The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Battle of Mobile Bay (8/5/1864)

Personal Account
of the Battle of Mobile Bay
by Harrie Webster,
Third Assistant Engineer, USS Manhattan

About half past seven, while the action was at its height, our gun had just been revolved for a shot at Fort Morgan, a momentary view was had of the Tecumseh, and in that instant occurred the catastrophe whereby a good ship filled with men, with a brave captain, in the twinkling of an eye vanished from the field of battle.

A tiny white comber [a long curling wave] of froth curled around her bow, a tremendous shock ran through our ship as though we had struck a rock, and as rapidly as these words flow from my pen the Tecumseh reeled a little to starboard, her bows settled beneath the surface, and while we looked her stern lifted high in the air with the propeller still revolving, and the ship pitched out of sight like an arrow twanged from the bow. We were steaming slowly ahead when this tragedy occurred and, being close aboard of the ill-fated craft, we were in imminent danger of running foul of her as she sank. "Back hard" was the order shouted below to the engine room, and, as the Manhattan felt the effects of the reversed propeller, the bubbling water round our bows, and the huge swirls on either hand, told us that we were passing directly over the struggling wretches fighting with death in the Tecumseh.

The effect on our men was in some cases terrible. One of the firemen was crazed by the incident. But the battle was not yet over. After coming to a standstill for a few minutes, during which the commotion of the water set up by the foundered ship passed away, the Manhattan steamed ahead into line and took the duty by now being performed by her lost consort. As the Tecumseh sank to the bottom, the crew of the Hartford sprang to her starboard rail and gave three ringing cheers in defiance of the enemy and in honor of the dying.

Perhaps some drowning wretch on the Tecumseh took that cheer in his ears as he sank to a hero's grave, and we may imagine the sound as it pierced the roar of battle, giving courage to some fainting heart as his face turned for the last time to the light of that sun whose rising and setting was at an end for him.

Line engraving after an artwork by J.O. Davidson, published in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War", Volume 4, page 378. Entitled "Surrender of the 'Tennessee,' Battle of Mobile Bay", it depicts CSS Tennessee in the center foreground, surrounded by the Union warships (from left to right): Lackawanna, Winnebago, Ossipee, Brooklyn, Itasca, Richmond, Hartford and Chickasaw. Fort Morgan is shown in the right distance.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

But Mobile Bay was yet before us. Immediately following the events just related, my tour of duty in the turret ended for the time being, and I once more returned to the engine room. The first effect of going from the cool air of the turret to the terrible heat of the engine room was that of a curious chilliness. This, in a minute or two, was succeeded by a most copious perspiration, so violent that one's clothing became soaking wet, and the perspiration coursing down the scantily clothed body and limbs, filled the shoes so that they "chuckled" as one walked.

At 150 F. the glass in a lantern will crackle and break, the lamps burn dimly, and it is impossible to handle any metal with the bare hands. Pieces of canvas, like flat-iron holders [flat irons were heated on a hot stove and then used to press or iron clothing; holders were similar to hot pads] alone enable one to grasp a hand-rail or valve handle. Of course frequent bulletins of the fight were brought to the poor devils sweating their lives out in the engine room, and we got some idea of what was going on through the signal which at frequent intervals came from the pilot house.... The sounds produced by a shot striking our turret were far different from what I had anticipated. The scream of the shot would arrive at about the same time with the projectile, with far from a severe thud, and then the air would be filled with that peculiar shrill singing sound of violently broken glass, or perhaps more like the noise made by flinging a nail violently through the air. The shock of discharge of our own guns was especially hard on the ears of those in the turret, and it seemed at times as though the tympanums must give way.... At about eight o'clock the fire on our port hand began to slacken, and the word was passed below that the wooden fleet had entered the bay and that the fight was over.

David Glasgow Farragut

Admiral David Farragut earned national praise for his role in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the American Civil War. Sailing his fleet into torpedo-mined waters and facing heavy fire from forts near the Confederate stronghold of New Orleans, Farragut rallied his men with the famous cry, "Damn the torpedoes!"

Admiral David Farragut

Farragut, David Glasgow (1801-1870), American naval officer, whose Union victory at Mobile Bay, Alabama, in 1864 made him a national hero. Born on July 5, 1801, near Knoxville, Tennessee, he entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman at the age of nine, was captured by the British during the War of 1812, and served in the Mediterranean Sea from 1815 to 1820. For the next 20 years, he held successively responsible commands, advancing to the rank of commander. In the Mexican War, he participated in the blockade of Mexican ports on the Gulf of Mexico. He established the Mare Island Navy Yard at San Francisco in 1854. The next year he was promoted to the rank of captain.

