Part 51

The sagacity and far-sightedness of Mr. Welles in preventing the English Government from having any technical ground for escaping responsibility has since been triumphantly approved by the action of the Geneva Convention, in the damages brought in against England for the actions of this vessel. Unfortunately the English masses had to help to pay these damages, as well as the classes which had in every way fostered the Rebellion.

It was stated in the English newspapers that the Kearsarge was an ironclad in disguise; and much more powerful, in every way, than the Alabama. Let us look at the facts.

In the first place, the two vessels were much the same in size, the Alabama being a little longer, and about one hundred tons larger.

Captain Winslow covers the whole ground in the following statement: “The Kearsarge’s battery consists of seven guns, two 11-inch Dahlgrens, four 32-pounders, one light rifled 28-pounder.

“The battery of the Alabama consisted of one 100-pounder, rifled; six 32-pounders, that is, one more gun than the Kearsarge.

“In the wake of the engines on the outside the Kearsarge had stopped up and down her sheet chains.

“These were stopped by marline to eyebolts, which extended some twenty feet, and this was done by the hands of the Kearsarge; the whole was covered by light plank, to prevent dirt collecting. It was for the purpose of protecting the engines when there was no coal in the upper part of the bunkers, as was the case when the action took place. The Alabama had her bunkers full, and was equally protected. The Kearsarge went into action with a crew of one hundred and sixty-two officers and men. The Alabama, by report of the Deerhound’s officers, had one hundred and fifty. * * * * The action lasted one hour and two minutes, from the first to the last shot. The Kearsarge received twenty-eight shots above and below, thirteen about her hull; the best shots were abaft the mainmast, two shots, which cut the chain stops, the shell of which broke the casing of wood covering; they were too high to damage the boilers had they penetrated. The Kearsarge was only slightly damaged, and I supposed the action for hot work had just commenced when it ended.

“Such stuff as the Alabama firing when she was going down, and all such talk, is twaddle.

“The Alabama, toward the last, hoisted sail to get away, when the Kearsarge was laid across her bows, and would have raked her had she not surrendered, which she had done, and was trying to get her flags down, and showing a white flag over the stern.

“The officers of the Alabama on board the Kearsarge say that she was a complete slaughter-house, and was completely torn to pieces. This is all I know of the Alabama.

“Of the one hundred and sixty-three officers and men of the Kearsarge, one hundred and fifty-two were native Americans, and two of the remaining eleven were Englishmen.”

MOBILE BAY. AUGUST 5, 1864.

Farragut had returned to New York, after arduous service in the Mississippi, which cannot be told here, and had received the hearty congratulations and hospitalities of not only public bodies, but of all grateful citizens. He had been made Rear Admiral, a new rank in the United States, and had been thanked by Congress for his achievements.

But, after about four months of rest and relaxation he was called to duty again, and early in January, 1864, he once more hoisted his flag upon the Hartford and sailed for the Gulf. His flag-ship had received much needed repairs, and, on examination, it was found that she had been struck two hundred and forty times by shot and shell.

After a short stay at New Orleans, to settle naval matters there, he visited Ship Island and Pensacola, the established depots for supplies.

He was now preparing for the long desired attack on Mobile Bay and its defences, which he had long contemplated, and was only prevented from carrying out before by the necessity of carrying out joint operations on the Mississippi River.

It was impossible to prevent vessels from occasionally entering Mobile, no matter how vigilant the blockaders were. Forts Morgan, Powell and Gaines protected the principal channels, and the light blockade-runners would creep along the shore, under cover of the night, under charge of experienced pilots, and soon be under the protecting guns of the forts. Now and then some adventurous craft would suffer for her temerity, by being captured, or driven on shore and riddled with shot and shell; but, still, too many got in. Most of these vessels had clearances for Matamoros, a Mexican town on the Rio Grande.

