What is the significance of the battle of mobile bay

Full speed ahead! The Yankee fleet quickly knocked out the smaller Confederate ships, but the Tennessee fought a valiant battle against overwhelming odds before it sustained heavy damage and surrendered. The Union laid siege to forts Morgan and Gaines, and both were captured within several weeks. Confederate forces remained in control of the city of Mobile, but the port was no longer available to blockade runners. The Battle of Mobile Bay lifted the morale of the North.

Sherman unable to capture Atlanta, Georgia , the capture of the bay became the first in a series of Union victories that stretched to the fall presidential election, in which the incumbent, Abraham Lincoln , defeated Democratic challenger George McClellan , a former Union general. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Monitor and the Merrimack C. It was part of The United States went on to win the war, which ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas The defenses near the mouth of the bay were formidable. A British foray into this area during the War of illustrated the importance of properly fortifying the bay.

Thus, three forts defended the shipping channels, the largest being Fort Morgan, a gun, star-shaped fortification constructed in protecting the deepest channel from its eastern side. On the west side of the channel, on Dauphin Island, the smaller and newer Fort Gaines boasted 26 guns. To supplement these defenses, the Confederates had blocked part of the main channel with torpedoes floating wooden barrels of explosives like modern naval mines and assembled a small flotilla consisting of the ironclad CSS Tennessee and three gunboats inside the bay.

They were commanded by the veteran Adm. Tasked with closing the port was Rear Adm. David G. Farragut devised a combined army-navy operation that would entail landing some 1, solders commanded by Maj.

Early in the morning of August 5, , the Federal fleet passed into the harbor. Farragut split his ships into two parallel columns: the ironclads sailing nearest Fort Morgan and the wooden ships on the far side. Farragut ordered the larger wooden ships lashed together to a smaller ship so that the larger vessels could serve as shields, and so the ships would be able to tow each other if one became crippled. Farragut personally observed much of the battle while lashed to the rigging of his flagship, the USS Hartford.

The ships steamed through the narrow width of the channel that had not been mined while passing under the guns of the fort. The ironclad USS Tecumseh struck a torpedo and sank almost instantly, and cautious Union captains began stopping their ships while still within range of Fort Morgan.

The Union won the battle, which helped boost the morale of the American public, as well as President Abraham Lincoln's hopes for re-election. Taking control of the port at Mobile Bay was a top priority for Ulysses S.

Grant when he took command of the U. Army in It was a major port for the Confederates, who received shipments of supplies from Cuba there. The Union had much stronger firepower going into the battle.

Its navy had 18 warships and the Confederates only had four, although one of those was the powerful ironclad ship, the CSS Tennessee. Legend has it that after the Tecumseh sunk, Farragut said the famous quote to his troops, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead! He climbed up the mast for a better view of the action.