pass
would be made that night, and that, as half-past three was the hour of
moon-rise, the signal, two red lights, would be hoisted at 2 A. M.
During that afternoon Farragut personally visited each ship, in order to
know positively that each commander understood his orders for the
attack, and to see that all was in readiness.
The original intention of the flag-officer was to attack in two parallel
columns, a more compact formation than one long one, less liable to
straggling, and in which the heavy batteries of the larger ships would
more effectually cover the lighter vessels by keeping down the fire of
the enemy. In this arrangement, which remained unaltered until the 23d,
the second in command, Captain Theodorus Bailey, whose divisional flag
was flying in the gunboat Cayuga, would have had the right column, and
the flag-officer himself the left in the Hartford. The latter was to be
followed by the Brooklyn and Richmond, and upon these three heavy ships
would fall the brunt of the engagement with Fort Jackson, the more
powerful of the enemy's works. The right column also had its heaviest
ships in the lead; the exceptional station of the Cayuga being due to
some natural unwillingness on the part of other commanding officers to
receive on board, as divisional commander and their own superior, an
officer whose position in the fleet was simply that of captain of a
single ship.[P] The Cayuga led, not in virtue of her armament, but
because she bore on board the commander of one column.
[Footnote P: Captain Bailey commanded the Colorado frigate, which
drew too much water to cross the bar. Anxious to share in the
fight, he obtained from the flag-officer the divisional
appointment.]
On the 23d Farragut, considering the narrowness of the opening in the
obstructions through which the fleet must pass, decided that the risk of
collision with the hulks on either side, or between the columns
themselves, would be too great if he adhered to his written programme;
and he accordingly gave a verbal order that the right column should
weigh first, and be followed closely by the other under his own
guidance. To facilitate the departure and avoid confusion, the ships of
the right shifted their berth after dark to the east side of the river,
anchoring in the order prescribed to them.
As some doubts had been expressed as to the actual rupture of the chains
between the hulks on either side the breach, although they had evidently
been dragged from their position by the efforts made on the night of the
20th, Lieutenant Caldwell was again chosen, at his own request, to make
an examination of the actual conditions. This he did in the early part
of the night, before the ships got under way; and it is a singular
confirmation of the slackness and inefficiency that has been charged
against the water service of the Confederates that he effected this duty
thoroughly and without molestation. Twice he pulled above the hulks and
thence allowed his boat to drift down between them, a heavy lead with
sixty feet of line hanging from her bows. As this line caught on nothing
it was clear that within the narrow limits of the breach no impediment
to the passage of a vessel existed. By 11 P. M. Caldwell was on his
return with this decisive and encouraging report.
At 2 A. M. the appointed signal was made, and at once was heard in every
direction the clank-clank of the chains as the seamen hove the anchors
to the bows. The strength of the current and the tenacity of the bottom
in some spots made this operation longer than had been expected, and not
till half-past three did the leading vessel reach the line of hulks,
followed closely by the rest of her division. There is something
singularly impressive in the thought of these moments of silent tension,
following the active efforts of getting under way and preceding the
furious strife, for whose first outburst every heart on board was
waiting; and the impression is increased by the petty size of the little
vessel in the lead, which thus advanced with steady beating of the
engines to bear the first blast of the storm. Favored partly by her
size, and yet more by the negligence of those among the enemy whose duty
it was to have kept the scene alight with the numerous fire-rafts
provided for that very purpose, the Cayuga passed the hulks and was well
on her way up river before she was seen. "Although it was a starlight
night," wrote Lieutenant Perkins, who by her commander's direction was
piloting the ship, "we were not discovered until well under the forts;
then they opened upon us a tremendous fire." It was the prelude to a
drama of singular energy and grandeur, for the Confederates in the forts
were fully on their guard, and had anticipated with unshaken courage,
but with gloomy forebodings, an attack during that very night. "There
will be no to-morrow for New Orleans," had said the undaunted commander
of Fort Jackson the day before, "if the navy does not at once move the
Louisiana to the position assigned to her," close to the obstructions.
The Louisiana was a powerful ironclad battery, not quite complete when
Farragut entered the river. She had been hurried down to the forts four
days before the passage of the fleet, but her engines could not drive
her, and the naval commander refused to take up the position, asked of
him by the military authorities, below St. Philip, where he would have a
cross fire with the forts, a close command of the line of obstructions,
and would greatly prolong the gantlet of fire through which the fleet
must run. To support the movement of the latter by drawing the fire and
harassing the gunners of the enemy, Commander Porter moved up with the
steamers of the mortar flotilla to easy range of the water battery under
Fort Jackson, which he engaged; while the mortar schooners, as soon as
the flash of the enemy's guns showed that the head of the column had
been discovered, opened a furious bombardment, keeping two shells
constantly in the air. Except for the annoyance of the bombs, the
gunners of the forts had it much their own way until the broadsides of
the Pensacola, which showed eleven heavy guns on either side, drew up
abreast of them. "The Cayuga received the first fire," writes Perkins,
"and the air was filled with shells and explosives which almost blinded
me as I stood on the forecastle trying to see my way, for I had never
been up the river before. I soon saw that the guns of the forts were all
aimed for midstream, so I steered close under the walls of Fort St.
Philip; and although our masts and rigging got badly shot through our
hull was but little damaged." Small as she was--five hundred tons--and
with the scanty top hamper of a schooner, the Cayuga was struck
forty-two times, below and aloft.
"After passing the last battery," continues Perkins, "and thinking we
were clear, I looked back for some of our vessels, and my heart jumped
up into my mouth when I found I could not see a single one. I thought
they all must have been sunk by the forts." This seeming desertion was
due to the fact that the heavy ships--the Pensacola, Mississippi, and
Oneida--had been detained by the resolute manner in which the first
stopped to engage Fort St. Philip. Stopping to fire, then moving slowly,
then stopping again, the reiterated broadsides of this big ship,
delivered at such close range that the combatants on either side
exchanged oaths and jeers of defiance, beat down the fire of the exposed
barbette batteries, and gave an admirable opportunity for slipping by to
the light vessels, which brought up the rear of the column and were
wholly unfit to contend with the forts. The Mississippi and Oneida
keeping close behind the Pensacola and refusing to pass her, the Cayuga
was thus separated from all her followers.
The isolation of the Cayuga was therefore caused by her anomalous
position at the head of the column, a post proper only to a heavy ship.
It was impossible for her petty battery of two guns to pause before the
numerous pieces of the enemy; it was equally impossible for the powerful
vessels following her to hasten on, leaving to the mercy of the
Confederates the gunboats of the same type that succeeded them in the
order. That the Cayuga was thus exposed arose from the amiable desire of
the admiral to gratify Bailey's laudable wish to share in the battle,
without compelling an officer of the same grade, and junior only in
number, to accept a superior on his own quarter-deck in the day of
battle, when the harvest of distinction is expected to repay the patient
sowing of preparation. The commander of the Cayuga, who was only a
lieutenant, had reconciled these conflicting claims by volunteering to
carry Bailey's divisional flag. As there is no reason to suppose that
Farragut deliberately intended to offer the gunboat up as a forlorn hope
by drawing the first fire of the enemy, always the most deadly, and thus
saving the more important vessels, the disposition of her constitutes
the only serious fault in his tactical arrangements on this occasion--a
fault attributable not to his judgment, but to one of those concessions
to human feelings which circumstances at times extort from all men. His
first intention, an advance in two columns, the heavy ships leading and
closely engaging the forts with grape and canister, while the two-gun
vessels slipped through between the columns, met the tactical demands of
the proposed operation. The decision to abandon this order in favor of
one long, thin line, because of the narrowness of the opening, can not
be challenged. This formation was distinctly weaker and more liable to
straggling, but nothing could be so bad as backing, collision, or
stoppage at the obstructions. In such an attack, however, as in all of
Farragut's battles, it seems eminently fitting that the commander of the
column should lead. The occasion is one for pilotage and example; and
inasmuch as the divisional commander can not control, except by example,
any ship besides the one on board which he himself is, that ship should
be the most powerful in his command. These conclusions may hereafter be
modified by conditions of submarine warfare, though even under them it
seems likely that in forcing passage into a harbor the van ship should
carry the flag of the officer commanding the leading division; but under
the circumstances of Farragut's day they may be accepted as representing
his own convictions, first formed by the careful deliberation of a man
with a genius for war, and afterward continually confirmed by his
ever-ripening experience.
Left thus unsupported by the logical results of her false position, the
Cayuga found herself exposed to an even greater danger than she had
already run from the guns of the stationary works. "Looking ahead," says
Perkins's letter, already quoted, "I saw eleven of the enemy's gunboats
coming down upon us, and it seemed as if we were 'gone' sure." The
vessels thus dimly seen in the darkness of the night were a
heterogeneous, disorganized body, concerning which, however, very
imperfect and very exaggerated particulars had reached the United States
fleet. They were freely spoken of as ironclad gunboats and ironclad
rams, and the Confederates had done all in their power to increase the
moral effect which was attendant upon these names, then new to maritime
warfare. None of them had been built with any view to war. Three only
were sea-going, with the light scantling appropriate to their calling as
vessels for freight and passenger traffic. Another had been a large
twin-screw tugboat that began her career in Boston, and thence, shortly
before the war, had been sent to the Mississippi. After the outbreak of
hostilities she had been covered with an arched roof and
three-quarter-inch iron; a nine-inch gun, capable only of firing
directly ahead, had been mounted in her bows, and, thus equipped, she
passed into notoriety as the ram Manassas. With the miserable speed of
six knots, to which, however, the current of the river gave a very
important addition, and with a protection scarcely stronger than the
buckram armor of the stage, the Manassas, by her uncanny appearance and
by the persistent trumpeting of the enemy, had obtained a very
formidable reputation with the United States officers, who could get no
reliable information about her.
The remainder of the force were river steamboats, whose machinery was
protected with cotton, and their stems shod with one-inch iron, clamped
in place by straps of the same material extending a few feet aft. Thus
strengthened, it was hoped that with the sharpness of their bows and the
swiftness of the current they could, notwithstanding the exceeding
lightness of their structure, penetrate the hulls of the United States
ships. Resolutely and vigorously handled, there can be little doubt that
they might have sunk one or two of their assailants; but there is no
probability that they could under all the circumstances have done more.
The obscurity of the night, the swiftness of the stream, and the number
of actors in the confusing drama being played between the two banks of
the Mississippi, would have introduced into the always delicate fencing
of the ram extraordinary difficulties, with which the inexperience of
their commanders was in no degree qualified to deal. The generally
steady approach, bows on, of the United States ships, presented the
smallest target to their thrust and gave to the threatened vessel the
utmost facilities for avoiding the collision or converting it into a
glancing blow; while, as for rounding-to, to ram squarely on the beam of
a ship stemming the current, the assailant, even if he displayed the
remarkable nicety of judgment required, was not likely to find the
necessary room.
These difficulties received illustration by the career of the Manassas
that night. Her commander, Lieutenant Warley, was a former officer of
the United States Navy, and he handled her with judgment and the utmost
daring. Rushing nearly bows on upon the Pensacola, the thrust was wholly
avoided by the quick moving of the latter's helm, which Warley
characterized as beautiful; while the attempt made immediately afterward
upon the Mississippi resulted in a merely glancing blow, which took a
deep and long shaving out of the enemy's quarter, but did no serious
damage. Not till a much later period of the action did the Manassas find
an opportunity to charge squarely upon the beam of the Brooklyn. She did
so across the current, striking therefore only with her own speed of six
knots. But little shock was felt on board the rammed ship, and no
apprehension of damage was experienced; but it was afterward found that
the enemy's stem had entered between two frames, and crushed both the
outer and inner planking. A few moments earlier the Brooklyn had been
thrown across the current by the chances of the night. Had the ram then
struck her in the same place, carrying the four knots additional
velocity of the current, it is entirely possible that the mortification
of the Confederate defeat would have derived some consolation from the
sinking of one of Farragut's best ships. Such were the results obtained
by a man of singular and resolute character, who drove his tiny vessel
through the powerful broadsides of the hostile fleet, and dared
afterward to follow its triumphant course up the river, in hopes of
snatching another chance from the jaws of defeat.
Another example, equally daring and more successful, of the power of the
ram, was given that same night by Kennon, also an ex-officer of the
United States Navy; but the other ram commanders did not draw from their
antecedent training and habits of thought the constancy and pride, which
could carry their frail vessels into the midst of ships that had thus
victoriously broken their way through the bulwarks of the Mississippi.
The River-Defense Fleet, as it was called, was a separate organization,
which owned no allegiance and would receive no orders from the navy; and
its absurd privileges were jealously guarded by a government whose
essential principle was the independence of local rights from all
central authority. Captains of Mississippi River steamboats, their
commanders held to the full the common American opinion that the
profession of arms differs from all others in the fact that it requires
no previous training, involves no special habits of thought, is
characterized by no moral tone which only early education or years of
custom can impart. Rejecting all suggestion and neglecting all
preparation, they cherished the most inordinate confidence in the raw
native valor which they were persuaded would inspire them at the
critical moment; and, incredible as it would seem, some of the men who
in the battle could find no other use for their boats but to run them
ashore and burn them, ventured to tell Warley the night before that
their mission was to show naval officers how to fight. They did not
lack courage, but that military habit upon whose influence Farragut had
so acutely remarked when a youth, returning in 1820 from the European
station.[Q] "Had regular naval officers," said Kennon bitterly, "instead
of being kept in the mud forts on the creeks in Virginia, and in the
woods of Carolina cutting timbers to build ironclads, been sent to
command these vessels, even at the eleventh hour, they would have proved
very formidable."
[Footnote Q: See page 62.]
Steaming into the midst of such as these, the peril of the Cayuga, real
enough, was less than it seemed; but she had to do at once with Warley's
Manassas and with the Governor Moore, the vessel that Kennon commanded,
and which afterward sunk the Varuna. "Three made a dash to board us,"
records Lieutenant Perkins, agreeing therein with the official reports
of Captain Bailey and of his own commander, Lieutenant Harrison; "but a
heavy charge from our eleven-inch gun settled the Governor Moore, which
was one of them. A ram, the Manassas, in attempting to butt us just
missed our stern, and we soon settled the third fellow's 'hash.' Just
then some of our gunboats which had passed the forts came up, and then
all sorts of things happened." This last expression is probably as terse
and graphic a summary of a _mêlée_, which to so many is the ideal of a
naval conflict, as ever was penned. "There was the wildest excitement
all round. The Varuna fired a broadside into us instead of into the
enemy. Another of our gunboats attacked one of the Cayuga's prizes; I
shouted out, 'Don't fire into that ship, she has surrendered.' Three of
the enemy's ships had surrendered to us before any of our vessels
appeared; but when they did come up we all pitched in, and settled the
eleven rebel vessels in about twenty minutes." Besides the eleven armed
boats known to have been above, there were several unarmed tugs and
other steamers, some of which probably shared in this wild confusion.
One at least came into conflict with the Hartford.
The second column, led by the flag-ship, was promptly away and after the
first; following, indeed, so closely that the head of the one lapped the
rear of the other. The Brooklyn and Richmond, close behind the Hartford,
formed with her a powerful "body of battle," to use the strong French
expression for the center of a fleet. Though called sloops-of-war, the
tonnage and batteries of these ships were superior to those of the
medium ships-of-the-line of the beginning of this century, with which
Nelson fought his celebrated battles. As the flag-ship reached the hulks
the night, which, though very dark, was fairly clear, had become
obscured by the dense clouds of smoke that an almost breathless
atmosphere suffered to settle down upon the water. Only twenty minutes
had elapsed since the forts opened upon the Cayuga, when Farragut's flag
entered the battle. Soon after passing the obstructions, and when about
to sheer in toward Fort Jackson, upon which was to be concentrated her
own battery and that of her two formidable followers, a fire-raft was
observed coming down the river in such a way as to make contact probable
if the course were not changed. Heading across the river, and edged
gradually over by the raft continuing to work toward her, the ship took
the ground a little above Fort St. Philip, but still under its
batteries. While in this dangerous position, the raft, whose movements
proved to be controlled not by the current but by a small tugboat, was
pushed against her port quarter. The flames caught the side of the ship,
spread swiftly along it, leaped into the rigging and blazed up toward
the tops. The danger was imminent, and appeared even more so than it
was; for the body of heat, though great, was scarcely sufficient to
account for such a rapid spread of the flames, which was probably due
mainly to the paint. The thoroughly organized fire department soon
succeeded in quenching the conflagration, its source being removed by
training some of the after-guns upon the daring pygmy, which with such
reckless courage had well-nigh destroyed the commander-in-chief of her
enemy's fleet. The tug received a shot in her boilers and sunk. The
Hartford backed clear, but in so doing fell off broadside to the stream,
thereby affording another chance to the hostile rams, had there been one
prepared to dare the hazard. Watson, the flag-lieutenant, remarks that
the flag-officer stood during this critical period giving his orders and
watching the ship slowly turn, referring occasionally to a little
compass which was attached to his watch-chain. During most of the
engagement, however, he was forward observing the conflict.
The Brooklyn and Richmond, with the Sciota and the Iroquois, which
followed immediately after them, fought their way through with more or
less of adventure, but successfully reached the river above the forts.
It is to be observed, however, that these, as well as the Hartford,
suffered from the embarrassment of the smoke, which had inconvenienced
the ships of the first column to a much less degree. This was to be
expected, and doubtless contributed to the greater loss which they
suffered, by delaying their progress and giving uncertainty to their
aim; the result of the latter being naturally to intensify the action of
the hostile gunners. Four gunboats brought up the rear of the column, of
which but one got through, and she with a loss greater than any vessel
of her class. The three last failed to pass. Blinded by smoke and
further delayed by the tendency to open out, which is observable in all
long columns, they came under the fire of the forts at a time when, the
larger vessels having passed, they were no longer covered or supported
by their fire, and when day was about to break. The Itasca, commanded by
the gallant Caldwell, who had so nobly broken through the obstructions,
opposing only her puny battery to the concentrated wrath of the forts,
was knocked about by them at will, received a shot through her boiler
and drifted down the river out of action. The Winona likewise
encountered almost alone, or perhaps in company with the Itasca, the
fire of the enemy. After nearly running ashore in the smoke, daylight
surprised her while still under fire below the works; and her commander
very properly decided not to risk the total destruction and possible
capture of his vessel for the sake of adding her insignificant force to
that above. Admirably as the gunboats were officered, perhaps their most
useful service on this night was to demonstrate again the advantage of
big ships, as of big battalions.
Thirteen out of his seventeen vessels having rallied around his flag
above the forts, and the three below being of the least efficient type,
the flag-officer could congratulate himself upon a complete victory,
won with but little loss. One vessel only was sacrificed, and she to
that inconsiderate ardor which in so many cases of pursuit leads men,
without any necessity, out of reach of support. The Varuna, the fifth in
the order, and the only merchant-built vessel in the fleet, after
clearing the forts had steamed rapidly through the Confederate flotilla,
firing right and left, but not stopping. She soon passed above it, and
getting sight of a small steamer heading for New Orleans, sped away
after her. Kennon, in the Governor Moore, happened to have noticed this
movement; and, finding by the rapid accessions to the number of his
enemies that he was likely to be soon overwhelmed, he determined to
follow this one which, whatever her strength, he might tackle alone.
Stealing out of the _mêlée_ he started up the river, hoisting lights
similar to those he had observed the enemy's ships to carry. Deceived by
this ruse, the Varuna at the first paid no attention to her pursuer,
some distance behind whom followed one of the River-Defense boats, the
Stonewall Jackson. When Kennon at last opened fire, the Varuna, having
by then run down her steam in her headlong speed, was being rapidly
overtaken. The second shot from the Moore raked the Varuna's deck,
killing and wounding twelve men. The Union vessel's helm was then put
hard-a-port, swinging her broadside to bear upon her approaching foe,
who was naturally expected to imitate the movement, opposing side to
side to avoid being raked. Instead of so doing Kennon kept straight on,
and, while receiving a deadly raking fire from his antagonist's battery,
which struck down many of his men, he succeeded in driving the sharp
stem of the Moore through the side of the Varuna. A few moments after
the Stonewall Jackson coming up also rammed the disabled enemy, whose
commander then drove her ashore on the east side of the river, where she
sank. By this time the corvette Oneida had made out the state of the
case. Steaming rapidly ahead, she overhauled the Confederate vessels;
which, finding they could not escape, ran ashore, the Jackson on the
west bank, the Moore on the east, and in those positions they were
surrendered.
Farragut had undertaken this daring exploit with the expectation that,
after passing the forts, he could obtain the co-operation of the army,
and that the action of the two services, combined in mutual support,
would suffice to force the way to New Orleans. The occupation of the
land by the army, and of the water by the navy, interposing by the
nature of their operations between the city and the forts, would
effectually isolate the latter. In accordance with this plan he at once
sent Captain Boggs, of the Varuna, through the Quarantine Bayou with
messages to Commander Porter and General Butler. The latter was notified
that the way was now clear to land his troops through the bayou, in
accordance with the previous arrangements, and that gunboats would be
left there to protect them against those of the enemy, of which three or
four were seen to be still at the forts. Boggs passed successfully
through the country and streams which a day before had been in quiet
possession of the enemy, though it took him twenty-six hours to do so;
but General Butler, who from a transport below had witnessed the success
of the fleet, had waited for no further tidings. Hurrying back to his
troops, he collected them at Sable Island, twelve miles in rear of Fort
St. Philip, whence they were transported and landed at a point on the
river five miles above the work, where the Kineo and Wissahickon awaited
them.
During the remainder of the 24th the fleet stayed at anchor off the
Quarantine station, to repose the crews after the excessive labor and
excitement of the previous night. Early the next morning all got under
way except the two gunboats left to support Butler's troops, and moved
up stream; but slowly, owing to the indifferent speed of some and to
want of knowledge of the river. At half-past ten they reached English
Turn, five miles below the city; the point where the British forces had
in 1815 been so disastrously repelled in their assault upon the
earth-works held by Jackson's riflemen. The Confederates had fortified
and armed the same lines on both sides of the Mississippi, as part of
the interior system of defenses to New Orleans; the exterior line being
constituted by Forts Jackson and St. Philip, together with several
smaller works at different points, commanding the numerous subsidiary
approaches through the Mississippi delta. The interior lines at English
Turn, known as the Chalmette and McGehee batteries, were, however,
intended only to check an approach of troops from down the river. Their
general direction was perpendicular to the stream; and along its banks
there ran only a short work on either side to protect the main
entrenchments from an enfilading fire by light vessels, which might, in
company with an invading army, have managed to turn the lower forts by
passing through the bayous. These river batteries, mounting respectively
nine and five guns, were powerless to resist the ships that had
successfully passed the main defenses of the city. After a few shots,
fired rather for the honor of the flag than in any hope of successful
result, the guns were forsaken; and both lines of entrenchments, being
turned and taken in the rear, were abandoned.
Meanwhile, in New Orleans a scene of fearful confusion was growing
hourly more frenzied. Whatever the fears of the military commanders as
to the result of the attack upon the forts, they had very properly
concealed them from the inhabitants; and these, swayed by the boastful
temper common to mobs, had been readily led to despise the efforts of
the enemy and to trust implicitly in the power of their defenses.
General Lovell, commanding the department, had gone down to the forts
the evening before the attack, and was still there when the United
States fleet was breaking its way through; he was, in fact, on board the
little steamer, the pursuit of which lured the Varuna into the isolation
where she met her fate. The news of the successful forcing of the
exterior and principal defenses thus reached the city soon after it was
effected; and at the same time Lovell, satisfied from the first that if
the forts were passed the town was lost, prepared at once to evacuate
it, removing all the Government property. This in itself was a service
of great difficulty. New Orleans is almost surrounded by water or marsh;
the only exit was to the northward by a narrow strip of dry land, not
over three quarters of a mile wide, along the river bank, by which
passed the railroad to Jackson, in the State of Mississippi. As has
already been said, Lovell had by this road been quietly removing army
rations for some time, but had abstained from trying to carry off any
noticeable articles by which his apprehensions would be betrayed to the
populace. The latter, roused from its slumber of security with such
appalling suddenness, gave way to an outburst of panic and fury; which
was the less controllable because so very large a proportion of the
better and stronger element among the men had gone forth to swell the
ranks of the Confederate army. As in a revolution in a South American
city, the street doors were closed by the tradesmen upon the property in
their stores; but without began a scene of mad destruction, which has
since been forcibly portrayed by one, then but a lad of fourteen years,
who witnessed the sight.
Far down the stream, and throughout their ascent, the ships were passing
through the wreckage thus made. Cotton bales, cotton-laden ships and
steamers on fire, and working implements of every kind such as are used
in ship-yards, were continually encountered. On the piers of the levees,
where were huge piles of hogsheads of sugar and molasses, a mob,
composed of the scum of the city, men and women, broke and smashed
without restraint. Toward noon of the 25th, as the fleet drew round the
bend where the Crescent City first appears in sight, the confusion and
destruction were at their height. "The levee of New Orleans," says
Farragut in his report, "was one scene of desolation. Ships, steamers,
cotton, coal, etc., were all in one common blaze, and our ingenuity was
much taxed to avoid the floating conflagration. The destruction of
property was awful." Upon this pandemonium, in which the fierce glare of
burning property lit up the wild passions and gestures of an infuriated
people, the windows of heaven were opened and a drenching rain poured
down in torrents. The impression produced by the ships as they came in
sight around the bend has been graphically described by the boy before
mentioned, who has since become so well-known as an author--Mr. George
W. Cable. "I see the ships now, as they come slowly round Slaughter
House Point into full view, silent, grim, and terrible; black with men,
heavy with deadly portent, the long-banished Stars and Stripes flying
against the frowning sky. Oh! for the Mississippi! for the Mississippi!"
(an iron-clad vessel nearly completed, upon which great hopes had been
based by the Confederates). "Just then she came down. But how? Drifting
helplessly, a mass of flames.
"The crowds on the levee howled and screamed with rage. The swarming
decks answered never a word; but one old tar on the Hartford, standing
lanyard in hand beside a great pivot gun, so plain to view that you
could see him smile, silently patted its big black breech and blandly
grinned. And now the rain came down in torrents."
That same morning, as though with the purpose of embarrassing the victor
whom he could not oppose, the Mayor of New Orleans had ordered the State
flag of Louisiana to be hoisted upon the City Hall. His secretary, who
was charged with this office, waited to fulfill it until the cannonade
at English Turn had ceased, and it was evident the fleet had passed the
last flimsy barrier and would within an hour appear before the city. The
flag was then run up; and the Mayor had the satisfaction of creating a
position of very unnecessary embarrassment for all parties by his
useless bravado.
To Captain Bailey, the second in command, who had so gallantly led both
in the first assault and in the attack at Chalmette, was assigned the
honor of being the first to land in the conquered city and to demand its
surrender. It was no barren honor, but a service of very sensible
personal danger to which he was thus called. General Lovell having to
devote his attention solely to his military duties, the city which had
so long been under martial law was escaping out of the hands of the
civil authorities and fast lapsing into anarchy. Between one and two in
the afternoon Bailey landed, accompanied by Perkins, the first
lieutenant of the Cayuga; who, having shared his former perils, was
permitted to accompany him in this one also. "We took just a boat and a
boat's crew," writes Perkins, "with a flag of truce, and started off.
When we reached the wharf there were no officials to be seen; no one
received us, although the whole city was watching our movements, and the
levee was crowded in spite of a heavy rainstorm. Among the crowd were
many women and children, and the women were shaking rebel flags and
being rude and noisy. They were all shouting and hooting as we stepped
on shore.... As we advanced the mob followed us in a very excited state.
They gave three cheers for Jeff Davis and Beauregard and three groans
for Lincoln. Then they began to throw things at us, and shout 'Hang
them!' 'Hang them!' We both thought we were in a bad fix, but there was
nothing for us to do but just to go on." Mr. Cable has given his
description of the same scene: "About one or two in the afternoon, I
being in the store with but one door ajar, came a roar of shoutings and
imprecations and crowding feet down Common Street. 'Hurrah for Jeff
Davis!' 'Shoot them!' 'Kill them!' 'Hang them!' I locked the door of
the store on the outside and ran to the front of the mob, bawling with
the rest, 'Hurrah for Jeff Davis!' About every third man had a weapon
out. Two officers of the United States navy were walking abreast,
unguarded and alone, not looking to the right or left, never frowning,
never flinching, while the mob screamed in their ears, shook cocked
pistols in their faces, cursed, crowded, and gnashed upon them. So
through those gates of death those two men walked to the City Hall to
demand the town's surrender. It was one of the bravest deeds I ever saw
done."
Farragut's demand, made through Bailey, was that the flag of Louisiana
should be hauled down from the City Hall, and that of the United States
hoisted over the buildings which were its property, namely, the Custom
House, Post Office, and Mint. This the Mayor refused to do; and, as
Farragut had no force with which to occupy the city, it became a
somewhat difficult question to carry on an argument with the authorities
of a town protected by the presence of so many women and children. The
situation was for three days exceedingly critical, from the temper and
character of the mob and from the obstinacy and powerlessness of the
officials. It was doubtless as much as the life of any citizen of the
place was worth to comply with the admiral's demands. On the other hand,
while there could be no difficulty in hoisting the United States flag,
there would be much in protecting it from insult with the means at the
flag-officer's disposal; for to open fire upon a place where there were
so many helpless creatures, innocent of any greater offense than
behaving like a set of spoiled children, was a course that could not be
contemplated unless in the last necessity, and it was undesirable to
provoke acts which might lead to any such step. The United States
officers who were necessarily sent to communicate with the authorities
did so, in the opinion of the authorities themselves, at the peril of
their lives from a mob which no one on shore could control. On the 28th
of April, however, Forts Jackson and St. Philip surrendered to Commander
Porter in consequence of a mutiny in their garrisons, which refused to
fight any longer, saying further resistance was useless; and the
following day Farragut sent ashore a body of two hundred and fifty
marines with two howitzers manned by seamen from the Hartford, the whole
under the command of the fleet-captain, Captain Henry H. Bell. The force
was formally drawn up before the City Hall, the howitzers pointing up
and down the street, which was thronged with people. Fearing still that
some rash person in the crowd might dare to fire upon the men who were
hauling down the flag, the Mayor took his stand before one of the
howitzers; a sufficient intimation to the mob that were murder done he
would be the first victim to fall in expiation. The United States flag
was then hoisted over the Custom House, and left flying under the
protection of a guard of marines.
Thus was timely and satisfactorily completed an act, by which Farragut
signalized and sealed the fact that the conquest of New Orleans and of
its defenses, from the original conception of the enterprise to its
complete fulfillment by the customary tokens of submission and taking
possession, was wholly the work of the United States Navy; of which he,
by his magnificent successes, became the representative figure. It was a
triumph won over formidable difficulties by a mobile force, skillfully
directed and gallantly fought. By superior promptitude and a correct
appreciation of the true strategic objective had been reduced to
powerlessness obstacles not to be overcome by direct assault, except by
a loss of time which would have allowed the enemy to complete
preparations possibly fatal to the whole undertaking. Forts Jackson and
St. Philip, which the fleet could not have reduced by direct attack,
fell by the severance of their communications.
It is not to be questioned that the moral effect of the passage of the
forts, succeeded, as it was, by the immediate fall of the great city of
the Mississippi, was very great; but it was not upon the forts
themselves, nor in the unexpected mutiny of the garrison, that that
effect was chiefly manifested. Great as was the crime of the men, they
showed by their act a correct appreciation of those results to the
forts, from the passage of the fleet, which some have sought to
ignore--results physical, undeniable, fatal. It was not moral effect,
but indisputable reasoning which sapped the further resistance of
men--brave till then--to whom were wanting the habit of discipline and
the appreciation of the far-reaching effects upon the fortunes of a
campaign produced by a prolonged, though hopeless, resistance. They saw
that the fate of the forts was sealed, and beyond that they recognized
no duties and no advantages. On the scene of his exploit Farragut reaped
the material fruits of the celerity in which he believed; and which he
had reluctantly for a space postponed, at the bidding of superior
authority, in order to try the effect of slower methods. These being
exhausted, he owed to the promptness of his decision and action that the
Louisiana, on whose repairs men were working night and day, did not take
the advantageous position indicated to her by the officers of the forts;
and that the Mississippi, the ironclad upon which not only the
designers, but naval officers, founded extravagant hopes, was neither
completed nor towed away, but burned where she lay. The flaming mass, as
it drifted hopelessly by the Hartford, was a striking symbol of
resistance crushed--of ascendency established over the mighty river
whose name it bore; but it was a symbol not of moral, but of physical
victory.
