Case-B

Damn the Torpedoes!

Admiral David Farragut is the most well-known naval officer of the Civil War. Although born in Tennessee and living in Virginia at the outbreak of the war, he remained loyal to the United States. This fire bucket comes from his flagship, the U. S. S. Hartford. Farragut commanded the Hartford through many of the Civil War’s most noteworthy naval and amphibious campaigns, including the Battle of New Orleans and the siege of Vicksburg.

During the war’s final year, Farragut mostly operated along the southern coast of the Confederacy, with Mobile as the ultimate goal. At the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, Farragut’s fleet finally began to break down the city’s defenses. The battle’s most famous incident came when Farragut, noting one of his ships slowing to avoid Confederate mines, declared “Damn the torpedoes! . . . go ahead!”