Valor Friday

Last week I looked at a few people who had spent the vast majority of their long lives in the service of this country. That led me to the discovery of a few more with exceptionally long times in uniform.

The most famous 19th Century American naval officer, which I criminally overlooked last week, was the 60 years of service of Admiral David Farragut.

Farragut began his time in the Navy as a ship’s boy when he was only eight years old in 1810. His father was Revolutionary War patriot George Farragut (1755-1817). The elder Farragut had been a South Carolina naval officer who was captured by the British. Repatriated in a prisoner exchange he volunteered to fight at the Battle of Cowpens (a pivotal American victory), where he’d be elected a major of the North Carolina State Regiment’s Light Horse.

When David Farragut’s mother died when he was a small boy, his father accepted the offer of US Navy officer David Porter (later a commodore) to foster the young man. Farragut was then raised by Porter, alongside younger foster brothers William Porter (later a USN commodore as well) and David Dixon Porter (who will feature a bit later).

David Farragut was warranted a midshipman when he was just nine years old. At the time this wasn’t unusual. This was the time when apprenticeships were the standard way for a man to learn a trade, including the trade of being a ship’s master. Farragut was a bit younger than is normally seen for a young man to be made a midshipman, but only by a couple of years. From a distinguished family, adopted by a prominent naval family, it was natural for him to learn sailing in this manner.

The War of 1812 started when Farragut was serving under his foster father, then-Captain Porter, and was involved in several combat actions. This included the capture of the British HMS Alert. In 1814, in action in the waters off Chile, the boy was wounded in battle.

Most spectacularly, at just 11 years old, in 1813, the young Farragut was charged with being the commanding officer of a captured ship as they were returning to port. That made him a prize master before even hitting his teens!

Remaining in the Navy, Farragut was a lieutenant by 1823, just 22 years old, and given command of USS Ferret. He was an acting lieutenant when given Ferret and held the substantive rank of passed midshipman (what would later become the modern rank of ensign). He was made a full lieutenant in 1825.

Farragut saw service in fighting piracy in the West Indies. That’s right, he literally fought the Pirates of the Caribbean. He saw service all over the world on a variety of ships, making the rank of commander in 1841. Slow promotions like that were very typical of the time.

Farragut would again find himself at war, this time as America and Mexico collided. He initially commanded USS Saratoga in action in the blockade of Tuxpan. He was under the command of another legend of US Navy history, Commodore Matthew Perry.

After the war, as a captain Farragut was tasked with creating the West Coast Mare Island Naval Yard near San Francisco in 1854, the first Pacific port for the US Navy. A base that would be in use for more than 140 years.

After Mare Island, he was living with his wife in Norfolk, Virginia, when the likelihood of civil war was seeming inevitable. He made it clear that secession was an act of treason, and went so far as to move to New York with his wife. With the start of the war in 1861, he offered his services to the Union.

Initially given a staff assignment, his foster brother David Dixon Porter offered him an operational command. Farragut was initially concerned that the secret mission he was to undertake was an attack on Norfolk, where he still had many friends and relatives. It turns out, they wanted him to blockade New Orleans (where he’d lived as a boy incidentally).

Farragut led the successful capture of New Orleans, and in reward was promoted to rear admiral (one of the first American officers to hold that rank). He was one of 13 men to be made the first admirals in the Navy, and one of only four still on the active list (the others were retired).

For the next couple of years, Admiral Farragut had less tactical or strategic success, in command of the Gulf Squadron. In 1864, at Mobile Bay, Alabama, Farragut would sail into US Navy lore.

It was here, at the last major port the Confederates still had open, that Farragut would give the most fateful and inspirational of orders. Not since Captain John Paul Jones had told his men, who wanted to surrender, that “I have not yet begun to fight!” has a quote resonated with the men of the Navy.

You see, the port was mined with tethered mines then called torpedoes. As Farragut’s flotilla entered the port, one of his monitors struck a mine and started to sink. The following ships slowed. When Farragut called forward asking what the problem was, the reply came, “Torpedoes!”

Farragut said, “Damn the torpedoes,” and turned to his flagship’s captain and said, “Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed.” In popular lore, this quickly morphed into “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

Entering the bay, the fleet overcame the resistance of the shore batteries, and realized a significant victory for the Union. In appreciation, President Lincoln promoted Farragut to vice admiral. He was the first officer to ever hold that rank and now the senior-most officer in the Navy.

After the Civil War, Farragut was promoted to full admiral in 1866 (the first man to hold the rank). His last operational assignment was commanding the European Squadron from 1867 to 1868. While retiring in practice, Farragut was retained on active duty for life, a rare honor afforded only a handful of men after the war. He wouldn’t enjoy much quiet time though, dying in the summer of 1870.

David Farragut’s son Loyall Farragut graduated from West Point in 1868, serving as an Army officer for four years before becoming a railroad executive.