It was elsewhere, far and wide, that were felt the moral effects which
echoed the sudden, unexpected crash with which the lower Mississippi
fell--through the length and breadth of the South and in the cabinets of
foreign statesmen, who had believed too readily, as did their officers
on the spot, that the barrier was not to be passed--that the Queen City
of the Confederacy was impregnable to attack from the sea. Whatever may
have been the actual purposes of that mysterious and undecided
personage, Napoleon III, the effect of military events, whether on sea
or shore, upon the question of interference by foreign powers is
sufficiently evident from the private correspondence which, a few months
after New Orleans, passed between Lords Palmerston and Russell, then the
leading members of the British Cabinet.[R] Fortunately for the cause of
the United States, France and Great Britain were not of a mind to
combine their action at the propitious moment; and the moral effect of
the victory at New Orleans was like a cold plunge bath to the French
emperor, at the time when he was hesitating whether to act alone. It
produced upon him even more impression than upon the British Government;
because his ambitions for French control and for the extension of the
Latin races on the American continent were especially directed toward
Louisiana, the former colony of France, and toward its neighbors, Texas
and Mexico.
[Footnote R: See Walpole's _Life of Lord John Russell_,
vol. ii, pp. 349-351.]
The sympathies, however, of the classes from whom were chiefly drawn the
cabinets of the two great naval States were overwhelmingly with the
South; and the expressions alike of the emperor and of his principal
confidants at this time were designedly allowed to transpire, both to
the Southern commissioners and to the British Government. On the very
day that Porter's mortar schooners opened on Fort Jackson, Louis
Napoleon unbosomed himself to a member of the British Parliament, who
visited him as an avowed partisan of the Confederate cause. He said that
while he desired to preserve a strict neutrality, he could not consent
that his people should continue to suffer from the acts of the Federal
Government. He thought the best course would be to make a friendly
appeal to it, either alone or concurrently with England, to open the
ports; but to accompany the appeal with a proper demonstration of force
upon our coasts, and, should the appeal seem likely to be ineffectual,
to back it by a declaration of his purpose not to respect the blockade.
The taking of New Orleans, which he did not then anticipate, might
render it inexpedient to act; that he would not decide at once, but
would wait some days for further intelligence.[S] Similar semi-official
assurances came from different persons about the emperor; and the
members of the Cabinet, with a single exception, showed little reserve
in their favorable expressions toward the Confederacy.
[Footnote S: _North American Review_, vol. cxxix, p. 347.]
A few weeks later Mr. Slidell had a conversation with M. Billault, the
minister _sans portefeuille_, one of the most conservative and cautious
men in the Cabinet, who represented the Government in the Chambers upon
all subjects connected with foreign affairs. Slidell read a note which
he had received from Sir Charles Wood, a leading Southern sympathizer in
England, denying that the British Government was unwilling to act in
American affairs--a denial to which some color is given by the
correspondence of Palmerston and Russell before mentioned. In answer, M.
Billault declared that the French Cabinet, with the possible exception
of M. Thouvénel, had been unanimously in favor of the South, and added
that if New Orleans had not fallen its recognition would not have been
much longer delayed; but, even after that disaster, if decided successes
were obtained in Virginia and Tennessee, or the enemy were held at bay
for a month or two, the same result would follow. After an interview
with M. Thouvénel, about the same time, Slidell reported that, though
that minister did not directly say so, his manner gave fair reason to
infer that if New Orleans had not been taken, and no very serious
reverses were suffered in Virginia and Tennessee, recognition would very
soon have been declared.[T]
[Footnote T: Ibid., vol. cxxix, p. 348.]
In its moral effect, therefore, the fall of the river forts and of New
Orleans, though not absolutely and finally decisive of the question of
foreign intervention, corresponded to one of those telling blows, by
which a general threatened by two foes meets and strikes down one before
the other comes up. Such a blow may be said to decide a campaign; not
because no chance is left the enemy to redeem his misfortune, but
because without the first success the weaker party would have been
overwhelmed by the junction of his two opponents. The heart-rending
disasters to our armies during the following summer does but emphasize
the immense value to the Union cause of the moral effect produced by
Farragut's victory. Those disasters, as it was, prompted the leaders of
the British ministry to exchange confidences in which they agreed on the
expediency of mediation. They did not carry all their colleagues with
them; but who can estimate the effect, when the scales were thus
balancing, if the navy had been driven out of the Mississippi as the
army was from Virginia?
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIRST ADVANCE ON VICKSBURG.
1862.
The purpose of the Navy Department, as expressed in the original orders
to Farragut, had been to send his squadron up the river immediately
after the capture of New Orleans. The words were: "If the Mississippi
expedition from Cairo shall not have descended the river, you will take
advantage of the panic to push a strong force up the river to take all
their defenses in the rear." When New Orleans fell, the Cairo
expedition, more commonly known as the Mississippi flotilla, so far from
having descended the river to the neighborhood of New Orleans, was still
detained before Fort Pillow, one of the outlying defenses of Memphis,
forty miles above the latter city and over eight hundred from New
Orleans. It was not until the end of May that the evacuation of Corinth
by the Confederates made Memphis untenable, leading to the abandonment
of the forts on the 4th of June and the surrender of the city on the
following day. It became therefore incumbent upon Farragut, after
turning over the command of New Orleans to Butler on the 1st of May, to
go up the river as soon as he possibly could.
Although the flag-officer seems to have acquiesced in this programme in
the beginning, it was probably with the expectation that the advance, up
river and against the current, required of his heavy-draught and
slow-moving ships would not be very far; that the Cairo expedition,
which at the date of the orders quoted, January 20th, had not begun to
move, would, from the character of the vessels composing it, many being
ironclad, and from the advantage of the current, have progressed very
far by the time he had taken New Orleans. Moreover, at that date the
upper river flotilla was still a branch of the army, and its prospective
movements were to be in combination with, and a part of, a great
military enterprise, securing control both of the stream and of the
land; whereas Farragut's was a purely naval operation, to which the army
contributed only a force sufficient to hold the points which were first
reduced by the fleet.
Under the actual conditions, the proposed ascent of the river bore a
very different aspect to the commanding naval officer on the spot from
that which presented itself to the fond imaginations of the officials in
Washington. The question now was not one of fighting batteries, for
there was no reason as yet to expect anything heavier than the fleet had
already overcome with ease; it was the far more difficult matter of
communications, in the broadest scope of the word, to be maintained over
a long, narrow, tortuous, and very difficult road, passing in many
places close under the guns of the enemy. "As I stated in my last
dispatch," wrote Farragut to the department after his first visit to
Vicksburg, "the dangers and difficulties of the river have proved to us,
since we first entered it, much greater impediments to our progress,
and more destructive to our vessels, than the enemy's shot. Between
getting aground, derangement of the machinery, and want of coal, the
delays in getting up the river are great." To take the defenses in the
rear, and in their then state to drive the enemy out of them, was one
thing; but to hold the abandoned positions against the return of the
defenders, after the fleet had passed on, required an adequate force
which Butler's army, calculated by McClellan for a much narrower sphere,
could not afford. Coal and supply ships, therefore, must either run the
gantlet for the four hundred miles which separated Vicksburg from New
Orleans, or be accompanied always by armed vessels. The former
alternative was incompatible with the necessary security, and for the
latter the numbers of the fleet were utterly inadequate. In fact, to
maintain the proposed operations, there would be needed so many ships to
guard the communications that there would be none left for the
operations to which they led.
It must also be observed that not only was this line of communications
four times as long as that which led from the sea to New Orleans, and of
far more difficult pilotage, but that the natural character of the
enemy's positions upon it was essentially different. They were as yet
undeveloped by art; but by nature they were high and commanding bluffs,
having secure land communications with an extensive enemy's country in
their rear over which our troops exercised no control whatever--where
they had not even been seen. To speak of "taking them in the rear" was
to beg the question--to assume that their front was then, as in June,
1863, toward an enemy investing them on the land side. New Orleans and
the region below, including its defenses and the communications
therewith, were low-lying and intersected with numerous water-courses;
over such a navy naturally exercises a preponderating control. Above New
Orleans the low delta of the Mississippi extends, indeed, on the west
bank as far as the Red River, if it may not be said to reach to
Vicksburg and beyond; but on the east bank it ceases one hundred and
fifty miles from the city. From thence to Vicksburg, a distance of two
hundred and fifty miles, the stream is bordered by a series of bluffs
backing on a firm country of moderate elevation. Such positions are not
to be reduced from the water alone. On the contrary, if the water be a
narrow strip swept by their guns, they command it; while, from the
extent of country in their rear, they are not susceptible of isolation
by fleets above and below, as were Forts Jackson and St. Philip.
This series of bluffs became, therefore, the line upon which the
Confederates based their control of the Mississippi and maintained their
vital communications with Texas and the Red River region. It could be
reduced only by a military force; and to think of subduing it by a fleet
taking advantage of the panic following the fall of New Orleans, was
truly to rely upon moral effect without adequate physical force to
support it. It is due to the Navy Department to say that they expected
the army from the North to advance more rapidly than it did; but,
without seeking to assign the blame, the utterly useless penetration of
the United States fleet four hundred miles into the heart of the enemy's
country and its subsequent mortifying withdrawal, when contrasted with
the brilliant success resulting from Farragut's dash by the forts,
afford a very useful lesson in the adaptation of means to ends and the
selection of a definite objective, upon compassing which something
happens. The object of the United States Government being to control the
lower Mississippi, that was effected by means of isolating its defenses,
which then fell. When the further object was sought of controlling the
course of the stream above, the mere perambulation of a body of ships
effected nothing, because it aimed at nothing in particular, and could
have no effect upon the decisive points.
Of all these considerations Farragut was fully sensible; and, while he
obeyed his orders, he showed in his dispatches to the Department, and in
private letters of the same period, how much against his judgment were
operations conceived on such erroneous military principles and
undertaken with such inadequate force. The Department was forward to
press him on, and as early as the 17th of May sent a dispatch intimating
that he had forgotten his orders on the subject; and he was urged and
required to open up the Mississippi to Flag-officer Davis's command (the
Mississippi flotilla), then still above Memphis. This and other letters
of the same date must have been peculiarly exasperating; for they were
received early in June, when he had been up the river as far as
Vicksburg and satisfied himself that without an adequate force of troops
nothing could be accomplished. "The Department," he replies, "seems to
have considered my fleet as having escaped all injury, and that when
they arrived off New Orleans they were in condition to be pushed up the
river. This was not the case; but, the moment the vessels could be
gotten ready, the gunboats were all sent up under the command of
Commander S. P. Lee, with directions to proceed to Vicksburg, take that
place, and cut the railroad.... From all I could hear it was not
considered proper, even with pilots, to risk the ships beyond
Natchez.... By the time Commander Lee arrived at Vicksburg (May 18th) he
was satisfied that the force of the enemy was too great for him to
venture to take the town, or even to pass it. The land in the rear of
Vicksburg is about two hundred feet high, on which are placed some eight
and ten inch columbiads, which are perfectly secure from our fire.... I
determined to get the heavy ships up there if possible, which I did a
day or two after. General Williams arrived in the mean time with fifteen
hundred men, when I proposed to him, if he could carry the battery on
the hill, I would attack the town. He made a careful reconnaissance, and
returned to me in the afternoon, when I had all the (naval) commanders
assembled. He reported that it would be impossible for him to land, and
that he saw no chance of doing anything with the place so long as the
enemy were in such force, having at their command thirty thousand men
within one hour by railroad. A large majority of the commanders
concurred with him in the opinion."
Writing to his home about this council, in which, contrary to his
independent decision when below Fort Jackson, he yielded to the advice
of his captains, he said: "I did not pass Vicksburg; not because it was
too strongly fortified; not because we could not have passed it easily
enough, _but we would have been cut off from our supplies of coal and
provisions_. We would have been placed between two enemies (Vicksburg
and Memphis), and so the captains advised me not to do it. I was very
sick at the time, and yielded to their advice, _which I think was good_;
but I doubt if I would have taken it had I been well." Here is seen,
transpiring vividly enough, the uncertainty and indecision arising from
the conflict between the orders of the Department and his own sounder
judgment. He would fain obey; yet no orders could override, though they
might cruelly embarrass, the responsibility of the officer in command on
the spot. "Fighting is nothing," he adds, "to the evils of the
river--getting on shore, running foul of one another, losing anchors,
etc." "The army," he resumes in his dispatch to the Department, "had
been sent up early with a few days' rations, and I was compelled to
supply them from the squadron, thereby reducing our own supplies, which
were barely sufficient to bring the ships back to New Orleans, making
allowance for probable delays. The river was now beginning to fall, and
I apprehended great difficulty in getting down should I delay much
longer. In the mean time coal vessels had been towed up the river just
above Natchez (a hundred miles below Vicksburg), which vessels I was
obliged to bring down and keep in company with the vessels of war, for
fear of their being captured by the guerrilla bands which appear to
infest almost the entire banks of the river wherever there are rapids
and bluffs."
Such were some of the difficulties being experienced when the
Assistant-Secretary of the Navy was writing: "The _only_ anxiety _we_
feel is to know if you have followed up your instructions and pushed a
strong force up the river to meet the Western flotilla." "I had no
conception," replied Farragut, "that the Department ever contemplated
that the ships of this squadron were to attempt to go to Memphis, above
which the Western flotilla then was; nor did I believe it was
practicable for them to do so, unless under the most favorable
circumstances, in time of peace, when their supplies could be obtained
along the river. The gunboats are nearly all so damaged that they are
certainly not in condition to contend with ironclad rams coming down
upon them with the current.... We consider the advantage entirely in
favor of the vessel that has the current added to her velocity." In
conclusion he adds: "I arrived in New Orleans with five or six days'
provisions and one anchor, and am now trying to procure others. As soon
as provisions and anchors are obtained we will take our departure for up
the river, and endeavor to carry out, as far as practicable, the orders
conveyed in your different dispatches." Writing home, he expressed
himself more freely and unmistakably: "They will keep us in this river
until the vessels break down and all the little reputation we have made
has evaporated. The Government appears to think that we can do anything.
They expect me to navigate the Mississippi nine hundred miles in the
face of batteries, ironclad rams, etc., and yet with all the ironclad
vessels they have North they could not get to Norfolk or Richmond....
Well, I will do my duty to the best of my ability, and let the rest take
care of itself.... They can not deprive me and my officers of the
historical fact that we took New Orleans. Now they expect
impossibilities."
Enough has been quoted to show that Farragut was in no way responsible
for, nor approved of, the ill-timed tenacity with which the Government
held to its original plan, when the conditions had turned out entirely
different from those at first expected. The Secretary of the Navy at a
later date endeavored to throw the blame of failure entirely upon the
War Department, which was either unwilling or unable to support the
naval movement with adequate troops. It is not necessary, in a life of
the admiral, to attempt to decide upon the degree of remissness, if any,
shown by the military service, nor upon whose shoulders it falls. It is
sufficient to point out that the Navy Department required of Farragut to
go up to meet the Western flotilla when it was near nine hundred miles
from the mouth of the Mississippi, for no better reason, apparently,
than that it had determined upon the junction at a time when it supposed
it would be effected much lower down. In so doing it left nothing to the
judgment of the officer commanding on the spot. "I think," said Farragut
quietly, "that more should have been left to my discretion; but I hope
for the best, and pray God to protect our poor sailors from harm." His
own opinion was that Mobile should be the next point attacked. The
difficulties there were not so great as those encountered at the
Mississippi forts; and his success at the latter might not improbably
have considerable moral effect upon the other works, whose position had
some strong features of resemblance to those already subdued, and which
were not yet in the strong state of defense which they afterward
reached. The blockade of the coast was part of his charge; and in no way
did he think it could be so thoroughly maintained as by occupying the
harbors themselves, or their entrances.
In obedience to his peremptory orders Farragut again started up the
river, with the apprehension that if he once got above Vicksburg he
would not be able to return before the next spring rise; for the season
of lowest water in the Mississippi was now at hand. The Hartford did run
ashore on the way up, and remained hard and fast for the better part of
twenty-four hours. "It is a sad thing to think of having your ship on a
mud bank, five hundred miles from the natural element of a sailor,"
wrote the flag-officer; "but I knew that I had done all I could to
prevent her being up the river so high, and was commanded to go." She
had to take out her coal and shot, and had even removed two guns before
she floated.
On the 18th of June the squadron was assembled just below Vicksburg,
having in company also seventeen schooners of the mortar flotilla, still
under Porter's command. These were placed as rapidly as possible in
suitable positions on the two sides of the river, opened fire on the
26th, and continued it through the 27th. Upon the evening of the latter
day Porter notified the flag-officer that he was ready to cover, by a
steady bombardment, the intended passage of the fleet before the
batteries.
[Illustration: PASSAGE OF VICKSBURG BATTERIES, JUNE 28, 1862.
ORDER OF ATTACK.]
Vicksburg is situated on the first high land met on the east bank of the
Mississippi after leaving Memphis, from which it is four hundred miles
distant. The position was one of peculiar strength and importance for
commanding the navigation of the river. Not only was it exceptionally
lofty, and on one flank of that series of bluffs which has before
been mentioned as constituting the line upon which the Confederate grip
of the stream was based, but the tortuous character of the channel gave
particular facilities for an enfilading fire on vessels both before and
after they came abreast the works. They were thus exposed to a longer
and more dangerous cannonade than is the case where the stream flows
straight past the front of a battery. The channel has now changed; but
in 1862 the river, which from Memphis had pursued its winding course
through an alluvial country, made when abreast of Vicksburg a sharp turn
to the northeast, as though determined to reach the bluffs but four
miles distant. As it neared them it swung round with a sharp turn to the
southwest, parallel to its recent direction, flowing for the most part
close to the foot of the hills. Between the two reaches, and formed by
them, immediately opposite the town, there was a low tongue of land, or
promontory, four miles long and less than one wide. The squadron, being
below, had to steam up through the lower reach against the current, make
the sharp turn at the bend, and then pass through the upper reach. In
the bend it was followed by a fire from the highest part of the bluffs,
to which it could make no reply.
At 2 A. M. of June 28th the signal was given, and at three the squadron
was under way--eleven vessels, of which three were the heavy ships
Hartford, Richmond, and Brooklyn; two, the corvettes Iroquois and
Oneida; and six gunboats. At four, the ships in their slow progress,
stemming the current, had passed the mortar schooners; and the latter
then opened fire, as did the steamers connected with them, which were
not to attempt the passage. Owing to a misunderstanding, the three
vessels which formed the rear of the column, the Brooklyn and two
gunboats, did not get by. The others, at 6 A. M., anchored above
Vicksburg. Though exposed much of the time to a raking fire, to which
they were not able to reply, the vessels suffered less than would have
been expected, owing to the enemy falling into the common mistake of
giving too much elevation to his guns. Having thus accomplished his
instructions, Farragut reported coldly to the Department that, in
obedience to the orders "and the command of the President, I proceeded
up to Vicksburg with the Brooklyn, Richmond, and Hartford, with the
determination to carry out my instructions to the best of my ability....
The Department will perceive from this report that the forts can be
_passed_, and _we have done it_, and can _do it again as often as may be
required_ of us. It will not, however, be an easy matter for us to do
more than silence the batteries for a time, as long as the enemy has a
large force behind the hills to prevent our landing and holding the
place." "I am satisfied," he says again, "it is not possible to take
Vicksburg without an army of twelve or fifteen thousand men. General Van
Dorn's division (Confederate) is here, and lies safely behind the hills.
The water is too low for me to go over twelve or fifteen miles above
Vicksburg." The last sentence reveals clearly enough the madness of
attempting to take three of the best ships of the navy to the upper
river in falling water. Fortunately the insufficient depth now was
above--not below--them, and they were not utterly cut off from the sea.
Commander Porter, however, who started down river a week later, in
compliance with orders summoning him to Washington, and than whom the
navy had no more active nor enterprising officer, wrote back to the
flag-officer that if the big ships did not soon return he feared they
would have to remain till next year.
Three days after Farragut passed the batteries of Vicksburg, on the 1st
of July, the Mississippi flotilla, under the command of Flag-officer
Charles H. Davis, joined him from above; having left Memphis only two
days before, but favored in their voyage by the current, by competent
pilots, and by a draught suited to the difficulties of river navigation.
The united squadrons continued together until the 15th of July, lying at
anchor near the neck of the promontory opposite Vicksburg; with the
exception of the Brooklyn and the two gunboats which had not passed up
on the 28th of June. These remained below the works, and on the opposite
side of the promontory.
The position of the two flag-officers was about four miles below the
mouth of the Yazoo River, a tributary of the Mississippi, which enters
the main stream on the east side not far above Vicksburg. It was known
to them that there was somewhere in the Yazoo an ironclad ram called the
Arkansas; which, more fortunate than the Mississippi at New Orleans, had
been hurried away from Memphis just before that city fell into the hands
of the United States forces. She was a vessel of between eight hundred
and a thousand tons burden, carrying ten guns, which were protected by
three inches of railroad iron, backed by bales of compressed cotton
firmly braced. Her most dangerous weapon, however, was her ram; but,
owing to the lightness and bad construction of the engines, this was not
as formidable as it otherwise might have been to the enemy's ships.
So little injury had thus far been done to the United States vessels by
the rams of the Confederates that the two flag-officers were probably
lulled into a state of over-security, and they allowed their squadrons
to lie with too low fires. To this doubtless contributed the more
powerful motive of the difficulty to the coal supply incurred by the
excessively long line of exposed communications, imposed upon both
squadrons by the stubborn persistence of the Navy Department in hurrying
the fleets far in advance of any support by the army. Beyond the reach
of their guns they could not control the river banks; and, unless they
could be present everywhere along the eight hundred miles which
separated Memphis from New Orleans, even the narrow strip on either side
swept by their cannon was safe at any point only while they were abreast
it. The moral effect of their promenade up and down and of their meeting
at Vicksburg was accurately weighed by the enemy; and, however it may
have imposed upon the Northern people, did nothing to insure the safety
of the unarmed vessels upon which supplies depended. This essentially
vicious military situation resulted necessarily in a degree of
insecurity which could have but one issue--a retreat by both squadrons
toward their respective bases, which soon after followed.
Convinced of the inutility of his own presence at Vicksburg, and
preoccupied with the risks threatening his squadron from the unguarded
state of the river and its dangerous navigation, it is not wonderful
that Farragut, who was the senior of the two flag-officers, thought
little of the single ironclad vessel in his neighborhood. He was not
prone to exaggerate danger, and his experience had not led him to
entertain any high opinion of the enemy's rams. To these circumstances
he owed one of the most mortifying incidents of his career.
On the 15th of July a reconnoitering expedition was sent into the Yazoo,
composed of two vessels of Davis's squadron, accompanied by one of the
rams which at that time formed an independent organization upon the
upper Mississippi under the command of Colonel Ellet. It was a fortunate
move, for to this circumstance was due that the squadrons had any notice
of the approach of the Arkansas. The detached vessels met her about six
miles within the Yazoo, when a running fight ensued between her and the
Carondelet, to the disadvantage of the United States vessel; but the
sustained cannonade attracted betimes the attention of the fleet, and
the Tyler, a small unarmored boat, after supporting the Carondelet to
the best of her ability through the action, preceded the combatants down
stream, bringing tidings of the ram's approach. There was not time to
raise steam--only to cast loose the guns for action. When the Arkansas
reached the fleet her smoke-stack had been so often perforated by the
Carondelet's shot that her boilers could scarcely supply any steam. Her
speed was thereby reduced to one knot, powerless to ram and scarcely
sufficient to steer. At that rate, with the favor also of the current,
she passed through the United States vessels, suffering from their
successive fires much injury, though not of a vital kind, and took
refuge under the guns of Vicksburg. It was a most gallant exploit,
fairly comparable in daring to the passage of the Mississippi forts, but
resulting in no decisive effect upon the issues of the war.
It became immediately advisable for Farragut to rejoin the three ships
which lay below the town, and were consequently in a condition favoring
an attack by the ram, whose apparent immunity under the fire of the two
squadrons showed her an enemy not to be despised. He determined to
follow her down at once, again passing the batteries, and endeavoring to
destroy her with the guns of his squadron as it went by. The execution
of the plan was set for the late afternoon, and the Mississippi flotilla
took up a position to support the movement by engaging the upper
batteries. Unfortunately, time was lost in forming the order of battle,
and the passage was effected in the dark. The uncertainty of aim thus
caused was increased by the precaution of the enemy, who shifted his
position after nightfall. Two shots only found her, injuring several of
her people and setting fire to the cotton bulwarks. Beyond this she
received no injury at this time, but she had been severely shaken by the
hammering of the morning. A week later, on the 22d of July, Davis sent
down the Essex, one of his heavy ironclads, accompanied by one of
Ellet's rams, to attack the Arkansas at her moorings. The effort was
unsuccessful, although the enemy's vessel received some further injury.
The ram rejoined the upper squadron; but the Essex, from her indifferent
speed, was unable to return against the current, exposed unsupported to
the fire of all the batteries. She therefore became thenceforth a member
of the lower squadron, together with a ram called the Sumter, which had
run down with Farragut on the 15th.
On the 20th of the month Farragut had received orders from the Navy
Department, dated July 14th, directing him to get the part of his fleet
above Vicksburg below that place with as little injury and loss of life
as possible. The circumstances that have been narrated caused him to
receive this dispatch below the town; and on the 24th, two days after
the descent of the Essex, he departed for New Orleans. Davis assured him
that the Essex and Sumter should look out for the river between
Vicksburg and Baton Rouge. To them were joined three of Farragut's
gunboats; and the five vessels took an active part in supporting the
garrison of Baton Rouge when an attack was made upon the place by the
Confederates on the 5th of August. In this the Arkansas was to have
co-operated with the enemy's troops, and she left Vicksburg on the 3d
for that purpose; but her machinery broke down, and while lying helpless
against the river bank the Essex came in sight. Resistance in her then
plight was hopeless. She was set on fire by her commander, the crew
escaping to the shore. Farragut himself reached Baton Rouge shortly
after this happened. He had with much difficulty succeeded in getting
the heavier ships to New Orleans on the 28th of July; and there he had
lingered, unwilling to leave the river, though desirous of doing so,
until affairs seemed on a reasonably secure basis. The chief element of
anxiety was the Arkansas, concerning whose power to harm quite
exaggerated notions prevailed. While thus lying before New Orleans word
was brought him of the attack on Baton Rouge, and he at once retraced
his steps with the Hartford, Brooklyn, and some smaller ships. On the
7th he reached the scene of action, and learned the destruction of the
Confederate vessel. The same day he wrote to the Department: "It is one
of the happiest moments of my life that I am enabled to inform the
Department of the destruction of the ram Arkansas; not because I held
the iron-clad in such terror, but because the community did." It must
have been an additional element of satisfaction to him that the
disappearance from the waters of the Mississippi of the last hostile
vessel capable of offensive action released him from the necessity of
remaining himself, or of keeping a large force there, during the
unhealthy season.
Before leaving Vicksburg the crews of the fleet had suffered severely
from the sickness common in that climate. The Brooklyn had sixty-eight
sick out of a total of three hundred; and as this proportion was less
than in the upper river flotilla, where the sick numbered forty per cent
of the total force, it is probable that it fairly represents the general
condition of Farragut's ships. Among the troops accompanying the
expedition there were but eight hundred fit for duty out of over three
thousand. It was not considered well to maintain for a longer time in
Baton Rouge the small garrison hitherto stationed there. It had
honorably repulsed the enemy's attack; but, in the general cessation of
offensive movements by the United States army, the Confederates were
continually strengthening their forces on the line of bluffs south of
Vicksburg, to the importance of which their attention, never entirely
diverted, had been forcibly drawn by the advance of the fleet in the
previous months. Fruitless as that ill-judged advance had been, it
reminded the enemy of the serious inconvenience they would suffer if the
United States ships could freely patrol that part of the Mississippi,
and impressed upon them the necessity of securing a section of it, by
which they could have undisturbed communication between the two shores.
This could be done by fortifying two points in such strength that to
pass them from either direction would involve a risk too great to be
lightly undertaken. The points chosen were Vicksburg and Port Hudson,
two hundred miles apart, and embracing between them the mouth of the Red
River. The latter is the great artery of the region west of the
Mississippi, and also, by means of the Atchafalaya Bayou, offers direct
communication for light-draught vessels with the Gulf of Mexico. Port
Hudson being less than twenty miles from Baton Rouge, the presence in
the latter of a small garrison, which could undertake no offensive
movement and which there were no troops to re-enforce, became
purposeless. On the 16th of August, 1862, the post was abandoned, and
the troops occupying it withdrew to New Orleans.
CHAPTER IX.
THE BLOCKADE AND PORT HUDSON.
1862-1863.
Operations in the Mississippi having now temporarily ceased, Farragut
was at liberty to give his undivided attention for a time to the coast
blockade. The important harbor of Pensacola had been evacuated by the
Confederates in May, less than a month after the capture of New Orleans.
Its abandonment was due to want of troops to garrison it properly; the
pressure of the United States armies in Kentucky and Tennessee, after
the fall of Fort Donelson in the previous February, having necessitated
the withdrawal of all men that could be spared from other points. Before
the war Pensacola had been the seat of a well-equipped navy yard with a
good dry-dock, the only naval station of the United States in the Gulf
of Mexico. At the time of the evacuation the buildings in the yard had
been destroyed and the dry-dock injured; but the fine harbor, the depth
of water--twenty-two feet--that could be carried over the bar, and the
nearness of the port to Mobile, the most important center of blockade
running, all combined to make it the headquarters of the fleet for
repairs and supplies. Farragut arrived there on the 20th of August. Just
before leaving New Orleans he received his commission as rear admiral,
dated July 16, 1862. Three other officers were promoted at the same time
to the active list of this grade, which had never before existed in the
United States; but as Farragut was the senior in rank of the four, he
may be said to have been the first officer of the navy to hoist an
admiral's flag.
The admiral remained in Pensacola for three months, superintending from
there the affairs of his squadron. During this period the harbors of
Galveston and of various other smaller ports on the coast of Texas and
Louisiana were occupied by detachments of vessels, as the surest way of
enforcing the blockade. The admiral had early announced that he should
carry on the blockade as far as possible inside; and these successes
enabled him to say in December, 1862, that he now held the whole coast
except Mobile. During his stay in Pensacola he received a visit from his
son, who found him in the best of spirits, all having gone well on the
coast; the only mishap having been the success of a Confederate cruiser,
the Oreto, in running into Mobile. She had availed herself of her close
resemblance to some of the British cruisers in the Gulf to hoist the
British flag; and as visits of these vessels to the blockaded ports were
authorized and not infrequent, the ruse induced the United States ship
that overhauled her to withhold its fire for a few critical moments.
During these the Oreto gained so far on the other that, although struck
three times by heavy projectiles, she received no vital injury and
succeeded in gaining the shelter of the forts.
The period of the admiral's stay in Pensacola was one of the deepest
depression to the Union cause, and his letters bear evidence of the
anxiety which he shared with all his fellow-countrymen in that time of
distress. The reverses of McClellan in the peninsula, followed by the
withdrawal of his army from thence and its transference to northern
Virginia, the defeats suffered by Pope, and the first invasion of
Maryland, occurred either immediately before or during the time that
Farragut was in Pensacola. His own bootless expedition up the
Mississippi and subsequent enforced retirement conspired also to swell
the general gloom; for, although thinking military men could realize
from the first that the position into which the fleet was forced was so
essentially false that it could not be maintained, the unreflecting
multitude saw only the conversion into repulse and disaster of a
substantial success, of a conquest as apparently real as it was actually
phantasmal. In the West, Grant was so stripped of troops that he feared
the possibility of the Union forces being obliged to withdraw behind the
Ohio, as they had in the East recrossed the Potomac. "The most anxious
period of the war to me," he afterward wrote, "was during the time the
army of the Tennessee was guarding the territory acquired by the fall of
Corinth and Memphis, and before I was sufficiently re-enforced to take
the offensive"--from July 15 to October 15, 1862.
The Confederate forces which confronted Grant in northern Mississippi
during these anxious months interposed between him and Vicksburg, and
belonged to the department charged with the defenses of the Mississippi
river. As they touched Grant, therefore, on the one side, on the other
they were in contact with Farragut's command. The summer passed in
various movements by them, threatening Grant's position at Corinth,
which culminated on the 3d of October in an attack in force. This was
repulsed after hard fighting, and re-enforcements to Grant beginning to
come in, the Confederates themselves were thrown on the defensive. The
approach of winter, bringing with it higher water and healthier weather
on the line of the Mississippi, warned them also that the time was at
hand when they might have to fight for the control of the water
communications, upon which they no longer had, nor could hope to have, a
naval force. Reports therefore began to reach the admiral in Pensacola,
from the senior naval officer in the river, that the Confederates were
with renewed energy building batteries above Baton Rouge and strongly
fortifying Port Hudson.
