Mobile Bay | Aug 5, 1864

On August 5, 1864, Rear Admiral David Farragut’s Union fleet of eighteen ships entered Mobile Bay in two columns and received a devastating fire from Forts Gaines and Morgan at the mouth of the bay. The monitor USS Tecumseh sank early in the action. After passing the forts, Farragut engaged in a slugfest with the Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee under the command of Admiral Franklin Buchanan. After forcing the Tennessee and the gunboats Selma, Gaines and Morgan to surrender, Union forces besieged the forts. By August 23, Fort Morgan, the last holdout, had surrendered, shutting down the strategic port.