European influence on Mobile Point started with the French in the early 1700s. France eventually ceded their control to the British under the Treaty of Paris (1763) that ended the French and Indian War. In 1780, Bernardo de Galvez seized control from the British during our Revolutionary War since England’s attention was on the colonies on the Eastern Seaboard rather than on the Gulf Coast. Informational signs outside of the fort took us through this time period up through the Civil War.
Spanish come to Mobile Point
With the American Revolution raging on the shores of the East Coast, Spain took advantage of the situation and declared war on Great Britain on June 21, 1779, becoming an ally of the 13 American colonies. With 12 ships and more than 700 troops, Galvez set sail from New Orleans on January 14, 1780. A Gulf storm buffeted them as they set sail, forcing the fleet to seek shelter in Mobile Bay on February 10 (January 14 to February 10—that’s a long time to be sailing such a short distance in a storm). Unaware of the sand bars in the Bay, the squadron’s largest warship ran aground, followed by 5 more ships. On February 12, the weather improved, but only 2 of the Spanish ships could clear the bar.
For the next 3 days, launches shuttled troops, provisions, and other goods to shore, along with the sailors and soldiers. Most of the expedition’s food, ammunition, artillery, and supplies were lost as the ships broke up. Left stranded on Mobile Point, some 800 men had to endure without shelter and few provisions and weapons.
Galvez started the siege against Fort Charlotte in Mobile on March 3, 1780. The contingent from Mobile Point soon joined them, and the British garrison surrendered to Galvez on March 14. Mobile, the Bay, and Mobile Point would stay under Spanish control until April 1813 when the U.S. troops came.
In March 1780, the Spanish built an 8-gun battery that didn’t last very long.
Fort Bowyer summary
Somewhere in this general area looking out at Mobile Bay, the United States built Fort Bowyer after seizing the point of land from the Spanish in 1813.
Improvements included a defensive ditch with a palisade and living quarters. (A palisade is a defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Remember Fort King George in the Brunswick, Ga., area in part 4 of these quick trips?)
As the War of 1812 continued, American authorities grew more and more worried about the British influence along the Gulf Coast. Even though the Spanish had allied itself with the new nation, they permitted the British military to operate freely to encourage and aid the Creek Nation in West Florida and the coastlines of Alabama and Mississippi. Citing the potential threat that a British force could have in American-held New Orleans, American forces seized the town of Mobile from its Spanish Garrison
On August 24, 1814, the fort was named in honor of its first commander, Colonel John Bowyer. However, 5 months later the fort was abandoned and ordered dismantled because of the fort’s vulnerable location. The next August, General Andrew Jackson ordered the fort be reconstructed and strengthened.
In September, under the command of Major William Lawrence, the fort was attacked by a force of the British Navy and Creek Indians. The assault failed, and the garrison was honored as heroes throughout the United States.
The next February, the British returned with overwhelming numbers and laid siege for 5 days. Faced with certain defeat, Colonel Lawrence surrendered his command. No longer did the U.S. have control of Mobile Bay and the Gulf Coast. But . . . the HMS Brazen brought news of the Treaty of Ghent the next day, and the British had to abandoned the Gulf Coast.
Following the war, Congress appropriated money to construct a more permanent fortification that became Fort Morgan. As work progressed, Fort Bowyer was abandoned. In 1821, all signs of the small fort that stood against the British were wiped away by a hurricane so that its exact location is no longer known.
1st battle of Fort Bowyer
On September 11, 1814, three British ships sailed within 9 miles of Fort Bowyer and landed 60 Royal Marines with a howitzer and 120 Creek Indians. Some of this land force marched westward toward the fort and gave support to the ships bombarding the fort. The rest of the land force traveled to east Bon Secour on the Gulf Coast as a rear guard.