As there seemed no speedy prospect of obtaining the land force, without
whose co-operation an attack upon Mobile would be a fruitless
enterprise, Farragut felt his proper position was now in the Mississippi
itself. Important as was the blockade service, it was of a character
safely to be trusted to a subordinate; whereas the strictly military
operations of the approaching campaign, whatever shape they might
finally take, would be for the control of the river. It therefore
behooved the commander-in-chief of the naval forces to be at hand, ready
to support in any way that might offer the effort to obtain control of a
region of which the water communications were so characteristic a
feature. To push far up a narrow and intricate river a force of ships,
whose numbers are insufficient even to protect their own communications
and insure their coal supplies, is one thing; it is quite another to
repair to the same scene of action prepared to support the army by
controlling the water, and by establishing in combined action a secure
secondary base of operations from which further advances can be made
with reasonable certainty of holding the ground gained. There was no
inconsistency between Farragut's reluctance of the spring and his
forwardness in the autumn. The man who, to secure New Orleans and
compass the fall of the forts, had dared to cut adrift from his base and
throw his communications to the winds, because he had an object adequate
to the risk, was the same who, six weeks later, had testified his
anxiety about communications stretched too far and to no purpose; and
now, half a year after that reluctant ascent of the river against his
better judgment, we find him eagerly planning to go up again,
establishing under the protection of the army an advanced base, from
which, with the supplies accumulated at it, further movements may be
contemplated with a good chance of final success.
On the 14th of November Farragut reported to the Navy Department his
return to New Orleans. The Government, however, had taken warning by the
fiasco of the previous season; and, far from urging the admiral on, now
sought to impress him with the need for caution. As the great object of
opening the Mississippi and obtaining control of it remained, and
necessarily must remain, the first of the Government's aims in the
Southwest, the result of these instructions was to give Farragut the
discretion which had before been denied him. He retained fully his
convictions of the summer. "I am ready for anything," he writes to the
Department, "but desire troops to hold what we get. General Butler urges
me to attack Port Hudson first, as he wishes to break up that
rendezvous before we go outside. It will take at least five thousand men
to take Port Hudson." In the same spirit he writes home, "I am still
doing nothing but waiting for the tide of events, and doing all I can to
hold what I have"; and again, a week later, "As Micawber says, I am
waiting for something to turn up, and in the mean time having patience
for the water to rise." Readiness to act, but no precipitation; waiting
for circumstances, over which he had no control, to justify acting, may
be described as his attitude at this moment.
On the 16th of December the arrival from the north of General Banks to
relieve General Butler--an event which took Farragut much by
surprise--gave him the opportunity to show at once his own ideas of the
proper military steps to be taken. Banks had brought re-enforcements
with him; and three days after his coming the admiral writes to the
Department: "I have recommended to General Banks the occupation of Baton
Rouge.... It is only twelve or fifteen miles from Port Hudson, and is
therefore a fine base of operations. He has approved of the move, and
ordered his transports to proceed directly to that point. I ordered
Commander James Alden, in the Richmond, with two gunboats, to accompany
them and cover the landing." Baton Rouge is on the southernmost of the
bluffs which in rapid succession skirt the Mississippi below Vicksburg.
With an adequate garrison it became a base of operations from which the
army could move against Port Hudson when the time came; and under its
protection the colliers and supplies necessary for the naval vessels in
the advance could safely remain.
While waiting for the new commander of the army to get fairly settled to
work and ready for the combined movement which Farragut was eager to
make, the latter was called upon to endure some sharp disappointments.
On the 1st of January, 1863, the military forces in Galveston were
attacked by Confederate troops, and the naval vessels by a number of
river steamboats barricaded with cotton to resist shells fired against
them, and loaded with riflemen. The garrison was captured, one of the
gunboats blown up by her own officers, and another surrendered after her
captain and first lieutenant had been killed on her decks. The other
vessels abandoned the harbor. The affair was not only a disaster; it was
attended with discreditable circumstances, which excited in the admiral
indignation as well as regret. Shortly afterward, two sailing vessels of
the squadron, charged with the blockade of Sabine Pass, were also taken
by cotton-clad steamers; which to attack availed themselves of a calm
day, when the ships were unable to manoeuvre. An unsuccessful attempt
was made after this to take Sabine Pass; but both that place and
Galveston remained in the power of the enemy, and were not regained
until the final collapse of the Confederacy. Farragut dispatched one of
his most trusted and capable officers, Commodore Henry H. Bell, formerly
his chief-of-staff, to re-establish the blockade of Galveston. Arriving
off the port toward night, Bell sent one of his detachment, the
Hatteras, a light side-wheel iron steamer bought from the merchant
service, to overhaul a sail in the offing. Unfortunately, the stranger
proved to be the Confederate steamer Alabama, far superior in force to
the Hatteras, and after a short engagement the latter was sunk.
All this bad news came in rapid succession, and was closely followed by
tidings of the escape from Mobile of the Oreto, which a few months
before had eluded the blockading squadron through the daring ruse
practiced by her commander. Known now as the Florida, and fitted as a
Confederate cruiser, she ran out successfully during the night of
January 15th. Here again, though the discredit was less than at
Galveston, the annoyance of the admiral was increased by the knowledge
that carelessness, or, at the best, bad judgment, had contributed to the
enemy's success. From a letter written home at this time by his son, who
had not yet returned from the visit begun at Pensacola, it appears that
in the intimacy of family life he admitted, and showed by his manner,
how keenly he felt the discredit to his command from these events.
Though conscious that they were not due to failure on his part to do his
utmost with the force given to him, and seeing in the escape of the
Oreto a further justification of his own opinion that the lower harbor
of Mobile should have been early seized, he nevertheless was "very much
worried." This inside view of the effect, visible to those from whom he
had no concealments, is supplemented by the description of the admiral's
bearing under these reverses given by Captain (now Rear-Admiral)
Jenkins, who at this time became his chief-of-staff. "These disasters,"
he writes, "were sore trials to the admiral, and a less well-poised man
would have given way; but they seemed only to give him greater strength
of will and purpose.... I myself had the misfortune, after months of
watching, to see the Oreto run out the first night after I had been
relieved of the command of the Oneida and ordered to report to the
admiral as his fleet-captain. I had to bear him these bad tidings.
Though no stoic, he bore the news as one accustomed to misfortune." It
may seem, indeed, that these events, considered individually, were but
instances of the hard knocks to be looked for in war, of which every
general officer in every campaign must expect to have his share; and
this view is undoubtedly true. Nevertheless, occurring in such rapid
succession, and all in that part of his extensive command, the blockade,
to which at that moment it seemed impossible to give his principal
attention, the effect was naturally staggering. His first impulse was to
leave the river and repair in person to the scene of disaster in Texas;
but reflection soon convinced him that, however unfortunate the
occurrences that had taken place there and elsewhere on the coast, they
had not the same vital bearing on the issues of the war as the control
of the Mississippi, and therefore not an equal claim upon the
commander-in-chief.
At the same time, the effect was to intensify the desire to act--to
redeem by success the blot which failures had brought upon his command;
and the state of affairs elsewhere on the river was becoming such as to
justify enterprise by the reasonable hope of substantial results. A
series of circumstances which have been often narrated, and nowhere in a
more interesting manner than by General Grant in his personal memoirs,
had led to the abandonment of the movement by land upon Vicksburg by the
Army of the Tennessee, following the Mississippi Central Railroad.
Instead of this original plan of campaign, the Mississippi River was now
adopted as the line of advance and of communications. The first move
along this new line had been made by General Sherman, who brought with
him 32,000 troops, and on the 26th of December, 1862, had landed on the
low ground between the mouth of the Yazoo and Vicksburg. On the 29th the
army assaulted the works on the hills before them, but were repulsed.
Sherman, satisfied that the position there was too strong to be carried,
had determined to change his point of attack to the extreme right of the
enemy's line, higher up the Yazoo; but the heavy rains which
characterized the winter of 1862-'63 in the Mississippi Valley made
untenable the ground on which the troops were, and it became necessary
to re-embark them. The transports were then moved out into the
Mississippi, where they were joined by General McClernand, the senior
general officer in the department under Grant himself.
McClernand now decided to attack Arkansas Post, on the Arkansas River,
which enters the Mississippi from the west about two hundred miles above
Vicksburg. The Post was primarily intended to close the Arkansas and the
approach to the capital of the State of the same name; but although
fifty miles from the mouth of the river, it was, by the course of the
stream, but fifteen by land from the Mississippi. The garrison, being
five thousand strong, was thus dangerously placed to threaten the
communications by the latter river, upon which the army was to depend
during the approaching campaign; and it had already given evidence of
the fact by the capture of a valuable transport. This post was reduced
on the 11th of January, and McClernand next day started troops up the
White River, a tributary of the Arkansas. From this ex-centric movement,
which seemed wholly to ignore that Vicksburg and the Mississippi were
the objective of the campaign, McClernand was speedily and peremptorily
recalled by Grant. The latter, having absolutely no confidence in the
capacity of his senior subordinate, could dispossess him of the chief
command only by assuming it himself. This he accordingly did, and on the
30th of January joined the army, which was then encamped on the levees
along the west bank of the river above Vicksburg.
Serious action on the part of the army, directed by a man of whose
vigorous character there could be no doubt, though his conspicuous
ability was not yet fully recognized, was evidently at hand; and this
circumstance, by itself alone, imparted a very different aspect to any
naval enterprises, giving them reasonable prospect of support and of
conducing substantially to the great common end. Never in the history of
combined movements has there been more hearty co-operation between the
army and navy than in the Vicksburg campaign of 1863, under the
leadership of Grant and Porter. From the nature of the enemy's positions
their forcible reduction was necessarily in the main the task of the
land forces; but that the latter were able to exert their full strength,
unweakened, and without anxiety as to their long line of communications
from Memphis to Vicksburg, was due to the incessant vigilance and
activity of the Mississippi flotilla, which grudged neither pains nor
hard knocks to support every movement. But, besides the care of our own
communications, there was the no less important service of harassing or
breaking up those of the enemy. Of these, the most important was with
the States west of the Mississippi. Not to speak of cereals and sugar,
Texas alone, in the Southwest, produced an abundance of vigorous beef
cattle fit for food; and from no other part of the seceded States could
the armies on the east banks of the Mississippi be adequately supplied.
Bordering, moreover, upon Mexico, and separated from it only by a shoal
river into which the United States ships could not penetrate, there
poured across that line quantities of munitions of war, which found
through the Mexican port of Matamoras a safe entry, everywhere else
closed to them by the sea-board blockade. For the transit of these the
numerous streams west of the Mississippi, and especially the mighty Red
River, offered peculiar facilities. The principal burden of breaking up
these lines of supply was thrown upon the navy by the character of the
scene of operations--by its numerous water-courses subsidiary to the
great river itself, and by the overflow of the land, which, in its
deluged condition during the winter, effectually prevented the movement
of troops. Herein Farragut saw his opportunity, as well as that of the
upper river flotilla. To wrest the control of the Mississippi out of the
enemy's hands, by reducing his positions, was the great aim of the
campaign; until that could be effected, the patrol of the section
between Vicksburg and Port Hudson would materially conduce to the same
end.
Over this Farragut pondered long and anxiously. He clearly recognized
the advantage of this service, but he also knew the difficulties
involved in maintaining his necessary communications, and, above all,
his coal. At no time did the enemy cease their annoyance from the river
banks. Constant brushes took place between their flying batteries and
the different gunboats on patrol duty; a kind of guerrilla warfare,
which did not cease even with the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, but
naturally attained its greatest animation during the months when their
fate was hanging in the balance. The gunboats could repel such attacks,
though they were often roughly handled, and several valuable officers
lost their lives; but not being able to pursue, the mere frustration of
a particular attack did not help to break up a system of very great
annoyance. Only a force able to follow--in other words, troops--could
suppress the evil. "You will no doubt hear more," the admiral writes on
the 1st of February, 1863, "of 'Why don't Farragut's fleet move up the
river?' Tell them, Because the army is not ready. Farragut waits upon
Banks as to when or where he will go."
Still, even while thus dancing attendance upon a somewhat dilatory
general, his plans were maturing; so that when occasion arose he was, as
always, ready for immediate action--had no unforeseen decision to make.
"The evening of the day (about January 20th) that I reported to him at
New Orleans," writes Admiral Jenkins, "he sent everybody out of the
cabin, and said: 'I wish to have some confidential talk with you upon a
subject which I have had in mind for a long time.... I have never hinted
it to any one, nor does the department know anything of my thoughts. The
first object to be accomplished, which led me to think seriously about
it, is to cripple the Southern armies by cutting off their supplies
from Texas. Texas at this time is, and must continue to the end of the
war to be, their main dependence for beef cattle, sheep, and Indian
corn. If we can get a few vessels above Port Hudson the thing will not
be an entire failure, and I am pretty confident it can be done.'"
Jenkins naturally suggested that the co-operation of the army by an
active advance at the same time would materially assist the attempt. To
this, of course, the admiral assented, it being in entire conformity
with his own opinion; and several interviews were held, without,
however, their leading to any definite promise on the part of General
Banks.
Meantime Admiral Porter, who after leaving the mortar flotilla had been
appointed to the command of the Mississippi squadron, with the rank of
acting rear-admiral, realized as forcibly as Farragut the importance of
placing vessels in the waters between Vicksburg and Port Hudson. In the
middle of December he was before Vicksburg, and had since then been
actively supporting the various undertakings of the land forces. Three
days after Grant joined the army, on the 2d of February, the ram Queen
of the West ran the Vicksburg batteries from above, and successfully
reached the river below. Ten days later, Porter sent on one of his
newest ironclads, the Indianola, which made the same passage under cover
of night without being even hit, although twenty minutes under fire. The
latter vessel took with her two coal barges; and as the experiment had
already been successfully tried of casting coal barges loose above the
batteries, and trusting to the current to carry them down to the Queen
of the West, the question of supplies was looked upon as settled. The
Indianola was very heavily armed, and both the admiral and her commander
thought her capable of meeting any force the enemy could send against
her.
Unfortunately, on the 14th of February, two days only after the
Indianola got down, the Queen of the West was run ashore under a battery
and allowed to fall alive into the hands of the enemy. The latter at
once repaired the prize, and, when ready, started in pursuit of the
Indianola with it and two other steamers; one of which was a ram, the
other a cotton-protected boat filled with riflemen. There was also with
them a tender, which does not appear to have taken part in the fight. On
the night of February 24th the pursuers overtook the Indianola, and a
sharp action ensued; but the strength of the current and her own
unwieldiness placed the United States vessel at a disadvantage, which
her superior armament did not, in the dim light, counterbalance. She was
rammed six or seven times, and, being then in a sinking condition, her
commander ran her on the bank and surrendered. This put an end to
Porter's attempts to secure that part of the river by a detachment. The
prospect, that had been fair enough when the Queen of the West was sent
down, was much marred by the loss of that vessel; and the subsequent
capture of the Indianola transferred so much power into the hands of the
Confederates, that control could only be contested by a force which he
could not then afford to risk.
The up-river squadron having failed to secure the coveted command of the
river, and, besides, transferred to the enemy two vessels which might
become very formidable, Farragut felt that the time had come when he not
only might but ought to move. He was growing more and more restless,
more and more discontented with his own inactivity, when such an
important work was waiting to be done. The news of the Queen of the
West's capture made him still more uneasy; but when that was followed by
the loss of the Indianola, his decision was taken at once. "The time has
come," he said to Captain Jenkins; "there can be no more delay. I must
go--army or no army." Another appeal, however, was made to Banks,
representing the assistance which the squadron would derive in its
attempt to pass the batteries from a demonstration made by the army. The
permanent works at Port Hudson then mounted nineteen heavy cannon, many
of them rifled; but there were reported to be in addition as many as
thirty-five field-pieces, which, at the distance the fleet would have to
pass, would be very effective. If the army made a serious diversion in
the rear, many of these would be withdrawn, especially if Farragut's
purpose to run by did not transpire. The advantage to be gained by this
naval enterprise was so manifest that the general could scarcely refuse,
and he promised to make the required demonstration with eight or ten
thousand troops.
On the 12th of March, within a fortnight after hearing of the Indianola
affair, Farragut was off Baton Rouge. On the 14th he anchored just above
Profit's Island, seven miles below Port Hudson, where were already
assembled a number of the mortar schooners, under the protection of the
ironclad Essex, formerly of the upper squadron. The admiral brought with
him seven vessels, for the most part essentially fighting ships,
unfitted for blockade duty by their indifferent speed, but carrying
heavy batteries. If the greater part got by, they would present a force
calculated to clear the river of every hostile steamer and absolutely
prevent any considerable amount of supplies being transferred from one
shore to the other.
For the purpose of this passage Farragut adopted a somewhat novel
tactical arrangement, which he again used at Mobile, and which presents
particular advantages when there are enemies only on one side to be
engaged. Three of his vessels were screw steamers of heavy tonnage and
battery; three others comparatively light. He directed, therefore, that
each of the former should take one of the latter on the side opposite to
the enemy, securing her well aft, in order to have as many guns as
possible, on the unengaged side, free for use in case of necessity. In
this way the smaller vessels were protected without sacrificing the
offensive power of the larger. Not only so; in case of injury to the
boilers or engines of one, it was hoped that those of her consort might
pull her through. To equalize conditions, to the slowest of the big
ships was given the most powerful of the smaller ones. A further
advantage was obtained in this fight, as at Mobile, from this
arrangement of the vessels in pairs, which will be mentioned at the time
of its occurrence. The seventh ship at Port Hudson, the Mississippi, was
a very large side-wheel steamer. On account of the inconvenience
presented by the guards of her wheel-houses, she was chosen as the odd
one to whom no consort was assigned.
[Illustration: ORDER OF ATTACK ON BATTERIES AT PORT HUDSON,
MARCH 14, 1863.
A. Hartford (flag-ship), Captain James S. Palmer. _a._
Albatross, Lieut.-Com. John E. Hart. B. Richmond, Commander
James Alden. _b._ Genesee, Commander W. H. Macomb. C.
Monongahela, Captain J. P. McKinstry. _c._ Kineo, Lieut.-Com.
John Waters. D. Mississippi, Captain Melancton Smith. E. Essex,
Commander C. H. B. Caldwell. F. Sachem, Act. Vol. Lieut. Amos
Johnson. G. G. Mortar schooners. H. Spot where Mississippi
grounded.]
Going up the river toward Port Hudson the course is nearly north; then a
bend is reached of over ninety degrees, so that after making the turn
the course for some distance is west-southwest. The town is on the east
side, just below the bend. From it the batteries extended a mile and a
half down the river, upon bluffs from eighty to a hundred feet high.
Between the two reaches, and opposite to the town, is a low, narrow
point, from which a very dangerous shoal makes out. The channel runs
close to the east bank.
The squadron remained at its anchorage above Profit's Island but a few
hours, waiting for the cover of night. Shortly before 10 P. M. it got
under way, ranged as follows: Hartford, Richmond, Monongahela, each with
her consort lashed alongside, the Mississippi bringing up the rear. Just
as they were fairly starting a steamer was seen approaching from down
the river, flaring lights and making the loud puffing of the
high-pressure engines. The flag-ship slowed down, and the new arrival
came alongside with a message from the general that the army was then
encamped about five miles in rear of the Port Hudson batteries.
Irritated by a delay, which served only to attract the enemy's attention
and to assure himself that no diversion was to be expected from the
army, the admiral was heard to mutter: "He had as well be in New Orleans
or at Baton Rouge for all the good he is doing us." At the same moment
the east bank of the river was lit up, and on the opposite point huge
bonfires kindled to illumine the scene--a wise precaution, the neglect
of which by the enemy had much favored the fleet in the passage of the
lower forts.
The ships now moved on steadily, but very slowly, owing to the force of
the current. At 11 P. M. the Hartford had already passed the lower
batteries, when the enemy threw up rockets and opened fire. This was
returned not only by the advancing ships, but also by the ironclad Essex
and the mortar schooners, which had been stationed to cover the passage.
The night was calm and damp, and the cannonade soon raised a dense smoke
which settled heavily upon the water, covering the ships from sight, but
embarrassing their movements far more than it disconcerted the aim of
their opponents. The flag-ship, being in the advance, drew somewhat
ahead of the smoke, although even she had from time to time to stop
firing to enable the pilot to see. Her movements were also facilitated
by placing the pilot in the mizzen-top, with a speaking tube to
communicate with the deck, a precaution to which the admiral largely
attributed her safety; but the vessels in the rear found it impossible
to see, and groped blindly, feeling their way after their leader. Had
the course to be traversed been a straight line, the difficulty would
have been much less; but to make so sharp a turn as awaited them at the
bend was no easy feat under the prevailing obscurity. As the Hartford
attempted it the downward current caught her on the port bow, swung her
head round toward the batteries, and nearly threw her on shore, her stem
touching for a moment. The combined powers of her own engine and that of
the Albatross, her consort, were then brought into play as an oarsman
uses the oars to turn his boat, pulling one and backing the other; that
of the Albatross was backed, while that of the Hartford went ahead
strong. In this way their heads were pointed up stream and they went
through clear; but they were the only ones who effected the passage.
The Richmond, which followed next, had reached the bend and was about to
turn when a plunging shot upset both safety valves, allowing so much
steam to escape that the engines could not be efficiently worked.
Thinking that the Genesee, her companion, could not alone pull the two
vessels by, the captain of the Richmond turned and carried them both
down stream. The Monongahela, third in the line, ran on the shoal
opposite to the town with so much violence that the gunboat Kineo,
alongside of her, tore loose from the fastenings. The Monongahela
remained aground for twenty-five minutes, when the Kineo succeeded in
getting her off. She then attempted again to run the batteries, but when
near the turn a crank-pin became heated and the engines stopped. Being
now unmanageable, she drifted down stream and out of action, having lost
six killed and twenty-one wounded. The Mississippi also struck on the
shoal, close to the bend, when she was going very fast, and defied every
effort to get her off. After working for thirty-five minutes, finding
that the other ships had passed off the scene leaving her unsupported,
while three batteries had her range and were hulling her constantly, the
commanding officer ordered her to be set on fire. The three boats that
alone were left capable of floating were used to land the crew on the
west bank; the sick and wounded being first taken, the captain and first
lieutenant leaving the ship last. She remained aground and in flames
until three in the morning, when she floated and drifted down stream,
fortunately going clear of the vessels below. At half-past five she blew
up. Out of a ship's company of two hundred and ninety-seven, sixty-four
were found missing, of whom twenty-five were believed to be killed.
In his dispatch to the Navy Department, written the second day after
this affair, the admiral lamented that he had again to report disaster
to a part of his command. A disaster indeed it was, but not of the kind
which he had lately had to communicate, and to which the word "again"
seems to refer; for there was no discredit attending it. The stern
resolution with which the Hartford herself was handled, and the
steadiness with which she and her companion were wrenched out of the
very jaws of destruction, offer a consummate example of professional
conduct; while the fate of the Mississippi, deplorable as the loss of so
fine a vessel was, gave rise to a display of that coolness and
efficiency in the face of imminent danger which illustrate the annals of
a navy as nobly as do the most successful deeds of heroism.
Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the failure to pass the
batteries, by nearly three fourths of the force which the admiral had
thought necessary to take with him, constituted a very serious check to
the operations he had projected. From Port Hudson to Vicksburg is over
two hundred miles; and while the two ships he still had were sufficient
to blockade the mouth of the Red River--the chief line by which supplies
reached the enemy--they could not maintain over the entire district the
watchfulness necessary wholly to intercept communication between the two
shores. Neither could they for the briefest period abandon their station
at the river's mouth, without affording an opportunity to the enemy; who
was rendered vigilant by urgent necessities which forced him to seize
every opening for the passage of stores. From the repulse of five out of
the seven ships detailed for the control of the river, it resulted that
the enemy's communications, on a line absolutely vital to him, and
consequently of supreme strategic importance, were impeded only, not
broken off. It becomes, therefore, of interest to inquire whether this
failure can be attributed to any oversight or mistake in the
arrangements made for forcing the passage--in the tactical dispositions,
to use the technical phrase. In this, as in every case, those
dispositions should be conformed to the object to be attained and to the
obstacles which must be overcome.
The purpose which the admiral had in view was clearly stated in the
general order issued to his captains: "The captains will bear in mind
that the object is _to run the batteries at the least possible damage to
our ships_, and thereby secure an efficient force above, for the purpose
of rendering such assistance as may be required of us to the army at
Vicksburg, or, if not required there, to our army at Baton Rouge." Such
was the object, and the obstacles to its accomplishment were twofold,
viz., those arising from the difficulties of the navigation, and those
due to the preparations of the enemy. To overcome them, it was necessary
to provide a sufficient force, and to dispose that force in the manner
best calculated to insure the passage, as well as to entail the least
exposure. Exposure is measured by three principal elements--the size and
character of the target offered, the length of time under fire, and the
power of the enemy's guns; and the last, again, depends not merely upon
the number and size of the guns, but also upon the fire with which they
are met. In this same general order Farragut enunciated, in terse and
vigorous terms, a leading principle in warfare, which there is now a
tendency to undervalue, in the struggle to multiply gun-shields and
other defensive contrivances. It is with no wish to disparage defensive
preparations, nor to ignore that ships must be able to bear as well as
to give hard knocks, that this phrase of Farragut's, embodying the
experience of war in all ages and the practice of all great captains, is
here recalled, "The best protection against the enemy's fire is a
well-directed fire from our own guns."
The disposition adopted for the squadron was chiefly a development of
this simple principle, combined with an attempt to form the ships in
such an order as should offer the least favorable target to the enemy. A
double column of ships, if it presents to the enemy a battery formidable
enough to subdue his fire, in whole or in part, shows a smaller target
than the same number disposed in a single column; because the latter
order will be twice as long in passing, with no greater display of
gun-power at a particular point. The closer the two columns are
together, the less chance there is that a shot flying over the nearer
ship will strike one abreast her; therefore, when the two are lashed
side by side this risk is least, and at the same time the near ship
protects the off one from the projectile that strikes herself. These
remarks would apply, in degree, if all the ships of the squadron had had
powerful batteries; the limitation being only that enough guns must be
in the near or fighting column to support each other, and to prevent
several of the enemy's batteries being concentrated on a single ship--a
contingency dependent upon the length of the line of hostile guns to be
passed. But when, as at Port Hudson, several of the vessels are of
feeble gun-power, so that their presence in the fighting column would
not re-enforce its fire to an extent at all proportionate to the risk to
themselves, the arrangement there adopted is doubly efficacious.
The dispositions to meet and overcome the difficulties imposed by the
enemy's guns amounted, therefore, to concentrating upon them the
batteries of the heavy ships, supporting each other, and at the same
time covering the passage of a second column of gunboats, which was
placed in the most favorable position for escaping injury. In principle
the plan was the same as at New Orleans--the heavy ships fought while
the light were to slip by; but in application, the circumstances at the
lower forts would not allow one battery to be masked as at Port Hudson,
because there were enemy's works on both sides. For meeting the
difficulties of the navigation on this occasion, Farragut seems not to
have been pleased with the arrangement adopted. "With the exception of
the assistance they might have rendered the ships, if disabled, they
were a great disadvantage," he wrote. The exception, however, is
weighty; and, taken in connection with his subsequent use of the same
order at Mobile, it may be presumed the sentence quoted was written
under the momentary recollection of some inconvenience attending this
passage. Certainly, with single-screw vessels, as were all his fleet, it
was an inestimable advantage, in intricate navigation or in close
quarters, to have the help of a second screw working in opposition to
the first, to throw the ship round at a critical instant. In the supreme
moment of his military life, at Mobile, he had reason to appreciate this
advantage, which he there, as here, most intelligently used.
Thus analyzed, there is found no ground for adverse criticism in the
tactical dispositions made by Farragut on this memorable occasion. The
strong points of his force were utilized and properly combined for
mutual support, and for the covering of the weaker elements, which
received all the protection possible to give them. Minor matters of
detail were well thought out, such as the assignment to the more
powerful ship of the weaker gunboat, and the position in which the small
vessels were to be secured alongside. The motto that "the best
protection against the enemy's fire is a well-directed fire by our own
guns" was in itself an epitome of the art of war; and in pursuance of it
the fires of the mortar schooners and of the Essex were carefully
combined by the admiral with that of the squadron. Commander Caldwell,
of the Essex, an exceedingly cool and intelligent officer, reported that
"the effect of the mortar fire (two hundred bombs being thrown in one
hundred and fifty minutes, from eleven to half-past one) seemed to be to
paralyze the efforts of the enemy at the lower batteries; and we
observed that their fire was quite feeble compared to that of the upper
batteries." Nor had the admiral fallen into the mistake of many general
officers, in trusting too lightly to the comprehension of his orders by
his subordinates. Appreciating at once the high importance of the object
he sought to compass, and the very serious difficulties arising from the
enemy's position at Port Hudson and the character of the navigation, he
had personally inspected the ships of his command the day before the
action, and satisfied himself that the proper arrangements had been made
for battle. His general order had already been given to each commanding
officer, and he adds: "We conversed freely as to the arrangements, and I
found that all my instructions were well understood and, I believe,
concurred in by all. After a free interchange of opinions on the
subject, every commander arranged his ship in accordance with his own
ideas."
In this point the admiral appears to have made a mistake, in not making
obligatory one detail which he employed on board the flag-ship. "I had
directed a trumpet fixed from the mizzen-top to the wheel on board this
ship, as I intended the pilot to take his station in the top, so that he
might see over the fog, or smoke, as the case might be. To this idea,
and to the coolness and courage of my pilot, Mr. Carrell, I am indebted
for the safe passage of this ship past the forts." It may be that the
admiral counted upon the vessels being so closed up that the flag-ship
would practically serve as the pilot for all. If so, he reckoned without
his host, and in this small oversight or error in judgment is possibly
to be found a weak point in his preparations; but it is the only one.
The failure of the Richmond, his immediate follower, was not in any way
due to pilotage, but to the loss of steam by an accidental shot; and it
is still a matter of doubt whether the Genesee, her consort, might not
have pulled her by. The third in the order, the Monongahela, also failed
finally from the heating of a bearing; but as this occurred after being
aground for half an hour, with the vigorous working of the engines that
naturally ensues under such circumstances, it seems as if her failure
must ultimately be traced to the smoke. "The firing had so filled the
atmosphere with smoke," wrote her captain, "as to prevent distinguishing
objects near by." The loss of the Mississippi was due entirely to an
error of the pilot, whatever may have been the cause.
The effect of the appearance above Port Hudson of the Hartford and
Albatross is abundantly testified in the correspondence of the day, both
Union and Confederate, and justifies beyond dispute this fine conception
of Farragut's and the great risk which he took entirely upon his own
responsibility. He found, indeed, a ground for his action in an order of
the Department dated October 2, 1862,[U] directing him "to guard the
lower part of the Mississippi, especially where it is joined by the Red
River," until he heard from Admiral Porter that the latter, in
conjunction with the army, had opened the river; but he distrusted the
consent of the Secretary to his running the great risk involved in the
passage of Port Hudson. As Grant was ordered to take Vicksburg, so was
Farragut ordered to blockade the Red River; and as Grant did not notify
the commander-in-chief of his final great resolve to cut loose from his
base, until it was too late to stop him, so did Farragut keep within his
own breast a resolve upon which he feared an interdict. For even after
two years of war the department was embarrassed for ships, and the
policy of economy, of avoiding risks, the ever fatal policy of a halting
warfare, was forced upon it--an impressive illustration of the effect
exerted by inadequate preparation upon the operations of war. For lack
of ships, Mobile was in 1863 still in the hands of the enemy. "I would
have had it long since or been thrashed out of it," wrote Farragut six
weeks before Port Hudson. "I feel no fears on the subject; _but they do
not wish their ships risked, for fear we might not be able to hold the
Mississippi_." A similar reluctance might be anticipated to expose such
valuable vessels as attacked Port Hudson, when their loss was so hard to
repair; for only men of the temper of Farragut or Grant--men with a
natural genius for war or enlightened by their knowledge of the
past--can fully commit themselves to the hazard of a great
adventure--can fully realize that a course of timid precaution may
entail the greatest of risks.
[Footnote U: The full text of this order was as follows. It committed
the department to nothing.
"NAVY DEPARTMENT, _October 2. 1862_.
"SIR: While the Mississippi River continues to be blockaded at
Vicksburg, and until you learn from Commander D. D. Porter, who
will be in command of the Mississippi squadron, that he has, in
conjunction with the army, opened the river, it will be necessary
for you to guard the lower part of that river, especially where
it is joined by the Red River, the source of many of the supplies
of the enemy. I am respectfully, etc.,
"GIDEON WELLES.
