Admiral David Glasgow Farragut

This monument to the Civil War admiral David Glasgow Farragut, who was hailed as a much-needed hero in the Union after seizing New Orleans in 1862 and who was famously quoted as saying, “Damn the Torpedoes!” at the Battle of Mobile Bay two years later, sits inside Madison Square, right about in the middle of the park’s north end. The statue was originally at the park’s northwest corner, facing Fifth Avenue. It was moved a few feet when Fifth Avenue was widened in 1909, and after the park was redesigned in 1934, the monument was moved to its present spot.