The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-02-16
The Battle of Mobile Bay.
BY CAPT. JOHN O. JOHNSON.

State of Alabama, and varying in width
= from seven to fifteen miles, and known
as Mobile Bay, will ever be regarded
with interest by the student Of history.
There is scarcely rod of its shores that
has not served as the last resting place
of some of its discoveries, and the bay
itself derives its name from the Indian
town Manvila, whose governor, the gil
gantic Tuscaloosa, received fernando de
Soto seated. while all around him stood,
and his standard bearer unfolded that
banner which excited the establishment
of the Spaniards and was SO soon to be
waved defantly in their midst. For in
Manvila's blood-stained streets it was
that, among other cavaliers of note, De
Soto's two nephews fell.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries Mobile Bay fell into the hands
of the French and the Spaniards alter
nately. In 1912 it was taken possession
of by United States troops and annexed
to Mississippi territory, and in 1919 it
was included within the limits of the
State of Alabama. On the 18th day Of
September, 1914, the stiffness that usual
ly hung over its sluggish waters was
broken for the first time by the roar of
heavy artillery: for it was on that day
that the British squadron under Percy
was repulsed in its attack on the little
redoubt called Fort Bowyer with the loss
of one vessel, the Hermes, and over a
hundred men; and on August 5, 1864, it
was again rudely awakened from its half
century of slumber by the noise of the
great battle which it is my privilege to
describe.
Alabama, having thrown her sword into
the scale of the Confederacy in January,
1861, turned her first thoughts toward
the security of ner only seaport, Mobile.
To that end Governor Moore seized upon
the United States arsenal in the city and
garrisoned it with State troops. Forts
Morgan and Gaines at the entrance of
Mobile Bay were the keys to Mobile
AlQilt l1lS buiI Slllt, ttilN d DIlG1 utSCGlp-
ton Of their condition and armament
will row be given. Fort Morgan, on the
site of old Fort Bowyer, was pentagonal
thaving five sidesl Fashioned work, built
of brick, with walls four feet, eight
inches thich, and is located on the main
land at west end of Mobile Point. 1t
mounted at the time of the passage of
Farragut's fleet IS guns of various cali
bres, consisting of rifed 32's, 10-inch Co.
umbiads and two 7 and S-inch Brooks
rifles. In each of its bastion TANKS were
two smooth bore 24-pounders. Twenty
nine additional guns We're placed in the
exterior batteries, of which the most
formidable, the water battery" had
rifed 32's, four 10-inch Columbiads and
one 9-inch Brooks rifle. Within the fort
was citadel containing quarters for
soldiers, whose brick walls, which had
loop-holes for musketry, were four feet
thick. The garrison for the fort incud-
ing officers and men, numbered $40. Fort
Gaines, erected or the ruins of Fort Tom
bigbee, stands at the eastern extremity
OF Dauphin Island, 300 miles W. N. w.
from Fort Morgan. 1t is built of brick
in the form of star, five feet thick,
with small works in the angles for flank
defence. When invested by General
Granger it had a platform of forty-four
guns, but only thirty guns were mount
ed, three Columbiads and the rest 80 and
24-pounders. The garrison consisted of
As officers and SIS men. On the flats to
the southwark and eastward of Fort
Gaines lnnumerable piles were driven to
obstruct the passage of small vessels,
and from these piles two lines of tor
pedoes extended toward Fort Morgan,
their eastern limit marked by large
red buoy. The channel between this
buoy and the fort was left open for
blockade runners, and as it was only
few hundred yards wide, every vessel
using it hadsto pass close to the fort.
Such were the works and such the
means used to guard the main ship chan
mel. But about six nautical miles north
west of Fort Gaines there is narrow
cut for light draught vessels, and known
as Grants Pass, which it was also deem
ed necessary to prevent the blockading
fleet from getting possession of. For
this purpose the Confederates had begun
the construction of redoubt between
Cedar Point and Little Dauphin Island
on an islet of mostly made land, cover
ing an area of about half acre of land,
and which they called Fort Powell The
front face of the work was nearly COM
pleted and in defensible condition,
mounting one 8-inch Columbiad, one g.
nc h and two finch Brooks rifles. The
face looking toward Fort Gaines was
about half finished. The parapets were
nearly complete, while its galleries and
traverses had only been framed. The
rear face was without parapets, and the
10-inch Columbiad and Finch Brooks
mounted there were exposed from the
platform up. This part of the fort was
strewn with large quantity of lumber
which was being used in the construction
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