Charles Lee Lewis

This biography covers David Glasgow Farragut’s long career in the navy before the Civil War. He was about sixty years old when that war began, and had accordingly lived through that long transitional period from sail to steam. As a lad he had served with Porter in the Essex on her glorious cruise which ended in bloody defeat at Valparaiso; he had repeatedly cruised in the Mediterranean; he hunted pirates in the Caribbean and had almost died of yellow fever; he had become familiar with...

This biography covers David Glasgow Farragut’s long career in the navy before the Civil War. He was about sixty years old when that war began, and had accordingly lived through that long transitional period from sail to steam. As a lad he had served with Porter in the Essex on her glorious cruise which ended in bloody defeat at Valparaiso; he had repeatedly cruised in the Mediterranean; he hunted pirates in the Caribbean and had almost died of yellow fever; he had become familiar with...

The average American knows little or nothing of the great service rendered by Admiral de Grasse, a French admiral, to the cause of American independence in the battle off Cape Henry in 1781. The battle off Cape Henry had ultimate effects more important than those of Waterloo. De Grasse’s action entailed upon the British the final loss of the thirteen colonies in America. This biography by Charles Lee Lewis places this supremely important naval battle off the Virginia Capes in its...