The Battle of Mobile Bay

Battle of Mobile Bay, by Louis Prang

I've long considered myself to be a student of history. Though I'm a software engineer by trade, history has always been my favorite subject. In particular, I've always been fascinated by major historical events and the impact that they had on the world, and while some major events and the places in which they occurred may be familiar to almost everyone, I believe that just about every place has a rich history of one sort or another.

When I moved to Mobile, Alabama in the summer of 2014, one of the first things I made sure to do in my free time was to start researching the city's past. To be certain, Mobile does not lack for rich history, and my studies into it have only begun. That said, one event in particular caught my attention, and it's that event that will be the focus of this blog post: The Battle of Mobile Bay.

In the annuals of the Civil War, the Battle of Mobile Bay is often overlooked. While it may have lacked the scale, drama, and sheer violence of the battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, or Shiloh, the struggle for control of the lower Mobile Bay was vitally important, nonetheless. In the end, the engagement would have ramifications that would be felt far and wide, and ultimately played a crucial part in securing an overall victory for the Union.

Background

From the onset of the war, the Confederacy decided to focus its naval defenses on a handful of vital ports in lieu of attempting to defend its entire coastline. When New Orleans fell early in the war in April 1862, Mobile stood as the last major Confederate port to the Gulf of Mexico. While Union naval forces had established a blockade of the port soon after hostilities began, specialized Confederate ships called "blockade runners" were able to evade the blockade with regularity.

Despite its strategic importance, the task of securing Mobile Bay for the Union was continually delayed. Capturing Vicksburg and securing the lower Mississippi was considered a higher priority and monopolized the Navy's attention and resources for almost all of 1863. In addition, the Navy had trouble securing the cooperation of the Army to provide the resources needed for the operation, as there was a continual need to divert manpower to the east to confront General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. As a result of these delays, the campaign to take Mobile Bay didn't begin until August 1864, relatively late in the war.

The capture of Mobile Bay was also important from a political perspective. While the Confederacy was on its last legs at this point in the war, the conflict was growing increasingly unpopular in the North. President Lincoln was up for re-election in November, and the Democratic party made it clear that they sought to sign a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy to end the war as soon as possible (even though the party's candidate for President, General George McClellan, favored a continuation of hostilities). Lincoln understood that any outcome that did not include the dissolution of the Confederacy and the complete reunification of the nation would be a disaster, and that a major victory (or two) before Election Day would be needed to secure his re-election and a continuation of the war. To that end, the capture of the last major Confederate port in the Gulf of Mexico would help immensely.

Union Forces

Navy

Admiral David Farragut

The Union naval force selected for the campaign consisted of a mixed flotilla of traditional combat ships (9), small gunboats (2), modern ironclad Monitor-class ships (4) and specialized river and shallow-channel navigation ships (3) for a total of 18 ships of the line. In command was Admiral David Farragut, who had led the successful Union naval campaigns to take New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Port Hudson.

Army

General Gordon Granger

Union Army forces provisioned for the battle included approximately 3,000 soldiers, not enough to secure Mobile itself but sufficient to neutralize and occupy the Confederate forts defending the bay. The ground forces were led by General Gordon Granger.

Confederate Forces

Navy

Admiral Franklin Buchanan

Only a small flotilla of Confederate vessels stood in opposition of the Union naval forces. Three small gunboats sailed alongside the ironclad CSS Tennessee, the only armored Confederate ship stationed in the bay. Commanding the flotilla from the Tennessee was Admiral Franklin Buchanan, who had commanded the CSS Virginia in her famous battle with the USS Monitor at Hampton Roads.

Army

General Richard Page

Confederate land defenses in Mobile Bay consisted of three strategically positioned forts: Powell, Gaines, and Morgan. Forts Gaines and Morgan defended the main shipping channel into the bay, while Powell defended the secondary channel. The overall commander of the Confederate Army forces was General Richard Page, who directed the battle from Fort Morgan.

Battle

Map of the naval engagement in Mobile Bay

The Union plan called for the operation to be divided into two phases: The naval action to secure the bay and initiate a bombardment of the forts, and the land action to lay siege to and force the capitulation of the forts themselves.

Naval Action

Sketch of the sinking of the Tecumseh

Hostilities began on the morning of August 5. The Union plan called for Farragut's fleet to enter the main shipping channel leading into the bay, keeping to the eastern side of the channel (close to Fort Morgan) in order to avoid the obstacles and mines that had been laid on the western side. The first shots were fired at 6:47 a.m. as the head of the Union column entered the channel. The ships and Fort Morgan exchanged fire, but neither were significantly harmed.

Shortly after entering the channel, the lead Union ship, the USS Tecumseh, sighted the CSS Tennessee. For reasons unknown, the Tecumseh decided to push straight through the minefield and head directly for the Tennessee. Upon entering the minefield, the Tecumseh struck a mine and quickly sunk with the loss of 93 of her crew of 114.

