U.S. Navy Medal of Honor Recipient Thomas Taylor: Buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery

Still RoadTrippin' Through History.

From Find-A-Grave.

THOMAS TAYLOR

BIRTH:  1834   Bangor, Maine  

DEATH:  19 January 1884, New York City

BURIAL:  Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, 

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Medal of Honor recipient born in Bangor, Maine and entered Union Navy from Maine. and attained rank of coxswain.

His citation reads:  "Served on board the USS Metacomet during the action against rebel forst and gunboats and with the rebel ram Tennessee in Mobile Bay 5 August 1864.

"Despite damage to his ship and the loss of several men on board as the enemy raked her decks, Taylor encouraged the men of the forward pivot gun when the officer in charge displayed cowardice,  doing honor to the occasion."

--Old B-Runner

J.R.M. Mullany at Battle of Mobile Bay-- Part 4: The End of the Battle

The fight for Mobile Bay was soon over at this point.  With the USS Oneida and USS Galena out of action,  the rest of Farragut's fleet took the CSS Gaines and CSS Salma out of action and then concentrated on the Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee.  

Ramming the ship failed to stop it, but the concentrated fore of the heavy guns of the three remaining monitors eventually put  the Tennessee out of action and a gravely wounded Buchanan was forced to surrender.

The USS Galena finished out her days quietly.  After three months of duty with the East Gulf Blockading Squadron and four months of repairs,  it returned to  river duty in the Eastern Theater, where its career had begun as an ironclad.

In 1872, a decade after her launch in Mystic, Connecticut, the ironclad-turned-gunboat  was broken up at Norfolk Navy Yard.

--Old B-Runner

J.R.M. Mullany at the Battle of Mobile Bay-- Part 1: USS Oneida Lashed to Former Ironclad USS Galena

From 290 Foundation  USS Galena.

The USS Oneida was lashed to the USS Galena when Farragut's fleet passed by Fort Morgan, guarding Mobile Bay.

In May 1864, the Galen joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron and joined Admiral Farragut's long-delayed attempt to capture Mobile, Alabama.  Farragut gathered a fleet of eighteen ships, including four of the  latest ironclads to run the gauntlet of defending fire.

Among the Monitors were  the Tecumseh and Manhattan with their massive  15-inch Dahlgren cannons and the USS Winnebago and Chickasaw, each carrying four 11-inch Dahlgrens.

The USS Galena was now captained by  Lt. Cmdr.  Clark H. Wells.  The Galena had been one of the Union Navy's three original ironclads, but had not  worked out and had had its iron removed, so now was a wooden ship.

On August 5, 1864,   Farragut's ironclads led the advance toward Fort Morgan.  Beyond the fort,  Confederate Admiral  Franklin Buchanan's small defending fleet, including the ironclad CSS Tennessee and gunboats Gaines, Morgan and Selma.

Trailing closely behind the monitors, just to port, were Farragut's seven largest wooden warships, each with a smaller gunboat lashed to its port side.  The Galena was lashed to the port side of the USS Oneida, away from Fort Morgan.

--Old B-Runner

J.R.M. Mullany, USN--Part 2: Commanding the USS Bienville and USS Oneida

Prior to the Civil War, Mullany served at sea in almost every part of the globe.

From January until March, 1861, he served on the frigate USS Sabine in the protection of Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida.  In April and May of that year, he was in command of the gunboat USS Wyandotte and occupied a position in Pensacola in the rear of Fort Pickens, which was at the time under serious threat of attack.  He also assisted in re-enforcing the fort on April 12, 1861.

He was commissioned commander, 18 October 1861, and assigned to the USS Bienville in the North Atlantic and  West Gulf Squadrons where he remained until April 1862 until May 1865.  Much of that

When Farragut proposed to attack Mobile Bay, Mullany volunteered his services, but Farragut did not consider the Bienville as fit to engage the forts, he was given the command of the steamer USS Oneida. time, he was under threat of enemy fire.

