The Passing of Farragut
14 AUGUST 1870
THE PASSING OF FARRAGUT
It is hard to overstate the reverence our Navy holds for David Glasgow Farragut. He entered our Navy at age 9 through the influence of his adoptive father, CAPT David Porter, in 1810. He quickly saw action serving under his father in USS ESSEX, 32, in the War of 1812, aboard whom he was wounded in the engagement with HMS PHOEBE, 36. He was the first Commandant of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in 1853 and went on to command the West Gulf Blockading Squadron of the Civil War. The victor at New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Mobile Bay, he was our Navy’s first RADM in 1862, first VADM in 1864, and first ADM in 1866. Following that war, he commanded the European Squadron and remained our Navy’s senior ranking officer. Not until George Dewey, a generation later, was another officer so widely honored.
But Farragut’s later years were plagued by ill health. When an invitation from the Commandant of the Portsmouth Navy Yard, NH, was received in 1870, the 69-year-old Farragut perceived a chance to breathe what was thought to be the healing New England air. He made the journey aboard the sidewheel double-ender USS TALLAPOOSA, confined to bed for most of the voyage. When TALLAPOOSA entered Portsmouth Harbor on Independence Day, she fired a gun salute to her embarked admiral, inspiring Farragut to arise, don his uniform, and climb to the quarterdeck. There he was heard to comment, “It would be well if I died now, in harness…” During his visit he went aboard the 30-year-old, 16-gun sailing sloop-of-war DALE–like Farragut, an aging veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars. Upon disembarking he remarked with affection to her caretaker, “This is the last time I shall ever tread on the deck of a man-of-war.” His words were prescient. Only days later he again took to bed, and two weeks later, on this day, ADM Farragut died. It was a peaceful Sunday. Eight bells had just tolled noon. One humble man’s 60 years of service to the Flag had ended. The cause of death was listed as apoplexic stroke.
On the 17th the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, paused for a public funeral. A flag-draped rosewood coffin preceded a mile-long procession of military officers and public officials. The Admiral was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Brox.
Five warships have remembered David G. Farragut, including our current Arleigh Burke-class destroyer DDG-99. A respectful city of Washington DC apportioned Farragut Square, where, on 16 April 1872, the US Congress commissioned the statue that today centerpieces that square. The bronze propeller of Farragut’s Civil War flagship, USS HARTFORD, was melted down and used to cast his likeness, whose understated inscription simply reads, “Farragut”.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 21 AUG 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, pp. 394-96.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 7 “T-V”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, pp. 23-24.
Lewis, Charles Lee. David Glasgow Farragut: Our First Admiral. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1943, pp. 366-78.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 84.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: To die “in harness” is an old expression that means to die while working, or, when used in a military context, to die on Active Duty. It alludes to the use of the word “harness” to describe the armor worn by soldiers of antiquity. “Apoplexic stroke” is an outdated medical term for sudden cerebrovascular demise. Alternatively, medical historians postulate today that Farragut’s death may have been the result of cardiac arrest after a prolonged decline in cardiovascular health.
The other US warships honoring Farragut are: TB-11, DD-300, DD-348, and DLG-6.