"_Secretary of the Navy._"
That five months elapsed between the date of this order and
Farragut's action, without anything more definite, shows clearly
that the department took no responsibility. On the other hand, it
is right to say that it showed a generous appreciation of the
effort, and did not complain about the losses.]
"Your services at Red River," wrote Admiral Porter to Farragut upon
hearing of his arrival above Port Hudson, "will be a godsend; it is
worth to us the loss of the "Mississippi," and is at this moment the
severest blow that could be struck at the South. They obtain all their
supplies and ammunition in that way.... The great object is to cut off
supplies. For that reason I sent down the Queen of the West and the
Indianola. I regret that the loss of the Indianola should have been the
cause of your present position." These utterances, which bespeak the
relief afforded him at the moment by Farragut's bold achievement, are
confirmed by the words written many years later in his History of the
Navy. "Farragut in the Hartford, with the Albatross, reached the mouth
of the Red River, and Port Hudson was as completely cut off from
supplies as if fifty gunboats were there.... It was soon seen that the
object aimed at had been gained--the works at Port Hudson were cut off
from supplies and the fate of the garrison sealed." "I look upon it as
of vast importance," wrote General Grant, "that we should hold the river
securely between Vicksburg and Port Hudson"; and he undertook to
contribute anything that the army could furnish to enable vessels from
above to run by Vicksburg, and so supply to Farragut the numbers he
needed through the repulse of his own ships.
"The Mississippi is again cut off," wrote to Richmond the Confederate
General Pemberton, who commanded the district in which are Vicksburg and
Port Hudson, "neither subsistence nor ordnance can come or go"; and the
following day, March 20th, the sixth after Farragut's passage, he sends
word to General Richard Taylor, on the west shore, "Port Hudson depends
almost entirely for supplies upon the other side of the river." "Great
God! how unfortunate!" writes, on March 17th, a Confederate commissary
in Taylor's department. "Four steamers arrived to-day from Shreveport.
One had 300,000 pounds of bacon; three others are reported coming down
with loads. Five others are below with full cargoes designed for Port
Hudson, but it is reported that the Federal gunboats are blockading the
river." As to passing by other points, "it is doubtful whether many
cattle ever get through the swamps and bayous through which they are
required to pass on this side. As the water declines, I think likely
cattle in large quantities can be crossed by swimming, but _at present
your prospect of getting supplies from this side is gloomy enough_."
"Early in February," writes Pemberton again, "the enemy succeeded in
passing two of his gunboats by our batteries at Vicksburg" (the
Indianola and Queen of the West). "This at once rendered the navigation
of the Mississippi and Red River dangerous, and from that time it was
only by watching opportunities, and at great risk of capture, that
supplies could be thrown into Port Hudson and Vicksburg. Nevertheless,
large amounts were successfully introduced into both places."
This success, partial as it was, was due, first, to the capture of
Porter's detachment, which opened the river again until Farragut came;
and, secondly, to the repulse of so large a portion of the latter's
squadron. The Hartford and Albatross, though they could close the Red
River, could not multiply themselves to cover the great stretch which
the admiral had purposed to occupy with seven vessels. Neither was the
Albatross of sufficient force to be left by herself at the mouth of the
Red River. Farragut therefore moved slowly up the Mississippi,
destroying a quantity of stores accumulated upon the levees awaiting
transportation, as well as a number of flat-boats; and on the afternoon
of the 19th of March he anchored twelve miles below Vicksburg. The
following day he moved further up and communicated with General Grant,
informing him of the events that had just befallen him and offering any
assistance in the power of the two ships. If not needed, he purposed
returning to Red River, and asked for coal from either army or navy.
Porter was then absent on the Deer Creek expedition, an attempt to get
the Mississippi gunboats through the bayou of that name into the Yazoo;
whereby, if successful, the Confederate position at Vicksburg would be
turned. Grant accordingly undertook to send down coal, which was done by
turning adrift in the current of the Mississippi a barge carrying some
four hundred tons. This floated by night clear of the enemy's positions,
and was picked up by boats from the Hartford.
Farragut had written to Porter of his wish to receive some vessels from
above, specifying two rams and an ironclad, with which and his own two
vessels he could better carry out his purpose of closing the whole
stretch in which he was. He intimated this wish to Grant, who highly
approved of it. "I see by Southern papers received yesterday," he wrote
to Farragut, "that Vicksburg must depend upon Louisiana, or west of the
Mississippi, for supplies. Holding Red River from them is a great step
in the direction of preventing this, but it will not entirely accomplish
the object. New Carthage (twenty miles below Vicksburg, on the west
bank) should be held, and it seems to me that in addition we should have
sufficient vessels below to patrol the whole river from Warrenton (ten
miles below Vicksburg) to the Red River. I will have a consultation with
Admiral Porter on this subject. I am happy to say the admiral and myself
have never yet disagreed upon any policy." In the absence of Porter,
General Ellet determined to send down two of the Ellet rams, which made
their dash on the morning of March 25, displaying all the daring, but
unfortunately also much of the recklessness, which characterized that
remarkable family. Starting near dawn, on a singularly clear night, they
were surprised by daylight still under fire. One, being very rotten, was
shattered to pieces by a shell exploding her boilers. The other was
disabled, also by a shell in the boilers, but, being stronger, drifted
down with the current and reached Farragut safely. She was soon
repaired, and was an addition to his force.
While lying below Vicksburg the admiral transferred to Porter's care,
for passage north by the Mississippi River, his son and only child, who
had been with him since the summer stay in Pensacola. They had passed
the batteries at Port Hudson together, the bearing of the boy in that
hot contest approving itself to the father, who, despite his anxiety,
could not bring himself to accept the surgeon's suggestion to send him
below, out of harm's way. "I am trying to make up my mind to part with
Loyall," he wrote to his wife, "and to let him go home by way of Cairo.
I am too devoted a father to have my son with me in troubles of this
kind. The anxieties of a father should not be added to those of the
commander."
On the 27th of March the Hartford started again down river, accompanied
by the Albatross and the Ellet ram Switzerland. On the 2d of April the
little squadron anchored off the mouth of the Red River, having on its
passage down again destroyed a number of skiffs and flat-boats used for
transporting stores. Warned by the fate of the Indianola, the admiral
left nothing undone to ensure the absolute safety of the flag-ship; for,
though her powerful armament and numerous crew gave her a great
superiority over any number of river vessels, granting her room to
manoeuvre, the difficulties of the river and the greatness of the
stake to both parties made it imperative to take no needless risks. As a
protection against rams, large cypress logs were hung around the ship
about a foot above the water line, where they would both resist
penetration and also give time for the elasticity of the frame of a
wooden vessel to take up the blow. Against boarding, elaborate
preparations were made, which would prevent a steamer attempting it from
getting nearer than twenty feet to the side, where she would remain an
easy victim to the shell and grape of the Hartford's guns.
From the 2d to the 30th of April Farragut remained in the neighborhood
of the Red River, between its mouth and Port Hudson. Cut off by the
batteries of the place, and by the prevalence of guerrillas on the west
bank, from all usual means of communication with General Banks and his
own squadron, he contrived to get a letter down by the daring of his
secretary, Mr. Edward C. Gabaudan; who was set adrift one night in a
skiff ingeniously covered with drift brush, and, thus concealed, floated
undiscovered past the enemy's guards. The small number of his vessels
prevented his extending his blockade as far as he wished; but in closing
the Red River he deprived the enemy of by far the best line they
possessed, and he destroyed a quantity of stores and boats.
In the mean time diverse and important events were concurring to release
him from his position of isolation. Toward the end of March General
Grant, who had for some time abandoned all expectation of turning
Vicksburg by its right flank, began the celebrated movement down the
west side of the Mississippi; whence he crossed to the east bank at
Bruinsburg, and fought the campaign which ended by shutting up Pemberton
and his army within the lines of the place. In furtherance of this plan,
Porter himself, with a large body of his ships, ran the batteries at
Vicksburg on the night of April 16. The fleet then kept pace with the
necessarily slow progress of the army, encumbered with trains, through
the roads heavy with the mire of the recent overflow. On the 29th of
April the Mississippi squadron fought a sharp engagement with the
Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf, which they could not reduce; and
the following day Grant's army crossed the river.
While these events were bringing the Mississippi squadron into that part
of the river which Farragut had aimed to control, other movements were
leading to his assistance some of the lighter vessels of his own
command. After the naval action at Port Hudson, Banks had temporarily
abandoned his designs upon that post in favor of operations west of the
Mississippi by the Bayous Teche and Atchafalaya, the latter of which
communicates with the Red River a few miles above its mouth. This
movement was accompanied by a force of four gunboats, under the command
of Lieutenant-Commander A. P. Cooke, of the Estrella, which captured a
post on the Atchafalaya called Butte à la Rose, on the 20th of April,
the same day that Opelousas, sixty miles from Alexandria, was entered by
the army. The latter pressed on toward Alexandria, while the gunboats
pushed their way up the Atchafalaya. On the first of May two of them,
the Estrella and Arizona, passed into the Red River, and soon afterward
joined the Hartford.
Three days later Admiral Porter arrived with several of his fleet and
communicated with Farragut. The next day, May 5th, Porter went up the
Red River and pushed rapidly toward Alexandria, which was evacuated, its
stores being removed to Shreveport, three hundred and fifty miles
farther up.
Farragut now felt that his personal presence above Port Hudson was no
longer necessary. The Mississippi was ultimately to become the command
of Porter, whose vessels were especially fitted for its waters; and that
admiral was now at liberty to give his full attention below Vicksburg.
On the other hand, his own squadron in the lower river and on the
blockade demanded a closer attention than he could give from his
isolated station. Accordingly, on the 6th of May he transferred the
command to Commodore Palmer, of the Hartford, with whom he left the
Albatross, Estrella, and Arizona to intercept communications between the
two banks of the Mississippi below Red River; while he himself returned
by one of the bayous to New Orleans, reaching there on the 11th.
Thus ended Farragut's brilliant strategic movement against the
communications of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and through them against
the intercourse of the Confederacy with its great Western storehouse,
over which the two fortresses stood guard. It was a movement which,
though crippled from the beginning by a serious disaster on the
battle-field, was conceived in accordance with the soundest principles
of the art of war. Its significance has been obscured and lost in the
great enterprise initiated a month later by General Grant, and solidly
supported by the navy under Porter; whose co-operation, Grant avows, was
absolutely essential to the success--nay, even to the contemplation of
such an undertaking.[V] In this combined movement, identical in
principle with that of Farragut, Porter, in executing his part, had the
current with instead of against him. Had circumstances delayed or
prevented Grant's advance by the west bank of the Mississippi--had he,
for instance, been enabled by one of the abortive bayou expeditions to
penetrate north of Vicksburg--Farragut's action would have been no more
sound nor bold, but its merits would have been far more perceptible to
the common eye. Re-enforcements must have been sent him; and around his
flag-ship would have centered a force that would have choked the life
out of Vicksburg and Port Hudson.
[Footnote V: _Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant_, vol. i, p. 461.]
Because rightly aimed, this daring campaign was not frustrated even by
the disasters of the night action. It is distinguished from the unhappy
fiasco of the year before by all the difference between a fitting and an
unfitting time--by all that separates a clear appreciation of facts from
a confused impression of possibilities. In 1862 Farragut was driven up
the river against his own judgment, seeing no prospect of tangible or
permanent results. In 1863 he went on his own responsibility, because he
saw that in the then condition of affairs, with the armies gathering at
both ends of the line, the movement he made would not only be successful
in itself, but would materially conduce to the attainment of the common
end. It is significant of his true military insight that neither
depreciation nor disaster shook his clear convictions of the importance
of his work. "Whether my getting by Port Hudson was of consequence or
not," he wrote chaffingly in reference to some slighting comments in a
Southern newspaper, "if Pollard's stomach were as tightly pinched for
food as theirs at Port Hudson and Vicksburg have been since I shut up
Red River, he would know how to value a good dinner and a little peace."
In soberer style he wrote to his home: "We have done our part of the
work assigned to us, and all has worked well. _My last dash past Port
Hudson was the best thing I ever did_, except taking New Orleans. It
assisted materially in the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson."
Farragut remained but a short time in New Orleans, and was soon again at
the front; joining the vessels of his squadron lying near, but below,
Port Hudson. After entering Alexandria on the 7th of May, General Banks
moved down with his army to the Mississippi, which he crossed five or
six miles above Port Hudson. General Augur, of his command, at the same
time moved up from Baton Rouge, the two divisions meeting on the 23d of
May, and immediately investing Port Hudson. An assault was made on the
27th; but proving unsuccessful, regular siege operations were begun. The
mortar schooners and the Essex supported them by constant bombardment,
and the navy furnished and manned a battery of four nine-inch Dahlgren
guns.
While contributing thus conspicuously to the immediate furtherance of
the siege, the most essential work of the navy, here as in the upper
Mississippi, was in the maintenance of the communications, which were
wholly by the river, as well as in assuring the safety of New Orleans,
then stripped of all the troops that could be spared. The danger of two
points like Vicksburg and Port Hudson, both of such vital importance,
and both being besieged at the same time, aroused every latent energy of
the Confederacy, and set in motion every armed man of whom it could
dispose. To divert and distract the attention of the Union generals, to
induce them to abandon their efforts or diminish the forces at the
front, no means were so ready nor so sure as an attack upon their
communications, or a threat directed against their base. To make these
insecure, is like mining the foundations of a building. Here the navy
removed every substantial cause of anxiety by its firm support, and by
the rapidity with which its heavy guns were brought to sustain every
point attacked. Under such diligent guardianship the barrier of the
Mississippi remained impassable; and although a transport might now and
again be arrested and forced to surrender, such an occasional annoyance
could not by the most uneasy general be magnified into a serious menace
to his communications. The active Confederate general, Richard Taylor,
in command of the district west of the river, stripped all his posts to
concentrate an effort along the right bank, which, by disturbing Banks,
might make a favorable diversion for Port Hudson; and loud talk was made
of an attack upon New Orleans itself, favored by a rising among the
citizens, still heartily attached to the Southern cause. The powerful
vessels kept before the city by Farragut effectually disposed of any
chance of such an attempt, although much anxiety was felt by General
Emory, in command of the station, and confident expectation was plainly
discernible on the faces of the towns-people. The Confederates, however,
did for a season control the west side of the river, appearing before
Donaldsonville and Plaquemine, where were posts of United States troops.
These were saved by the prompt appearance of gunboats, which followed
the movements of the enemy; but the report of them brought Farragut down
in person, and elicited from him a remonstrance to Banks for leaving
upon the west bank, inadequately sustained, heavy guns which, if they
fell into the hands of the Confederates, might convert a menace into a
serious embarrassment. A few days later, at midnight of June 27th, the
enemy attacked Donaldsonville in force. The storming party succeeded in
entering the works, but the three gunboats which Farragut had stationed
there opened so heavy a fire upon the supports that these broke and
fled; and those in advance, being unsustained, were made prisoners.
A few days later Farragut summoned his chief-of-staff, Captain Thornton
A. Jenkins, to relieve him at Port Hudson, as he felt his own presence
necessary at New Orleans. Jenkins started up in the Monongahela, a heavy
corvette commanded by Captain Abner Read, having in company two small
transports with needed supplies. The enemy, despite the repulse at
Donaldsonville, remained in the neighborhood, and had established a
battery of field-guns a few miles below at a bend in the river. By these
the Monongahela was attacked and pretty severely handled for a few
moments. Her captain, an officer of distinguished courage and
enterprise, was mortally wounded, and Captain Jenkins slightly so. These
two affairs sufficiently indicate the character of the enemy's
operations on the west bank of the Mississippi at this time. They did
not in the least succeed in shaking the grip of the Union army before
Port Hudson, nor did they entirely cease with the surrender of the
place. That they did so little harm, with the enemy in nearly undisputed
command in the regions west of the river, was due to the navy, whose
mobility exceeded that of their troops.
Vicksburg surrendered on the 4th of July, 1863, and its fall was
followed by that of Port Hudson on the 9th of the same month. Farragut
then wrote to Porter, and turned over to him the command in all the
Mississippi Valley above New Orleans. On the 1st of August Porter
himself arrived off the city in his flag-ship, and the two admirals had
an interview on the scene of their former exploits. The same afternoon
Farragut sailed in the Hartford for the North, to enjoy a brief respite
from his labors during the enervating autumn months of the Gulf climate.
Though now sixty-two years old, he retained an extraordinary amount of
vitality, and of energy both physical and moral; but nevertheless at his
age the anxieties and exposure he had to undergo tell, and had drawn
from him, soon after his return from above Port Hudson, the expressive
words, "I am growing old fast, and need rest." On the 10th of August the
flag-ship anchored in New York, after a passage of nine days.
The admiral remained in the North until the first of the following year.
His own ship, and her powerful sisters, the Richmond and Brooklyn, were
in need of extensive repairs before they could be considered again fit
for winter service in the Gulf. The Hartford was in better condition
than the other two, being uninjured below the water line, but the severe
actions through which she had passed were proved by the scars, two
hundred and forty in number, where she had been struck by shot or
shell.
CHAPTER X.
MOBILE.
1864.
By the fall of the last and most powerful of the Confederate strongholds
upon the Mississippi, and the consequent assertion of control by the
United States Government over the whole of the great water course, was
accomplished the first and chief of the two objects toward which
Farragut was to co-operate. After manifold efforts and failures, the
combined forces of the United States had at last sundered the
Confederacy in twain along the principal one of those natural strategic
lines which intersected it, and which make the strength or the weakness
of States according as they are able or unable to hold them against an
enemy. Of the two fragments, the smaller was militarily important only
as a feeder to the other. Severed from the body to which they belonged,
the seceded States west of the Mississippi sank into insignificance; the
fire that had raged there would smoulder and die of itself, now that a
broad belt which could not be passed interposed between it and the
greater conflagration in the East.
It next became the task of the Union forces to hold firmly, by adequate
defensive measures, the line they had gained; while the great mass of
troops heretofore employed along the Mississippi in offensive
operations were transferred farther east, to drive yet another column
through a second natural line of cleavage from Nashville, through
Georgia, to the Gulf or to the Atlantic seaboard. How this new work was
performed under the successive leadership of Rosecrans, Grant, and
Sherman, does not fall within the scope of the present work. Although
the light steamers of the Mississippi squadron did good and often
important service in this distant inland region, the river work of
Farragut's heavy sea-going ships was now over. In furtherance of the
great object of opening the Mississippi, they had left their native
element, and, braving alike a treacherous navigation and hostile
batteries, had penetrated deep into the vitals of the Confederacy. This
great achievement wrought, they turned their prows again seaward. The
formal transfer to Admiral Porter of the command over the whole
Mississippi and its tributaries, above New Orleans, signalized the fact
that Farragut's sphere of action was to be thenceforth on the coast; for
New Orleans, though over a hundred miles from the mouth of a tideless
river, whose waters flow ever downward to the sea, was nevertheless
substantially a sea-coast city.
As the opening of the Mississippi was the more important of the two
objects embraced in Farragut's orders, so did it also offer him the
ampler field for the display of those highest qualities of a general
officer which he abundantly possessed. The faculty of seizing upon the
really decisive points of a situation, of correctly appreciating the
conditions of the problem before him, of discerning whether the proper
moment for action was yet distant or had already arrived, and of moving
with celerity and adequate dispositions when the time did come--all
these distinctive gifts of the natural commander-in-chief had been
called into play, by the difficult questions arising in connection with
the stupendous work of breaking the shackles by which the Confederates
held the Mississippi chained. The task that still remained before him,
the closing of the Confederate seaports within the limits of his
command, though arduous and wearisome, did not make the same demand upon
these more intellectual qualities. The sphere was more contracted, more
isolated. It had fewer relations to the great military operations going
on elsewhere, and, being in itself less complex, afforded less interest
to the strategist. It involved, therefore, less of the work of the
military leader which was so congenial to his aptitudes, and more of
that of the administrator, to him naturally distasteful.
Nevertheless, as the complete fulfilment of his orders necessitated the
reduction of a fortified seaport, he found in this undertaking the
opportunity for showing a degree of resolution and presence of mind
which was certainly not exceeded--perhaps not even equaled--in his
previous career. At Mobile it was the tactician, the man of instant
perception and ready action, rather than he of clear insight and careful
planning, that is most conspicuous. On the same occasion, with actual
disaster incurred and imminent confusion threatening his fleet, combined
with a resistance sturdier than any he had yet encountered, the
admiral's firmness and tenacity rose equal to the highest demand ever
made upon them. In the lofty courage and stern determination which
plucked victory out of the very jaws of defeat, the battle of Mobile
Bay was to the career of Farragut what the battle of Copenhagen was to
that of Nelson. Perhaps we may even say, borrowing the words of an
eloquent French writer upon the latter event, the battle of Mobile will
always be in the eyes of seamen Farragut's surest claim to glory.[W]
[Footnote W: "The campaign of the Baltic will always be in the eyes of
seamen Nelson's fairest claim to glory. He alone was capable of
displaying such boldness and such perseverance; he alone could face the
immense difficulties of that enterprise and triumph over them."--Jurien
de la Gravière, _Guerres Maritimes_.]
Up to the time of Farragut's departure for the North, in August, 1863,
the blockade of the Gulf sea-coast within the limits of his command,
though technically effective, had for the most part only been enforced
by the usual method of cruising or anchoring off the entrances of the
ports. Such a watch, however, is a very imperfect substitute for the
iron yoke that is imposed by holding all the principal harbors, the
gateways for communication with the outer world. This was clearly enough
realized; and the purpose of Farragut, as of his Government, had been so
to occupy the ports within his district. At one time, in December, 1862,
he was able to say exultingly that he did so hold the whole coast,
except Mobile; but the disasters at Galveston and Sabine Pass quickly
intervened, and those ports remained thenceforth in the hands of the
enemy. On the Texas coast, however, blockade-running properly so
called--the entrance, that is, of blockaded Confederate harbors--was a
small matter compared with the flourishing contraband trade carried on
through the Mexican port Matamoras and across the Rio Grande. When
Farragut's lieutenant, Commodore Henry H. Bell, visited this remote and
ordinarily deserted spot in May, 1863, he counted sixty-eight sails at
anchor in the offing and a forest of smaller craft inside the river,
some of which were occupied in loading and unloading the outside
shipping; to such proportions had grown the trade of a town which
neither possessed a harbor nor a back country capable of sustaining such
a traffic. Under proper precautions by the parties engaged, this, though
clearly hostile, was difficult to touch; but it also became of
comparatively little importance when the Mississippi fell.
Not so with Mobile. As port after port was taken, as the lines of the
general blockade drew closer and closer, the needs of the Confederacy
for the approaching death-struggle grew more and more crying, and the
practicable harbors still in their hands became proportionately valuable
and the scenes of increasing activity. After the fall of New Orleans and
the evacuation of Pensacola, in the spring of 1862, Mobile was by far
the best port on the Gulf coast left to the Confederates. Though
admitting a less draught of water than the neighboring harbor of
Pensacola, it enjoyed the advantage over it of excellent water
communications with the interior; two large rivers with extensive
tributary systems emptying into its bay. Thanks to this circumstance, it
had become a place of very considerable trade, ranking next to New
Orleans in the Gulf; and its growing commerce, in turn, reacted upon the
communications by promoting the development of its railroad system. The
region of which Mobile was the natural port did not depend for its
importance only upon agricultural products; under somewhat favorable
conditions it had developed some manufacturing interests in which the
Southern States were generally very deficient, and which afterward found
active employment in the construction of the Tennessee, the most
formidable ironclad vessel built by the Confederates.
For all these reasons the tenure of Mobile became a matter of serious
consequence to the enemy; and, as Farragut had from the first foreseen,
they made active use of the respite afforded them by the unfortunate
obstinacy of the Navy Department in refusing him permission to attack
after New Orleans fell. The enterprise then was by no means as difficult
as the passage of the Mississippi forts just effected; and once
captured, the holding of the harbor would require only the small number
of troops necessary to garrison the powerful masonry fort which
commanded the main ship channel, supported by a naval force much less
numerous than that required to blockade outside. The undertaking was
therefore not open to the objection of unduly exposing the troops and
ships placed in unfortified or poorly fortified harbors, which received
such a sad illustration at Galveston; but it was dropped, owing, first,
to the preoccupation of the Government with its expectations of
immediately reducing the Mississippi, and afterward to the fear of
losing ships which at that time could not be replaced. Hesitation to
risk their ships and to take decisive action when seasonable opportunity
offers, is the penalty paid by nations which practise undue economy in
their preparations for war. When at last it became urgent to capture
Mobile before the powerful ironclad then building was completed, the
preparations of the defense were so far advanced that ironclad vessels
were needed for the attack; and before these could be, or at least
before they were, supplied, the Tennessee, which by rapid action might
have been forestalled like the similar vessel at New Orleans, was ready
for battle. Had she been used with greater wisdom by those who directed
her movements, she might have added very seriously to the embarrassment
of the United States admiral.
When Farragut, after an absence of nearly six months, returned to his
station in January, 1864, it was with the expectation of a speedy attack
upon Mobile. On his way to New Orleans he stopped off the bar, and on
the 20th of January made a reconnaissance with a couple of gunboats,
approaching to a little more than three miles from the forts commanding
the entrance. He then reported to the department that he was satisfied
that, if he had one ironclad, he could destroy the whole of the enemy's
force in the bay, and then reduce the forts at leisure with the
co-operation of about five thousand troops. "But without ironclads," he
added, "we should not be able to fight the enemy's vessels of that class
with much prospect of success, as the latter would lie on the flats,
where our ships could not get at them. By reference to the chart you
will see how small a space there is for the ships to manoeuvre. Wooden
vessels can do nothing with the ironclads, unless by getting within one
or two hundred yards, so as to ram them or pour in a broadside." He
repeats the information given by a refugee, that the ironclad Nashville
would not be ready before March, and that the Confederate admiral
announced that when she was he would raise the blockade. "It is
depressing," he adds, "to see how easily false reports circulate, and
in what a state of alarm the community is kept by the most absurd
rumors. If the Department could get one or two ironclads here, it would
put an end to this state of things and restore confidence to the people
of the ports now in our possession. I feel no apprehension about
Buchanan's raising the blockade; but, with such a force as he has in the
bay, it would be unwise to take in our wooden vessels without the means
of fighting the enemy on an equal footing." Having made this
reconnaissance, he went on to New Orleans, arriving there January 22d.
It appears, therefore, that, regarded as a naval question, Farragut
considered the time had gone by for an attempt to run the forts of
Mobile Bay, and that it would not return until some ironclads were
furnished him by the Department. The capture of the forts he at no time
expected, except by the same means as he had looked to for the reduction
of those in the Mississippi--that is, by a combined military and naval
operation. In both cases the navy was to plant itself across the enemy's
communications, which it could do by running the gantlet of his guns. It
then remained for the land forces either to complete the investment and
await their fall by the slow process of famine, or to proceed with a
regular siege covered by the fleet. Without the protection of the ships
in the bay, the army would be continually harassed by the light gunboats
of the enemy, and very possibly exposed to attack by superior force.
Without the troops, the presence of the ships inside would be powerless
to compel the surrender of the works, or to prevent their receiving some
supplies. But in the two years that had very nearly elapsed since
Farragut, if permitted his own wish, would have attacked, the
strengthening of the works and the introduction of the ironclads had
materially altered the question. He was, it is true, misinformed as to
the readiness of the latter. The vessels that were dignified by that
name when he first returned to his station, took no part in the defense,
either of the bay or, later, of the city. He was deceived, probably,
from the fact that the Confederates themselves were deceived, with the
exception of a few who had more intimate knowledge of their real value;
and consequently the reports that were brought off agreed in giving them
a character which they did not deserve.
An attack upon Mobile had been a cherished project with General Grant
after the fall of Vicksburg. It was to that--and not to the unfortunate
Red River expedition of 1864--that he would have devoted Banks's army in
the Southwest; moving it, of course, in concert with, so as to support
and be supported by, the other great operations which took place that
year--Sherman's advance upon Atlanta and his own against Richmond. It
was to Mobile, and not to Savannah, that he first looked as the point
toward which Sherman would act after the capture of Atlanta; the line
from Atlanta to Mobile would be that along which, by the control of the
intervening railroad systems, the Confederacy would again be cleft in
twain, as by the subjugation of the Mississippi. For this reason chiefly
he had, while still only commander of the Army of the Tennessee, and
before he succeeded to the lieutenant-generalship and the command of all
the armies, strenuously opposed the Red River expedition; which he
looked upon as an ex-centric movement, tending rather to keep alive the
war across the Mississippi, which would fade if left alone, and likely
to result in the troops engaged not getting back in time or in condition
to act against Mobile.
As Grant feared, so it happened. The expedition being already organized
and on the point of starting when he became commander-in-chief, he
allowed it to proceed; but it ended in disaster, and was the cause of
forty thousand good troops being unavailable for the decisive operations
which began two months later. Not until the end of July could a force be
spared even for the minor task of reducing the Mobile forts; and until
then Farragut had to wait in order to attack to any purpose. By the time
the army in the Southwest, in the command of which General Canby
relieved Banks on the 20th of May, was again ready to move, Sherman had
taken Atlanta, Hood had fallen upon his communications with Chattanooga,
and the famous march to the sea had been determined. Farragut's battle
in Mobile Bay therefore did not prove to be, as Grant had hoped, and as
his passage of the Mississippi forts had been, a step in a series of
grand military operations, by which the United States forces should gain
control of a line vital to the Confederacy, and again divide it into two
fragments. It remained an isolated achievement, though one of great
importance, converting Mobile from a maritime to an inland city, putting
a stop to all serious blockade-running in the Gulf, and crushing finally
the enemy's ill-founded hopes of an offensive movement by ironclads
there equipped.
[Illustration: Entrance of Rear-Admiral Farragut's Fleet into
Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864.
REFERENCE
1. Tecumseh.
2. Manhattan.
3. Winnebago.
4. Chickasaw.
5. Brooklyn.
6. Octorora.
7. Hartford, Flag-ship.
8. Metacomet.
9. Richmond.
10. Port Royal.
11. Lackawanna.
12. Seminole.
13. Admiral's barge Loyall.
14. Monongahela.
15. Kennebec.
16. Ossipee.
17. Itasca.
18. Oneida.
19. Galena.
------ Course of chasing vessels.
...... Course of chased vessels.
EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAM FROM THE FIVE STANDPOINTS OF THE MOBILE FIGHT.
No. 1. Ships lashed together and running in from sea and the
monitors running out of Monitor Bay to take their station inside
or eastward of the line.
No. 2. Running up the channel in line of battle, and engaging
Fort Morgan, leading ship Brooklyn encounters what she supposes
to be torpedoes; monitor Tecumseh is struck by one and sinks;
Brooklyn backs astern, causing confusion; Flag-ship takes the
lead and passes up and engages the ram Tennessee and the
gunboats of the enemy.
No. 3. Running fight with the enemy's fleet, which ends in the
capture of one, destruction of another, and the ram and one
gunboat take shelter again under Fort Morgan.
No. 4. Fleet pass up and are in the act of anchoring when the
ram Tennessee is seen coming out to attack them.
No. 5. Shows the manner the attack was made by the fleet upon
the ram by ramming her in succession and keeping up a constant
fire upon her at the same time.
The points of contact are shown by the sketch in the northeast
corner of the plate.
D. G. Farragut.
_Washington, D. C. March 1, 1865._
De Krafft's flotilla bombarding Fort Powell.]
The city of Mobile is itself some thirty miles from the Gulf, near the
head of a broad but generally shallow bay which bears the same name.
The principal entrance from the Gulf is between Mobile Point--a long,
narrow, sandy beach which projects from the east side of the bay--and
Dauphin Island, one of a chain which runs parallel to the coast of
Mississippi and encloses Mississippi Sound. At the end of Mobile Point
stands Fort Morgan, the principal defense of the bay, for the main ship
channel passes close under its guns. At the eastern end of Dauphin
Island stood a much smaller work, called Fort Gaines. Between this and
Fort Morgan the distance is nearly three miles; but a bank of hard sand
making out from the island prevents vessels of any considerable size
approaching it nearer than two miles. Between Dauphin Island and the
mainland there are some shoal channels, by which vessels of very light
draft can pass from Mississippi Sound into the bay. These were not
practicable for the fighting vessels of Farragut's fleet; but a small
earthwork known as Fort Powell had been thrown up to command the deepest
of them, called Grant's Pass.
