Fort Gaines protected the Gulf Coast in 3 American Wars
Most Prominent Role was in the Civil War
Cooking in the officer's mess
FORT GAINES
Dauphin Island, Alabama
Fort Gaines, sitting on the tip of Dauphin Island in south Mobile County, is one of two reconstructed Mobile Bay forts that encourage visitors to step back into the 19th Century. Though in use through World War I, its heyday was during the U.S. Civil War as a Confederate protector of the bay and the port city of Mobile at the north end of the bay, and it played a major role during the Civil War’s Battle of Mobile Bay -- along with another Alabama historic fort, Fort Morgan, which sits across Mobile Bay.
The site on Dauphin Island was originally taken up by an early French fort when explorers from Europe settled the coast in the 17th century. Strategically located, the site later attracted the attention of the U.S. government, which began construction of the current fort in 1821. Construction soon halted for lack of funding, though, and it wasn’t until 1853 that Congress appropriated funds to continue work on the fort. It was officially named for General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, a War of 1812 hero, and construction resumed in 1857 under the direction of U.S. Army chief engineer Joseph Totten, just in time for the Confederates to take it over during the beginning skirmishes of the Civil War.
The Alabama state militia seized the structure on January 5, 1861. A year later, Confederate military forces completed the fort’s construction and manned it against Union ships that might try to enter Mobile Bay and to help protect blockade runners sailing in or out of the bay in defiance of the Union Nnavy attempt to block commerce from getting in or out of Mobile Bay.
Blockade runners keep port open
The Union declared a blockade of Southern ports right after Confederate troops took Fort Sumter at Charleston in 1861. Because of the wide coastline and the Union Navy's rather paltry 42 ships, there was no way the Union ships could put much of a dent in ship commerce into and out of the Confederacy. So as far as the Gulf Coast figured into the blockade, the Union ships focused on the two most important ports -- New Orleans and Mobile.
Mobile's port was critical to the Confederacy because it protected the South's important military posts in northern Alabama from Union ships sailing into the Alabama River.
The blockade, though, put Mobile in the Union Navy's crosshairs, with relatively little effect. Indeed, the Confederate submarine Hunley was constructed in Mobile and transported to Charleston, where it was deployed against Union ships in that harbor.
With Fort Gaines, Fort Morgan, and Fort Powell (a small Confederate-built fort above Fort Gaines), the Union could be held off as its ships tried to enforce the blockade. It would take a major Union naval assault to get into the bay.
Union forces take the fort
Because of either lack of funds or hasty construction, Fort Gaines' cannons were installed without protection for either the guns or the men firing them. That proved decisive when 1,500 Union soldiers snuck up on the fort in August 1864 with their own artillery and began firing on the fort to weaken the Confederate defenses before a flotilla of Union ships sailed into Mobile Bay at the start of the Battle of Mobile Bay, the most important Civil War naval battle.
The Confederates were confident that with Fort Gaines on the west and Fort Morgan on the bay’s eastern shore that protection of Mobile Bay was secure. Confederate forces had amassed battle ships in the bay and had laid mines (called torpedoes in the 19th century) under its surface.
Fort Gaines was staffed by 46 commissioned officers and 818 Confederate troops, but beginning on August 3, 1864, Union guns relentlessly pounded their positions as a lead-up to the Battle of Mobile Bay, which began August 5, 1864. “The fort replied warmly [to the Union’s 3-inch guns] but did no damage,” according to a report by Union captain and chief engineer M.D. McAlester. Just three days later, with the Confederate ships vanquished and Union ships headed up the bay, Fort Gaines was surrendered by Confederate Colonel Charles D. Anderson. He delivered the fort to the soldiers under the command of U.S. General Edward Canby.
Surrendered were 864 officers and enlisted men, four 10-inch guns, two 7-inch Brooke rifles, 12 or 15 smooth-bores (24s and 32d) and five or six flank casemate howitzers. The fort had supplies to hold out another two weeks, but with the loss of the naval battle, and being confronted by heavy artillery and combat forces in the sand dunes on the fort’s western front, there was little chance of defeating the Union forces or escaping. Indeed, the Battle of Mobile Bay was a spectacular event. Much has been written about the battle, and I don’t have room to detail it here, but you can get a glimpse of what it was like each summer when the fight is re-created by re-enactors sailing on Mobile Bay.
Throughout the year, though, you can visit Fort Gaines to see recreated soldier quarters and other historical items, including letters from soldiers stationed at the fort during the Civil War period. Although the fort was reinforced and used by the Coastal Artillery during World War I and, during World War II by the Alabama National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard, Fort Gaines is best remembered for its remarkable Civil War history. And it is that which is re-created at the fort. Indeed, on most weekends in the spring and summer, a blacksmith holds demonstrations and re-enactors in period costumes and carrying weapons from the mid-19th Century are at the fort. Most of the displays at the fort recall the mid-19th century as well. On display are cannons and the anchor from the USS Hartford, Admiral Farragut’s flagship during the Battle of Mobile Bay. You might have heard of Admiral Farragut’s famous words during the Battle of Mobile Bay: “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”
Among the interior displays are antique rifles and cannon balls and shells, recreations of housing accommodations, and a multi-hole latrine used by the soldiers. You can also see the rail system used to move armaments and shells. Tunnels burrow through the fort. Period re-enactors cook over an open fire in the officers’ mess hall, as well.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day
Admittance Fees: $4 children, $8 adults; group rates available
For more information: (251) 861-6992
Nearby Places to Stay
Gulf Breeze Motel, 1512 Cadillac Avenue, Dauphin Island.
Willow Tree Cottage, 1302 Chaumont Avenue, Dauphin Island
Rental units available from local realty companies.
Nearby Places to Eat
Captain Snapper’s, 608 Lemoyne Drive, Dauphin Island
Lighthouse Bakery, 919 Chaumont Avenue, Dauphin Island
Pirates Bar & Grill, 100A Orleans Drive, Dauphin Island
Islander’s Restaurant and Bar, 1504 Bienville Boulevard, Dauphin Island.
Miguel’s Beach’n Baja, 202 Lemoyne Drive, Dauphin Island.
Foxy’s Waffle Bar and Sugar Den, 202 Lemoyne Drive, Dauphin Island.