Adm. David Farragut & Gen. Gordon Granger
“Hold the Fort. …. Stop communicating with the enemy; all terms or stipulations made by you are annulled.” - C.S. Brig. Gen. Richard Page
By August of 1864, the Federal blockade had managed to shutter all but two major Confederate ports, Wilmington, N.C. and Mobile Bay, Ala.
To close Mobile Bay, U.S. Adm. David Farragut and U.S. Gen Gordon Granger headed a joint land sea campaign. The Army was tasked with capturing the twin masonry fortifications positioned at the mouth of the Bay, Ft. Morgan on a spit of land known as Mobile Point, designed to guard the shipping channel and Ft. Gaines on Dauphin Island, offering sheltered anchorage.
Today, West Point graduate U.S. Gen. Gordon Granger is best known for coming to the aid of U.S. Gen. George “Rock of Chickamauga” Thomas during the Battle of Chickamauga, Ga. and freeing the slaves of Texas on June 19, 1865, resulting in the holiday known as “Juneteenth”. Granger was candid and “for the mere tinsel of rank he had no respect”. He was a stickler for following military procedure but earned the ire of U.S. Gen. Ulysses Grant by refusing to move without basic supplies for his men. Granger used political pull to return to the field.
On August 3, Granger and 1,500 men landed on Dauphin Island, seven miles from Gaines, intent on making the Fort a staging area for taking Mobile. On the 4th, they were within 1,200 yards.
On the 5th, Farragut’s 199-gun fleet attacked. As agreed, Granger’s troops began shelling the Fort with six 3-in Rodman guns. His sharpshooters climbed the surrounding sand dunes, shooting down into Gaines. From the north, came shells from monitors USS Chickasaw and USS Winnebago.
C.S. Col. Charles Anderson led the 21st Ala., reservists and cadets from Pelham Military Academy, Ala. that made up the 800-man garrison of Ft. Gaines. The Federal government had almost finished remodeling Gaines before the War began. Armed with 26 guns, including four 10-inch columbiad guns, the 22-foot high walls were designed to survive a six-month siege, had a rain catchment system and the latrines were flushed by the tide. It would come as a shock to her defenders that rifled guns had made brick walls obsolete.
On the 6th, the officers petitioned Anderson to surrender. Although inclined to hold out, Anderson realized, “We could render Mobile no assistance. We could render Morgan no assistance, and we could have done no harm to the enemy.” Furthermore, he could have a mutiny on his hands. He sent word to Farragut for honorable surrender terms.
At 8:00 a.m. on the 8th, Anderson formally surrendered Gaines, the POWs were sent to New Orleans, La. and the Stars and Stripes flew above.
“I found the fort in excellent order,” reported Cpt. Miles McAlester, Chief Engineer. He noted that its defenses, “… was utterly weak and inefficient against our attack (land and naval), which would have taken all its fronts in front, enfilade, and reverse.”
Commanding Ft. Morgan and all Mobile Bay’s defenses was C.S. Brig. Gen. Richard Page, cousin of C.S. Gen. Robert E. Lee and former Farragut friend. Page spotting the truce boat was livid. He repeatedly sent messages to Anderson to not surrender via boat and telegraph.
C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis vowed to put Anderson on trial if exchanged. Page called the surrender, “… a deed of dishonor and disgrace to its commander and garrison.”
