Sailing with Farragut: The Civil War Recollections of Bartholomew Diggins ed. by George S. Burkhardt

Abstract

Reviewed by: Sailing with Farragut: The Civil War Recollections of Bartholomew Diggins ed. by George S. Burkhardt Matthew Taylor Raffety Sailing with Farragut: The Civil War Recollections of Bartholomew Diggins. Ed. George S. Burkhardt. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-6219-0208-9. 241 pp., cloth, $53.95. Given the enormous amount of interest in and scholarship about the Civil War, it is both rare and exciting when a largely ignored primary account comes to light. Such a discovery is the memoir of Union naval "tar" Bartholomew Diggins, which George S. Burkhardt has meticulously edited and annotated. Diggins, an Irish immigrant not yet out of his teens, volunteered for naval service in 1861 and [End Page 324] served on board the USS Hartford, which acted as Rear Admiral David Farragut's flagship. For a young man of limited means and education, Diggins provides an engaging and readable firsthand account of the underexamined vantage of the naval conflict. His dramatic descriptions of the Union seizure of New Orleans, the race "under the guns" of Vicksburg, the disastrous Union attempt to pass Fort Hudson, and the blockade of Mobile offer a fresh perspective on some of the most significant episodes of the war. Burkardt has done a considerable service in the publication Diggins's memoir as part of University of Tennessee Press's Voices of the Civil War series. Not only is Diggins a rare witness to many of the most dramatic aspects of the maritime Civil War, but narrative is, to date, a woefully underused resource. Michael P. Gray notes in his introduction that "Diggins's recollections had only been referenced by a few writers, virtually passed over and never published in its entirety" before now (xi). Maritime scholars, Civil War scholars, educators looking for a readable firsthand account for students, and general readers with an interest in the conflict will all benefit greatly from Burkhardt's work in bringing this resource to a wider circulation. Each chapter begins with a brief introductory passage, allowing Burkhardt to frame for modern eyes Diggins's occasionally spotty historical account. In doing so, Burkhardt manages to admirably balance a difficult task. It is difficult to give sufficient context without bogging the reader down in the historiographic debates and quibbles of the present. In this case, Diggins is largely left to speak for himself, as should be the case in an edited volume such as this. That said, in places, a broader nonmilitary context would be appreciated and a deeper engagement with developments in mid-nineteenth century maritime history more generally would be helpful as well. The book ends with an epilogue that gives a limited account of the postwar lives of many of the dramatis personae, mostly officers under whom Diggins served, along with a handful of his more notable Confederate opponents. The postwar account of Diggins himself is brief, although what is discovered is tantalizing: following his wartime naval service, Diggins became a Washington, DC, police officer and occasional inventor (147–48). Diggins's memoir is a complex text, written for unclear purpose, often well after the fact: "While it is unknown exactly when he penned his recollections, he probably wrote them at intervals and after some official records became available" (148). In addition to questions of precisely when and for what purpose(s) the manuscript was created, Diggins's often dispassionate account of the horrors and deprivation of naval warfare is also challenging for both editor and reader. Diggins wrote his later recollections as a "detached observer," notes Burkhardt, even when speaking of his [End Page 325] own grave wounds he does so "almost as if it all happened to someone else" (xxv). This detachment, both emotional and temporal, from the actual events described presents a challenge for the editor. Where possible, Burkardt references Diggins's claims against other extant accounts, noting that "Diggins usually provides a reliable account," as compared with official records and other eyewitness accounts (4). Although Burkhardt speculates that the level of detail in Diggins's manuscript suggests he was working from "a real time source" recorded during the war in the creation of his later narrative, no such document survives (148). Indeed, perhaps the...