At 3:30 p.m., the British naval force on the HMS Hermes led the force to engage the fort. The 3 vessels weren’t able to give much support because wind conditions prevented 2 of them from securing a position within range of the fort. The 3rd vessel had such rotten timbers that its guns overturned when fired. Shots from the fort hit the Hermes bow sprit, causing the helpless vessel to swing around and be subject to the fort’s cannon to rake the decks from bow to stern. By 6:00, the Hermes began drifting and ran aground.
American forces: 158 men, 20 cannons
Causalities: 4 killed, 5 wounded
As the night began to get dark, Captain Percy ordered the Hermes abandoned and her surviving crew evacuated to the Sophie. Before doing this, the crew started a fire onboard to prevent its capture and repair by the Americans. Around 10:00 p.m., the fires reached the ship’s powder magazine, and a tremendous explosion was heard in Mobile, 30 miles away. The Hermes was destroyed.
The Americans were elated, and the British failure resulted in an attempt to find another route to New Orleans. In January 1815, that alternate route would result in their overwhelming defeat at the hands of Andrew Jackson.
British forces: 852 men, 130 Creek Indians, 4 ships, 80 cannons
Causalities: 23 killed, 47 wounded
2nd battle of Fort Bowyer
Don’t you just know that the British wanted revenge after their first defeat so took a second try at Fort Bowyer.
American forces: 370 men, 28 Cannon
Casualties: 1 killed, 18 wounded
The British defeats at Fort Bowyer and Battle of New Orleans didn’t stop the British Campaign on the Gulf Coast. On February 8, 1815, they returned to Fort Bowyer with overwhelming numbers of men to seize the fort before going on to Mobile. British commanders relied on high sand dune ridges to protect their men as they moved closer to the fort, but heavy artillery fire from the fort would cost the British 10 lives that first day. British engineers began digging trenches across the peninsula and building artillery batteries. Their strategy was so different from their first encounter.
Two days later reinforcements came from the main camp on Dauphin Island just 3 miles away. They aggressively advanced their trenches day and night until the British mortar emplacements were within 25 yards of the fort’s outer wall.
Late in the morning the next day, April 11, Lt. Col. Lawrence was offered terms of surrender. Faced with overwhelming odds and a fort filled with men and 20 women, 16 children, and 3 servants, Col. Lawrence accepted the terms. That afternoon, British solders took possession of the fort’s sallyport until Col. Lawrence and his garrison marched out the following day.
British forces: 3000 men, 38 ships, 20 cannon (on load, ships’ cannons not counted)
Causalities: 13 killed, 18 wounded
On March 6, General Jackson notified British General Lambert on Dauphin Island that a treaty had been signed the previous Christmas Eve and had been recently ratified by the U.S. Government. Wisely General Lambert wanted confirmation from his own government before removing his men from the region since General Jackson could have been trying to trick him.
A stipulation of the treaty was that all lands and territories gained by either side during the war were to be returned to its previous owner. The British left and transferred Fort Bowyer back to the U.S. on March 25. The same day Lt. Col Lawrence was standing trial before a courts-martial in New Orleans for surrendering Fort Bowyer, but he was acquitted of all charges.
General Jackson wrote to President Madison on March 24 about his disappointment and surprise that the fort surrendered. But what he knew and what Col. Lawrence didn’t know was that Major Uriah Blue and his relief forces arrived only 24 hours after Col. Lawrence had surrendered the fort.
I find all of this back and forth so interesting. Now onto the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War.
Battle of Mobile Bay – phase 1
In 1861, the Alabama militia took over Fort Morgan and control of Mobile Bay protecting the port of Mobile so important to supplying the Confederacy with the supplies it needed.
Wanting to attack Mobile Bay since 1862, U.S. Admiral David Farragut knew he’d need the support of the army and a flotilla of ironclad monitors to confront the confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee for control of the lower Bay.
General Gordon Granger came with his 1500 men on army transports from New Orleans, landing on Dauphin Island on August 3. By August 4, all of Farragut’s monitors had joined the fleet. He was ready to attack.
