Drawing 2: Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864.
Drawing 2 is a pen drawing done in 1864 by George S. Waterman, a Confederate sailor present at Mobile Bay.
Questions for Drawing 2
1. What obstacles did the U.S. Navy face upon entering Mobile Harbor? Does the objective of taking this port look like an easy task? Why or why not?
2. What advantages did the U.S. Navy have?
3. What advantages did the Confederates have?
4. Based on the drawing, which navy seemed most likely to win this battle? Why? Which navy won the battle? Why?
5. Why do you think the forts were not an effective defense during the Battle of Mobile Bay? If needed, refer to Reading 2 for your answer.
6. Based on what you know about the artist and the battle from the readings, how accurately do you think he portrayed the Battle of Mobile Bay?
7. Is it important to have first-hand accounts to understand what happened in historical events? Why or why not?
8. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of first-hand accounts in understanding history?
* The drawing on this screen has a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi), and therefore will print poorly. You can obtain a high quality version of Drawing 2, but be aware that the file will take as much as 30 seconds to load with a 28.8K modem.