Book Review: Lincoln's Admiral

I posted this earlier in the week, but could not edit a couple of mistakes, so I deleted it and am re-posting it now.

Lincoln’s Admiral: The Civil War Campaigns of David Farragut
Author: James P. Duffy
Castle Books, published in 2006 (original copyright 1997 by James. P. Duffy)


It may not be a new book to the Civil War world, but it is to me and I just finished this enjoyable, informative look at a man who played a very important role during the Civil War, Mr. David (originally James) Glasgow Farragut.

This is a very readable, enjoyable story of Farragut’s life, with most of it understandably focused on the Civil War period, when he became a national hero and the first Admiral in the history of the United States. It describes his family’s naval background in the Mediterranean Sea and its participation in the American Revolution. It tells the reader how Mr. Farragut found a military benefactor in David Porter Jr., who took the boy under his wing and showed him how to run a ship, in battle against both the British in the War of 1812 and against pirates.

The book does a fine job of showing the frustrations of Farragut’s life as he grew up into adulthood and beyond. He had poor eyesight that caused troubles, and his first wife suffered badly from health issues. Additionally, life in the peacetime navy added its own frustrations, both in the slowness of promotion and even in the difficulty of finding assignments, as there were more officers than ships available. Being off assignment and stuck in Norfolk allowed him to spend time with his wife, but also meant he was only on half-pay, making it tougher to provide the care his wife and his own health needed.

Mr. Duffy then gets into the years of Civil War, when Farragut won his fame. His first action was to leave his home in Norfolk (where the family of his new wife also lived) and move to New York when hostilities broke out – there was no question in his mind about which side he would support; he was a Union man all the way, though some people questioned his loyalty due to his southern birth and southern bride.

Eventually, Farragut was assigned to the Western Blockade Squadron, a move that led to his eventual success and fame, as he took his ships up the Mississippi River, past the forts of New Orleans and captured that key port city, one of the south’s most important trade centers. His recognition that the Union would have to bypass the forts then cut them off from behind instead of simply trying to blow them to pieces was a brilliant observation and proved to be completely accurate, the same strategy that would work in Mobile Bay two years later.

Farragut and his fleet eventually also captured Baton Rouge and moved their ships above Port Hudson, to help cut off southern trade that came up the Red River.

Once General U.S Grant and David Dixon Porter got their men and ships south of Vicksburg and captured that city, Port Hudson was doomed and the whole Mississippi River soon again went “unvexed to the sea” as President Abraham Lincoln put it.

This was a huge accomplishment for the United States, cutting the Confederacy in half, preventing it from moving supplies from the western lands across the Mississippi River to the east, and re-opening trade opportunities for United States merchants. Farragut simply was the key person in making this possible, by opening up New Orleans and blockading the Red River, while Grant, Porter and others finished off Vicksburg and Port Hudson (both of which badly missed the supplies that would have come from the Red River region had Farragut not closed it off).

Farragut was recognized as a hero for this deed, but was not done yet, as in late summer of 1864, he again took his ships past a highly-guarded and fortified area, this time Mobile Bay, ran past the forts and closed down yet another key Confederate port. This was where he gave the order that the years have twisted into “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”

Farragut lived the rest of his life as a national hero who traveled (with his wife, thanks to President Andrew Johnson) to several foreign countries in the post-war years. Farragut finally passed away on August 14, 1870. He was 69 years old and had spent almost sixty of those years in naval service to his country, including years as Admiral. His career and service did truly earn him the title of a national hero, which Duffy’s book makes clear and unmistakable.

One small issue I had with Mr. Duffy’s writing occurred on page 46, when he described Winfield Scott’s retirement as though Mr. Scott had easily and quickly recognized his own failings and retired on his own, with no mention of the struggle for control with General George B. McClellan.

This is a small flaw in this book, as those details are not necessarily needed for a discussion of this subject, but I do wonder if there are any other similar situations in the book, but on subjects with which I may not be familiar enough to recognize.

Another quibble I had is with the lack of footnotes or endnotes. This especially bothered me on page 208 when Duffy recounts a story about one of Farragut’s men (and a couple freed slaves from nearby) hid in a dug-out log, covered it with branches, and floated down the Mississippi river to deliver dispatches to the boats in the fleet that had not passed the Confederate defenses around Port Hudson. I would like to know more about this amazing idea and passage, but the lack of endnotes leads to frustration here.

The book is definitely readable and not an overly technical work where the author tries to show off his vocabulary as other books seem to do, but it may go a bit too far to the “non-academic” version of history, at least regarding the lack of endnotes and occasional statements for which more details would be helpful.

Despite the small flaws I mentioned above, however, I do recommend this book to anyone who has interest in the naval aspect of the Civil War, particularly in the western theater. David Farragut’s name is well-known, but some of the details of how he accomplished the feats that made him famous are not, as both the naval war and the western theater sometimes do not receive a lot of coverage.

