Farragut 'Touched by Fire'

by Bill Doughty

Admiral David G. Farragut (art by Antonio Verceluz)

Strong Confederate forts. Batteries of guns. Torpedo mines. The iron-clad "ram" CSS Tennessee. All these and more faced the Union Navy led by Adm. David Glasgow Farragut in Mobile Bay in August 1864, 150 years ago this past summer.

The intrepid hero of New Orleans/Mississippi sailed his wooden ships within range of the forts, as described by Farragut contemporary First Lieutenant John Coddington Kinney:

"The central figure was the grand old admiral, his plans all completed, affable with all, evidently not thinking of failure s among the possibilities of the morrow, and filling every one with his enthusiasm. He was sixty-three years old, of medium height, stoutly built, with a finely proportioned head and smoothly shaven face, with an expression combining overflowing kindliness with iron will and invincible determination, and with eyes that in repose were full of sweetness and light, but, in emergency, could flash fire and fury."

Kinney's is one of dozens of first person accounts and memoirs originally published in 1881 by "The Century" magazine and now part of a terrific compilation from 2011, "Hearts Touched By Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," edited by Harold Holzer. The book is divided into five parts, each for a year from 1881 through 1885.

In the introduction to "1864," historian Joan Waugh sets the stage:

"Two Federal naval victories in 1864 mitigated the disappointment of the seemingly endless ground campaigns. On June 19 the war sloop USS Kearsarge defeated the famed Rebel raider CSS Alabama off the coast of France in the Battle of Cherbourg. Writing for Battles and Leaders, the Union ship's surgeon, John M. Browne, recounted the war of wits ..."The second Union naval success carried an even greater lift for Northers at a critical time. On August 5, Admiral David G. Farragut seized control of Mobile Bay in Alabama, bringing an end to Confederate shipbuilding in that city and disabling the port's ability to offer a friendly harbor for Southern ships avoiding the Union blockade ... Farragut's triumph closed the last remaining major Confederate port on the Gulf of Mexico and boosted Lincoln's prospects for a fall victory."

Navy Reads contributor Craig Symonds does a masterful introduction for "1861" helping foreshadow the "horrible slaughter and wholesale destruction that would follow" the early months of the war.

The story of how the first compilation came to be published by "The Century" in 1881 involves some intriguing negotiation with President U.S. Grant after the Civil War. The editors ensured we get an accurate portrayal told in real and vibrant prose, not just dry war plans and reports. Illustrations from the time – paintings and etchings from both the Union and Confederacy perspective – are included.

In "Farragut at Mobile Bay" Kinney describes the fire and smoke of battle where "every minute seemed a second." Admiral Farragut climbed the rigging to get better command and control. He damned the torpedoes, faced and ordered broadsides and took his wooden ships into close battle with the enemy. We can almost hear and feel the wooden Hulls scraping and crashing against the iron-clad Tennessee that had been "strengthened by an artificial prow."

Kinney writes of a brief lull in the action:

"The thunder of heavy artillery now ceased. The crews of the various vessels had begun to efface the marks of the terrible contest by washing the decks and clearing up the splinters. The cooks were preparing breakfast, the surgeons were busily engaged in making amputations and binding arteries, and under canvas, on the port side of each vessel, lay the ghastly line of dead waiting the sailor's burial. As if by mutual understanding, officers who were relieved from immediate duty gathered in the ward-rooms to ascertain who of their mates were missing, and the reaction from such a season of tense nerves and excitement was just setting in when the hurried call to quarters came and the word passed around, 'the ram is coming.'"

Kinney takes us back into the intense fighting as Farragut and his fleet focused on what was thought to be the strongest vessel afloat, "virtually invulnerable." 

"The Tennessee now became the target for the whole fleet, all the vessels of which were making toward her, pounding her with shot, and trying to run her down," he writes. Lashed to the rigging, Farragut directed the battle as his sailors and marines continued the attack, with side-by-side bombardments and fearless full-speed attacks and cannon barrages leading to the enemy's surrender and a Union victory.

"Hearts Touched by Fire" is a fascinating you-are-there set of memories from the soldiers, sailors, leaders and citizens affected by that pivotal war that ended slavery and kept the states united.

