Historian Rick Britton join Les Sinclair to talk about: TODAY IN U.S. HISTORY – One of today’s biggest events was a Civil War naval battle–the Battle of Mobile Bay–fought on August 5, 1864. An important Union victory, it involved a combined attack against 3 Confederate forts and a small Confederate fleet that were guarding the entrance to Mobile Bay (in Alabama), the Confederacy’s last important port on the Gulf of Mexico. The attack was led by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut.

The battle was marked by Farragut’s rash but successful run through a minefield that had just claimed one of his ironclad monitors. (These floating mines, at the time, were called “torpedoes” -thus leading to the U.S. Navy’s most famous quotes. See below.) This was followed by a reduction of the Confederate fleet to a single vessel, the ironclad CSS Tennessee, which fought on valiantly but was forced to surrender, ending the battle. The three forts also surrendered within days.
This Union victory, together with the capture of Atlanta, was extensively covered by Union newspapers and was a significant boost for Abraham Lincoln’s bid for re-election three months after the battle.

AND: There’s a central Virginia connection: Because of the smoke, Farragut climbed up into his flagship’s rigging in order to see over it. He had himself lashed to the rigging. When he yelled down asking why his vessel had slowed, the pilot yelled back that it was due to the torpedoes. According to some accounts, Farragut then shouted: “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, Jouett. This Jouett was the grandson on central Virginia’s Jack Jouett of local Revolutionary War fame!

ALSO: I have an upcoming OLLI at U.Va. class!