The Oneida was lashed to the former ironclad USS Galena on the side toward Fort Morgan and at the end of the line of ships passing that fort on 5 August 1864.  As such, it was exposed to a very destructive fire from the fort,

Later, the Oneida engaged the Confederate ram CSS Tennessee which was able to rake the wooden ship with its cannons, causing even more damage.

--Old B-Runner

Some More on Charles V. Gridley-- Part 2: Service at the Battle of Mobile Bay

During the Battle of Mobile Bay, Gridley was placed  all of the way forward on the USS Oneida, where he could watch the channel for  mines and gave steering directions to   the ship's commander,  Cmdr.  J.R.M. Mullany.  During the action,  the Oneida had eight men killed and thirty wounded, including its commander.

Though a shell hit close to Gridley, he was unscathed.

The Oneida was lashed to the USS Galena and in the rear of the line of battle and came under fire of both Fort Morgan and the Confederate ram CSS Tennessee.  One shot in particular did heavy damage to the Oneida and wounded its commander in several places, causing the amputation of his left arm.

His commanding officer was highly pleased with his actions and wrote:  "The conduct of Acting Ensign  C.V. Gridley is beyond all praise.  He had charge of the  master's division and assisted  in conning the ship from the topgallant forecastle."

Following the war, Gridley was detailed to transport a group of Confederate  prisoners to Texas who had accepted the option of going into exile in Mexico.  On arriving, it was found that the former Confederates would have no way of continuing south, as the bridges across the Rio Grande had been destroyed.  In spite of their being former enemies, Gridley did not abandon his passengers.  he took it upon himself to transport them  across to Mexico.

I am writing about him in my Cooter's History Thing blog right now and continuing with his service in the U.S. Navy after the Civil War.

--Old B-R'er

August 6, 1864, a Good Day for the Confederate Navy (Especially After August 5)

August 6, 1864 turned  out to be a very good day for the Confederate Navy what with the CSS Tallahassee slipping out of Wilmington, N.C. and starting a two cruise off the Union's coast and destroying much shipping.

Also, the long-awaited appearance of the ram CSS Albemarle took place at the mouth of the the Roanoke River in North Carolina which threw Union forces into fear.

This, of course, taking place one day after the Confederate loss at the Battle of Mobile Bay and the loss of the ironclad CSS Tennessee and the other ships of the fleet.

From Bad to Good.   --Old B-Runner

USS Tennessee-- Part 3: USS Tennessee, USS Mobile, SS Republic

As a Union blockader, the USS Tennessee was fast enough to be effective and also powerful as it bombarded Fort Morgan during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

In September 1864, she was renamed USS Mobile so the ironclad  CSS Tennessee, captured at the Battle of Mobile Bay, could be the USS Tennessee.

In October 1864, he USS Mobile was damaged by a hurricane off the mouth of the Rio Grande and sent to New York for repairs..  There, after inspection, it was determined that it would be too expensive to repair and it was decommissioned in December 1864.

Sold at auction in March 1865 and renamed the SS Republic, repaired and placed in service again running between New York and New Orleans hauling passengers and cargo.

A Ship of Many Names.  --Old B-T'er

George Hamilton Perkins, USN, Captured the Mary Sorley (USRC Henry Dodge)

From the Naval Encyclopedia.

From New Hampshire.  Graduate of USNA in 1856.

On July 31, 1863, he was promoted to lieutenant commander and ordered to take command of the USS Sciota on blockade duty off the Texas coast.  On April 7, 1864, the ship captured the blockade-runner Mary Sorley with a load of cotton bound for Havana.

On April 20, 1864, he was released from command and ordered to head north, but stopped along the way and volunteered to command the monitor USS Chickasaw on July 28, 1864, and took part in the battle of Mobile Bay and helped capture the CSS Tennessee.

--Old B-R'er

The Albemarle's 6.4-Inch Brooke Rifle

From the CS Navy.org site.

An existing 6.4-inch double-banded Brooke Rifle from the CSS Albemarle (the ship mounted two of them) was made at Tredegar Foundry in Richmond, Virginia.  It was serial number 1854-- Year 1863.

