South Pacific that his supply of older
officers ran out, and twelve-year old David Farragut was appointed
prize-master of one of them, with orders to take her to Valparaiso. When
Farragut gave his first order, her skipper, a hot-tempered old sea-dog,
flew into a rage, and declaring that he had "no idea of trusting himself
with a blamed nutshell," rushed below for his pistols. The
twelve-year-old commander shouted after him that, if he came on deck
again, he would be thrown overboard, and thenceforth was master of the
ship. He was back on the Essex again when she was attacked in Valparaiso
harbor by a British squadron, and got his baptism of fire in one of the
hardest-fought naval battles in history.

From that time until the outbreak of the Civil War, his life was spent
in the most active service, and he rose to the rank of captain. As has
been seen, he cast in his lot with the North, and asked for active duty
at once, but it was not until eight months later that the summons came.
When it did come, it was of a nature to fill him with the most unbounded
enthusiasm. The national government had determined to attempt to send a
fleet past the formidable forts at the mouth of the Mississippi, for the
purpose of capturing New Orleans. Farragut was sent for, shown the list
of vessels which were preparing for the expedition, and asked if he
thought it could succeed. He answered that he would undertake to do it
with two-thirds the number, and when he was told that he was to command
the expedition, his delight knew no bounds. He felt that his chance had
come. On the second of February, 1862, he sailed out of Hampton Roads
with a squadron of seventeen vessels, and turned his prow to the south.

The task which had been set him was one to give the stoutest heart
pause. Twenty miles above the mouth of the Mississippi were two
formidable forts and a number of water batteries, with combined
armaments greatly superior to those of Farragut's fleet. A great barrier
of logs stretched across the river, while farther up lay a Confederate
fleet of fifteen vessels, one of which was an ironclad ram. A strong
force of Confederate sharpshooters was stationed along either bank, and
a number of fire-rafts were ready to be lighted and sent down against
the Union fleet. It was against these obstacles that Farragut, after a
week of preliminary attack, started up the river in his wooden vessels
at three o'clock in the morning of April 24, 1862.

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