Along the Alabama gulf coast sits a series of barrier islands that narrow the gap as ships enter Mobile Bay. This location was perfect for a fortification to secure the important harbor and 1834 Fort Morgan was established. As the Civil War began in 1861 the Alabama Militia seized the fort but the old brick walls proved to be out of date for the cannons and steam powered warships of the day. On August 9th in 1864 the Union troops landed east of the bay and the fort surrendered on the 23rd. The fort was updated and played the defender again in the Spanish-American War in 1898, as a training base for WW1, manned batteries again in 1941 during WW2 and today as National Historic Landmark. From a dock near the fort you can take a ferry across to Dauphin Island were another fort sits. The photo of Gary shows him looking into the hotshot furnace. Prior to the Civil War, this was used to heat cannon balls to white hot before shooting them at passing wooden ships with the hot to set them afire.
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