Mobile Bay, Battle of

The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, is an engagement of the American Civil War in which a Federal fleet commanded by Rear Adm. David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacks a smaller Confederate fleet led by Adm. Franklin Buchanan and three forts that guard the entrance to Mobile Bay.The battle is marked by Farragut's seemingly rash but successful run through a minefield that had just claimed one of his ironclad monitors, enabling his fleet to get beyond the range of the shore-based guns.

This is followed by a reduction of the Confederate fleet to a single vessel, ironclad CSS Tennessee.

Tennessee does not then retire, but engages the entire Northern fleet.

The armor on Tennessee gives her an advantage that enables her to inflict more injury than she receives, but she cannot overcome the imbalance in numbers.She is eventually reduced to a motionless hulk, unable either to move or to reply to the guns of the Union fleet.

Her captain then surrenders, ending the battle.

With no Navy to support them, the three forts within days also surrender.

Complete control of the lower Mobile Bay thus passes to the Union forces.Mobile had been the last important port on the Gulf of Mexico east of the Mississippi River remaining in Confederate possession, so its closure is the final step in completing the blockade in that region.This Union victory, together with the capture of Atlanta, is extensively covered by Union newspapers and is a significant boost for Abraham Lincoln's bid for reelection three months after the battle.

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