A city of southwest Alabama at the mouth of the Mobile River, about 61 km (38 mi) long, on the north shore of Mobile Bay, an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Founded c. 1710, the city was held by the French, British, and Spanish until it was seized by US forces in 1813. In the Battle of Mobile Bay (August 1864), Adm. David Farragut defeated a major Confederate flotilla and secured Union control of the area.