1864: Library of Congress: The Union navy captured Fort Morgan, Alabama, breaking the Confederate dominance of the ports of the Gulf of Mexico. As the Union fleet of four ironclad and fourteen wooden ships sailed into the channel on August 5, one of the lead ships, the Tecumseh, hit a mine, at the time known as a "torpedo." In reply to the warning, "Torpedoes ahead!" given by the forward ships, commander Admiral David Farragut called out, "Damn the torpedoes!" and, taking the lead with his flagship the Hartford, sailed over the double row of mines and into Mobile Bay.

1785: Oliver Hazard Perry was born in Rhode Island. As a master commandant appointed by the Navy Department, he won a decisive battle on Sept. 10, 1813 on Lake Erie during the War of 1812. He is famous for reporting the victory when he wrote: "We have met the enemy and they are ours..." Perry died on his birthday in 1819 after contracting yellow fever while on a mission in South America.