A steamer was captured off Mobile which was evidently a blockade-runner. The Captain was sent on board the flag-ship, to be interrogated by the Admiral. Farragut recognized him as an old acquaintance, and one of the most experienced merchant captains in the Gulf trade. The Admiral asked him what in the world he was doing close in with Mobile, when he was three hundred miles out of his course for Matamoros. The Captain entered into a long story about having been swept in shore by a northeast gale. When he had finished, Farragut smiled and said, “How could you be blown to the northward and eastward by a northeast gale? I am very sorry for you, but we shall have to hold you for your thundering bad navigation.” Among the articles captured in this vessel were one thousand copies of a caricature of General Butler, who has certainly had notoriety conferred upon him in that way as often as any one who ever lived.

Personal reconnoissances and skirmishes with the different forts about Mobile occupied the Admiral for some time, and he recognized the importance of having light draft ironclads to fight those which the enemy were preparing.

He wrote, “I feel no apprehension about Buchanan’s raising the blockade at Mobile, but with such a force as he has in the Bay, it would be unwise to take in our wooden vessels, without the means of fighting the enemy on an equal footing. By reference to the chart you will see how small a space there is for the ships to manœuvre.”

On the 2d of March he wrote, “I saw the Mobile ram Tennessee yesterday. She is very long, and I thought moved very slowly.”

He was most anxious to make the attack upon Mobile, as every week’s delay rendered the work more dangerous. But he was delayed by the necessity of awaiting ships.

In the meantime stirring work was going on inland, and the armies grappling in the fight of giants. Farragut’s letters show that he was keenly alive to all that was going on, although the mental strain upon him in keeping up the blockade and in preparing for the undertaking he had in view, was very great.

In a letter written in May he says, “We have the Southern papers of the 17th, and yet they contain no news. All is dark with respect to Grant and Lee. Grant has done one thing. He has gone to work making war and doing his best, and kept newsmongers out of his army. The only comfort I have is, that the Confederates are more unhappy, if possible, than we are.”

“We started with few good officers of experience, but shall end with some of the best in the world. Our fellows are beginning to understand that war means fighting.”

To Admiral Bailey, at Key West, he writes, “I am watching Buchanan, in the ram Tennessee. She is a formidable looking thing, and there are four others, and three wooden gun-boats. They say he is waiting for the two others to come out and attack me, and then raid upon New Orleans. Let him come. I have a fine squadron to meet him, all ready and willing. I can see his boats very industriously laying down torpedoes, so I judge that he is quite as much afraid of our going in as we are of his coming out.”

On June 21st he writes, “I am tired of watching Buchanan and Page, and wish from the bottom of my heart that Buck would come out and try his hand upon us. This question has to be settled, iron _versus_ wood, and there never was a better chance to settle the question as to the sea-going qualities of ironclad ships. We are to-day ready to try anything that comes along, be it wood or iron, in reasonable quantities. Anything is preferable to lying on our oars. But I shall have patience until the army has finished its campaign in Virginia and Georgia. I hope it will be the close of the war.”

On the 6th of July, he writes, “My birth-day; sixty-three years old. I was a little down in the mouth, because I thought we had not done as well as we ought to, in destroying a blockade-runner that tried to force her way by us. But Dyer, in the Glasgow, ran her on shore under the guns of Fort Morgan, and I had been trying to get the gun-boats to destroy her, but they did bad work, and the Rebels were at it, night before last, trying to get her off. I determined to send a party to board and set her on fire. Watson volunteered for the work, and I sent him, with Tyson, Ensign Dana, Whiting, Glidden, and Pendleton, and Master’s Mate Herrick. Jouett and McCann covered the party. Well, as you may suppose, it was an anxious night for me; for I am almost as fond of Watson as yourself, and interested in the others. I thought it was to be a hand-to-hand fight, if any. I sat up till midnight, and then thought they had found the enemy in too great force, and had given it up; so I laid down to rest. About half an hour later the Rebel was reported to be on fire, and I was happy, because I had heard no firing, and I knew the surprise was perfect. And so it turned out. The Rebels scampered off as our fellows climbed on board. The boats returned about 2 o’clock A. M., all safe, no one hurt. I was anxious until their return. But no one knows what my feelings are; I am always calm and quiet.”

