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Photo # NH 42396: Federal fleet passing Fort Morgan, 5 Aug. 1864, with CSS Tennessee in lower left center

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the CONFEDERATE STATES --

CSS Tennessee (1864-1864) --
in the Battle of Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864 (part I)

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:

  • CSS Tennessee (1864-1864).

    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

     
    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

     
    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

     
    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

     
    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

     
    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

     
    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

     
    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

     

    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:

  • CSS Tennessee (1864-1864).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 16 September 2000
    Coding updated 5 May 2001