(See the Navy Reads post about the Adm. Farragut, the U.S. Navy's first Hispanic admiral, from 2011, "Damn the Torpedoes." Hispanic heritage is celebrated in the United States from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The Navy Birthday is Oct. 13, 1775.)

Life in Mr. Lincoln’s Navy by Dennis J. Ringle

Review by Bill Doughty

President Abraham Lincoln barely makes an appearance in Life in Mr. Lincoln’s Navy. The stars of the book are the average individual Sailors who populate the book.

Sailor stories in letters, diaries and reports are used to show life aboard ironclads and wooden steam ships in the 1800s.

The minimum age for Sailors was 12, in the lowest rating: “Boy.” Photos in the Ringle’s book clearly show young uniformed boys serving.

In 1864, monthly wages started at $10 for Boy; $16 for Ordinary Seaman; $20 for Coal Heaver; $25 for Coxswain, Quartermaster or Gunner’s Mate; and $35 for Yeoman, as examples.

Ringle brings us aboard Civil War ships, where Sailors contended with roaches, rats and lice; fog, flies and mosquitoes; and the danger of fire, floods and sickness, not to mention combat itself.

The Navy issued weapons like battleaxes, pikes and cutlasses to its Sailors. The Ames 1843 pistol was smooth-bore, .54 calibre. Cannons and torpedo mines were among the chief armaments.

Combat on the ironclad warships and man-of-wars is described as hell on earth. A crew member aboard USS Hartford, in action against Confederate forts protecting New Orleans, described the deafening noise:

“The noise and roar at the time was terrible and cannot be described, but to help the imagination there was two hundred guns and mortars of the largest caliber in full blast, double this by the explosion of shells then add to this the hissing and crashing through the air, and shipping, confine this in a half mile square, it may give some idea of the noise and uproar that has taken place.”

The surgeon assigned to the steam frigate USS Cumberland described the terrible close-range battle with the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia:

“The sanded deck is red and slippery with the blood and wounded and the dying; they are dragged amidships. There is no time to take them below. Delirium seizes the crew; they strip to their trousers; tie handkerchiefs around their heads, kick off their shoes; fight and yell like demons; load and fire at will.”

The Navy developed some of the most effective means for dealing with medical challenges, from microbes to trauma injuries, by opening hospitals, training surgeons and starting the first hospital ship, USS Red Rover.

During the Civil War the Navy welcomed Blacks, including escaped slaves, so that by the end of the war African-Americans made up 20 percent of the Navy. (Jim Crow laws and mandated 5 percent caps after the war subsequently rolled back advances in diversity and opportunity.)

Foreign sailors also served during the war. Hispanic-American Adm. David Farragut’s flagship, USS Hartford, was comprised of 35 percent foreign sailors.

Ringle briefly takes us ashore for liberty in Port Royal, off the coast of South Carolina. Port Royal, whose community continues to be a supporter of the U.S. Navy, was one of the best liberty ports during the war.

The author’s account of life in Lincoln’s Navy is comprehensive and fascinating -- exploring what Sailors did on and off duty, how they trained, what they wore, how they slept, what they ate, even how they went to the bathroom.

And what about reading? For those Sailors who could read, Ringle reports:

“Some ships, especially the larger vessels, maintained libraries on board. In 1864, the Navy Department purchased seventy-five Bibles, eighty Webster dictionaries, twenty-five atlases, and twenty copies of George Bancroft’s History of the United States for distribution to the fleet. One warship, USS Dictator, possessed a superb library that contained over two hundred books of various titles.”

Life in Mr. Lincoln’s Navy is on the list of the Navy’s Professional Reading Program.

The war to preserve the Union was fought with heroism, at great loss. Life in Mr. Lincoln’s Navy is another opportunity to reflect on the causes of war and how it impacts service members, who sacrifice so much for their country, particularly poignant when considering the War between the States, not-that-many generations ago.

Writer Tom Hicks appearing on Tom Ashbrook’s On Point radio show last week said, “War is not a good thing. War, to me, feels like a psychosis, mass psychosis. It’s a terrible thing.” Hicks is author of “Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003-2005″ and “The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008.”

The Navy's Maritime Strategy states, "We believe that preventing wars is as important as winning wars."

Top: Sailors relax aboard USS Monitor; one Sailor leans against the smokestack and reads; Above: a recruiting poster promises a way to avoid the Army, with the promise of prize money.