CSS Florida's Mad Dash into Mobile

To say Confederate Lieutenant John Newland Maffitt had a tough decision to make would be an understatement.  After the Florida's release from a British admiralty court in Nassau, Maffit's executive officer reported their vessel lacked the proper equipment to fire the main guns.   After being denied the equipment in Havana, Cuba, Maffitt decided the only thing to do was to run the blockade and make port in Mobile, Alabama.  Adding to Maffitt's difficulties was yellow fever.  The dreaded tropical disease had incapacitated or killed half of his company, including Maffitt.  This decision caused Florida's executive officer, Lieutenant John Stribling, to question his captain's wisdom.  He commented to Maffitt, "Sir, in this attempt we cannot avoid passing close to the blockade-squadron, the result of which will be our certain destruction."

George Prebble after the war

Maffitt acknowledged the risks, but felt he had no choice.  Watching the approaches to Mobile were the steam sloop-of-war USS Oneida (commanded by Commander George H. Prebble), the "90-day gunboat" USS Winona, and the fast sailing schooner USS Rachel Seaman. 

With a British flag raised, Florida approached the blockading squadron at high speed.  Florida and Oneida passed within 90 yards of each other before Prebble realized the ruse.  Oneida opened fire at Florida, but missed.  Winona joined in and put an XI-inch shot into Florida's boiler room, decapitating one of the fireman and injuring several others.   Florida continued steaming.  The two U.S. Navy ships switched over to shrapnel shot in an attempt to take out Florida's sails.  The shrapnel injured several more of Florida's sailors, but failed to stop the cruiser from making it to the safety of Fort Morgan. 

Maffitt was safe.  Prebble, however was not. Upon hearing about the incident via Farragut and Welles, President Lincoln personally ordered Prebble to be removed from command and dismissed from the Navy.  Welles wrote a letter informing Prebble of his dismissal.  Being what communications were in 1862, Prebble learned about his firing in a newspaper article. 

Prebble was furious and fought the charges.  Coming from one of the U.S. Navy's most famous families (he was the nephew of Commodore Edward Prebble), he had major political clout to work with.  For the next six months, he sought to be reinstated.

Blockade Running at Mobile Bay

Steam sloop USS Pocahontas capturing a blockade runner off Mobile Bay (source; Library of Congress archives):

In a prior post (18 February 2012) I commented on the importance of the Port of Mobile, Alabama to the Confederacy. While Mobile had a number of major advantages, primarily its rail connections to other parts of the Confederacy, it was a difficult endeavor to run the blockade into Mobile Bay, for a number of reasons.

There were three entrances into Mobile Bay: the first, a westward entrance known as Pelican Channel. Shallow depths in this entrance generally precluded its use, The second entrance was the “Swash Channel”. This was the entrance most used by runners because even though it was shallow (12 feet), it was difficult for blockaders to move “off station” to cut out runners through this entrance, plus Confederate shore batteries could cover this entrance and keep blockaders off at a safer distance. The third entrance was the Main Channel, but this was the easiest for the blockading fleet to cover. Despite these difficulties, there was a huge amount of blockade running into and out of Mobile, especially after New Orleans was captured by Union forces in April 1862. Most of the traffic came to and from Cuba, which was the main waypoint for blockade runners in the Gulf of Mexico.

Running the blockade into Mobile really came into its own after the Confederate Navy began to contract for and acquire pure “blockade runner” ships designed for this purpose (see post by Gordon on 24 July 2010). These shallow draft, fast, “stealth” ships (low profile, painted grey or black) were able to slip in and out of the port a number of times undetected, mostly at night. The major runners operating out of Mobile were the CSS Denbigh, the Donegal, and the Mary. All were British-built side-wheel steamers, specifically designed to run the blockade.

Blockaders off Mobile Bay (source; Naval History and Heritage Command photo archive):