Battle of Spanish Fort

Coordinates: 30°41′3.4″N 87°54′58.95″W / 30.684278°N 87.9163750°W / 30.684278; -87.9163750

Battle of Spanish Fort
Part of the American Civil War
DateMarch 27 – April 8, 1865 (1865-04-08)
LocationBaldwin County, Alabama
Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States United States (Union) Confederate States of America CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
E.R.S. Canby Randall L. Gibson[1]
Units involved
Army of West Mississippi Spanish Fort Garrison
Strength
30,000 2,500
Casualties and losses
657 744

The Battle of Spanish Fort took place from March 27 to April 8, 1865 in Baldwin County, Alabama, as part of the Mobile Campaign of the Western Theater of the American Civil War.

After the Union victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Mobile nevertheless remained in Confederate hands. Spanish Fort was heavily fortified as an eastern defense to the city of Mobile. Fort Huger, Fort (Battery) Tracey, Fort (Battery) McDermott, Fort Alexis, Red Fort, and Old Spanish Fort were all part of the Mobile defenses at Spanish Fort.

Battle

Map of Spanish Fort Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program.

Union forces embarked on a land campaign in early 1865 to take Mobile from the east. Maj. Gen. E.R.S. Canby's XIII and XVI corps crossed the Fish River at Marlow Ferry, and 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, five miles to the north. On March 27, 1865, Canby’s forces rendezvoused at Danley's Ferry and immediately undertook a siege of Spanish Fort. The Union had enveloped the fort by April 1, and on April 8 captured it. Most of the Confederate forces, under the command of Brig. Gen. Randall L. Gibson, escaped and fled to Mobile, but Spanish Fort was no longer a threat.

With Spanish Fort's fall on April 8 and Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House the next day (unrelated to the fall of Spanish Fort, as Lee’s forces were in Virginia), Fort Blakely remained the last organized resistance to the Union east of the Mississippi River. However, as early as April 1, when Spanish Fort's fall became inevitable, Union forces had begun moving north in order to concentrate on Fort Blakely, which eventually succumbed late on April 9 in the Battle of Fort Blakely.

The falls of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely permitted Union troops to subsequently enter Mobile unopposed after the conclusion of the Civil War, occupying it on April 12, 1865.

Defense Plans

Map displaying line of works ordered by Major General Gardner:[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service battle description
  2. ↑ "Map of Spanish fort and vicinity". University of North Carolina. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
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