Farragut knew that he would be confronting 3 forts, a series of obstructions, a triple row of torpedoes, and C.S. Admiral Franklin Buchanan’s squadron of Confederate ships. The ships had 22 guns, Fort Morgan had 46 guns, 36 of them bearing on the channel.
Buchanan’s flagship and the most powerful warship in the world, the ironclad ram CSS Tennessee, had 10 guns, 4 of them rifled (which meant they could shoot further and more accurately).
However, Farragut’s ships carried a total of 199 guns. His wooden ships were partially armored with improvised chain armor and sand bags that would hopefully protect the ships’ boilers and machinery. His monitors carried four 15-inch and eight 11-inch smoothbore guns.
Early in the morning on August 5, Farragut tried to run past Forts Gaines and Morgan (on both sides of the entrance to the Bay) into Mobile Bay itself. The USS Tecumseh, the lead monitor, fired the first shot of the day at 6:47 a.m. when just within 2000 yards of Fort Morgan. A few minutes later the fort returned fire.
Then everyone started shooting and a light west wind blew black smoke into the faces of Fort Morgan’s gunners. But the smoke also obscured Farragut’s view and forced him up into the rigging to get a better view.
Conditions were the same on many of Farragut’s other ships. The admiral had to take a calculated risk: leave and be safe or go forward and face the torpedoes (mines). He ordered the Hartford and her consort, the Metacomet, across the torpedo field into the Bay at full speed. He knew—and was counting on—that if torpedoes were submerged for too long, they might be ineffective. Within 10 minutes, 2 more of his ships followed him into the Bay.
Over the next 30 minutes, the rest of Farragut’s wooden ships followed. As they passed through the field, they could hear the torpedoes knocking against the bottom of their ships but none of the Federal fleet exploded.
Battle of Mobile Bay – phase 2
As the Union’s Hartford and Brooklyn steamed into the lower bay, the Confederate Tennessee tried to ram both in succession, but it moved too slowly and had to let them pass. Admiral Buchanan then exchanged broadsides with the rest of Farragut’s ships as they ran into the Bay.
The Federals had won space to maneuver, changing the course of the battle. The Metacomet, cut loose from the Hartford, chased the Confederate Selma up the Bay. The Selma resisted the Metacomet as long as it could, but soon had to surrender to the Union gunboat.
The Gaines, badly damaged, turned away and was followed by the Morgan. The Gaines, while trying to shelter under the guns of Fort Morgan, sank before she could reach safety. Only the Morgan escaped.
When the Selma’s Lt. Murphy went aboard the Metacomet to surrender, he offered her commander, J.E. Jouett, his sword. As old friends, Jouett took the sword hurriedly and said, “Pat, don’t make a fool of yourself. I have had a bottle on ice for the last half hour!” Jouett had been planning this for days and treated his friend to a delicious breakfast of oysters, crabs, and beefsteaks.
Back to the battle, Buchanan returned to Fort Morgan after harming the Federals but taking little damage himself. He was advised not to renew the struggle, but he said, “No, I will be killed or taken prisoner, and now I am in the humor, I will have it out at once.” As he approached the Union anchorage (a place where vessels anchor), Farragut realized that he must capture or destroy the monster ram or lose Mobile Bay. He scrambled his fleet against the CSS Tennessee and again jumped into the rigging. The Monongabela, Lackawanna, and Hartford rammed the Rebel ironclad and fired broadsides at her in vain while doing damage to themselves.
The Lackawanna had her solid oak bow torn apart for 6 feet “as if it had been paper” and took a shell that exploded on her berthing deck, wiping out the powder division and catching the magazine afire. But before the CSS Tennessee could strike the Hartford, she had to take on the Manhattan.
In the lower picture on the left, the USS Lackawanna rams the CSS Tennessee.
A correspondent of the New York Tribune aboard the USS Oneida wrote, “The Tennessee was an immense, powerful vessel, built under the immediate supervision of the ablest naval architects the South could find. Her sides were almost solid; 24 inches in thickness, over which was a casing of iron six inches thick. She carried six rifle guns of the Brooke’s patent, throwing a shot 126 lbs. in weight, 7.5″ in diameter, and of a conical shape.”