After the sinking of the Tecumseh, the second ship in the column, the USS Brooklyn, stopped to ask Admiral Farragut for orders. Farragut, unwilling to stop his ships to distribute orders, commanded his flagship (the USS Hartford) to sail around the Brooklyn and assume the lead position of the column. Once in position, Farragut made the bold decision to take his fleet straight through the minefield that had just sunk the Tecumseh and head right for the Confederate fleet (this is when he supposedly uttered his famous line, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!", though there is considerable doubt as to whether he actually said anything of the sort). The gamble paid off: The remaining Union ships made it through the minefield unharmed and ready to engage the bay's defenders.

Once through the minefield, the small, fast Union gunboats engaged the three defending Confederate gunboats: 2 were quickly neutralized and the last fled to the safety of Fort Morgan, where it escaped from the Bay the following day. This left only the Tennessee to oppose to the Union fleet, which Farragut's three remaining Monitor-class ships quickly moved to engage.

The battle with the Tennessee was fierce. The thick iron hulls of the ships caused most of the shots fired to simply bounce off, but under the superior firepower of the Union vessels, the Tennessee was slowly worn down. Eventually, the Tennessee sustained significant damage and was immobilized. Aboard the ship, Admiral Buchanan was badly wounded and the ship's captain, Commander James Johnston, requested permission to surrender, which Buchanan granted.

Land Action

Fort Morgan after the Battle of Mobile Bay

Once the Confederate flotilla had been neutralized, Farragut turned his attention to the forts defending the bay. General Granger's force landed on Dauphin Island in preparation to attack Forts Gaines and Powell while Farragut ordered his fleet to provide cover by intermittently shelling each of the forts. Shortly after the Union forces came ashore on Dauphin, the commander of Fort Powell, Colonel James Williams, asked General Page for orders. Page ambiguously replied to "Hold out as long as you can", which Williams took to mean to resist the Union forces as long as practical. After surveying the odds against him, Williams decided to abandon Fort Powell without a fight; he and his troops then retreated to Mobile.

Colonel Charles Anderson and the Confederate forces at Fort Powell held out a little longer, but the end result was much the same: Undersupplied and thoroughly outgunned, Anderson surrendered the fort on August 8 after a three-day siege.

Once Forts Gaines and Powell were occupied, Fort Morgan was left as the lone remaining Confederate defensive position in the lower Mobile Bay. On August 9, Granger moved his force to the isthmus behind Fort Morgan, landing about 4 miles from the fort. From there, he and his troops slowly made their way toward the fort via trenching, or constructing a series of parallel tranches on approach. While this was a slow process, it did effectively keep the Union troops shielded from fire from the fort while making their advance.

Meanwhile, the Union fleet continued to shell Fort Morgan intermittently. These bombardments kept the fort effectively suppressed and culminated in a day-long bombardment on August 22. After seeing the Union ground forces continue their advance undeterred and with the Union fleet inflicting considerable damage to the fort itself, General Page surrendered Fort Powell on August 23. With the acquiescence of Fort Powell, the Battle of Mobile Bay came to an end.

Aftermath

Plaque commemorating the Battle of Mobile Bay at the U.S. Navy memorial

The Battle of Mobile Bay was not particularly bloody when compared to other major Civil War battles. All told, Union casualties stood at about 151 killed (mostly the crew of the Tecumseh) and 177 wounded, while Confederate casualties totaled about 13 killed and 22 wounded. However, Confederate losses also included over 1,500 captured, which was a painful blow to the manpower-strapped Confederacy.

The Union victory had a meaningful impact on public opinion toward the war effort. While given little attention initially, the successful conquest of Mobile Bay, when combined with other Union successes in 1864 (including the capture of Atlanta the month before), gave the public reason to hope that the end of the war was near. This newfound optimism helped secure Lincoln's re-election in November, which in turn afforded his administration the time it needed to see to the war to its conclusion.

Mobile itself was not as strategically important a target, and it would remain unconquered until the final days of the war. Eventually, it would fall after the Battle of Fort Blakely, which is considered the last major battle of the war.

The legacy of the Battle of Mobile Bay is still alive and well in the city of Mobile today. Many of the fortifications (including forts Powell, Gaines, and Morgan) are still intact and are in use as historical landmarks. In addition, the wrecks of the ships that fought in the battle (including the Tecumseh) have been located and surveyed.

Ultimately, the lasting legacy of the Battle of Mobile Bay might be found in the impact that it had on the war at large. While the strategic impact of the battle did little to alter the course of the war, its political value in helping sustain public support for the war should not be underestimated. When the need for a victory was dire, the Battle of Mobile Bay delivered, and in doing so contributed to a successful end to the war in a way that few other engagements did. After all, sometimes even the "small" battles can make the biggest of differences.