Biography

He was a Civil War Union Navy Admiral. The Union's most renowned naval figure and the first United States Navy officer to be promoted to the rank of Admiral. Born at Campbell's Station, near Knoxville, Tennessee, after his parents died he was adopted by United States Navy officer David Porter. Following the customary practice of the day, he entered the Navy while a nine year old midshipman on December 17, 1810. He made a great contribution to the Union victory in the Civil War. In command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, with his flagship the "USS Hartford" he disproved the theory that forts ashore held superiority over naval forces, when on April 29, 1862 he ran past Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip and the Chalmette, Louisiana batteries to take the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. His country honored him by creating for him the rank of Rear Admiral on July 16, 1862, a rank never before used in the Navy. On August 5, 1864 Farragut won a great victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay. David Farragut then subdued the heavy shore batteries at Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines and defeated the confederate squadron of Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan to complete the Union victory. Farragut became America's first Vice Admiral on December 23, 1864. He was made a full-rank Admiral in 1866 and given command of the European Squadron, which was to be his last active service. He died at the age of 69 in 1870 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.