Sailing with Farragut: The Civil War Recollections of Bartholomew Diggins

by George S. Burkhardt (Editor)

Overview

Sailing with Farragut, the latest book in the Voices of the Civil War series, shows readers the war through the recollections of Bartholomew Diggins, a young sailor who fought under U.S. Admiral David G. Farragut in the battles for control of the Mississippi River. A recent Irish immigrant, Diggins joined the crew of the USS Hartford, Admiral Farragut’s flagship, at age seventeen and served for three years. Diggins’s memoir, one of a very few writtenby a sailor on either side, allows readers to experience a Northern seamen’s daily existence and the perilous battles he endured during the Civil War. Wounded during the first foiled approach to Vicksburg, Diggins, his side paralyzed by a guerrilla’s bullet from shore, richly describes the dangers and damage possible to a ship on the Mississippi. He recalls how action could suddenly shift from the mundane, like washing the decks, to a life-or-death skirmish with a hidden enemy as his ship passed rebel towns.

Additionally, Diggins describes how surreal war can be, writing of dark nights of smoke and fire using only the flash of the enemy’s guns to steer clear of the treacherous banks, of desperate crowds of slaves clambering for safe passage, and of a fire raft 150 feet long, filled with burning pine knots, set on a course of destruction among the Union’s ships. Each chapter features an introduction by editor George S. Burkhardt, who adds careful research and useful background information to the tales that follow. For historians of the Civil War, this book will deepen their understanding of brown-water warfare and put a face to the stories of victory and loss. From the bloody skirmishes around Vicksburg to Farragut’s disaster at Port Hudson and on to his victory at Mobile Bay, Sailing with Farragut gives readers a vivid view of life on the Mississippi during the Civil War and keen insight into the leader, officer, and man that was Admiral David Farragut.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621902089
Publisher:	University of Tennessee Press
Publication date:	07/29/2016
Series:	Voices of the Civil War
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

GEORGE S. BURKHARDT is a retired newspaper editor and former owner-publisher of California’s smallest daily newspaper, the Corning Daily Observer. He is the author of Confederate Rage, Yankee

Wrath: No Quarter in the Civil War and editor of Double Duty in the Civil War: The Letters of Sailor and Soldier Edward W. Bacon.

Table of Contents

Foreword Michael P. Gray xi

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction xix

Part 1 Off to War

1 To the Mississippi 3

2 Fighting the Forts: "The Nois Was Teroble" 15

3 New Orleans Falls 27

Part 2 Vicksburg

4 Ships Battle "To No Purpose" 45

5 Can Not Crawl Up Hills 53

6 A Rebel Ram Mortifies Federals 57

7 Back Down River 63

Part 3 Port Hudson

8 Hard Times 69

9 Disaster 73

10 Blocking the Rivers 87

Part 4 Mobile

11 Waiting Game 107

12 The Ivanhoe Saga 113

13 "Damn the Torpedoes" 119

14 One Against Many 129

15 Fort Morgan Resists 137

Part 5 Home

16 War Service Ends 143

Epilogue 147

Notes 155

Bibliography 203

Index 225