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BATTLE // August 2, 1864

Battle of Mobile Bay

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Overview

The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was a naval and land engagement of the American Civil War in which a Union fleet commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fleet led by Admiral Franklin Buchanan and three forts that guarded the entrance to Mobile Bay: Morgan, Gaines and Powell. Farragut's perhaps apocryphal order of "Damn the torpedoes! Four bells. Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!" became famous in paraphrase, as "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Mobile Bay closed one of the Confederacy's last significant Gulf Coast ports to blockade runners, tightening the Union naval stranglehold on Southern commerce and supply. Farragut's fleet overcame a Confederate squadron under Admiral Franklin Buchanan and three defensive forts — Morgan, Gaines, and Powell — despite the hazard of submerged mines (then called torpedoes) guarding the bay's entrance. The engagement removed Mobile Bay as a viable Confederate logistics corridor and demonstrated that coordinated naval and land forces under Farragut and General Gordon Granger could reduce heavily fortified positions. The battle also produced one of the Civil War's most quoted commands, Farragut's "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead," which entered American military memory as a byword for aggressive action under fire.

Tactics

Farragut's Union fleet, supported by a land contingent under Gordon Granger, attacked the Confederate squadron and the three forts — Morgan, Gaines, and Powell — that controlled the bay's entrance. The fleet pressed forward through a minefield defending the channel, an action that prompted Farragut's famous order to disregard the torpedo threat and maintain full speed. The Confederate defense combined the shore with a smaller naval force under Admiral Franklin Buchanan positioned to contest the Union advance into the bay.

Forces & casualties

Troop strength

  • United States5,500
    medium
  • Confederate States1,500
    medium

United States fielded a 3.7 : 1 numerical advantage

Casualties

  • Confederate States1,587
    medium106% loss rate
Order of battle →Casualties in detail →

Commanders (4)

Confederate States

United States

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Related

6 sibling battles · 2 factions

Last verified June 2026
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