The sand bank off Dauphin Island extends south as well as east, reaching
between four and five miles from the entrance. A similar shoal stretches
out to the southward from Mobile Point. Between the two lies the main
ship channel, varying in width from seven hundred and fifty yards, three
miles outside, to two thousand, or about a sea mile, abreast Fort
Morgan. Nearly twenty-one feet can be carried over the bar; and after
passing Fort Morgan the channel spreads, forming a hole or pocket of
irregular contour, about four miles deep by two wide, in which the depth
is from twenty to twenty-four feet. Beyond this hole, on either side
the bay and toward the city, the water shoals gradually but
considerably, and the heavier of Farragut's ships could not act outside
of its limits. The Confederate ironclad Tennessee, on the contrary,
drawing but fourteen feet, had a more extensive field of operations open
to her, and, from the gradual diminution of the soundings, was able to
take her position at a distance where the most formidable of her
opponents could neither follow her nor penetrate her sides with their
shot.
Between the city and the lower bay there were extensive flats, over
which not even the fourteen feet of the Tennessee could be taken; and
these in one part, called Dog River Bar, shoaled to as little as nine
feet. To bring the Tennessee into action for the defense of the entrance
and of the lower bay, it was necessary to carry her across these
flats--an undertaking requiring both time and mechanical appliances,
neither of which would be available if an enemy were inside to molest
the operations. As the Tennessee was distinctly the most formidable
element in the dangers Farragut had to encounter, and as the character
of the soundings gave her a field of action peculiarly suited to utilize
her especial powers, which consisted in the strength of her sides and
the long range of her heavy rifled guns, it was particularly desirable
to anticipate her crossing the upper bar by the fleet itself crossing
the lower. That done, the Tennessee was reduced to impotence. It was not
done, for two reasons. First, the Navy Department did not send the
ironclads which Farragut demanded; and second, the army in the
Southwest, having wasted its strength in a divergent operation, was
unable to supply the force necessary to reduce Fort Morgan. That the
delay was not productive of more serious consequences was due to the
impatience or recklessness of the Confederate admiral, and to the energy
with which Farragut seized the opportunity afforded by his mistake.
Six months passed before the moment for decisive action arrived. Though
devoid of military interest, they were far from being months of idleness
or enjoyment. The administrative duties of so large a command drew
heavily upon the time and energies of the admiral, and, as has been
said, they were not congenial to him. When the Tennessee crossed Dog
River Bar, which she did on the 18th of May, Farragut felt that he must
be on the spot, in case she attempted to execute her threat of coming
out to break up the blockade; but up to that time he was moving actively
from point to point of his command, between New Orleans on the one side,
and Pensacola, now become his principal base, on the other. From time to
time he was off Mobile, and for more than two months preceding the
battle of the Bay he lay off the port in all the dreary monotony of
blockade service. The clerical labor attaching to the large force and
numerous interests entrusted to him was immense. Every mail brought him,
of course, numerous communications from the Department. "I received your
letter last evening," he writes to a member of his family, "but at the
same time received so many from the Department that my eyes were used up
before I came to yours, so that mine to you will be short and badly
written." A very large part of this correspondence consisted of letters
from United States consuls abroad, forwarded through the State
Department, giving particulars of vessels fitting or loading for the
Confederacy or to break the blockade. "Nearly all my clerical force is
broken down," he writes on another occasion. "The fact is, I never saw
so much writing; and yet Drayton, who does as much as any of them, says
it is all necessary. So I tell them to go on. I do not mind signing my
name. Although I write all my own letters, some one has to copy them. My
fleet is so large now that it keeps us all at work the whole time."
But while he spoke thus lightly of his own share in these labors, the
confinement, the necessary attention to and study of larger details,
even while he intrusted the minor to others, and the unavoidable
anxieties of a man who had so many important irons in the fire, and at
the same time was approaching his sixty-fourth year, told upon him. To
this he bore witness when, after the capture of the Mobile forts, the
Department desired him to take command of the North Atlantic fleet, with
a view to the reduction of Wilmington, North Carolina. "They must think
I am made of iron," he wrote home. "I wrote the Secretary a long letter,
telling him that my health was not such as to justify my going to a new
station to commence new organizations; that I must have rest for my mind
and exercise for my body; that I had been down here within two months of
five years, out of six, and recently six months on constant blockade off
this port, _and my mind on the stretch all the time_; and now to
commence a blockade again on the Atlantic coast! Why, even the routine
of duty for a fleet of eighty sail of vessels works us all to death; and
but that I have the most industrious fleet-captain and secretary, it
would never be half done. It is difficult to keep things straight." "I
know," he writes on another occasion, "that few men could have gone
through what I have in the last three years, and no one ever will know
except yourself perhaps.... What the fight was to my poor brains,
neither you nor any one else will ever be able to comprehend. Six months
constantly watching day and night for an enemy; to know him to be as
brave, as skilful, and as determined as myself; who was pledged to his
Government and the South to drive me away and raise the blockade, and
free the Mississippi from our rule. While I was equally pledged to my
Government that I would capture or destroy the rebel."
Besides his labors and the official anxieties due to his individual
command, he again, as in 1862, felt deeply the misfortunes with which
the general campaign of 1864 opened, and especially in the Southwest.
There was continually present to the minds of the leaders of the United
States forces during the war the apprehension that the constancy of the
people might fail; that doubtful issues might lead to a depression that
would cause the abandonment of the contest, in which success was
nevertheless assured to perseverance and vigor. Grant's memoirs bear
continual testimony to the statesmanlike regard he had, in planning his
greater military operations, to this important factor in the war, the
vacillation under uncertainty of that popular support upon which success
depended. The temperament of Farragut reflected readily the ups and
downs of the struggle, and was saddened by the weaknesses and
inconsistencies of his own side, which he keenly appreciated. "I am
_depressed_," he writes, "by the bad news from every direction. The
enemy seem to be bending their whole soul and body to the war and
whipping us in every direction. What a disgrace that, with their slender
means, they should, after three years, contend with us from one end of
the country to the other!... _I get right sick_, every now and then, at
the bad news." "The victory of the Kearsarge over the Alabama," on a
more auspicious occasion, "raised me up. I would sooner have fought that
fight than any ever fought on the ocean"; and his exultation was the
greater that the first lieutenant of the Kearsarge had been with him in
the same capacity when the Hartford passed the Mississippi forts.
But, while thus sensitive to the vicissitudes of his country's fortunes,
he did not readily entertain the thought of being himself defeated. "As
to being prepared for defeat," he wrote before New Orleans, "I certainly
am not. Any man who is prepared for defeat would be half defeated before
he commenced. I hope for success; shall do all in my power to secure it,
and trust to God for the rest." And again: "The officers say I don't
believe anything. I certainly believe very little that comes in the
shape of reports. They keep everybody stirred up. I mean to be whipped
or to whip my enemy, and not to be scared to death." "I hope for the
best results," he wrote a week before forcing the passage into Mobile
Bay, "as I am always hopeful; put my shoulder to the wheel with my best
judgment, and trust to God for the rest"; or, in more homely language:
"Everything has a weak spot, and the first thing I try to do is to find
out where it is, and pitch into it with the biggest shell or shot that I
have, and repeat the dose until it operates." "The Confederates at Fort
Morgan are making great preparations to receive us. That concerns me but
little"--words used not in a spirit of mere light-heartedness, but
because it was a condition he had from the first accepted, and over
which he hoped to triumph; for he continues, "I know they will do all in
their power to destroy us, and we will reciprocate the compliment. I
hope to give them a fair fight if once I get inside. I expect nothing
from them but that they will try to blow me up if they can."
Amid such cares and in such a spirit were spent the six months of
monotonous outside blockade preceding the great victory that crowned his
active career. The only relief to its weariness was a bombardment of
Fort Powell, undertaken by the light-draft steamers of the squadron from
Mississippi Sound in February, to create a diversion in favor of
Sherman's raid from Vicksburg upon Meridian, which was then in progress.
The boats could not get nearer to the work than four thousand yards, and
even then were aground; so that no very serious effect was produced. A
greater and more painful excitement was aroused by the misfortunes of
the Red River expedition in April and May. Begun on unsound military
principles, but designed politically to assert against French intrigues
the claim of the United States to Texas, that ill-omened enterprise
culminated in a retreat which well-nigh involved the Mississippi
squadron in an overwhelming disaster. The Red River was unusually low
for the season, and falling instead of rising. There was not, when the
army retired, water enough to enable the gun-boats which had ascended
the river to repass the rapids at Alexandria. The army could delay but
for a limited time, at the end of which, if the boats had not passed,
they must be left to their fate. Farragut, who was in New Orleans when
the news arrived, wrote bitterly about the blunders made, and was sorely
distressed for the issue to the navy. "I have no spirit to write," he
says. "I have had such long letters from Porter and Banks, and find
things so bad with them that I don't know how to help them. I am afraid
Porter, with all his energy, will lose some of his finest vessels. I
have just sent him some boats to help him." The boats, however, were
saved by the skill and energy of Colonel Joseph Bailey, the
chief-of-engineers in Franklin's corps of Banks's army; by whom was
thrown across the river a dam, which raised the water on the shoals
sufficiently for the boats to cross.
A more pleasant incident occurred to vary the sameness of the blockade
days, in the presentation to the admiral, by the Union League Club of
New York, of a very handsome sword, with scabbard of massive gold and
silver, the hilt set in brilliants. The gift was accompanied by a letter
expressive of the givers' appreciation of the brilliant services
rendered to the nation, and was a grateful reminder to Farragut, then
watching before Mobile for his last grapple with the enemy in his front,
that his fellow-countrymen in their homes were not wanting in
recognition of the dangers he had incurred, nor of those he was still
facing on their behalf.
The time was now close at hand when the weary and anxious waiting, which
the admiral afterward so feelingly described, was to be exchanged for
the more vigorous action he had so long desired. The co-operation of a
division from Canby's army was assured toward the end of July; and at
the same time the long-promised, long-delayed monitor ironclads began to
arrive. As the want of these and the presence of the enemy's ironclads
had been the reasons which, in Farragut's opinion, had made necessary
the postponement of the purely naval part of the combined operation, a
short description of the vessels which formed so potent an element in
his calculations will not be out of place.
The idea of the monitor type of ironclads, which was then the prevalent
one in the United States Navy, was brought by John Ericsson from his
home in Sweden, where it had been suggested to him by the sight of the
rafts with a house upon them crossing the waters with which he was
familiar. In its conception, the monitor was simply a round fort,
heavily plated with iron, resting upon a raft nearly flush with the
water, and provided with the motive power of steam. The forts, or
turrets, as they are commonly called, might be one or more in number;
and each carried usually two heavy guns, standing side by side and
pointing in exactly the same direction, so that if discharged together
the projectiles would follow parallel courses. Within the turret the
guns could be turned neither to the right nor to the left; if such a
change of aim were wished, the turret itself was revolved by steam
machinery provided for the purpose. When loading, the port through which
the gun was fired was turned away from the enemy; so that if a shot
happened to strike at that time it fell on the solid armor. Above the
gun-turret there was a second of much smaller diameter, which did not
revolve. It was also heavily plated and designed to shelter the
commanding officer and those charged with the steering of the ship. So
much inconvenience was, however, experienced from smoke and from
concussion when these steering turrets were struck, and their dimensions
were so contracted, that many captains preferred to remain outside,
where they could see better, their orders being transmitted to the
helmsmen through the sight-holes pierced in the armor. Of these
ironclads, four accompanied Farragut in his attack upon Mobile Bay. Two,
the Tecumseh and Manhattan, came from the Atlantic coast, and were
sea-going monitors. They had each but one turret, in which they carried
two fifteen-inch guns, the heaviest then in use afloat. The other two
were river monitors, built at St. Louis for service in the Mississippi.
They were consequently of light draught, so much so that to obtain the
necessary motive power they each had four screw propellers of small
diameter, and they carried four eleven-inch guns in two turrets. Their
names were the Winnebago and the Chickasaw. The armor of the two
single-turreted monitors was ten inches thick, and that of the river
monitors eight and a half inches.
The Tennessee, to which these were to be opposed, was a vessel of
different type, and one to which the few ironclads built by the
Confederates for the most part conformed--called commonly the broadside
ironclad, because the guns, like those of ships-of-war generally, were
disposed chiefly along the sides. Her hull was built at Selma, on the
Alabama River, and thence towed to Mobile to be plated; it being
desirable to take her down the river while as light as possible. She was
two hundred and nine feet long and forty-eight feet wide, drawing, as
has been said, fourteen feet when loaded. Upon her deck, midway between
the bow and the stern, was a house seventy-nine feet long, whose sides
and ends sloped at an angle of thirty-four degrees and were covered with
iron plating, six inches thick on the forward end and five inches thick
on the other end and the sides. With the inclination given, a cannon
ball striking would be likely to be turned upward by the iron surface,
instead of penetrating. The sloping sides of the house were carried down
beyond the point where they met those of the vessel, until two feet
below the water. There they turned and struck in at the same angle
toward the hull, which they again met six or seven feet under water.
Thus was formed all round the ship a knuckle, which, being filled-in
solid and covered with iron, was a very perfect protection against any
but the most powerful ram. The Tennessee herself was fitted with a beak
and intended to ram, but, owing to the slender resources of the
Confederacy, her engines were too weak to be effective for that purpose.
She could only steam six knots. Her battery, however, was well selected
and powerful. She carried on each side two six-inch rifles, and at each
end one seven-inch rifle--six guns in all. There were, besides the
Tennessee, three wooden gunboats, and Farragut was informed that there
were also four ironclads; but this, as regards the lower bay at least,
was a mistake.
It will be seen from this account, and from the description before given
of Mobile Bay, that the advantages of the Tennessee were her great
protective strength, a draught which enabled her to choose her own
position relatively to the heaviest of the enemy's ships, and the
superior range and penetrative power of her guns, being rifles; for
while there were cannon of this type in the United States fleet, the
great majority of them were smooth bores. The ironclads opposed to her
had only smooth-bore guns, incapable of penetrating her side, and
therefore only able to reduce her by a continued pounding, which might
shake her frame to pieces. The chief defects of the Tennessee as a
harbor-defense ship, for which she was mainly intended, were her very
inferior speed, and the fact that, by an oversight, her steering chains
were left exposed to the enemy's shot. This combination of strong and
weak points constituted her tactical qualities, which should have
determined the use made of her in the impending battle.
Although the ironclads were, as Farragut esteemed them, the controlling
factors in the defense and attack, the Tennessee was by no means the
only very formidable obstacle in the way of his success. Except the
ironclads, the fleet he carried into Mobile Bay was not substantially
stronger than that with which he fought his way up the Mississippi; but
since that time the enemy had done much to strengthen the works which he
now had to encounter. The number of heavy guns in Fort Morgan bearing
upon the channel was thirty-eight. In Fort Jackson, excluding the
obsolete caliber of twenty-four pounders, there were twenty-seven, and
in St. Philip twenty-one--total, forty-eight; but in caliber and
efficiency those of Morgan were distinctly superior to those of the
river forts, and it may be considered an advantage that the power was
here concentrated in a single work under a single hand. The gunners of
Fort Morgan, moreover, had not been exposed to the exhausting
harassment of a most efficient bombardment, extending over the six days
prior to the final demand upon their energies. They came fresh to their
work, and suffered during its continuance from no distraction except
that caused by the fire of the fleet itself. While, therefore, Fort
Gaines could not be considered to support Morgan by any deterrent or
injurious influence upon the United States fleet, the latter work was by
itself superior in offensive power to the two Mississippi forts.
To the general defense the Confederates had here brought two other
factors, one of a most important and as yet unknown power. As the sand
bank extending eastward from Dauphin Island was to some extent passable
by light gunboats, a line of piles was driven in the direction of Fort
Morgan nearly to the edge of the channel. Where the piles stopped a
triple line of torpedoes began, following the same general course, and
ending only at a hundred yards from Fort Morgan, where a narrow opening
was left for the passage of friendly vessels--blockade runners and
others. Had the electrical appliances of the Confederacy been at that
time more highly developed, this narrow gap would doubtless also have
been filled with mines, whose explosion depended upon operators ashore.
As it was, the torpedo system employed at Mobile, with some few possible
exceptions, was solely mechanical; the explosion depended upon contact
by the passing vessel with the mine. To insure this, the line was
triple; those in the second and third rows not being in the alignment of
the first, but so placed as to fill the interstices and make almost
impracticable the avoidance of all three torpedoes belonging to the
same group.
These arrangements were sufficiently well known to Farragut through
information brought by refugees or deserters. They--the power of the
works, the disposition of the torpedoes, the Tennessee and her
companions--constituted the elements of the problem which he had to
solve to get his fleet safely past the obstacles into the bay. Although
not disposed to lay as much stress as others upon the torpedoes, which
were then but an imperfectly developed weapon, prudence dictated to him
the necessity of passing between them and the fort; and this was
fortunately in accordance with the sound policy which dictates that
wooden vessels engaging permanent works, less liable than themselves to
penetration, should get as close as possible to the enemy, whose fire
they may then beat down by the rapidity of their own. There were certain
black buoys floating across the channel, between the piles and Fort
Morgan, and it was understood that these marked the position of the
torpedoes. The admiral's flag-lieutenant, Lieutenant (now Captain) John
C. Watson, had examined these buoys in several nightly reconnaissances;
but, although he had not been able to discover any of the mines, the
assurances of their existence could not be disregarded. His examination
doubtless had some effect upon the admiral's instant determination, in
the unforeseen emergency that arose during the action, to pass over the
spot where the hidden dangers were said to lie; but in the dispositions
for battle the order was given for the fleet to pass eastward of the
easternmost buoy, where no torpedoes would be found.
The closeness of this approach, however, and the fact that the line of
the channel led in at right angles to the entrance, had the disadvantage
of obstructing the fire of the broadside wooden vessels, in which the
offensive strength of the fleet, outside the monitors, consisted. The
guns of those ships, being disposed along the sides, were for the most
part able to bear only upon an enemy abreast of them, with a small
additional angle of train toward ahead or astern. It was not, therefore,
until nearly up with the fort that these numerous cannon would come into
play, and exercise that preponderating effect which had driven off the
gunners at Forts St. Philip and Jackson. This inconvenience results from
the construction of such ships, and can only be overcome by a movement
of the helm causing the ship to diverge from her course; a resort which
led a witty Frenchman to say that a ship-of-war so situated is like a
shark, that can only bite by turning on its back. The remedy, however
applicable under certain circumstances and in the case of a single ship,
causes delay, and therefore is worse than the evil for a fleet advancing
to the attack of forts, where the object must be to close as rapidly as
possible. There are, however, on board such vessels a few guns, mounted
forward and called chase guns, which, from the rounding of the bows,
bear sooner than the others upon the enemy toward whom they are moving.
To support these and concentrate from the earliest moment as effective a
fire as possible upon the works, Farragut brought his ironclads inside
of the wooden vessels, and abreast the four leaders of that column. The
heavy guns of the monitors could fire all around the horizon, from right
ahead to right astern; and the disposition had the additional great
advantage that, in the critical passage inside the torpedo buoys, these
all-important vessels would be on the safer side, the wooden ships
interposing between them and the sunken dangers, which threatened an
injury far more instantaneous and vital than any to be feared from the
enemy's shot and shell.
The position of the ironclads being determined by these considerations,
the arrangement of the wooden ships for the attack conformed to the
admiral's principle, that the greatest security was to be found in
concentrating upon the enemy the heaviest fire attainable from his own
guns. As at Port Hudson, a large proportion of the fourteen vessels he
purposed to take in with him were of the gunboat class, or a little
above it. Resort was accordingly again had to the double column adopted
there; the seven ships that had the most powerful batteries forming the
right column to engage Fort Morgan. The lighter ones were distributed in
the other column, and lashed each to one of the heavier ships, in an
order probably designed, though it is not expressly so stated, to make
the combined steam power of the several pairs as nearly equal as
possible. Among the gunboats there were three that had side-wheel
engines, the machinery of which is necessarily more above water, and so
more exposed than that of a screw--a condition which, although their
batteries were powerful for their tonnage, emphasized the necessity of
sheltering them behind other ships during the furious few minutes of
passing under the guns of the fort.
The sum of these various considerations thus resulted in the fleet
advancing into action in a column of pairs, in which the heaviest ships
led in the fighting column. To this the admiral was probably induced by
the reflection that the first broadsides are half the battle, and the
freshest attack of the enemy should be met by the most vigorous
resistance on his own part; but it is open to doubt whether one of these
powerful vessels would not have been better placed in the rear. Upon a
resolute enemy, the effect of each ship is simply to drive him to cover
while she passes, to resume his activity when relieved from the pressure
of her fire. The case is not strictly similar to the advance of a column
of troops upon a fortified position, where the head does the most of the
fighting, and the rear mainly contributes inertia to the movement of the
mass. It is at least open to argument that a fire progressively
diminishing from van to rear is not, for the passage of permanent works,
a disposition as good as a weight of battery somewhat more equally
distributed, with, however, a decided preponderance in the van. The last
of the ships in this column received a shot in the boiler, which
entirely disabled her--an accident that may have been purely fortuitous,
and to which any one of her predecessors was in a degree liable, but
also possibly due to the greater activity of the enemy when no longer
scourged by the more powerful batteries which preceded. She was saved
from the more serious results of this disaster, and the squadron spared
the necessity of rallying to her support, by the other admirable
precautions dictated by Farragut's forethought.
Subjected thus to analysis, there seems much to praise and very little
to criticise in the tactical dispositions made by the admiral on this
momentous occasion. But the tactical dispositions, though most
important, are not the only considerations; it is the part of the
commander-in-chief to take advantage of any other circumstances that may
make in his favor. Until the forts were passed the character of the
bottom left Farragut no choice as to the direction of his attack. There
was but one road to take, and the only other question was the order in
which to arrange his ships. But there were two conditions not entirely
within his control, yet sure to occur in time, which he considered too
advantageous to be overlooked. He wanted a flood tide, which would help
a crippled vessel past the works; and also a west wind, which would blow
the smoke from the scene of battle and upon Fort Morgan, thereby giving
to the pilots, upon whom so much depended, and to the gunners of the
ships, the advantage of clearer sight. The time of the tide, in most
quarters a matter of simple calculation, is in the Gulf often affected
by the wind. The wind, on the other hand, in the summer months, blows
from the south during the early morning, and then works round to the
westward; so that the chances were in favor of his obtaining his wishes.
The dispositions taken by the Confederates to meet the assault which
they saw to be impending were more simple; they having but a small
mobile force, and their fortifications being tied to their places. A
seaport liable to attack is a battle-field, in utilizing whose natural
features, so as to present the strongest tactical combination against
entrance or subjection by an enemy, the skill of the engineer is shown;
but, unlike battle-fields in general, much time and study is allowed to
develop his plans. In the case of Mobile Bay, the narrow and direct
character of the approach by the main ship channel left little
opportunity for skill to display itself. To place at the end of Mobile
Point the heaviest fort, enfilading the channel, and to confine the
latter to the narrowest bed, compelling the assailant into the most
unfavorable route, were measures too obvious to escape the most
incapable. To obtain the utmost advantage from this approach of the
enemy, the little naval force was advanced from Mobile Point, so as to
stretch at right angles across the channel just within the torpedo line.
There, without being incommoded by the fire of the fort, or in any way
embarrassing it, they secured a clear sweep for their guns, raking their
opponents; who, being for the time unable to deviate from their course,
could not reply to this galling attack. By gradually retiring, the
Confederate gunboats could retain this superiority during the advance of
their foes, until the latter reached the wide hole within, where there
was room to manoeuvre. This position and the subsequent course of
action described comprise the tactical management of the Southern
vessels during the engagement. It was well devised, and made probably
the best use of the advantages of the ground possible to so inferior a
force. The Tennessee took position with them, but her after action was
different.
As the day of the last and, with the exception of the Essex fight of his
boyhood, the most desperate battle of his life drew near, a certain
solemnity--one might almost say depression--is perceptible in the home
letters of the admiral. Had the action proved fatal to him it could
scarcely have failed to attract the attention which is similarly
arrested by the chastened tone of Nelson's life and writing immediately
before Trafalgar; and although there is certainly none of that outspoken
foreboding which marked the last day of the English hero, Farragut's
written words are in such apparent contrast to the usual buoyant,
confident temper of the man, that they would readily have been construed
into one of those presentiments with which military annals abound. "With
such a mother," he writes to his son a week before the battle, "you
could not fail to have proper sentiments of religion and virtue. I feel
that I have done my duty by you both, as far as the weakness of my
nature would allow. I have been devoted to you both, and when it pleases
God to take me hence I shall feel that I have done my duty. I am not
conscious of ever having wronged any one, and have tried to do as much
good as I could. Take care of your mother if I should go, and may God
bless and preserve you both!" The day before the action he wrote the
following letter to his wife, which, as his son remarks in his Life of
the admiral, shows that he appreciated the desperate work before him:
"FLAG-SHIP HARTFORD,
"OFF MOBILE, _August 4, 1864_.
"MY DEAREST WIFE: I write and leave this letter for you. I am
going into Mobile in the morning, if God is my leader, as I hope
he is, and in him I place my trust. If he thinks it is the proper
place for me to die, I am ready to submit to his will in that as
in all other things. My great mortification is that my vessels,
the ironclads, were not ready to have gone in yesterday. The army
landed last night, and are in full view of us this morning, and
the Tecumseh has not yet arrived from Pensacola.
"God bless and preserve you, my darling, and my dear boy, if
anything should happen to me; and may his blessings also rest
upon your dear mother, and all your sisters and their children.
"Your devoted and affectionate husband, who never for one moment
forgot his love, duty, or fidelity to you, his devoted and best
of wives,
"D. G. FARRAGUT."
A more touching and gratifying testimony of unwavering attachment, after
more than twenty years of marriage, no wife could desire. It was an
attachment also not merely professed in words, but evidenced by the
whole course of his life and conduct. Infidelity or neglect of a wife
was, in truth, in the estimation of Admiral Farragut, one of the most
serious of blots upon a man's character, drawing out always his
bitterest condemnation.
A pleasing glimpse is at this same period afforded of his relations to
the surviving members of his father's family, who still remained in or
near New Orleans, and from whom by the conditions of his profession he
had been separated since his childhood. "My dear sister," he writes,
"has sent me a Holy Virgin like the one Rose gave me. She said it was
blessed by the archbishop, who said I was good to the priests. I only
tell you this," adds the admiral dryly, "to show you that they did not
succeed in impressing the bishop with the idea that I had robbed the
church at Point Coupée." This is not the only mention of his sister
during this time, and it is evident that two years' occupation of New
Orleans by the Union forces had done much to mollify public sentiment;
for immediately after the surrender he had written home, "It is a
strange thought that I am here among my relatives, and yet not one has
dared to say 'I am happy to see you.'"
On the 8th of July General Canby, accompanied by General Granger, who
was to have immediate charge of the land operations against the Mobile
forts, had called upon the admiral to make the preliminary arrangements.
Somewhat later Canby sent word that he could not spare men enough to
invest both Gaines and Morgan at the same time; and at Farragut's
suggestion it was then decided to land first upon Dauphin Island, he
undertaking to send a gunboat to cover the movement. Granger visited him
again on the 1st of August, and as the admiral then had reason to expect
the last of his monitors by the 4th, that day was fixed for the attack
and landing. Granger was up to time, and his troops were put ashore on
the evening of the 3d; but the Tecumseh had not arrived from Pensacola.
The other three had been on hand since the 1st, anchored under the
shelter of Sand Island, three miles from Fort Morgan.
To Farragut's great mortification he was unable to carry out his part of
the programme; but on the evening of the 4th the Tecumseh arrived,
together with the Richmond, which had been for a few days at Pensacola
preparing for the fight. "I regret to have detained you, admiral," said
Craven, the commander of the monitor, "but had it not been for Captain
Jenkins (of the Richmond), God knows when I should have been here. When
your order came I had not received an ounce of coal." In his report of
the battle, Farragut warmly acknowledged the zeal and energy of Jenkins,
to which he owed the seasonable arrival of this important
re-enforcement. "He takes," he said, "as much interest in the fleet now
as formerly when he was my chief-of-staff. He is also commanding officer
of the second division of my squadron, and as such has shown ability and
the most untiring zeal.... I feel I should not be doing my duty did I
not call the attention of the Department to an officer who has performed
all his various duties with so much zeal and fidelity." Farragut has
been charged with failure to notice adequately the services of those
under him; but the foregoing words, which are not by any means
unparalleled in his dispatches, show that he could praise cordially when
he saw fitting occasion.
The night of August 4th was quiet, the sea smooth, with a light air just
rippling the surface of the water. At sundown it had been raining hard,
but toward midnight cleared off, the weather becoming hot and calm.
Later on a light air again sprang up from the southwest. The admiral was
not well, and slept restlessly. About three in the morning he called his
servant and sent him to find out how the wind was. Learning that it was
from the quarter he wished, he said, "Then we will go in in the
morning." Between four and five the lighter vessels got under way and
went alongside those to which they were to be lashed. When daybreak was
reported Farragut was already at breakfast with the captain of the
Hartford, Percival Drayton, and the fleet-surgeon, Dr. James C. Palmer,
who had left his usual post at the hospital in Pensacola to superintend
the care of those wounded in the approaching battle. It was then about
half-past five; the couples were all formed, and the admiral, still
sipping his tea, said quietly, "Well, Drayton, we might as well get
under way." The signal was made and at once acknowledged by the vessels,
which had all been awaiting it, and the seamen began to heave round on
the cables. The taking their assigned positions in the column by the
different pairs consumed some time, during which the flag-ship crossed
the bar, at ten minutes past six. At half-past six the column of wooden
vessels was formed, and the monitors were standing down from Sand Island
into their stations, in gaining which some little further delay was
caused. At this time all the ships hoisted the United States flag, not
only at the peak where it commonly flies, but at every mast-head as
well.
It had been the intention of the admiral to lead the column of wooden
vessels with his own ship; but at the earnest request of many officers,
who thought the fleet should not incur the greater risk consequent upon
having its commander in so exposed a position, he reluctantly consented
to waive his purpose, and the Brooklyn was appointed to this post of
honor. To this selection contributed also the fact that the Brooklyn had
more than the usual number of chase guns, the advantage of which has
been explained, and also an arrangement for picking up torpedoes.
Bitterly afterward did Farragut regret his yielding on this occasion. "I
believe this to be an error," he wrote in his official report of the
battle; "for, apart from the fact that exposure is one of the penalties
of rank in the navy, it will _always_ be the aim of the enemy to destroy
the flag-ship, and, as will appear in the sequel, such attempt was very
persistently made." "The fact is," he said in one of his letters home,
"had I been the obstinate man you sometimes think me, I would have led
in the fleet and saved the Tecumseh"--meaning, doubtless, that, by
interposing between that important vessel and the buoy which marked the
torpedo line, he would have prevented the error which caused her loss.
Some notes upon the action found afterward among his papers contain the
same opinion, more fully and deliberately expressed. "Allowing the
Brooklyn to go ahead was a great error. It lost not only the Tecumseh,
but many valuable lives, by keeping us under the fire of the forts for
thirty minutes; whereas, had I led, as I intended to do, I would have
gone inside the buoys, and all would have followed me." The Hartford
took the second place in the column, having secured on her port or off
side the side-wheel gunboat Metacomet, Lieutenant-Commander James E.
Jouett.
While the monitors were taking their stations, the Tecumseh, which led
their column, fired two shots at the fort. At five minutes before seven,
the order of battle now being fully formed, the fleet went ahead. Ten
minutes later Fort Morgan opened fire upon the Brooklyn, which at once
replied with her bow guns, followed very soon by those of the fighting
column of wooden ships; a brisk cannonade ensuing between them, the
monitors, and the fort. In order to see more clearly, and at the same
time to have immediately by him the persons upon whom he most depended
for governing the motions of the ship, Farragut had taken his position
in the port main-rigging. Here he had near him Captain Jouett, standing
on the wheel-house of the Metacomet, and also the pilot, who, as at
Port Hudson, had been stationed aloft, on this occasion in the maintop,
so as to see well over the smoke. As this increased and rose higher,
Farragut went up step by step until he was close under the maintop.
Here, without losing touch with Jouett, he was very near the pilot, had
the whole scene of battle spread out under his eyes, and at the same
time, by bracing himself against the futtock shrouds, was able to use
his spy-glass more freely. Captain Drayton, however, being alarmed lest
he might be thrown to the deck, directed a seaman to carry a lashing
aloft and secure him to the rigging, which the admiral, after a moment's
remonstrance, permitted. By such a simple and natural train of causes
was Farragut brought to and secured in a position which he, like any
other commander-in-chief, had sought merely in order better to see the
operations he had to direct; but popular fancy was caught by the
circumstance, and to his amusement he found that an admiral lashed to
the rigging was invested with a significance equivalent to that of
colors nailed to the mast. "The illustrated papers are very amusing," he
wrote home. "Leslie has me lashed up to the mast like a culprit, and
says, 'It is the way officers will hereafter go into battle, etc.' You
understand, I was only standing in the rigging with a rope, that dear
boy Watson had brought me up," (this was later in the action, when the
admiral had shifted his position), "saying that if I would stand there I
had better secure myself against falling; and I thanked him for his
consideration, and took a turn around and over the shrouds and around my
body for fear of being wounded, as shots were flying rather thickly."
