it was, of course, admiral david glasgow faragan the commander of the fleet in mobile bay. but even more important, more logical to the focus today, the captain of new orleans and the control of the union in the lower mississippi valley in 1862. in my judgment, these achievements along with the ft. hudson campaigns in 1863, but especially, the capture of new orleans, one of the most important northern strategic victories of the war, do indeed entitle farragut with close status with grant and sherman in winning the war. in the eyes of contemporaries in 1861, however, farragut's allegiance to the united states in the sectional conflict was an open question. although he had served under the american flag for half a century and then fought in the war of 1812 and the mexican war under that flag, a similar record was true of other southern-born officers who chose to go with the confederacy. farragut has been born and raised in tennessee. had married a woman from virginia. after his first wife died, he married another virginia woman in 1843. when he was not at sea, he lived in nor