August 5, 1864
The Battle of Mobile Bay began when a Union fleet under the command of Adm. David Farragut stormed into the bay under Confederate fire. Mobile Bay stood as one of the most important and well-defended ports in the Confederacy, forcing Farragut to race by Forts Morgan and Gaines, slip through a triple line of submerged mines and defeat the Confederacy’s commanding CSS Tennessee. Despite the defenses, Union forces overpowered the Confederate stronghold, bombarded the forts and captured the bay on Aug. 22. The Battle of Mobile Bay was the last major naval engagement of the Civil War and completed the Union blockade of Confederate ports.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Admiral Franklin Buchanan of the Confederate Navy in uniform. (Brady’s National Portrait Gallery, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
The CSS Selma was a Confederate warship built in 1856 in Mobile. The vessel was captured by the Confederacy in 1861 and converted to a gunship and in 1862 was renamed Selma. The ship fought in the Battle of Mobile Bay and was surrendered to Union forces on August 5, 1864. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Photograph by T. Lilienthal, U.S. Naval Historical Center)
USS Tennessee, ca. 1865. The Confederate ironclad warship CSS Tennessee was built in Selma and saw action in the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. The ship was surrendered to the Union Navy in that battle and recommissioned the USS Tennessee and employed in the capture of Fort Morgan on August 23, 1864. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of U.S. Naval Historical Center)
Admiral David Farragut of the U.S. Navy in uniform. (Photograph by C.D. Fredricks & Co., Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
Gordon Granger was a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War who headed the infantry division that captured Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan during the Battle of Mobile Bay in August 1864. Granger had previously distinguished himself in the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863 and the Battle of Chattanooga in November 1863. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Library of Congress)
“Great naval victory in Mobile Bay, Aug. 5th 1864.” (Currier & Ives, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)
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