Granger begins Mobile Bay campaign

On this date in 1864, Major General Gordon Granger landed in the late afternoon with 1,700 or fewer troops on the west end of Dauphin Island, on the west side of Mobile Bay, about 15 miles from Confederate-held Fort Gaines (above) at the east end of the island.  According to my 2013 biography of Granger, they "marched unobserved toward it through deep, heavy sand and drenching rain until midnight, then spent a mostly sleepless night being bitten by innumerable insects. They arrived west of Fort Gaines late the next day," bringing up light artillery and taking over two abandoned Confederate guns.

The next morning, Aug. 5, Granger's guns silenced rebel floating batteries in the bay, as well as two guns in Fort Gaines which were firing on Admiral David Farragut's Union fleet. The fleet was bombarding Fort Morgan, on the east side of the channel across from Fort Gaines, and doing battle with Confederate ships. They won control of Mobile Bay, enhancing the Union blockade -- albeit not for some months yet the city of Mobile, to the north. 

Fort Gaines surrendered on Aug. 8, and Granger shifted his attention to besieging Fort Morgan, which surrendered Aug. 23. 

Granger remained focused on the Mobile campaign for the rest of the war, and occupied the city on April 12, 1865. On May 25, he had to deal with a disastrous ammunition dump explosion, which killed several hundred people and burned a considerable part of Mobile.

Farragut's victory at Mobile Bay capped a dazzling Civil War career for the Union-loyal Virginian -- whose active service had begun in the War of 1812. He had led the fleet which captured New Orleans in April 1862, and the 1862-63 Mississippi River campaign culminating in the fall of Port Hudson.

Pictured below are the sea and land commanders at Mobile Bay, in Fort Gaines after its surrender and the naval battle, planning the reduction of Fort Morgan.