American Civil War
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Mobile Bay
Battle · Naval
Battle of Mobile Bay
August 5, 1864 · Mobile Bay, Alabama
Narrative
Commanders
At a glance
Outcome
1
Mobile Bay · The prize
The Last Door on the Gulf
By August 1864 Mobile is the Confederacy’s last big Gulf port, the blockade-runners’ surviving hub, guarded by two forts and a minefield.
2
Dawn, August 5
Lashed in Pairs, Straight at the Guns
Farragut (North) runs his fleet at the channel, monitors leading and wooden ships tied in pairs, straight under Fort Morgan’s guns.
3
~7:30 a.m.
Damn the Torpedoes
Craven (North) steers Tecumseh into the mines and she sinks in seconds. Brooklyn stalls, and Farragut drives Hartford through anyway.
4
Inside the bay
One Ironclad Against a Fleet
Buchanan (South) turns CSS Tennessee back into the entire Union fleet alone, and fights until she is battered into surrender.
5
The cost & the meaning
The Door, the Reason, and the Men on the Deck
The port is corked, the forts fall, and Lincoln’s re-election turns, while formerly enslaved men work the flagship’s guns.
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