Farragut: America's First Admiral (Military Profiles

Military Profiles

by Robert J. Schneller Jr.

"Damn the torpedoes Full speed ahead " With those words, David Glasgow Farragut led a fleet of Union warships into Mobile Bay, where he achieved one of the most celebrated victories in American naval history. What separates the good officer from the great one, writes Robert J. Schneller, Jr., is the courage to make difficult decisions in the heat of combat despite personal fear or the awful realization that some men will have to pay in blood. Farragut's personal attributes, such as his sharp intelligence and confidence, and his careful preparations, keen situational awareness, and courage to act boldly at decisive moments produced the Union's most important naval victories and resulted in his appointment as the U.S. Navy's first admiral. These qualities also made Farragut the greatest naval officer, Union or Confederate, of the Civil War and, indeed, the most outstanding U.S. naval officer of the nineteenth century.

Genres: Civil War, Civil War Navy

116 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

Robert John Schneller, Jr. is an official historian in the Contemporary History Branch of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Historical Center and holds a Ph.D. in military history from Duke University.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though David Farragut is best remembered today for his famous declaration to “damn the torpedoes” when attacking Confederate defenses in Mobile Bay, this was just one moment in a naval career that stretched over six decades. Robert Schneller’s book offers a compact survey of Farragut’s service, which began as a nine-year-old midshipman in 1810 and took him through three major wars and a host of other duties. While Schneller notes the personal developments in Farragut’s career, his focus is resolutely on the professional aspects of his subject’s life, describing his rise to command, the campaigns in which he participated, and his lionization by a grateful country. Well over half of the book concentrates on his service during the Civil War, where his success in the battles of New Orleans and Mobile Bay led to the creation of new ranks in order to commend his success. It’s an effective introduction for anyone seeking an overview of Farragut’s life and his achievements, one that is both a quick read and an informative one.

[Miles Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short useful biography of Farragut. Nothing flashy, but its scholarly and is a good introduction for readers interested in Civil War biography and history and US Navy history.