Surrender of Fort Powell.
Report of rear-admiral Farragut.
sir: I have the honor to inform the Department that Fort Powell was evacuated on the night of the fifth instant.
The rebels blew up much of the fort, but we took all of the guns, and those of the best quality, a list of which will be forwarded.
We took some covered barges also from Fort Powell and Cedar Point, which do us good service as a work-shop.
The Fleet Engineer and Fleet Paymaster came in the Stockdale, with iron, etc., for the repairs of our vessel.
On the afternoon of the sixth, the Chickasaw went down and shelled Fort Gaines, and on the morning of the seventh I received a communication from Colonel Anderson, commanding the Fort, offering to surrender to the fleet, asking the best conditions.
I immediately sent for General Granger, and in the evening had Colonel Anderson and Major Browne on board, and the agreement was signed by all parties.
At seven A. M., August eighth, Fleet Captain Drayton, on the part of the navy, and Colonel Myer, on the part of the army, proceeded to the Fort to carry out the stipulations of the agreement, and at forty-five minutes past nine, the Fort surrendered, and the Stars and Stripes were hoisted on the staff amid the cheers of the fleet.
Inclosed herewith are copies of the letters of Colonel Anderson, and the reply of General Granger and myself, marked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
D. G. Farragut, Rear-Admiral Commanding W. G. B. Squadron. Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Washington.
Letter from Colonel Anderson to rear-admiral Farragut.
headquarters, Fort Gaines, August 7, 1864.
To Admiral Farragut, Commanding Naval Forces off Dauphin Island:
Feeling my inability to maintain my present position longer than you may see fit to open upon me with the fleet, and feeling also the uselessness of entailing upon ourselves further destruction of life, I have the honor to propose the surrender of Fort Gaines, its garrison, stores, etc.
I trust to your magnanimity for obtaining honorable terms, which I respectfully request that you will transmit to me, and allow me sufficient time to consider them and return an answer.
This communication will be handed to you by Major W. R. Browne.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, To Admiral Farragut, Commanding Naval Forces off Dauphin Island:
C. D. Anderson, Colonel Commanding.
Joint letter from rear-admiral Farragut and Major-General Granger to Colonel Anderson.
sir: In accordance with the proposal made in your letter of this morning for the surrender of Fort Gaines, I have to say that, after communicating with General Granger, in command of our forces on Dauphin Island, the only offers we can make are--
First.
The unconditional surrender of yourself and the garrison of Fort Gaines, with all of the public property within its limits.
Second.
The treatment which is in conformity with the custom of the most civilized nations toward prisoners of war.
Third.
Private property, with the exception of arms, will be respected.
This communication will be handed you by Fleet Captain P. Drayton, and Colonel Myer of the U. S. army, who fully understand the views of General Granger and myself.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
D. G. Farragut, Rear-Admiral. G. Granger, Major-General U. S. Army. Colonel C. D. Anderson, Commanding Fort Gaines.
Attack on the defences of Mobile — detailed report of rear-admiral D. G. Farragut.
sir: I had the honor to forward to the Department, on the evening of the fifth instant, a report of my entree into Mobile Bay on the morning of that day, and which, though brief, contained all the principal facts of the attack.
Notwithstanding the loss of life, particularly
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on this ship, and the terrible disaster to the Tecumseh, the result of the fight was a glorious victory, and I have reason to feel proud of the officers, seamen, and marines of the squadron under my command, for it has never fallen to the lot of an officer to be thus situated and thus sustained.
Regular discipline will bring men to any amount of endurance, but there is a natural fear of hidden dangers, particularly when so awfully destructive of human life as the torpedo, which requires more than discipline to overcome.
Preliminary to a report of the action of the fifth, I desire to call the attention of the Department to the previous steps taken in consultation with Generals Canby and Granger.
On the eighth of July I had an interview with these officers on board the Hartford, on the subject of an attack upon Forts Morgan and Gaines, at which it was agreed that General Canby would send all the troops he could spare to cooperate with the fleet.
Circumstances soon obliged General Canby to inform me that he could not despatch a sufficient number to invest both forts, and in reply I suggested that Gaines should be the first invested, engaging to have a force in the sound ready to protect the landing of the army on Dauphin Island in the rear of that fort, and I assigned Lieutenant Commander De Krafft, of the Conemaugh, to that duty.
On the first instant General Granger visited me again on the Hartford.
In the mean time the Tecumseh had arrived at Pensacola, and Captain Craven had informed me that he would be ready in four days for any service.
We therefore fixed upon the fourth of August as the day for the landing of the troops and my entrance into the bay; but owing to delays mentioned in Captain Jenkins's communication to me, the Tecumseh was not ready.
General Granger, however, to my mortification, was up to time, and the troops actually landed on Dauphin Island.
As subsequent events proved, the delay turned to our advantage, as the rebels were busily engaged during the fourth in throwing troops and supplies into Fort Gaines, all of which were captured a few days afterward.
The Tecumseh arrived on the evening of the fourth, and every thing being propitious, I proceeded to the attack on the following morning.
As mentioned in my previous despatch, the vessels outside the bar, which were designed to participate in the engagement, were all under way by forty minutes past five in the morning, in the following order, two abreast, and lashed together:
