{"id":1558,"date":"2014-08-04T08:18:03","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T13:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2014-08-08T12:32:31","modified_gmt":"2014-08-08T17:32:31","slug":"battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Kevin Ray, Archival Technician<\/p>\n

This week, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Mobile Bay, Kevin Ray gives an three-part account\u00a0of the battle drawn from a combination of secondary sources and two diaries\u00a0held in the Division of Special Collections. All images are from Ellsworth Hults and Eston C. Lambert’s diaries. Both men belonged to the Union navy. Parts II and III will be posted this Wednesday and next Monday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"DetailedAug5\"<\/a>

Ellsworth Hult’s diary entry from August 5, 1864<\/p><\/div>\n

In the early morning hours of August 5, 1864, Rear Admiral David Farragut ordered his fleet of United States Navy ships into battle against the Confederate forces defending the entrance to Mobile Bay. This moment was the culmination of two years of planning and anticipation. In April, 1862, Farragut had led the U.S. Navy up the Mississippi River and captured New Orleans. The fall of New Orleans left Mobile, Alabama, as the South’s only major port of entry on the Gulf Coast. Blockade runners, bringing badly need supplies into the South, made use of Mobile. Mobile’s railroad connections added to its strategic importance for the Confederate war effort. Farragut advocated attacking Mobile Bay, and perhaps even the city itself, since the fall of New Orleans. But he had to wait for two years. In Washington, there were always more pressing objectives.<\/p>\n

While Farragut waited, Confederate forces around Mobile Bay prepared. A naval invasion of the bay would be difficult under normal conditions. It was shallow, especially at its northern end, and would not accommodate a fleet of large ships. In addition, numerous obstacles had been placed in the bay by the Confederates. More hazardous, however, were the torpedoes. These were mines that had been laid in strategic areas. The entrance was defended by two large forts, along with one smaller fort. Fort Morgan stood at Mobile Point, on the eastern side of the entrance. Fort Gaines, on Dauphin Island, occupied the western side of the entrance. The smaller Fort Powell was on a little island between Dauphin Island and the mainland. The only opening available to an invading navy was a narrow channel to the west of Fort Morgan and to the east of where the torpedoes had been laid.<\/p>\n

\"BattleLineUp\"<\/a>

Ellsworth Hults’ diary entry detailing the lineup of ships into Mobile Bay<\/p><\/div>\n

A small Confederate fleet under the command of Admiral Franklin Buchanan waited in the lower bay, just above the entrance at Mobile Point. The fleet consisted of only four ships. Three of the ships, CSS Selma<\/em>, CSS Morgan<\/em>, and CSS Gaines<\/em>, were small side-wheel gunboats. The remaining ship, CSS Tennessee<\/em>, was Admiral Buchanan’s flagship and perhaps the most powerful vessel in either navy. Tennessee<\/em> was a large iron-clad ram, so called because of the iron protrusion at her bow that was used to ram enemy ships. She was heavily armored with iron platting up to six inches thick. In spite of her great power, Tennessee had two serious weaknesses: she was very slow and her steering chains were partly exposed. Still, she could wreak havoc on the Union fleet.<\/p>\n

Come back on Wednesday to read what happened next!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Kevin Ray, Archival Technician This week, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Mobile Bay, Kevin Ray gives an three-part account\u00a0of the battle drawn from a combination of secondary sources and two diaries\u00a0held in the Division … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3750,11189,422],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil-war","category-kevin-ray","category-mobile"],"yoast_head":"\nBattle of Mobile Bay, Part I - What's Cool at Hoole<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I - What's Cool at Hoole\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Kevin Ray, Archival Technician This week, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Mobile Bay, Kevin Ray gives an three-part account\u00a0of the battle drawn from a combination of secondary sources and two diaries\u00a0held in the Division … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What's Cool at Hoole\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-04T13:18:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-08T17:32:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-04T13:18:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-08T17:32:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/\"},\"wordCount\":541,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Civil War\",\"Kevin Ray\",\"Mobile\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/\",\"name\":\"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I - What's Cool at Hoole\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-04T13:18:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-08T17:32:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/\",\"name\":\"What's Cool at Hoole\",\"description\":\"Just another University Libraries - Public Blogs site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I - What's Cool at Hoole","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I - What's Cool at Hoole","og_description":"By: Kevin Ray, Archival Technician This week, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Mobile Bay, Kevin Ray gives an three-part account\u00a0of the battle drawn from a combination of secondary sources and two diaries\u00a0held in the Division … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/","og_site_name":"What's Cool at Hoole","article_published_time":"2014-08-04T13:18:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-08-08T17:32:31+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I","datePublished":"2014-08-04T13:18:03+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-08T17:32:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/"},"wordCount":541,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg","articleSection":["Civil War","Kevin Ray","Mobile"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/","url":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/","name":"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I - What's Cool at Hoole","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg","datePublished":"2014-08-04T13:18:03+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-08T17:32:31+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/files\/2014\/07\/DetailedAug5-300x193.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/2014\/08\/04\/battle-of-mobile-bay-part-i\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Battle of Mobile Bay, Part I"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/#website","url":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/","name":"What's Cool at Hoole","description":"Just another University Libraries - Public Blogs site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1558"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1590,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions\/1590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.lib.ua.edu\/blogs\/coolathoole\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}