Admiral David G. Farragut - District of Columbia
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Navy72
N 38° 54.113 W 077° 02.335
18S E 323195 N 4307864
Admiral Farragut dressed in his military uniform standing as if on the deck of his ship. His proper right knee is bent and his foot rests on a capstan. Across his middle, he holds a telescope with both hands. Located in Farragut Square.
Waymark Code: WMBMJT
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 06/02/2011
Views: 19
Source of detailed description is the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) at the URL below.
Admiral Farragut dressed in his military uniform standing as if on the deck of his ship. His proper right knee is bent and his foot rests on a capstan. Across his middle, he holds a telescope with both hands. He looks out into the distance. The sculpture rests on a square, tiered base adorned with a chopped mortar at each corner.
Although he was a southerner, born in Tennessee in 1801, Admiral David G. Farragut fought for the Union during the Civil War and was victorious in his effort to capture New Orleans and open up the Mississippi River to the Union forces. In August 1864, Farragut successfully destroyed the Confederate fleet at Mobile Bay. It was at Mobile Bay, that Farragut uttered his most famous line, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" as he led his ship, the U.S.S. Hartford, through the minefields guarding Mobile Bay. In 1866 he received the commission of admiral, the first awarded in the United States Navy.
The sculpture, authorized by Congress on April 16, 1872, and four chopped mortars on the base were cast of bronze from the propeller of Admiral Farragut's ship, the U.S.S. Hartford. The plaster model for the sculpture was made by a frenchman named Stinach. The model for the piece was made in five sections, but the piece was sand cast in six sections --head and shoulders; each arm separately; lower torso, legs and plinth; sword; and marine glass. It took the artist six years to create the sculpture and nine months to cast the work. The base is made of granite from Rockland, Maine. The base contains a box with documents relating to Farragut's career, the history of the sculpture, a copy of the "Army and Navy Register," and a miniature bronze model of the propeller.
IAS files contain an article from the Sunday Star (District of Columbia), May 3, 1931 which gives a retrospective account of the dedication ceremony; and the Washington Star, July 10, 1938. IAS files also contain an excerpt from Jannelle Warren-Findley's Aug. 1, 1985 report for the National Park Service entitled, "A Guide to Selected Statues, Monuments and Memorials," National Capital Parks - Central, National Park Service, Washington, D.C. (RFQ 3-4-1919) which includes a brief maintenance history, a list of bibliographic sources, and notes to additional information found in National Park Service files.
Brief Biography of Admiral David Glascow Farragut - the first Admiral in the United States Navy. (Source: www.biographybase.com)
David Glasgow Farragut (July 5, 1801 - August 14, 1870) was an admiral of the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
Farragut was born at Campbell's Station, near Knoxville, Tennessee. He entered the Navy as a midshipman on 17 December 1810. When only 12 years old, he was given command of a prize ship taken by Essex, and brought her safely to port. Through the years that followed, in one assignment after another he showed the high ability and devotion to duty which was to allow him to make a great contribution to the Union victory in the Civil War and to write a famous page in the history of the United States Navy.
In command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, with his flag in Hartford he disproved the theory that forts ashore held superiority over naval forces, when in April 1862 he ran past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip and the Chalmette, Louisiana batteries to take the great city and port of New Orleans, Louisiana on April 29th that year, (a decisive event in the war). Later that year passed the batteries defending Vicksburg, Mississippi. Port Hudson fell to him 9 July 1863.
On 5 August 1864 he won a great victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay. Mobile, Alabama at the time was the Confederacy's last major port open on the Gulf of Mexico. The bay was heavily mined (tethered naval mines were known as torpedoes at the time). Farragut ordered his fleet to charge the bay. When one ship struck a mine the others began to pull back, but then Farragut shouted out the order, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" The bulk of the fleet succeded in entering the bay, and the heroic quote became famous.
Farragut then triumphed over the opposition of heavy batteries in Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines to defeat the squadron of Admiral Franklin Buchanan.
His country honored its great sailor by creating for him the rank of rear admiral on July 16, 1862, a rank never before used in the US Navy.
Admiral Farragut's last active service was in command of the European Squadron, with the screw frigate Franklin as his flagship, and he died at the age of 69 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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