re: 150 years ago this day...

Friday, 22 July 1864

General John Bell Hood’s army had to hold Atlanta or die trying. An earlier attack had cost Hood nearly 25 per cent of his forces, but he managed to put the blame on General William Joseph Hardee. Today, therefore, he tried...another attack. Hardee was to aim at a hole in the Federal line and get in their rear. Unbeknownst to him, the hole had been filled overnight with two divisions of General Grenville Mellen Dodge’s corps. Again the attack, although ferocious, failed; again Confederate losses neared 25 per cent of forces committed. Again Hood, who had not been on the field, blamed Hardee, for not fighting hard enough.

Another report: Following the Battle of Peachtree Creek, Lieutenant General John Bell Hood determined to attack Major General James B. McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee. He withdrew his main army at night from Atlanta’s outer line to the inner line, enticing Sherman to follow. In the meantime, he sent William J. Hardee with his corps on a fifteen-mile march to hit the unprotected Union left and rear, east of the city. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry was to operate farther out on Sherman’s supply line, and Gen. Frank Cheatham’s corps were to attack the Union front. Hood, however, miscalculated the time necessary to make the march, and Hardee was unable to attack until afternoon. Although Hood had outmaneuvered Sherman for the time being, McPherson was concerned about his left flank and sent his reserves—Grenville Dodge’s XVI Army Corps—to that location. Two of Hood’s divisions ran into this reserve force and were repulsed. The Rebel attack stalled on the Union rear but began to roll up the left flank. Around the same time, a Confederate soldier shot and killed McPherson when he rode out to observe the fighting. Determined attacks continued, but the Union forces held. About 4:00 pm, Cheatham's corps broke through the Union front at the Hurt House, but Sherman massed twenty artillery pieces on a knoll near his headquarters to shell these Confederates and halt their drive. Major General John A. Logan’s XV Army Corps then led a counterattack that restored the Union line. The Union troops held, and Hood suffered extremely high losses. The Federals suffered 3,641 casualties, while Hood's smaller force lost 8,499 virtually irreplaceable soldiers.

Lieutenant Charles S. Cotton and Acting Ensign John L. Hall led a landing party from the U.S.S. Oneida on a daring expedition that resulted in the capture of a Confederate cavalry patrol near Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay. The sailors rowed in from Oneida under cover of darkness, and lay in wait for a nightly Southern patrol which had been under observation for some time. Surprise was complete, and Hall marched a detachment four miles further inland to destroy the patrol's camp site. Lieutenant Cotton reported: "The results of the expedition were captured, 1 lieutenant and 4 privates of the Seventh Alabama Cavalry, arms and ammunition; 5 horses, with their equipments complete, and all the camp equipage and stores."

Sunday, 24 July 1864

Despite all of the fighting in the hundreds of battles, both small and large, that had taken place in the general vicinity over the last three and one quarter years, this morning’s altercation is known to history only as the Second Battle of Kernstown. General Jubal Early--in a virtual reenactment of General Thomas J. Jackson’s actions with the Stonewall Brigade in the First Battle of Kernstown--hit General George R. Crook’s defending Federals directly in the center, after the left had been rolled up by General John C. Breckinridge and the right badly battered by General Stephen D. Ramseur. The day ended with the familiar sight of frightened Federals in hurried flight leading to a panicked retreat toward Harpers Ferry and Winchester. The Confederates quickly pursued northward.

Another report: Under orders to prevent more reinforcements from being sent to Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant, General Jubal Early marched north this morning against Crook. After almost an hour of stubborn resistance at Pritchard's Hill, the Union line quickly collapsed and Crook's divisions streamed back in disarray through the streets of Winchester, a town that changed hands more than seventy times during the War and more than earned its reputation (in the words of a British observer) as the shuttlecock of the Confederacy.

