John McFarland

He Left His Sickbed to Steer Through Enemy Fire

John McFarland was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1840. Details of his early life are limited in the surviving official record, but by the opening months of the American Civil War he had chosen a life of naval service. On December 24, 1861, he entered the United States Navy at Boston as a seaman.

McFarland initially served aboard USS Ohio before being transferred to USS Hartford, the steam sloop-of-war that would become closely associated with his wartime career. Hartford served as the flagship of Rear Admiral David G. Farragut in the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, placing McFarland aboard one of the most important Union warships operating along the Confederate Gulf Coast.

During his service aboard Hartford, McFarland advanced to the rating of Captain of the Forecastle. In the nineteenth-century Navy, this was an experienced enlisted position carrying significant responsibility in the operation of the ship. His regular battle station was at Hartford’s wheel, where steering the vessel demanded concentration, skill, and discipline, particularly while the ship maneuvered under enemy fire.

McFarland served at the wheel during Hartford’s combat operations. His experience there became particularly important in August 1864, when Farragut assembled a powerful Union naval force for an assault on Mobile Bay, Alabama.

Mobile remained one of the Confederacy’s most important Gulf ports. The approaches to the bay were defended by Fort Morgan and other fortifications, Confederate gunboats, underwater mines then commonly called torpedoes, and the formidable ironclad ram CSS Tennessee. For the Union Navy, forcing an entrance into the bay meant taking ships directly through a heavily defended passage.

On August 5, 1864, Farragut’s fleet began the attack.

USS Hartford led the wooden warships into Mobile Bay under intense Confederate fire. McFarland was physically unwell at the time. Rather than remain in his sickbed while his ship went into battle, he returned to his station at the wheel.

The decision placed him at one of the most critical control points aboard the flagship.

As shells passed around Hartford and the fleet pressed toward the Confederate defenses, McFarland continued steering. The wheel was essential to the ship’s movement; losing control of it during the crowded and violent battle could have created additional danger for Hartford and the vessels maneuvering around her.

The risks increased dramatically when USS Lackawanna accidentally collided with Hartford during the fighting.

The impact placed the men stationed at Hartford’s wheel in immediate danger of being crushed. McFarland could have abandoned the position as the ships came together, but he remained at his station and continued steering the flagship.

His Medal of Honor citation later emphasized precisely that moment. With Hartford subjected to severe enemy shellfire and the collision threatening everyone at the wheel, McFarland remained steadfast and continued performing his duty.

The Battle of Mobile Bay became one of the defining naval engagements of the Civil War. Union ships successfully passed the Confederate defenses and confronted the enemy naval force inside the bay. CSS Tennessee continued fighting after the Union fleet entered, but concentrated attacks from Farragut’s vessels eventually forced the ironclad to surrender.

McFarland’s role was very different from that of a gun captain firing directly at the enemy. His responsibility was to keep the flagship under control while the battle unfolded around him. His courage lay in remaining at the wheel when enemy fire, illness, and the violent collision with Lackawanna all gave him reason to leave.

His commanding officers recognized both his fortitude and the intelligence with which he performed his duties.

On December 31, 1864, John McFarland was formally recognized with the Medal of Honor under Navy General Order No. 45. The decoration honored his conduct aboard USS Hartford during the Battle of Mobile Bay and placed him among the sailors whose courage helped secure one of the Union Navy’s most important victories.

The Medal of Honor was still a relatively new decoration. Authorized for naval personnel during the Civil War, it became the nation’s highest recognition for extraordinary military valor. For McFarland, it commemorated a form of heroism rooted in steadfast duty: remaining at the controls of Farragut’s flagship while the ship was exposed to enemy fire and collision.

His broader wartime service was later represented by the Navy Civil War Campaign Medal, created to recognize qualifying naval service during the conflict. While that campaign decoration represented his service in the Union Navy during the Civil War, the Medal of Honor identified the exceptional moment at Mobile Bay that distinguished him individually.

McFarland’s career also illustrates the crucial contribution of experienced enlisted sailors aboard Civil War warships. Battles were not won by commanding officers alone. Ships depended on sailors who managed guns, sails, machinery, ammunition, navigation, and steering while operating under conditions in which a single failure could affect the entire vessel.

At Mobile Bay, McFarland’s responsibility was the wheel.

He carried out that responsibility even after leaving a sickbed to take his station. He maintained control of Hartford through the battle and stayed at the wheel when Lackawanna crashed into the flagship and threatened the men standing there.

Later, the United States Navy honored his memory in another lasting way. The destroyer USS McFarland was named for him, carrying the name of the Civil War sailor into a new generation of American naval service.

The strongest official naval record does not securely establish the circumstances or date of John McFarland’s death, and his later civilian life remains far less documented than his wartime service. What survives most clearly is the record of the moment that made his name part of American naval history.

On August 5, 1864, while USS Hartford fought its way through Mobile Bay, John McFarland left his sickbed, took his place at the wheel, and continued steering under heavy fire. Even when another Union warship collided with Hartford and placed the wheel crew in immediate danger, he remained at his post.

That steadfastness earned him the Medal of Honor and secured his place among the sailors remembered for the Union victory at Mobile Bay.