No “Petty” Battle

No “Petty” Battle

Today’s trivia question -- What do classic rocker Tom Petty and Union Adm. David Farragut have in common?

Petty and The Heartbreakers used Farragut’s phrase “Damn the Torpedoes” as the title of their 1979 album featuring early hits “Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.”

On Aug. 6, experience the setting on the Alabama Gulf Coast where that phrase was first uttered (not “Don’t Do Me Like That” the other one!). Farragut’s quote signifies reckless determination in the face of danger -- after all, he was tied to the rigging of his ship, the Hartford, at the time.

This year the U.S. marks the 150^th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. The biggest land battles were far from Alabama – Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg.

But the largest naval conflict of the war cut off one of the South’s last major ports, creating a stranglehold that helped end the Confederacy. So you could say it was no “petty” skirmish, but a key turning point in U.S. history.

The Union tried to blockade Mobile for two years, but Rebel ships kept slipping through. On Aug. 5, 1864, Farragut ordered his 18 ships to run the gauntlet between Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, uttering those famous words when floating mines—called torpedoes—were spotted in the water. One of his ships, the Tecumseh, went down after striking one.

Some scholars debate whether Farragut uttered the exact words, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” But the consensus is he did, at least in some form, perhaps saying “Go ahead” instead of “full speed ahead.” And the Yankee flotilla did just that, sailing in line past the shelling of Confederate ships and cannons in a scene that has been compared to Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.

In the end, Mobile was cut off and Fort Morgan surrendered two weeks later after Union troops laid siege by land.
 

The 147^th anniversary event will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 6 at the park at the end of Fort Morgan Road (AL Hwy. 180). It will include Civil War reenactors, a cannon salute, infantry sharpshooting, oral accounts of the battle, demonstrations of life at the fort and more.

-- By Craig Myers

Don't Miss Our special article about what you can expect when you go: Why You Don’t Want to Miss The 147th Commemoration of the Battle of Mobile Bay

To get there:

From Mobile  (or take ferry -- http://www.mobilebayferry.com/-- from Dauphin Island)

-  Take I-10 E toward Pensacola - go 16.5 mi

- Take exit #44/LOXLEY/BAY MINETTE onto N HICKORY ST(AL-59 S) toward Gulf - go 28.6 mi

-  Turn Right on HWY 180 - go 19.9 mi

-  Arrive at the center of FORT MORGAN, AL

From Pensacola

-  Take FL 292 W to Alabama line - go 19.8 mi

-  FL 292 W becomes AL 292 W - go 10.6 mi

-  Turn Right on Gulf Shore Parkway (AL-59) - go 1.1 mi

-  Turn Right on HWY 180 - go 19.9 mi

-  Arrive at the center of FORT MORGAN, AL