David Dixon Porter, like his older foster brother Farragut, started his naval career as a boy. In 1824, Commodore David Porter (father of the boys) was reprimanded by the Navy. Instead of submitting to the perceived slight, he resigned from the Navy and took an offer from the Mexican government to be their navy’s commanding officer. The younger David Dixon accompanied his father (and brother and cousin) and became a midshipman in the Mexican Navy at just 10 years old.

In 1828, David Dixon Porter was serving on one of the Mexican Navy’s finest warships, Guerrero, under the command of his cousin David Henry Porter. During battle near Havana against Spanish ships, Guerrero was lost and forced to surrender. David Henry was killed in action, David Dixon was wounded, and one of the handful of officers to survive the battle. Commodore Porter decided to not risk his son’s life further and sent him back to the States via New Orleans.

In 1829, David Dixon was able to secure an appointment as a midshipman in the US Navy, by way of his maternal grandfather (who was a Congressman). He was 16. I mentioned that Farragut was a bit young when he was made a midshipman, but David was a bit older than most.

Porter was experienced and mature. He conflicted with superior officers who had less sea experience than he did. His warrant as a midshipman wouldn’t have been renewed because of this, but for the intervention of a commodore who helped him since Porter’s father was a war hero.

In 1935 Porter passed the examinations to become a passed midshipman, whereupon he served on coastal survey duties. He did this until securing a commission as a lieutenant in 1941. He served in the US Hydrographic Office until he was asked to undertake a secret mission in Haiti.

In 1946, then-Secretary of State James Buchanan tasked Porter to go in secret to the newly independent Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic), which had just broken away from Haiti. The US State Department wanted to know the political leanings of the new country.

Successfully completing the potentially dangerous assignment, he returned to civilization to find that the US was at war with Mexico. Serving under Commodore Matthew Perry in the Mexican-American War, Porter successfully led a charge of 68 sailors in an assault on a fort protecting the town of Tabasco. He was rewarding with command of his own ship, but the naval portion of the war was effectively over.

Post-war, Porter took a leave of absence from the Navy. He saw little opportunity in the small Navy for advancement, so he captained civilian steamships. He operated them like military vessels, insisting on his crews to adhere to military standards and conduct.

Porter soon returned to US naval service, commanding USS Supply on a mission to bring camels to the American southwest. The project was championed by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (who would become President of the Confederacy during the Civil War) as he thought the desert ungulates would be good cavalry animals in the deserts of the southwest.

In 1859, Porter accepted the command of a new civilian postal ship. He was to take his new ship when its construction was complete, but the Civil War started before that happened. He was still a commander by rank.

Having spent most of his life in southern states, Porter’s allegiance (as was that of many men in uniform) was suspect. He soon cemented his position as a loyal Union officer. He served in the bombardment of New Orleans, commanding a mortar ship flotilla under the command of his brother Captain Farragut.

After some successes in New Orleans and Mississippi, in 1862 he was promoted from commander to rear admiral. He then commanded a flotilla of gunboats on the Mississippi River. He was one of only three admirals in Navy history to have never served in the rank of captain (the others were famous explorer Richard Byrd and Ben Moreell, who skipped captain in the run up to WWII).

Porter’s tendency to argue with superiors continued to be a problem for him during the war. He was also alleged to have been a bit of a blowhard who’d steal credit for others. Despite this, his record of success was good.

He would cross paths with two Union generals who would both become good friends and with which he would develop strong working relationships with. William T Sherman and Ulysses S Grant would go on to great success during the war and after, with both becoming General of the Army (nominally a five-star rank by modern standards) and commanding generals of the Army. Grant would become President of the United States.

Porter saw many successes in the war, working closely with his Army counterparts in what we now call joint operations, but at the time were rarely conducted. In 1866 he would be promoted to vice admiral at the same time his brother was advanced to the new rank of four-star admiral.

When Farragut died in 1870, it was expected that Porter would become the Navy’s second full admiral. Political pressure from the many men Porter’s brashness and personality had made his enemy held it up. Eventually he was promoted to replace his brother. Porter reached the mandatory retirement age of 62 in 1875, but remained on active duty for life (the same rare honor afforded his foster brother).

Despite his wartime heroics and the prestige of his rank and place in Navy history, he didn’t have enough political capital to have much sway over how the Navy ran during his extended semi-retirement. He passed away in 1891 at age 77, having 62 years of service in the US Navy.

We’ve already talked about some of the Porter family already, but service to the nation was a common trait. His grandfather, David Porter Sr was captain of a Massachusetts vessel during the Revolutionary War, as was his great uncle (David Porter Sr’s brother Samuel). David Porter Jr, David Dixon Porter’s father, was a commodore (as mentioned). His uncle John Porter was also a Navy officer.

