Fort Morgan is steeped in in Gulf Coast military history
From the War of 1812 to World War II, Fort Morgan served our country
Rails were used to move ammunition from storage
From World War I
During Civil War, there was a fortified barracks in the parade grounds
Rails were used to move ammunition from storage
Fort Morgan, spread out along the tip of a peninsula that reaches out into the Mobile Bay, is by far the most impressive of the four existing historic forts in south Alabama. When you stand on the tip of the peninsula where the bay laps upon the shoreline, you can see Fort Gaines, which sits on the edge of Dauphin Island. Farther up the bay, at Mobile, is the characterization of an historic fort, the partially reconstructed but largely abused, Fort Conde, and Fort Blakeley, which isn’t standing but the battlefield can be visited.
But Fort Morgan stands out because 1) it has the most extensive history of use of any of the four, and 2) because it has an active group dedicated to protecting and developing it as a tourist attraction. Indeed, the fort was named a National Historic Landmark in December 1960. And in 2007, it was listed as one of the nation’s 10 most endangered battle sites by the Civil War Preservation Trust. The fort is a state historic site under the management of the Alabama Historical Commission. In addition, the fort is a wildlife refuge and a great place for bird watching during the spring and fall migrations.
Fort Morgan was preceded on the peninsula by the smaller Fort Bowyer, built in time to be used during the War of 1812, when in 1814 it kept British ships from getting into Mobile Bay, and engaged the enemy again in 1815, when the British won the battle but returned the fort to the U.S when the Treaty of Ghent was signed. Fort Bowyer was abandoned shortly after the end of the War of 1812.
Fort Bowyer was replaced by construction of Fort Morgan, which began in 1819. Fort Morgan, named for Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan, was built out of masonry and bricks (manufactured in Baldwin County) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after two other developers had gone bankrupt trying to build it for the Army.
Overtaken by the Alabama militia at the start of the Civil War, it became a Confederate fort, as did Fort Gaines. Fort Morgan held out the longest against the Union’s Admiral David Farragut when he sailed his war flotilla into Mobile Bay. Indeed, the Feds had to lay siege to Fort Morgan and its intrepid defenders to get the wiry Rebels to give it up three weeks after Farragut won the Battle of Mobile Bay.
After the Civil War, the fort was abandoned by the U.S. military, only to be refurbished with bigger guns as the nation edged toward the Spanish-American War. As it worked out, the guns were never used against Spanish ships because none tried to get into Mobile Bay. The fort also served the Coastal Artillery during World War I, though, and became a training site for artillery troops during World War II. All that history washes across the peninsula and enlightens today’s visitors.
When you approach the fort, the entrance is an arched brick opening that appears to take a visitor underground. But you quickly come out the other side into a wide parade ground surrounded by archways that circle the grounds. During the Civil War, the grounds were taken up by a large, defended barracks built inside the fort’s outer walls, so troops could retreat inside if routed by the enemy, and still defend themselves.
Fort Morgan is also the larger of the three forts, at one time being home to over 1,500 troops, a row of two-story houses for officers and their families (called Officers’ Row), a bakery, a laundry, a PX to supply troops with goods not furnished by the military, and a fully functioning hospital.
Fort Morgan during the American Civil War
The fort’s service during the Civil War was quite distinctive, both before and after the Union reclaimed it. Confederate Colonel John B. Toddy and four companies of Alabama volunteers took over the fort on January 3, 1861. The fort’s 18 guns provided cover for blockade running boats sailing from Mobile into the Gulf. It was the sister fort to Fort Gaines defending the mouth of Mobile Bay. Like bookends on a watery sea, they clamped off easy access and protected the city of Mobile, an important port for the Confederacy.
The Union ships had blockaded Mobile Bay before trying to enter it. Indeed, the Battle of Mobile Bay started because the federal Navy was convinced that the Rebel Navy had a superior naval presence in the Bay and was making plans to run the blockade. And they were right!
But first, Fort Powell, a small, poorly defended fort built by the Confederacy, was a target for the feds trying to draw Rebel forces away from U.S. General Sherman’s march to Meridian, Mississippi. U.S. mortar ships blasted Fort Powell for several days from February 16, 1864, then retreated into the Gulf. (Fort Powell was abandoned in 1864 and there are no remains of it in south Mobile County to see). However, you can see one of its cannons that sits in downtown Mobile across from the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center and near the statue of Confederate Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes [captain of the CSS Alabama and a Mobile native.])
Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan ordered two ironclads, the Huntsville and the Tuscaloosa, and the ram Baltic to Fort Powell, which sat on the mainland opposite Fort Gaines. The ships were moved into place to protect against Admiral Farragut attempting to slip into Mobile Bay behind Fort Gaines, then moved into the Bay when the sea battle began.
U.S. forces had taken control of New Orleans and eastern Louisiana, much of southern Mississippi, and, in the east, Pensacola, Florida, and its Fort Pickens. To reinforce the forts protecting Mobile Bay, the Confederates moved iron-clad ships to the mouth of the Bay and placed 180 torpedoes (mines) across the mouth of the Bay. Anchored Confederate ships added another 16 guns. To defend against a land attack, trenches and redouts were constructed east of the fort.
Fort Morgan came into play when U.S. Admiral David Farragut turned his attention to the mouth of Mobile Bay, sailing 14 ships into the Bay to meet the Confederate ships and the guns of the two defending forts, Morgan and Gaines.
The Battle of Mobile Bay commenced on August 5, 1864, at 6 a.m. [Jack Friend, West Wind, Flood Tide: The Battle of Mobile Bay, provides a definitive picture of the battle for those who want to go into the dramatic story in more depth.] Fort Morgan’s guns pounded the federal ships, but its firepower and that of Fort Gaines, as well as the force
of iron-clads and other battle ships put up by the Rebels, couldn’t hold off the U.S. forces. It was the biggest naval battle of the Civil War, full of dramatic, heroic splendor.