“I have never seen a crew come up like our’s. They are ahead of the old set in small arms, and fully equal to them at the great guns. They arrived here a new lot of boys and young men, and have now fattened up, and knock the nine-inch guns about like 24-pounders, to the astonishment of everybody.”

One more extract--for these show the man:--

On July 20th, he wrote, “The victory of the Kearsarge over the Alabama raised me up. I would sooner have fought that fight than any ever fought on the ocean. Only think! it was fought like a tournament, in full view of thousands of French and English, with a perfect confidence, on the part of all but the Union people, that we would be whipped. People came from Paris to witness the fight. Why, my poor little good-for-nothing Hatteras would have whipped her (the Alabama) in fifteen minutes, but for an unlucky shot in the boiler. She struck the Alabama two shots for one, while she floated. But the triumph of the Kearsarge was grand. Winslow had my old First Lieutenant of the Hartford, Thornton, in the Kearsarge. He is as brave as a lion, and as cool as a parson. I go for Winslow’s promotion!”

On the 31st of July all the monitors sent to Farragut had arrived, except the Tecumseh, and she was at Pensacola, to be ready in a day or two.

The preparations for the attack upon the Mobile defences were now about completed, and Farragut had apprised each of his Commanders of his plans for passing into the Bay.

Generals Canby and Granger had visited the Hartford, and in this interview it was agreed that all the troops that could be spared should be sent to co-operate with the fleet in the attack upon Forts Morgan and Gaines.

Subsequently Canby found he had not force sufficient to invest both forts; so, at Farragut’s suggestion, he sent a body of troops to land on Dauphin Island, near Fort Gaines. The Admiral appreciated the assistance of the army in this case, and the responsibility of his position. He was not the man to begin the attack without having taken every precaution to insure success. He said he was ready to take the offensive the moment the troops were ready to act with him; that there was no doing anything with these forts so long as their back doors were open. More than that, his communications had to be kept open for supplies, which required a force of troops to cut off all the enemy’s land communications with Mobile.

The 4th of August had been fixed as the day for the landing of the troops and the entrance into the Bay, but the Tecumseh was not ready. General Granger promptly landed his troops on Dauphin Island at that date. As it turned out, all was for the best, for the Confederates were busily engaged, during the 4th, in throwing troops and supplies into Fort Gaines, all of which were captured a few days afterward.

The attack was then postponed until the 5th, and Farragut wrote a letter to his wife that night, which is a model of its kind, and shows he fully appreciated the desperate work before him.

For it we must refer the reader to his Life, by his son, from which this account is principally taken.

The battle of Mobile Bay was, very properly, the crowning achievement of Farragut’s naval career, for it was the most brilliant action in which he ever took part.

The defences of the Bay, at the time of his attack, consisted mainly of three forts, Morgan, Gaines and Powell. Fort Morgan was one of the old brick forts, with a wall four feet eight inches thick. It is on the west end of a peninsula which encloses the Bay, called Mobile Point, and forms, with Gaines, the principal defence of the main ship channel to the Gulf. It was armed with eighty-six guns, of various calibre, some very heavy, and in exterior batteries were twenty-nine additional guns. The water battery had two rifled 32s, four 10-inch Columbiads, and one 8-inch Brookes rifle. The garrison, officers and men, numbered six hundred and forty.

Fort Gaines is three miles northwest from Fort Morgan, at the eastern extremity of Dauphin Island. This is also a brick fort, and mounted thirty guns, with a garrison of forty-six officers and eight hundred and eighteen men.

On the flats south and east of Fort Gaines innumerable piles were driven, to obstruct the passage of vessels, and from these, two lines of torpedoes extended towards Fort Morgan, terminating at a point a few hundred yards from that fort, marked by a red buoy. This portion of the passage was left open for the use of blockade-runners, and vessels using it had to pass within easy range of the guns of the fort.