Among David Dixon Porter’s siblings (he was one of ten) were five boys that survived to adulthood. Four of them became Navy officers and one, Theodoric, was an officer in the Army during the Mexican-American War where he was killed in action. David Dixon Porter’s cousin, the son of John Porter, was Fitz John Porter. Fitz Porter was a Union major general during the Civil War. Fitz’s brother was Bolton Porter, who died when USS Levant disappeared in the Pacific (possibly to a hurricane) in 1860.

David Dixon Porter had four surviving sons and two surviving daughters. All of the boys went into the military and both girls married into military families.

David Essex Porter was a major in the Union Army, before resigning after a couple of years in the peacetime service. Theodoric Porter became a commodore in the Navy. Carlile Patterson Porter became a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps. Richard Basche Porter was a chief yeoman in the Navy. Elizabeth Porter married a man who would become a rear admiral, and Elena married an Army officer veteran.

David Dixon Porter’s grandson, son of Carlile, was David Dixon Porter was well. The namesake followed his father into the Marine Corps. This David Dixon would ascend to the rank of major general in 1944 (a tombstone promotion from his rank of brigadier general). Along the way, the younger Porter became one of only three men to receive the two highest honors of the Marine Corps.

David Dixon Porter the Marine was given a brevet promotion for distinguished conduct in the face of the enemy during the Philippine-American War in the Philippines in 1899. At the time, naval branch officers such as Porter were ineligible for the Medal of Honor. Brevet promotions, used by the Army to reward gallant and distinguished service were similarly used by the Marine Corps, but they were exceptionally rare.

After Marine officers became eligible for the Medal of Honor, the Marine Corps Brevet Medal was created to recognize those Marine officers who had previously received these brevet promotions. The medal ranks just lower than a Medal of Honor and higher than the more recent Navy Cross. Since brevet promotions in the Marine Corps were given for actions that otherwise would have resulted in a Medal of Honor, it can be considered an equivalent award. Since Porter was still in service when this medal was instituted, he received it.

After Navy officers became eligible for the Medal of Honor, a rare few were awarded for past actions. One of those was to then-Colonel Porter, for actions in the Philippines in 1901. His award citation is pretty incredible;

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Colonel [then Captain ] David Dixon Porter, United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and eminent and conspicuous conduct in battle while serving with the 1st Regiment (Marines), 1st Marine Brigade, in action at the junction of the Cadacan and Sohoton Rivers, Samar, Philippine Islands, on 17 November 1901. In command of the columns upon their uniting ashore in the Sohoton Region, Colonel Porter made a surprise attack on the fortified cliffs and completely routed the enemy, killing 30 and capturing and destroying the powder magazine, 40 lantacas (guns), rice, food and cuartels. Due to his courage, intelligence, discrimination and zeal, he successfully led his men up the cliffs by means of bamboo ladders to a height of 200 feet. The cliffs were of soft stone of volcanic origin, in the nature of pumice and were honeycombed with caves. Tons of rocks were suspended in platforms held in position by vines and cables (known as bejuco) in readiness to be precipitated upon people below. After driving the insurgents from their position which was almost impregnable, being covered with numerous trails lined with poisoned spears, pits, etc., Colonel Porter led his men across the river, scaled the cliffs on the opposite side, and destroyed the camps there. He and the men under his command overcame incredible difficulties and dangers in destroying positions which, according to reports from old prisoners, had taken three years to perfect, were held as a final rallying post, and were never before penetrated by white troops. Colonel Porter also rendered distinguished public service in the presence of the enemy at Quinapundan River, Samar, Philippine Islands, on 26 October 1901

Interestingly, Hiram Bearss, also a colonel at the time of award, but a captain at the time of action, received the Medal of Honor for the same deeds. He would later receive the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in action during World War I.

Among other men with long, long, long careers in the American armed forces are;

Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer – “Father of the Military Academy”, namesake and founder of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. In service from 1808 until forcibly retired in 1863 as he had more than 45 years in service.

Major General John Wool – Started his service in the War of 1812, saw active service in the Mexican-American War, and as the oldest, longest serving general in the Union at the start of the Civil War. One of only four generals at the start of the war. Was forcibly retired after 51 years of service, and at age 79 was the oldest general officer to execute field command on either side of the war.

I love some of the names of men around the Civil War-era. We talked about Loyall Farragut earlier, but Galusha Pennypacker, Ambrose Burnside, and Zealous Bates Tower all have such epic names. Tower joined the Army in 1841, serving under Winfield Scott in the Mexican-American War. By the Civil War he was a major of engineers and in charge of the defense of Fort Pickens. He was quickly made a brigadier general of Volunteers and earned a brevet promotion to major general before war’s end. After the war he continued to serve until 1883, having risen to the substantive rank of brigadier general in the regular Army.

Peter Conover Hains was the only confirmed man to have served in the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I. We’ll explore his incredible story next week.

Category: Historical, Navy, Valor, We Remember