Battle of Mobile Bay

Other Names: Passing of Forts Morgan and Gaines

Location: Mobile Bay, Alabama

Campaign: Operations in Mobile Bay (1864)

Date: August 2-23, 1864

Principal Commanders:  Adm. David G. Farragut and Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger [US]; Adm. Franklin Buchanan and Brig. Gen. Richard L. Page [CS]

Forces Engaged: Farragut's Fleet, U.S. army forces near Mobile [US]; Buchanan's Flotilla, Fort Morgan Garrison, Fort Gaines Garrison, and Fort Powell Garrison [CS]

Casualties and losses: 1,822 (US 322; CS 1,500)

Result(s): Union victory

Brief Description:

A combined Union force initiated operations to close Mobile Bay to blockade running. Some Union forces landed on Dauphin Island and laid siege to Fort Gaines. On August 5, Farragut's Union fleet of eighteen ships entered Mobile Bay and received a devastating fire from Forts Gaines and Morgan and other points. After passing the forts, Farragut forced the Confederate naval forces, under Adm. Franklin Buchanan, to surrender, which effectively closed Mobile Bay. By August 23, Fort Morgan, the last big holdout, fell, shutting down the port. The city, however, remained uncaptured. The Battle of Mobile Bay was not bloody by standards set by the armies of the Civil War, but it was by naval standards. The continued presence of a Union Army force near Mobile constrained the Confederate Army in its last desperate campaigns.