Six miles northeast of Fort Gaines is another narrow channel, only fit for light draught vessels, called Grant’s pass. There was a redoubt there, mounted with four very heavy guns.

Auxiliary to this land defence the iron-clad steamer Tennessee lay about five hundred yards north of Fort Morgan. She was two hundred and nine feet long and forty feet wide, with an iron prow projecting two feet below the water line. Her sloping sides were covered with armor varying in thickness from five to six inches. She carried six rifled guns in casemate, two of which were pivot, and the others broadside guns, throwing solid projectiles of one hundred and ten and ninety-five pounds respectively. The ports, of which there were ten, were so arranged that the pivot guns could be fought in broadside, sharp on the bow, and in a direct line with her keel. Her great defect was in the steering-gear, which was badly arranged and much exposed. Near her were anchored three wooden gun-boats, the Morgan, Gaines and Selma. The first carried one 63 cwt. eight-inch gun, and five 57 cwt. 32-pounders; the Gaines, one eight-inch Brooke rifle and five 57 cwt. 32-pounders; the Selma, three eight-inch Paixhans and one old-fashioned heavy thirty-two, converted into a rifle and banded at the breech, throwing a solid shot of about sixty pounds.

Farragut had long before issued general orders in regard to the attack, and made no secret of his intention to attack. They were as follows:--

“Strip your vessels and prepare for the conflict. Send down all your superfluous spars and spare rigging. Put up the splinter-nets on the starboard side, and barricade the wheel and steers-men with sails and hammocks. Lay chains or sand bags on the deck, over the machinery, to resist a plunging fire. Hang the sheet chains over the side, or make any other arrangement for security that your ingenuity may suggest. Land your starboard boats, or lower and tow them on the port side, and lower the port boats down to the water’s edge. Place a leadsman and the pilot in the port quarter-boat, or the one most convenient to the Commander.

“The vessels will run past the forts in couples, lashed side by side, as hereinafter designated. The flag-ship will lead and steer from Sand Island N. by E., by compass, until abreast of Fort Morgan, then N.W., half N., until past the middle ground, then N. by W., and the others, as designated in the drawing, will follow in due order, until ordered to anchor; but the bow and quarter line must be preserved, to give the chase guns a fair range, and each vessel must be kept astern of the broadside of the next ahead; each vessel will keep a very little on the starboard quarter of his next ahead, and when abreast of the fort will keep directly astern, and as we pass the fort, will take the same distance on the port quarter of the next ahead, to enable the stern guns to fire clear of the next vessel astern.

“It will be the object of the Admiral to get as close to the fort as possible before opening fire; the ships, however, will open fire the moment the enemy opens upon us, with their chase and other guns, as fast as they can be brought to bear. Use short fuses for the shell and shrapnel, and as soon as within 300 or 400 yards, give them grape. It is understood that heretofore we have fired too high, but with grape-shot, it is necessary to elevate a little above the object, as grape will dribble from the muzzle of the gun.

“If one or more of the vessels be disabled, their partners must carry them through, if possible; but if they cannot, then the next astern must render the required assistance; but as the Admiral contemplates moving with the flood tide, it will only require sufficient power to keep the crippled vessels in the channel.

“Vessels that can, must place guns upon the poop and top-gallant forecastle, and in the tops on the starboard side. Should the enemy fire grape, they will remove the men from the top-gallant forecastle and the poop to the guns below, until out of grape range.

“The howitzers must keep up a constant fire from the time they can reach with shrapnel until out of its range.” * * * * “There are certain black buoys placed by the enemy across the channel, from the piles on the west side of the channel towards Fort Morgan. It being understood that there are torpedoes and other obstructions between the buoys, the vessels will take care to pass eastward of the easternmost buoy, which is clear of all obstructions. The Admiral will endeavor to remove the others before the day of attack, as he thinks they support that which will otherwise sink, and at least to destroy them for guides to the demons who hope to explode them. So soon as the vessel is opposite the end of the piles, it will be best to stop the propeller of the ship, and let her run in with her headway and the tide, and those having side-wheel gun-boats will continue on with the aid of their paddles, which are not likely to foul with their drag-ropes.

