a mystery for 130 years. P.T. Barnum once
offered a reward to anyone who could find
her, but it was not until decades later that
the wreck was discovered by author Clive
Cussler. The closest public boat ramp is the
Shem Creek Landing in Mt. Pleasant, at the
end of Mill Street. Today, the Friends of the
Hunley maintain the ship in a museum in
Charleston ( www.hunley.org).
rammed by the Federal ships, no longer
able to fire or move.
The Tennessee dealt with, Farragut
turned his attention to the forts surrounding the bay, supporting land-based assaults.
Forts Powell, Gaines, and Morgan were surrendered by Confederates, who retreated
to Mobile, leaving the lower bay and
their gateway to the Gulf. The city itself
remained unconquered until the last days
of the war ( www.battleofmobilebay.com).
Boats can put in from ramps on Dauphin
Island, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, which
is accessible by ferry or by bridge.
MAP COURTESY OF NOAA
Mobile Bay, Alabama
Mobile, the “Paris of the Confederacy,”
was a strategically important location for
the South, both as a crossroads for the railroad and, particularly after the fall of New
Orleans, as a key port for blockade runners
to ship Southern cotton through the Gulf
of Mexico for trade. Mobile was a target
for the Union, but the harbor was well
defended, with three land-based forts and a
string of mines across the entrance, planted
so that any ship entering would have to
come within gun range of Fort Morgan on
the eastern side of the channel.
In August 1864, the Battle of Mobile
Bay began when Rear Admiral David
Farragut sent his ships into the minefield,
led by the “unsinkable” ironclad Tecumseh,
which hit a torpedo and went down quickly, killing 150 sailors aboard. With his cry
of “Damn the torpedoes!” Farragut and his
ships followed the Tecumseh into the bay.
Farragut’s gamble with the minefield
paid off – after his ships were through, they
were beyond the reach of the Confederate
forts, and faced the rebel ships stationed on
the other side. The ironclad CSS Tennessee,
flagship of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, and
four wooden ships engaged Farragut’s fleet
of 18. The four wooden ships were driven
off or sunk by the superior Federal force,
but rather than give in, Buchanan engaged
the Union Navy with his remaining ship,
surrendering only after being shot and
New Orleans And
The Mississippi
As the gateway to the Mississippi,
New Orleans had a tremendous strategic
value to anyone who wanted to control
the water-borne trade, and to effectively
blockade the South, the Union needed
to control it. Entering from the Gulf of
Mexico, they faced two major obstacles:
Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip. Seized by
rebels before Louisiana voted for secession,
the two forts overlooked a long stretch of
the Mississippi, with 11 schooner hulks
strung across the river as a boom to delay
attackers while the forts finished them off.
Captain David Farragut, the commander of the Union’s blockading squadron in the area, led his ships into the river
FORT JACKSON AND FORT ST. PHILIP
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
