Admiral David Glascow Farragut at Mobile Bay

“Damn the Torpedoes…Full Speed Ahead!”

The Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864, was marked by Admiral Farragut’s seemingly-rash but successful run through a minefield that had just claimed one of his ironclad monitors, enabling his fleet to get beyond the range of the shore-based guns. This was followed by a reduction of the Confederate fleet to a single vessel, ironclad CSS Tennessee. Mobile, Alabama was then no longer the Confederacy’s last major port open on the Gulf of Mexico.

Admiral David Glascow Farragut joined the Navy as a Midshipman at the age of 9 in 1810. He fought in the War of 1812, serving under Captain David Porter. In April 1862, Flag Officer Farragut commanded the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, with his flagship the USS Hartford. After a heavy bombardment, Farragut ran past the Fort Jackson, Fort St. Philip, and the Chalmette batteries to take the city and port of New Orleans on April 29, a decisive event in the war. Congress honored him by creating the rank of Rear Admiral on July 16, 1862, a rank never before used in the U.S. Navy.

Admiral Farragut will be portrayed by Professor Bruce Tucker, history lecturer at Rutgers University School of Continuing Education, Naval Historian and Living History presenter. He has presented at local NJ, Pennsylvania & Delaware Schools, Libraries, and Living History events and is returning to the NJCWRT.

This is a Zoom program.

This program is presented by the North Jersey Civil War Round Table as a public service.