Admiral Farragut Orders One of His Ships to Pick Up Gunpowder for Use of His Monitor Ironclads

This is our first Farragut order, and our first admiral’s letter relating to the famed Monitors

Admiral David Farragut, the most famous admiral of the Civil War, commanded the Union blockade of Southern ports, helped capture the the Confederate city of New Orleans in 1862 and provided support for General Ulysses S. Grant’s action against Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. After Vicksburg fell in July 1863, Farragut next turned his attention to Mobile Bay, Alabama, which was defended by several forts. But it would be some months before he would gain permission from Union leadership to attack the bay. In the first half of 1864, Farragut, aboard the USS Kanawha, remained on patrol off Mobile Bay. He finally got permission to attack Confederate positions there in August 1864, and won a great victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay, during which he commanded his fleet to ignore Confederate defenses in the harbor, famously proclaiming “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” The triumph at Mobile Bay was significant because it had been the Confederacy’s last major port open on the Gulf of Mexico.

Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Pierre Giraud joined the Navy as acting master in August 1861 and was the executive officer aboard the U.S.S. Morning Light, which was engaged in patrolling the eastern approaches for vessels suspected of running contraband cargo into Southern ports. Later, as part of the Savannah blockade, Giraud was serving on the USS Montauk under Captain John Worden, formerly captain of the famed ironclad the USS Monitor, in February 1863 when the warship cornered the legendary CSS Nashville and destroyed the Confederate vessel within minutes of opening fire. Giraud commanded the 11-inch battery of the Montauk and was then promoted to acting lieutenant on August 5, 1863. In November 1863 Giraud assumed command of the USS Tennessee, a former Confederate side-wheel steamer captured by Farragut at New Orleans, and during the spring of 1864 the USS Tennessee cruised the Gulf of Mexico looking for blockade runners. Giraud then joined the crew of the eight-gun steamer USS Ossipee. At the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864, Giraud found himself at the center of the action when the Ossipee was signaled to ram the crippled CSS Tennessee. Immobile, unable return fire, and with Admiral Franklin Buchanan wounded, the CSS Tennessee struck her colors prepared to surrender. Amidst the smoke and chaos, the CSS Tennessee was rammed and boarded by Giraud. Afterwards, the Tennessee was refitted as a Union vessel and temporary command given to Giraud. Admiral Farragut deputized Giraud to board the ship of the defeated Admiral Buchanan and receive from the latter his sword and the Confederate fleet’s flag in surrender.

This is an original order issued and signed by Farragut to Giraud, when the latter was in charge of the USS Tennessee side-wheeler, ordering him to deliver gunpowder for the use of Farragut’s Monitors. Autograph letter signed, US Flagship Hartford off Ship Island, February 21, 1864, to Acting Vol. Lt. P. Giraud, commanding USS Tennessee. “You will proceed to Pensacola and report to the commanding officer afloat and to Commodore [William W.] Smith; deliver my dispatches for both the cupola for the yard and such other things you may have for the yard or vessels. Deliver your requisition for the 200 barrels of powder to Capt. Gibson; take it in and sail Tuesday morning

“If the weather is fine, when you arrive off Horn Island Pass which should be about 1 or 2 PM I will have a gunboat there to take the powder for the Monitor boats; which you will deliver. If the weather should be rough, come directly down to Ship Island and I will have a boat ready to take it up to Grant’s Pass.”

Very uncommon, this being our first order of Farragut in all our years in the field.