Mobile Bay AL003

supportedunresolved Mahan says refugees' reports and night examinations by fleet officers affirmed there were no torpedoes in the passage by the beach, and that Farragut had reckoned on torpedoes when the Brooklyn reported them ahead. Page says Fort Gaines's commander opened communication with the fleet without his sanction and ignored his signals.

Attributed knowledge from a history and an interested report; no signal log inspected.

supportedunresolved Mahan says the Tennessee lacked speed and had her steering chains exposed on deck, and that Granger's siege train was landed three miles behind Fort Morgan on the 17th with thirty-four guns in position by the 20th. Page says he flooded his powder, 80,000 pounds, during the bombardment and that all his powder was destroyed before the surrender.

Equipment and siege-material statements; no supply or ammunition return.

supportedunresolved NPS says the operation aimed to close Mobile Bay to blockade running. Mahan says Granger was to land on Dauphin Island and invest Gaines while the fleet passed Morgan, and that Buchanan set his heart on sinking the Union flagship. Page says all his orders were for protracted resistance.

Stated aims from a summary, a history and an interested report.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Union victory. NPS says that after passing the forts Farragut forced Buchanan's naval forces to surrender; Mahan says the United States flag was hoisted on board the Tennessee at ten o'clock. Mahan says Fort Powell was evacuated the night of the 5th, Gaines surrendered the day after the 6th, and Fort Morgan surrendered on the 23rd; Page says the Union flag rose over Gaines on the morning of the 8th and that he capitulated at 2 p.m. on the 23rd. NPS says the city remained uncaptured. The live page files the record under Burbridge's Raid into Southwest Virginia, which conflicts with the frozen campaign and is not adopted.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 1,822 (US 322; CS 1,500); the live field reads 1,827 (US 327; CS 1,500). Mahan gives the Tennessee's loss as 2 killed and 10 wounded and the Union fleet's as 52 killed and 170 wounded, says 21 of the Tecumseh's complement of over a hundred were saved, and gives the Selma's loss as five killed and ten wounded. Page says the fort's casualties were slight on August 5 and unusually small in the siege; his lists are marked not found.

Original casualty returns were not inspected; preserve totals, categories, cutoffs and differences. No canonical reconciliation or casualty-based opening count; related actions must not be added without resolving population overlap.

supportedunresolved Mahan says Farragut took charge in person and turned the Hartford past the Brooklyn over the torpedo line, and that Buchanan directed the ram's battery in person until wounded. Page says he rejected Farragut's and Granger's joint demand and condemned Anderson's surrender of Gaines. The frozen commanders are Admiral Franklin Buchanan, Brigadier General Richard L. Page, Rear Admiral David G. Farragut and Major General Gordon Granger; the live page lists Farragut as Admiral and misspells Buchanan.

Command roles from a history and an interested report; the listed commanders do not receive automatic sole credit, and the live rank is not adopted.

unknownunresolved

No inspected return establishes matched personnel at a common opening boundary. The frozen side-specific numerical strength bounds are blank (missing_numeric_strength). No figure in this pass is adopted as a simultaneous opening force.

disputedunresolved The frozen force field reads Farragut's fleet of 14 wooden ships and 4 monitors with army forces, against Buchanan's flotilla of three gunboats and an ironclad and the Morgan, Gaines and Powell garrisons; the live field reads zero. NPS says Farragut's fleet of eighteen ships entered the bay; Page says the fleet that moved up to pass Fort Morgan was twenty-three men-of-war, four of them monitors. Mahan lists four monitors in the starboard column and the wooden ships of the port column with their tonnage and guns, describes Buchanan's squadron as the ram Tennessee and three paddle-wheel gunboats, and says Granger had not men enough to attack both forts at once. Page gives his Fort Morgan garrison as some 400 effective during the siege.

Ship counts, an army limitation and one garrison figure for different phases; no matched return. None is adopted as a matched opening strength. The live zero is not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Mahan says the main ship channel skirted Mobile Point and narrowed to a little under two thousand yards, that Fort Morgan commanded it while Gaines was too distant to count for much, and that a triple line of torpedoes left an opening not much over one hundred yards from the beach for blockade-runners. Page says the fort's brick walls proved easily penetrable and that the enemy could fire on it from every point of the compass.

Ground and works described by a history and an interested report; no map verification. The works and obstructions predate the attack, but the phase is left unresolved.