But when the USS Hartford took on the CSS Tennessee, a different story was told by Lt. A.D. Wharton, aboard the Tennessee. “A hideous-looking monster came creeping up on our port side, whose slowly revolving turret revealed the cavernous depth of a mammoth gun. ‘Stand clear of the port side!’ I shouted. A moment after, a thundering report shook us all, while a blast of dense, sulphurous smoke covered our portholes, and 440 pounds of iron, impelled by 60 pounds of powder, admitted daylight through our side where, before it struct us, there had been over two feet of solid wood, covered with five inches of solid iron.”
I’ve seen the term “ram” included with the name of an ironclad ship a few times but wasn’t sure why the term was used, so I went to Wikipedia, and here’s what I found. “The first coastal battleship, France’s Taureau, was built in 1863, for the purpose of attacking warships at anchor or in narrow straits, and was armed with a ram. Many ironclad ships were designed specifically to ram opponents; in ships of this type, the armour belt was extended forward to brace both sides of the ram to increase structural integrity.” So it seems that these ships were built so they could ram other ships.
After colliding with the Hartford, the Tennessee turned south and took on fire from 2 more Union ships, the Brooklyn and the Lackawanna. Soon the Union monitors Chickasaw and Winnebago joined the fight against the Confederate ship. The Chickasaw, firing solid and steel shot from only 50 yards, hit the Tennessee’s stern casement 11 times in 30 minutes. Iron splinters went flying through the ship, killing and wounding several men, including Captain Buchanan, whose leg was broken.
In the middle of a circle of at least 7 Union ships, unable to steer, fire, or even move, the Tennessee’s Captain, James Johnston surrendered his ship at 10:00 a.m.
Battle of Mobile Bay – phase 3
At 7:25 a.m., Admiral Farragut’s lead monitor Tecumseh steered into the torpedo field at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Commander Craven had orders to engage the Tennessee that was west of the torpedo field. Craven was too close to the buoy marking the east side of the torpedo field to steer east of it. If he had any chance of catching the Tennessee, he would have to more west of the buoy too; so he did.
At 7:40, just 100 yards away from his prey, Craven’s ship hit a torpedo and sank within 3 minutes. Farragut faced his own crisis; he could play it safe and lose the battle, or he could charge ahead. This is when he was reported to have exclaimed, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” He led his fleet into the Bay. Was it a smart thing to do?
As we’ve said before, his actual words were different, but the meaning was the same.
Craven lost his ship and his life, but Farragut took decisive action in a moment of crisis and saved his fleet from certain defeat.
torpedoes
The Confederates used 2 types of contact torpedoes in Mobile Bay: the Singer (that we talked about in the museum post) and the Rains “keg” torpedo.
The Singer was made of iron, tin, or copper; it had a spring trigger that, when released, would cause a plunger to ignite the fuse. The Rains was made of oak barrels lined with pitch and coated with tar on the outside; it had 5 or more fuses of glass tubes sticking out from the barrel. Contact with a ship would crush these tubes, causing a chemical reaction that would explode the key.
Either torpedo could blow a hole 8’x10′ in the bottom of a ship. The typical charge used at Mobile was 35-50 pounds of black powder. An engineer at Mobile reported that a Singer torpedo was the type that sank the USS Tecumsch.
So who developed the Rains torpedo? Here’s what I found.
Gabriel J. Rains was a Confederate Brigadier General who was also a scientist. His Civil War appointment as chief of the newly created Torpedo Bureau of the Confederate army gave him an opportunity to develop explosives. He invented three mines: the “subterra shell” (land mine), the keg torpedo, and the submarine mortar battery (both naval mines).
Now that we understand how important the Battle of Mobile Bay was in the Civil War, let’s turn to the siege of Fort Morgan by land forces coming in from the east that happened a couple of weeks after the naval battle.
