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Auction archive: Lot number 28

FARRAGUT, David Glasgow (1801-1870), Admiral, U.S.N. Autograph letter signed ("D. G. Farragut" with flourish) to Major James E. Montgomery, "U.S. Flag Ship Hartford," Mobile Bay, 27 November 1864. 3 pages, on lined U.S. Flag Ship stationery, docketed...

Auction 19.05.2000
19 May 2000
Estimate
US$5,000 - US$7,000
Price realised:
US$10,575
Auction archive: Lot number 28

FARRAGUT, David Glasgow (1801-1870), Admiral, U.S.N. Autograph letter signed ("D. G. Farragut" with flourish) to Major James E. Montgomery, "U.S. Flag Ship Hartford," Mobile Bay, 27 November 1864. 3 pages, on lined U.S. Flag Ship stationery, docketed...

Auction 19.05.2000
19 May 2000
Estimate
US$5,000 - US$7,000
Price realised:
US$10,575
Beschreibung:

FARRAGUT, David Glasgow (1801-1870), Admiral, U.S.N. Autograph letter signed ("D. G. Farragut" with flourish) to Major James E. Montgomery, "U.S. Flag Ship Hartford," Mobile Bay, 27 November 1864. 3 pages, on lined U.S. Flag Ship stationery, docketed on verso, slight staining on page 1, otherwise fine. FARRAGUT AT MOBILE BAY. An exceptional letter from his flagship, written a few months after the crowning achievement of Farragut's naval career--his success at Mobile Bay on 5 August. The entrance to the bay had been heavily defended by several strong forts, a flotilla of gunboats and in addition, the Confederates had obstructed the passage with mines or "torpedoes." Early on the morning of 5 August, Farragut led a fleet of four ironclads and fourteen wooden ships through a gauntlet of Confederate fire, landed troops, and successfully took both forts and gained control of the bay. At the height of the battle with Confederate rams and gunboats, Farragut had been lashed in the rigging of the flagship Hartford . When the pilot momentarily paused the column to avoid mines, the Admiral shouted down from the rigging: "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" Here, writing to an army officer who had participated in the battle, he explains that "...I was going on shore at Fort Morgan to get a...small Brass piece that Capt. Williamson had promised me--but he was not there." Referring to their late efforts, he writes that "in all my intercourse with the Army I have always found myself particularly fortunate in the Dept. of the Gulf....You should not despond, because we are disappointed in our trip up the Bay, it is a hope deferred, which I have suffered many, many months during my service in this war. I urged the taking of Mobile Bay 30 months ago, and was put off...by the pressure of the enemy, and the difference of opinion at Washington and so I continued the Blockade in sunshine and storm, until Genls. Canby and Granger...could spare the necessary force to cooperate with us, and as I always said we would do, we soon realized our expectations..." The key to any future success, he continues, is "a spirit of patriotism which seems above all selfish considerations. There is an old saying among sailors 'a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull together; nothing can stand;' and that is the feeling I have always cultivated...I shall always look back upon my association with Genl. Granger and yourself as among the most pleasant of my life...you will have my sincere wishes for an opportunity to carry out our plans, by a successful march to Mobile." As Farragut predicted, in March of 1864, 45,000 troops joined forces under Canby and Steele to take Mobile, held by D. H. Maury with a force of 10,000 men and 300 gunboats. Farragut letters referring to the key Mobile battle are of very great rarity.

Auction archive: Lot number 28
Auction:
Datum:
19 May 2000
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Rockefeller Center
Beschreibung:

FARRAGUT, David Glasgow (1801-1870), Admiral, U.S.N. Autograph letter signed ("D. G. Farragut" with flourish) to Major James E. Montgomery, "U.S. Flag Ship Hartford," Mobile Bay, 27 November 1864. 3 pages, on lined U.S. Flag Ship stationery, docketed on verso, slight staining on page 1, otherwise fine. FARRAGUT AT MOBILE BAY. An exceptional letter from his flagship, written a few months after the crowning achievement of Farragut's naval career--his success at Mobile Bay on 5 August. The entrance to the bay had been heavily defended by several strong forts, a flotilla of gunboats and in addition, the Confederates had obstructed the passage with mines or "torpedoes." Early on the morning of 5 August, Farragut led a fleet of four ironclads and fourteen wooden ships through a gauntlet of Confederate fire, landed troops, and successfully took both forts and gained control of the bay. At the height of the battle with Confederate rams and gunboats, Farragut had been lashed in the rigging of the flagship Hartford . When the pilot momentarily paused the column to avoid mines, the Admiral shouted down from the rigging: "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" Here, writing to an army officer who had participated in the battle, he explains that "...I was going on shore at Fort Morgan to get a...small Brass piece that Capt. Williamson had promised me--but he was not there." Referring to their late efforts, he writes that "in all my intercourse with the Army I have always found myself particularly fortunate in the Dept. of the Gulf....You should not despond, because we are disappointed in our trip up the Bay, it is a hope deferred, which I have suffered many, many months during my service in this war. I urged the taking of Mobile Bay 30 months ago, and was put off...by the pressure of the enemy, and the difference of opinion at Washington and so I continued the Blockade in sunshine and storm, until Genls. Canby and Granger...could spare the necessary force to cooperate with us, and as I always said we would do, we soon realized our expectations..." The key to any future success, he continues, is "a spirit of patriotism which seems above all selfish considerations. There is an old saying among sailors 'a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull together; nothing can stand;' and that is the feeling I have always cultivated...I shall always look back upon my association with Genl. Granger and yourself as among the most pleasant of my life...you will have my sincere wishes for an opportunity to carry out our plans, by a successful march to Mobile." As Farragut predicted, in March of 1864, 45,000 troops joined forces under Canby and Steele to take Mobile, held by D. H. Maury with a force of 10,000 men and 300 gunboats. Farragut letters referring to the key Mobile battle are of very great rarity.

Auction archive: Lot number 28
Auction:
Datum:
19 May 2000
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Rockefeller Center
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