Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 2.djvu/445

 on the east end of Dauphin Island, Fort Morgan three miles east of Gaines on the western extremity of Mobile Point, a peninsula from the main land of Alabama. These two forts completely commanded the channel through which ships must pass to enter the bay and reach the city. The channel west of Dauphin Island could only be used for vessels of light draft and this was commanded by Fort Powell.

CAPTURE OF FORTS GAINES AND MORGAN

Admiral Farragut, with a fleet of fourteen wooden vessels and four iron clads, on the morning of August 5th, ran by the forts into Mobile Bay and attacking the Confederate fleet, soon vanquished the ram “Tennessee,” captured the gunboat “Selma,” drove the “Gaines” ashore and drove the “Morgan” into shallow water where it could not be followed. In the meantime the land forces under Granger were steadily pushing their earthworks within short range of Fort Gaines, which on the morning of the 8th was forced to surrender. The Union army now moved from Dauphin Island and formed across the peninsula three miles in the rear of Fort Morgan. This fort had been constructed under the direction of the best engineers in the army, was exceedingly strong, and mounted forty-six guns. General Page, its commander, had boasted that he could hold out six months against any force that could be brought against it. Fort Powell had been destroyed but Fort Morgan proved to be so formidable that General Granger was obliged to send to New Orleans for heavier artillery and begin a regular siege. On the 20th of August he had thirty-four heavy guns in position and all preparations completed for bombardment. The army gradually approached the fort until within five hundred yards of the works and on the morning of the 22d at daylight opened fire. The squadron three miles out in the Gulf threw solid shot and shell with great accuracy. The fire from the ships and monitors and the captured ram “