Fort Gaines - Civil War Era Post

CMWinkler

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ALABAMA LEGENDS

Fort Gaines - Civil War Era Post




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Located on the eastern tip of Dauphin Island, off the Gulf coast of Alabama, stand the well-preserved ramparts of Fort Gaines which have guarded the entrance to Mobile Bay for more than 150 years.



For centuries before, the island had been popular with Native Americans who went there to fish, hunt and gather oysters and other shellfish that grew in profusion in Mobile bay. Traces of their presence can still be seen today at Shell Mound Park on the Island’s north shore.



Italian explorer Amerieus Vespucius is said to have visited this little Island in 1497. Then the Spanish discovered the island which they named Isle de Labe (Island of the Ridge) from the large sand dunes that extend along its southern shores. In 1699 the French gained possession and called it the Isle de Massacre because they found so many skeletons scattered on the beach that they thought a massacre had taken place there. The French established a settlement on the island that was raided by pirates in 1711, but survived.

More: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/al-fortgaines.html
 
Hoping to make a road trip there next year. Wanna hit the Museum Of Mobile,the Mobile Bay forts and Blakeley State Park. Got a book to read about Mobile Bay before I make the trip. Got kinfolk in the Florida panhandle too.

http://www.battleofmobilebay.com/about-the-trail/default.aspx
Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan make a nice day trip out of Mobile, making the complete circuit of the bay and crossing between the forts by the ferry.
 
Rahpael Semmes' (CSS Alabama) house is in Mobile and the USS Alabama is well worth the stop.
I definitely wanna go to the USS Alabama too. Forgot to mention that. Don't know how many times I've driven by it on the way to and from my kinfolks' houses in Florida.
 
Hoping to make a road trip there next year. Wanna hit the Museum Of Mobile,the Mobile Bay forts and Blakeley State Park. Got a book to read about Mobile Bay before I make the trip. Got kinfolk in the Florida panhandle too.

http://www.battleofmobilebay.com/about-the-trail/default.aspx
If you have the time, there is one of those planned residential neighborhoods in Spanish Fort just on the north side of highway 90 and if you drive thru it you can see many of the original earthworks in peoples' front yards along with historical markers.
 
If you have the time, there is one of those planned residential neighborhoods in Spanish Fort just on the north side of highway 90 and if you drive thru it you can see many of the original earthworks in peoples' front yards along with historical markers.
Outstanding suggestion. I'll make the time.
 
Fort Gaines is absolutely worth anyone's time to visit. Unlike Fort Morgan, across the entrance to Mobile Bay, Fort Gaines retains its war era configuration. It's a very rewarding visit.

I think Morgan is closer to it's Civil War condition than Gaines. Both Gaines and Morgan have late 19th-early 20th Century Endicott and Taft works added but those at Gaines are actually more integrated into the earlier works than those at Morgan. And the glacis, covered way, counterscarp and ditch at Morgan are in splendid condition but at Gaines those structures are now gone. The citadel at Morgan is gone but it's destruction was due to combat and so is a part of the fort's Civil War history.
 
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