Shortly after the monitors and the bow guns of the fleet began firing,
the enemy's gunboats and the Tennessee moved out from behind Morgan and
took their position enfilading the channel. Twenty minutes later,
through the advance of the column, the broadsides of the leading ships
began to bear upon the fort; and as these heavy batteries vomited their
iron rain the fire of the defense visibly slackened. Amid the scene of
uproar and slaughter, in which the petty Confederate flotilla, thanks to
its position of vantage, was playing a deadly part quite out of
proportion to its actual strength, the Tecumseh alone was silent. After
the first two shots fired by her, which were rather the signal of
warning than the opening of the battle, she had loaded her two guns with
steel shot, backed by the heaviest charge of powder allowed, and, thus
prepared, reserved her fire for the Tennessee alone. "I believe," wrote
Farragut in a private letter, "that the Tecumseh would have gone up and
grappled with and captured the Tennessee. Craven's heart was bent upon
it."
The two columns, of ironclads and of wooden vessels lashed together in
pairs, were now approaching the line of torpedoes and the narrow
entrance through which lay the path of safety; and the broadsides of the
heavy sloops which led--the Brooklyn, the Hartford, the
Richmond--supported by the less numerous but still powerful batteries
following, and by the guns of the turreted ironclads, overbore the fire
of the works. All promised fairly, provided the leaders of the two
columns pushed rapidly and unhesitatingly in the direction assigned
them. But almost at the same moment doubt seized them both, and led to a
double disaster. As Craven, leading the monitor column, and then about
three hundred yards in advance of the Brooklyn, drew up to the buoy, to
the eastward of which he had been directed to go, he saw it so nearly in
line with the point beyond that he could not believe it possible to
pass. "It is impossible that the admiral means us to go inside that
buoy," he said to the pilot; "I can not turn my ship." Just then the
Tennessee moved a little ahead, to the westward; and Craven, under the
double impulse of his doubt and of his fear lest the hostile ironclad
should escape him, changed his course to the left and pushed straight
for her, the Tecumseh heading to pass the buoy on the wrong side.
The movement thus indicated, if followed by the succeeding monitors,
would throw that column across the path of the wooden ships if the
latter endeavored to obey their orders to pass east of the buoy. At the
same moment there were seen from the Brooklyn, in the water ahead,
certain objects which were taken to be buoys for torpedoes. The ship was
at once stopped and backed, coming down upon the Hartford, her next
astern, which also stopped, but did not reverse her engines. The
Richmond followed the Hartford's movements, and the two ships drifted up
with the young flood tide, but with their heads still pointed in the
right direction, toward the Brooklyn; the stern of the latter vessel, as
she backed, coming up into the wind so that her bows turned toward the
fort. Fortunately, the rear ships were some little distance off; but
Farragut, ignorant of the cause of the Brooklyn's action, saw his line
of battle doubling up and threatened with an almost inextricable
confusion, in the most difficult and exposed part of the passage, under
a cross-fire from the fort and the enemy's vessels. Immediately upon
this frightful perplexity succeeded the great disaster of the day.
Craven, pursuing his course across the suspected line of danger, had
reached within two hundred yards of the Tennessee, and the crews of both
vessels were waiting with tense nerves for the expected collision, when
a torpedo exploded under the Tecumseh, then distant a little over five
hundred yards from the Hartford. From his elevated post of observation
Farragut saw her reel violently from side to side, lurch heavily over,
and then go down head foremost, her screw revolving wildly in the air as
she disappeared.
It was the supreme moment of his life, in which the scales of his
fortunes wavered in the balance. All the long years of preparation, of
faithful devotion to obscure duty awaiting the opportunity that might
never come--all the success attending the two brief years in which his
flag had flown--all the glories of the river fights--on the one side;
and on the other, threatening to overbear and wreck all, a danger he
could not measure, but whose dire reality had been testified by the
catastrophe just befallen under his own eyes. Added to this was the
complication in the order of battle ahead of him, produced by the double
movements of the Brooklyn and Tecumseh, which no longer allowed him to
seize the one open path, follow his own first brave thought, and lead
his fleet in person through the narrow way where, if at all, safety lay.
The Brooklyn, when she began to back, was on the starboard bow of the
flag-ship, distant one or two hundred yards, and falling off to
starboard lay directly in the way athwart the channel. The second
monitor, Manhattan, of the same class as the Tecumseh, had passed
ahead; but the two light-draughts, the Winnebago and Chickasaw, were
drawing up abreast of the three ships thus massed together. As they
passed, the admiration of the officers of the flag-ship was stirred to
see Captain Stevens, of the Winnebago, pacing calmly from turret to
turret of his unwieldy vessel, under the full fire of the fort; while of
Perkins, in the Chickasaw, the youngest commander in the fleet, and then
about twenty-seven years of age, an officer of high position in the
flag-ship says, "As he passed the Hartford he was on top of the turret,
waving his hat and dancing about with delight and excitement."
But as they went thus gallantly by, the position of these vessels,
combined with that of the Brooklyn relatively to the flag-ship, forbade
the latter's turning in that direction unless at the risk of adding to a
confusion already sufficiently perilous. A signal was made and repeated
to the Brooklyn to go ahead; but that vessel gave no sign of moving, her
commander being probably perplexed between his orders to pass east of
the buoy and the difficulty of doing so, owing to the position into
which his ship had now fallen and the situation of the monitors. But to
remain thus motionless and undecided, under the fire of the fort with
the other ships coming up to swell the size of the target offered to its
gunners and to increase the confusion, was out of the question. To
advance or to recede seemed alike dangerous. Ahead lay the dreaded line
of torpedoes; behind was the possibility of retreat, but beaten,
baffled, and disastrous. All depended upon the prompt decision of the
admiral. If he failed himself, or if fortune failed him now, his
brilliant career of success ended in the gloom of a defeat the degree of
which could not be foreseen. In later days, Farragut told that in the
confusion of these moments, feeling that all his plans had been
thwarted, he was at a loss whether to advance or retreat. In this
extremity the devout spirit that ruled his life, and so constantly
appears in his correspondence, impelled him to appeal to Heaven for
guidance, and he offered up this prayer: "O God, who created man and
gave him reason, direct me what to do. Shall I go on?" "And it seemed,"
said the admiral, "as if in answer a voice commanded, 'Go on!'"
To such a prompting his gallant temper and clear intuitions in all
matters relating to war were quick to respond. Personal danger could not
deter him; and if it was necessary that some one ship should set the
example and force a way through the torpedo line by the sacrifice of
herself, he was prepared by all his habits of thought to accept that
duty for the vessel bearing his flag. Describing the spirit in which he
began an arduous enterprise, after once deciding that it should be
undertaken, he said: "I calculate thus: The chances are that I shall
lose some of my vessels by torpedoes or the guns of the enemy, but with
some of my fleet afloat I shall eventually be successful. I can not lose
all. I will attack, regardless of consequences, and never turn back." To
a mind thus disciplined and prepared, the unforeseen dilemma presented
before the barriers of Mobile Bay caused but a passing perplexity. Like
the Puritan soldier who trusted in God and kept his powder dry, Farragut
met the overthrow of his carefully arranged plans and the sudden
decision thrust upon him with the calm resolution of a man who has
counted the cost and is strengthened by a profound dependence upon the
will of the Almighty. He resolved to go forward.
The Hartford was now too near the Brooklyn to go clear by a simple
movement of her helm. Backing hard, therefore, the wheels of the
Metacomet, while turning her own screw ahead, her bows were twisted
short round, as in a like strait they had been pointed fair under the
batteries of Port Hudson; then, going ahead fast, the two ships passed
close under the stern of the Brooklyn and dashed straight at the line of
the buoys. As they thus went by the vessel which till then had led, a
warning cry came from her that there were torpedoes ahead. "Damn the
torpedoes!" shouted the admiral, in the exaltation of his high purpose.
"Four bells![X] Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!" The
Hartford and her consort crossed the line about five hundred yards from
Mobile Point, well to the westward of the buoy and of the spot where the
Tecumseh had gone down. As they passed between the buoys, the cases of
the torpedoes were heard by many on board knocking against the copper of
the bottom, and many of the primers snapped audibly, but no torpedo
exploded. The Hartford went safely through, the gates of Mobile Bay were
forced, and as Farragut's flag cleared the obstructions his last and
hardest battle was virtually won. The Brooklyn got her head round, the
Richmond supporting her by a sustained fire from her heavy broadside;
and, after a delay which allowed the flag-ship to gain nearly a mile
upon them, the other ships in order followed the Hartford, "believing,"
wrote the admiral in his dispatch, "that they were going to a noble
death with their commander-in-chief."
[Footnote X: The signal in the United States Navy for the
engines to be driven at high speed.]
After the flag-ship had passed the torpedo line the enemy's three
gunboats began retreating slowly up the bay, keeping ahead and on her
starboard bow, where her guns could not bear while their own raked her.
The conditions of the channel did not yet allow her to deviate from her
course in order to return their fire. At no period of the battle did the
Hartford suffer so much as during the fifteen minutes she had to endure
this galling punishment. The Tennessee, being inferior in speed to her
consorts as well as to the Hartford, could not accompany this movement;
and, moreover, Buchanan, the Confederate admiral, had set his heart upon
ramming the vessel that bore the flag of his old friend Farragut. The
Tennessee therefore stood toward the Hartford, but failed in her thrust,
the Union vessel avoiding it easily with a movement of her helm. The ram
then fired two shots at very short range, but singularly enough both
missed. "I took no further notice of her," wrote Farragut, "than to
return her fire." The Tennessee followed some little distance up the
bay, and then, changing her mind, turned toward the column of wooden
vessels that was now approaching, with the three monitors covering their
right flank and somewhat in the rear; these having delayed to engage the
fire of the fort while their more vulnerable companions went by. The
Confederate ironclad passed along the column from van to rear,
exchanging shots with most of the vessels in it. The Monongahela
attempted to ram her, but, being embarrassed by the gunboat lashed
alongside, succeeded only in giving a glancing blow; while the Oneida,
the ship on the fighting side of the rear couple, already completely
disabled in her motive power by a shot through the boiler, received a
raking broadside, by which her captain, Mullany, lost an arm.
At the time the Tennessee went about to encounter the remaining vessels
of the fleet, which was about eight o'clock, the course of the channel
enabled the Hartford to turn sufficiently to bring her broadside to bear
on her puny assailants. By the fire she then opened, one, the Gaines,
was so much injured as to be with difficulty kept afloat until she could
take refuge under Fort Morgan, where she was that night burned by her
commander. All three retreated rapidly toward the shoal water on the
east side of the bay. Farragut then signaled for the gunboats of his
fleet to chase those of the enemy. Jouett, being alongside, received the
order by word of mouth, and the admiral often afterward spoke with
enthusiasm of the hearty "Ay, ay, sir!" he received in reply, and of the
promptness with which the fasts were cut, the men being already by them,
hatchet in hand. The Metacomet backed clear at once and started rapidly
in pursuit. The gunboats in the rear followed as soon as the signal was
made out; but, both from their position and from the inevitable delay in
reading signals, they were at a disadvantage. A thick rain squall coming
up soon after hid both pursuers and pursued from each other's sight. The
Morgan and the Gaines took advantage of it to change their course for
Fort Morgan; the third Confederate, the Selma, kept straight on, as did
the Metacomet. When the squall cleared, the latter found herself ahead
of her chase. One shot was fired, killing the first lieutenant and some
of the crew of the Selma, whose flag was then hauled down. The Morgan
made good her retreat under the fort, and that night succeeded in
escaping up the bay to the city, although she was seen and fired upon by
several of Farragut's vessels.
At half-past eight o'clock, three hours after the first signal was made
to get under way and an hour and a half after the action began, the
flag-ship anchored in the upper part of the deep pocket into which the
channel expands after passing the entrance. She was then about four
miles from Fort Morgan, and the crew were sent to breakfast. The admiral
had come down from his post in the main rigging and was standing on the
poop, when Captain Drayton came up to him and said: "What we have done
has been well done, sir; but it all counts for nothing so long as the
Tennessee is there under the guns of Morgan." "I know it," replied
Farragut, "and as soon as the people have had their breakfasts I am
going for her." These words were exchanged in the hearing of the first
lieutenant of the Hartford, now Rear-Admiral Kimberly, and at present
the senior officer upon the active list of the United States Navy. In
writing home a few weeks later, the admiral said: "If I had not captured
the Tennessee as I did, I should have taken her that night with the
monitors, or _tried_ it." The latter undoubtedly represents the more
deliberate opinion, that would have guided him had Buchanan not played
into his hands by attacking the fleet; for if the Tennessee had
remained under Morgan and there been sought by the monitors, the fight
would have been at such close quarters that in the darkness the fort
could scarcely have joined without imminent risk of hurting friend as
well as foe.
As it was, the Confederate admiral seems never to have contemplated any
more prudent or sagacious course than a single-handed free fight with
the fleet. As soon as the Tennessee had passed the rear of the enemy's
column, Buchanan said to the captain of the ram: "Follow them up,
Johnston; we can't let them off that way." In turning, the Tennessee
took much room, appearing from the fleet to have gone back under the
guns of Fort Morgan; and the various ships, as they came up, were
anchoring near the Hartford, expecting a few quiet hours. They were soon
undeceived. The brief conversation above reported between Farragut and
his flag-captain had scarcely ended when the ram was seen to be moving
out from under the fort. Captain Drayton reported the fact to the
admiral, saying that she was going outside to attack the United States
vessels still remaining there. "Then," said Farragut, "we must follow
him out." The remark indicates an alternative to the course actually
adopted by Buchanan, and one whose issue would depend less upon the
United States commander-in-chief than upon the conduct of the vessels
outside. If these were so imprudent as not to retire, Farragut might
have been forced to run twice again the gantlet of Fort Morgan and of
the torpedo line--once to protect them, and afterward to regain the
position he had just achieved.
It must be admitted that the question before the Confederate admiral,
what to do with one unwieldy though powerful vessel opposed to fourteen
enemies, was hard to solve; nor did he have, in a precise knowledge of
the speed, battery, and other qualities of his opponents, the data
needed for an accurate solution. In a general way, however, he must have
known that the guns of the United States fleet were mainly smooth-bores,
with but moderate penetrative power upon iron-plating such as the
Tennessee's; and during the morning's encounter he had acquired
experimental knowledge of their impotence against her sides, unless by a
continuous pounding such as he was now about to invite. He knew also
that several of the hostile vessels were of too heavy draught to take
any efficient part, if he refused, as was in his power, to enter the
pocket in which they were now anchored; while the general gentle
shelving of the bottom enabled a foot's difference in draught to secure
a very considerable separation in distance. Every wooden ship was
vulnerable to him and impotent against him at the ranges which his
rifles permitted him to use.
With the monitors Buchanan had not yet come into collision; but one of
the most formidable was sunk, and until he had learned something about
their endurance and the power of their guns relatively to those of his
own vessel, it would seem that his action, though immediate, should have
been only tentative. If it proved on trial that the speed of the
Tennessee was greater than that of the monitors, she might yet prove
master of the situation. Despite the beak, which her wretched speed and
exposed steering chains rendered untrustworthy, her great defensive
strength and the fact of carrying rifled guns indicated that long range,
and not close quarters, was the first game of the Tennessee. There she
could hurt, and she could not be hurt. Had she, for instance, hovered at
a distance, firing deliberately at the Union vessels, Farragut must have
attacked; and she could then have retired either into shoaler water,
retaining her advantage in range, or else under the guns of Morgan,
which would have strongly re-enforced her fight. The fact that Farragut,
whose instinct for war was commonly accurate, proposed to attack her at
close quarters and by night, is the best argument that Buchanan should
have sought long range and daylight for his action. As it was, his
headlong charge into the Union fleet was a magnificent display of
inconsiderate bravery, in which such advantages as he had were
recklessly thrown away. Its purpose is not clear. If, as Farragut
thought, it was to sink his flag-ship, it can only be replied that an
admiral's flag is not a red rag for a bull to charge. Had the Hartford
been sunk when the column doubled up an hour or so before, the loss of
the leader at so critical a moment might have decided the day; but to
sink her in the _mêlée_ within would have been a barren, though
brilliant, feat of arms.
As soon as it was ascertained that the Tennessee was really coming up to
attack, the mess-gear was hurried aside and the orders given to get
under way. Some of the fleet had not yet anchored, and the monitors were
not yet arrived at the place where the others were gathered. Dr. Palmer,
the fleet surgeon, was just leaving the flag-ship in a steam-launch, for
the purpose of making a round among the other vessels to see to the
condition of their wounded. Farragut called him alongside and directed
him to go to the monitors with orders to attack the Tennessee. These
Palmer delivered in person to each ironclad. "Happy as my friend Perkins
(of the Chickasaw) habitually is," he wrote in his diary, "I thought he
would turn a somersault overboard with joy when I told him, 'The admiral
wants you to go at once and fight that Tennessee.'" The wooden vessels
at the same time were directed to charge the ram, bows on, at full
speed, as well as to attack her with their guns.
The monitors being, like the Tennessee herself, very slow, the ramming
contest first began. The first to reach the hostile ironclad was the
Monongahela, Captain Strong, which struck her squarely amidships on the
starboard side, when she was still four hundred yards distant from the
body of the fleet. Five minutes later the Lackawanna, Captain Marchand,
going at full speed, delivered her blow also at right angles on the port
side, abreast the after end of the armored superstructure. As they swung
round, both United States vessels fired such guns as would bear, but the
shot glanced harmlessly from the armor; nor did the blow of the ships
themselves produce any serious injury upon the enemy, although their own
stems were crushed in for several feet above and below the water line.
Upon them followed the Hartford, approaching, like the Lackawanna, on
the port side; but toward her the Tennessee turned, so that the two met
nearly, though not exactly, bows on. The Hartford's anchor, which there
had not been time to cat, was hanging at the water's edge; it took the
brunt of the collision, which doubled it up, and the two antagonists
scraped by, their port sides touching. At that close range seven
nine-inch guns were discharged against the sloping sides of the
ironclad, but without effect. The admiral had clambered again into the
rigging, on this occasion into the port mizzen-rigging, whence he
watched the effects of this encounter. Both the Lackawanna and the
Hartford now made a circuit to get a position whence they could again
charge the enemy; but in the midst of their sweep the Lackawanna ran
square into the flag-ship, striking near where Farragut stood, and
cutting the vessel down to within two feet of the water. The immediate
impression among the ship's company was that the injury was fatal; and
the general cry that arose, "Save the admiral! Get the admiral on board
the Lackawanna!" by its ignoring of their own danger, testified how
Farragut's martial and personal qualities had won a way into the
affections of his subordinates. With an activity for which he had been
remarkable in middle life, and retained even now when in his sixties,
the admiral jumped into the chains to ascertain the extent of the
injury; then, finding that the ship was in no present danger, he ordered
her again to be headed for the Tennessee.
Meanwhile the monitors had come up, and the battle had begun between
them and the enemy. One of the Manhattan's fifteen-inch guns had been
disabled; and the slow firing of those unwieldy weapons, with the
imperfect mechanical appliances then used for loading them, prevented
her doing the injury that might have been expected. One shot struck
square, breaking through the port side of the armor; but even so the
missile itself did not enter the vessel, a strong evidence of the power
of the Tennessee to resist a single shot. But she was not equally
invulnerable to the sustained and continuous hammering of even lighter
projectiles. The Winnebago's turrets, being out of order, could not be
turned, and consequently the guns could be brought to bear only by
moving the helm; a circumstance which materially reduced her fire. The
Chickasaw, however, was in better case. Lieutenant-Commander Perkins got
her into position under the stern of the Tennessee just after the
latter's collision with the Hartford; and there he stuck to the end,
never over fifty yards distant, and keeping up a steady rapping of
eleven-inch shot upon the fabric which they could not at once penetrate,
but which they visibly shook. Fifty-two of these projectiles were fired
from the Chickasaw in the short half-hour of her attack. The exposed
rudder-chains were shot away, and at nearly the same time the
smoke-stack came down. Admiral Buchanan was wounded by an iron splinter,
which broke his leg and otherwise injured it to such an extent that the
limb was with difficulty saved. He turned over the command to Captain
Johnston, who stood the pounding for twenty minutes longer and then
reported to his superior that the ship was helpless, could not be
steered, and that for half an hour he had not been able to bring a gun
to bear. "Well," replied Buchanan, "if you can not do them any further
damage you had better surrender."
The Tennessee's flag had been several times shot away, and was now
flying from a boat-hook. Not being very conspicuous, its removal was not
immediately noticed, and Johnston had to show a white flag to put a stop
to the firing. "She was at this time sore beset," said Farragut in his
dispatch to the Navy Department; "the Chickasaw was pounding away at her
stern, the Ossipee was approaching her at full speed, and the
Monongahela, Lackawanna, and Hartford 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." No
stronger evidence can be offered than this last sentence, which
Johnston's account corroborates, of how completely Buchanan
miscalculated, or disregarded, the capabilities of the important vessel
he controlled. Great as was her power to resist a single shot, or the
end-on charge of a heavy vessel, when she surrendered nearly all the
plating on the after side of the casemate was found to be started, and
the after gun-carriage was disabled; there being distinct marks of nine
eleven-inch solid shot having struck within a few square feet of that
port. Three of her port shutters also were so damaged that their guns
could not be fired.
Thus ended the great battle of Mobile Bay, the crowning achievement of
Farragut's naval career; "one of the hardest-earned victories of my
life," to quote his own words, "and the most desperate battle I ever
fought since the days of the old Essex." "You may pass through a long
career and see many an action," he remarked to one of the junior
officers of the Hartford, in the interval between first anchoring and
the conflict with the Tennessee, "without seeing as much bloodshed as
you have this day witnessed." The loss of the flag-ship herself had
been twenty-five killed and twenty-eight wounded out of a ship's company
of some three hundred souls. The Brooklyn, a ship of the same force, had
almost exactly the same number of casualties--eleven killed and
forty-three wounded. Contrasting the equal suffering of the
latter--delayed so long under the numerous guns of the fort, but
supported by the fire of the other vessels--with that of the flag-ship,
inflicted by the batteries of the enemy's gun-boats, few in number, but
worked for the time with impunity, we find an excellent illustration of
Farragut's oft-repeated maxim, that "to hurt your enemy is the best way
to keep him from hurting you." The total loss of the United States fleet
in the battle was three hundred and thirty-five; of whom one hundred and
thirteen were at the bottom of the bay, coffined in the iron hull of the
Tecumseh.
Not quite three hours elapsed from the time that Morgan fired its first
gun to the moment when the Tennessee hauled down her flag and confessed
the United States fleet mistress of the bay. The forts still stood with
the Confederate flag flying from them in defiance; and it is reported
that the commander of Morgan retorted to a summons to surrender, that he
looked upon Farragut's fleet as practically prisoners in a port whose
keys he held. If so, it was the high-hearted resolve of a man determined
to hold his charge to the last, and not the sober conviction of a
soldier, that spoke. Like the river forts when Farragut's fleet forced
its way past and stood between them and their base of supplies, the
defenses of Mobile were isolated by the results of the morning's fight,
and their fall became but a question of time. There was no mutiny of the
garrison, as on the former occasion, for the stern experience of war had
better taught the men the business of a soldier; but it was at once
practicable here to begin siege operations, which in the river would
perhaps have been for a time postponed, owing to the overflowed state of
the country. The preparations for these were pushed with vigor, and the
navy also took a hand against the works. Four hours after the surrender
of the Tennessee, the Chickasaw weighed her anchor and steamed down
toward Grant's Pass to shell Fort Powell. Built to resist an attack from
Mississippi Sound, the work was weak in the direction of the bay. "The
ironclad's fire," reported the officer in command, "made it impossible
to man the two guns in the rear, and I made no attempt to do so." That
night the fort was evacuated and blown up. The following day the
Chickasaw threw some shells into Fort Gaines, in consequence of which,
and of the progress made by General Granger in his approaches, that work
was surrendered on the 7th of August. Morgan still standing out, the
army was transferred from Dauphin Island to Mobile Point, batteries were
constructed, and on the 17th a siege train from New Orleans was landed.
On the 22d, at daylight, the siege guns, the three monitors, the
captured Tennessee, and the ships, both outside and inside the bay,
opened together. The following day Fort Morgan capitulated.
A gratifying feature in these operations, as well as in all Farragut's
official association with the army, was the cordial good feeling and
co-operation which existed between the two services, and which were
equally manifested in the upper Mississippi between Grant and Porter.
General Butler, Farragut's first colleague in the Gulf and at New
Orleans, but who had long since left the department, wrote him a most
enthusiastic letter of congratulation upon receiving the news of the
battle of Mobile Bay; and General Granger, in concluding his report of
the siege operations against Gaines and Morgan, said: "I am pleased to
record the perfect harmony existing between these two branches of the
service. For my own part, I can not sufficiently acknowledge the
assistance rendered by the fleet and the admiral in command in
transporting and disembarking the troops, guns, and materials employed
by me in the operations. In brief, during all our relations, the
officers of the fleet, with their distinguished commander, displayed in
a high degree those qualities which mark their gallant service." To the
officers of the navy the testimonies thus given can not but be most
grateful; not merely as acknowledgments of the important part played by
a service whose work is too often ignored by historians, but chiefly as
giving an added lustre to the brilliant reputation of its two most
distinguished representatives, who successively filled the high position
of admiral of the navy.
After the capitulation of the forts, Admiral Farragut remained in Mobile
Bay until the following November. The lower bay was cleared of torpedoes
and reconnoissances made toward Mobile; but he wrote adversely to any
attempt against the city, now that it was sealed as a port to blockade
runners. "It would be an elephant," he wrote, "and take an army to hold
it. And besides, all the traitors and rascally speculators would flock
to that city and pour into the Confederacy the wealth of New York." He
confesses also his dislike to operations in very shoal water. "I am in
no way diffident about going anywhere in the Hartford, but when I have
to leave her and take to a craft drawing six feet of water I feel
badly."
The admiral's health was now suffering much from the combined effects of
his labors, his anxieties, and the climate. "I am as well as a man can
be who can neither sit, walk, nor stand five minutes at a time on
account of Job's comforters. But, thank God (I have so much to be
thankful for that I am thanking him all the time), I am otherwise in
pretty good condition." Despite this brave effort at cheerfulness, his
letters from time to time began to show symptoms of depression, and he
longed for rest. "This is the last of my work," he said, "and I expect a
little respite." His enfeebled condition drew the attention and excited
the alarm of those about him. "I was talking to the admiral to-day,"
wrote Perkins, of the Chickasaw, the day after Morgan surrendered, "when
all at once he fainted away. He is not very well and is all tired out.
It gave me quite a shock, and shows how exhausted he is, and his health
is not very good, any way. He is a mighty fine old fellow." Captain
Drayton also wrote home to his family that, if the admiral remained
longer in the Gulf, he feared for the consequences.
Under these circumstances an order from the Navy Department, dated the
5th of September, assigning him to the command of the Fort Fisher
expedition, greatly upset him. He had about a week before written to the
Secretary to say that his strength was almost exhausted. "I am
willing," he concluded, "to do the bidding of the department as long as
I am able to the best of my abilities. I fear, however, that my health
is giving way. I have now been down in the Gulf five years out of six,
with the exception of the short time at home last fall; the last six
months have been a severe drag upon me, and I want rest, if it is to be
had."
To so reasonable a request, after such distinguished and valuable
service, the department could not have closed its ears had it been so
disposed. Farragut was authorized to leave his squadron in charge of
Commodore James S. Palmer, a very gallant and efficient officer, and to
come north in the Hartford. On the 30th of November, 1864, he sailed
from Pensacola, and on the 12th of December the flag-ship again anchored
in New York Harbor.
CHAPTER XI.
LATER YEARS AND DEATH.
1864-1870.
With the strong national and patriotic feeling that had been aroused
throughout the Northern States by the war of secession, Farragut had no
cause to complain of ingratitude or indifference on the part either of
the Government or of his fellow-countrymen. As the flag-ship entered the
Narrows, on his final return from the Gulf, she was met by a
representative committee from the city officials and citizens of New
York. Enthusiastic crowds greeted him as he landed at the Battery, and a
reception given him the same afternoon at the Custom House was thronged
by the leading men of the city. This eager manifestation of good-will
and admiration was followed, a few days later, by a flattering request
that the admiral would honor the city by taking up his abode in it and
becoming thenceforth one of its citizens. After reciting the deeds which
had won for him universal applause and thankfulness, the committee said:
"The citizens of New York can offer no tribute equal to your claim on
their gratitude and affection. Their earnest desire is to receive you as
one of their number, and to be permitted, as fellow-citizens, to share
in the renown you will bring to the metropolitan city. This desire is
felt in common by the whole community."
This graceful tribute of words was accompanied by the gift of fifty
thousand dollars, to facilitate Farragut's complying with the request.
The letter was addressed to Vice-Admiral Farragut; the United States
Government, not to be behindhand in acknowledging its debt to its most
distinguished seaman, having created for him that grade soon after his
arrival. The bill for the purpose was introduced on the 22d of December,
1864, immediately passed by both houses, and became law by the
President's signature the following day. Farragut's nomination and
confirmation followed of course and at once; so that his promotion came
to him in the Christmas holidays. The admiral gratefully acknowledged
the warm welcome of the New Yorkers, while modestly disavowing, as far
as he could, his claim to extraordinary merit in the brilliant services
which he asserted were but the performance of his duty; and he
thankfully accepted, as the spontaneous offering of his
fellow-countrymen, the recompense which in older countries is the usual
reward of distinguished military success, but conferred there through
the formal medium of the central government.
Toward the end of January, 1865, the Confederate vessels in the James
made an attempt to descend the river, destroy the pontoon bridges of the
United States armies, and cut off both the Army of the James and that of
the Potomac from their base of supplies at City Point. Rear-Admiral
David D. Porter, who then commanded the North Atlantic Squadron, was
fully occupied at the time with the bombardment of Fort Fisher and
capture of Wilmington, North Carolina; and as the hostile attempt
threatened a very serious annoyance to the communications of the army,
Farragut, who was then in Washington, was ordered to proceed to the
spot. He accordingly hoisted his flag on a small steamer and ran down to
the James; but, finding upon his arrival that the enemy had been
repulsed, and satisfactory measures taken to prevent a renewal of the
effort, he returned to Washington. This slight episode concluded his
active service in the war.
When Richmond was evacuated on the 2d of April, 1865, Farragut was among
the first to visit the fallen capital of the Confederacy. From there a
few days later he visited his old home in Norfolk. Many of his former
friends still retained strong feelings of resentment against him, as a
Southern man who had taken arms against the South. The impression had
obtained among some that, though leaving his old home, he would remain
neutral; and it was even reported that he had said he would take no part
in the war. That Farragut never passed through that phase of feeling, in
the struggle between life-long affections and the sense of duty, would
be too much to affirm; but it was a position in which a man of his
decided and positive character could not have stopped when civil strife
was upon the land. It was inconsistent with his general habits of
thought; and it is evident that, before leaving Norfolk, his convictions
on the particular crisis had already left far behind any such temporary
halting place between two opinions. When he justified to his excited
neighbors President Lincoln's call for troops, on the ground that the
United States Government could do no less, when its arsenals and navy
yards were seized and its flag fired upon, it is inconceivable that the
man who then had such courage of his opinions entertained any further
doubt as to his future course; though it may well be that he did not
imperil his personal liberty and safety by any irritating avowal of his
purpose. In a reception given to him, when he thus revisited the place
which should no longer be his home, he recalled those days and said: "I
was told by a brother officer that the State had seceded, and that I
must either resign and turn traitor to the Government which had
supported me from my childhood, or I must leave this place. Thank God! I
was not long in making my decision. I have spent half my life in
revolutionary countries, and I know the horrors of civil war, and I told
the people what I had seen and what they would experience. They laughed
at me, and called me 'granny' and 'croaker'; and I said: 'I can not live
here, and will seek some other place where I can live, and on two hours'
notice.' I suppose they said I left my country for my country's good,
and thank God I did! I was unwilling to believe that this difficulty
would not have been settled; but it was all in vain, and as every man
must do in a revolution, as he puts his foot down, so it marks his
life."
In the summer of 1865, following the close of the war, Farragut visited
several of the New England cities, receiving everywhere marks of love
and admiration similar to those tendered to him in New York; but his
life for the next two years was passed in comparative retirement,
seeking the re-establishment of his health, which had been severely
shaken by the exposures and anxieties of the war. Though for the most
part unassigned to any special duties, the winding up of the affairs of
the West Gulf Squadron fully occupied his time.
