le
Point and a siege train, sent from New Orleans, was landed three miles
in rear of the fort on the 17th. In the meantime batteries had been
constructed; and thirty-four guns had been put in position, with
everything ready for opening, on the evening of Saturday the 20th. On
Monday the 22d, at daylight, the bombardment began from the batteries,
the three monitors, and the ships outside as well as inside the bar.
On the 23d the fort surrendered.

Mobile as a port for blockade-running was thus sealed by the fleet
holding the bay; but the gigantic struggle going on in Virginia,
Tennessee, and Georgia hindered for the time any attempt to reduce the
city. That would have withdrawn from more important fields a large
force for a secondary object, which was put off till the following
spring. In the meantime Admiral Farragut went north in December,
leaving Commodore Palmer in command of the squadron till the following
February, when he was relieved by Acting Rear-Admiral H.K. Thatcher.
Palmer, however, stayed by his own wish until the city fell.

Several streams having a common origin and communicating with one
another enter the head of the bay. Of these the chief and most western
is the Mobile River, formed by the junction of the Alabama and
Tombigbee. It empties by two principal branches, of which the western
keeps the name Mobile, the eastern one being called Spanish River; the
city of Mobile is on the west bank of the former. On the east side of
the bay the Tensaw[39] enters, also by two mouths, of which the
western keeps the name and the eastern is called the Blakely River.
The Tensaw and Spanish Rivers have a common mouth about a mile from
the city. It is therefore practicable to go from the Mobile to Spanish
River, and thence to the Tensaw and Blakely without entering the bay.

The works around the city inland were very strong, but it was not
approached from that side. General Canby, commanding the Army of the
West Mississippi, began to move against it in March 1865. One corps
marched from Fort Morgan up the east side of the bay to a small stream
called Fish River, where a landing was secured; the remainder of the
army were then brought to this point in transports. At the same time a
column under General Steele left Pensacola, directing its march upon
Blakely, a point near the mouth of the Blakely River on the east bank.
A short distance below Blakely was Spanish Fort, upon the defence of
which the fate of the city tu