When Federal warships steamed into Mobile Bay on the morning of 5 August 1864, Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan stationed CSS Tennessee, his flagship, and her unarmored consorts, gunboats Morgan, Gaines and Selma, at the head of the channel. As the enemy moved up, exchanging fire with Fort Morgan, Buchanan's ships shot at them from ahead. The Union monitor Tecumseh, maneuvering to engage the Tennessee, struck a mine and sank, temporarily throwing the Federal column into confusion. Rear Admiral Farragut's flagship, USS Hartford, forged ahead and drove off the Confederate gunboats, but Tennessee remained in the battle zone, firing on the U.S. Navy ships as they passed and doing considerable damage to the last in line, USS Oneida.
With the enemy was safely inside Mobile Bay, Buchanan understood
that the Confederate forts at the bay's entrance would soon be
untenable unless the Union ships could somehow be destroyed. In
a desperate, solitary effort, Tennessee steamed toward
Farragut's ships. As she slowly moved along, the sloops of war
USS Monongahela
and Lackawanna repeatedly rammed her, doing more damage
to themselves than to their target.
(narrative continued in ...part II).
This page features all our views of CSS Tennessee during the first parts of the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864.
See CSS Tennessee in the Battle of Mobile Bay (part II) for picures of Tennessee during the later stages of the battle.
For other images of, or related to, CSS Tennessee,
see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 83136 "Entrance of Rear Admiral Farragut in to Mobile Bay. August 5th 1864" Chart of the action, prepared by RAdm. D.G. Farragut, Washington, D.C., March 1st, 1865. See Photo # NH 83136 (complete caption) for further information, as printed on the original chart. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 277KB; 870 x 1200 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 51946 Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 Engraving depicting Farragut's fleet running past Forts Morgan (at right) and Gaines (left) to enter Mobile Bay, in the morning of 5 August 1864. Ships specifically identified include USS Hartford (center) and CSS Tennessee (toward the right). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 124KB; 740 x 525 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 42396 "Battle of Mobile Bay ... Passing Fort Morgan and the Torpedoes" Print after an artwork by J.O. Davidson, 1886, depicting the Union and Confederate squadrons at the moment that USS Tecumseh sank after striking a mine ("torpedo"). Confederate ships (left foreground) are Morgan, Gaines and Tennessee. Union monitors visible astern of Tecumseh are Manhattan and Winnebago. USS Brooklyn is leading the outer line of Union warships, immediately followed by USS Hartford. Courtesy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 525 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 42392 "Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864" Reproduction of an 1864 pen & ink drawing by George S. Waterman, C.S.N., depicting the action as seen from above and inside the entrance to Mobile Bay. Confederate ships present are (as identified on the drawing): Selma, Morgan, Gaines (shown twice, in the battle line, and beached off Fort Morgan after the battle) and Tennessee. Union monitors shown are (from the front of the line): Tecumseh (sinking after striking a mine), Manhattan, Winnebago and Chickasaw. The leading two steam sloops in the Union line are Brooklyn and Hartford. Small diagram in the lower right represents the various efforts by Union ships to ram the Tennessee later in the action. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 150KB; 740 x 580 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 42397 Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 Painting by Lieutenant Colonel Edmund S. Sayer, USMC (Retired), December 1938, depicting USS Monongahela ramming CSS Tennessee during the battle. The artist composed this painting from Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut's battle plans. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 515 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 2377 Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 USS Monongahela rams CSS Tennessee as other Union warships move into position to engage. The two twin-turret monitors depicted at the right are USS Winnebago and USS Chickasaw. Civil War vintage artwork, photographed by T. Lilienthal, New Orleans, Louisiana. Courtesy of the Philibrick Collection, Kittery, Maine. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 495 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 1284 Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 Sketch, probably by 3rd Assistant Engineer Robert Weir, of USS Richmond, depicting USS Lackawanna (Captain John B. Marchand, Commanding) ramming the Confederate ironclad Tennessee as she steamed up Mobile Bay toward the Federal fleet. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 460 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 65707 Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 Woodcut by Roberts, circa 1866, entitled "Capture of the Ram Tennessee by Farragut (Mobile Bay)". It depicts CSS Tennessee being rammed by a U.S. Navy steam sloop, either USS Monongahela or USS Lackawanna. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 189KB; 740 x 530 pixels |
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See CSS Tennessee in the Battle of Mobile Bay (part II) for picures of Tennessee during the later stages of the battle.
For other images of, or related to, CSS Tennessee,
see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 16 September 2000
Coding updated 5 May 2001