Fourteen wooden ships and four monitors were to push their way past Fort Morgan, enter Mobile Bay, and engage the Confederate flotilla in battle. Other ships of Farragut’s fleet were to remain outside, causing as much damage to the fort as they could by firing into it from the Gulf side. They would also be responsible for preventing any Confederate ships that might come along from entering the bay. Confederate raiders continued to sail the Gulf and the Caribbean Sea, and Farragut did not want any of them entering the fray from behind him.
Before the battle began, several ship captains persuaded Farragut to place his flagship in second place, behind the Brooklyn. This was not an easy thing for them to accomplish, since it was always Farragut’s opinion that a commanding officer should lead his ships into battle. While their true motive was to lessen the danger to the admiral, they used as their argument the fact that the Brooklyn had four bow guns compared to the Hartford’s two, and she had a torpedo-sweeping device attached to her bow. Both of these advantages would serve the fleet better if the ship bearing them were in the front of the line. Farragut reluctantly agreed to exchange the position of the two ships, a decision he would regret.
It was Farragut’s goal to get as close as possible to Fort Morgan before opening fire. However, as soon as the fort fired at them, he ordered the ships to return fire immediately. “Use short fuses for the shell and shrapnel,” he told the gunners, “and, as soon as within 300 or 400 yards, give them grape.” He pointed out that in the past, when firing at elevated batteries, they had fired too high, “but, with grapeshot, it is necessary to elevate a little above the object, as grape will dribble from the muzzle of the gun.”
He then ordered that each ship should strap guns down to its highest elevated locations, such as the poop deck. This raised the guns higher than usual, allowing them to reach higher into the fort. But, he reminded his captains, if the rebels fired grape, the crews manning these raised guns were unusually vulnerable and should be moved to the guns below “until out of grape range.”
The mood of the men and officers of the fleet was lifted throughout the month of July. The arrival of additional ships, including the long-awaited monitors, the word that General Canby was sending soldiers to attack the forts from the rear, and the general preparations a fully armed fleet must make before going into battle, raised everyone’s spirits.
One spirit not lifted, at least not too high, was that of Acting Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey, who, aboard the gunboat Cayuga, had led the fleet past Forts Jackson and St. Philip. Bailey wanted to take part in Farragut’s entry into Mobile Bay. “Nothing will please me more than to hoist once more the square red flag, and lead the van of your squadron into Mobile Bay,” wrote Bailey. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Bailey’s East Gulf Blockading Squadron had been struck with an epidemic of yellow fever that had even Bailey laid low. It was thought wiser to keep the ships of these two fleets as far apart as possible for obvious reasons. Instead of Mobile Bay, Bailey was sent home to regain his health.
Because of other pressing needs, the army could not provide enough troops to attack both forts; only 2,000 men were available for the Mobile Bay operation. It was agreed between Admiral Farragut and Major Generals Canby and Granger that these troops would concentrate on Fort Gaines, leaving Forts Morgan and Powell for later. Their landing on Dauphin Island would be protected by Farragut’s gunboats, including five sent to keep Grant’s Pass closed.
While the Federal fleet was readied for the coming battle, the Confederate forces in the forts and on the bay were making preparations of their own. The Tennessee made several runs around the lower bay, engaging in target practice. On at least one occasion, Farragut watched as Buchanan put his slow ironclad through its paces. The wooden gunboats generally remained anchored slightly to the rear of Fort Morgan, where they could train their guns on any enemy ship trying to force its way into the bay. The men waiting aboard the big ram suffered terribly from its poorly designed interior and insufficient ventilation. The navy surgeon aboard the Tennessee described life aboard her as “desperate.” Daily rain turned her into a high-humidity oven that was so hot men couldn’t sleep inside, much less engage in strenuous work for any period of time. Although they dreaded fighting the powerful fleet that was preparing to attack them, all the sailors on board the ram looked forward to the coming battle with a “feeling of relief.”