Its weight was 10,420 lbs and was inspected by ADB (Lt. Aleaxander M. DeBree, Asst. Inspector of Ordnance, Richmond ordnance Works.)

Nine 6.4-inch Brooke Rifles still survive.  Four are from the CSS Tennessee and one from the CSS Albemarle.

--Old B-R'er

Admiral Franklin Buchanan, CSN-- Part 2

Continued from Dec. 1st, 2015.

Franklin Buchanan commanded the CSS Virginia on the first day of battle at Hampton Roads, Virginia, but was wounded and Catesby ap Jones commanded the ship in its battle against the USS Monitor.

He was promoted to admiral and the ranking officer in the Confederate Navy and sent to Mobile to command the fleet there.  he oversaw construction of the ironclad CSS Tennessee and fought Union Admiral Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Fort Fisher's formidable Battery Buchanan was named after him.

After the war, he served briefly as president of the Agricultural College of Maryland and the manager of an insurance company.

Admiral Franklin is described as "a champion of unsurpassed ability and bravery" and "a man of heroic mould, and one whose acts will be the theme of historians, and whose character will be the study and admiration of coming years."

--Old B-Runner

Fort Morgan Surrenders

AUGUST 23RD, 1864:  Having doggedly withstood naval bombardment as well as a land siege for two weeks, Brigadier General Page surrendered Fort Morgan, the last Confederate bastion in lower Mobile Bay.

"My guns and powder had all been destroyed, my means of defense gone, the citadel, nearly all the quartermaster stores and a portion of the commissariat burned by the enemy's shells," he reported.

"It was evident the fort could hold out but a few hours longer under a renewed bombardment.  The only question was: Hold it for this time, gain the eclat, and sustain the loss of life from the falling of the walls, or save life and capitulate?"

And, sadly, one of the ships mercilessly pounding Fort Morgan was a former defender of it5, the CSS, now USS, Tennessee.

--A Valiant Fight.  --Old B-Runner

Farragut Pounds Fort Morgan and USS Tennessee (formerly CSS) Gets Steam Up

AUGUST 10TH, 1864:  Rear Admiral Farragut continues his steady day and night bombardment of Fort Morgan, battering down the walls.  The fort is resolutely defended by his old shipmate, General Page.

AUGUST 12TH, 1864:  The ram Tennessee got up steam for the first time since her capture by Union forces on August 5th.  She had been fitted with a new smokestack on the 11th and this date tried it out by steaming around the bay.

On the 13th, the Tennessee steamed down and opened fire on Fort Morgan.

--Old B-Runner

The Tennessee Now Fighting for Farragut

AUGUST 9TH, 1864:  The ram Tennessee, whose big guns had so valiantly fought to defend Mobile Bay on August 5th, now in Union hands, bombarded Fort Morgan.

Her log recorded this date: "At 10 a.m. having no steam up in the vessel, the USS Port Royal took us in tow down towards Fort Morgan.  Anchored between the Middle Ground and the fort and opened out battery upon the fort."

At 10 p.m. Winnebago towed Tennessee back up to her anchorage.

The sight of their former ship, the CSS Tennessee, now turning its guns against them must have been quite disheartening to the fort's beleaguered defenders.

--Old B-Runner

Battle of Mobile Bay-- Part 6: The Battering Continues and Surrender

The Hartford struck a glancing blow and poured a broadside into the Tennessee from ten feet.  The Chickasaw pounded the ram with heavy shot.  The Lackawanna and Hartford had a collision, but recovered.  The Monongahela and Ossipee were preparing to ram.

Admiral Buchanan, commanding the Tennessee, had been wounded and turned command over to Commander James D. Johnston.  The ship's steering was knocked out, but, unable to maneuver and taking on water,  it struggled on, being pounded mercilessly by the whole Union fleet.

Johnston and Buchanan concurred that further resistance would be of no avail and at 10 a.m., the white flag was hoisted.

The Union now had closed the port of Mobile to the outside world, but the city still remained in Confederate hands.