D. G. FARRAGUT, _Rear-Admiral, Commander Western Gulf Squadron_.

P. S.--Carry low steam.

D. G. F.”

As has been already mentioned, Farragut had fully determined to run into the bay, on the 4th of August, but had been prevented from doing so by the non-arrival of the monitor Tecumseh. But on the afternoon of the 4th she arrived, and took up her anchorage behind Sand Island, with the others of her class--the Winnebago, Manhattan, and Chickasaw.

On the morning of the 5th, long before daylight, all hands were called “up hammocks,” and while the Admiral, his Fleet-Captain and Fleet-Surgeon were having breakfast, daylight was reported, with weather threatening rain. It was Friday, a day of bad omen for sailors; but the clouds worked round, and the day came fair, which was, on the other hand, a good omen. The wind was west-southwest, too, just where the fleet wanted it, for it would blow the smoke upon Fort Morgan.

At four o’clock the wooden ships formed in double column, lashed securely in pairs, in the following order, the first mentioned of each pair being the starboard vessel, or that next the fort. (The Admiral had concluded to let another ship lead, and he was second.) Here is the order:--

{Brooklyn, Captain James Alden. {Octorara, Lieutenant-Commander Green.

{Hartford (flag-ship), Fleet-Captain Drayton. {Metacomet, Lieutenant-Commander Jouett.

{Richmond, Captain Thornton Jenkins. {Port Royal, Lieutenant-Commander Gherardi.

{Lackawanna, Captain Marchand. {Seminole, Commander Donaldson.

{Monongahela, Commander J. H. Strong. {Kennebec, Lieutenant-Commander McCann.

{Ossipee, Commander Wm. E. LeRoy. {Itasca, Lieutenant-Commander George Brown.

{Oneida, Commander Mullany. {Galena, Lieutenant-Commander Wells.

The Brooklyn was appointed to lead, because she had four chase guns and apparatus for picking up torpedoes.

At half-past five, while at the table, still sipping his tea, the Admiral quietly said, “Well, Drayton, we might as well get under way.”

Immediately the answering signals were shown from every vessel, and the wooden vessels promptly took up their respective stations, while the monitors came out from under Sand Island and formed on the right of the wooden ships, as follows: Tecumseh, Commander T. A. M. Craven; Manhattan, Commander J. W. A. Nicholson; (these were single-turreted, Eastern built, or sea monitors). The Winnebago, Commander T. A. Stevens; and the Chickasaw, Lieutenant-Commander Perkins, followed. The two last were double-turreted, Western built monitors, from the Mississippi river.

The leading monitor was abreast of the leading wooden ship.

The Confederate vessels took up position in single line, in _echelon_, across the channel, with their port batteries bearing to rake the advancing fleet. The ram Tennessee was a little westward of the red buoy spoken of already, and close to the inner line of torpedoes.

Farragut had ordered six light steamers and gun-boats to take up a position outside, and open a flank fire on Fort Morgan, but they could not get near enough to be of much service.

And now the attacking fleet steamed steadily in. At 6.47 the first gun was fired by the monitor Tecumseh, and Fort Morgan at once replied. As the wooden vessels came within shorter range Farragut made signal for “closer order,” which was promptly obeyed, each vessel closing up to within a few yards of the one ahead, and a little on the starboard quarter, thus enabling such ships as had chase guns to bring them to bear.

The battle had opened, but at that time the enemy had the advantage, and the fleet now received a raking fire from the fort, battery, and Confederate vessels. This they had to endure for fully half an hour, before they could bring their batteries to bear with any effect. At the end of that time the Brooklyn and Hartford were enabled to open their broadsides, which soon drove the gunners of the fort from the barbette guns and water batteries.