During these six months, though the admiral paid frequent visits to the fleet off Mobile, the immediate direction of affairs was left to the divisional commander, Captain Thornton A. Jenkins, of the Richmond. In the last week of July, however, Farragut took charge in person, and sent the Richmond, and others of the blockading force that were to attempt the entry of the bay, to Pensacola to complete their preparations. The Manhattan had arrived on the 20th and the Chickasaw came in from New Orleans on the 1st of August. These, with the Winnebago, were anchored under the lee of Sand Island; but the Tecumseh did not get down until the Richmond, with the others, returned on the night of the 4th; and it was only by the untiring efforts of her commander and Captain Jenkins that she was ready even then. With her, and the return of the blockaders, the admiral's force was complete.
The understanding with General Granger, in immediate command of the troops, was that he should land on the 4th on Dauphin Island and invest Gaines, as he had not men enough to attack both forts at once. The admiral was to pass Morgan and enter the bay the same morning. Granger landed, but Farragut could not fulfil his part of the bargain, because so many of his ships were still away. The delay, though he chafed under it, was in the end an advantage, as the enemy used that last day of his control of the water to throw more troops into Gaines, who were all taken two days later.
In forming his plan of attack the admiral wanted two favors from nature; a westerly wind to blow the smoke from the fleet and toward Morgan, and a flood-tide. In regular summer weather the wind from sunrise till eight o'clock is light from the southward and then hauls gradually round to the west and northwest, growing in strength as it does so. The tide was a matter of calculation, if no exceptional wind modified its direction. The admiral wished it flood for two reasons: first, because, as he intended to go in at any cost, it would help a crippled ship into the harbor; and secondly, he had noticed that the primers of the barrel-torpedoes were close together on top, and thought it likely that when the flood-tide straightened out their mooring-lines the tops would be turned away from the approaching ships.
As at New Orleans, the preparations were left very much to the commanders of ships. A general order directed spare spars and boats to be landed, the machinery protected, and splinter-nettings placed. As the fleet was to pass between the eastern buoy and the beach, or two hundred yards from Morgan, little was feared from Gaines, which would be over two miles away; the preparations[28] were therefore made mainly on the starboard side, and port guns were shifted over till all the ports were full. The boats were lowered and towed on the port side. The admiral himself and the captain of the Brooklyn preferred to go in with their topsail yards across; but the Richmond and Lackawanna sent down their topmasts, and the other vessels seem to have done the same.
BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY.[ToList]
In the order of battle the wooden ships, as at Port Hudson, were to be lashed in couples, the lighter vessels on the off hand; the four monitors in a column inshore and abreast of the leading ships, the Tecumseh, which led, slightly in advance of the van of the other column. The admiral had intended to lead the latter himself in the Hartford, but the representations of many officers led him to yield his own judgment so far as to let the Brooklyn, whose captain earnestly wished it, go ahead of him. The order of attack, as it stood at last, was as follows:
| Monitors—Starboard Column. | ||
| Tecumseh | 1,034 tons, 2[29] guns, | Commander T.A.M. Craven. |
| Manhattan | 1,034 tons, 2 guns, | Commander J.W.A. Nicholson. |
| Winnebago | 970 tons, 4 guns, | Commander Thomas H. Stevens. |
| Chickasaw | 970 tons, 4 guns, | Lieut.-Com'r George H. Perkins. |
| Wooden Ships—Port Column. | ||
| Brooklyn | 2,070 tons, 24 guns, | Captain James Alden. |
| Octorara | 829 tons, 6 guns, | Lieut.-Com'r Chas. H. Greene. |
| Hartford | 1,900 tons, 21 guns, | Rear-Admiral David G. Farragut, Captain Percival Drayton. |
| Metacomet | 974 tons, 6 guns, | Lieut.-Com'r Jas. B. Jouett. |
| Richmond | 1,929 tons, 20 guns, | Captain Thornton A. Jenkins. |
| Port Royal | 805 tons, 6 guns, | Lieut.-Com'r Bancroft Gherardi. |
| Lackawanna | 1,533 tons, 8 guns, | Captain John B. Marchand. |
| Seminole | 801 tons, 8 guns, | Commander Edward Donaldson. |
| Monongahela | 1,378 tons, 8 guns, | Commander James H. Strong. |
| Kennebec | 507 tons, 5 guns, | Lieut.-Com'r Wm. P. McCann. |
| Ossipee | 1,240 tons, 11 guns, | Commander William B. Le Roy. |
| Itasca | 507 tons, 5 guns, | Lieut.-Com'r George Brown. |
| Oneida | 1,032 tons, 9 guns, | Commander J.R.M. Mullany. |
| Galena | 738 tons, 10 guns, | Lieut.-Com'r Clark H. Wells. |
The Octorara, Metacomet, and Port Royal were side-wheel double-enders; the others were screw ships. All had been built for the naval service.