Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-04-25

| to natural ability never fails OF success.
! They who breathe the calmer atmosphere O.
biography VIII reurace the successive steps nv
which this rare and choice spirit attained 8
! loft,Dess adequate to the achievement
| which have given occasion for this days ob
seIvanee-the promotion from grade to grade
highest In the service; upon what ships hf
sailed and what seas were. pl0ughed by theil
keels; his marriage at twenty-five; the death OF
his Vile seventeen years afterwards, folloWed
IA tnree years by second marriage to heI
VINO survives him, and who was thought worthy
Dy CONGRESS- to have potential voice In this
monument OF the nations honor. We note bis
presence at Norfolk at the time OF the Nat.
turner instruction" In 1881; at Charleston In
me days OF qualification" in 1888: and at
Mare Island In 1886, during the ascendancy O:
the Vigilance Committee. where he displayed
great Judgment combined with efficient admin
istratiye abilities.
He was present In November, 1888. at the
capture by The French fleet Of the great castle
OF Vera Cruz, and deduced from It the obllga-
ton On his profession to keep those at home
informed OF the daily Improvements In other
naVies-" Ga the breaking out OF the Mexican
war, eight years later, he was anxious to lead a
naval attack on the same great fortress. His
views were not deemed practicable By the
Navy department, and the castle SURRENDERED
10 the army under General Scott. He Thought
Ii an opportunity lost to the navy, and e5pecl-
aIiy TO Tie oder officers, not one of whom, be
said, regretlully, "Wtll ever wear an admiral 8
flag. which they might have done IL that castle
had been taken by the navy, which must have
been me result OF an attack" The Crime Re
war, In 1854, attracted the attention OF all mill
tary students. Farragut applied for orders to
go thihef as a professional observer, especially
10 visit the fleets CT England and Of France No
actlon was taken by the Navy department on
bis suggestion, and he was shortly assigned TO
Cuty on the Pacific coast. After an absence OF
years he returned and at the beginning OF the
rebellion was living with family relatives at
Nofiolk awaiting orders.
Farragut was now sixty years old. By line
age, oy birth, by citizenship, by marriage, and
Dy continued residence southern man, ne was
expected to spouse that Side In the coming
struggle. But he had been more than fifty
years in the navy, serving under The lag, &C
customeo to look upon the nation as whole,
and to love it in Its entirety. His professional
auties left him neither time nor inclination for
the narrow politics which had warped and
dWarfed SO many noble minds. He had seen the
growth and development OF the country. and
could appreciate by universal contrast the BE-
nefcence OF the government. He had witnessed
many civil COMMISSIONS, and knew how much OF
them. Naturally. he adrnon1shed his friends and
neighboTs so earnestly that they looked upon
him as 'croakeT," an fll-Omened prophet; and
when he condemned the belligerent attitude
OF Virginia, and sustained the defensive meas
ures OF President Lincoln. he was impatiently
informed that person or his sentiments could
mot live in Norfolk" The same day, April Is,
he took passage, with his family, for Baltt-
mere, and arrived just after the encounter In
the streets OF Baltimore city between the MOP
ana the MASSACHUSETTS, troops on they. way 20
with the Unionists of the south; with WInslow
and Carter and Nelson and Anderson and
Thomas and CANDY and Percival Drayton, and
many another, both In the army and the navy,
whose names time would fail me to tell, who
gave up al, even hope itself, to their country
and counted Ii gain--unselhsh devotees to a
cause they esteemed without parallel among
things below. Farragut's lfework mad now be-
gun; everything hitherto had been preparatory.
Fifty years OF naval service rallied to maintain
the national existence
no tCnf flann p tNrtf la0p ,v1gAo1
naturally the first point to be attacked and the
point at all hazards to be defended. The effect
OF Its loss would have been incalculable, both
upon the popular resolution and upon foreign
opinion. TO this point the attention OF the
country, especially In the north and east, and
OF Europe. was principally directed. This gave
to the campaign In the east an all-absorDing
interest, and tie public were less attentive to
west.
one of the earliest displays Of confederate
Cairo to the mouth thus, at the first, admon-
tshing the people OF the northwest how great
would De the inconvenience OF having any part
OF me central highway to the gulf under the
control or rival government. Ii they were
alarmed they were also indignant, and resisted
with amazing energy this interference with
one OF their most valued rights. 1t is note
worthy that he who afterwards became the
great soldier OF the war should, from the be.
ginning, have conducted the military opera
lions employed In reopening the mighty stream.
as Nashville. and of the Tennessee to the Mus
Gle Shoals, the first winter OF the War, formed
part OF the campaign which reduced Belmont,
Columbus. Hickman, Island No. 10, and other
distractions quite down to Memphis.
Meanwhile movement was organized OF
which New Orleans was the objective. and
to take charge OF 1t. After furnishing him with
all the force he considered necessary, he re-
minded him IN his order that the dep irtment
and the country required of him "5lccess;"
W " m or m
tain capture OF the city OF New Orleans"
This was by far the most popu!ous and-com-
meTcially, II not politically-the most Import
ant city In the whole confederacy. just before
city In the country, perhaps In the world. In
the last war with Great Britain, while the
defence of this city by Gen. Jackson on the
with honor and filed the nation with 10y. 1t
had also attracted the attention of tine en-
glneer bureau to the works necessary for Its
protection. These had been recently strength
ened and additional batteries had been con-
structed A considerable fleet OF vessels had
been collected as auxiliary, some OF them of
novel construction, and supposed to be very
mad been anticipated. But it is always the ua.
expected which Is not provided for.
10 break through the distractions, pass be-
tween the two forts, Jackson and st. Philip.
suppress the hostile fleet steam up TO the civ
ana demand its surrender. was the end to be
achieved. For Its accomplishment, Farragut
udu q iett vi MY VESSELS, Carrying over two
hundred guEs-far the most powerful naval
expedition that had ever sailed under the dag
General Butler was ready to Co operate with a
military force OF fifteen thousand men.
We all know. historically, that, after feat
In naval warfare, Which had no precedent or
parallel the great mariner, on the 25th OF
April. 1862, ME eteen years ago this day, from
his flagship, the Hartford. at anchor off the
city, dictated the terms OF surrender TO the
municipal authorities restoring the CHIEF south
ern port to It's national allegiance and opening
IL once more to the trade Of the world
The country felt instinctiyely that a signal
victory had teen gained for tine cause OF the
Union; but low, or at what cost, was not clear
Farragut had not taken the press into his con-
hdence; no reporters were there to throw a
glamour around even ordinary manHuyreS
Perfect silence is to be Observed" was the In
junction under which he had sailed. The
spectators were all actors and too busy to OBJ
serve, and the rhetoric OF the seaman Is usually
brief and unadOrDed. But even now the
imagination kinGleS at the details of the COM
bat reclted unGer the constraint OF official re-
ports. AmeDg all the battle scenes familiar
from childhood, On the water and on the land
or In the realm OF fancy, know of none more
aWfully picturesque. Il Is HOmeric, MIlrOnic.
The time is the darkest hour OF the night, made
more opaque by the smoke from hundreds of
guns. whose flashes were the momentary
iilumination; friends from foes difficult
10 distinguish: powerful current to
stem, with imperfect pilotage; vessels
aground exposed to the enemy's hot
TEST nre;.Vessels losing their Roadway and.turn.
my GOWN stream; barrier chains, bombs rams