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The Mobile campaign was a military campaign of the American Civil War in the western theatre in the Spring of 1865 to take the city of Mobile, Alabama. [1] Opposing forces included the Union Army, and the Confederate Army. Important battles were fought at Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley.
In 1860, Mobile was the South's fourth-largest city, and home to several shipbuilding companies. Until 1862 when the Union Army captured New Orleans, Mobile was the second-largest port city of the South. Mobile was a key hub for the cotton trade upon which the South's economy depended, and the gateway to the interior of Alabama. Its position at the northern point of Mobile Bay made it a strategic location; if it fell, the Union Army's advance would be unimpeded. [2]
The Mobile Campaign was a series of battles fought during the civil war in the Federals' efforts to capture the city of Mobile, Alabama. From March 26 to April 9, 1865, 6,000 outnumbered Confederate soldiers held off 45,000 Union soldiers that were attacking from Fort Blakeley and Spanish fort. The Union troops knew that the capture of Mobile would be one of the key points of ending the Civil War.
Union Major General Gordon Granger's original plan was to attempt to capture Mobile right after the fall of Fort Morgan. To capture the city, Granger wanted to bring his troops up the bay, disembark on Dog River, and march into Mobile. Even though Mobile did have a lot of earthen protection, its number of men that were defending it was very scarce. According to Paul Brueske, author of The Last Siege, "Had the Federals known how few men defended Mobile, they could have then captured the city with minimal losses." [3] However, after the battle of Mobile Bay, Confederate General Maury, fearing an attack from the Federals, asked his superiors for reinforcements. Confederate General Lidell was sent to aid Maury. In late 1864, Union Major General Henry W. Halleck sent a letter to General Grant asking for the Armies of the Cumberland to be sent to General Canby to aid him in capturing Mobile. General Halleck planned to use Mobile as a base to attack Selma and Montgomery in later battles because Mobile was one of Alabama's key sources for supplies such as ammunition and food. Canby was apprehensive in attacking Mobile due to the strong defenses the Confederates had established. The Federals could not attack from the north due to a marsh in that direction. Many large vessels could not get within 12-miles of Mobile because of these geographical features. General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard boasted that Mobile would hold a siege for at least two months.
General Richard S. Taylor, son of Zachary Taylor, directed the small garrison that defended Mobile. In December 1864, Granger initiated a raid on Mobile's western defenses. However, on December 26, Granger and his men had to turn back due to a shortage of supplies and they could not break through the strong defense that the Confederates had put up. This raid encouraged Alabama Governor Thomas H. Watt to issue a draft for more men to fight and to defend Mobile from Federal attacks. General Taylor directed General Gibson's and Holtzclaw's brigades along with General French's Division to defend Mobile. Despite that, these brigades suffered many losses at the Battles of Franklin and Nashville.
On January 28, Lieutenant John T. Walker prepared to attack the Federal flagship Octorara docked in Mobile Bay with his vessel, the Saint Patrick. The torpedo that he was using to attack the ship malfunctioned and failed to explode, which caused the Federals to attack the Confederate vessel. After the attack, Federals stopped blockade running from Mobile Bay, but Confederates were still apprehensive that the Federals would attack the city of Mobile.
Mobile was besieged by the Union Army from March 25 to April 12, 1865. The city capitulated on April 12. [2]
The Anaconda Plan was a strategy outlined by the Union Army for suppressing the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War. Proposed by Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, the plan emphasized a Union blockade of the Southern ports and called for an advance down the Mississippi River to cut the South in two. Because the blockade would be rather passive, it was widely derided by a vociferous faction of Union generals who wanted a more vigorous prosecution of the war and likened it to the coils of an anaconda suffocating its victim. The snake image caught on, giving the proposal its popular name.
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 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!"
The Battle of Fort Blakeley took place from April 2 to April 9, 1865, in Baldwin County, Alabama, about 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Spanish Fort, Alabama, as part of the Mobile Campaign of the American Civil War. At the time, Blakeley, Alabama, had been the county seat of Baldwin County.
Gordon Granger was a career U.S. Army officer, and a Union general during the American Civil War, where he distinguished himself at the Battle of Chickamauga.
The siege of Corinth was an American Civil War engagement lasting from April 29 to May 30, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. A collection of Union forces under the overall command of Major General Henry Halleck engaged in a month-long siege of the city, whose Confederate occupants were commanded by General P.G.T. Beauregard. The siege resulted in the capture of the town by Federal forces.
The Battle of West Point, Georgia, formed part of the Union campaign through Alabama and Georgia, known as Wilson's Raid, in the final full month of the American Civil War.
The siege of Fort Morgan occurred during the American Civil War, as part of the battle for Mobile Bay, in the Confederate state of Alabama during August 1864. Union ground forces led by General Gordon Granger conducted a short siege of the Confederate garrison at the mouth of Mobile Bay under the command of General Richard L. Page. The Confederate surrender helped shut down Mobile, Alabama, as an effective Confederate port city.
