JANUARY 17TH:
Rear Admiral Farragut is eager to attack Mobile but wanted ironclads to fight the CSS Tennessee. He wrote to Porter: "I am therefore anxious to know if your monitors, at least two of them, are not completed and ready for service; and if so, can you spare them to assist us?
"If I had them, I should not hesitate to become the assailant instead of awaiting the attack. I must have ironclads enough to lie in the bay to hold the gunboats and rams in check in the shoal water."
JANUARY 18TH:
Farragut arrives off Mobile in his flagship, the USS Hartford, after being away for five months.. He officially resumed command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron on Jan. 22nd in New Orleans.
He was concerned with the reported strength of the CSS Tennessee in Mobile Bay and was determined to destroy her, silence the forts at the entrance and close the port. To this end, he began to build up his fleet and make plans.
--Old B-Runner
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