Admiral Farragut . t in order to attack to any the time the army in the Southwest, in thecommand of which General Canby relieved Bankson the 20th of May, was again ready to move, Sher-man had taken Atlanta, Hood had fallen upon hiscommunications with Chattanooga, and the famousmarch to the sea had been determined. Farragutsbattle in Mobile Bay therefore did not prove tobe, as Grant had hoped, and as his passage of theMississippi forts had been, a step in a series of grandmilitary operations, by which the United Statesforces should gain control of a line vital to the Con-federacy, an
Admiral Farragut . t in order to attack to any the time the army in the Southwest, in thecommand of which General Canby relieved Bankson the 20th of May, was again ready to move, Sher-man had taken Atlanta, Hood had fallen upon hiscommunications with Chattanooga, and the famousmarch to the sea had been determined. Farragutsbattle in Mobile Bay therefore did not prove tobe, as Grant had hoped, and as his passage of theMississippi forts had been, a step in a series of grandmilitary operations, by which the United Statesforces should gain control of a line vital to the Con-federacy, and again divide it into two fragments. Itremained an isolated achievement, though one ofgreat importance, converting Mobile from a mari-time to an inland city, putting a stop to all seriousblockade-running in the Gulf, and crushing finallythe enemys ill-founded hopes of an offensive move-ment by ironclads there equipped. The city of Mobile is itself some thirty milesfrom the Gulf, near the head of a broad but gener-. JiraUley .j- Joatcs t,nijrs, S. 1 Scene of Farraguts Oi ^ . MOBILE. 247 ally shallow bay which bears the same name. Theprincipal entrance from the Gulf is between MobilePoint—a long, narrow, sandy beach which projectsfrom the east side of the bay—and Dauphin Island,one of a chain which runs parallel to the coast ofMississippi and encloses Mississippi Sound. At theend of Mobile Point stands Fort Morgan, the prin-cipal defense of the bay, for the main ship channelpasses close under its guns. At the eastern end ofDauphin Island stood a much smaller work, calledFort Gaines. Between this and Fort Morgan thedistance is nearly three miles; but a bank of hardsand making out from the island prevents vessels ofany considerable size approaching it nearer than twomiles. Between Dauphin Island and the mainlandthere are some shoal channels, by which vessels ofvery light draft can pass from Mississippi Sound intothe bay. These were not practicable for the fightingvessels of Fa
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