<< Fort Morgan is a Third System Coastal Defense Fort. It, like all the forts of the Third System, was built after the War of 1812 when Congress realized the need for stronger fortifications along the eastern and southern coastlines.

Designed to control the main ship channel into Mobile Bay, the star shape of the fort allowed its defenders to bring a heavy concentration of artillery fire on an enemy fleet as it approached the fort and to maintain this volume of fire as the enemy force moved into the bay. Because of its isolated position, the fort was also designed with extensive land defenses to enable it to withstand a siege.

During the Civil War, Fort Morgan and all her sister forts were proven to be out of date. Rifled cannon and steam-powered warships repeatedly defeated the old brick forts. This was dramatically demonstrated at Fort Morgan on August 5, 1864 when Union Admiral D. G. Farragut led his fleet past the guns of the fort and into the bay with the loss of only one ship.

Following the Civil War, the Army moved slowly to improve the nation's coastal defenses. It was not until the 1890s that major improvements were undertaken. This building program, known as the Endicott program, upgraded the nation's defenses. All the concrete gun positions at Fort Morgan are a part of this program.

While the weapons and gun poisitions changed, the fort's goal remained the same - to provent any enemy forces from entering Mobile Bay. The concrete batteries were built between 1896 and 1905 and were manned during the Spanish-American War and World War I. Fort Morgan was also occupied during World War II, but by that time the concrete batteries, like the brick fort before them, were no longer the primary defensive positions.

No wooden structures from the Civil War era remain at Fort Morgan. The oldest building on site is the lighthouse keeper's house built in 1872. The five remaining wooden buildings on the site date to the beginning of the 20th century. The military base was greatly expanded between 1898 and 1910. the surviving buildings are all that remain of a large support complex that at its peak numbered almost 100 structures. The buildings still standing were originally designed to house a coast artillery officer's quarters, a staff officer's quarters, a hospital steward's quarters, the post bakery, and the post administration building.>>   (from the Self-Guided Tour brochure available at Fort Morgan)



Paul Leonard gives a tour of theHotshot Furnace:
This hotshot furnace was constructed
during 1843 & 1844. Solid iron cannon balls would be
heated in the furnace until white hot. this "hot shot" would
be fired at wooden ships to set them afire. By the Civil
War "hotshot" had largely been replaced by exploding
shells and it was never used in the battle at Fort Morgan.

Important Dates in Fort Morgan's History

1819 Construction begun on fort at Mobile Point

1833 Fort named for General Daniel Morgan

1834 Fort completed and garrisoned by Company B, 2nd Artillery.

1841 - Dec 31 Garrison withdrawn and fort put in caretaker status

1861 - Jan 4 Civil War begins, Alabama Militia seized fort from caretaker

1863 - Apr 30 Fort's commander, Lt. Col. C. Stewart, killed in the explosion of a cannon

1864 -Aug 5 Battle of Mobile Bay

1864 -Aug 9 Union troops landed east of fort, siege began

1864 -Aug 23 Fort surrendered to Union forces

1865 Civil War ends

1867 - Dec 31 Garrison withdrawn, fort placed in caretaker status

1898 - March Spanish-American War, Fort reactivated, garrisoned by Battery I, 1st Artillery.

1917-1918 Fort used as training base during World War I

1923 Fort deactivated, put in caretaker status.

1941 Fort reactivated, manned by Battery F, 50th Coast Artillery Corps, Navy and Coast

1946 Fort deactivated and turned over to State of Alabama