Federal Colonel James Mulligan, commanding Crook's Third Division, was mortally wounded. Future U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes commanded a Northern brigade that fought against Confederate General John C. Breckinridge's division. Crook retreated to the Potomac River and crossed near Williamsport, Maryland on July 26. Because of this defeat and the subsequent burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on July 30, Grant would order the VI and XIX Corps back to the Shenandoah Valley and eventually unify several Federal commands in the region under General Philip Sheridan.

Second Kernstown was the last major Confederate victory in the Shenandoah Valley and temporarily removed Federal control of Winchester and the vitally important northern Shenandoah Valley. It is interesting to note that Federal forces under Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, who would later become President of the United States, fought directly against General Breckinridge, who was a former Vice President of the United States and also the Democratic candidate for President against Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

Confederate guerrillas captured and burned the steamer Kingston, which had run aground the preceding day between Smith's Point and Windmill Point on the Virginia shore of Chesapeake Bay.

Tuesday, 26 July 1864

The effort to bring the realities of the War home to the civilians of the South continued in full force today. General William Tecumseh Sherman, who had just last month written: "This War on citizens was not simply restrained to be applied against men and women but also children. There is a class of people men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order...", sent General George Stoneman on an expedition which would become known to history as Stoneman’s Raid. His assignment was to tear up railroad tracks and otherwise wreak whatever havoc on the citizens and transportation system he could. He was pointed due south in the direction of Macon and turned loose.

Pickets from the USS Shokokon, Acting Master Sheldon in charge, were attacked ashore by Confederate sharpshooters at Turkey Bend, in the James River. The Shokokon, a 710–ton double-ender mounting 5 guns, supported the embattled landing party with gunfire, and succeeded in preventing its capture. On the following day, the Shokokon engaged a Confederate battery at the same point on the River.

In the Shenandoah Valley, General Jubal Early’s Confederates attacked retreating Federals at various points as they hurriedly crossed the Potomac River into Maryland.

Major General Dabney H. Maury replaced General Stephen D. Lee as commander of the Confederate Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana.

Federal expeditions began from Searcy, Arkansas and from Johnson County, Missouri.

Thursday, 28 July 1864

Atlanta, Georgia, was now nearly surrounded. With Union cavalry fighting all around the area, Major General William T. Sherman sent General Oliver O. Howard around the city to secure the important railroad lines on the south side of town. General John Bell Hood sent Stephen Lee and A.P. Stewart to fend off this threat, but Howard was in place first at a place called Ezra Church. The attackers, as usual got the worse end of the stick, losing another 5000 casualties to the Union’s 600 or so. Hood was quickly running out of army.

Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee sent the tugs Belle, Martin, and Hoyt, fitted as torpedo boats, to Commander Macomb, commanding Union naval forces off New Bern, North Carolina. The tugs, which were to be used against reported Confederate ironclads in that vicinity, carried spar torpedoes, described by Lee as follows: "This form of torpedo is intended to explode on impact, and to he placed on a pole or rod projecting not less than 15 feet, and if possible 20 feet, beyond the vessel using it. It contains 150 pounds of powder." Initially the Union violently rejected torpedo warfare introduced by the South, but as the war progressed the North also utilized it to maximum advantage.

Colonel Lewis B. Parsons, USA, Assistant Quartermaster and Chief of Western River Transportation, wrote to Lieutenant Commander Samuel L. Phelps, Navy commander on the White River, about the unavailability of sufficient gunboats to convoy the vital supply ships on the river: "I am now in receipt of letters from three different officers, urgently enquiring if something can be done to prevent the detention of boats for convoys, in consequence of which, it is extremely difficult to send stores and supplies from Helena, Memphis, and other points...I have no doubt everything is being done in your power and consistent with your means, but considering the importance of the subject and the expenditure, is it not advisable to increase the means, so that convoys, if necessary, may be sent as boats arrive? If this can not be done, would it not do if two or three gunboats be stationed at different and dangerous points and boats be permitted to proceed without convoys?" The Navy's efforts to keep open the essential river supply routes in the West were beset with many problems, including a scarcity of ships for convoy against constant harassment by Confederate partisan guerrillas.

