Fort Gaines (1)

Fort Gaines (1821-1946) - Construction on this Third System masonry fort began in 1821 but construction and funding problems prevented completion and a redesigned fort was started in the 1850's. Designed by Joseph G. Totten and named after Gen. Edmund P. Gaines in 1853. The fort was still incomplete in 1861 when the U.S. Civil War began. The fort was occupied by Confederate forces in 1861 and they finished the fort in 1862. Abandoned after World War I and reactivated during World War II it was abandoned after the end of World War II. Fort Gaines Fort Gaines Flooded after Hurricane Katrina Fort Gaines Facing the Gulf History An almost full view of the interior of the northwest civil war era bastion. The access was to the far left, the entrance to the magazine is the doorway to far right Part of the Harbor Defense of Mobile, Alabama. Established to defend the narrow entrance to Mobile Bay, Alabama along with Fort Morgan (1). Fort Gaines was designed as a regular pentagon with bastions at each corner and ten guns mounted on each of the five walls. Each bastion was to have four flank howitzers. A thirty-five-foot wide dry moat surrounded the twenty-two foot high walls with a drawbridge for access. U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) Mobile Harbor, 1862 One of the two rifled parrot guns that flank the entrance to Fort Gaines At the beginning of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, the Alabama State Militia seized both Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan (1) from Federal troops. Fort Gaines remained in Confederate hands until 8 Aug 1864 when it was surrendered after the Battle of Mobile Bay to a Union fleet commanded by Adm. David Farragut. The Battle of Mobile Bay was the occasion for Adm. Farragut's famous order, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!", referring to torpedoes (mines) strung across the channel into Mobile Bay. Endicott Period (1890-1910) In March of 1898 the fort was reactivated and garrisoned in anticipation of the Spanish American War and as a result of the explosion that sunk the Battleship Maine in Havana Harbor 15 Feb 1898. Construction began on the first Endicott Period battery in 1898. Three Endicott Period batteries were built between 1898 and 1901. The Spanish American War was quickly over but the strengthening of coastal defenses continued. Fort Gaines Endicott Period Battery (edit list) Battery Click on Battery links below No. Caliber Type Mount Service Years Battery Cost Notes Battery Unnamed 2 8" Rodman 1898-1899 $ ? Covered by Battery Stanton Battery Stanton 3 6" Disappearing 1899-1900-1901-1932 $ 67,250 1 gun removed 1917 Battery Terrett 3 3" Masked Parapet 1900-1901-1901-1917 $ 6,965 Source: CDSG World War I (1917-1918) A Coastal Artillery unit manned the disappearing guns during World War I. An anti-aircraft gunnery school operated from Fort Gains during and following the war. World War II (1941-1945) The fort was used by the Alabama National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. Current Status The United States sold Fort Gaines to the City of Mobile in 1926. The city in turn gave the property to the Alabama Department of Conservation, which deeded it to the Dauphin Island Park and Beach Board. Location: Eastern tip of Dauphin Island, Mobile County, Alabama. Maps & Images Lat: 30.248465 Long: -88.075569 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 7' See Also: Civil War Defenses of Mobile Spanish Fort (1) Fort Blakely Fort Huger (1) Fort Tracy Fort Powell (1) Fort Morgan Spanish American War Emergency 8-Inch Seacoast Batteries Sources: Weaver, John R. II, A Legacy in Brick and Stone: America Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, Redoubt Press, McLean, 2001, First Printing, ISBN 1-57510-069-X, page 175-177 Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 5 USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 1984569 Links: Fort Gaines Wikipedia - Fort Gaines Andy Bennett - Gulf Coast Forts CDSG Visited: 23 Dec 2011, 10 Dec 2009 Picture Gallery Fort Gaines View of parade grounds in Fort Gaines Alabama from the southwest side of Battery Staton View of the parade grounds at Fort Gaines Alabama from the southeast side of Battery Staton View of the Exterior of Fort Gaines Alabama from the northwest View of Parade grounds taken at Fort Gaines Al 5 Sep 2009 The 10 seat latrine at Fort Gaines, looking north. The doorway is access to the Chemin de Ronde Looking up toward the Chemin de Ronde from the covered access to the gallery The covered access from the gallery to the northwest bastion, taken from the Chemin de Ronde Inside the Northwest bastion, looking back thru the gallery to the parade grounds A view of the CRF from outside Fort Gaines Alabama, the northwest bastion. The quartermaster's Offices from the parade grounds with Battery Stanton in the background. Looking across the north end of the parade grounds from beside Officer quarters, to the left is the old Commandants quarters and the Guardhouse. on the far side is the old bakery and blacksmith shops