Uss tecumseh + vermont + albany + triton + columbia + scorpion + civil war union navy ships3/1/2024 With the army now ready to provide an infantry force, Farragut, by then a keen observer of Confederate activity in Mobile Bay, told navy secretary Gideon Welles that a fleet action against Mobile would require at least “one or two” monitors to counter any rebel armored warships.įarragut was especially concerned about the ironclad ram CSS Tennessee. Watching ironclad Union gunboats and Confederate rams operate on the Mississippi River had shown Farragut the effectiveness of armored vessels. By 1864, a joint army-navy move against Mobile had been agreed to draw troops away from William T. Still, the army campaigns against Vicksburg and Port Hudson in 1862 and into 1863 required the cooperation of his big, deep-draft wooden warships. Farragut’s orders sending him to capture New Orleans in early 1862 had included Mobile as his next objective. From there, two railroads connected the city to the Confederacy’s interior. Mobile was the South’s largest open port on the Gulf of Mexico and a frequent haven for blockade runners. Farragut had developed a case of “Monitor Fever.” Since early in the war, when he was named to command the Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron, he had envisioned capturing the strategic Confederate city of Mobile, Alabama.
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