Just as this was finished, the Tennessee attacked, and put
up a desperate fight, but finally became unmanageable and was forced to
surrender.
So ended the battle of Mobile Bay. It left Farragut's fame secure as one
of the greatest sea-captains of all time; great in daring, in skill, in
foresight, and with a coolness and presence of mind which no peril
could shake. Congress created for him the grade of admiral, before
unknown in the United States navy, and the whole country joined in
honoring him.
Swinging to and fro with the ebb and flow of the tide at the entrance of
Mobile Bay, is a buoy which marks the spot of a deed of purest heroism.
A few fathoms below that buoy lies the monitor Tecumseh, sunk by a
torpedo at the beginning of the battle, as we have seen, and the buoy
commemorates, not the sinking of the ship, but the self-sacrifice of her
commander, Tunis Augustus Craven.
Craven had entered the navy at the age of sixteen and had seen much
service and distinguished himself in many ways before he was given
command of the Tecumseh and ordered to join Farragut's squadron. On the
morning of the attack, he was given the post of honor at the head of the
column, and determined to come to close quarters with the Tennessee, if
he could. But fate intervened, when his quarry was almost within reach.
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