Scope and Content Note
The papers of David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870), span the years 1816-1869 and consist of correspondence, letterbooks, a biographical file, invitations, and a copy of an 1867 act of the municipal government of Ciudadela, Minorca, honoring Farragut. The correspondence includes three letters to Farragut from Charles Folsom, American consul in Tunis, a photostatic copy of a personal letter from Farragut to Lyman Copeland Draper, and a letter from Farragut to Melancthon B. Woolsey.
The letterbooks contain copies of letters sent and received, general orders, and circulars. The first letterbook, kept initially on the Boxer (schooner), contains copies of letters, general orders, and circulars dated 1816-1840, but consists largely of autobiographical and genealogical notes. Most of the entries in the second letterbook, 1829-1839, were made on the Erie (patrol gunboat). Farragut commanded the Erie with orders to proceed to Mexican waters in order to protect American citizens and property endangered by the war between Mexico and France. The second letterbook contains copies of letters to William D. Jones, American consul in Mexico, James Barron, and Alexander James Dallas describing the attack and capture of the castle of San Juan de Ulloa by the French. There are also letters to James Kirke Paulding, Antonio López de Santa Anna, and Charles Baudin concerning this war.
The third letterbook, 1852-1853, kept while Farragut had ordnance duties, includes memoranda on Dahlgren’s lock and on the testing of batteries, remarks on various types of naval weapons, and copies of letters to Charles Morris and John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren. In the fourth letterbook, 1859-1861, are Farragut’s orders to proceed to Mexico, then in revolution. His chief duty was to transport Robert M. McLane, the new American minister to Mexico. There are also copies of letters to Duncan N. Ingraham, John Lenthall, Stephen R. Mallory, Matthew Fontaine Maury, and Isaac Toucey.