Inside Fort Morgan, Brigadier General Page, commander of the outer defensive forts, watched the gathering of the enemy fleet. The fort’s garrison of roughly 500 men came mostly from Alabama, although there were also two companies from the First Tennessee Heavy Artillery. Her armament at the time consisted of twenty-two thirty-two-pound smoothbore cannons, four ten-inch columbiads, three eight-inch rifled guns, four 5.82-inch rifles, and two thirty-two-pound rifles. Morgan was the principal defense fort and was a formidable obstacle barring entry to the bay.
Across the mouth of the bay, Fort Gaines was home to about 400 men under the command of Colonel Charles D. Anderson, who was subordinate to Page. His troops were all from Alabama regiments, including two companies from an artillery battalion. Gaines had twenty-seven guns, the majority of which were obsolete thirty-two-pounders built around 1839. Farragut selected Fort Gaines as the target of the army landing because it offered the best opportunity for success. Once its guns were silenced, and the lower bay in Union hands, all land and naval forces could concentrate on the bigger fort without fear of attack from the troops at Fort Gaines.
Fort Powell, guarding Grant’s Pass, contained 140 men, again mostly Alabamians, except for a portion of a South Carolina battery. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James M. Williams, Fort Powell had four smoothbores of various sizes, and two seven-inch Brooke rifles.
The only fort that would play a direct role in Farragut’s passage was Morgan. Fort Gaines was too far away, the main channel being out of range of its guns. Fort Powell was shelled by gunboats to keep its forces from attempting to participate in the defense against the fleet, but it also was too far away to play any role.
On July 29, Farragut issued his General Order No. 11, in which he addressed specific questions that had arisen, or might arise, among the ship commanders. One concerned the actions to be taken by a disabled ship. The admiral’s chief concern was to prevent a damaged ship from stopping in the channel, or in some other way preventing the following ships from completing their passage. This was followed by instructions concerning the torpedoes the enemy had planted near the channel. Flag Lieutenant John C. Watson, whom Farragut cared for like a son, made several late-night excursions into the mouth of the bay to examine the torpedoes. He found that many had become inoperable, either because of the long period they had been in the water, or as a result of the nesting of sea worms around the detonator pins. He also identified the buoys that marked the locations of torpedoes, especially the one at the start of the shipping channel. Farragut identified this all-important buoy in his general order and reminded his captains to keep their vessels on the starboard side of it. Once inside the bay, the smaller gunboats would be cast off from the larger ships so they could pursue the rebel gunboats and destroy or capture them.
On August 1, General Granger arrived with 2,400 troops aboard several ships. That evening, over dinner with Farragut, the two laid out their plan of action. Granger’s troops were to attack Fort Gaines from the rear and capture it as quickly as possible. Army signalmen were stationed on each of Farragut’s large ships to facilitate communications between the ships and the troops once the forts had been passed. Farragut planned to launch his attack at the same time, hoping to force the enemy to divide its attention and resources.
All was ready, with the exception one of the large monitors, which had not yet arrived. The Tecumseh, commanded by one of the admiral’s old friends, Commander Τ. A. M. Craven, whose brother had commanded the Brooklyn when the fleet had passed the lower Mississippi forts and captured New Orleans, had been delayed in Pensacola. Farragut sent the Richmond and the Metacomet
to hurry her along. Now he waited impatiently for the arrival of three ships.
During the morning of August 4, 1,500 Federal troops landed on the rear of Dauphin Island and began to make their way across the island to Fort Gaines. Most of these men were infantry, although there were some dismounted cavalry, engineers, and four batteries, two light and two heavy. The accompanying gunboats successfully conducted a shore bombardment to clear the landing site of Confederate pickets. The pickets returned to the fort and reported what they had seen, but there was little that Lieutenant Colonel Williams could do to stop the landing. Instead, he moved several of his batteries so they would face inland and oppose the invaders. In addition, he sent skirmishing parties out into the woods to harass and slow the Federals as best they could. To make matters worse, several of Farragut’s gunboats and monitors engaged in a bombardment of the fort itself.