Union Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey wrote Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles from Key West describing the severe epidemic of yellow fever among the officers and men of his squadron: "My worst fears have been more than realized, and for more than two months the disease has held its course without abatement and is now as virulent as at any time...The mortality on the island I am told has reached as high as 12 to 15 in a day...The squadron is much crippled."

A boat crew commanded by Lieutenant J.C. Watson made daylight reconnaissances of the Mobile Bay channel. Watson and his men, towed into the bay by the small tug Cowslip, sounded the outer channel and marked the outside limits of the Confederate torpedo fields with buoys for the coming attack on the defenses of the bay.

Saturday, 30 July 1864

The Battle of the Crater began early this morning as the gunpowder beneath Confederate lines at Petersburg was detonated, instantly killing hundreds of Confederates and ripping a huge hole in the ground about 170 feet long, 70 feet wide, and 30 feet deep.

Union soldiers attacked by rushing into the crater instead of moving around it, and Confederates quickly regrouped and fired down upon them. Many troops were killed when Confederates refused their surrender owing to the nature of the attack. Surviving Federals withdrew in humiliated defeat as Confederates reformed their lines.

The Federals suffered over 3,800 casualties while the Confederates lost less than 1,200. Union General-in-Chief Hiram U. Grant wrote to Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck, “It was the saddest affair I have witnessed in the War...Such opportunity for carrying fortifications I have never seen, and do not expect again to have.” Two generals were censured for hiding during the fight, and General Ambrose Burnside, who directed the assault, was relieved of his command. Full report: Colonel Henry Pleasants of the 48th Pennsylvania, a mining engineer by profession, saw a way to end the stalemate at Petersburg. Pleasants proposed to build a mine with a large gallery under Elliott’s Salient on the high ground in the Confederate line, pack the gallery with black powder, and blow a huge hole in the enemy line, opening a clear path to Petersburg. Despite skepticism, apathy, and outright opposition from Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, Pleasants began digging on June 25, completing a 510-foot shaft within three weeks. By July 27, the mine was packed with 8,000 pounds of gunpowder and ready to ignite.

Initially, the Union high command placed little stock in the mine’s potential. But by the end of July, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had decided to authorize the explosion and use it to capture Petersburg in a spectacular coup de main. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s plan was to pass his leading division through the gap created by the explosion and then have his troops turn north and south respectively to widen the breach, and clear the way to the vital Jerusalem Plank Road. The Ninth Corps commander chose Brig. Gen. Edward Ferrero’s division of black troops to spearhead the assault. Though these troops had spent most of their service guarding wagon trains and building fortifications, Burnside believed their enthusiasm would compensate for their lack of combat experience. What’s more, each brigade in Ferrero’s division trained for its role in Burnside’s carefully choreographed scheme.

On the day before the assault, however, General Meade ordered Burnside to select a white unit instead. Burnside had his division commanders draw lots for the job. Brig. Gen. James H. Ledlie—possibly the worst general officer in the Union army—picked the short straw. Untrained, ill-prepared, and led by a drunken coward, Ledlie’s men would lead one of the Civil War’s most calamitous attacks the next morning.

The mine exploded at 4:44 a.m. on July 30, 1864. The result stunned everyone who witnessed it. "Clods of earth weighing at least a ton, and cannon, and human forms, and gun-carriages, and small arms were all distinctly seen shooting upward in that fountain of horror," remembered a newspaper correspondent. When the dust settled, a crater 130 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep scarred the landscape where Elliott’s Salient had stood a moment before. A total of 352 Confederates were killed by the blast.

Ledlie’s men struggled to scale their own trenches, then staggered forward into a scene of indescribable confusion and horror. Paralyzed by contradictory orders and a lack of leadership, the Federals failed to either widen the breach or rush toward the high ground at Blandford Church, the attack’s ultimate target. Instead, many Yankee soldiers plunged into the Crater or froze in positions on either side of it. Reinforcements merely added to the lack of command and control.

