Not only would the Union fleet have to overcome several powerful forts guarding the bay’s entrance, but once inside the bay, there were reports that the Confederates had built and deployed a new ironclad warship named the CSS Tennessee. Despite growing Union naval resources, the Confederate defenses guarding Mobile Bay were formidable.
One of those ports, and the only one remaining on the Gulf Coast in 1864, was the port at Mobile, Alabama.Īfter the successful capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July of 1863, the Union naval forces in the western theater were freed for use against Mobile.
Despite continued Federal efforts, several key ports remained open to Confederate blockade runners bringing important military supplies.
Possessing the far larger and more capable navy, the Union sought to use its naval power to cut off all Confederate access to the sea through a coastal blockade. Stationed at the wheel during the fierce action, Jones, though wounded, carried out his duties gallantly by going to the poop to assist at the signals after the wheel ropes were shot away and remained there until ordered to reeve new wheel ropes.Rear Admiral David Farragut (Library of Congress) Oneida in the engagement at Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Served as quartermaster on board the U.S.S. Jones's official Medal of Honor citation reads: For this action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor four months later, on December 31, 1864. Although wounded, Jones helped send and receive signals before installing new wheel ropes. Stationed at the ship's wheel during the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, the wheel was rendered useless when the ropes which connected it to the tiller were destroyed by hostile fire. He served in the Civil War as a quartermaster on the USS Oneida. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Mobile Bay.īorn in 1834 in New York City, Jones was still living in the state of New York when he joined the Navy. Jones (born 1834, date of death unknown) was a Union Navy sailor in the American Civil War and a recipient of the U.S.
0 kommentar(er)
