Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-04-26

# the great captain-for at that time ne -
vas but u captain-was unfamiliar 70 TUG e e
ave as we'll as to the ear OF MS country
men This is my apology for oiogfaphi- u
cal sketch.
Divid Glasgow Farragut wss born July o
( 1S01 in the State of Tennessee, at
noint in Knox county on the tennessee
River, opposite an early ifontief posi-, sun
~ tha State of which he was a native and t
a citizen continued through life, although 1
sfter entering the naval service he never G
made it his residence. His name is that of {
an early settler, no doubt friend of his
father possibly kinsman of his mother {
His father, George Farragut, was native {
of the Island of Minorca, of an ancient
and still subsisting -m'ly, who IN early +
youth, attracted by the contest for Amer,
can Independence, abandoned his island
home, arrived on this continent IN 11Ie,
promptly took sides with the eolonists;
serving until the close of the war, and
again in. the war of 1872 After the revo-
luton he settlc in Tennessee as farmer,
ond the real estate records show nlm to
have been considerable proprietor. The
mother of the Admiral WAS native OF
North Carolina.
According to the usage of that period, !
he entered the Navy before he was ten
years of age. his appointment bearing GATE
December II, 1910.
1t would carry me beyond the limits this
occasion prescribes to recount how, at
| still earlier age, he had attracted the no Ice
| of the late Commodore Porter, to whom,
as his +" kind friend and guardian" he at
tributed his appointment, and acknoW =
| edged through life his great Obligations,
and with whom, to the last, he maintained
closest relations of friendship.
| His introduction to the service was IN
the Essex, under the eye of his distln-
| puished patron, on the cruise hlch ended
in he capture by the combined attack OF
the British frigate Phoebe and sloop-ot"
war Cherub, after one of the most sangui-
narv and calamity contested battles IN
maritime warfare. This action was fought
March %, 1914, in the harbor OF Nalpar
raise, with so little regard to the neutral
rights of that port as to be a precedent dam
gerous 70 feeble communities, when pow
erful beiligerent is intent on driving a
troublesome enemy from the deep. A shot
carried away portion of the young mld>
shipmans clothing, and he received his
BAPTISM of fire and blood at an age when
. | most lads are busy with kites and games.
Young as he was, he seems to have been
strongly Impressed with the details of this
. famous battle, aud TO have studied them
| with critical eye. It was his first lesson
Lin naval tactics His schooling, to use ar
apt though homely word, was limited and
desultorY; first at Chester, Pennsylvanla.
= under a Swiss schoolmaster, a queer o.C
49,
one of Napoleon's celebrated guards; the1
aboard ship under the instruction OF the
chaplain and finally in the American Con
l.. sulate at Tunis. Those who knew him a
that period speak Of 1.-The talent with which
he was so b0untifully enriched" Herein
and not in the character OF the semlnarles
e is to be found the reason why, IL addition
to professional attainments, he acquired
wide general in foI nation, and knoWledg
IL of several languages not familiar even t
d educated men. In the training of youth
at more By far depends upon the scholar tina
> natural ability never fails of success.
d. They who breathe the calmer atnlospher
j. of biography will retrace the successive
49, steps By which this rare and choice splr
'h attaine3 loftiness adequate to the achieve
le ments which have gwen occasion for tn
q. days observance-the promotion frol
= | grade to grade till be reached tt
~ rank of captain, then the highest
e, the service; upon what ships he sailed an
ut what seas were p!oughed by their keel
ra his marriage at twenty-five; tho death
his wife seventeen years afterwards, TO
y, lowed in three years by second marrlat
al to her who survives him, aud who W
h0Hgpt y TH55h IN BY ms G9ngP5u R hsVe 81
n Nations honor. We note his presence
al. Norfolk at the time of the Nat. Turn
~ instruction" in 1881 at Charleston
rs the DAYS of notification" in 1888; a,
mt at Mare Island in 1856, during the asce
c.. dancy of the vigilance committee, whe
NO ne displayed great judgment combln
iJ' with efficient administrative abilities.
we He was present in November, 1888,
tia the capture by the French feetof the gre
d. castle of Vera Cruz, and deduced from
- the obligation on his profession to " Ike
IN, those at home informed of the daily il
tht provements in other naVies." On
nj breaking cut of the Mexican war, eie
' wears later, hewas anxious to lead a nay
u attack on the same great fortress, /
sh- views were not deemed practicable, by
1s Navy Department, and the castle 81
~ rendered to the army under Geneal Sec
I'M He thought it an opportunity lost to
Navy, and especially to the older othct
rtv not one of whom, he said, regretul
= will ever wear an admiraPs flag, VIII
Ter they might have done if that castle
0ok been taken by the Navy, which must h
ms been the result of an attack. The
mean war, in 1854. attracted the atteat
l'hs of all military students. Farragut appi
DON for orders TO go thiLher as proiesslo
md observer especially to visit the fleets
- England and France. No action was tai
lehC by the Navy Department on his suggest
had and he was shortly assigned to duty on
her, Pacific coast. After an absence of We
he returned, and at the beginning of
Un0 rebellion was living with family relat
at Norfolk. awaiting orders.
saint Farragut was now sixty years old.
one lineage, by birth, By citizenship, by n
ave risge, and by continued residence Sol
the ern man, he was expected to espouse
}, the side in the coming struggle. But ne
was been more than fifty years in the Ms
We serving under the flag, accustomed to
come upon the Nation as Whole, ana TO 10
gaze in its entirety. His professional duties
aver him neither time nor inclination for
cons narrow politics which had warped
dwarfed so many noble minds. He
f the seen the growth and development OF
Inual country, and could appreciate by uniVt
lsces | contrast the benehcence OF the g0vernm
rk of He had witnessed many cl.ll coDvulsl
fame and knew how much OF evil and bow
as a of good usually attends them. Natu-
ana so earnestly That they looked upon hi
the q "cOaker," an lll-omened prophet;
" are when he condemned the belligerent
and tude Of Virginia, and sustained the
lastly fensive measures of President LincolI
their was impstiently informed that persc
deeds his sentiments could mot live in n orfe
Y, by The same day, April 49, he took pass
lonu- with his family, for Baltimore, and arr
Just after the encounter, il the stree
when, that city, between the mob and the nj,
% the chusetts troops, on their way to the def
niral. of the Capital. lie cast in his lot witt
Con- Unionists of the South with WiDslow
art to Carter and Nelson and Anderson
% en- Thomas and Candy and Percivsl DraJ
ed by and many others, both IN the Army
essful Navy, whose names time would fall q
name tell, VINO gave up lsePeu nope itse
IF the their country, and counted it galn-u
,ssion f b dev0tees to cause they estee
Il h,1x