Admiral David G. Farragut was a naval commander for the North during the American Civil War. Farragut’s father, a Spaniard, came to America in 1776 and fought for the US during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. When Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861, Navy Captain David G. Farragut moved his family north to Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. In January 1862 he was chosen to command a fifty-ship expedition to capture New Orleans. His success at New Orleans in the Battle of Mobile Bay earned him a place in history as one of America’s most celebrated Civil War heroes. During the battle Farragut famously remarked "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"