Duffy’s book provides an excellent read and summary of Farragut’s life, his accomplishments and how he was able to achieve such excellent results. This is a very informative and readable biography that provides an enjoyable look at David Farragut’s life and exploits on the seas and in the rivers. This volume would be a good addition to any Civil War library.

Major General AJ Smith

Major General Andrew Jackson (A.J.) Smith


Here’s a brief biography of a general who seems to have earned a good reputation wherever he went, the respect of famed leaders he worked for and achieved a solid record of success, yet escaped the glare of fame. Some of his service was in the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati region, when he replaced Lew Wallace as head of local forces as the “Siege of Cincinnati” concluded and Wallace was assigned elsewhere. Below is some brief research I had done on him in the recent past.

If ever a man was born with a military career as his destiny, Andrew Jackson Smith was it. Born in Pennsylvania in 1815 to a father who was a veteran of both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, Smith was also named for a war hero and future President, Andrew Jackson, the Hero of New Orleans.

A.J. Smith was appointed to West Point in 1834, and graduated 4 years later, 36th in a class of 45. He joined the First Dragoons as a Second Lieutenant and served in Oregon and throughout the West. During the Mexican War, he was stationed mainly in California.

When the Civil War broke out, he was colonel of the California Cavalry, but resigned this commission to go east, where he was assigned as colonel of cavalry under Henry Halleck in Missouri. In May of 1862, he was promoted to Brigadier General and he continued to serve under Halleck through the advance on Corinth which ended at the end of May.

In late summer of this year, General Smith was ordered to Covington, KY, where he replaced Lew Wallace in command of local forces. One of his communications from the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion was to General Wallace and mentioned a famed local group of militiamen:

Fort Mitchel, KY, September 17, 1862:
General Wallace:
Reports from the front state that the enemy are in full retreat. I ordered all the cavalry I have in front to follow up and ascertain the road and direction they were taking. Cannot I get rid of the Squirrel Hunters? They are under no control.
A.J. Smith,
Brigadier General

In the fall of this year, he served under Gordon Grange in the Army of Kentucky, before taking command of a division under William T. Sherman in December. He took part in the failed attack on Chickasaw Bluffs as the Union attempted to capture the key city of Vicksburg.

In early January, Smith was part of the successful attack on Arkansas Post in the Arkansas River. He then joined in the next Union attempt to capture Vicksburg, under Ulysses S. Grant.

This time the Union forces succeeded, and the Confederates in the city surrendered on July 4, 1863.

After this success, he also joined Sherman on the successful attack upon Jackson, the state capital of Mississippi.

In August of 1863, he was put in command at Columbus, Kentucky, where he stayed for several months before joining Sherman again in early 1864 for the campaign against Meridian, Mississippi, which ended in February with the destruction of much of that city.
After this assignment, he was ordered to the Army of the Tennessee as part of Nathan Bank’s Red River Campaign, which took place through most of March and April and even into early May. Smith’s men were at the front of the Union army and fought in every engagement of this campaign that resulted in failure for the Union forces.

In May, Smith received another promotion, this time to Major General of Volunteers.

During the summer of 1864, he and his men were stationed in La Grange Tennessee, before he led them on a expedition to Tupelo, Mississippi. It was here that General Smith and his men repulsed an attack by famed Confederate raider Nathan Bedford Forrest on July 14, inflicting perhaps as much as 40% casualties on the Rebels.

In the late summer, Smith was sent to Missouri to help repel the raid by Confederate General Sterling Price, but as fall arrived, he was quickly summoned to Nashville to assist in George Thomas’ defense against John Bell Hood’s Confederates. Smith was commended for his actions in this Union rout of their opponent and won brevet (temporary) promotion to Major General in the regular army.

In early 1865, his command had was designated the XVI Army Corps and took part in the campaign that captured the city of Mobile, Alabama.

The war ended soon after this, but Smith remained in the army, serving as Colonel of the 7th Cavalry. In 1869, President Grant offered him the position of postmaster of St. Louis, which Smith accepted after resigning his army commission. He served in many positions in this river city through the rest of his life.

In 1888, Congress passed an act reinstating Smith to the position of colonel of cavalry so he could retire at that rank, which he did later that same day.

Despite his many successes on military fields, and the trust he had earned from Generals like Grant and Sherman, A. J. Smith never received the same fame or glory as did many of his contemporaries. Part of this may have been due to how often he and his forces were moved around, which earned them nicknames like “the lost tribes of Israel” and “Smith’s Guerrillas.” Smith simply went where he was told and did his duty so well that superior officers constantly asked for his services.

A.J. Smith passed away in St. Louis in 1897 at 82 years of age.