The siege of Fort Gaines occurred between August 3 and 8, 1864, during the American Civil War. It took place in the Mobile Bay area of Alabama as part of the larger battle of Mobile Bay, and resulted in the surrender of the fort and its defenders.
The western theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military operations in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee, as well as Louisiana east of the Mississippi River. Operations on the coasts of these states, except for Mobile Bay, are considered part of the Lower Seaboard Theater. Most other operations east of the Appalachian Mountains are part of the eastern theater. Operations west of the Mississippi River took place in the trans-Mississippi theater.
The lower seaboard theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military and naval operations that occurred near the coastal areas of the Southeastern United States: in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas) as well as southern part of the Mississippi River.
The 7th Vermont Infantry Regiment was a three years' infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It served in the Western Theater, predominantly in Louisiana and Florida, from February 1862 to March 1866. It was the longest serving Vermont regiment during the war.
Alabama was central to the Civil War, with the secession convention at Montgomery, birthplace of the Confederacy, inviting other states to form a Southern Republic, during January–March 1861, and develop constitutions to legally run their own affairs. The 1861 Alabama Constitution granted citizenship to current U.S. residents, but prohibited import duties (tariffs) on foreign goods, limited a standing military, and as a final issue, opposed emancipation by any nation, but urged protection of African slaves, with trial by jury, and reserved the power to regulate or prohibit the African slave trade. The secession convention invited all slaveholding states to secede, but only 7 Cotton States of the Lower South formed the Confederacy with Alabama, while the majority of slave states were in the Union. Congress voted to protect the institution of slavery by passing the Corwin Amendment on March 4, 1861, but it was never ratified.
The Second Battle of Charleston Harbor, also known as the siege of Charleston Harbor, siege of Fort Wagner, or Battle of Morris Island, took place during the American Civil War in the late summer of 1863 between a combined U.S. Army/Navy force and the Confederate defenses of Charleston, South Carolina.
The following units and commanders of the Union Army fought at the Mobile campaign of the American Civil War involving the battles of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley. The units engaged against Spanish Fort involved Veatch's Division, Benton's Division and Henry Bertram's Brigade from the XIII Corps along with McArthur's Division and Carr's Division from the XVI Corps. The units engaged against Fort Blakeley involved Veatch's Division and Andrews' Division from the XIII Corps, Garrard's Division from the XVI Corps and Steele's Pensacola Column. The Confederate order of battle is shown separately.
Ulysses S. Grant was the most acclaimed Union general during the American Civil War and was twice elected president. Grant began his military career as a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1839. After graduation he went on to serve with distinction as a lieutenant in the Mexican–American War. Grant was a keen observer of the war and learned battle strategies serving under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. After the war Grant served at various posts especially in the Pacific Northwest; he was forced to retire from the service in 1854 due to accusations of drunkenness. He was unable to make a success of farming and on the onset of the Civil War in April 1861, Grant was working as a clerk in his father's leather goods store in Galena, Illinois. When the war began his military experience was needed, and Congressman Elihu B. Washburne became his patron in political affairs and promotions in Illinois and nationwide.
89th Indiana Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
The 9th Texas Infantry Regiment was a unit of Confederate States Army infantry volunteers organized in December 1861 that fought during the American Civil War. The regiment fought at Shiloh, Perryville, and Stones River in 1862, Chickamauga in 1863, the Atlanta Campaign, Allatoona, and Nashville in 1864, and Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley in 1865. The remaining 87 officers and men surrendered to Federal forces in May 1865. Two of the regiment's commanding officers were promoted brigadier general.
The 32nd Texas Cavalry Regiment, sometimes incorrectly named Andrews's 15th Texas Cavalry Regiment, was a unit of volunteer cavalry mustered into the Confederate States Army in May 1862 and which fought during the American Civil War. The regiment was formed around companies from Richard Phillip Crump's 1st Texas Cavalry Battalion which fought in Indian Territory and at Pea Ridge. Many of the soldiers died of disease in the unhealthy camps near Corinth, Mississippi. The cavalrymen were dismounted in July 1862 and served as infantry for the rest of the war. The regiment fought at Richmond, Ky., Stones River, and Chickamauga in 1862–1863, in the Meridian and Atlanta campaigns and at Nashville in 1864, and at Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley in 1865. The regiment's 58 surviving members surrendered to Federal forces on 9 May 1865.
40th Missouri Infantry Regiment was a infantry unit from Missouri that served in the Union Army during the latter part of the American Civil War. The regiment was organized in August and September 1864 to serve for 12 months. Beginning in November, the unit fought in the Franklin–Nashville Campaign. In March and April 1865, the regiment was part of the expedition that captured Mobile, Alabama. The soldiers were mustered out of Federal service in August 1865.
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