Farragut captures the Confederacy’s largest city and port.
The prime defenses of New Orleans were Fort Jackson and Fort St Philip, both located on a bend of the Mississippi, 75 miles to the South of New Orleans. The Confederates considered them impregnable. By Mid April the federal fleet arrived just below the forts. The fleet included a number of mortar boats, which were especially designed to l
The fleet was powerful consisting of seventeen warships. At 2 AM on the morning of April 24th Farragut ordered the fleet forward. They ran the gauntlet of the fort and then came upon the small confederate fleet which they annihilated. All told one federal warship was sunk and three were seriously damaged, 37 union sailors were killed and 149 wounded. Farragut then continued upriver unchallenged, where New Orleans, the South's largest port and second largest city was forced to surrender. The next day the soldiers in the two forts below the city mutinied and the forts surrendered.
The Battle in Pictures
Period photographs, sketches, and engravings of the battle. Click any image to enlarge.
Take HistoryCentral with you. Our apps put American history and centuries of the human story in your pocket.