On the 25th of July, 1866, Congress passed a law creating the grade of
admiral in the United States Navy, a position which was of course given
at once to Farragut, and has been held by but one other--the late
Admiral David D. Porter. The following year he was appointed to command
the European Squadron, his flag being hoisted on board the steam frigate
Franklin on the 17th of June, 1867. Without any request, and indeed
without any expectation, on his part, the Government sent the admiral
permission for Mrs. Farragut and a kinswoman to accompany him during the
cruise. On the 28th of June the ship sailed from New York,[Y] and on the
14th of July anchored in Cherbourg, France.
[Footnote Y: Before the admiral's departure from New York he gave
a grand reception on board the flag-ship, which was attended by
the President and his Cabinet and by many of the most prominent
people of the Metropolis, including several hundred
ladies.--EDITOR.]
After passing a fortnight there, during which the admiral visited Paris
and dined with the Emperor, the Franklin sailed for the Baltic, where
the months of August and September were passed in visiting the ports of
Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. Everywhere Farragut was received with the
enthusiasm and distinguished consideration that were aroused among naval
officers, by the presence of the man who had bestowed upon their
profession a lustre unequaled by any other deeds of that generation.
Toward the end of September he arrived in England, where a month was
spent in a similar gratifying manner; attentions being lavished upon him
by men not only of his own calling, but of all positions. Here, as in
the Baltic, every opportunity was given Farragut for visiting all
objects of general interest, as well as for examining the professional
improvements of the day.
From England the Franklin went to the Mediterranean, which Farragut had
not seen since the flying trip made by the Brandywine in the winter of
1825, after landing Lafayette in France. Between October, 1867, and
April, 1868, were visited Lisbon, Gibraltar, and several ports of the
western Mediterranean belonging to Spain, France, and Italy. Everywhere
the same cordial welcome was extended, and the most ample facilities
enjoyed for seeing thoroughly the points of interest in which the
Mediterranean abounds. At Nice he was the object of especial attentions
from the numerous Americans who throng that attractive winter resort;
and while at Naples a special excavation was made at Pompeii for his
benefit. Nowhere, however, did he have a more elaborate and, from the
professional point of view, more interesting reception than in Malta,
the great British stronghold in the central Mediterranean; where the
Mediterranean fleet, then on the point of sailing for the Levant, was
detained especially to meet him.
The incidents of this cruise which most nearly touch Farragut himself,
and have the greatest interest for his biographer, occurred in the
island of Minorca, where his family originated. Over forty years had
passed since, as midshipman and lieutenant, he had wintered at Port
Mahon. During those early visits he had received messages from persons
living in the interior of the island who claimed relationship; but with
boyish indifference he had not responded to any of these advances. Since
that time he had become imbued with the interest men commonly feel, in
advancing years, in collecting all traces of family history which they
can find; especially when, as in his case, they have been early and
completely separated from the home of their childhood and of their race.
The late George Ticknor had sent him an old Spanish book, the poems of
Mossen Jaime Febrer, in which he read the account of his earliest
celebrated ancestor, Pedro Ferragut. Among several escutcheons of the
family that have been preserved, bearing diverse ecclesiastical and
military emblems indicative of the individual's profession, all contain
the common distinguishing device of a horseshoe; and this the admiral,
moved by the feeling of kinship, had adopted for his plate. Drawn by
these ties of blood and by curiosity, it was a matter of course that
Farragut should visit the famous harbor for which British, French, and
Spaniards had battled, and which lay within the limits of his command.
The renown of his achievements had carried his name to Ciudadela, the
remote inland city where his father was born over a century before; and
the quiet islanders, who had exulted in the fame of one sprung from
their race, were ready to greet him and claim him as their own. In
response to an invitation given by them, the admiral, in December, 1867,
paid a visit to Ciudadela, of which the following account is given by
his secretary, Mr. Montgomery, who accompanied him on the trip:
"The day after Christmas had been designated by the admiral for his
promised visit to Ciudadela, in response to the cordial invitation of
the authorities and people of that city. The news of this tour of
pleasure had spread rapidly to all parts of the island, and occasioned a
general rest from labor and a popular concentration upon the lines of
travel. At the towns of Alayor and Mercadal flocks of people of both
sexes had assembled on the roadside to unite with the authorities in
tendering our naval chieftain a cordial welcome, and in expressing their
delight at his advent.
"Although unable to accept the offers of hospitality which even in these
unpretending villages were showered upon him, the admiral heartily
acknowledged the gratification he felt at their demonstrations of
personal regard, and, passing along the excited lines, he underwent a
siege of hand-shaking. At these points and elsewhere along the route
soldiers had been stationed to pay him proper honors, and to tender him
any assistance he might require throughout his journey.
"On his arrival within four miles of Ciudadela he was formally received
by the Alcalde; and a large committee, comprising many prominent
citizens, tendered the hospitalities of the city, and cordially welcomed
him as its guest. After a brief interchange of courtesies, he was
transferred to a very handsome barouche, and conducted forward in the
van of a quite formidable-looking procession, demonstrations of every
kind increasing as he approached this ancient capital of Minorca, the
present residence of many of those who prefer the quiet seclusion of
their island home to the more dazzling notoriety incident to many of the
older and gayer provinces of the mainland. Outside the walls of the city
his appearance was no sooner heralded than masses of people of every
age, sex, and condition rushed forward to greet him, filling the air
with cheers and acclamations. As he passed the gates of the city, the
walls, house-tops, and balconies were crowded with anxious spectators,
uniting demonstrations of welcome with equally expressive shouts from
the swaying multitude who had taken possession of the principal
thoroughfares. One old man of threescore years and ten, with tears
streaming down his weather-beaten face, stamped sincerity itself upon
the nature of the welcome by shouting aloud: 'He is ours! he is ours!
but I shall never see him more.'
"The avenue leading to the residence of Señor Don Gabriel Squella, which
had been kindly placed by that gentleman at the disposal of the admiral
and his suite, was literally blocked with people, and the excitement
rose rapidly to fever heat as the head of the column appeared in view
endeavoring to make a breach in a body absolutely closed in mass. It was
with no little difficulty that the procession forced a passage; and
although policemen did their utmost, and jostled, and crowded, and
threatened, accompanying their language with all the vocabulary of
Spanish expletives, it was found necessary to disembark at some distance
from the hospitable mansion and trust to the humanity of our
entertainers to afford an entrance on foot. But the temporary
concealment of the admiral within the delightful headquarters which had
been assigned him seemed to be the signal for a renewed outburst, which
brought him to the balcony, upon which he stood bowing his thanks and
acknowledging in every possible way his heartfelt appreciation of the
cordial welcome extended him, until it appeared that there was no
prospect of a cessation of hostilities, when, for the first time in his
life, he was persuaded to retreat in the face of superior numbers.
"The excitement continued unabated, however, throughout the entire
evening, and it was not until near midnight that the crowd slowly
dispersed, and the peaceful little city of Ciudadela resumed its wonted
quiet, and its order-loving citizens, unaccustomed to all such sounds of
revelry by night, retired to their own little homesteads.
"During this time a fine band of music was stationed in the capacious
vestibule on the first floor of Señor Squella's mansion, and almost all
the prominent citizens of the place, with their families, called to pay
their respects to the city's guest, making the scene of excitement
within as pleasant as that without was tumultuous.
"On the following morning enthusiasm arose with the sun, once more took
firm possession of the street fronting the headquarters of the admiral,
and there kept anxious watch. I am confident that, had there been an
election that day for Governor of the Balearic Islands, or for King of
Spain itself, the admiral would have been chosen without opposition.
"At an early hour, accompanied by his entire suite, all surrounded and
followed by an admiring and excited throng, he was escorted by the
committee and other citizens to all the places of interest in and about
the city, and finally to the cathedral, in which he had scarcely been
seated before it was literally packed in every part by people, their
hundreds of eyes being riveted upon the pleasant countenance of the
unappalled admiral, who withstood the onslaught with as much _sang
froid_ as if accustomed to such trying ordeals.
"Soon after, the great organ pealed forth our own national melodies,
recalling our far-off land even to those whose knowledge of its power
and glory was limited to its history, and the sparse information derived
from the few Americans who have visited this secluded city."
After leaving the Mediterranean in April, 1868, the Franklin went to
Holland and Belgium, and thence made a second visit to England, in the
course of which Farragut was presented to Queen Victoria, and visited
Scotland and the north of England. In July he returned to the
Mediterranean and made a round of the Levant, visiting Constantinople; a
special indulgence to anchor before the city being accorded to the ship
bearing the flag of an admiral, whose exceptional achievements made it
unlikely that the privilege would shortly be construed into a precedent.
After a short stay in Athens, and a run up to Trieste at the head of the
Adriatic, the Franklin returned to Gibraltar, and thence sailed for New
York, which she reached on the 10th of November, 1868; thus concluding a
cruise which, from the beginning to the end, had resembled a triumphal
progress in the enthusiastic recognition everywhere extended to the
hero, whose battle-won blue flag she carried at her main.
Less than two years of life remained to Admiral Farragut when he
returned from the Mediterranean. The following summer of 1869 he visited
the California coast, where he had not been since he gave up the command
of the Mare Island Navy Yard in 1858. The welcome here accorded him was
as hearty as that extended in foreign countries, and mingled with the
admiration due to the conquering admiral was the recollection of warm
mutual affection and esteem engendered by four years of close
intercourse. Returning from San Francisco to the East, Farragut was
seized at Chicago with a violent illness, in which the heart was
affected. For some days his life was despaired of; and although by
careful nursing he recovered so as to resume his journey, it is doubtful
whether he ever regained the ground then lost. Several severe attacks
followed this one; and although he rallied with extraordinary rapidity,
thanks to a vigorous constitution, it was apparent that his health was
failing. A few months later, in the middle of winter, he consented to
take charge of the naval ceremonies in honor of the remains of Mr.
George Peabody, whose body had been brought to the United States in the
British ship-of-war Monarch, in recognition of his benevolence to the
poor of London. It was his last official duty, and the exposure
attendant upon funeral ceremonies in that bleak season was much to be
deprecated in a man of his years and failing vigor.
The following summer the Navy Department placed at his disposal the
dispatch steamer Tallapoosa, which took him and his family to
Portsmouth, New Hampshire; where he became the guest of the late
Rear-Admiral Pennock, then commandant of the Navy Yard at that place and
a connection by marriage of Mrs. Farragut. It was his last sea voyage,
and he appeared to have a presentiment that it was so; for as the ship
drew near the yard he arose from his sick bed at the sound of the salute
being fired in his honor, dressed himself in full uniform, and went on
deck. Looking up with a sad smile at his flag flying from the mast-head,
he said: "It would be well if I died _now_, in harness." Shortly after
his arrival, an old sailor who had charge of the sloop-of-war Dale, then
lying dismantled at the wharf, met there the admiral, who had wandered
on board. He looked about the ship and, as he left her to go ashore,
said: "This is the last time I shall ever tread the deck of a
man-of-war." This prediction proved true. He passed quietly away at the
commandant's house, on the 14th of August, 1870, aged sixty-nine years;
surrounded by his family and loving friends, including many of his old
companions in arms. The body was laid temporarily in Portsmouth, the
naval officers and citizens of the place uniting to pay every respect to
his memory.
In September the Navy Department sent the steam frigate Guerrière to
bring the admiral's body to New York. This ship running aground on
Nantucket Shoal, the remains were transferred to another vessel and so
conveyed to the city. The final and public funeral ceremonies were held
on the 30th of September; the day being observed as one of general
mourning, the city edifices draped, bells tolled, and minute guns fired.
In the procession was General Grant, then President of the United
States, with the members of his Cabinet, many military and naval
officers, ten thousand soldiers, and a large number of societies. By
these the coffin of the admiral was escorted to the railroad station,
whence it was transported to Woodlawn Cemetery, in Westchester County,
where the body now lies.
To his memory the United States Government has erected a colossal bronze
statue in the national capital, in Farragut Square, the work of Miss
Vinnie Ream. A committee of New York citizens have placed a similar
memorial, by Mr. St. Gauden, at the northwest corner of Madison Square
in that city. There is also a mural tablet, with a likeness of the
admiral, in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Incarnation; of which
he was a communicant after taking up his residence in New York.
CHAPTER XII.
THE CHARACTER OF ADMIRAL FARRAGUT.
The brilliant and victorious career which has secured for Farragut a
leading place among the successful naval commanders of all time was of
brief duration, and began at an age when men generally are thinking
rather of relaxing their efforts than of undertaking new and
extraordinary labors. The two great leaders of the United States armies
during the civil war--Grant and Sherman--were not over forty-five when
the return of peace released them from their cares; while Nelson and
Napoleon were but a year older than these when Trafalgar and Waterloo
terminated their long careers. Farragut was nearly sixty-one at the time
of passing the Mississippi forts, and his command of the Western Gulf
Squadron lasted not quite three years, or rather less than the ordinary
duration of a naval cruise in times of peace. Though not unprecedented,
the display of activity and of sustained energy made by him at such an
advanced period of life is unusual; and the severity of the strain upon
the mental and physical powers at that age is evidenced by the
prostration of Farragut himself, a man of exceptional vigor of body and
of a mental tone which did not increase his burdens by an imaginative
exaggeration of difficulties. He never committed the error, against
which Napoleon cautioned his generals, "_de se faire un tableau_." On
the other hand, the study of his operations shows that, while always
sanguine and ready to take great risks for the sake of accomplishing a
great result, he had a clear appreciation of the conditions necessary to
success and did not confound the impracticable with the merely
hazardous. Of this, his reluctance to ascend the Mississippi in 1862,
and his insistence in 1864 upon the necessity of ironclads, despite his
instinctive dislike to that class of vessel, before undertaking the
entrance to Mobile Bay, are conspicuous illustrations; and must be
carefully kept in view by any one desirous of adequately appreciating
his military character.
As in the case of Nelson, there is a disposition to attribute Farragut's
successes simply to dash--to going straight at the enemy regardless of
method and of consequences. In the case of the great British admiral the
tendency of this view, which has been reproduced in successive
biographies down to the latest, is to sink one of the first of naval
commanders beneath the level of the pugilist, who in his fighting does
not disdain science, to that of the game-cock; and it is doubtless to be
attributed to the emphasis he himself laid upon that direct, rapid, and
vigorous action without which no military operations, however wisely
planned, can succeed. In the want of this, rather than of great
professional acquirements, will be most frequently found the difference
between the successful and the unsuccessful general; and consequently
Nelson, who had seen so much of failure arising from slowness and
over-caution, placed, and rightly placed, more stress upon vigor and
rapidity, in which most are found deficient, than upon the methods which
many understand, however ill they may apply them. Like the distinguished
Frenchman, Suffren, who is said to have stigmatized tactics as "the veil
of timidity," yet illustrated in his headlong dashes the leading
principles of all sound tactics, Nelson carefully planned the chief
outlines of operations, in the execution of which he manifested the
extremes of daring and of unyielding firmness. There was in him no
failure to comprehend that right direction, as well as vigor and weight,
is necessary to a blow that would tell; but experience had taught him
that the average man wants to be much too sure of success before
venturing to move, and hence the insistence upon that one among the
features of his military character which to the superficial observer has
gradually obscured all others. Vigor even to desperateness of action
both Nelson and Farragut on occasion showed--recklessness never. Neither
fought as one who beateth the air; and while for neither can be claimed
an entire exemption from mistakes, the great outlines of their action
can safely challenge hostile criticism.
While, however, both in their respective spheres illustrated the great
leading principles of war, the circumstances under which they were
called to practice them were too diverse to permit any close comparison,
or parallel, to be instituted between their actions. Nelson, for the
most part, shone upon the battle-field--by his tactical combinations, by
the rapidity and boldness with which he carried out plans previously
laid, or, on occasion, by the astonishing _coup d'oeil_ and daring
with which, in unforeseen crises, he snatched and secured escaping
victory. Farragut in actual battle showed that careful adaptation of
means to ends which has a just claim to be considered tactical science;
but his great merit was in the clearness with which he recognized the
decisive point of a campaign, or of a particular operation, and threw
upon it the force under his direction. Nelson acted chiefly against
ships, against forces of a type essentially the same as his own, and
accessible in all parts to his attack, because belonging to the same
element; he might therefore hope to overcome them by the superior
quality of his crews or by his better tactical dispositions. Farragut
contended with fortifications, whose military powers, offensive and
defensive, were essentially different from those of a fleet. Their
endurance so greatly exceeded that of his ships as to exclude any hope
of reducing them by direct attack; and their advantages of position,
deliberately chosen and difficult of approach, could not be outweighed
by any tactical arrangement open to him to adopt. He was therefore
compelled to seek their fall by indirect means, by turning and isolating
them, by acting against their communications--a conception not tactical,
but strategic.
It is not meant to imply that the military talents of either admiral
were confined to the particular field ascribed to him, but simply that
in general they were led by circumstances to illustrate that chiefly.
Nelson in his fine campaign in the Baltic evinced his profound
intuitions in the science of strategy; and Farragut, as has been said,
showed no mean tactical ability in the provisions made for his several
battles. The dispositions to be adopted were with him the subject of
very careful consideration; and before Mobile he spent hours with his
flag lieutenant studying, by the aid of little wooden models, the
different positions in which the ships might be placed. Afterward he had
the squadron get under way several times to practice keeping close
order, and changing formation and course.
Like all men who have achieved eminence, the secret of Admiral
Farragut's success is to be found in natural aptitudes carefully
improved, and in a corresponding opportunity for action. How much he was
indebted to the latter, is evident from the fact that he had passed his
sixtieth year before his great qualities were manifested to the world.
He was fortunate also, as was Nelson, in the conditions which he was
called to meet. Great as were the difficulties confronting each, and
brilliantly as they rose to the demand made upon their energies, it may
safely be said that more perfect preparation upon the part of their
enemies would either have detracted from the completeness of their
victories; or else, by imposing greater deliberation and more methodical
execution, would have robbed their exploits of that thunderbolt
character which imparts such dramatic brilliancy to the Nile and
Trafalgar, to New Orleans and Mobile Bay. A modern torpedo line would
not leave the gap by which Farragut first meant to profit, nor would it
be crossed with the impunity he found; nor could Nelson in his day,
without courting destruction, have used against a thoroughly efficient
enemy the tactics that admirably suited the conditions in Aboukir Bay
and off Cape Trafalgar. But these considerations do not diminish the
credit of either admiral, though they help to explain the fullness of
their success, and justify proceedings which under different
circumstances would be unjustifiable. Rather, it may be said that, in
the adaptation of their measures to the conditions opposed to them, what
would otherwise invite condemnation as rashness, demands recognition as
genius.
For Farragut had a natural genius for war, to which scarcely any opening
had been offered before the unexpected calamity of the great civil
strife burst upon the country. In estimating his military character and
rightly apportioning the credit due to his great achievements, much
stress must be laid upon the constant effort for professional
improvement made by him from his early life. "Without the opportunity
and the environment which enabled him to develop himself," writes one
who knew him for over forty years, "Farragut might have gone to his rest
comparatively unknown; yet among his comrades and contemporaries in the
navy he would have been recognized as no ordinary man, no merely routine
naval officer, who kept his watch and passed through life as easily as
he could." "He told me," writes another, who first met him after his
flag was flying, "that there are comparatively few men from whom one
could not learn something, and that a naval officer should always be
adding to his knowledge; it might enable him to be more useful some day;
that it was hard to say what a naval officer might not have to do." Even
after the war, when his reputation was at its height, in visiting
European ports he never for a moment lost sight of this duty of
professional acquirement. Not a harbor was visited that he did not
observe critically its chances for defense by sea or land. "Who knows,"
said he, "but that my services may be needed here some day?" "Ah, Mr.
Tucker," said Earl St. Vincent to his secretary when planning an attack
upon Brest, "had Captain Jervis[Z] surveyed Brest when he visited it in
1774, in 1800 Lord St. Vincent would not have been in want of his
information."
[Footnote Z: Captain Jervis and Earl St. Vincent were the same
officer under different appellations.]
It was not merely in the acquisition of knowledge, commonly so called,
that this practice contributed to prepare Farragut for his great mission
as a naval commander-in-chief, but also in the discipline of character
and in the development of natural capacities admirably suited for that
position. It should not be overlooked that before the war, and now again
in our own day, the idea of professional improvement in the United
States Navy has fastened for its fitting subject upon the development of
the material of war, to the comparative exclusion of the study of naval
warfare. This naturally results from the national policy, which does not
propose to put afloat a fleet in the proper sense of the word; and whose
ideal is a number, more or less small, of cruisers neither fitted nor
intended for combined action. Under these circumstances, the details of
the internal economy of the single ship usurp in the professional mind
an undue proportion of the attention which, in a rightly constituted
navy, might far better be applied to the study of naval tactics, in the
higher sense of that word, and of naval campaigns. Farragut could not
but feel the influence of this tendency, so strongly marked in the
service to which he belonged; the more so, as it is a thoroughly good
tendency when not pushed to an exclusive extent. But here the habit of
study, and stretching in every direction his interest in matters
professional, stood him in good stead, and prepared him unconsciously
for destinies that could not have been foreseen. The custom of reading
had made him familiar with the biography and history of his profession,
the school to which the great Napoleon recommended all who would fit
themselves for high military command; and of which a recent
distinguished authority has said that it may be questioned whether a
formulated art of war can be said to exist, except as the embodiment of
the practice of great captains illustrated in their campaigns.
From these, with his great natural aptitudes for war, Farragut quickly
assimilated its leading principles, which he afterward so signally
illustrated in act and embodied in maxims of his own that have already
been quoted. He did not employ the terminology of the art, which, though
possibly pedantic in sound, is invaluable for purposes of discussion;
but he expressed its leading principles in pithy, homely phrases of his
own, which showed how accurate his grasp of it was. "If once you get in
a soldier's rear, he is gone," was probably in part a bit of
good-natured chaff at the sister profession; but it sums up in a few
words the significance and strategic importance of his course in passing
the batteries of the river forts, of Port Hudson and of Mobile, and
brings those brilliant actions into strict conformity with the soundest
principles of war. The phrases, whose frequent repetition shows how deep
a hold they had taken upon him--"The more you hurt the enemy the less he
will hurt you"--"The _best_ protection against the enemy's fire is a
well-directed fire from our own guns"--sum up one of the profoundest of
all military truths, easily confessed but with difficulty lived up to,
and which in these days of armor protection needs to be diligently
recalled as a qualifying consideration. It is, in fact, a restatement of
the oft-admitted, readily-forgotten maxim that offense is the best
defense. "I believe in celerity," said he, when announcing his
determination soon to pass the Mississippi forts; and good reason had he
to congratulate himself that this faith showed itself in his works below
New Orleans, and to lament before Mobile the failure of his Government
to observe the maxim which all acknowledge. "Five minutes," said Nelson,
"may make the difference between victory and defeat." "False
(circuitous) routes and lost moments," wrote Napoleon, "are the
determining elements of naval campaigns." All admit the value of time;
but with what apathetic deliberation is often watched the flight of
hours which are measuring the race between two enemies!
The personal character of Admiral Farragut afforded the firm natural
foundation upon which alone a great military character can be built; for
while no toleration should be shown to the absurd belief that military
eminence leaps fully grown into the arena, like Minerva from the head of
Jupiter--that, unlike every other kind of perfection, it grows wild and
owes nothing to care, to arduous study, to constant preparation--it is
still true that it can be developed only upon great natural aptitudes.
The distinction conveyed by a phrase of Jomini, applied to Carnot, the
great war minister of the French Revolution, is one that it is well for
military and naval officers to bear constantly in mind. "Carnot," he
says, although a soldier by profession, "was rather a man with a natural
genius for war than an accomplished (_instruit_) officer;" and to the
lack of that studious preparation which marked Napoleon he attributes
the mistakes which characterized some of Carnot's projects, although as
a whole his career showed profound intuitions in the conduct of war. It
is open to many able men to be accomplished and valuable officers; a few
only--how few, the annals of the past show--receive the rare natural
gifts which in their perfect combination make the great captain the
highest manifestation of power attainable by human faculties.
The acquirements of the accomplished officer may enable him to see the
right thing to be done under given conditions, and yet fail to lift him
to the height of due performance. It is in the strength of purpose, in
the power of rapid decision, of instant action, and, if need be, of
strenuous endurance through a period of danger or of responsibility,
when the terrifying alternatives of war are vibrating in the balance,
that the power of a great captain mainly lies. It is in the courage to
apply knowledge under conditions of exceptional danger; not merely to
see the true direction for effort to take, but to dare to follow it,
accepting all the risks and all the chances inseparable from war, facing
all that defeat means in order thereby to secure victory if it may be
had. It was upon these inborn moral qualities that reposed the conduct
which led Farragut to fame. He had a clear eye for the true key of a
military situation, a quick and accurate perception of the right thing
to do at a critical moment, a firm grip upon the leading principles of
war; but he might have had all these and yet miserably failed. He was a
man of most determined will and character, ready to tread down or fight
through any obstacles which stood in the path he saw fit to follow. Of
this a conspicuous instance was given in the firmness with which he
withstood the secession clamor of Norfolk, his outspoken defense of the
unpopular Government measures, and the promptitude with which he left
the place, sundering so many associations at the call of duty; and to
this exhibition of strength of purpose, through the impression made upon
Mr. Fox, was largely due his selection for command in the Gulf.
One of the greatest of naval commanders, whose experience of men
extended through an unusually long and varied career--Earl St.
Vincent--has declared that the true test of a man's courage is his power
to bear responsibility; and Farragut's fearlessness of responsibility in
order to accomplish necessary ends, while yet captain of a single ship,
was the subject of admiring comment among his subordinates, who are not
usually prone to recognize that quality in their commanders. "I have as
much pleasure in running into port in a gale of wind," he wrote, "as
ever a boy did in a feat of skill." The same characteristic was markedly
shown under the weight of far greater issues in his determination to
pass the river forts, in spite of remonstrances from his most able
lieutenant, of cautious suggestions from other commanding officers, and
with only the ambiguous instructions of the Navy Department to justify
his action. It was not that the objections raised were trivial. They
were of the most weighty and valid character, and in disregarding them
Farragut showed not only the admirable insight which fastened upon the
true military solution, but also the courage which dared to accept on
his sole responsibility the immense risks of disaster which had to be
taken.
The same moral force showed itself again, in combination with the most
rapid decision and strength of purpose, when his ship was nearly thrown
on shore under the batteries of Port Hudson; and yet more in the highest
degree at that supreme moment of his life when, headed off from the path
he had himself laid down, he led his fleet across the torpedo line in
Mobile Bay. To the same quality must also be attributed the resolution
to take his ships above Port Hudson, without orders, at the critical
period of the campaign of 1863; and it is to be regretted in the
interest of his renown that the merit of that fine decision, both in its
military correctness and in the responsibility assumed, has not been
more adequately appreciated. For the power to take these momentous
decisions, Farragut was indebted to nature. He indeed justified them and
his general course of action by good and sufficient reasons, but the
reasons carried instant conviction to him because they struck a kindred
chord in his breast. Speaking on one occasion of his gallant and
accomplished fleet captain, Percival Drayton, he said: "Drayton does not
know fear, and would fight the devil himself, but he believes in acting
as if the enemy can never be caught unprepared; whereas I believe in
judging him by ourselves, and my motto in action," he continued, quoting
the celebrated words of Danton, "is, 'L'audace, et encore de l'audace,
et toujours de l'audace.'"
With all his fearlessness and determination, severity was not one of
Admiral Farragut's characteristics. He was easily approachable,
entering readily into conversation with all; and added much to the
labors of his position as commanding officer by his great patience in
listening to matters to which a subordinate might have attended. "His
kindness was what most impressed me," says one officer who was a very
young man when first reporting to him for duty. Another, who as a
midshipman saw much of him, writes: "He had a winning smile and a most
charming manner, and was jovial and talkative. If any officer or man had
not spontaneous enthusiasm, he certainly infused it into him." Captain
Drayton, who had many opportunities of observing, once said of him: "I
did not believe any man could be great if he did not know how to say
'No,' but I see he can; for certainly here is a great man, and he is too
kind-hearted to say 'No' in some cases where it should be said."
In person, Admiral Farragut was not above the medium size--about five
feet six and a half inches high, upright in carriage, well-proportioned,
alert and graceful in his movements. In early and middle life he was
rather slight than heavy in frame; and it was not until the war, with
the prolonged physical inactivity entailed by the river and blockade
service, that he took on flesh. Up to that time his weight was not over
one hundred and fifty pounds. He was very expert in all physical
exercises, and retained his activity to the verge of old age. Even after
his fiftieth year it was no unusual thing for him to call up some of the
crew of the ship under his command and have a bout with the
single-sticks. He felt great confidence in his mastery of his sword,
which he invariably wore ashore; and when returning to the wharves at
night, through low parts of a town where there was danger of
molestation, he relied upon it to defend himself. "Any one wearing a
sword," he used to say, "ought to be ashamed not to be proficient in its
use."
For many years it was his habit on his birthday to go through certain
physical exercises, or, as he worded it to a young officer of the fleet
shortly before passing the river forts, to take a handspring; until he
failed in doing this he should not, he said, feel that he was growing
old. This practice he did not discontinue till after he was sixty. A
junior officer of the Hartford writes: "When some of us youngsters were
going through some gymnastic exercises (which he encouraged), he
smilingly took hold of his left foot, by the toe of the shoe, with his
right hand, and hopped his right foot through the bight without letting
go." The lightness with which he clambered up the rigging of the
flag-ship when entering Mobile Bay, and again over the side to see the
extent of injury inflicted by the collision with the Lackawanna,
sufficiently prove that up to the age of sixty-three he was capable of
showing upon occasion the agility of a young man. This bodily vigor
powerfully supported the energy of his mind, and carried him from
daylight to dark, and from vessel to vessel of his fleet, in seasons of
emergency, to see for himself that necessary work was being done without
slackness; illustrating the saying attributed to Wellington, that a
general was not too old when he could visit the outposts in person and
on horseback.
The features of the admiral can best be realized from the admirable
frontispiece. As a young man he had the sallow, swarthy complexion
usually associated with his Spanish blood. His hair at the same period
was dark brown, becoming in middle life almost black. In his later years
he was partially bald--a misfortune attributed by him to the sunstroke
from which he suffered in Tunis, and which he to some extent concealed
by the arrangement of the hair. The contour of the face was oval, the
cheek-bones rather prominent, until the cheeks filled out as he became
fleshier during the war; the eyes hazel, nose aquiline, lips small and
compressed. At no time could he have been called handsome; but his face
always possessed the attraction given by animation of expression and by
the ready sympathy which vividly reflected his emotions, easily stirred
by whatever excited his amusement, anger, or sorrow. To conceal his
feelings was to him always difficult, and, when deeply moved,
impossible. The old quartermaster who lashed him in the rigging at
Mobile Bay told afterward how the admiral came on deck again as the poor
fellows who had been killed were being laid out on the port side of the
quarter-deck. "It was the only time I ever saw the old gentleman cry,"
he said, "but the tears came in his eyes like a little child." A casual
but close observer, who visited him on board the flag-ship in New
Orleans, wrote thus: "His manners are mild and prepossessing, but there
is nothing striking in his presence, and the most astute physiognomist
would scarcely suspect the heroic qualities that lay concealed beneath
so simple and unpretending an exterior; unless, indeed, one might chance
to see him, as we did shortly afterward, just on receipt of the news
from Galveston, or again on the eve of battle at Port Hudson. On such
occasions the flashing eye and passionate energy of his manner revealed
the spirit of the ancient vikings."
Throughout his life, from the time that as a lad still in his teens he
showed to Mr. Folsom his eagerness to learn, Farragut was ever diligent
in the work of self-improvement, both professional and general. His eyes
were weak from youth, but he to some extent remedied this disability by
employing readers in the different ships on board which he sailed; and
to the day of his death he always had some book on hand. Having an
excellent memory, he thus accumulated a great deal of information
besides that gained from observation and intercourse with the world.
Hobart Pasha, a British officer in the Turkish Navy and an accomplished
seaman, wrote: "Admiral Farragut, with whom I had many conversations,
was one of the most intelligent naval officers of my acquaintance." He
loved an argument, and, though always good-tempered in it, was tenacious
of his own convictions when he thought the facts bore out his way of
interpreting their significance. When told by a phrenologist that he had
an unusual amount of self-esteem, he replied: "It is true, I have; I
have full confidence in myself and in my judgment"--a trait of supreme
importance to a man called to high command. But against the defects of
this quality he was guarded by the openness of mind which results from
the effort to improve and to keep abreast of the times in which one
lives.
