Almost immediately, Farragut's ships ran into trouble passing Fort Morgan and as the Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee came into view.
Led by the USS Brooklyn, his leading wooden vessel, and closely followed by the flagship, USS Hartford, began slipping beyond the screen of U.S. monitors. Fearful that the wooden ships would be easy prey for the approaching CSS Tennessee, Commander Tunis A. Craven, ordered his monitor, USS Tecumseh, to cut through the minefield and intercept the Rebel ship.
This gamble failed for at 7:30 am, the Tecumseh struck a Confederate mine and sank with Craven and 92 others within a matter of minutes.
The USS Brooklyn's captain then became hesitant to proceed after what happened to the Tecumseh, brought his ship to a stop, which also brought the entire wooden to stop while under heavy fire from Fort Morgan's 45 guns.
The Battle of Mobile Bay was up for grabs at this point. The Union ship's couldn't remain where they were and there was big fear of proceeding because of what had happened to the Tecumseh.
--Old B-Runner
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