DavidUnion Navy Admiral David Farragut, born July 5, 1801, on his way to New Orleans expected the city, “to be rarin’ for a fight,” per the reports and missives he had received from the dispatched couriers on horseback bringing news from scouts who sent along satchels filled and sealed in wax, a la Roma, stamped envelopes that included maps picturing “pinpoint enemy true positions” inside and outside the city, anonymous hand penned health and social commentaries, a few ribald jokes and limericks, most times appreciated by the commander, because he considered himself a satirist, “overestimations of enemy strength and resolve,” salt water taffy, notes of “prayers and best wishes for the coming fight” and “to be armed for all out war in laying siege,” was strangely calm and silent as he slow
