The Best Place to Experience The Battle of Mobile Bay is at the NMUSN

Fife Rail and Wheel of USS Hartford

On this day 150 years ago, Admiral David Glasgow Farragut made history. After a dazzling victory at New Orleans early in the war, Admiral Farragut spent the next several years fighting through the Mississippi River. By the middle of 1864, it became necessary to capture Mobile Bay, the South's last major port city on the Gulf Coast. Capturing it would help tighten the anaconda-like grip on the southern coastline.

Hartford Cathead

The bright August morning proved to be one of the most surprising achievements in Farragut's long and distinguished career. Now a century and a half later, many of the relics left to commemorate the ships and men of the battle are long gone. The Hartford, one of the most iconic ships of the Civil War, is broken up and scattered to different museums and institutions around the United States. How then do you decide where to see the best collection of artifacts from the battle during the Civil War sesquicentennial?

For those of us who could not make the trek down south for the sesquicentennial anniversary, many visitors commented it was an event worthy of its name and place in history. Fortunately, Civil War enthusiasts still have an opportunity to see several some of the relics of the battle. There is no better place to share this connection between past and present than the National Museum of the United States Navy (NMUSN) at the Washington Navy Yard.

NMUSN Curator Jennifer Marland took me around to several of the artifacts of Admiral Farragut and the Battle of Mobile Bay. She showed me her favorite piece of the collection, a small series of sketches depicting the battle. "So many paintings and sketches surfaced after the battle, some coming weeks and even years later," said Marland. "I really like this sketch from crew members present at the battle. You get a better sense of what these sailors really experienced." The sketch, albeit crude and hastily put together, tells the story of a sailor's front row seat to one of the United States Navy's greatest battles.

Other interesting items in the National Museum of the United States Navy collection includes Admiral Farragut's presentation cane, a large model of Hartford, a cathead, ship bell, and surrender letter from Ft. Gaines.

Naval Mine at NMUSN

Why are these torpedoes important today? 
Although Admiral Farragut may or may not have said the immortal words "Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead," the crafty countermeasure still proved an effective defense on the 5th, sinking the Tecumseh in the process. The artifacts on display at NMUSN are a constant reminder that every great piece of naval history comes with a price.

The National Museum of the United States Navy is open Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm.

Special Thanks to Jennifer Marland for giving me an in depth tour of the NMUSN gallery.

Defensive preparations at Mobile Bay

Water batteries on Mobile Bay. Source: State of Alabama photo archives.

In prior posts, I introduced you to the port of Mobile, Alabama and its importance to the Confederacy (18 Feb 2012 and 25 May 2012). Based on a visit to the City of Mobile in October 1862 and his inspection of the defenses, Gov. John G. Shorter of Alabama wrote to CSA President Jefferson Davis, observing “(Mobile is) the only Gulf port of any importance which is left us and one of the most important lines of communication in the Confederacy.” Davis’ response indicated he did not think there was any immediate threat to Mobile, plus he did not have any spare troops to send.

In Mobile Bay and the navigation channels leading into it, work proceeded to try to make it difficult for Union gunboats to get through. Part of the strategy was to slow them up enough to enable the big guns of Forts Morgan and Gaines to pound them and drive them off or sink them. Much of the defensive effort was conducted under the supervision of Major Danville Leadbetter of the CS Army Engineers. Work began in 1862 on Ft. Grant, in Grant’s Pass, to deny a Union expedition through the “back door” into Mobile Bay via the sounds of the Mississippi coast. Rows and rows of piles were driven into navigation channels leading into Mobile Bay to punch holes in the wooden hulls of Union gunboats. A large, heavy chain supported by rafts was proposed to block the main channel into Mobile Bay near Ft. Morgan. In addition to the armament in the masonry forts, earthworks and batteries were emplaced around the forts to repel any land assaults on them.

By mid-1863, the first torpedoes arrived to begin a program of extensive mining of the entrance channels, leaving only narrow gaps through the mines that the pilots of blockade runners knew about. These were placed under the direction of CSA Major Gen. Dabney H. Maury, who had seen their effectiveness against Union gunboats on the Mississippi River. Under the command of Adm. Franklin Buchanan, floating batteries, two of which were ironclad (CSS Huntsville and Tuscaloosa) were placed to support land-based defensive works. Floating batteries and earthworks were also constructed on the river approaches to deter movements by the USN on the rivers. Efforts to make the masonry forts more resistant to USN shelling involved construction of sand/sod embankments in front of the masonry walls and attaching cribs (wood boxes) filled with sand to detonate shells and prevent their penetration of the brick masonry.

Confederate torpedoes placed in Mobile Bay. Source: Harper's Weekly (courtesy www.sonofthesouth.com)