But Union incompetence is only part of the story. The Confederate defenders on either side of the Crater recovered quickly after their initial shock and poured fire from both flanks into Burnside’s men. Well-placed artillery raked the ground on all sides of the Crater. An indecipherable labyrinth of trenches, bombproofs, and covered ways also served to freeze the attackers in place.

Shortly after he learned of the explosion, Gen. Robert E. Lee called for fresh troops to regain the lost ground. The only available reinforcements belonged to Maj. Gen. William Mahone’s division, posted two-and-a-half miles west of the Crater. Mahone selected two of his five brigades—a Georgia unit and his own Virginia Brigade, which included many men from Petersburg—to make the march. Utilizing stream beds, back roads, and covered ways to avoid detection, Mahone reached the scene at about 8:30 a.m.

The Virginians were the first to charge, their zeal for combat sharpened by the presence of United States Colored Troops. The black soldiers, among the last of Burnside’s men to occupy the Crater, had shouted "No Quarter" during their attack, and Mahone’s men prepared to fight on that basis.

Charging across the open ground in a compact formation with bayonets fixed, the Virginians reached the edge of the Crater, where they unleashed a deadly volley. The combat became hand-to-hand and men died in heaps, human gore running in streams to the bottom of the horrid pit. The black troops suffered disproportionately as they became special targets for the Confederates. Many were killed after they had surrendered. The Virginians managed to recapture most of the line north of the Crater. The Georgia brigade attacked next, but they made scant progress against the remaining Union defenders.

By then Mahone had summoned to the battlefield a third brigade of Alabama troops under Brig. Gen. John C. C. Sanders. At 1:30 p.m. some 630 Confederates dashed across this field to finish the job the Virginians had started. Many of the remaining Federals now retreated, but others fought, died, or were captured. When the firing stopped, some 3,800 Federals were casualties. The Confederates lost fewer than 1,200 men, including those killed by the explosion.

A portion of Confederate General Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley under Brigadier General John McCausland reached Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. McCausland demanded $500,000 in currency or $100,000 in gold as reparations for Federal destruction in the Shenandoah. When residents could not raise the money, Chambersburg’s business district was burned.

Union President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Fort Monroe, Virginia, to confer with Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant. Lincoln was under increasing criticism from northerners who were horrified by the staggering casualties that produced no major victories, but only a stalemate outside Richmond. Grant was also frustrated by General Jubal Early’s ability to move freely throughout the Shenandoah Valley even onto northern soil in Maryland and toward southern Pennsylvania.

Confederate troops retook Brownsville, Texas after a brief fight.

quote:

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The mine exploded at 4:44 a.m. on July 30, 1864. The result stunned everyone who witnessed it. "Clods of earth weighing at least a ton, and cannon, and human forms, and gun-carriages, and small arms were all distinctly seen shooting upward in that fountain of horror," remembered a newspaper correspondent. When the dust settled, a crater 130 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep scarred the landscape where Elliott’s Salient had stood a moment before. A total of 352 Confederates were killed by the blast.

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Simply amazing. Hard to even imagine.

Thanks, will check that out.

Monday, 1 August 1864

General Jubal Early’s raid on Washington, DC, as well as now Pennsylvania and Maryland, was undertaken to force a withdrawal of Union troops from the siege of Petersburg, Virginia. Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant was not about to do this, so another solution had to be found. From the Western Theater, Grant brought what he thought was the answer, Major General Phillip Sheridan. Although a career cavalry officer, today he was given command of infantry, the Army of the Shenandoah, and told to abate the nuisance of Early once and for all.

Another report: General John McCausland’s Confederates attacked Cumberland, but Federals were closing in on him. General Philip Sheridan was appointed commander of the new Army of the Shenandoah. Sheridan’s primary objective was to stop General Jubal Early’s Confederates from wreaking havoc in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the Shenandoah Valley.

