Learn Our History Today: On August 5, 1864, the last major naval battle of the Civil War was fought at Mobile Bay, Alabama, one of the most heavily defended ports in the South. The entrance to the bay was protected by Fort Gaines, Fort Morgan, four Confederate ships, and many mines, or “torpedoes” as they were called in those days. The mines had been arranged by the Confederates just below the water’s surface to create a channel leading into the bay. The Union ship, the Hartford, under the command of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut led a fleet into the bay. Farragut watched as another one of his ships, the Tecumseh, steered into one of the mines. After an explosion, the ship stopped in the water and went straight to the bottom, taking more than 90 men to their deaths. The remaining ships in the fleet started drifting toward Fort Morgan as the Confederates raked them with gun fire. Farragut knew that hesitation on their part would be a disaster, and issued his famous order, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” The Hartford sailed straight ahead, straight through the minefield. No further mines exploded as the ships moved through, and Mobile Bay ended in Union control. Farragut’s orders have since become a famous rallying cry for Americans.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 18:42:54 +0000
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