Farragut immediately declared his loyalty to the Union on the outbreak of the American Civil War. In January 1862, he received command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and orders to capture New Orleans. On April 18, 1862, he massed his fleet below Forts Jackson and Saint Philip, located on opposite sides of the Mississippi River south of the city. His fleet bombarded the Confederate forts for six days without notable effect, whereupon Farragut determined to proceed up the river. Despite the raking gunfire of the forts, he lost only three vessels. After defeating a Confederate flotilla farther up the river, he forced the surrender of New Orleans on April 25; the forts capitulated three days later. Congress rewarded him with a vote of thanks and promotion to the rank of rear admiral. In the Battle of Mobile Bay, his greatest victory, Farragut rallied his men with the famous cry "Damn the torpedoes!" as he led the greater part of his fleet successfully through a dangerous torpedo-mined area opposite the city.

Battle of Mobile Bay
J. Gillray - 1875
Oil on canvas

The victory of Mobile Bay was the outstanding naval operation of the Civil War, and Farragut emerged from it a national hero. Congress created for him the ranks of vice admiral (1864) and admiral (1866). In 1867, as commander of a naval squadron touring European waters, he accepted on behalf of the U.S. government the congratulations of foreign nations for the successful conclusion of the war. He died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on August 14, 1870.

CSS Tennessee in the Battle of Mobile Bay,
5 August 1864

CSS Tennessee, a 1273-ton ironclad ram, was built at Selma, Alabama. Launched in February 1863, her outfitting was completed at Mobile, where she was commissioned in February 1864. As flagship of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, she was by far the strongest unit of the naval part of the defenses of Mobile Bay. To counter her, the Federal Navy had to bring ironclad monitors to the Gulf of Mexico.

On 5 August 1864, Tennessee battled against Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut's fleet as it steamed past Forts Morgan and Gaines into Mobile Bay. Though she was able to inflict some damage on the Federal ships, Farragut successfully entered the Bay and anchored beyond the reach of the Confederate forts' guns. Admiral Buchanan then took his ship up toward the Union warships, engaging them in an intense battle that ended with Tennessee surrounded by her enemies and battered into surrender.

The former Confederate ironclad was promptly taken into the Union Navy as USS Tennessee. With her combat damage quickly repaired, she was employed during operations to capture Fort Morgan later in August. In the autumn of 1864, Tennessee was sent to New Orleans, Louisiana, for further repairs. She subsequently served with the U.S. Navy's Mississippi Squadron until after the end of the Civil War. Decommissioned in August 1865, USS Tennessee was sold for scrapping in November 1867.

When Federal warships steamed into Mobile Bay on the morning of 5 August 1864, Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan stationed CSS Tennessee, his flagship, and her unarmored consorts, gunboats Morgan, Gaines and Selma, at the head of the channel. As the enemy moved up, exchanging fire with Fort Morgan, Buchanan's ships shot at them from ahead. The Union monitor Tecumseh, maneuvering to engage the Tennessee, struck a mine and sank, temporarily throwing the Federal column into confusion. Rear Admiral Farragut's flagship, USS Hartford, forged ahead and drove off the Confederate gunboats, but Tennessee remained in the battle zone, firing on the U.S. Navy ships as they passed and doing considerable damage to the last in line, USS Oneida.

Admiral Franklin Buchanan

With the enemy was safely inside Mobile Bay, Buchanan understood that the Confederate forts at the bay's entrance would soon be untenable unless the Union ships could somehow be destroyed. In a desperate, solitary effort, Tennessee steamed toward Farragut's ships. As she slowly moved along, the sloops of war USS Monongahela and Lackawanna repeatedly rammed her, doing more damage to themselves than to their target.

When Tennessee reached the Federal anchorage area, she was also rammed by the Hartford and subjected to a terrific cannonade. The U.S. monitors Chickasaw and Manhattan then engaged her at close range with their heavy guns, while other Union ships fired from a distance. Tennessee's smokestack and most other exposed fittings were hammered away, further reducing her never very great speed; her gunport shutter chains were cut, closing the ports so the Confederates could not shoot back; and her exposed steering chains were severed, leaving her unmanageable. The Manhattan blew a hole in Tennessee's armor with her massive fifteen-inch gun. The twin-turret monitor Chickasaw stationed herself off the beleagered ship's stern, firing her eleven-inch guns "like pocket pistols" and seriously weakening the after end of Tennessee's armored casemate.

Oil on canvas (40" x 66") by Xanthus Smith (1839-1929), signed and dated by the artist, 1890. It depicts the surrender of CSS Tennessee to the Union squadron commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut. Identifiable U.S. Navy ships present include: Winnebago (monitor in the left distance), Chickasaw (monitor in the foreground) and Hartford (Farragut's flagship, in the right center, painted light gray).
Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Maryland.
Gift of Henry Huddleston Rogers, 1930

With his flagship unable to fire her guns, steam or steer, and with the collapse of the casemate seemingly imminent, Admiral Buchanan, who had been wounded in the battle, authorized her surrender. The ship's Commanding Officer, Commander James D. Johnston poked a white flag up from the top of the casemate. Firing soon ceased, though USS Ossipee, coming on fast in another ramming attempt and unable to stop in time, struck a post-surrender blow. Federal Navy officers soon took possession of their battered prize, effectively concluding the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Additional Sources:

www.history.navy.mil
www-cgsc.army.mil
www.multied.com
www.americaslibrary.gov
lsm.crt.state.la.us

'Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!'