By midnight, the invading force had reached a point about midway across the island, where it stopped to rest. It was with great effort that they had managed to struggle through the deep, sandy soil, dragging their artillery with them. The rebel skirmishers withdrew, but another enemy soon appeared in the form of thousands of mosquitoes, sand fleas, and biting flies. The men spent an unbearable night, getting little of the rest they badly needed.
Williams, unaware of the size of the invading force, surmised that its intention was to capture the fort before the Federal navy entered the bay. He sent an urgent request to General Maury at Mobile for reinforcements to drive the invaders back into the sea. Maury rounded up every man he could, and sent them to Dauphin Island. Except for a handful of marines, these reinforcements proved more of a hindrance than a help. Most of them were either old men of the Home Guard or members of the Pelham Cadets, who were as young as thirteen. They contributed little to the fort’s fighting capability. However, they raised its garrison to over 800 men, more than the fort could protect from enemy shelling.
Meanwhile, news of the landing reached Farragut, and he grew even more impatient. The army had engaged the enemy at the appointed time, but the navy had been unable to synchronize the attack, so the enemy would no longer be taken by surprise. Because of the invasion of Dauphin Island, every Confederate soldier and officer expected the Federal ships to come at any moment.
In the early evening of August 4, the three vessels Farragut had been waiting for arrived. Word was passed throughout the fleet that the attack would be made the following morning, before dawn. In the solitude of his cabin, the admiral wrote what he obviously thought might be his last letter to Virginia: “My Dearest Wife: I write and leave this letter for you. I am going into Mobile Bay in the morning, if God is my leader, as I hope He is, and in Him I place my trust. If he thinks it is the proper place for me to die, I am ready to submit to His will, in that as all other things… .”
Shortly after three o’clock the following morning, Friday, August 5, 1864, the quiet was broken by the shrill sounds of boatswains’ whistles aboard the ships and boats of the Federal fleet anchored off Mobile Bay. The “all hands” signal was soon followed by “up all hammocks.” Farragut and Drayton left their breakfast and walked out on deck to check weather conditions. It had rained during the night, but the sky was clear now, and a slight breeze was blowing from the southwest. The breeze must have brought a smile to the old admiral’s face, for it meant that the smoke of the battle would be blown into the eyes of the Confederate gunners.
After a quick breakfast for their crews, the ships and boats maneuvered into their prescribed positions, and the process of lashing vessels together began. In each case, the smaller vessel was on the port side of the larger, where she would be protected from enemy shelling. The large ships had taken the precautions against enemy fire mentioned earlier, such as sheet chains hung over their starboard sides. The gunboats had no similar protection, so it was Farragut’s plan that the large craft would protect the smaller whenever possible.
The first five starboard-side ships were all steam sloops with powerful broadside batteries. The last two were large gunboats. The lead ship, the Brooklyn, Captain James Alden, was tied to the double-ended gunboat Octorara, Lieutenant Commander Charles H. Green. Next came the flagship, Flag Captain Percival Drayton, with the Metacomet, Lieutenant Commander James E. Jouett. Third was the Richmond, Captain Thornton A. Jenkins, and alongside it was the Port Royal, Lieutenant Commander Bancroft Gherardi. The final sloop was the Monongahela, Commander James H. Strong, with the Kennebec, Lieutenant Commander William P. McCann. Bringing up the rear were the matched gunboats Ossipee, Commander William E. LeRoy, and Itasca, Lieutenant Commander George Brown. Last were the Oneida, Commander J. R. Madison Mullany, with the Galena, Lieutenant Commander Clark H. Wells.
As the column formed, the four monitors took up their positions. Standing to the right or starboard side of the column, where they were closer to the fort and better able to attack the enemy fleet once inside the bay, they formed their own line. The first, the Tecumseh, was abreast of the Brooklyn, so they could be expected to enter the enemy’s field of fire simultaneously. She was under the control of Commander Τ. A. M. Craven. Following was the Manhattan, Commander J. W. A. Nicholson, then the Winnebago, Commander Thomas H. Stevens, and finally the Chickasaw, Lieutenant Commander George H. Perkins. The remainder of the fleet was divided among the six gunboats that had supported the army landing on Dauphin Island, and that now conducted a steady bombardment of Fort Powell, and six others that remained off the coast near Fort Morgan. These last six, the gunboats Pinola, Tennessee, Genesee, Pembina, Bienville, and Sebago, engaged in some minor shelling of the fort, but for the most part were out of effective range. Their primary duty was to prevent enemy vessels from entering or escaping the bay.
