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- Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay - At dawn on August 5, 1864, a powerful fleet of steam-powered United States warships crossed the bar to attack the Confederate forts and fleet inside Mobile Bay. To succeed they had to make their way past Fort Morgan, evade submerged explosives called “torpedoes,” and defeat a small Confederate fleet. Four new armored monitors led by the USS Tecumseh passed closest to the fort's guns. A second column of paired wooden warships steamed parallel to the monitors and fired over them at the fort. Damage to both fort and ships was extensive but not crippling. Suddenly, an explosion lifted the monitor Tecumseh out of the water, and the ship sank rapidly before the stunned eyes of all. Afraid of other torpedoes, the Union fleet halted under the guns of the fort until Admiral Farragut roared out “Damn the torpedoes, Move ahead!” The fleet proceeded into the bay where it captured the Tennessee and drove the other Confederate ships away or aground. U.S. forces took Fort Gaines across the mouth of the bay on August 8 and landed the next day to begin a siege behind the more powerful Fort Morgan, which finally surrendered on August 23. - Mobile Bay, Alabama, August, 1864 - Correct Responces: Bill Chisolm |
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