Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-08-26
THE GREAT ADMIRAL.

David Glascoe Faragut, weather
beaten in many climes, victorious in
hard-contested battles, and tossed for
sixty years on all seas, has furled his
sails and dropped his anchor in the port
of peace. The son of a soldier in the
Revolution, and of mother who knew
how to defend her cabin against the saw
ages, his whole life was worthy the pat
riotism of his father and the courage Of
his mother. He was only a little past
ten years of age when he left the Ten
nessee mountains to enter the navy,
and his career began in the Distinguish
ed courage and GOODNESS of little Mid
shipman FaTagut, Only eleven years of
age, in the brave battle of the brig "Es-
sex, in Valparaiso harbor, against two
British vessels. After showing the un-
fincaing courage Of man in the des-
perate fight, he cried bitterly like child, |
as he was, at the disappointment and |
defeat. His naval career blossomed |
thus early. It's ripe frlHtage was only |
gathered half a century later, in another |
generation and in civil war
When the Rebellion began, Farragut
was off duty at his home in Norfolk, I
Virginia. A native of Tennessee, edu-
Gated in the conservatism Of the navy, |
married to a Southern lady, abd a resi-
dent of Virginia It was to have been ex-
pected that the ties of nativity, kinship,
marriage, and residence would carry |
the veteran commander with the South |
At time when even trusted mcu like /
Robert E. Lee deserted their colors ua- |
der the delusion of allegiance "a at4te I
governments, when the navy aad army !
alike seemed to be falliAg TO pieces with |
the division Of sentiment among the Off
GERS, It would have been more than nsAt-
ural for FarUagut to have yielded 20 the |
elteatfes Of kindred and the persua-
sions of leaders, and to have east in his /
BOT with his friends. But he who wept
at eleven to see the flag go down from
the peak Of the Essex" could not tear
it down at sixty and, in the midst ofl
Persuasions and threats alike UNDECIDED, |
he journeyed with his family in peril ofl
his life through mob-ridden Balti- |
more to Northern home. He MIGHT |
have rested now, after long and useful |
career but, on the contrary, he hasten |
ed to Washington. and offered himself
at sixty to fight for his couRtry.
How he fought we know. How he
fought every school-bo in after gener-
atlons shall tell. How he broke the
great iron chain that fettered the Mis-
sissippi how he bombarded Fort lack
SON; how he sailed in the midst of that
horrible hail Of shot and shrapr.eI and
sheiis from forts and batteries and ships
ana lron-cladsi how, II the utter da-tk-
!lSss q tlat yer un,eeiawned April morn
ing, ne was tSdnd fighting with rams
ana y rire-rrdft rrdfts-hghting un6.aunted when
ms -lag-ship was agroU.ld and afire; how
he sunk the enemy vessels, sending even
the iron-coated- ram Manassas" to the
bottom 2nd how the foresight and skill
victory, and carried his fleet through
with small loss, and planted the flag
again in the proud Southern metropolis
ARE not all these written in history?
A simple man, without Imagination
and with no taste for dramatic display
he was all the time doing the most dra-
matte things. Great actions on a great
stage alwas impress the imagination
Where, IN the history of naval warfare,
IS there anything more striking than
Farragut's battle in the dark at New Or
leans? And what more exciting than
that stealthy creeping of the steamers in
the night past the Port Hudson batteries,
with the decks of the boats whitewashed.
to enable the gunners to distinguish the
piles of shot and shell? Add to this the
sudden discovery of the boats, the light
ing of the Confederate bonfire, the con
vergiag and furious fire of the batteries.
allowed but two boats to get by.
But this accidental dramatic effect in
the life of an unpretending man came
out most impressively at Mobile, where
the old Admiral stood in the main-top
of the Hartford, tied 70 the mast, un-
der fire from shore and sea, directing
the movements of the iron-clads and
gunboats that butted away at the almost
inpeDetrable sheath of the great ram
Tennessee" attacking the formidable
monster like hounds assaulting a furious
wildbeast. And, when his flagship was
cut into, and the cry came, Save the
Admiral r the old man in the main-top
only Numbered out GO on with the
speed. Ram her again p
How much he had to do with the fin
al success of our arms it would be hard
70 estimate. Congress and the country
thanked him and made the rank Of vice
admlra1 Tor him, and when he still won
victories they made the still higher rank
of admiral for him. Crowned heads
feasted him, he was everywhere hailed
and honored as one Of the deIiverere ~
his country, and his fellow-countrT,IrT,
mourn him with the sincerest grief Ha
lived to the allotted threescore and ten
and spent sixty of his seventy years in
the naval service of his country. He
won distinction in a foreign war in child
hood he lived and died faithful, dill
gent, wise, glorious.-M r LzaebeNd-
esEE