--Old B-R'er

Battle of Mobile Bay-- Part 5: The Tennessee Takes a Battering

The battle between the Union fleet and Tennessee raged for over an hour.  The USS Monongahela rammed the Tennessee, but only succeeded in damaging herself.  The Lackawanna rammed at full speed, but, as Farragut described it, "the only perceptible effect on the ram was to give it a heavy list."

However, a shot from one of the monitor USS Manhattan's 15-inch guns made a big impression of the Tennessee's crew.  Lt. Wharton, CSN, reported"  "The Monongahela was hardly clear of us when a hideous-looking monster came creeping up on our Port side, whose slowly revolving turret revealed the cavernous depths of a mammoth gun.  'Stand clear of the Port side!' I shouted.

"A moment after a thunderous report shook us all, while a blast of dense, sulpherous smoke covered out port-holes, and 440 pounds of  iron, impelled by sixty pounds of powder, admitted daylight through our side, where, before it struck us, there had been over two feet of solid wood, covered with five inches of solid iron.

"This was the only 15-inch shot that hit us fair.  It did not come through; the inside netting caught the splinters, and there were no casualties from it.  I was glad to find myself alive after that shot."

Watch Out for Those 15-inchers!  --Old B-Runner

Farragut Wants Monitors to Fight the CS Tennessee

JUNE 30TH, 1864: Immediately upon assuming command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Rear Admiral Farragut began requesting monitors for his inevitable fight against the CSS Tennessee at Mobile Bay, Alabama. Earlier in June, Secretary Welles had written Porter of the matter: "It is of the greatest importance that some of the new ironclads building on the Mississippi should be sent without fail to Rear Admiral Farragut.  Are not some of them ready?  Id not, can you not hurry them forward?"

Porter responded that the light draft monitors USS Winnebago and Chickasaw were completed, and this date he had issued orders to report to Farragut at Mobile Bay.  Both played a big role in the August battle.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Tennessee Gets Over the Bar and CSS Florida Captures a Ship

MAY 18TH, 1864:  After much difficulty, Admiral Buchanan, CSN, was able to get his ironclad ram Tennessee over the Dog River Bar and into Mobile Bay.  Meanwhile, Farragut was strengthening his fleet outside that bay and the stage was being set for the August Battle of Mobile Bay.

The CSS Florida, now commanded by Lt. Morris unstead of John Maffitt, captured and burned the schooner George Latimer.

--Old B-Runner

Farragut Needs Ironclads to Attack Mobile Bay

MAY 9TH, 1864:  Rear Admiral Farragut wrote Secretary Welles requesting ironclads for the reduction of Mobile Bay: "I am in hourly expectation of being attacked by almost and equal number of vessels, ironclads against wooden vessels, and a most unequal contest it will be, as the Tennessee .is represented as impervious at Mobile so that our only hope is to run her down, which we shall certainly do all in our power to accomplish, but should we be unsuccessful the panic in this part of the country will be beyond all control.  It is imagined that New Orleans and Pensacola must fall."

What Farragut did not know was that Confederate Admiral Farragut was trying to test the use of watertight caissons, or "camels" to float the CSS Tennessee so it could get over the Mobile Bar.  Until he figured out how to do that, there was no way he could attack Farragut's fleet.

--Old B-Runner

Farragut Sees the Tennessee and the Alabama Badly Needs repairs

MARCH 2ND, 1864: Admiral Farragut sees the Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee in Mobile Bay for the first time and describes her as very long and very slow.

MARCH 4TH, 1864: Captain Semmes of the CSS Alabama, wrote in his journal: "My ship is weary, too, as well as her commander, and will need a general overhauling by the time I can get her into dock. If my poor service shall be deemed of any importance in harrassing and weakening the enemy, and thus contributing to the independence of my beloved South, I shall be amply rewarded."

It was this pressing need for repairs that caused the Alabama to engage the USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France some three and a half months later.

--Old B-Runner

150 Years Ago-- January 17, 1864: Farragut Arrives Off Mobile and Wants Monitors

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