By mid 1864, Mobile, Alabama was the South's only port still available for the blockade runners. The city of Mobile was protected by three forts, and a small fleet of Confederate ships. The Union force initiated combined operations to close Mobile Bay to blockade running - some Union forces landed on Dauphin Island for a siege of Fort Gaines and on August 5, 1864, Admiral David Farragut led a Union fleet of 4 ironclads and 14 other ships into Mobile Bay, receiving devastating fire from the Forts. In order to see better, Farragut himself was strapped to the mast. When the first Union ironclad was struck by a Confederate torpedo and sunk, Farragut is reportedly to have said "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead". The Confederate fleet was captured and over the next three weeks Union forces captured all of the forts, effectively closing Mobile Harbor. The city of Mobile, though, was not captured.
On the west side of the mouth to Mobile Bay is Fort Gaines Historic Site on Dauphin Island (about 35 miles south of Mobile, AL) and on the east side is Fort Morgan Historic Site and Park (22 miles west of Gulf Shores, AL). Fort Powell was built on a sandbar north of Dauphin Island.
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