Admiral Mahan later correctly observed
that if the Confederates had laid electrical
torpedoes, they would have been able to
close the whole bay and channel. Because
they did not they were limited to obstruct-
ing the western part of the channel by a
triple line of contact torpedoes that they
hoped would force enemy ships under
Fort Morgan’s guns. Had they been used,
electrical torpedoes could have been con-
nected to Fort Morgan by cable for turn-
ing on and off depending on what sort of
ship was approaching. Instead, contact
torpedoes, which can become ineffective
from prolonged immersion, were laid in
three lines along the western part of the
channel and were marked with black
buoys. To avoid this threat ships entering
the bay were forced to pass under the guns
of Fort Morgan.
Farragut’s fleet prepared for action. They
stowed superfluous spars below, rigged
splinter nets on the starboard sides, barri-
caded the helms with sails and hammocks,
heaved hempen fenders over the inboard
sides, and spread chains and sandbags
around the deck machinery. To prevent
disabled craft from jamming up the battle
line, the smaller gunboats were lashed side
by side with chains and were to run up to
the forts in pairs, just as Farragut had done
at New Orleans and Port Hudson. The
spearhead of the attack was to be the four
monitors and was to proceed in advance
off the starboard bow of the main column
of seven pairs of wooden ships carrying a
broadside of 75 guns. The lead monitor,
Tecumseh, had orders to hug Mobile Point
and lead them to the right of the most east-
ern buoy, which marked the minefield.
Although the column of wooden ships was
not to pass at such close range to Fort
Morgan, it also was to clear the eastern
end of the ominous markers.
Farragut made his plans and the Confed-
erates made theirs. On July 28, the Ten-
nessee cruised the bay, majestically, calmly,
engaged in target practice; and from the
deck of the Hartford, Farragut watched 400
miserably clad, half-drilled cadets from
Mobile, boys 14 to 18, arrive at Fort Gaines
to reinforce the garrison. On the westernend of Dauphin Island, Granger’s troops,
on August 3, landing with difficulty in the
heavy surf, lugged six 3-inch Rodman rifles
seven miles through sand and planted them
1,200 yards from Fort Gaines. Trenches
were shoveled. Watching them, Farragut
wrote: “I can lose no more days. I must go
in day after tomorrow morning, or a little
later. It is a bad time, but when you do not
take fortune at her offer, you must take her
as you can find her.”
Farragut fretted all day long on August
4, waiting for sight of the Tecumseh, which
had not arrived from Pensacola. He slept
poorly. Of the grave ponderings that may
have troubled his mind, or the dreams that
visited his sleep, history cannot say. It
rained hard about sundown, cleared, and
under a half-moon and a high black sky
salted with shimmering stars, a comet
flashed across the sky. Even the most hard-
bitten salt, filled with the superstitions of
the sea, had to admit that the heavens were
offering an omen of victory. For whom,
Farragut or Buchanan, was an issue that
would be decided presently.
About 3 AM, Farragut awoke, dressed,
and breakfasted with his chief of staff. As
he sipped hot tea, he sent his steward to
ascertain the direction of the wind and the
condition of the weather. When informed
that there was a light wind from the south-
west and the sea was all but a dead calm,
he put his fork down and quietly declared,
“Well, Drayton, we might as well getunder way.”
Aboard the Tennessee, conditions were
horrendous. The officers and crew had
lived atrociously since crossing into the
lower bay. Rains came nearly every day
and with them, said Surgeon Daniel Con-
rad, “the terrible moist, hot atmosphere,
simulating that oppressiveness which pre-
cedes a tornado.” Sleep was impossible.
“From the want of properly cooked food,
and the continuous wetting of decks at
night, the officers and men were rendered
desperate.” All hands looked forward to
the impending battle, whatever the out-
come, “with a positive feeling of relief.”
For weeks Conrad had watched the Fed-
eral ships multiply outside the bay.
Stripped for action, they “appeared like
prize fighters ready for the ring.” At day-
break on August 5, the doctor and his
admiral were roused by the quartermaster
and informed that the “enemy’s fleet is
under way.” They climbed to the hurricane
deck, Buchanan painfully limping from
wounds suffered at Hampton Roads.
Upon seeing Farragut making for the main
channel, Buchanan nodded and turned to
the skipper. “Get under way, Mr. John-
ston,” he said. “Head for the leading ves-
sel of the enemy and fight each one as they
pass us.” If there was valor and superla-
tive fighting mettle to be shown, these sons
of the Confederacy would show it. If
David Farragut wanted the title of hero,
he would have to earn it.
With a bright sun rising in a cloudless
sky, August 5 promised to be a typical
summer’s day. In fact, it had, indeed, pro-
duced ideal conditions for Farragut. The
southwesterly wind would carry the smoke
of the battle into the eyes of the gunners at
Fort Morgan, and there was an early
morning flood tide that would carry dam-
aged ships past the fort into the bay. As the
fleet swung into motion, a solitary Yankee
gun signaled Granger’s troops on Dauphin
Island to commence firing on Fort Gaines.
Infantrymen, sweating and blackened,
threw off their clothing, cursed the boiling
sun, and poured shot and shell into the
Rebel earthwork. The curtain was now
raised on this drama.Infantrymen, sweating
and blackened, threw off
their clothing, cursed the
boiling sun, and poured
shot and shell into the
Rebel earthwork.
The curtain was now
raised on this drama.
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