At five-thirty, as he was finishing a cup of coffee with Fleet Captain Drayton and Dr. James C. Palmer, the fleet surgeon, Farragut was informed that the fleet was prepared. The sea just outside the entrance to Mobile Bay was bristling with warships. The battle flags flying from each vessel snapped in the morning breeze. As daybreak began to spread a misty, dull light over the scene, anyone watching from the nearby fort could not help but be stirred by the sharp flapping of the oversized American flags, even if they were the enemy’s. Quietly turning to the flagship’s captain, Farragut put his cup down and said, “Well, Drayton, we might as well get under way.”
Within minutes, the fleet was moving, slowly and deliberately, like a mighty wrestler who approaches his opponent with the confidence that he need not rush to prevail. Aboard every ship, the men stood at their stations, waiting for the opening shots, as they gradually approached the massive enemy fort. At 6:47 the first monitor, Tecumseh, fired two shots from her mighty fifteen-inch guns to test the range. Neither shell struck the fort. A few minutes later, anxious Confederate gunners returned the fire.
Aboard the ram Tennessee, stationed behind the fort, Admiral Buchanan was awakened to the news that the enemy was under steam and preparing to pass the fort. He ordered Captain Johnston to get under way and head for the lead vessels of the enemy fleet. He planned on engaging each vessel in turn as it passed before him.
In a more or less straight line behind the ram were the other vessels of Buchanan’s little flotilla, all wood, and of small value against such a powerful enemy. Directly behind the Tennessee was the Morgan, Commander George W. Harrison. His vessel had been built as a gunboat, but the haste of her construction was obvious in the use of unseasoned wood and a power plant much too small to be effective. She carried two seven-inch rifles and four thirty-two-pounders. The Morgan was followed by the Gaines, Lieutenant Commander J. W. Bennett. Except for her armament, which consisted of one eight-inch rifle and five thirty-two-pounders, she was identical to the Morgan, suffering the same problems inherent in her construction. Finally, there was the Selma, an open-decked river steamboat that had been impetuously refitted into what passed for a war vessel. Her armament fit her condition. She carried three obsolete eight-inch shell guns and one ancient smoothbore thirty-two-pou
nder that someone had rather clumsily attempted to rifle. Her weapons were so unreliable that her own crew feared for their lives when they fired them.
Meanwhile, Farragut’s fleet moved into the entrance to the bay in what one sailor aboard the Galena described as “grand style, slowly and calmly.” The glowing morning sun began lighting up a cloudless sky as the bows of the first Union ships, the Brooklyn and the Octorara, cut through the deep blue waters and came within range of Fort Morgan’s guns and the guns of her lower water batteries. It was a few minutes before 7:00 a.m. when the batteries and the fort’s guns opened fire on the pair. The Brooklyn quickly returned fire with a roaring broadside. Within five minutes, the Hartford and the Metacomet also received enemy fire. The flagship, with the admiral’s blue pennant standing taut in the wind, came in for the special attention of the rebel cannoneers. She also returned the fire, from both her starboard broadside and the 100-pound Parrott rifle on her forecastle.
From Fort Gaines, on the western end of the entrance to the bay, far out of range, Colonel Anderson watched as the Union ships slowly moved through the shipping channel. The air around them was filled with the smoke of battle, and the explosions of dozens of cannons firing as rapidly as their crews could reload. To his rear, Federal troops, entrenched about 800 feet from the fort’s western wall, had isolated her from the rest of the island. A few minutes after the battle between Farragut’s fleet and Fort Morgan began, General Granger’s forces began an artillery barrage of Fort Gaines. With devastating accuracy, they soon disabled or dismounted every gun in the fort.
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