The Fort Fell Before Alabama Seceded

Fort Morgan a masonry star fort in Mobile Bay, Alabama was captured by southern forces on January 3^rd 1861, eight days before Alabama seceded.

Fort Morgan is a masonry star fort built at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama, and named for Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan.  It was built on the site of the former stockade fort known as Fort Bowyer, which was used during the last land battle of the War of 1812.  After several other tries it was completed by Untied States Army Corps of Engineers using slave labor in March 1834.  The first command in the Fort was Company B of the 2^nd United States Artillery under Captain F S Belton.

Just eight days before Alabama seceded from the Union, in the early morning hours of January 3^rd 1861, Colonel John Todd with four companies of volunteers captured the Fort.  Fort Morgan protected the only approach to Mobile Bay that was deep enough for large ships to pass.  The Confederates worked hard to strengthen Fort Morgan’s defenses and those of Mobile Bay.  The Fort’s heavy guns were moved to cover the channel, redoubts and trenches were built to prevent land attack, and a flotilla under Confederate Franklin Buchanan patrolled the Bay.

The Fort would fall back into Union hands on August 23^rd 1864 after two weeks of siege, having been bombed from the land and sea.

Closing The Bay

A part of the Battle for Mobile Bay, Fort Morgan fell on August 23^rd 1864 to Union forces.

The Confederate navy in Mobile Bay was defeated by Union Admiral David Glasgow Farragut on August 5^th 1864.  Fort Gaines which protected the western side of the Bay surrendered to a land force under the commanded of Union Major General Gordon Granger.  The Union command then turn their attention to Confederate held Fort Morgan.  The Fort was under Confederate Brigadier General Richard Lucian Page, who had about 600 men in his command.

Granger’s soldiers began moving siege artillery into range of the Fort on August 9^th 1864.  Farragut had his ships guns turned toward the Fort.  For the next two weeks the Union guns fired on the Fort, keeping up consistent bombardment.

Page was forced on August 23^rd 1864 to unconditionally surrender the Fort.  Refusing the turn over his sword to the Union, Page broke it over his knee.  He had his cannon spiked before surrendering and turning the Fort over.  The fall of this Fort shut down Mobile Bay as a port for the Confederates.

A Fort Falls

A part of the Battle of Mobile Bay, the Siege of Fort Gaines ran from August 3rd 1864 to August 8th 1864.


Union commander Major General Gordon Granger landed troops on Dauphin Island August 3rd 1864 and moved against Fort Gaines. Fort Gaines guarded the western side of Mobile Bay. Granger had about 3,000 men. The fort was under the command of Confederate Colonel Charles D Anderson. Anderson had about 800 men, and had been ordered not to surrender the fort.

On August 5th 1864 the Union fleet defeated the Confederate ships in Mobile Bay after running the guns of Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan. Anderson decided he would not be able to hold Fort Gaines against a combined land and water attack, and he surrender on August 8th 1864.

If you are looking for more information on this subject check out A Guardian of Mobile Bay

Old Reliable Resigns

Confederate General William Joseph Hardee resigned his United State Army commission on January 31st 1861.

William Joseph Hardee the son of Major John and Sarah [Ellis] Hardee, he was born October 12th 1815 at his families home in Camden County, Georgia. He attended the United State Military Academy at West Point, graduating 26 out of a class of 45 in 1838. Hardee was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 2nd United States Dragoons. The Army sent him to France in 1840 to study military tactics. During the Mexican - American War Hardee was serving under General Zachary Taylor when he was captured at Carricitos Ranch, Texas. After being exchanged on May 11th 1846 he served under General Winfield Scott and was wounded at La Rosia, Mexico in 1847. He wrote “Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics” [known as “Hardee’s Tactics”] in 1855. Hardee returned to West Point where he taught tactics and served from 1856 to 1860 as commandant of cadets.

When Georgia seceded from the United States, Hardee resigned his commission on January 31st 1861. He became at Colonel in the Confederate States Army on March 7th 1861, with command of Fort Morgan in Alabama. Hardee was made a Lieutenant General October 10th 1862. His assignment was to organize an Arkansas regiment. Do to his seeing that his men were well supplied, they nicked named him “Old Reliable”. Hardee was a Corps commander in General Albert Sidney Johnston’s Army of Mississippi during the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded. His Corps was defeated by Union Major General George Henry Thomas during their assault on Missionary Ridge as part of the Battle of Chickamauga. Hardee was in the Battle of Bentonville in March 1865, where his only son 16 year old William was mortally wounded. Hardee surrendered to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman at Durham Station April 26th 1865.

Following the war Hardee went back to his wife’s plantation in Alabama. He latter moved to Selma, Alabama where Hardee worked in insurance and warehousing. He would become the president of the Selma and Meridian railroad, and co-author the book “The Irish in America” in 1868. Hardee took sick while with his family on vacation in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and died November 6th 1873 in Wytherville, Virginia. He is buried in the Live Oak Cemetery in Selma, Alabama.