Part 11 (1/2)
Less than two years of life reut when he returned fro summer of 1869 he visited the California coast, where he had not been since he gave up the command of the Mare Island Navy Yard in 1858 The welcon countries, andadmiral was the recollection of warendered by four years of close intercourse Returning froo with a violent illness, in which the heart was affected For soh by careful nursing he recovered so as to resuround then lost Several severe attacks followed this one; and although he rallied with extraordinary rapidity, thanks to a vigorous constitution, it was apparent that his health was failing A few months later, in the e of the naval ceree Peabody, whose body had been brought to the United States in the British shi+p-of-war Monarch, in recognition of his benevolence to the poor of London It was his last official duty, and the exposure attendant upon funeral ceremonies in that bleak season was or
The following summer the Navy Department placed at his disposal the dispatch steamer Tallapoosa, which took him and his fauest of the late Rear-Admiral Pennock, then commandant of the Navy Yard at that place and a connection by e, and he appeared to have a presentiment that it was so; for as the shi+p drew near the yard he arose fro fired in his honor, dressed hi up with a sad s from the mast-head, he said: ”It would be well if I died _now_, in harness” Shortly after his arrival, an old sailor who had charge of the sloop-of-war Dale, then lying dismantled at the wharf, met there the admiral, who had wandered on board He looked about the shi+p and, as he left her to go ashore, said: ”This is the last time I shall ever tread the deck of a man-of-war” This prediction proved true He passed quietly away at the coed sixty-nine years; surrounded by his fa many of his old companions in arms The body was laid temporarily in Ports to pay every respect to his memory
In Septeate Guerriere to bring the adround on Nantucket Shoal, the remains were transferred to another vessel and so conveyed to the city The final and public funeral cere observed as one of general uns fired
In the procession was General Grant, then President of the United States, with the members of his Cabinet, many e number of societies By these the coffin of the admiral was escorted to the railroad station, whence it was transported to Woodlawn Cemetery, in Westchester County, where the body now lies
To his memory the United States Government has erected a colossal bronze statue in the national capital, in Farragut Square, the work of Miss Vinnie Ream A committee of New York citizens have placed a similar memorial, by Mr St Gauden, at the northwest corner of Madison Square in that city There is also a mural tablet, with a likeness of the admiral, in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Incarnation; of which he was a co up his residence in New York
CHAPTER XII
THE CHARACTER OF ADMIRAL FARRAGUT
The brilliant and victorious career which has secured for Farragut a leading place a the successful naval coe whentheir efforts than of undertaking new and extraordinary labors The two great leaders of the United States ar the civil war--Grant and Sherman--were not over forty-five when the return of peace released them from their cares; while Nelson and Napoleon were but a year older than these when Trafalgar and Waterloo terut was nearly sixty-one at the ti the Mississippi forts, and his command of the Western Gulf Squadron lasted not quite three years, or rather less than the ordinary duration of a naval cruise in tih not unprecedented, the display of activity and of sustained energy made by him at such an advanced period of life is unusual; and the severity of the strain upon the e is evidenced by the prostration of Farragut hior of body and of a inative exaggeration of difficulties He never coenerals, ”_de se faire un tableau_” On the other hand, the study of his operations shows that, while always sanguine and ready to take great risks for the sake of accoreat result, he had a clear appreciation of the conditions necessary to success and did not confound the impracticable with the merely hazardous Of this, his reluctance to ascend the Mississippi in 1862, and his insistence in 1864 upon the necessity of ironclads, despite his instinctive dislike to that class of vessel, before undertaking the entrance to Mobile Bay, are conspicuous illustrations; and must be carefully kept in view by any one desirous of adequately appreciating his military character
