January 2026 Header Image: “Battle of Mobile Bay”
This month’s header image depicts the August 5, 1864, Battle of Mobile Bay, originally painted by Julian O. Davidson in 1886. The Library of Congress collection includes a facsimile print created by Louis Prang, Bataille de la baie de Mobile.
In the image, Confederate-held Fort Morgan, on the eastern shore of the mouth of Mobile Bay, blazes away at the Federal fleet as it runs the guns. The Confederate ironclad CSS Tennessee steams forth to meet them, supported by two of the three other ships in the Confederate fleet. Meanwhile, the USS Tecumseh tilts on its side as it begins to go down after hitting a mine. Note the positioning of the other Federal ironclads, used as shields to help protect the sailing ships from Fort Morgan’s guns. Note, too, how the sailing ships are paired up; they were literally lashed together so they could help each other onward should one or the other become damaged.
Naval History and Heritage Command’s collection has a variant available that includes a caption:
Davidson was born on December 27, 1853; he died at age 40 on April 30, 1894.
This almost looks like a naval counterpart to the American Heritage battlefield illustrations! Beautiful.
Thanks for the analysis of the actions depicted in this painting. I hope more of these posts will be forthcoming!