Fort Morgan

 military, place with historical importance, fortification, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, American Civil War 1861-1865, New Deal Depression Relief Project [1933-1945], U.S. National Historic Landmark

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110 AL-180
Gulf Shores, AL 36542
fort-morgan.org/

Fort Morgan was a pentagonal fortress built as part of the Third System of fortifications on Mobile Point to defend Mobile Bay. Construction began in 1819 on the site of Fort Bowyer, an earthwork fort that had fallen to the British after the Battle of New Orleans.

The fort was named in honor of Daniel Morgan, a hero of the Revolutionary War.

As of 1851, it was intended to be armed with fourteen 42-pounder guns, fifty-two 24-pounder guns, three 18-pounder guns, four 12-pounder guns, six field pieces, twenty-six flank howitzers, ten 8" heavy seacoast howizters, two 13" mortars, four 10" heavy mortars, two light 10" mortars, two light 8" mortars, two 16" stone mortars and five coehorn mortars for a total of 132 guns.

Admiral Farragut's squadron attacked the fort in 1864 and caused extensive damage to the works. His fleet was able to pass into Mobile Bay and defeat the Confederate naval squadron led by the ironclad CSS Tennessee, which doomed the fort.

A Union landing force set up siege batteries in the days after the naval battle, and the fort surrendered shortly afterward.

During the Great Depression, restoration work on the fort was carried out by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was a New Deal program that operated between 1935 and 1943, and provided work for unemployed people who were struggling to find jobs.