A landing party under Commander George M. Colvocoresses, composed of 115 officers and men, raided a meeting of civilians forming a coastal guard at McIntosh Court House, Georgia. Colvocoresses Marched his men overland after coming ashore during the night of 2 August, destroyed a bridge to prevent being cut off by Confederate cavalry, and captured some 26 prisoners and 22 horses before making his way safely back to the USS Saratoga. Rear Admiral John A.B. Dahlgren, amused at the circumstances of the expedition and pleased with its results, reported to the men of his squadron: "Captain Colvocoresses having been favored with a sight of the notice in a Savannah paper, and feeling considerable interest in the object of the meeting, concluded that he would attend it also, which he did, with a number of United States citizens serving at the time on board the USS Saratoga as officers, seamen, and marines...When the appointed time arrived, Mr. Miller [Boatswain Philip J. Miller] set fire to the bridge--outside the town--and at the signal the main body rushed out and joined the meeting...Captain Colvocoresses then read to the meeting from the newspaper the order of Colonel Gaulden [CSA] for their assembling, and, regretting that the Colonel had failed to attend, he invited the meeting to accompany him, which they did, and arrived safely on board the Saratoga, where they meet daily under the United States flag." The Admiral later reported to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles of the prisoners: "...it is hoped that under the old flag the deliberations may be of a more beneficial tendency, as the parties are now relieved of their proposed responsibility as a coast guard."

Colonel Gaulden, not to be outdone, published an explanatory letter in the Savannah Republican adding a challenge to the observant naval Captain: "As the Captain seems to be a reader of your paper, I take this opportunity to make my compliments to him and to say that when he calls to see me again I shall be at home, and will try and give him a more respectful reception."

In Georgia, William T. Sherman’s Federal artillery continued shelling Atlanta.

Federal expeditions began from Strawberry Plains and LaGrange in Tennessee, Gunter’s Mills, Missouri, and Smoky Hill Fork--in Geary County--Kansas.

Wednesday, 3 August 1864

Since the beginning of the War Between the States, the great work, and the great frustration, of Union President Abraham Lincoln had been to find generals not only to win battles at any cost in casualty count, but willing to fight them at all. He had found one in Hiram Ulysses Grant, also known as "U.S." and "Sam", but Grant could not be everywhere at once. Lincoln wrote him today that his plan to follow Jubal Early “to the death” in the Shenandoah Valley, and eventually Robert Edward Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, “will neither be done nor attempted unless you watch it every day, and hour, and force it." Lincoln did not know that Grant entirely agreed, and already had settled on one answer; a ruthless, former store clerk--barely 5 feet 5 inches tall--named Philip Henry "Little Phil" Sheridan.

Federal land forces reached Dauphin Island and invested Fort Gaines at the entrance to Mobile Bay. This was in preparation to Rear Admiral David G. Farragut’s general attack on the Confederate seaport.

Admiral Farragut's Fleet Captain, Percival Drayton, wrote the senior officer at Pensacola, Captain Thornton A. Jenkins, urging that the monitor Tecumseh be hurried to Mobile for Farragut's attack. "If you can get the Tecumseh out tomorrow, do so; otherwise I am pretty certain that the admiral won't wait for her. Indeed, I think a very little persuasion would have taken him in today, and less tomorrow. The army are to land at once, and the admiral does not want to be thought remiss." Farragut himself wrote Jenkins, adding in a tone indicative of his indomitable spirit: "I can lose no more days. I must go in day after tomorrow morning at daylight or a little after. It is a bad time, but when you do not take fortune at her offer you must take her as you can find her."

Lieutenant J. C. Watson and his boat crew made a final night expedition into the waters of Mobile Bay under the guns of Fort Morgan. Although they were constantly in danger of being discovered by the lights of the Fort, the bold sailors worked all night to deactivate and sink Confederate torpedoes in the channel preparatory to Farragut's dash into Mobile Bay.