Farragut was naturally conservative, as seamen generally tend to be; but
while averse to sudden changes, and prone to look with some distrust
upon new and untried weapons of war, he did not refuse them, nor did
they find in him that prejudice which forbids a fair trial and rejects
reasonable proof. Of ironclads and rifled guns, both which in his day
were still in their infancy, he at times spoke disparagingly; but his
objection appears to have arisen not from a doubt of their efficacy--the
one for protection, the other for length of range--but from an opinion
as to their effect upon the spirit of the service. In this there is an
element of truth as well as of prejudice; for the natural tendency of
the extreme effort for protection undoubtedly is to obscure the
fundamental truth, which he constantly preached, that the best
protection is to injure the enemy. Nor was his instinct more at fault in
recognizing that the rage for material advance, though a good thing,
carries with it the countervailing disposition to rely upon perfected
material rather than upon accomplished warriors to decide the issue of
battle. To express a fear such as Farragut's, that a particular
development of the material of war would injure the tone of the service,
sounds to some as the mere echo of Lever's commissary, who reasoned that
the abolition of pig-tails would sap the military spirit of the
nation--only that, and nothing more. It was, on the contrary, the
accurate intuition of a born master of war, who feels, even without
reasoning, that men are always prone to rely upon instruments rather
than upon living agents--to think the armor greater than the man.
The self-confidence which Farragut exhibited in his military
undertakings was not only a natural trait; it rested also upon a
reasonable conviction of his mastery of his profession, resulting from
long years of exclusive and sustained devotion. He did not carry the
same feeling into other matters with which he had no familiarity; and he
was jealously careful not to hazard the good name, which was the honor
of his country as well as of himself, by attaching it to enterprises
whose character he did not understand, or to duties for which he did not
feel fitted. Accordingly, he refused a request made to him to allow his
name to be used as director of a company, accompanied by an intimation
that stock representing one hundred thousand dollars had been placed in
his name on the books. "I have determined," he replied, "to decline
entering into any business which I have neither the time nor perhaps the
ability to attend to." In like manner he refused to allow his name to be
proposed for nomination as a presidential candidate. "My entire life has
been spent in the navy; by a steady perseverance and devotion to it I
have been favored with success in my profession, and to risk that
reputation by entering a new career at my advanced age, and that career
one of which I have little or no knowledge, is more than any one has a
right to expect of me."
Farragut was essentially and unaffectedly a religious man. The
thoughtfulness and care with which he prepared for his greater
undertakings, the courage and fixed determination to succeed with which
he went into battle, were tempered and graced by a profound submission
to the Almighty will. Though not obtruded on the public, his home
letters evince how constantly the sense of this dependence was present
to his thoughts; and he has left on record that, in the moment of
greatest danger to his career, his spirit turned instinctively to God
before gathering up its energies into that sublime impulse, whose
lustre, as the years go by, will more and more outshine his other deeds
as the crowning glory of them all--when the fiery admiral rallied his
staggered column, and led it past the hostile guns and the lost Tecumseh
into the harbor of Mobile.
INDEX.
Anecdotes of Admiral Farragut, 11, 12, 22, 26, 35, 45-49, 58, 92,
112, 124, 168-170, 267, 281, 286, 288, 292, 297, 306, 313,
318, 319, 321, 322, 323, 325;
lashed in rigging at Mobile, 272;
visit to Ciudadela, his father's birthplace, 300.
Arkansas, Confederate ironclad, description of, 189;
dash through United States fleet at Vicksburg, 191;
destruction of, 193.
Bailey, Captain Theodorus, U. S. N., leads the fleet at the passage of
Mississippi forts, 149, 151-155;
demands surrender of New Orleans, 168 _et seq._
Banks, General Nathaniel P., relieves Butler in command in the
Southwest, 201;
movement in support of Farragut's passage of Port Hudson, 211;
operations west of the Mississippi, 229, 232;
Port Hudson surrenders to, 235.
Barnard, Major J. G., U. S. Engineers, opinion as to effect of passing
Mississippi forts, 121.
Battles:
Essex with Phoebe and Cherub, 38-44;
passage of New Orleans forts, 149 _et seq._;
passage of batteries at Vicksburg, 187, 192;
Port Hudson, 211 _et seq._;
Mobile Bay, 269 _et seq._
Baudin, French admiral, sketch of, 77;
attack on Vera Cruz by, 79-83.
Bell, Commodore Henry H., U. S. N., fleet captain to Farragut
in 1862, 132, 140;
breaking barrier below river forts, 132;
extract from journal of, 140;
hoists U. S. flag over New Orleans, 171;
at Galveston, 202;
at Rio Grande, 240.
Blair, Montgomery, account of interview with Farragut concerning
New Orleans expedition, 124.
Boggs, Commander Charles S., U. S. N., commands Varuna at passage of
Mississippi forts, 163, 164.
Brooklyn, U. S. steamer, Farragut commands, 1858-'60, in Gulf, 103-105.
Buchanan, Franklin, Confederate admiral, at Mobile, 244, 279, 281-288.
Butler, General Benjamin F., commands New Orleans
expedition, 164, 179, 291.
Caldwell, Lieut. C. H. B., U. S. N., commands Itasca in
Mississippi River, 132, 162;
daring action in breaking chain below forts, 133, 150;
commands ironclad Essex at Port Hudson, 220.
Craven, Commander Tunis A. M., U. S. N., commands monitor
Tecumseh at Mobile, 268;
eagerness to engage Tennessee, and consequent error, 273, 274;
goes down with his ship, 275.
Drayton, Captain Percival, U. S. N., Farragut's chief of staff
at Mobile, 98, 250, 269, 270, 272, 278, 281, 282, 292, 319, 320.
Essex, U. S. frigate, building of, 14;
armament, 15;
history of, 16;
cruise under Porter, 17-44;
capture of, by Phoebe and Cherub, 44;
fate of, 50.
Essex, U. S. ironclad, 192, 193, 211, 220, 232.
Essex Junior, prize to Essex, and equipped as a tender to her, 25;
mentioned, 26, 27, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36;
conveys to the United States the survivors of the action, 49, 50.
Farragut, Admiral David G.:
family history, 1-6, 300;
birth, 4;
appointed midshipman, 8;
joins frigate Essex, 11;
cruise in Essex, 11-50;
first battle, between Essex and two British ships, 38-44;
returns to United States, 49;
service in Mediterranean, 1815-'20, 53-62;
returns to United States, 62;
serves in Mosquito fleet in West Indies, 1823, 63-67;
first marriage, 67;
promoted to lieutenant, 71;
Brazil station, 1828-'34, 71-74;
witnesses French attack on Vera Cruz, 1838, 75-88;
death of first wife, 88;
promoted to commander, 89;
Brazil station again, 1841, 90-94;
second marriage, 94;
Mexican war, 94-97;
ordnance duties, 97-98;
commandant Mare Island yard, 99-101;
promoted to captain, 101;
commands Brooklyn in Gulf, 1858-'60, 101-105;
question of secession, 107-112;
abandons his home in Norfolk and settles in New York, 112;
chosen to command New Orleans expedition, 122-125;
appointed to command West Gulf squadron, December, 1861, 125;
assumes command at Ship Island, 127;
operations below Mississippi forts, 127-149;
passage of the forts, 149-165;
surrender of New Orleans, 166-176;
operations above New Orleans, 1862, 177-195;
promoted to rear-admiral, 197;
blockade operations, 1862-'63, 196-204;
operations above New Orleans, 1863, 203-235;
passage of batteries at Port Hudson, 211-216;
effect of this passage, 222-229;
relinquishes to Porter command above New Orleans, 235;
return North, Aug., 1863, 235;
resumes command in Gulf, Jan., 1864, 243;
blockade duties, 249-254;
battle of Mobile Bay, 268-289;
final return North, 293;
enthusiastic reception in New York, 294;
promoted to vice-admiral, 295;
temporary service in James River, 296;
promoted to admiral, 298;
commands European station, 298-304;
visit to his father's birthplace in Minorca, 299-304;
return to United States, 304;
declining health, 305;
death and obsequies, 306;
monuments of, 307;
analysis of character, 308-326.
Military characteristics:
Personal courage, 44-46, 61, 62, 161, 277, 317-319;
moral courage in assuming responsibility, 26, 60, 124-126, 135,
137-140, 144, 147, 222, 223, 276-280, 318;
hopefulness, 124, 252, 277;
strategic insight, 137, 138, 141 _et seq_., 147, 172, 178-185,
200, 207, 208, 231, 238, 311, 315;
tactical skill, 149, 150, 154, 217-220, 239, 260-263, 311;
self-reliance, 323;
comparison with Nelson, 309-312.
Personal characteristics:
Appearance and bodily strength, 51, 60, 320-322;
gratefulness, 5, 52, 60, 67;
self-improvement, 51, 57-59, 69, 71, 87, 97, 313-315, 323;
habits of observation, 57, 69, 75, 83-88, 94, 98, 99, 124, 313, 314;
thoughtfulness and decision, 54, 70, 106 _et seq_., 113, 123, 124,
139-141, 147, 208, 211, 216, 239, 260, 264, 277;
family relations, 65, 74, 88, 107-109, 227, 265-268;
kindliness, 320, 322;
religious feelings, 252, 266, 277, 292, 325.
See also "Anecdotes."
Farragut, George, father of Admiral Farragut:
birth, 1;
history, 2-5;
death, 6.
Florida, Confederate ship of war (first called Oreto), runs blockade
into Mobile, 197;
escapes, 203;
effect on Farragut, 204.
Folsom, Chaplain Charles, U. S. Navy, influence on Farragut's
early life, 57-60.
Fox, Gustavus V., assistant secretary of the navy, 1861-'65, 118;
relations to New Orleans expedition, 118-124, 318;
urges Farragut to ascend the Mississippi, 183.
Gaines, Fort, defense of Mobile Bay, 247, 259, 268;
surrender of, 290.
Garibaldi, services in war between Argentine and Uruguay, 93.
Granger, United States General, commands at siege of Forts Gaines
and Morgan, 268, 290, 291.
Grant, General Ulysses S, analogy between his turning the position
of Vicksburg and Farragut's turning the Mississippi
forts, 135-138 (and note, 137);
anxieties of, in 1862, 198;
connection between his command and Farragut's, 198, 199;
takes the line of the Mississippi, 205;
takes chief command at Vicksburg, 206;
responsibility assumed in cutting loose from his base
before Vicksburg, 223;
opinion as to importance of Farragut's passage of Port
Hudson, 224, 226;
begins turning movement against Vicksburg, 229;
views as to Red River expedition and Mobile, 1864, 245, 246;
statesmanlike regard to political conditions in military
operations, 137 (note), 251;
present at Farragut's funeral, 306.
Harrison, Lieutenant N. B., commands Cayuga, leading fleet at
passage of Mississippi forts, 159.
Hartford, U. S. steamer, Farragut's flag-ship, description of, 126.
Hillyar, James, British naval captain, commands Phoebe in battle
with Essex, 38-44;
disregard of neutral rights, 32, 39, 40;
relations with Porter, etc., 33-37.
Incident: Farragut being lashed in rigging at Mobile, 272.
Indianola, U. S. iron-clad, capture of, and effect upon Farragut's
movements, 209-211, 224.
Jackson, Fort, defense of New Orleans, mentioned, 65;
description of, 119, 127, 258;
surrender of, 171;
causes of the fall of, 141-147.
Jenkins, Rear-Admiral Thornton A., chief of staff to Farragut, 1863,
203, 208, 211, 234;
commands Richmond at battle of Mobile, 268, 269.
Jouett, Lieutenant-Commander James E. (now Rear-Admiral), commands
Metacomet at battle of Mobile Bay, 271, 272, 278;
captures Confederate gunboat Selma, 280.
Kennon, Beverley, Lieutenant, Confederate navy, commands Governor Moore
at New Orleans and sinks U. S. steamer Varuna, 158, 159, 163.
Kimberley, Lieutenant-Commander Lewis A. (now Rear-Admiral), executive
officer of Farragut's flag-ship, 281.
Lovell, Mansfield, Confederate general, opinion as to cause of fall
of Mississippi forts, 145.
Manassas, Confederate ram, description of, 156;
part at battle of New Orleans, 157, 159.
Mare Island, Farragut's command of, 1854-'58, 99-101;
visit to, 304.
Matamoras, Mexican port, importance to blockade-running, 207, 240.
McClellan, General George B., relations to New Orleans
expedition, 120, 121.
Minorca, Island of, birthplace of George Farragut, 1;
Farragut's visits to, 56, 57, 300;
enthusiastic reception given to Admiral Farragut, 300-304.
Mississippi River, importance of, in civil war, 115-117, 199, 200,
207, 222, 223, 237, 238.
Mobile, Farragut's wish to attack, in 1862, 185;
blockade of, 196, 197, 203, 204, 249, 250;
importance of, 241, 242;
description of approaches to, from the sea, and defenses of, 246-248,
258, 259, 260, 264, 265;
battle of Mobile Bay, 269-289.
Monitors, description of, 255.
Morgan, Fort, defense of Mobile Bay, 247, 258, 259, 271, 290;
surrender of, 290.
Mosquito fleet, origin and service of, 63-66.
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, mentioned, 77, 136, 143, 308,
309, 315, 317.
Napoleon, Louis, Emperor of the French: Purpose to recognize
Confederacy, 173;
effect upon, of fall of New Orleans, 175, 176;
Farragut dines with, 298.
Navy, United States, inadequate strength of, at different
periods, 6, 13, 86, 101, 116, 117, 314;
consequent bad results, 6-8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 50, 102, 223,
242, 314;
reasons for partial successes of 1812, and delayed action
in 1861, 101, 102;
character and importance of services, in civil war, 135-137,
142, 146, 171-176, 180-182, 199, 206, 207, 222-225, 231
(and note), 233-235, 238, 242, 244, 291.
Nelson, Horatio, British Admiral, mentioned, 70, 160, 240 (and
note), 266, 308;
military character contrasted with that of Farragut, 309-312.
New Orleans, expedition against, 115-176; defenses of, 127-129,
131, 136, 145, 146, 165;
scenes at surrender of, 166-172;
effect of fall of, 172-176;
Confederate demonstrations against, 1863, 233.
Oreto, see FLORIDA.
Pemberton, Confederate general, opinion as to effect of Farragut's
passage by Port Hudson, 224, 225.
Pensacola, evacuated by Confederates, 196;
importance to navy as base of operations, 196, 249, 268.
Perkins, Lieutenant-Commander George H., U. S. N., account of Cayuga
at passage of Mississippi forts, 151-155, 159;
accompanies Captain Bailey to demand surrender of New Orleans, 169;
commands Chickasaw at Mobile, 276, 285, 287, 288.
Porter, Captain David, U. S. N., commands naval station at
New Orleans, 4;
adopts David Farragut, 5;
commands frigate Essex, 11-44;
professional character, 31, 55;
battle with Phoebe and Cherub, 38-44;
navy commissioner, 63;
commands Mosquito fleet, 63-66;
court-martialed, 66;
leaves navy, 66;
Minister to Constantinople, 67;
death, 67.
Porter, Admiral David D., U. S. N., commanding mortar flotilla,
121-123, 130, 152, 171, 186, 188;
opinion on passing the Mississippi forts, 138, 139;
commanding Mississippi squadron, 206, 209, 210, 226, 229, 230, 231;
opinion on Farragut's dash past Port Hudson, 223, 224;
takes over from Farragut command of Mississippi above New
Orleans, 235;
Red River expedition, 254;
harmonious co-operation with Grant, 206, 291.
Port Hudson, position of, 195;
importance of, to Confederates, 199, 201, 207, 209, 222-225,
232, 233;
armament of, 211; passage of, by Farragut, 211-216;
surrender of, 235.
Queen of the West, U. S. ram, capture of, and effect on Farragut's
movements, 209-211.
Red River expedition, purpose of, 253;
militarily erroneous, 245, 246;
disastrous termination, 254;
consequences, 246.
River-defense fleet, Confederate, description of, 156, 158.
Rosas, Argentine Dictator, 72, 74, 91, 92.
St. Philip, Fort, defense of New Orleans, 119, 128, 148, 153, 258;
surrender of, 171, causes of fall of, 141-147.
San Juan de Ulloa, Mexican fort, description of, 79;
French attack on, 80;
Farragut's opinion as to attack on, by U. S. Navy in 1846, 95.
Sherman, General W. T., difference of opinion with Grant, 137
(and note);
attack on Vicksburg, 205;
raid upon Meridian, 253.
Smith, Martin L., Confederate general, opinion as to cause of fall
of Mississippi forts, 145.
Szymanski, Confederate colonel, opinion as to effect of Farragut's
passage of the Mississippi forts, 146.
Tecumseh, U. S. monitor, sunk at Mobile, 256, 268, 271, 273, 274, 275.
Tennessee, Confederate iron-clad, description of, 248, 256-258;
part taken by, in battle of Mobile Bay, 265, 273, 274, 275, 279-288.
Texas, importance of, to Confederacy, 207, 209, 237.
Varuna, U. S. steamer, sunk at passage of Mississippi forts, 163.
Vera Cruz, French attack on, 75-83;
Farragut's report on, 83-88.
Vicksburg, Farragut's first advance against, 181, 182;
his reluctance to a second advance, 182-184;
second advance, 186;
situation of, 186;
Farragut passes batteries, 187;
return below, 192;
importance of Vicksburg to Confederacy, 180, 187, 194, 195, 233;
Farragut's third advance to, 226;
surrender of, 235.
Warley, A. F., Lieut., Confederate navy, commands Manassas at battle
of New Orleans, 157, 158.
Watson, Lieut. John C., (now captain), U. S. N., Farragut's
flag-lieutenant, 1862-'65, 161, 260, 272.
Welles, Gideon, Secretary of the Navy, 1861-'69, 117;
connection with New Orleans expedition, 119, 120, 121, 125, 126;
impressions of Farragut, 124;
urges Farragut up the Mississippi, 177, 181;
letter of, 222 (note).
Wolseley, Lord, views as to the cause of reduction of Mississippi
forts criticised, 142-147.
THE END.
* * * * *
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
_MEMOIRS ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY OF NAPOLEON I, from 1802 to 1815._ By
Baron CLAUDE-FRANÇOIS DE MÉNEVAL, Private Secretary to Napoleon. Edited
by his Grandson, Baron NAPOLEON JOSEPH DE MÉNEVAL. With Portraits and
Autograph Letters. In three volumes. 8vo. Cloth, $6.00.
"The Baron de Méneval knew Napoleon as few knew him. He was his
confidential secretary and intimate friend.... Students and
historians who wish to form a trustworthy estimate of Napoleon can
not afford to neglect this testimony by one of his most intimate
associates."--_London News._
"These Memoirs, by the private secretary of Napoleon, are a
valuable and important contribution to the history of the
Napoleonic period, and necessarily they throw new and interesting
light on the personality and real sentiments of the emperor. If
Napoleon anywhere took off the mask, it was in the seclusion of
his private cabinet. The Memoirs have been republished almost as
they were written, by Baron de Méneval's grandson, with the
addition of some supplementary documents."--_London Times._
"Méneval has brought the living Napoleon clearly before us in a
portrait, flattering, no doubt, but essentially true to nature;
and he has shown us what the emperor really was--at the head of
his armies, in his Council of State, as the ruler of France, as
the lord of the continent--above all, in the round of his daily
life, and in the circle of family and home."--_London Academy._
"Neither the editor nor translator of Méneval's Memoirs has
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on literary style but on the substance of what is related. Whoever
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remainder."--_N. Y. Tribune._
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constitutionally unfitted for lying.... The book is extremely
interesting, and it is as important as it is interesting."--_N. Y.
Times._
"Few memorists have given us a more minute account of Napoleon....
No lover of Napoleon, no admirer of his wonderful genius, can fail
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waited for for years._"--N. Y. World._
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by the great majority of the biographers of
Napoleon."--_Providence Journal._
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genius in human history."--_Philadelphia Press._
"Of all the memoirs illustrating the history of the first
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probably not one which will be found of more value to the
judicious historian, or of more interest to the general reader,
than these.... Méneval, whose Memoirs were written nearly fifty
years ago, had nothing either to gain or to lose; his work, from
the first page to the last, impresses the reader with a deep
respect for the author's talent, as well as his absolute honesty
and loyalty."--_N. Y. Independent._
"These Memoirs constitute an important contribution to the
understanding of Napoleon's character. They are evidently written
in good faith, and, as the writer had remarkable opportunities of
observation, they must be accepted as authentic testimony to the
existence in Napoleon of gentle, humane, sympathetic, and amiable
qualities, with which he has not been often credited."--_N. Y.
Sun._
* * * * *
_GERMANY AND THE GERMANS._ By WILLIAM HARBUTT DAWSON, author of "German
Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle," "Prince Bismarck and State
Socialism," etc. 2 vols., 8vo. Cloth, $6.00.
"This excellent work--a literary monument of intelligent and
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and political activity, public and private, in the
Fatherland.... Teems with entertaining anecdotes and
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"With Mr. Dawson's two volumes before him, the ordinary reader
may well dispense with the perusal of previous authorities....
His work, on the whole, is comprehensive, conscientious, and
eminently fair."--_London Chronicle._
"Mr. Dawson has made a remarkably close and discriminating study
of German life and institutions at the present day, and the
results of his observations are set forth in a most interesting
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Sun._
"There is much in German character to admire; much in Germany's
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"One of the very best works on this subject which has been
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_A HISTORY OF GERMANY, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day._ By
BAYARD TAYLOR. With an Additional Chapter by MARIE HANSEN-TAYLOR. With
Portrait and Maps. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"There is, perhaps, no work of equal size in any language which
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Now that the story of a race is to be in good earnest a story of
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foreign, sees, to furnish unexpected and wonderful lessons. But
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certainly the thought which grows upon one as he peruses this
volume."--_New York Tribune._
"When one considers the confused, complicated, and sporadic
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"A most excellent short history of Germany.... Mrs. Taylor has
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quite consistent with that of the work which she completes....
As a matter of course the history excels in its literary style.
Mr. Taylor could not have written an entertaining book. This
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the very end."--_New York Times._
"Probably the best work of its kind adapted for school purposes
that can be had in English."--_Boston Herald._
_THE TRUE LIFE OF CAPTAIN SIR RICHARD F. BURTON._ Written by his niece,
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"Miss Stisted has given us a thoroughly good biography. Though a
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not confusing us with too much detail, and yet describing many
picturesque incidents and scenes. Her book is interesting from
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idea of the story and personality of one of the most
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York Mail and Express._
_THE EARLY CORRESPONDENCE OF HANS VON BÜLOW._ Edited by his Widow.
Selected and translated by CONSTANCE BACHE. With Portraits. 8vo. Cloth,
$4.50.
"The book is valuable in furnishing an excellent insight into
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"As a mere story the book is extremely interesting, while as a
psychological as well as a musical study the early life of Hans
von Bülow, as mirrored forth in these letters, is of no small
import."--_New York Mail and Express._
"This volume introduces the Von Bülow not known to the present
generation. The letters are free, spontaneous, and unstudied,
exhibiting the musician struggling to make what he knew to be in
him recognized by the public."--_London Daily Chronicle._
_GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, as seen in his Works and Correspondence._ By JOHN
CHARLES TARVER. With Portrait. 8vo. Buckram, $4.00.
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champion of art for art's sake.... The letters are admirably
translated, and in the main the book is written with skill and
_verve_."--_London Academy._
_THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1789-1894._ By JOHN FISKE, CARL
SCHURZ, WILLIAM E. RUSSELL, DANIEL C. GILMAN, WILLIAM WALTER PHELPS,
ROBERT C. WINTHROP, GEORGE BANCROFT, JOHN HAY, and Others. Edited by
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without."--_New York Mail and Express._
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every patriotic heart."--_Charleston News and Courier._
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"These names are in themselves sufficient to guarantee adequacy
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gallery of our Presidents, written with such unquestioned
ability, have never before been published."--_Hartford Courant._
"A book well worth owning, for reading and for reference.... A
complete record of the most important events in our history
during the past one hundred and five years."--_The Outlook._
* * * * *
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES.
NOW READY.
_THE BEGINNINGS OF ART._ By ERNST GROSSE, Professor of Philosophy in the
University of Freiburg. A new volume in the Anthropological Series,
edited by Professor FREDERICK STARR. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.
This is an inquiry into the laws which control the life and
development of art, and into the relations existing between it
and certain forms of civilization. The origin of an artistic
activity should be sought among the most primitive peoples, like
the native Australians, the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands,
the Botocudos of South America, and the Eskimos; and with these
alone the author studies his subject. Their arts are regarded as
a social phenomenon and a social function, and are classified as
arts of rest and arts of motion. The arts of rest comprise
decoration, first of the body by scarification, painting,
tattooing, and dress; and then of implements--painting and
sculpture; while the arts of motion are the dance (a living
sculpture), poetry or song, with rhythm, and music.
_WOMAN'S SHARE IN PRIMITIVE CULTURE._ By OTIS TUFTON MASON, A. M.,
Curator of the Department of Ethnology in the United States National
Museum. With numerous Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.
"A most interesting _résumé_ of the revelations which science
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times, and especially as to the place, the duties, and the
customs of women."--_Philadelphia Inquirer._
_THE PYGMIES._ By A. DE QUATREFAGES, late Professor of Anthropology at
the Museum of Natural History, Paris. With numerous Illustrations. 12mo.
Cloth, $1.75.
"Probably no one was better equipped to illustrate the general
subject than Quatrefages. While constantly occupied upon the
anatomical and osseous phases of his subject, he was none the
less well acquainted with what literature and history had to say
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divinity school in which man as well as God is studied, and from
which missionaries go out to convert the human being of reality
and not the man of rhetoric and text-books."--_Boston Literary
World._
_THE BEGINNINGS OF WRITING._ By W. J. HOFFMAN, M. D. With numerous
Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.
This interesting book gives a most attractive account of the
rude methods employed by primitive man for recording his deeds.
The earliest writing consists of pictographs which were traced
on stone, wood, bone, skins, and various paperlike substances.
Dr. Hoffman shows how the several classes of symbols used in
these records are to be interpreted, and traces the growth of
conventional signs up to syllabaries and alphabets--the two
classes of signs employed by modern peoples.
IN PREPARATION.
_THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS._ By Dr. SCHMELTZ.
_THE ZUÑI._ By FRANK HAMILTON CUSHING.
_THE AZTECS._ By Mrs. ZELIA NUTTALL.
* * * * *
_HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES_, from the Revolution to the
Civil War. By JOHN BACH McMASTER. To be completed in six volumes. Vols.
I, II, III, and IV now ready. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each.
"... Prof. McMaster has told us what no other historians have
told.... The skill, the animation, the brightness, the force,
and the charm with which he arrays the facts before us are such
that we can hardly conceive of more interesting reading for an
American citizen who cares to know the nature of those causes
which have made not only him but his environment and the
opportunities life has given him what they are."--_N. Y. Times._
[Illustration: JOHN BACH McMASTER.]
"Those who can read between the lines may discover in these
pages constant evidences of care and skill and faithful labor,
of which the old-time superficial essayists, compiling library
notes on dates and striking events, had no conception; but to
the general reader the fluent narrative gives no hint of the
conscientious labors, far-reaching, world-wide, vast and yet
microscopically minute, that give the strength and value which
are felt rather than seen. This is due to the art of
presentation. The author's position as a scientific workman we
may accept on the abundant testimony of the experts who know the
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all appreciate, the charm of his style being
self-evident."--_Philadelphia Telegraph._
"The third volume contains the brilliantly written and
fascinating story of the progress and doings of the people of
this country from the era of the Louisiana purchase to the
opening scenes of the second war with Great Britain--say a
period of ten years. In every page of the book the reader finds
that fascinating flow of narrative, that clear and lucid style,
and that penetrating power of thought and judgment which
distinguished the previous volumes."--_Columbus State Journal._
"Prof. McMaster has more than fulfilled the promises made in his
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is clear, simple, and idiomatic, and there is just enough of the
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"Take it all in all, the History promises to be the ideal
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"A History _sui generis_ which has made and will keep its own
place in our literature."--_New York Evening Post._
"His style is vigorous and his treatment candid and
impartial."--_New York Tribune._
* * * * *
_THE BEGINNERS OF A NATION._ A History of the Source and Rise of the
Earliest English Settlements in America, with Special Reference to the
Life and Character of the People. The first volume in A History of Life
in the United States. By EDWARD EGGLESTON. Small 8vo. Cloth, gilt top,
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"Mr. Eggleston's 'Beginners' is unique. No similar historical
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merge the critic in the historian. His sense of humor is never
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"It is noticeable that Mr. Eggleston has followed no beaten
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little. The book is stimulating and will prove of great value to
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"A very interesting as well as a valuable book.... A distinct
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"One of the most important books of the year. It is a work of
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Times._
* * * * *
YOUNG HEROES OF OUR NAVY.
_MIDSHIPMAN FARRAGUT._ By JAMES BARNES, author of "For King or Country,"
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The adventures of Farragut's first years in the navy and the
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_DECATUR AND SOMERS._ By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL, author of "Paul Jones,"
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_PAUL JONES._ By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL. With 8 full-page Illustrations.
12mo. Cloth, $1.00.
"It is both romance and history, and will retain the attention
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_MIDSHIPMAN PAULDING._ A true story of the War of 1812. By MOLLY ELLIOT
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_THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH NATION._ With Special Reference to
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LL. D. In Three Volumes, 12mo. Cloth, $4.50.
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"Conceived in a popular spirit, yet with strict regard to the
modern standards. The title is fully borne out. No want of color
in the descriptions."--_London Daily News._
"The plan laid down results in an admirable English
history."--_London Morning Post._
"Dr. Aubrey has supplied a want. His method is undoubtedly the
right one."-_Pall Mall Gazette._
"It is a distinct step forward in history writing; as far ahead
of Green as he was of Macaulay, though on a different line.
Green gives the picture of England at different times--Aubrey
goes deeper, showing the causes which led to the changes."--_New
York World._
"A work that will commend itself to the student of history, and
as a comprehensive and convenient reference book."--_The
Argonaut._
"Contains much that the ordinary reader can with difficulty find
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works."--_Chicago Dial._
"Up to date in its narration of fact, and in its elucidation of
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history.... The painstaking division, along with the admirably
complete index, will make it easy work for any student to get
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The work strikes one as being more comprehensive than many that
cover far more space."--_The Christian Intelligencer._
"One of the most elaborate and noteworthy of recent
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"As a popular history it possesses great merits, and in many
particulars is excelled by none. It is full, careful as to
dates, maintains a generally praiseworthy impartiality, and it
is interesting to read."--_Buffalo Express._
"These volumes are a surprise and in their way a marvel.... They
constitute an almost encyclopædia of English history, condensing
in a marvelous manner the facts and principles developed in the
history of the English nation.... The work is one of unsurpassed
value to the historical student or even the general reader, and
when more widely known will no doubt be appreciated as one of
the remarkable contributions to English history published in the
century."--_Chicago Universalist._
"In every page Dr. Aubrey writes with the far reaching relation
of contemporary incidents to the whole subject. The amount of
matter these three volumes contain is marvelous. The style in
which they are written is more than satisfactory.... The work is
one of unusual importance."--_Hartford Post._
* * * * *
STEPHEN CRANE'S BOOKS.
_THE THIRD VIOLET._ 12mo. Cloth, $1.00.
Mr. Crane's new novel is a fresh and delightful study of artist
life in the city and the country. The theme is worked out with
the author's characteristic originality and force, and with much
natural humor. In subject the book is altogether different from
any of its predecessors, and the author's marked success proves
his breadth and the versatility of his great talent.
_THE LITTLE REGIMENT, and Other Episodes of the American Civil War._
12mo. Cloth, $1.00.
"In 'The Little Regiment' we have again studies of the
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has been doing just these things. This sort of writing needs no
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_THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE. An Episode of the American Civil War._ 12mo.
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New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue.
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including obsolete and variant spellings, and inconsistent
hyphenation. Obvious typographical errors in punctuation have been
fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below:
page 31: typo fixed
looking into the old town of Concepion[Concepción], between two
and three hundred miles from Valparaiso. In the
page 197: typo fixed
coast of Texas and Lousiana[Louisiana] were occupied by
detachments of vessels, as the surest way of enforcing
page 317: typo fixed
genius for war than an acccomplished[accomplished] (_instruit_)
officer;" and to the lack of that studious
page 331: typo fixed
Navy, United States, indequate[inadequate] strength of
Table of Contents and Chapter Titles that do not match were not changed:
page 196: THE BLOCKADE AND PORT HUDSON.
TOC says: THE BLOCKADE, AND THE PASSAGE OF PORT HUDSON, 1862-1863
page 237: MOBILE.
TOC says: MOBILE BAY FIGHT, 1864
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