Ann Street, near the Bascombe race track and near the Southern Drain. Slave labor built them under the supervision of Engineers Pillans and Van Scheliha. These redoubts were never much used, however. The great battles for Mobile were fought at the mouth of the bay and near Blakeley.
Obstructions and torpedoes filled the channels between Forts Gaines and Morgan, except for a short distance immediately under the guns of Morgan. Within the bay lay the Confederate fleet, consisting of three gunboats and the powerful ram Tennessee. This vessel had been built during 1863 and 1864 at Selma, and was equipped with five-inch iron armor at Mobile. As she drew thirteen feet, while the Dog River bar allowed but eight or nine, wooden caissons were sunk and attached to her, and when they were pumped out they raised and lifted her also. The whole Confederate fleet mustered but four hundred and seventy men and twenty-two guns, while the Federal consisted of fourteen steamers and four monitors, carrying twenty-seven hundred men and one hundred and ninety-nine guns.
Farragut started on his perilous passage
