He had already been commissioned rear-admiral, and he was given a
most enthusiastic reception, for his passage of the Mississippi was
recognized as an extraordinary feat. An examination of his ship showed
that she had been struck 240 times by shot and shell in her nineteen
months of service.
Immediately after the surrender of New Orleans, Farragut had desired to
proceed against the port of Mobile, Alabama, which was so strongly
fortified that all attempts to close it had been in vain, and which was
the only important port left open to the Confederates. But the
government decided that Mobile could wait a while, and sent him,
instead, to open the Mississippi. That task accomplished, the time had
come for him to attempt the greatest of his career--greater, even, than
his capture of New Orleans, and much more hazardous. In the spring of
1864, he was in the Gulf, preparing for the great enterprise.
Mobile harbor was defended by works so strong and well-placed that it
was considered well-nigh impregnable. The Confederates had realized the
importance of keeping this, their last port, open, so that they could
communicate with the outer world, and had spared no pains to render it
so strong that they believed no attack could subdue it. Two great forts,
armed with heavy and effective artillery, guarded the entrance; the
winding channel was filled with torpedoes, and in the inner harbor was a
fleet of gunboats, and, most powerful of all, the big, ironclad ram,
Tennessee.
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