Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 2.djvu/231

 DAVID GLASCOE FARRAGUT 879 DAVID GLASCOE FARRAGUT By L. p. Brockett, A.M. (1801-1870) H EROES have not been wanting in the his- tory of maritime warfare, at any time in these last three hundred years. Holland points with pride to her gallant DeRuyter and Van Tromp, who made the little republic among the marshes and canals that yield tribute to the Zuyder Zee, famous the world over. Eng- land glories in her Blake, her CoUingwood, and most of all, in her Nelson, the model naval hero of all her history ; and we cannot sup- press our admiration of the daring of the reck- less John Paul Jones, the matchless patriotism of Lawrence, and the gallant bearing and ex- traordinary success of Perry, Bainbridge, De- catur, and the elder Porter ; while in the War of the Rebellion the heroic Foote, Dupont, Winslow, D. D. Porter, and Rogers, covered their names with glory. But among all these illustrious names there is none which so thoroughly awakens our enthusiasm, or so readily calls forth our applause, as that of Farra- gut. With all of Nelson's courage and daring, he had more than his executive ability and fertility of resource, a wider and more generous intellectual culture, and a more unblemished, naive, frank, and gentle character. He bore in his veins some traces of the best blood of Spain, his father, George Farragut, having been a native of Citadella, the capital of the island of Minorca, and a descendant of an ancient and honorable Catalonian family. The father came to this country in 1776, and united most heartily in our struggle for inde- pendence, attaining during the war the rank of major. After the conclusion of the war, Major Farragut married Miss Elizabeth Shine, of North Carolina, a descendant of the old Scotch family of Mclven, and settled as a farmer at Campbell's Station, near Knoxville, Tenn. Here, on July 5, 1801, his illustrious son was born. The father seems to have been. not altogether contented with a farmer's life in that mountainous region, for not long after we hear of him as a sailing-master in the navy, and an intimate friend of the father of Commodore David D. Porter, who then held a similar rank. Young Farragut inherited his father's love for the sea, and though brought up so far inland, among the Cum- berland Mountains, he had hardly reached the age of nine and a half years, when