The following article is extracted from The New York Times, dated 5 May 1863:

 

 

BLOCKADING FLEET, OFF MOBILE,

Saturday, April 4, 1863.

 

          The precise locality and surroundings of Mobile are these: It is situated forty miles west of Pensacola, and is the most important port of entry on the Gulf, excepting, of course, New-Orleans. There are two railroads running from it, which connect it with the great national routes, and the River Mobile and its two large branches -- the Tombigbee and Alabama -- which are navigable for steamboats of moderate draft for several hundred miles -- also make very important connections with the interior of the country. The entrance to its bay lies between Sand Island, on which the light-house is erected, and a shoal verging off from Mobile Point, making a long, narrow and dangerous projection from the mainland, some 16 miles in length.

          On the bar of the deepest and widest channel the water is 21 feet in depth. The pass between Petit Bois and Horn Islands has water 16 feet deep, and is the nearest and safest refuge from southeast or southwest gales; but, notwithstanding this, the port is neither a safe or pleasant one for vessels in a storm.

          From the Bay of Mobile westward a line of low sand islands lie parallel to the coast, forming Mississippi Sound, which is navigable for light-draft vessels, and through it, until the capture of New-Orleans, a large trade was carried on with that city, by way of Bayou St. John and Lake Ponchartrain. This sound communicates with Mobile through a pass called Grant's; and there are other modes of communication with the Gulf from it, viz., between Petit Bois Islands and Dauphine, between Horn Islands and Petit Bois, and beyond Horn Islands.

The fleet blockading this port and its passes are: Colorado, Capt. GOLDSBOROUGH, anchored off the entrance to the main ship channel; three-quarers of a mile west by north from her is the Lackawanna, Capt. MARCHAND; to the westward again of her is the Kennebec, Lieut.-Commander RUSSELL; to the eastward, first, the R.R. Cuyler, Capt. EMMONS; next the Aroostook, Lieut.-Commander FRANKIN; then the Pembina, Lieut.-Commander YOUNG; also, the Kanawha, Lieut.-Commander MAYO, and the Pinola, Lieut.-Commander STILLWELL. The last four are gunboats of the "twenty-three class."

          The Pocahontas is away at present, having gone to Pensacola for coal and supplies. The vessels here named form a regular semi-circular cordon off the mouth of the harbor of Mobile, making it by this arrangement almost an impossibility for them to mistake a vessel running in or out. A bright lookout is kept every night for the enemy, as we have received intelligence that there are three or four rams at Mobile, and a 50-gun frigate, about to visit us and use us up. It is asserted that the greatest care and attention have been given to the minutest details in the construction of these vessels, and that the best of engineering skill that could be obtained has been called to their aid, and that they are supplied with batteries of the most improved description and formidable character. We are ready, however, for them, and will try to treat them with all the respect and attention they deserve should they visit us. Fort Morgan, on the right, and Fort Gaines, on the left, have been thoroughly repaired, and mounted with a portion of the heaviest armament possessed by the rebels.

Some of this armament consists of rifle-cannon, which they assert are very effective, and will throw a ball four miles, and prove utterly destructive to all that comes within contact with it. These forts display a large amount of "bunting," whenever any of the blockading fleet practice target-firing. On the left of the harbor, between the bar and Fort Gaines, are three rows of heavy piling, stretching for two miles in length. This is so arranged that an attacking fleet would be obliged to first face the fire of Fort Gaines, and then in passing shear off in the direction of the piles, and run close under the fire of Fort Morgan. This arrangement is such that it presents a very serious obstacle to an attack upon these places, and they must necessarily be removed before such an event can successfully take place. Our mails are very irregular, and we, in consequence of this, are in the dark of doings at the North. Fresh meat is also very scarce with us -- in fact, we seem like a lot of outcasts from civilization and the world. Our only sight of land consists of a long line of sand-bars, ornamented with the two dark, formidable, inhospitable, threatening forts alluded to – and this is not the pleasantest of sights.

          But still we do our duty, and remember that war, when it is honest, earnest war, has its redeeming features; and we remember, too, that our country is passing through a fearful trial, such as it has but once before felt, and we are content. We glory in being beneath the proud folds of our flag, and there we will ever be, whether in the hour of victory or in the hour of reverse.

​

​