As in the case of Nelson, there is a disposition to attribute Farragut's successes siardless of reat British admiral the tendency of this viehich has been reproduced in successive biographies down to the latest, is to sink one of the first of naval cohting does not disdain science, to that of the game-cock; and it is doubtless to be attributed to the eorous action without which no military operations, however wisely planned, can succeed In the want of this, rather than of great professional acquirements, will be most frequently found the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful general; and consequently Nelson, who had seen sofrohtly placed, or and rapidity, in which most are found deficient, than upon the methods which many understand, however ill they uished Frenchmatized tactics as ”the veil of ti principles of all sound tactics, Nelson carefully planned the chief outlines of operations, in the execution of which hefirht direction, as well as vigor and weight, is necessary to a blow that would tell; but experience had taught hietothe features of his radually obscured all others Vigor even to desperateness of action both Nelson and Farragut on occasion showed--recklessness never Neither fought as one who beateth the air; and while for neither can be claireat outlines of their action can safely challenge hostile criticism
While, however, both in their respective spheres illustrated the great leading principles of war, the circumstances under which they were called to practice them were too diverse to permit any close comparison, or parallel, to be instituted between their actions Nelson, for the most part, shone upon the battle-field--by his tactical combinations, by the rapidity and boldness hich he carried out plans previously laid, or, on occasion, by the astonishi+ng _coup d'oeil_ and daring hich, in unforeseen crises, he snatched and secured escaping victory Farragut in actual battle showed that careful adaptation of means to ends which has a just claireat nized the decisive point of a can, or of a particular operation, and threw upon it the force under his direction Nelson acted chiefly against shi+ps, against forces of a type essentially the same as his own, and accessible in all parts to his attack, because belonging to the saht therefore hope to overcome them by the superior quality of his crews or by his better tactical dispositions Farragut contended with fortifications, whose military powers, offensive and defensive, were essentially different froreatly exceeded that of his shi+ps as to exclude any hope of reducing thees of position, deliberately chosen and difficult of approach, could not be outweighed by any tactical arrangement open to him to adopt He was therefore co and isolating theainst their coic
It is not meant to imply that the military talents of either admiral were confined to the particular field ascribed to hieneral they were led by circumstances to illustrate that chiefly
Nelson in his fine can in the Baltic evinced his profound intuitions in the science of strategy; and Farragut, as has been said, showed no mean tactical ability in the provisions made for his several battles The dispositions to be adopted ith him the subject of very careful consideration; and before Mobile he spent hours with his flag lieutenant studying, by the aid of little wooden ht be placed Afterward he had the squadron get under way several ti formation and course
Like all ut's success is to be found in natural aptitudes carefully i opportunity for action How much he was indebted to the latter, is evident froreat qualities were manifested to the world
He was fortunate also, as was Nelson, in the conditions which he was called toeach, and brilliantly as they rose to the deies, it may safely be said that more perfect preparation upon the part of their enemies would either have detracted froreater deliberation and more methodical execution, would have robbed their exploits of that thunderbolt character which iar, to New Orleans and Mobile Bay A ut first meant to profit, nor would it be crossed with the impunity he found; nor could Nelson in his day, without courting destruction, have used against a thoroughly efficient enemy the tactics that admirably suited the conditions in Aboukir Bay and off Cape Trafalgar But these considerations do not dih they help to explain the fullness of their success, and justify proceedings which under different circumstances would be unjustifiable Rather, it may be said that, in the adaptation of their measures to the conditions opposed to them, ould otherwise invite condeenius
For Farragut had a natural genius for war, to which scarcely any opening had been offered before the unexpected calareat civil strife burst upon the country In esti the credit due to his great achievements, much stress must be laid upon the constant effort for professional improvement made by him from his early life ”Without the opportunity and the environment which enabled him to develop hiuthis conized as no ordinary man, no merely routine naval officer, who kept his watch and passed through life as easily as he could” ”He toldwas flying, ”that there are co, and that a naval officer should always be adding to his knowledge; it ht enable him to be more useful soht not have to do” Even after the hen his reputation was at its height, in visiting European ports he never for a ht of this duty of professional acquirement Not a harbor was visited that he did not observe critically its chances for defense by sea or land ”Who knows,”