Tag Archives: Gulf Shores

‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’

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“Map showing entrance to Mobile Bay and the course taken by Union fleet,” by Robert Knox Sneden, about 157 years ago today (click to big up):

1710×2200. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00200/.

The map shows Confederate fortifications (Forts Powell, Gaines, Morgan) and the location of Union fleet in Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico– barred by a line of infamous moored sea mines, then referred to as “torpedoes.”

On 5 August 1864, Union Rear Adm. David Farragut attempted to lead several ships into Mobile Bay, past the formidable Confederate forts and the ironclad CSS Tennessee. Despite the sinking by a mine (?) of the monitor USS Tecumseh, the Union fleet passed through the channel and engaged Tennessee, paving the way for Union land operations against the city of Mobile, Ala. Undermanned and damaged by Union rams, Tennessee surrendered.

Sneden, a skilled landscape painter and a map-maker for the Union Army during the American Civil War, died in 1918 and left behind a number of iconic maps that are part of the LOC– here.

Sally Update

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Well guys, made it through the latest hurricane. Sally’s eye passed within about 40 miles of me. No serious damage here to report. Thank you all for your good wishes.

However, I have lots of friends on Dauphin Island/Gulf Shores that have suffered greatly from the storm, which passed directly overhead at an agonizing 2 knots. Trying to help out there as much as I can in the coming weeks through volunteering, fundraising et. al.

As you may know, I grew up spending summers in GS, set my zombie novel series there, and have a variety of personal connections to the Mobile Bay forts (Gaines and Morgan). Lot of sadness across the Bay this week.

For you history buffs, Fort Gaines has a variety of pictures posted of the damage there. While the 170~ year-old masonry and 120~ year-old portland concrete batteries are still ticking, it looks like the more recently installed roofing and wooden casemate doors have taken a beating while the Gulf has come in and will likely take weeks to fully drain away.