Farragut: America's First Admiral

by Robert J. Schneller Jr.

Overview

“Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” With those words, David Glasgow Farragut led a fleet of Union warships into Mobile Bay, where he achieved one of the most celebrated victories in American naval history. What separates the good officer from the great one, writes Robert J. Schneller, Jr., is the courage to make difficult decisions in the heat of combat despite personal fear or the awful realization that some men will have to pay in blood. Farragut’s personal attributes, such as his sharp intelligence and confidence, and his careful preparations, keen situational awareness, and courage to act boldly at decisive moments produced the Union’s most important naval victories and resulted in his appointment as the U.S. Navy’s first admiral.

Robert J. Schneller., Ph.D., is a historian in the Contemporary History Branch of the U.S. Naval Historical Center. Schneller’s first book, A Quest for Glory: A Biography of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren. He received the 1996 John Lyman Book Award in Biography from the North American Society for Oceanic History. He also wrote (with Edward J. Marolda) Shield and Sword: The United States Navy and the Persian Gulf War, which received the prestigious Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize from the Navy League of the United States. Schneller’s other books include an edition of John W. Grattan’s Civil War memoir, Under the Blue Pennant, Or Notes of a Naval Officer, 1863–1865, and Farragut: America's First Admiral (Brassey’s, Inc., 2002), the initial volume in Brassey’s Military Profiles series. He lives in Lake Ridge, Virginia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781574885422
Publisher:	Potomac Books
Publication date:	01/31/2003
Series:	Military Profiles
Pages:	116
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Robert J. Schneller., Ph.D., is a historian in the Contemporary History Branch of the U.S. Naval Historical Center. Schneller’s first book, A Quest for Glory: A Biography of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren. He received the 1996 John Lyman Book Award in Biography from the North American Society for Oceanic History. He also wrote (with Edward J. Marolda) Shield and Sword: The United States Navy and the Persian Gulf War, which received the prestigious Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize from the Navy League of the United States. Schneller’s other books include an edition of John W. Grattan’s Civil War memoir, Under the Blue Pennant, Or Notes of a Naval Officer, 1863–1865, and Farragut: America's First Admiral (Brassey’s, Inc., 2002), the initial volume in Brassey’s Military Profiles series. He lives in Lake Ridge, Virginia.

Table of Contents

	List of Maps	ix
	Preface	xi
	Chronology	xv
Chapter 1	Child of the Frontier	3
Chapter 2	Baptism of Fire	9
Chapter 3	Antebellum Naval Officer	15
Chapter 4	Triumph at New Orleans	29
Chapter 5	Purgatory on the Mississippi	53
Chapter 6	Triumph at Mobile Bay	78
Chapter 7	War Hero	94
	Notes	103
	Bibliographic Note	109
	Index	111
	About the Author	117

Editorial Reviews

Schneller (U.S. Naval Historical Center) profiles the military career of the Union's Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, perhaps most famous for his command "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" at the Civil War naval battle at Mobile Bay. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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