Fort Gaines fell quickly, but Fort Morgan dug in, with its better fortifications including the citadel built on the parade grounds of the fort that provided a place into which the defenders fell back to for a last stand.
The federal troops laid siege and bombarded the fort with mortar and big guns shells. One witness account said that towards the end, a shell was exploding into the fort every minute for four long, agonizing hours. The defenders returned almost no fire. On August 23, Fort Morgan was surrendered unconditionally at 2 p.m.
The U.S. forces took 581 prisoners and captured 60 pierces of artillery. In all, some 3,000 shells had smashed into the fort. Seventeen Confederate soldiers died in the attack; the Union forces saw one soldier killed and seven injured.
Unique History During the Civil War
Among Union forces that took control of Fort Morgan was the first U.S. regiment of freed African Americans.
After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the U.S. Army established “colored regiments.” First was the Corps d’Afrique, formed in New Orleans after Union soldiers captured that city. The Corps d’Afrique served in several battles, including the Battle of Port Hudson. Then, it was reformed as the United States Colored Troops. Three of the units, the 96th, 97th, and 74th participated in the siege of Fort Morgan, where 15 officers and 648 enlisted members served as sharpshooters (snipers), and later helped garrison the fort once the Union Army took control. The units also provided guards for the makeshift prison on Ship Island off the Mississippi coast, where the Union held the prisoners of war from the forts and other battles.
After the Civil War, the U.S. abandoned Fort Morgan, then reopened it when hostilities between Spain and the U.S. marched the nations to war over Cuba and the Philippines. Some say it was a war forced on the nation by the new mass media newspapers and their sensational (and not-so-accurate) stories. Well, the media did play a role, but so did America’s belligerent under-secretary of war, Teddy Roosevelt, as did other political and cultural considerations.
What that meant for Fort Morgan was a re-arming of the fort to protect the coast from Spanish warships. So, once again, Fort Morgan sprang into action. Construction crews built officer houses and a PX, a bakery and a hospital, and housing for the troops while the troops and the Army engineers rebuilt the guns. As it turned out, none of the fort’s guns were fired at the enemy, because the Spanish navy didn’t approach the Alabama coast.
World War I
After the Spanish-American War, the fort was maintained so it was in service when World War I began in 1914 and, once again, there were legitimate concerns for the American coast.
Between the 1895 and 1904, the fort’s armaments had been reinforced. Five reinforced concrete batteries were added to the fort and more than 100 wooden buildings went up on the sands of Mobile Point.
The iron cannons had been replaced with bigger rifled guns. When the war began, Fort Morgan was ready to protect Mobile Bay from German warships. Nevertheless, four of Battery Bowyer’s eight-inch guns were converted into railroad artillery for use in Europe. The fort relied instead on Battery Dearborn’s 12-inch mortars that had a range of 1.25 miles to 7 miles. Battery Duportail had two 12-inch, breech-loading rifles set on “disappearing carriages” so they could be lowered behind the fort’s walls to be loaded and raised above the walls to fire its 1,000-plus ton projectile at a range of more than eight miles.
World War II
World War I hostilities proved that brick and mortar coastal forts were obsolete because aerial attacks could rain bombs on the stationary targets. Airplanes and warships with long-range cannons made Fort Morgan and other coastal forts pretty much useless for defense of the coast. America’s defenses shifted to air and water, as well. Nevertheless, Fort Morgan was in service. Because of its development during World War I, the base was available for training artillery units during World War II.
The older guns were outdated and were replaced by two 12-inch guns in Battery Duportail. These were 155-mm artillery guns on a Panama mount that allowed them to easily track moving targets. There was real danger from German U-boats (submarines) in the Gulf, and indeed one was sunk near the mouth of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans during the war. However, there is no recorded engagement by defenders at Fort Morgan of U-boats or other Axis ships in the Gulf or Mobile Bay.
Vacation Resort
After World War II, investors operated a luxury resort on the base once the Army gave it up. They converted barracks for a hotel and a restaurant. An airstrip was created so private planes could land at the site. Because of its location on the coast, the resort had some appeal for wealthy vacationers looking for a secluded spot with beaches and water sports including fishing. The resort operated a little over 10 years.
If you’re interested in more in-depth information about Fort Morgan, I recommend the Images of America series book, Fort Morgan, by Bob England, Jack Friend, Michael Bailey, and Blanton Blankenship, available from Acadia Publishers and at local stores in Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan.
Hours of operation: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; museum opens at 9 a.m. Tuesday night candlelight tours during the summer.
Watch for re-enactments including a re-enactment of the Battle of Mobile Bay each August. Bird migration watch in October.
Entry Fee: $7 adult; $5 senior citizen or student over 12; child 6 to 12, $4; child under 6, free.
Nearby lodging: There is none. You’ll need to drive about 20 minutes into Gulf Shores, unless you have rented a house or a condo on the peninsula.
Nearby restaurants: There's a snack bar at the Mobile Ferry station.
The closest full restaurant is Tacky Jacks, 1577 State Highway 180. This is about one mile from the fort. Tacky Jacks offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner of seafood, steaks, po’ boys, and other sandwiches and fish and shrimp plates.
Sassy Bass, 5160 State Highway 180, has a nice bar and a screened in porch. Its menu is typical beach food of fish and shrimp, oysters and steaks. Brunch on weekends.
Behind the Pines, 8818 State Highway 180, has a bar and a full menu of seafood, hamburgers, and steaks.
The Beach Club Resort & Spa, has an upscale restaurant open to the public and, during the tourist season in the spring and summer, hosts several food trucks and games for kids on the front lawn.