The USS Miami, under Acting Lieutenant George W. Graves, engaged Confederate batteries at Wilcox's Landing, Virginia. Proceeding toward heavy firing, Graves had discovered batteries at Wilcox's Landing firing on Union transports. He immediately opened a brisk cannonade, and after an hour the Confederates withdrew. Next day, the Miami, accompanied by the USS Osceola, Commander Clitz in charge, drove off batteries which were firing on another group of transports near Harrison's Landing, on the James River. Throughout the embattled South, Union gunboats kept communications and supply lines open despite the dogged determination of the Confederates to sever them.

In Georgia, Major General William T. Sherman’s Federals continued extending their lines around Atlanta by preparing to cross Utoy Creek. This compelled general John Bell Hood’s vastly outnumbered Confederates to spread themselves dangerously thin.

Union expeditions began from Cumberland Gap and Woodville, both in Tennessee, as well as Fort Sumner, in the New Mexico Territory.

Friday, 5 August 1864

The Battle of Mobile Bay opened at 6 o'clock this morning. The monitor USS Tecumseh was leading the charge past the guns of Fort Morgan when she struck a mine, called in those days torpedoes. She sank in minutes, taking 90 of her 114 men, including her captain, down with her. It was at this point that Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, aboard the monitor Hartford, reportedly shouted “Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead, Drayton! Hard a starboard; ring four bells! Eight bells! Sixteen bells!” The Hartford sailed past the faltering Brooklyn into the Bay. By 10 in the morning, the last Confederate ship, Tennessee, surrendered. By nightfall Fort Morgan was abandoned and blown up. The final Confederate Gulf port was now closed.

In detail: Farragut took his squadron of 18 ships, including four monitors, against the heavy Confederate defenses of Mobile Bay. Soon after 0600, the Union ships crossed the bar and moved into the bay. The monitors Tecumseh, Manhattan, Winebago and Chickasaw formed a column to starboard of the wooden ships in order to take most of the fire from Fort Morgan, which they had to pass at close range. The seven smaller wooden ships were lashed to tile port side of the larger wooden screw steamers, as in the passage of Port Hudson, Mississippi.

Shortly before 0700, Tecumseh, Commander T.A.M. Craven, opened fire on Fort Morgan. The action quickly became general. The Confederate squadron under Admiral Buchanan, including the heavy ram Tennessee (6 guns) and the smaller ships Gaines(6 guns), Selma (4 guns), and Morgan (6 guns), moved out to engage the attackers. Craven headed Tecumseh straight at Tennessee, bent on engaging her at once. Suddenly, a terrific explosion rocked the Union monitor. She careened violently and went down in seconds, the victim of one of the much-feared torpedoes laid by the Confederates for harbor defense. Amidst the confusion below decks as men struggled to escape the sinking ship, Craven and the pilot, John Collins, arrived at the foot of the ladder leading to the main deck. The captain stepped back. "After you, pilot," he said. Collins was saved, but there was no afterwards for the heroic Craven. He and some 90 officers and men of Tecumseh's crew of 114 went down with the ship. Captain Alden called them "intrepid pioneers of that death-strewed path."

Alden, in Brooklyn, was to Tecumseh's port when the disaster occurred; the heavy steamer stopped and began backing to clear "a row of suspicious-looking buoys" directly under Brooklyn's bow. The entire line of wooden vessels was drifting into confusion immediately under the guns of Fort Morgan. Farragut, lashed in the rigging to observe the action over the smoke billowing from the guns, acted promptly and resolutely, characteristic of a great leader who in war must constantly meet emergencies fraught with danger. The only course was the boldest through the torpedo field. "Damn the torpedoes," he ordered; "full speed ahead " (Flag Lieutenant John C. Watson later recalled that Farragut's exact words were: "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead, Drayton! Hard a starboard; ring four bells! Eight bells! Sixteen bells!") His flagship Hartford swept past Brooklyn into the rows of torpedoes; the fleet followed. The torpedoes were heard bumping against the hulls but none exploded. The Union force steamed into the bay.

