Admiral Farragut's quest for prize money is not unique in any sense. The man I believe the greatest naval captain of his ag...Horatio Nelson...never turned down prize money and in fact sought it. It is of long standing in English and American navan services. Even Nelson never captured a city in France...with or without help... and kept it throughout the war. The thing that I have always wondered about is the relative ease with which New Orleans was taken. It was almost THE major Confederate city of the west. Yet...in my view...not much was put up in it's way of defense.