The Battles for Mobile

Mobile Bay, AL - August 2-23, 1864  - A combined Union force initiated operations to close Mobile Bay to blockade running.  Some Union forces landed on Dauphin Island and laid siege to Fort Gaines. On August 5th, Adm. David G. Farragut’s Union fleet of eighteen ships entered Mobile Bay and received a devastating fire from Forts Gaines and Morgan and other points. After passing the forts, Farragut forced the Confederate naval forces, under Adm. Franklin Buchanan, to surrender, which effectively closed Mobile Bay. By August 23, Fort Morgan, the last big holdout, fell, shutting down the port. Mobile was not captured.

The battle of Mobile Bay is told at both Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines. Please click on link below for map.

Fort Morgan is located at the end of 

The fort tells the story of the Confederate forces that defended Mobile from Farragut's fleet and the land attack.  Fort Morgan State Park (state park), Alabama, United States

Take the ferry across Mobile Bay to Fort Gaines for more information on the battle. Fort Gaines Historic Site, Dauphin Island, Alabama, United States

Fort Blakely, AL - April 2-9, 1865  - Union Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby’s forces, the XVI and XIII corps, moved along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, forcing the Confederates back into their defenses. Union forces then concentrated on Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. By April 1st, Union forces had enveloped Spanish Fort, thereby releasing more troops to focus on Fort Blakely. Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell, with about 4,000 men, held out against the much larger Union force until Spanish Fort fell on April 8th, allowing Canby to concentrate 16,000 men for the attack on April 9th. The numerically superior Union troops breached the Confederate earthworks and forced garrison to surrender. The siege and capture of Fort Blakely was basically the last combined-force battle of the war. African-American forces played a major role in the successful Union assault.

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