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The bloody two-week siege of Spanish Fort, Alabama (March 26–April 8, 1865) was one of the final battles of the Civil War. Many considered the fort to be the key to holding the important seaport of Mobile, the capture of which General U. S. Grant believed would put one of the final nails in the coffin of the Confederacy. The reduction of Spanish Fort, along with Fort Blakeley, the primary obstacles to taking Mobile, was a prerequisite to capturing the city.

After the devastating Tennessee battles of Franklin and Nashville in late 1864, many believed Mobile’s garrison did not have much fight left and would evacuate the city rather than fight. They did not. Outnumbered 10 to 1, 33-year-old Brig. Gen. Randall Lee Gibson mounted a skillful and spirited defense that “considerably astonished” his Union opponents.

 

The siege and battle that unfolded on the rough and uneven bluffs of Mobile Bay’s eastern shore, witnessed every offensive and defensive art known to war.

Join us with historian and author Paul Brueske for a look at the siege of Spanish Fort and its important role in the overall Mobile Campaign on the eve of the end of the Civil War.