-- Admiral David Glasgow Farragut.
Aboard Hartford, Farragut entered Mobile Bay, Alabama, 5 August 1864, in two columns, with armored monitors leading and a fleet of wooden ships following. When the lead monitor Tecumseh was demolished by a mine, the wooden ship Brooklyn stopped, and the line drifted in confusion toward Fort Morgan. As disaster seemed imminent, Farragut gave the orders embodied by these famous words. He swung his own ship clear and headed across the mines, which failed to explode. The fleet followed and anchored above the forts, which, now isolated, surrendered one by one. The torpedoes to which Farragut and his contemporaries referred would today be described as tethered mines.

Though the most famous battles of the Civil War occurred on land, from the beginning both sides recognized that control of the seas would be crucial. This was due to the agriculturally based Southern economy that relied on shipping to receive goods and supplies. Once the Civil War began, President Lincoln ordered a blockade of Southern ports. The South responded to the North's strategy by "blockade running," which became the only way the Confederate states could supply themselves with direly needed wares. Ships filled with goods--some for the war effort, others for Southern consumers--left Nassau, the Bahamas; Havana, Cuba; the West Indies; and Bermuda attempting to sneak by the Union Navy. However, the Union Navy succeeded in closing many harbors such as Mobile, Alabama, which was deep enough to accommodate large ships.

The U.S. Navy had to grow rapidly to perform its roles. Though in 1861 it consisted of just 42 warships, by 1865 it had grown to 675 vessels. The North converted ships originally designed for other functions, such as whalers and tugs, and built others from scratch, many of which adopted the latest technology. The most famous example of innovation was the ironclad or "monitor" ships, which were named after the first vessel of its kind. The USS Monitor and subsequent, similar warships were armored with iron plate that was supposed to make them hard to sink. Union warships gradually added other features, including steam engines and more powerful guns. To counteract the Union Navy, the Confederates introduced a new weapon, which they called a "torpedo." Torpedoes were cheap, easily produced underwater mines that could seriously damage or sink ironclad ships.

The Union's armored ships and the Confederate's torpedoes clashed in combat during the summer of 1864 at Mobile Bay in Alabama. In July, Admiral Farragut prepared to lead the Union Navy in an attack on Fort Morgan, which guarded the mouth of Mobile Bay. In the previous two years he had seized New Orleans and Galveston, and he was now ready to close the last major port still available to blockade runners on the Gulf of Mexico.

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Good Morning, Snippy. How's it going?

Good Morning EGC, big ol' storm just rolled through, good thing because it woke me up. lol.

Hope things are well with you.

Well,:-D We had a major deal yesterday afternoon. I just turned on the microwave to fix supper when it threw everything in the house (electricity) including the line where our Windows XP computer is plugged. So, we turned it back on and ran Scandisk and fortunately everything turned out O.K.

It happens once in a while on hot summer days like yesterday.

Good morning kids. How is everyone?

(SAM and Snippy, thanks for the literary advice the other day. It was put to good use at the library last night).

Back up to read the thread now...

My pups are soaking wet this morning. They were romping through the sprinklers.

Morning.
I'm in.
Didn't Clive Cussler attempt to find some of those ships sunk?
*Head scratch*
The grey matter isn't up to speed just yet.
Gotta 'repair' my tea so that it's acceptable.
Seems I forgot to sugar it.

Torpedoes, on the other hand, remained hidden below the water, which provoked complaints from the North that no civilized country would use an "invisible" weapon. Union Adm. David Farragut explained the dilemma the North found itself facing: "Torpedoes are not so agreeable when used on both sides; therefore, I have reluctantly brought myself to it. I have always deemed it unworthy [of] a chivalrous nation, but it does not do to give your enemy such a decided superiority over you."

The Yankee's were chivalrous??? HA!!!

That happened to us yesterday while I was vacuuming. I blew something and DH lost his work on the computer. Oops. I didn't think about it having anything to do with it being a hot summer day. Hmmmmmm....

Present!

Morning Spooky, your welcome. Things are going great!

There are some good pictures in here but my German is poor. LOL Do you remember German? (errr...I think it's German)

Site

LOL.

Morning 'joe',

I knew some dogs who just like to get wet so they could be rubbed down with a towell.

Yours are soooo cute.

Good Morning!

Hey Spookie!!!! Great to see you. I'm running out the door to school and I'm late!!!!!!!!!!!! And it's the first day of a new quarter. See y'all tonight.

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