Hardly past one hazard, Farragut was immediately faced with another: Buchanan attempted to ram Hartford with Tennessee. The Union ship slipped by her slower, clumsier antagonist, returning her fire but also being raked by the fire of gunboat CSS Selma, Lieutenant Peter U. Murphey. Wooden double-ender USS Metacomet, Lieutenant Commander Jouett, engaged Selma and, though sustaining considerable damage, compelled her to strike her colors shortly after 0900. Meanwhile, Tennessee also attempted in vain to ram Brooklyn. CSS Gaines, Lieutenant John W. Bennett, advanced to engage the Union ships as they entered the bay, but she suffered a steering casualty early in the action. "...subjected to a very heavy concentrated fire from the Hartford, Richmond, and others at short range..., Bennett soon found his command in a sinking condition. He ran her aground near Fort Morgan and salvaged most of the ammunition and small arms before she settled in two fathoms. CSS Morgan, Commander George W. Harrison, briefly engaged Metacomet to assist Selma prior to her surrender, but as the action took place at high speed, Morgan could not maintain her position and faced the possibility of being cut off and captured by two Union ships. Harrison determined to take her under Fort Morgan's guns and later he saved her by boldly running the gauntlet of Federal ships to Mobile.

Meanwhile, 300-ton side-wheeler USS Philippi, Acting Master James T. Seaver, "wishing to be of assistance to the fleet in case any vessels were disabled," grounded near Fort Morgan attempting to get into the bay. The fort's heavy guns quickly found the range and riddled Philippi with shot and shell, forcing Seaver and his crew to abandon ship. A boat crew from CSS Morgan completed her destruction by setting her afire. The Union fleet, having steamed up into the bay, anchored briefly. Buchanan heroically carried the fight to his powerful opponents alone. Farragut reported: "I was not long in comprehending his intention to be the destruction of the flagship. The monitors and such of the wooden vessels as I thought best adapted for the purpose were immediately ordered to attack the ram, not only with their guns, but bows on at full speed, and then began one of the fiercest naval combats on record."

For more than an hour the titanic battle raged. Steam sloop of war Monongahela struck Tennessee a heavy blow but succeeded only in damaging herself. Lackawanna rammed into the Confederate ship at full speed but, said Farragut, "the only perceptible effect on the ram was to give her a heavy list." A shot from Manhattan's 15-inch gun, however, made a greater impression on those on board Tennessee. Lieutenant Wharton, CSN, reported: "The Monongahela was hardly
clear of us when a hideous-looking monster came creeping up on our Port side, whose slowly revolving turret revealed the cavernous depths of a mammoth gun. 'Stand clear of the Port side!' I shouted. A moment after a thunderous report shook us all, while a blast of dense, sulphurous smoke covered our port-holes, and 440 pounds of iron, impelled by sixty pounds of powder, admitted daylight through our side, where, before it struck us, there had been over two feet of solid wood, covered with five inches of solid iron. This was the only 15-inch shot that hit us fair. It did not come through; the inside netting caught the splinters, and there were no casualties from it. I was glad to find myself alive after that shot."

Hartford struck a glancing blow and poured a broadside into Tennessee from a distance of ten feet Chickasaw pounded the ram with heavy shot; steam sloops Lackawanna and Hartford had collided, but had regained position and, with Ossipee and Monongahela, were preparing to run down Buchanan's ship. The intrepid Confederate Admiral had been seriously wounded and relinquished command to Commander James D. Johnston. The rain of shells knocked out the ironclad's steering. Unable to maneuver and taking on water, Tennessee struggled on against her overwhelmingly superior foes despite the terrible cannonade that pounded her mercilessly. Ultimately, Buchanan and Johnston concurred that Tennessee must surrender to prevent loss of life to no fruitful end. At 1000 hours a white flag was hoisted. Farragut acknowledged the tenacity and ability with which the Confederate seamen had fought: "During this contest with the rebel gunboats and Tennessee...we lost many more men than from the fire of the batteries of Fort Morgan."