The following year, when General Ulysses S. Troops from Union transports could then land almost under Farragut’s protecting batteries, resulting in the surrender of both forts and city. His naval force then destroyed most of the Confederate river squadron that was stationed just upstream of the forts. Although the War Department had recommended that he first reduce the two forts that lay some distance downstream of the city by mortar fire, he successfully carried out his own, bolder plan of running past them with guns blazing in the dark (April 24, 1862). In December 1861, after many years of routine service, Farragut was assigned to command the Union blockading squadron in the western Gulf of Mexico with orders to enter the Mississippi River and capture New Orleans, a port through which the South was receiving much of its war supplies from abroad. By the time he was 12, he had risen to the rank of prize master, the officer in charge of captured ships. Navy at age 9 and just two years later served in the War of 1812. He was given his first independent command in 1824.ĭid you know? Admiral David Farragut entered the U.S. In 1823 he served under Porter in a squadron that suppressed pirates in the Caribbean. By the age of 20 he was already an accomplished ship’s officer. Farragut served under Porter aboard the frigate Essex in the War of 1812 this vessel captured so many British whaling vessels that Farragut, then age 12, was put in charge of one of the prize ships. Farragut is best known for his victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864, during which he commanded his fleet to ignore Confederate defenses in the harbor, famously proclaiming “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”įarragut was befriended as a youth in New Orleans by Captain (later Commodore) David Porter (of the U.S. Farragut commanded the Union blockade of Southern ports, helped capture the the Confederate city of New Orleans and provided support for General Ulysses S.

naval officer, who received great acclaim for his service to the Union during the American Civil War (1861-65). David Farragut (1801-70) was an accomplished U.S.

The Union Navy during the Civil War.